What is it about Elmo?

I mean really!

Sesame Street struck gold with that one. How does he have such a grip on children?
Let me know if you figure it out.
r

The Vocabulary as of Nov. 14, 2011

Hannah is quite the talker - lots of sounds coming out of that girl these days. Some of them, I suspect, actually have meaning behind them. The first of these (yes, her first word!) was......

Uh Oh

 Yes indeed. If an object leaves her hand and heads for the ground, you can be sure an "uh oh" is not far behind... and there is plenty of that going on these days. Hannah accidentally drops a block, "Uh oh." If Hannah looks at you, grabs some food, and drops it off the side of her high chair, "Uh oh." Hannah throws all of her toys out of her crib at night - yes, "Uh oh." The apple doesn't fall far, as they say. I'm told by a reliable source that my first sentence was, "Uh oh, bloke it." It must be genetic.

Other words in her ever-expanding lexicon:

"Whoa!" This is uttered in any time of excitement (read: all the time)

"Hewoh" This is said when Hannah is feeling sociable. Sarah still laughs thinking about H's birthday party at cake time. We put her in the high chair and pushed her up to the table to meet her cake. She looked at the massed assemblage around her and piped, "Hewoh!"
It was a hit.

And of course, "No!" complete with shaking head. Her comic timing with this one is something special and had Grandpa Wayne laughing on a regular basis. "Hannah, you want some avocado?" "No." "Hannah, you ready for night night?" "Noooo!" Sometimes she just shakes her head and smiles. Whether she's just having fun or practicing for later years is anyone's guess.

Fall Festival & Pumpkin Huntin'

 Fall is our favorite time of year. Great weather, nature's colors, and the season's flavors all make this the finest of the year's four quarters. Each year, Watkinsville (Athens's neighbor city to the south) hosts a great fall festival. It's the kind with pony rides and hay rides, local arts and crafts and local music. Everybody goes: the parents with their children, the middle schoolers go to hang out with their friends. Now that I have been freed from my weekend of restaurant servitude, how could we not go?

The weather was a comfy 70 something and the ground was dry after the week's rain.

We walked and walked. We saw all kinds of crafts, food, face painting, hair feathers, pop-guns, etc. But the only thing we actually waited in line for was...

          KETTLE KORN!

And wait, we did. It took us 20 minutes to wait the line out for this stuff, but I didn't regret a minute after I'd had my first sweet-n-salty bite.  And really - look at these girls! How could I not?

Meanwhile, my social butterflies were making new friends. 

On the way home, we drove by the Baptist Church on South Milledge that always has copious amounts of pumpkins out on their front lawn. After 11 years of swearing that I would get my pumpkin there, I finally did. They have this great method of determining price: a dollar per inch of pumpkin width, height notwithstanding, erring in favor of the customer. We got this pink one for $8!

Everyone was ready for a break after such a busy day

More soon,
r

Cousin Matt Got Married

October is a fine time for a road trip. So much so that Sarah acquiesced to allow Hannah to venture on her longest road trip to date.

It was an eight hour journey by car to Richmond, VA to see my cousin Matt get married. We're still not sure how he conned the poor girl into agreeing. Maybe it has something to do with his rather scatter-shot resume: Historian working at the Virginia Holocaust Museum and unshaven stand-up comedian. Who knows?

The trip up was quite nice and Hannah did beautifully for the entire weekend. It was great to see so much family in one place. I find I'm somewhat starved for occasions like this since my immediate family scattered to the corners of the country.

Pics!

The day we got in, we got settled at the hotel and then headed on over to Dean & Mary's house. It has an amazing, well-built and well-lived-in energy and has changed little since I can remember. A new edition this time, though, was the bottomless pitcher of Mimosa. It was a nice touch.  We went over again the morning of the wedding. Carol & Jerry had just arrived, complete with a new smocked dress for Hannah. Thanks, Carol!

Now, there should be a pic of the ceremony here .... but I forgot my camera.  I did remember to bring it to the reception, but I was thwarted in my photographic ventures by a pine nut finding its way into Sarah's mouth 5 minutes after we arrived. Off to the hospital we went, and there she would stay for the next 16 hours. We were all more than a little displeased at the caterer, who had just cleared S to eat. I'm told Carol laid into the caterer for it, too. Thanks again, Carol.

Benadryl and Epinephrine and O2 masks, oh my.

Since there was no place for me to sit, at the hospital and certainly no place for Lil' H to fray around, H and I were on our own. Really, there was nothing for it but to head back to the reception. Total drag to have been only 2/3 there.

The following pics are ripped from Faceschnook.
Dad and Jerry were taking in the scene.

 

I say again, Hannah was a super-star. No sooner had I gotten back to the party then she was taken from me and passed from one fambly (yes, that's how I spell it) member to the next. Here, Hannah examines her other Uncle Matt while Dean and Anna have a dance party for two in the background.

In honor of Matt S., I didn't shave. In honor of Hannah, I sported a prototype tie. Anna was kind enough not to laugh too hard at either.

Once the party wound down, I headed back to the hospital so H & S could conduct their meal-time ritual. Then it was back to the hotel. That night was the first time they had not been together. H was a very good sport and slept the whole night through.... eventually.

Sarah was released early the next morning. After a little time to recover she felt well enough for us all to head back over to Dean and Mary's for a brunch party. Everyone was there; even this guy who had a really nice gift for Matt and Stephanie-

More soon,
R

In Chi-Town for 18 hours

Today business called. So off to Chicago I went with my bosses, Christian and Mike. In the line of duty I:

- Kissed my wife good by at 6:30 a.m. as she went to nurse down our fussy bebe
- Learned about a new, top-secret, marginally better parking lot at the airport
- Flew to Chicago. It was cold and rainy.
- Toured a world-class bakery guided by the COO, Director of Ops, and the top sales rep. They gave us pretzel croissants (awesome!), fresh sourdough boule (awesomer!), and three flavors of ruggelah straight out of the oven (awesomest!!)
- Saw the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot hotels and the Sears Tower (Beuler? Beuler?)
- Supped and drank wine with a Fortune 1000 CEO. I ordered for the table - yes, he paid. Ate bacon-wrapped dates (awesomester!!)
- Fell asleep at the Hilton (in t-minus 5 minutes...) 

All in a day's work, right?
Right?

Home tomorrow afternoon. I hope I'll be in time to get to Ted's Most Best with my favorite girls!
ah, this sweet, charmed life...
r

___________________
The next day...

Bright and sunny, coffee in hand, I strolled through Millennium Park and Grant Park while my co-workers were in a meeting.
Thank you, Chicago!

Jeans & T-Shirt Day!

Really - is there anything more comfortable?
r

Dad & Marainna Come to Visit

..... a while ago now.  But the visit is well worth commemorating here on this sporadically maintained blawg of mine. Dad came on a Friday and Marianna joined us the following day. It was a great weekend of nice weather, farmer's markets, brunch spots, classic car shows (complete with Edsels), bourbon and Grand Marnier, dinner guests, bike rides (yes, Dad too), and one awfully cute bebe.

Though many of the details have since escaped me in the weeks since the visit, one event looms large in this writer's mind: Dad's gonna get a bike! And it all started here. More on this later. As with Mom and Laura's visit, I was not as snap-happy as I have been in the past. I'm in a photo/blawg rut, I guess. I'll try to pick it up.

On to the pics!

A generation up and a generation down. It's still weird to think I'm a parent.

Baby 4; Daddy 0

A dinner Party! Who's trying to steal whose thunder?

Hannah is getting fast!

Athenian sandwich on Houstonian bread.

More soon, I'm pretty sure.
r

Speaking of Modeling...

'nuff said.

Did I ever tell you about.... (again)

Well - that first one went so quickly I had to just keep on going.

Did I tell you that NASA just found a planet that orbits two starts? Think about that for a minute! Star Wars, right? F'real! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/science/space/16planet.html

16 million miles separate the two stars!

Even cooler- Did I tell you that Master Sam Harwell is showing promise for his future in the fashion world as he defies convention with his sister's Polly Pockets. 

3 dresses- no head. Paris watch out!

Yes- your mind just got blow twice, didn't it?
More soon
r

Did I ever tell you about...

So, I've been struggling to figure out a way that I won't procrastinate posts. I love looking back at my big, involved posts but Man, they take a while to do! To that end I hereby introduce what may very well become a series of quick and effortless posts; usually no more that a pic and a caption.

Okay, first one. Here goes:

Did I ever tell you about...

That time I helped dig up a dinosaur?!

Hadrosaur rib cage, pelvis, tail, and femur - Somewhere in eastern North Dakota

Cool, huh? Ask me about it sometime!

Destination Birthday Partay!

Lucian and Mama handle the candles

Over a month ago now (yep - still catching up) I drove my lil' ole '89 Toyota truck up to Asheville, NC to be with some of my best friends on the planet in order to help celebrate the 23rd anniversary of Vivian's 17th birthday. Bennett and Vivian and their two sons Lucian and Jules, live in Brooklyn. Most of the party attendees were from the south but nobody was from Asheville itself. Everyone drove, thus making just being there together that much more special. To top it all off, Viv wanted a pig roast. So 117 lb Porky Bacon Pig (as he came to be known) gave himself to the cause. This pig was more of a Phoenix, it seems, for after Bennett buried it 4' in the ground, on a bed of red-hot rocks, it emerged as the best dern pulled pork I've ever had. Here's how it went...

The affair was well attended. 

Cook pig: Check. Open cooked pig: um...

 Porky Bacon Pig was rubbed with spices, stuffed with pineapple and butternut squash, and wrapped in banana leaves and burlap.

"You want us to....EAT that??!"

Mama V took the pictures

 This was my first introduction Jules, a cute and mellow little guy. I was stunned by his New Yorkese ability to sleep through most anything.

 

Papa B and Baby J.

4 Boys - Me, Toph, B, and PBP's head, which is prolly on B's bookshelf at home

Toph and B put things back the way they were.

 And then we roasted marshmallows.

What pig pit?

V enjoys sitting. B enjoys a marshmallow.

Happy Birthday, Vivian. 40 more; better, wiser, happier.

The Haps of Late...

Yep - standing. That was the last time we put the swaddle on her.

"Ha! No, I'm not going to wash those dishes, Dad!"

6 teeth - things are looking up

I actually like the accordion. H, though, is just interested in the leather straps.

Practicing for the bike seat

Standing everywhere. And she can get there, too.

At the end of the day, there's nothing like some good old-fashioned relaxation... while mama folds clothes

Mom, Lo, and Ash.... oh, and my birthday

Where's Ashley?

 So how bad have I been about keeping up with this blog? Ril, ril bad- that's how bad. A month ago I turned 35 years young and my Mom, my sis, and my niece came out to share in the joy and I'm only now getting around to telling the world about it.

It was a great weekend (if sweltering). I only had the presence of mind to keep my camera around me for the first day of their visit. If this blawg is any indication, my camera seems to be the only way things get remembered in my life. Case in point, only the first 1.5 hours of the visit actually happened; the Georgia Aquarium was a dream - my party at Memorial Park, and all the people who came to well-wish me, heat-induced hallucinations.

Here's what really happened:

My sister and her daughter sat in the pecan cathedral of our back yard in blissful peace.

 

Then we all went inside and the Wild Rumpus started!

 

...Until Mom cried, "Stop!" and everyone mellowed out. Ashley paid Mom back all the money Lo and I had ever bummed off of her (Thanks, Ash!). 

 

Then Hannah told Mom a really dirty joke.

 

...And then crawled off to cook me the finest meal I've ever eaten. 

 

It was the best birthday ever - and it wouldn't have been if Mom and Lo hadn't bent over backwards to get themselves here. Thanks, ladies. Indebted. 

All true, I swear. 

-r

Yay Bikes! My quiver.

Yes, Sarah will roll her eyes when she sees this, but I'm doing it anyway.  I have four (4) complete bikes and each serves a different purpose. Here they are:


First up is my geared Cyclocross bike. If you missed my, "What is cyclocross?" post way-back-when, follow this link.

Contemporary: aluminum frame, carbon fork

As if that's not bad enough, some of us do this on bikes with only one gear. Below is my SSCX (single-speed cyclocross) bike.

Traditional: Steel frame, steel fork, high spoke-count wheels

 I commute on an old Peugot steel frame from the '80s. Again, just one gear- easier to keep the gears clean. Yes, the blue-white-orange color scheme is completely gratuitous, but really - it looks nice, no?

Deep dish rims and a spoke card. Maybe I am a townie!

 But for long rides on the road, I have one of those new-fangled swoopy carbon fibre things. Crazy stiff and stupid light, this thing will go as fast as I make it (my unofficial top speed is somewhere between a dashing squirrel and a Clarke County public vehicle, speeding, trying to hit said squirrel).

Meeting up for a group ride one morning, an octogenarian stopped in his tracks after seeing my bike. I thought he was going to start on the whole, "You cyclists..!!" thing. Instead he just said, "Pretty."

 Still, all good things must come to an end. The Specialized has been good to me but carbon fibre tends not to age gracefully. I'd rather not wait to see how ungracefully this bike will decline. To that end, I present my new frame:

The Raleigh International, new and improved for 2011, complete with "rock out," courtesy of the most over-qualified bike shop employee in town.

After 100+ years of making bicycles, Raleigh has incorporated new alloy technology into their framebuilding in the last few years. It is my hope that this frame will be my road flagship for many years to come. I'll  post a pic once it's built up.

Thanks for indulging me.
More family-centric stuff soon.
-r