Okay, here are the rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I'd love to take a leaf from Alex's blog, but since it'd now be both redundant and derivative, I won't. 

Eight random facts about me:

1.  I love the English language and the extensive vocabulary it provides. One of my favorite books is my honkin' big thesaurus.
2.  I've tried over the years to color my hair so as to not look like Barbara Bush to 41, but the white simply will not hold a color more'n two or three weeks.  Will not.  Tried DIY dyes and paid big bucks to salons, all to no avail.  Finally gave up and said to heck with it.
3.  I'm on my third consecutive Chevrolet Venture minivan. 
4.  I loathe watermelon; actually, I can't stand any melon, period. 
5.  Once my two newest grandbabies are born, of my eight grandchildren, five will have names beginning with "B", and three of those will begin with "Br". 
6.  The only roller-coaster I've ever liked was the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas.  Now that it's gone, I'll doubtless never ride one again.
7.  I'm a sucker for new browsers.  Between my laptop and the family desktop I've downloaded - and use, depending on the situation and site - Firefox, Seamonkey, Opera, and last night I downloaded Flock, which is a web browser that's part of Flickr.  In addition to the ubiquitous Internet Explorer, naturally.
8.  I used to play the piano some before I was married, and would love to play it again only we don't have room for a piano.  I've tried keyboards, but they're just not the same thing at all. 

Let's see here.  Who will be my tag-alongs?

Eleanor, CheriM, Lois, Cindy, Byron, Aisling, Hannah, and Heather.

Tag!  Y'all are it!

It's one right now, but eventually I'll add another. Xanga's not what you'd call snappy when it comes to uploading videos.

BTW, I'm the voice asking about the second Australian critter, and requesting that the basketball not be tossed in the living room. I'm a tyrant, boy.

This evening saw Mom, Anna (Beth's  mother), Jeanne, Elaine, Kirstin, Jessica and Jill - along with their respective children, barring Bryson, over to visit with Beth and Hannah in Japan via webcam, play a couple of traditional baby shower games, watch her open her gifts, and....since it was morning in Japan....eating scrambled eggs, sausage, Mom's fruit salad, Elaine's to-die-for blueberry muffins, and sip mimosas (except for Jessica, of course).

Blessedly, the problem with Beth's computer apparently was fixed so we were able to see her via the full screen.  Okay, there was some trouble with the sound whistling and screeching occasionally, but hey...nothing's perfect, after all.  It was still cooler'n cool, and thanks so much to Don for figuring out how to do it.  Here are, from left to right, Jeanne, Mom, and Anna:

It worked well, didn't it?

BTW, the reason some of us were dressed quite casually is because of the "good morning" theme....those who came dressed in some sort of nightwear had their name entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift certificate (congratulations to Jessica, who won!).  Here are the two expectant mothers sort-of together:

Here's a photo of Beth and Hannah in baby Faith's room:

The first game we played was one provided by Jeanne....she sent twenty small items which Beth held up; our job was to remember them and write them down afterward.  You know, you'd think it'd be easy-peasy, wouldn't you?  I mean, we'd exclaim and comment about the various things, for crying out loud.  How hard could this be?  Ha!  I managed fourteen (can't believe I completely forgot those darn sandwich cutters).  Congrats to Elaine, who managed to recall eighteen of them (Beth was a close second with seventeen).

Jill's always a kid-magnet, and tonight was no exception; here she is with Meredith, eating her supper:

A nice photo of Mom and Anna:

Jeanne pointing out something to her grandson, Cole:

In the spirit of the shower's theme, Cole wore bunny slippers:

Our gift was a stroller for two, in which the elder child has a choice between standing or sitting, which Hannah willingly demonstrated:

It was a good time, by jingo.  Thanks to all who came!  ;^)

Tomorrow morning is when Dmitry leaves with Carolyn and her family for the Gulf Coast, as they're trusting Hurricane Dean to decide to visit Mexico, not Galveston.  So far so good, and the projected path seems to be aiming in that southerly direction.  They're hoping Dean'll create large waves and shoo the fish their way.

While in Galveston, they'll be staying at the Casa Del Mar, in an ocean-view suite.  Their website has a webcam pointed toward the beach, so we can occasionally peek in to check the gulf. 

And this won't be of any particular interest to anyone other than family, but here's a picture of Jessica and Jason's newly-redone living room; came out nice, didn't it?

Here's the video of Brianna's wishing balloons:

Jacquelyn, Jason's niece, hosted a shower for Jessica this afternoon, and a dandy party it was, too. 

Jacquelyn lives with her mother, Sherry, and her sister, and they have
a dog, Sabre.  Sabre decided the goodies Mom was eating looked quite
tasty, and did her best to use some Bambi eye action to get a taste:

Don't think it worked, though.  Those were good refreshments.  Meredith got a charge out of Sabre, too:

Mom, Jeanne and Elaine were there, but Kirstin already had circus tickets so had to decline.

The first game played involved us forming teams so as to relay-dress a baby doll:

I was on the winning team, but wasn't much help, I fear. It was all Kim
and Tash, my team-mates.  The other game was the identify-the-baby-food
game, with a twist.  Tomorrow night at our shower for Beth in Japan,
we'll be doing it via sight, eyeballing unlabeled packages.  This
afternoon, the baby food was identified both by sight and smell, with a
bit of it smeared on disposable diapers.  Guess what that meant we had
to do?

It was harder than you'd think it'd be, actually.  Then it was time for the gifties, and among them was a gorgeous hand-crocheted blanket, made by li'l Kirsten's mother and grandmother:

Oooh....a baby monitor!  Jessica was quite pleased.  She got lots of great stuff.  Everyone was wonderfully generous, bless them.  Bridgette Lynne will be off to a rousing start, no doubt about it.  Here are a couple of miscellaneous photos, the first being Jessica and me:

Here is Jessica with Jacquelyn and her mother, Sherry, and Jacquelyn's little girl, Raylynn:

Once Bridgette gets here, instead of the Gruesome Twosome, it'll be the Terrifying Trio:

Huh.  It's never occurred to me before now, but there'll be seven years between the Smith girls, as Kirsten is 14, Brianna's 7, and Bridgette's due in a few weeks.  Speaking of Brianna, she collected the various balloons decorating the party, then made wishes on them and released them.  Never heard of that before, but who knows?

....for this wonderful bit of information!  If you're adopting, or have adopted within the past year, this will be of interest to you:  Celebrating Adoption

It's an organization of professional photographers around the country who will donate a photo session and set of proofs to newly adoptive families.

Dang.  Just my luck.  All the goodies like this occur after we'd qualify. 

It's a terrific offer for the rest of  y'all, though! 

They were married on the Carnival Conquest down in New Orleans, and Don and I, along with Beth's father, mother, and two aunts, were present.  It was a lovely wedding indeed.  Somewhere around here is a CD with the official Carnival photographer's photos, but naturally I cannot lay hands on it right this minute.  Typical.

However, here are a couple of photos Beth had sent me from one of their showers:

There's also one of them wearing each other's headgear, but I'll be kind and not post that one.  >;^>

Here they are at their reception:

Happy anniversary, you two!  A darling couple you were then, and a darling couple you are now. 

Here are a few photos of Dmitry from June of 2003, back when we met him in Russia:

Amazing the difference four years makes with teenagers!  Now Dmitry's as tall as Don.

Don, OTOH, has hardly changed at all. 

[anxiously]  I fear
Dmitry's shark-hunting expedition (as that's the primary fish he's
interested in catching) might be in danger of being canceled due to the
approach of Dean:

There's a computer model showing that Dean might take a sharp north
turn, striking the Texas coast....say, around Galveston....middle of
next week.

The state's already advising people on the coast to top up their car's
tanks, Just In Case, and hospitals all over the state are going into
preparation mode, anticipating evacuations.

Darn tropical storms.  

He's 17 years old today, can you believe it?  We can't!  

Here he is with the enormous birthday cookie I bought him this morning:

We went to get him the saltwater fishing license he'll need for the
trip to Galveston he's going on this Sunday with Carolyn and her
family, then to the bank to fatten the ol' savings account with
birthday joy from the grandparents (well, he kept out some to
spend), and pretty soon he'll be heading to Carolyn's house, where the
word is she's planning to cook him a birthday dinner.