Storytelling Pictures

Ever find a picture that describes the truth so well it's funny? Case in point. I've been looking through old family pictures to find ones to include in my living room and stumbled upon this one. It is from the cruise my mom's family went on for my grandparent's 50th anniversary. Not surprising from the picture, this has been a few years.

To the casual observer, it is just a group of people sitting on a cruise ship deck. But to those who know these people, it is such a classic shot of each person that it really is funny. So, probably only my family will laugh, but it was too fun not to share!

• My mom - the only one really posing for the shot (she doesn't believe in taking pictures without people in them and is rarely in a candid shot). What is really ironic is her outfit. We always kid her about wearing the same thing in every picture. And sure enough, this is what she is wearing in a previous picture of this album, taken 4 months before.

• Jacinda - sitting by Brenda. At 13, the 10 years older cousin was definitely the cool one to be with.
  

• Brenda - camera in hand. She and Mike are the unofficial family photogs, so I think it is great that she's caught with the camera.

• Aunt Monica - smiling. Just sitting, no indications of someone having told a joke, she's just always so pleasant.
  

• Grandpa - his classic pose, wearing those classic Grandpa shoes.

• Me - reading one book with another in my lap. I mean, what would happen if I finish the first one before we move from this spot?
  

• Mike - why are you taking my picture? He's often on the other side of the camera.

Actually, the one ironic thing is that for a "chicken-with-its-head-cut-off" family, we are all mostly just sitting. Although I note Aunt Diane isn't in the picture :)

SWA Comes to Beantown!

As mentioned in an earlier post, in August I was able to attend the launch of Southwest's service to Boston along with a few friends, who happen to be SWA Employees. Julie did a great job documenting the weekend with pictures, so I'll just tell the story through them.



Julie and I on the ferry flight. Nonstop Dallas to Boston + SWA Employees = lots of FUN!




The Boston Fire Department welcomed the first
SWA plane to land at Boston Logan (us!) with water cannons.





Showing off the bright yellow shirts and our ticket counter area.







Didn't get to see a game, but Fenway is a picture worthy sight regardless.







A visit to Boston isn't complete without walking the Freedom Trail. After many attempts, we finally got a shot with the Old North Church. Paul Revere, two lights, you know...





In between the sightseeing, a large group of Employees did some sprucing up at a local elementary school. Among some other projects, we painted a huge mural on the playground wall. Julie and I worked on the slide (which just happened to look like a SWA plane) and Amber colored a rainbow.

Another Boston landmark, we made our way through the Commons over to Cheers for a photo op.




In order to make it home (nonReving itself can be quite the adventure!), Julie and I made sure we were first in the ticket counter line, and showed up at 4:00am! I will do both of our egos some good and not post those pictures :)

Luckily, it paid off and we got some of the few open seats to Chicago. Since we landed there about 8:30, we decided ride the train into the city for a few hours. A stroll down Michigan Ave and Giordano's makes for a great day.



Along Michigan, we saw this sculpture of the famous American Gothic painting, which is part of the Art Institute's collection. I've always loved the painting and was pretty excited seeing it much, much larger than life.




Just down from here is the Chicago Tribune building, and amazing piece of architecture in my opinion. But we noticed one thing I'd never observed. Embedded along all the walls are stones from famous locations around the world. We noticed states were represented as well and started hunting down Texas. After quite a bit of unsuccessful searching, we finally located it around the corner from most of the states. As expected, our great state is represented by a piece of the Alamo.





And finally, the best pizza anywhere!