We live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The relaxed pace, wholesome people, and waterfront atmosphere create a wonderful place to settle and raise a family. Ashley and I moved here in the fall of 2004 and have never regretted it. We were married in 2005 and enjoyed our life together quite a bit.
In 2007 we outgrew our two bedroom townhouse and moved to a larger cape cod the first month of 2008. Our first child, a little girl, arrived in the spring of 2009, followed by a second girl in the fall of 2011.
Our house is rounded out by a Shiba Inu dog, Teddy, who enjoys curling up on the couch with us as long as some part of his body is intruding into our laps.
What We Watch
Our family media demands are pretty modest, I think. We have both cable and Internet service from the local provider, Atlantic Broadband. For about $150 a month, we can enjoy a couple of hundred digital channels, including almost 100 HD channels and all the entertainment that the Max Internet Service can download. We subscribe to NetFlix (currently streaming only) and occasionally rent an on-demand film. The DVD player we received a couple of Christmases ago (thanks Kenny & Gemma!) has a YouTube Widget, which allows us to do everything from learn about the majestic Honey Badger to host an impromptu dance party with a few remote strokes. We have a moderate DVD collection, centered pretty heavily around comedy, TV shows, and, increasingly, children's movies.
I watch many historic and late-model TV shows through NetFlix, but also do appreciate holiday marathons of Dirty Jobs and other Discovery productions. I have one current-season must-watch show, How I Met Your Mother, although if the writers don't get around to revealing more clues in the next couple of weeks, I may write that one off until the finale. I get most of my news online, as I prefer to read it with my own biased tone as opposed to listen to the tones of others. For sporting coverage, I really only actively watch football (Go Eagles!) and maintain a casual interest in other sports/seasons.
Ashley watches many current network television comedies, such as HIMYM, Whitney, and The Office. She's a big fan of the House Hunters series, particularly the International shows, as well as many Travel and Food network shows. Sometimes, she'll wander past Bravo or MTV in search of a guilty pleasure show such as an installment of the Real Housewives franchise.
Hannah, our oldest, actively follows the adventures of The Fresh Beat Band, Dora the Explorer, the Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies, and Team Umi Zoomie. On special "Daddy-Daughter Date Nights" we both will enjoy munching popcorn while a Star War plays on the living room screen (her current favorite is Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back...smart kid!).
Lastly, since Theresa is just a hair older than one, she'll watch pretty much whatever is on!
Our Realization
Due to the kids as the onset of pre-middle-age-ness, Ashley and I don't get out to see movies, concerts, and other such forms of entertainment as much as we used to. This has resulted in our overuse of the TV and attached cable box. Also, the children have taken to their favorite shows, which is frustrating when we want to play and they want to veg. We started to take a long, hard look at our TV habits and noticed that we watched more reruns of older shows and on demand. Those current shows that we did enjoy watching we could catch online a day or week after the show aired. Why were we pouring nearly $2 grand a year into this model of entertainment?
