Davoust Family

Readers and Changes

2008-07-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

Being a fairly boring person myself I have been thinking of changing the input information on this blog. I do not think we get many readers and I am am fairly certain that even within the people it was made for that it get very few reads. The Blog can't really focus on me and my life because that will be probably fairly repetitive.

Wake up between 4 am and 5:30 am (even on the weekends)
Go to work
Come home between 5:30 and 6 pm
Figure out something to do for dinner with Dee (she usually figures it out)
Play with the dogs so they don't get bored while dinner is finished
Eat
Watch whatever show taped the night before
Go to sleep between 8 pm and 9 pm
Rinse
Repeat

Most of the Davoust life changes have been taken care of by the eldest at joesandanliz and now that I have put together the johndeanna (yes that is stolen from the joesandanliz idea) everything can be reached in one spot on the left hand navigation.

So the question would be what do I put in the davoust.blogspot.com site (that would be this one here).

Perhaps a diary of sorts for myself? As mentioned in the bullet points I think it would be really boring.
My political thoughts (which I enjoy forming)? Probably not a good idea as my opinion differs so much from pretty much anyone that I know and I can only see that added to some major dislike and maybe even creating a little hatred?
Mom's diary? A great idea but I don't have the information that Jeanine has and that is probably something that she would be better suited to do.
The whippet Blog? I have information and substance for that but I can put that in the whippet section of johndeanna.com and kind of does not really keep in the theme of davoust.blogspot.

I did want to kind of keep everyone (if there is anyone that reads this) updated of Jocelle and her growth and life but I really don't hear from her and am rarely updated as to where she is and what she is doing. I did hear that this summer she was traveling the United States in a motor home with her grandparents, Gary and Joyce. No visit to Southern California that I am aware of.

So... that means that is my next goal, to figure out what to do with the Davoust blog... (oh and there is the small problem that I am not a very good writer). I use the spell checker for this and it always cracks me up that the suggested replacement for joesandanliz is "scandalize" :)

Tons of changes

2008-07-05T09:53:00.001-07:00

Trying to update the primary site for Deanna and myself, changes have been made to the Jake page, a place holder has been put for the Jeanine page (it currently points to the My Space page but does not show if you are not in her network). Michaels my space page was added to his link on the Navigation bar to the left and temporarily Wade's link post to a Press Telegram article that has him quoted. A generic Google search was added to the main page...

You can see the changes here, if one of the links is your and you desire it to point to a different place just let me know, or I can remove any reference to you if you feel your privacy has somehow been jeopardized.

If you would like to have your own page to edit or want to redirect your navigation link to a different site just e-mail me and let me know.

www.johndeanna.com

Northern Family Visits

2008-06-29T12:32:00.001-07:00

More at joesandanliz.com

Our Baby Whippets Babs (fawn) and Lucy (black)

2007-07-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Kind of old news now but here are some videos of the new puppies.

This was the day we got them, short but at the time this video was taken we had them about 10 minutes.

This is their first time in the yard.

More of the first day at home.

And this is the most recent, just after 4 months...

They have just had their "no puppy" surgery and the cones do not agree with them... I swear we had no idea how hard raising new little puppies was... Jeanine warned us, but we did not listen.

Comments and User Registration at joesandanliz.com

2007-05-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

I figured out some stuff so you can comment on entries and register at joesandanliz.com now. Still working on decor and design.

I've decided to put new blog entries on my homepage

2007-01-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

New posts will go on the JoeSanDanLiz website from now on. For a while I was the only one using this so I don't think it will mean all that much. I'm still learning how to use Wordpress, so for now I can't add users, allow comments, or even make the pages look as nice as this. Anyone who wants to help me, get in touch. Otherwise, I'll sneak whatever free time I have making it better. I think this is the best use for my homepage, since the static stuff I had before wasn't working. Also this will serve (I hope) to make it just a little harder to link my kids first and last names on the internet, a move which lots of experts say will keep them safer.

Pictures Have Moved

2007-01-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

There are pictures associated with most of the posts before this date. They were hosted on photobucket.com. That website has since changed its terms of service, and I wouldn't agree with it, so I closed the account. All of the below posts, along with pictures are now on joesandanliz.com. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it had to be done. Unfortunately, I may have lost two Elizabeth videos that were only hosted on photobucket, but I still may be able to find them on a DVD or hard drive around the house somewhere.

Great Gifts!

2007-01-12T23:18:00.000-08:00

Last night we got a couple of boxes from Aunt Deanna and Uncle John. First Elizabeth opened her box which had an enthralling second box inside. That box talked and she loved pushing the button and hearing Elmo's voice so much, we thought she would never let us open it. But eventually we did and she and Daniel loved the Tickle me Elmo inside.

Daniel was feeling a little left out so, even though its three weeks until his birthday, we let him open his box too. Inside was a great basketball game that he immediately started shooting baskets with. Of course Elizabeth started attacking him so he learned to keep it out of her way when he really wanted to get serious and shoot some hoops.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

2007-01-12T22:59:00.001-08:00

This week we celebrated Elizabeth's second birthday with a dinosaur (her new first love) themed party. It was an intimate affair with just a few close family members in attendance, namely Dad, Mom and Daniel. The living room was decorated with balloons tied to little dinosaurs and her cake had dinosaurs on it too.

The next day we headed down to the Monterey Aquarium. She loves going there since watching fish is a favorite pasttime. Her favorite sea turtle was missing, but she did get to see closeups of the sunfish and great white shark.

Too Many Toys

2006-12-30T01:10:00.000-08:00

Daniel and Elizabeth woke to a morning living room filled with toys from Santa and a horde of presents under the tree.

Santa brought them both what they asked him for (a ball that turns into a rubber spikey hat for Dan, and a car for Elizabeth), but he also brought them way too much other stuff.

Later that day Uncle Wade, Auntie Jeanine, Michael and Tura came up to share Christmas ham and other goodies made by Jeanine and Sandy.

Joe somehow got the day off and it turned out to be a wonderful holiday.

Halloween

2006-12-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween, Dan was a One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater, though he didn't really eat any people. And Elizabeth was a puffy purple fish.

Sandy went crazy making the costumes from scratch after saying that she was done doing that. Her costumes come out looking so great.

Its almost Christmas and Dan still has lots of candy in his Trick or Treat bag.

Vengance is Upon Us?

2006-12-01T00:14:00.000-08:00

Maybe in response to Thanksgiving dinners taking place all over Dublin, Ca:

A determined flock of turkeys marched into town to protest.

Daniel and Joe ran across this bunch of wild turkeys on a Dublin city street on the way home from school, ironically, just a few days after Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Congrats Jeanine and Wade (updated with wedding pix)

2006-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our trip to Palm Springs and San Diego. Congratulations to Jeanine and Wade and Michael too. The wedding was lots of fun but the motel was kinda of very expensive and kind of extremely un-kid friendly, but we got by.

The Ceremony was beautiful, and the kids had a great time at the reception. Elizabeth was a bit cranky.

We finished up in very much more kid-friendly San Diego where we went to some museums, the Zoo, and the Scripps Aquarium.

Elizabeth was so sick on the way down we thought we would need to turn around, but a breathing treatment at Kaiser, along with some drugs and we were able to continue.

P.S. Jeanine sent me a link to more pics so i put some of them on there too.

A's win, A's win, A's win

2006-09-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Joe and Dan went to the A's game today, great field level seats given to us by my friend John at work. The A's beat the Indians seven to four. Got to see Frank Thomas hit a home run. Dan thought it was kind of neat that there was actually some baseball being shown in between snacks.

Disneyland Vacation

2006-06-30T00:43:00.000-07:00

We got a three night stay in Newport Beach for ~~free~~ almost free, just to go see a timeshare presentation and ended up spending tons of money that we wouldn't normally have to go to Disneyland.
That being said, it was a ton of fun and we got to visit with the whole family.
Daniel wanted to ride all the big rides, but after harrowing experiences on the Tower of Terrrrrrrror and Space Mountain, he has elected to try again when he's eight.

Sandy hosts a bunco night. Joe takes kids and flees town.

2006-04-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

When Sandy's turn came to host her bunco group, Joe said lets go. So to get the kids out of the way, Joe, Dan and Elizabeth headed for a weekend at Monterey Bay.
We stayed at the Chaminade Hotel in the Santa Cruz woods. A quiet getaway for couples mostly, many who didn't want to share the hotel with kids running down the halls and waking up crying at 3 a.m. (We did get some complaints, but we only stayed one night, and probably weren't thinking of going back ever, anyway.)

We spent day one at the Santa Cruz boardwalk and pier and day two at the Monterey Aquarium. Lots of fun, mostly because Daniel and Elizabeth knew dad was way more feeble at taking care of them than mom, and so they both helped out a lot.

Elizabeth Celebrates Girls Day

2006-03-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

March 3 is Girl's Day in Japan, so we celebrated by doing something Elizabeth loves. We went to the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco. It's neat because you ride a conveyor belt through the aquarium.

Afterwards we went to Japan Town for lunch.

Dan's Fourth

2006-02-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

Daniel invited lots of his little friends over for his birthday this week. It was a Buzz Lightyear-themed event, with lots of balloons, and little buzzes everywhere.
Elizabeth had much more fun following the boys around the house than she had celebrating her own party a few weeks earlier.

Elizabeth's Big Birthday Trip

2006-01-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Since Daniel got to go to Hawaii for his first birthday, we thought Elizabeth should have the same. But she really didn't want anything to do with it. She was okay on the plane to and from there, but she ended up getting sick, and didn't like the heat and humidity. She also wasn't too fond of meeting a whole bunch of new people, though she did have fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

What ended up happening is that for most of the vacation, Daniel and Dad went sightseeing and playing, while Mom was stuck at home taking care of a very needy birthday girl.

Porche Play

2006-01-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

After several days of rain, Daniel finally got a dry spell to try out his new car that Uncle John and Aunt Deanna gave him. But the wind was blowing so hard, some rather large branches from the trees kept falling on his head, so he didn't get to play very long. And now its raining again so it will be a while before he can play again.

Christmas Photos Are Here

2005-12-25T15:18:00.000-08:00

Santa seems to have pulled it off again, as Daniel and Elizabeth seem pleased with his choices for toys. The guest bedroom might have to be converted to toy storage when you add what relatives and friends gave to them. Elizabeth was overwhelmed by all the stuff and went into to overload soon after waking up. Daniel played the role of Distribution Dan, delivering presents from the tree to recipients with the precision of a UPS driver.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

2005-05-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

The photos are in and up on the net... I posted them as large as I could so it may take a little time... It was difficult to get them very clear because the paper they used to print on is very grainy, I am sure they say that is for a professional look but I know that is so they do not scan very well...

Overall I think they came out okay with a little PhotoShop work...

See them here http://www.cardinalpc.com/photos/

Davoust Site

2005-04-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Finally putting to use some space that we have had and never used...

Click Here...

April fools!!!

2005-04-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Initially I was going to do all sorts of little postings that were falsely claiming one of many things... Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I am apparently too superstitious to actually press the publish post button...

There was the one where I would describe a dire health condition and perhaps even announce something really horrible either about Deanna or myself but could not do that in fear that it may somehow come true and I would feel guilty for the rest of my life...

Then there was the possiblity of telling you all that we had just closed escrow on a huge house possibly out of the country or at least very far away, my fear on that was that it would jinx us into never really owning a home (which is probably most likely but I don't need to help it along with some kind of grand negative karmic post)...

Another was that I was going to announce that Dee and I were pregnant and that we would be having a baby sometime in October - I don't even want to know what the negative superstitious event that may follow that would have been...

Therefore I will stick with the old tried and true that Joe will remember (perhaps fondly, perhaps not)...

Hey, It's snowing down here...

Happy April Fools Day...

New Look Blog Spot

2005-03-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Hey People...

As you can see I made some changes to personalize the Blog a little bit... If anyone has any great creative ideas on something else you would like added, let me know and I will throw them in. I added a drop down quick link on the side bar so you can get to some place easier and I can add a list of favorites if there are any requests, also... Heck maybe you could even use this as you homepage...

At the very bottom of the whole Blog is an Elizabeth ticker that will run all the way until her first birthday...

Having fun...

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball

2005-03-28T06:26:00.000-08:00

As you probably already know I created a fantasy football (I mean baseball - can you tell what sport I like most?) league for us to participate in. You should be able to get to the league by clicking the included link. Now being that we are still just a fairly small family please feel free to invite anyone that you know that would be interested, or not interested even... We can have up to eight paticipants and signing up is pretty quick and painless. The password is all of the childrens first two letters in order of age, with the exception of the newest member being the sortened version.. the league ID # is 238561

The draft is automatic and you will get players in order of your draft ranking based on the stat trackers current rating of the players.

Live Drafts End:
4/15
Full Season Registration Ends:
5/1
All Drafts End:
5/1

If you are not that interested you can still sign up and everything will happen for you automatically and it will be a little more fun for the rest of us that may be interested... Remember if there is more than one person in the house you can set up a team for each person, if you'd like...

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball

If you are not interested at all that is fine too... :-)

Perhaps we could place a few side wagers or maybe build a pool for the winner to take at the end of the season...

I am feeling a bit older...

2005-03-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well it is finally official… I am old. After a long period of time dealing with some pretty massive headaches and having exhausted all of the physical possibilities through CT Scans and doctors’ visits I ended up in the chair at the local optometry. Having never in my life been to see one, at least that I can recall, there was nothing at all in my mind about the expectations of what they may or may not find.

Nothing serious, other than just the normal vision fade of time abuse on a set of eyes. So after getting my prescription I pick out a pair of glasses, not really minding because even though you all believe me to be somewhat vain I really could care less about how I would look in a pair of specs. Two weeks go by and I finally get the call that my glasses are ready and that I should come in to test them out and get them fitted.

Now I admit to the headaches but honestly I had no idea that my vision was really overly poor. I have to pass a commercial driving eye exam (not by an optometrist, obviously) every two years and have always passed with flying colors… At any rate I put the glasses on and the improvement seemed minimal at best but I decided that I would wear them and let my eyes adjust. I drove home and went about my normal activities for about two hours. When I finally decided to take a break from the glasses I took them off and I could not see a thing… Not near, not far, and nothing even close to being clear at any range.

So now I am stuck… I have to wear these glasses every minute of every waking day unless I just want to see colors and shapes without really knowing what is going on around me. How is this possible, what has happened? How could I have seen everything in a way that I thought was clear without glasses and now not be able to see a thing?

Jeanine and I talked about it and she admits that her first fitting went pretty much the same with the newfound inability to see without glasses. She also told me that Sandy and her had a nearly identical conversation right after she had been fitted with glasses. I guess I am in shock and I don’t really know at what part exactly… That it happens this way at all, that it happens this way to everybody or the fact that it is a normal part of life for those that start wearing spectacles late in life…
At any rate, I FEEL OLD!!!

Northern California Davousts invade Southern California (updated link)

2005-03-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

In an often precedented move, four Northern California Davousts snuck across the border and invaded Southern California this weekend. Joe, Sandy, Daniel and Elizabeth snuck into the sleepy community of Long Beach in the late hours of Thursday night, after which they visited with family, ate some food, visited tar pits and a zoo and then planned their escape back to their native Bay Area.

Evidence of some of the visit can be found by clicking on the link below.

pictures

A Treasure's Trove

2005-03-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty neat book with a great story behind it... Maybe if we all work together we can find one of the treasures...

Interview with the Author
by Bill Handel

Home - A Treasure's Trove

The Spittin' Image

2005-02-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

Some say they just don't see as strongly as I do...
But the evidence says otherwise....
(May take some time to load)

and furthermore...

Resurrected Photo

2005-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes just when you think something is lost you find a way to save it...

My new scanner makes pictures from old negatives automatically and I found this one that used to be a favorite...

Rainy Day Fun

2005-02-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

How to keep a wild three year old busy on a rainy day? Create an air force of paper airplanes with the kit his aunt and uncle gave him for his birthday.

Here's to Jeanine. Happy Birthday!

2005-02-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder of one not too long ago.

On-This-Day.com - February 19

2005-02-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jeanine... It never fails that the older you get, the older I seem to feel... Click the link below to see all that has happened on your birthday...

On-This-Day.com - February 19

Growing Up

If you missed the animation just click refresh on your browser

Empty House

2005-02-17T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hey,
Just wanted to let everyone know that things are finaly getting back to normal. Jake has been gone only a month , but it seems like he has been gone for ever.

John and I received a card from Jake today telling us that he was so thankful to have such carring parents as us, and he thanked us for everything, assured us that he was ok. I could only get through the first sentence before I started crying - I had to hand the card to John.

Take lots of pictures of your kids , tell them you love them everyday, kiss and hold them as much as you can, because soon they will be out on their own.

Just wanted to share

Deanna

Bay Area Parent: East Bay - EASTBAYSANFRANCISCO - Parenthood.com -

2005-02-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

Local information for new additions... Bay Area Parent: East Bay - EASTBAYSANFRANCISCO - Parenthood.com -

2005-02-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Really John, was that the best picture of me?--Jeanine

The History Channel - The History of Valentine's Day

2005-02-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day

The History Channel - The History of Valentine's Day

Latest Addition and Get Together...

2005-02-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

The Holidays are over and it is time to get back to a somewhat normal life again. Everyday seems to bring new changes, fortunately so far they are all for the better. New jobs, new additions to the family and bigger and better things appear to be just around the corner for the three expanding wings of our generations Davoust family tree.

On a completely odd date of 01-03-05 we all had the excitement to learn of the latest edition, Elizabeth…

And of course, I got to spend time with both of the youngest additions, a great chance to show them that large bald guys are not scary… Now every time they see a bald biker they will always thing of good old Uncle John.

Finally, at least for this entry, we all had the chance to get together for a rare photo of all.

Until the next one…

2005-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

Coming soon, Family chat and news...