Sunday, June 28, 2009

Flying Bookends

There's going to be a hole in this week's post, but you'd never know it if I hadn't told you.

I have no idea what Riley did Monday through Friday afternoon because I was at State Farm corporate headquarters in Bloomington , Il. for training.

Everyone up there was crying because it was 91 degrees with 10% humidity, but the Texas and Louisiana folks were enjoying the nice, cool respite.


I know you come to read about him, and not me, but let me just say that I hope American Airlines is soon in bankruptcy and every one of their employees that I dealt with over the last 48 hours ends up living in a box with Hantavirus-spewing rats ridden with plague infected fleas. And that's the nicest thing I have to say about that.

After getting back to Lafayette 3.5 hours late and with no luggage, I headed straight up to Bordelonville to meet Joan and Riley. The Paragon Casino in Marksville was home this weekend because Saturday, Uncle Jake got Riley a new aunt, Sara.

The hotel is nice enough. Kinda noisy, but the live alligators in the lobby make up for that. The noise is only a problem for Mom and Dad, because the Vornado fan right by Riley's bed drowns out everything for him.

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(if it didn't he would not have slept yet, thanks to the dog next door that i hope gets adopted by an American Airlines employees soon.)


Sara's dad is a farmer, and Riley loved climbing all over his (not running)tractors. No pics 'cause it was dark by the time I arrived.

By Saturday morning Riley had remembered his favorite game from Florida--- Run Down The Hall.

It's a simple game and requires nothing more than a multi-million dollar hotel to play. (fortunately you can rent those for $100-$150 a day)

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At least one of his other favorite games, Moving Rocks, is a good bit cheaper.

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So that he didn't get too homesick, we had breakfast at Meche's where he loved the lip-smacking donut hole goodness.

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Since we were at a casino, we had to hit the buffet, which means crossing through the casino with the Kid.

He was mesmerized by something. Odds are it was all the flashing lights, but it may also have been all of the sludge from the bottom of the gene pool, who I would guess are all either former, current or future employees of American Airlines.

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Despite walking right up to the edge of the outdoor pool, and almost falling in, he wanted no part of the indoor pool.

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(look at the pot belly on that kid. Pretty impressive for a 15 month old who only weighs 20.5 pounds. definitely got my genes there)



Saturday night, he got all spiffed up to make his wedding debut.
Unfortunately, he's long-waisted so his shirt would only stay tucked for about 30 seconds at a time.

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It was an outdoor wedding in June in Central Louisiana. You can kinda guess how it felt.
But there was lots of shade, plenty of industrial fans , and it wasn't a Catholic wedding, so everyone survived.


Riley didn't have to do much but walk holding hands with my brother and Sara's sister, so he lived up to his role as token cute little boy. Despite his minimal duties, he was fully mentally focused before the ceremony.

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After the ceremony, he needed to perk up, so he did a little warm up flying with Uncle Eli.

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Then Dad brought in the big guns (or less fear of legal liability).

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and since he's getting a little heavy for the traditional Uncle Eli pose, Anthill joined in.

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At the reception he played shy for a little while before finding a chick to slow dance with.

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What a stud.

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Then uncle Eli solidified his godfather fitness by doing the Thriller dance for the crowd. A godfather should be a strong moral compass. Appreciating the works found on the Thriller album (my first non kid record) is a definite indicator of moral strength.

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One really great amenity of the hotel was that the pillows were really fluffy. They sucked to sleep on (ok 'cause I pack my TP anyway)

But they make a great crash pad for playing Stuntman, a Riley favorite.

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PS- at his 15 month ped appointment he clocked in at 50% height and head, but still 5% weight. Maybe he can be a distance runner. I bet he could run from here to Chicago faster than American Airlines could get me or my bags there.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Speed Slide

Pretty busy, so keeping it short.

I complained last week that it was hot, but it really is hot.
So hot that we got our Johnson's to go. Now you know it's hot.

It's supposed to be over 100 degrees this week, and with just enough humidity to not rain, but still keep it miserable.

Can't wait till festivals in the fall to remind me why we stay. (aside from the sickening thought of taking another Bar exam)

Riley got to spend part of the weekend with his Nanny. Friday evening we headed over to Anna's house for her mom's 30the birthday party.

It was Riley's first real chance to hang with a group of kids, from2-4 years old, and he did pretty well.

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Most of the boys were too big for him to play with so he just watched the girls. (something that will probably be a familiar theme given his growth rate and genetic predisposition for miniature-ness.)

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Saturday morning we hit up the zoo right as they were opening to avoid the mercury misery. Still that was only moderately successful.

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We need to bring his Nanny more often because she attracted all of the mosquitoes that would usually eat me and him up. That's a valuable human resource.


As usual, his favorite part was the slide.

He accomplished his first "sit up all the way slide" which was pretty cool.

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He doesn't quite know how to load himself on to the slide any way but head first, so we let him give that a shot.

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But, everything was a little too sticky from the humidity and he got jammed up half way down, requiring emergency extraction by dad and nanny.

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Saturday evening my family and Joan's parent came over for a little cookout. Of course, with the heat, cooking in would have been much more pleasant, but it was fun anyway. Since I was busy cooking though, no pics.

That's about it.

He gets to be in his first wedding next week. If he does well, we will definitely hire him out to anyone who does not have a cute enough toddler boy to walk in their wedding.

We've got good rates, I promise.

To make up for the lack of content, here's a few cute shots.


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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Nutty Drivers

It's hot.
It hasn't rained in a couple of weeks and isn't supposed to for at least one more.
And it's hot.


I consider myself a negligibly smart guy, and I used to have a pretty good memory.

Yet in the span of our six "fall/winter/spring months" I always manage to forget how hot it gets for the other 6 months.

oh well. life goes on (indoors or pre-sunrise)

The latest greatest thing around our house is books. They're no longer just for chewing, you know.

Riley will now bring you a book, sit down, and let you read it (usually).
It's the weirdest thing.

He's gotten to the point where he wants a book before his milk in the morning. A few days ago he wouldn't even let me get him out of bed, he just wanted a book delivered to him.
Whatever keeps him quiet in the truck is fine by me.
And I hope he enjoys it now, because high school/college/grad school have a tendency to kill that pleasure.

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We stocked up on new books today and even (accidentally) got a book with a jeep in it, giving him one less word he's got to learn.



Last Sunday, before it was unbearably hot, we headed over to Ryan's house for a BBQ and some of PK's famous family-secret salsa.
Here's where it comes in handy that Gabe and Riley are so close in age, because they have reliable playmates at our gatherings.

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Riley had a blast paying with Gabe, making a new friend, Ms. Candace, and showing Mr. Ryan that you must always guard your plate with toddlers around, lest you have veggies stolen, partially chewed and returned to the mix.

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Of course, the 15 month old who still wears 6 month shorts, still has a wide foot and can't even fit into the 18 month shoes at BRU.
So, once again we spent half a mortgage payment to order him some extra wide shoes.
They actually make some cool kids shoes if you look around.

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Our basic rule for dressing him is (with the exception of onesies) his clothing should be miniature versions of what an adult would wear.
If I wouldn't wear it, he probably won't.

Imagine any outfit from friggin Strasburg Children blown up into adult sizes. You'd only see that on some pervy basement dweller website, never in the real world.

freaks

(unfortunately such a site is the first google hit for "adult in kids clothes." Always think twice before you click "search.")


Saturday, we headed down to Erath to visit Joan's grandparents, bearing gifts of pulled pork and potatoe salad (I prefer the Quayle spelling)
You'll never guess where we got the pork, but it rhymes with Jons Suns Boo Con-Air.

Ok maybe you will.

Down in the country Riley had a few firsts:

His first close up look at an armadillo......... which he wanted to end as soon as possible.

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His first tractor ride............. which he wanted to end as soon as possible.

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and his first pedal boat ride......... which he tolerated fairly well.

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On the way back, he puked all over himself while we were still 20+ minutes from home.
I've got no pics, but you can smell my truck if you don't believe me.

That evening, we headed over to a new mexican restaurant called La Pagua for dinner with my fam.
It's in the same shopping center as Baskin Robbins on Johnston.
They just opened this week. I've gone once at lunch and once at night and it was pretty good both times.
An expected tex-mex menu with a few more authentic items thrown in for street cred.
The owner used to work at Baranda's.

I recommend giving it a try (that's my non-Johnson's product plug of the week)
Oh, and they are still in the process of applying for their liquor permit, so the owner told us it is BYOB if you want to drink.

Just don't try to get your drink from Daiquiris Supreme, the hottest daq shop in town (ewww.. too soon?)


joining us at dinner and for a sleep over was his long lost godmother, Lesley. (i'm not sure if they've chosen a name yet)

She unfortunately caught him in a pretty demonic post-nap mood, but he eventually warmed up to her and made her read him some books.

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Once the books were done, he proudly showed us all that he knows where a lens cap goes.

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Sunday, we tried to beat the mercury to the zoo and were able to catch a few animals before their heat stroke kicked in.
The zoo here is actually pretty pitiful, but he doesn't know that, so its still fun to go.
Now if only they'd enact a "no smoking" policy. (which I really expected them to have, until I asked. But I guess that's how you keep the cave-dweller crowd coming. No offense to all smokers, just the trashy, inconsiderate, illiterate, over-breeding ones that pack the zoo.)

I'd be a bad husband if I didn't include the gem of Joan's day, catching a rooster in mid-crow.

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and to go out on a low note-- We didn't ride the train this week.................. because the driver looked a little squirrelly.

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