It's been a while since I posted some blurb about the "going's on" in
the Garrett household, and it wouldn't be fair to call this part of the
blog "Garretts' World" if I didn't actually post some information about
the Garrett's (us), once in a while. So without further ado, here
is an update of what has been happening of late:
Last weekend the
Montgomery County Agricultural Fair kicked off its
yearly summer event, which lasts a week, and consists of numerous
agricultural related displays - including plenty of live stock
performances, and fair ground rides. Every year, and for as many
years that I have been in the US, I have volunteered my time to help at
the 4H horse barn each opening Saturday. Lisa has been working
the fair many more years, and is an active 4H leader. Lisa plays
a big part in the correlating judging results, for the various 4H
events, and the planning of the courses. My role has always been
much simpler - shoot pictures. All of the pictures from the fair
are available
here, and I have spent many an hour in the August heat to
obtain them. This year was especially challenging because I had a
2 year old in tow - Simon. While Isabella napped in her carry
seat with Mommy, Simon and I ran around in 100 degree F weather
snapping pictures of anything on four or two legs that moved.
Simon has to view the events of the day from up high in his seat -
strapped to my back, whilst drinking water from his sippy cup to stay
cool.
By about lunchtime, at the fair, Simon had about as much sitting as he
could take, and my brain was well and truly fried from the heat.
So we headed off to the exhibition hall in seek of air
conditioning. On the way we hopped on the free tractor ride,
because I had promised Simon, each and every time the ride went past
the horse barn all morning. You have to understand - the boy is
crazy about tractors, he runs to the window at home to watch the
neighbor mow, and whenever I pull out my riding mower, I can pretty
much guarantee on seeing the little face of a toddler pressed against
the window from inside the house, in awe of the shiny machinery I am
driving. So, you could imagine Simon's excitement at the one
place where there are tractors EVERYWHERE.
On the way out of the exhibition hall we passed a vendor selling
tractors, and now that you know about Simon’s obsession with these
vehicles, you’ll understand why we didn’t pass without letting Simon
sit in the driving seat of a few of the display models. I snapped
some great pictures.
I have been busy most evenings this week working on my code changes to
my
nGallery photo album. I have now added a feature, which allows
users to download all pictures within an album as a zip file. My
Dad had requested this feature because he likes to grab all the
pictures from my site in one batch and then send the pictures that he
likes to be printed at his local processing shop. Apparently, he
became quite frustrated with downloading the full size images one at a
time – so Dad, this feature is for you. Whilst I was making code
changes, I fixed the album management (in the administration section)
pages to not display all albums and sub albums in one big list – this
made it very difficult to maintain a list of many albums. Because
of this change, I have had to repopulate the nGallery with all of my
pictures from scratch, and am presently in the middle of this process.
Access my new photo gallery
here. The original photo gallery remains, so I do not break links from my blog.
Lisa and I are working on transitioning Simon from his crib into a bed
in another room, which is proving to be more difficulty than it
sounds. Simon loves his new room – complete with two single beds,
a play tunnel, a tent, and all his toys – but only as long as either
Lisa or I stay with him. After reading to Simon, and saying good
night, when we proceed to leave Simon throws temper tantrums and
hysterics until we either return or move him to his regular crib.
We have tried all sorts of methods to help him with the adjustment,
including longer reading time, daytime naps in his new room, and just
simply ignoring his complaints, but each time he cries so much that it
sounds like someone is murdering a cat up in his room. Are there
any parents out there that have won this battle and can offer some
advice?
Well, this ends my update blurb for now – keep your eyes pealed, I am quite sure there will be more news soon.