The Uncle Nigel Trip: BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

-Sorry about that small(large) lapse in blogging- I've been working overtime for my mom, who has turned out to be an evil employer, hungry for poor boys that need money, in disguise. I've been having a great time during thanksgiving weekend, especially since we won the rose bowl. I also think we were all pretty happy when we found that the Campbells would be coming and that we would not, after all, have only 18 people attending the Thanksgiving feast at grandma's. We(Campbell kids, Mumford kids, & Dixon kids) are also proud to say that we unlocked 2 party games while waiting for the Apple Cup.

-I'm on what is known now as 'the big trip', and am having a good time so far. As it turns out, Delta has a program for unaccompanied minors that has people to escort you(rather forcibly) to the next gate. My mom thought that the personnel would be a bit too overloaded/stressed and might forget all about escorting somebody. They went against all doubts, however, and were there waiting for me, smiling their special tight-lipped airline attendant smiles and ready to go. It seemed like they weren't doing much of anything and the reason that they were stressed was nothing in particular, but since I'm just an ignorant layman, I'm sure I missed something. The Bowmans seem to be doing well over here in Rochester, and I'm having a good time, too. It looks like I'll be traveling more these three months than my mom has for quite some time. Well, I'm glad I've been able to blog right now, so hi from Rochester & I'll end with a jaunty tip of the hat. Toodledoo!

Winter

-Ah, winter, the season of Costco replacement snow tires, exploding pipes, frozen paperboys who forgot their coats at school and are consequently skidding down the Jones' hill at high speeds in their dad's old sweatshirt with holes in the pocket, collecting injuries & cops with ordinance fees as they go, and(sigh) it's also the time of year when we rush around in a frenzy, dumping our money into large pits(our friends, neighbors, & people with lots of money that we hate but would like to make a good impression on) in the name of spreading joy to people that don't even notice because they're too busy spreading joy to other people(or they're on vacation in Jamaica). After Christmas is my favorite time of year , since you can kick back & relax with all your Christmas stuff, with not a care in the world but going to whatever Wazzu basketball games there are, hoarding/eating/stealing candy, and planning cool things to do on New Year's Eve/the rest of the time we'll be staying at Gma & Gpa's house- which will be a whole lot less cramped with the banquet room, I'm excited to see what it will be like with it.

-On an entirely different note, Jared has now become closely acquainted with the feeling that comes- whatever that feeling may be- with having close to the same experiences as Donald Davis(if you've never heard his tapes, do so- they keep kids quiet & they are, at times, immensely funny.) which is to say that he had the words, 'he's gonna have to have... braces... save your money for...braces...' coming from tooth specialists all around. As it turns out, Jared is just one of a long line of class 2 bites- which means...braces...for Jared.

-Sorry I'm late to blog- it's just that I had strep throat yesterday and had to retire to the sack early.

- Today, I started Art(an elective that comes automatically with shop- I did it for the art half), and I think my art teacher would be third on the list that I posted earlier- though as John Bytheway says, sometimes they start nice and get meaner later on. I also am entering the second quarter, and am happy to report that so far in the quarter I have straight A's. I am so good!