Thanksgiving for Chatt's 2011

We continued our Thanksgiving tradition of going out to eat for 2011.  Jennifer did lots of research and ultimately we decided on a Amish-Danish restaurant in Sarasota.  We did not do much in the morning except I had Sign of the Mermaid Pumpkin pie which was great and a small snack before going out around Noon.  We drove down to a very Southern Sarasota Mall to an AMC 12 theater and saw an early show of Hugo.  After the show we went to the restaurant where there must have been more than a few hundred people waiting to get in with hundreds being served inside.  We waited about 1.5 hours to get into the Thanksgiving buffet.  It was ok food but we have had better most Thanksgivings.

The Chatt family is excited to get up North for Christmas this year for the first time in 5-6 years.  Sorry, no videos or pictures this year, pretty uneventful and resting up to see everyone in mid-December for the winter holiday's.  See you soon!

Grayson wins several karate awards - November 2011

Grayson has been in karate for some time.  As of late he has been breaking boards and is doing it fairly easily.  As of November he is breaking two pine boards but should be breaking three as two are a bit too easy.  His proud mom tells everyone openly that most students are still working on one board and Grayson is breaking two like a champ.  I was able to video tape much of Grayson's accilades however I did not video tape Grayson handing out belts to the other students.  Wish Grayson luck as he will be going for his black belt in January 2012.  I am told there are several tests he needs to pass and hopeful he is successful.  I was especially proud when the instructer described Grayson sticking up for one of his friends when a bully started to verbally abuse him.  It is not the first time Grayson has stuck up for a friend as he was pushed around a bit on the bus defending another good friend.  Take  look at the video below...

Grayson turns eight years old - Birthday Party

So Grayson did not want a lot of fanfare for his eighth birthday. He wanted to have a few friends over and just have some fun. It was pretty normal eight year birthday party. Grayson had Max, Gabriel, Jackson, Dillon and Ethan over for his party. The boys started out in Grayson's room until most everyone arrived. Then down to the garage where we pulled out all the water guns and the boys had a water gun fight. I had the water hose to fill up the water guns and the boys started to turn on me. With the hose in hand they all got a good soaking but so did I. We then turned our attention to playing with some water balloons. The typical balloon toss and then finally we opened up the 100 or so balloons for a good old fashioned water balloon fight. Uncle Mark made a surprise visit right around this time and stayed up on the second floor deck to stay out of harms way.
Lunch came and we spent some time up on the outdoor deck where the boys refilled their engines for swimming with pizza and some sugar in a can. We all went swimming and back to inside for some escape out of the heat. Turned on the Wii for some 100 pin bowling while the boys enjoyed a fruit pie and some cupcakes. One by one everyone left and later that day we enjoyed opening all the great gifts his friends gave him. So what did Grayson say about his stay at home Birthday party for his eight birthday...."That was my best birthday party yet!" The true sign of a successful part!

Alderson, West Virginia fishing with the family - May 2010

Unfortunately this year Grayson and I will not be able to partake in the Alderson Family Fishing trip Memorial Day weekend. That does not mean we have to forget about last year's first fishing expedition. I am a little late posting our trip however at least was able to create the video as well as remind ourselves of the trip in 2010.



A great time was had by all. We started the trip out fishing just in front of a bridge with the whole gang. It was a nice spot as the fishing area was nice and level. Everyone caught a fish and lots of video of the three youngest catching some well deserved fish. Got some great fishing footage as well as Jack and Grayson practicing karate. There was an accident and all I can say is Jack is a really tough kid. I am sure he can thank his two older brothers Logan and Davis for that mental and physical toughness. Don't worry mom's, I caught the accident all on video so you won't miss a beat.

I am in the accommodations business and would rate the cabin we stay at a negative 2 out of five. It is pretty rough and consider sleeping outside where it was cleaner. All joking aside it kept the drizzle off our heads and I was told May 2010 was an exceptional year because there was no rain. Usually the rain creates a mosh pit on the second floor porch where most would wonder if there was female mud wrestling the night before. Guys - don't get any ideas....

We had a few opportunities to head into town and ate dinner at the local restaurant several times. We happened to make it for all you could eat fried chicken night and have to admit it was pretty good. If I recall correctly the cost for the dinner per person was $4.99 - wow!

The next day we headed out to a friend or relative's pond where there was plenty of fish for everyone. The small pond made it easy to see where everyone was and there were plenty of fish to be caught.

Grayson and I will miss everyone in May 2011 and everyone stay safe, healthy and we will see everyone later - take care and hope you enjoy the video!

Don't use your wife's email for hosting or domain expiration warnings

So,
I learned a valuable lesson recently. In late December, 2010 I checked on the status of ChittChatts.com and found the website was lost. I could not believe my eyes, where did the blog go? I quickly logged into Blogger where we post our blogs and the information was still there which was really good news. But why was my blog not showing up when typing in ChittChatts? Oops, the domain registration expired and I no longer owned www.ChittChatts.com. Ugh, what happened?

With a little research I found out that I originally placed the domain name under Jennifer's email address and she was getting all the expiration notices which she....you got it, ignored. When you lose a domain it goes into a holding pattern for about three months before the public gets access to buy the domain. Most of the time when you have good Domain names you lose the domain name when it goes public. What I did not know is you pay a pretty big premium to grab your domain name when it goes into a holding pattern. I am cheap so I figured I would risk it.

So I marked the date ChittChatts.com went public and rolled the dice. The dice came up and I was able to grab ChittChatts again! So, after redirecting the website DNS servers, learning about CNames, and a few other things everyone can at least find the website again. Soon I will change over the hosting to be with GoDaddy but for now it is working with Blogger and I am happy. More in a bit and sorry it has been so long since my last post. There is plenty to catch everyone up on!