MY guitar hero

We went to Kentucky this weekend to visit my family. We're trying to visit every 2-3 months so we can see our nephew/cousin, Grayson, grow up. Here's a picture of Eli and Grayson:

But, there was another highlight to this trip. We do not own a video game system at our home. The last one I owned was an original Playstation that I ended up selling about 6 years ago. I hope to hold off as long as humanly possible before Eli gets a game system for himself.

My sister and brother-in-law, however, own a Nintendo Wii. And while we were there this weekend, Rodney went out and bought Guitar Hero III. We all had fun playing and laughing and making fun of each other's lack of skillzz. But when it was Eli's turn to take it on, holy cow. He watched others play and did a great job of being patient and waiting his turn. When the time came, his aunt Kari Jo took care of the "strumming", while Eli's job was to hit the colored buttons.

After going through a "slow" practice session, we let him go through a practice song at the full speed. I believe the song was "Slow Ride." And my little homeboy hit 25% of the notes! And Kari will probably admit that some of the misses were from her strumming, not his misses, so he may very well have gotten over 30% of the notes at full speed.

But not only that, he was TOTALLY into it. He was screaming out the colors when he changed them, jumping up and down, frantically getting to the next color button in time, grunting. It was freaking hilarious. And he never let down either, even though the songs on that game last forever. It was a blast. I certainly hope he's got some actual music skills as he gets older.

uncle jason

Last night I became an uncle for the first time. My sister Kari Jo delivered a 7lb 12oz baby boy - Grayson Carter Booe - at about 8:58pm. For any of you Bible College people out there, both I, my sister, and her husband Rodney graduated from KCC...now KCU. KCU is located in Grayson, Ky, which is in Carter county. Hence, Grayson Carter. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet. I'm really excited to have the chance to be that "cool uncle" that we all remember from when we were kids. If you didn't get to have a cool uncle growing up, I'm sorry, but you really missed out.

I'm 4 1/2 years older than my sister...I also have another younger sister and a younger brother. I have some pretty good memories of Kari Jo when she was about 2-3 years old. I can remember some pretty major fights we had when we were roughly 12 and 8 years old. I recall founding the first FCA at my high school when I was a senior, and thinking it was awesome that my sister and some of her 8th grade friends were members of it. I remember one night at church camp around 1995 or 1996 when she and I hugged and cried for a really long time. I remember the summer of 1998 when she made sort of a last minute decision to attend college at KCC, and thinking what a bummer it was that we wouldn't be able to be students there at the same time, since I had just graduated. Her husband and I lived on the same floor of the same dorm for a while. I don't think he thought much of me at that time. We're better friends now. =)

I remember participating in her wedding, and not feeling weird about the fact that she was married before I was. I felt very proud not too many months ago when she completed her Master's degree in education. She's certainly proven to be an excellent daughter, wife, teacher, younger sister, older sister, and an awesome aunt to our son Eli. And she'll certainly be an incredible mother.

soon to be an uncle

I'm an oldest child. I'm 31. I have a 26 year old sister, an 18 (19 in 3 weeks) year old brother, and a 16 year old sister. In about 6 weeks, I'll be an uncle for the first time...and thankfully, not because of the 18 or the 16 year old sibling! My sister Kari and her husband Rodney are due with their first child in September...quite possibly on the same day as her own birthday.

On Friday, we'll be driving to Kentucky to spend the weekend with them and will have the chance to see much of our extended family. The last time I saw Kari was last Christmas, and the last time we were able to travel to Kentucky was November 2004, so I've not seen much of my extended family in almost 3 years. Pretty exciting. Luckily, my parents have taken Eli home with them a couple of times in the last 18 months to spend 3-4 days, so he's been able to see his grandparents and get acclimated with his dad's side of the family.

The picture is my sister and Eli from about a month ago. I know it's blurry, but that's because it was taken on Eli's Little Tikes digital camera. Basically, it's a digital camera for young kids. It looks like binoculars and is encased in rubber. Has a digital screen like normal digital cameras, and is very easy for kids to use, but doesn't produce the greatest quality of images.

And let me apologize to Kari ahead of time for not getting her permission to post this picture on the web! =) Notice Eli holding his tummy? When Kari explained there was a baby in her tummy, he became convinced that he had one in his tummy too. Hence the tummy holding. Funny kid. And funny word...tummy. I feel kinda weird for using it 5 times in one paragraph.