The Becks Do Disney

Just downloaded our pics from the Disney vacation. Yeah, yeah, two months later, but better late than never, right?

I like the way this pic turned out -- it's the organ from Pirates of the Caribbean!

One of us is trying to get ready for a day of Disney fun. The other one is lollygagging and taking pictures. Guess which is which.


Just one of the many pieces of Lego awesomeness at Downtown Disney.


We're having fun, dammit!


A much more believable set of having-fun faces.

Ask about the day my mom shut down the bat exhibit.

Happy tourists in front of the Tree of Life. I took about a million pictures of this tree -- it was covered in amazingly detailed carvings of animals.


Entrance to Dinosaur, my favorite ride. My poor niece didn't like it so much; this was the second dinosaur-themed ride to make her cry in about the span of one hour.
And finally, and this one made me laugh. Two months later, and I'm not quite sure we decided to take this particular picture. Maybe it was because every time we turned around there were more singing and dancing animals, so the sighting of something normal like a cat doing normal cat stuff demanded a picture. I have no idea. But it still makes me laugh.

Tis the season

Hello, and welcome to the inaugural post of the Beck family blog! It's a year of many firsts for us... first ringworm epidemic, first marriage and now our first holiday season as a family. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, amidst weak protests from Tracy (aka Ak) (aka The Grinch), we decorated the house for Christmas. The boys were, as always, quite enthusiastic and willing to help.

Last year, Woot offered this wine as a symbol of holiday good cheer. Ak, being known to utter a few humbugs of his own during the holiday season, immediately had a case shipped to Court's house. While initially dismayed to see 6 bottles of the same wine, Court did appreciate the irony. Fortunately, it turned out to be pretty good wine, and has become a Beck holiday tradition (perhaps a short-lived one, as we only have one bottle left).

Court hung the first ornament on the tree -- the Holiday Armadillo! Which could be risky, because everyone knows if Santa and the Holiday Armadillo are ever in the same room for too long, the universe will implode!


Baby Ben helps with the rigging of the holiday disco ball. This was a wedding present. By the by, Ben "helping" went about as well as Ralphie helping his dad change the tire in "A Christmas Story." Oh FUDGE! He looked appalled when he was informed that his help wasn't so much helpful.

Alex, on the other hand, was quite an asset. "No, wait, tie the twine to that piece, see? That will work as a stabilizer plus improve the equilibirum. Good work today, person who brings me food. Now, go hang it, not too high because I intend to hunt it. When you're done with that, bring me food."

Meanwhile, back on the piano, Ben bravely wards off the tissue paper, thus ensuring the safety of the nativity scene and restoring order and justice to the living room.

Marty missed the decorating of the tree, the hanging of the holiday disco ball and the attempted nativity scene heist. He did, however, keep that pesky bone from troubling us. He's pretty close to a perfect dog.


Our stockings were hung by the bookcase with care, in hopes that no cats would find their way up there.

Ben inspects his big brother's handy work and studies the jump for later.


Alberto, our tree. This lovely little tree was purchased from the TROSA lot at the Streets at Southpoint. Great trees and a great cause -- check it out if you haven't already bought your tree. We have since added some garland and a star. However, due to the destructive nature of cats (especially little silver tabby kittens named Ben), we thought it best to leave ornaments off the bottom half. After a hard evening's work, we retired to bed, leaving our perfect angels to guard the tree.