Brandon Family News

Heading up north

It has been six months since we've taken a family vacation and time to head up north to beautiful and cool northern California to visit Auntie Joan. Jeanette has planned a great route for us and hotels along the way, and we will be driving once again amongst some wonderful scenery on our way up to see Auntie's new house. Dad is very much looking forward to getting away from work for awhile and spending more time with Jeanette and the boys.

Cars!

Alex here reporting from Brandon SoCal. Nicholas and I went to see "Cars" today, Pixar's latest film. A small bag of popcorn kept him occupied for awhile, and though he didn't last more than 40 minutes into the movie (as admittedly there's bits of plot exposition through dialogue that are hard for a 2 year old to grasp), he greatly enjoyed the rip roaring start at the racetrack and we're looking forward to seeing it in full when it emerges on DVD.

Jeanette is doing a wonderfully diligant job as always updating the website with adorable pictures of Conner and I'm still trucking along at Midway, completing work on the 5th sequel to "Spy Hunter" and starting work on a few unannounced but very interesting projects.

Welcome Conner Vincent!!!

For those of you who haven't heard, Conner Vincent Brandon was born on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006, at 10:43 am. He weighed 7lbs. 8.6oz and was 20" long.

Update

Yes, a generic title but there is also a great deal to report.

Nicholas saw his first movie, "Ice Age 2: Total Meltdown". He enjoyed popcorn and frolicking animals and everyone had a great time. (click on images for full size versions, though this first one was taken with my phone and is not great quality-wise).

Next, we're two weeks (and a bit) away from Conner Vincent Brandon's arrival and are anxious to see him. Nicholas is also an inch closer to knowing what his little brother really is, as he is talking to his Mommy's belly, telling Conner stories and singing to him.

This weekend Nicholas went to school and Jeanette took a myriad of pictures found on the Nicholas page. Also Nicholas and I went to the Wild Animal Park and got to see the Elephant Show and a dancing Asian elephant named Cha Cha. We also got to see the lions, gorillas, and giraffes. Quite a splendid weekend all around.

As for me and Jeanette? Jeanette is definitely ready for Conner during these last days and we think Conner just might come early, but of course there's no indications of that yet. Still she's as strong as ever, still cooking great food and scaring me half to death last weekend by trying to remove the oil pan nut herself, squeezing under the car and using a torque wrench. You'd think she wasn't pregnant at all. Sheesh. In the end my wimpy little arms finally managed to get it free and completed the oil change. Very satisfying and I'll publically admit that it was Jeanette that showed me how.

I'm developing a new initiative for 3rd party audio at Midway and making a bit of headway each day, though dealing with 5 projects simultaneously with tiny budgets is pretty difficult. I'm also on the lookout for a Tron Lightcycle for Nicholas, but they don't seem to be available for less than $100 on Ebay. If you see one let me know.

Ciao for now!

Nicholas at the Air and Space museum

Hello everyone. Alex here... Conner is weeks away and we're getting very excited. We'll be taking a trip to Annapolis this Friday to see my parents and I'll be helping them prepare for a long overdue upcoming move. Nicholas is reading and very much enjoying "Peter Rabbit", and we also took a trip a few weeks ago to the San Diego Aerospace Museum. It is very impressive with a lot of displays packed into a relatively small space. It also has a special section for children that demonstrates various scientific principles / laws such as air pressure through air tubes, balls, and other interesting constructions. Nicholas had a wonderful time. Pictures are here.

Christmas and other stuff

We've been busy little bees over here in San Diego. First, we had a wonderful visit with Nanna, Pappy and Uncle Anthony in Texas over the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, we were sick for a majority of the time, but it was still nice to be with family. We did manage to play outside and get into town a little bit. Alex and I even managed to get together with a highschool buddy of mine and his wife for a little grown up time. It was nice getting together with them and catching up. We also managed to get Nanna and Pappy to take some portraits with Nicholas. They turned out quite nice. Go here if you'd like to take a peek.

Since we've been back we've been working like mad people trying to get everything packed and moved to our new house. We moved a majority of our stuff this weekend. There's just a few things left at the apartment for me to collect that I'll be getting tomorrow. Then I can focus on getting everthing unpacked and put away. I'm about half way done with that task. After that's done I'll be able to get all of Conner's things in order and ready for his arrival. Whew! makes me tired just thinking about it all!

Conner alive and kicking!

Nicholas' little brother Conner said hello to Mommy and Daddy today by giving us some abdominal punches or kicks that I (Daddy) got to feel for the first time. I was playing a fun game of CounterStrike in Yar's Arena when Jeanette called me over and Conner kicked away at my hand about fifteen times. Incredibly exciting and indescribeable. I have a feeling this boy is going to be quite athletic, but we'll see soon enough if he comes rocketing out of the delivery room before we have a chance to weigh him.

Conner Vincent

We would like to officially announce that the next baby Brandon is a boy! Jeanette and I went for an ultrasound yesterday and saw Conner Vincent Brandon, wriggling using his head, arms, hands and legs. He was very active and there are pictures on his page that show him "facing the camera". He is also big for his age at 11 ounces. As a result the due date has been moved up to April 26th.

Nicholas said he wanted a baby sister but we think he's just as excited to have a brother, despite his cry of "no baby brother, no baby brother!" later that day.

Nicholas' Second Birthday!

Daddy here with a Nicholas Birthday Special Report. Today Nicholas Scott Brandon turned two. First, the little guy recieved his copy of "Goodnight Moon" and a tow along Thomas the Tank Engine with Annie and Clarabel, Thomas' two coaches. Then he saw a very clever and fun birthday card using Flash animation to portray dogs and a cat (and a mouse) from his Amama and Papa. Afterwards we had a bit of dribbling and shooting lessons on the basketball court and some splash time in the fountain.

To finish it off, Mommy prepared a small party with Nicholas opening presents from his Nana and Pappy, and eating frosting and candy bit covered chocolate cupcakes Mommy had made. Perhaps Nicholas' most interesting present was his Thomas "Big Loader", which is a revamped version of a toy I played with over twenty years ago. Tremendous fun all round. Mommy took some movies and pictures which I'm sure will be uploaded to the Brandon Family Website soon.

Sick day

Today Jeanette was feeling under the weather so Nicholas and I went to the Leatherneck Aviation Museum, about 10 minutes away from our apartment. He loves looking at the airplanes and helicopters. Nicholas is at the tail end of his cold and Jeanette is also improving. Today gave her a good opportunity to finish the second to last book (well, third to last really, the last book is still to be published) in her favorite series: Harry Potter. After the museum I called Grandmummy and wished her a happy birthday. The weather is warm in Virginia for a change so that's good, and she'll be dining with Bob at the Sportsman's Grille. Sadly not even Daddy is immune from the colds getting passed around as there's a scratch in ye olde throat starting now. The weather has been odd around here, going from warm to chilly to warm again within a month. Hopefully it'll stay somewhat brisk at this point.

As an aside, Nicholas at times wants to check to see if Daddy's leg is still there, so he lifts up my pant leg to check. Then he looks to see if his own leg is there. He also has taken to wearing bowls as hats. Some are "too small", and some are "just right".

That's all for now. Btw if you're reading this and want to commment on anything just hit the "comment" button below each post.