Chartin'

Tuesday was Riley's second birthday.

Doesn't seem like 2 years ago that I was stealing someone's wi-fi at Women's & Children's Hospital between trying to sleep on a hard couch and occasionally being interrupted by complaints about the pain of childbirth or something petty.

But anyway, time has flown.

Riley celebrated his birthday by having a doctor's visit with no shots.




If he'll tolerate the Flu-mist this year, he won't have any shots until he turns 4.

The doctor liked what she saw when his weight registered on the chart for the first time in a year and a half.

She didn't like what she saw on one of the developmental questionnaires where I answered "yes" to "Do you ever think that you child is deaf?" and some other equally obvious mistake.

She's cool though, so we laughed it off.


Wednesday, we headed down to Abbeville for a photo shoot with Beau Thomas, of JLang Photography.




Riley was not super-cooperative, but Beau did a good job wrangling what he could out of him.
And, in a small world way, it turns out that Beau is Anna's mom's godmother's son.
At least that's what I heard from my uncle's roommate's nephew's cousin's aunt.



Thursday, was the first Rhythms on the River of the spring, and Cedric Watson and Buckwheat Zydeco were playing. Killer line-up.

Riley played it cool until he and Gabe carjacked some innocent little girl's ride.






But Anna loves him even if he is a violent criminal.




and I got to enjoy one of my favorite beers. I'd probably enjoy it more often if I could have even a single drink without getting a headache.
My body lives in the wrong state.

(Maybe my body is telling me I may be better suited for Colorado or Northern California)



On the way to River Ranch, Riley kept repeating a phrase that lets us know we've raised him right.


(English translation- "I'm going see some bands")



Friday, the weather was perfect and there was another great band to be seen at Bach Lunch--- The Howdies, and Taco Sisters burritos to be eaten.

Riley even took a short nap in the parking garage just to get prepared.






Unfortunately, the sound equipment and its operator were horrible, so the band's full effect didn't come across, but they played fine anyway.
Neither Riley nor Gabe noticed a difference.






That afternoon we learned a new game called "Daddy jump off castle and scare me"





then a game/assault & battery called "Knock,Knock, Wake Up."






That evening, Riley unveiled his new-found ability to climb out of Jimmy's dog door on the patio.




and that is why he will not be in a "big boy bed" until high school. (when he needs room for chicks)



Saturday morning we took him to the epicenter of Amuhrican commercialism--- Sam's Club.






an hour and a half and an obscene amount of dollars later, the Highlander's back suspension was sagging like an episode of Golden Girls and we were rolling with a lifetime supply of Slim Jim's, ketchup and paper towels. Goooo team!

as a humorous aside, I heard the following (verbatim) statement from a 10 or 11 year old kid to his dad, in the liquor section : "Dad, Jack Daniel's is so good that other wines, I mean beers, are made from its old bottles."
Sip on that beer drinkers.


Our Sam's adventure was followed by a tip to Joan's Aunt Connie's for egg dyeing with Caroline.
The photos should tell the story that one kid was concerned with the finished product, while one kid just wanted to play with stirrers and drop eggs.









Fortunately, preferences aligned and one dad was willing to dig in and help , while the other is repulsed by vinegar unless it is mixed with salt and sprinkled on Zapps or Pringles.






But Riley found a creative outlet in Connie's piano.





and got some laughs out of Granny riding the clown bike.






Then we made the mistake I am paying for today, at least when anything occurs to my left.
We hit the trampoline.






Riley was too chicken to jump for himself, so he sat in one of our laps while the other bounced.
It was fun, but unwise for this old body. (and yes, I now know that there is no way to look cool in a photo while jumping on a trampoline.)








Beware the Double Bounce






That evening we tried Saketini, a sushi restaurant on Albertson's Parkway.
Their regular rolls were alright.
Their spicy tuna was really hot.

What was awesome though was the Candy Cane Roll ($13) and the Tuti-Fruiti Roll ($14).
Pretty pricey, but worth trying.

C'mon, who-da thunk 15 years ago that the metropolis of Broussard would someday be the home of three sushi restaurants?

Behold $70 worth of food.




Eating healthy ain't cheap.
Maybe that's why we don't do it much.
Yeah, that's my story.



Speaking of eating habits (do I ever not?) my immediate family gathered Sunday morning at Another Broken Egg.






So let's play a guessing game.

Which plate belongs to a former college athlete who still works out and maintains a healthy lifestyle, and which one belongs to a lazy lawyer who doesn't work out and can only do a pull up by virtue of weighing just slightly more than most 10 year old girls?






it's not a trick question.

But I enjoyed the hell out of my cinnamon roll french toast with cream cheese icing and whipped cream.
and fruit.
Don't forget that I ate fruit.


And, by chance, as Riley and I were hunting bugs and sniffing flowers outside while everyone else ate, Anna's family arrived and my Mom got to see her two grandsons and proxy granddaughter for Easter.






Before you click away, this is one of two posts for the week, so you're not quite done.
Keep reading. (it's worth it 'cause I tell you how you won't have to read much anymore)

Just Like Babs & Brett, Cher

2 years and 5 months ago, I created a dinky layout on Blogger, posted the news that Joan was pregnant with our first gender unknown (at the time) child, and mailed the link to a handful of family and friends.

Back then, he/she/it looked like this





Since then, I've logged on 173 times to write about our life.


Sometimes we were at the beach, and sometimes we were in a bad dream that we'll never wake up from, but we always had pictures.

This has been my haven from the wasteland of Sunday evening TV, and a pressure relief valve for the corny, weak jokes floating in my head.

It's been a way for far flung relatives to feel like they're here, a way for my Dad to proudly showoff his grandson to his friends at work, and a way for us to preserve memories that are too often crowded out by the small stuff that won't really matter in a few days/week/years.


Now, 25 lbs and over 25,000 hits later (from all over the globe), the star of the show looks like this.







As anyone with a kid knows, at first everything is new.
After a while, things settle down and start to get routine.

Sure, he's barely two and uses sentences more complex than half the population of our state, but that doesn't translate to a blog post.

It started getting harder and harder to make something happen here every Sunday, so a few months back, I set an arbitrary deadline for myself--- I would post regularly until he turned two, then I would walk away (kinda).

Tuesday of this week marked his second birthday, and, with that, my deadline.

I now officially enter (semi) retirement.

I have removed my self obligating edict to post here every Sunday.

But I'm not quitting cold turkey.

I mean, Shifty Shellshock has been on three seasons on Celebrity Rehab and he's still smoking meth.

Why would I be any different?


I don't want to set the bar higher than ground level, or create any expectations, but, in the future, I will only post when I feel that there is something that has to be said or seen.
Imagine that.
Quality over quantity.
How novel?


Maybe it'll gives me the motivation to live an interesting life, in hopes of coming here and getting my little fix.

Or maybe not.


Maybe I'll actually learn Spanish or learn to play the beautiful Ovation Adamas carbon fiber guitar sitting in the guest room that I've never really committed to.

The possibilities are endless and limited only by my patience and pain tolerance. (shucks, the future doesn't sound quite so rosey anymore)



I know. I hear you through the interweb tubes and you are saying "Why all of the melodrama for the semi-end of a dinky blog about some kid?"
And for that question I have no answer.


But I do want to thank everyone who has read, commented, emailed, and even said "hey" in real life.

Since it probably won't be worth a click to stop by once a week, as many people do, I ask that you please sign up over in the right sidebar to receive notifications, via email, when new posts come.


Riley doesn't like it when people stop paying attention to him, as demonstrated by the change in his demeanor when Anna became distracted during their Ring Around the Rosey show.





Like Barbara Streisand, Brett Favre and Cher, we'll be back, and we hope you're here when we return.

(maybe we shouldn't try to be like three people I can't stand. oh well)

Scaled Back

So, for those of you not in the know, Toy Story 1 & 2 came out this week on BluRay and DVD.
We watched TS2 on Blu Ray and it is awesome.
It was almost like there were a bunch of toys actually playing in our TV.
I highly recommend going out and getting them both. They've got some pretty good deals going if you do a little net searching first.

and don't forget, before you buy a stand-alone Blu Ray player, compare its costs to a PS3.
Going with the PS3 is probably worth it.



On to the weekend:
Loyal readers will remember that for Riley's first birthday we had a crawfish boil for over 75 people (see "Its Big and Fun" in the right sidebar)
This year, for a number of reasons, we decided to scale things back alot.
Saturday we had just our immediate families, Riley's Nanny and her beau, Jeff, over.

The small scale gave Riley a chance to give and get some cousinly love (appropriately, not hillbillily)






Of course, if you've been here before, you know that this week's title has nothing to do with our bathroom scale.

Never a family to make healthy decisions, we opted not just for cake, but also for bread pudding from Johnson's Boucaniere.






the local bread pudding looked even better on the Lafayette landmark plate that Eli and 'Manda got us for Christmas.


(click to get to the full size w/ detail)



The cake was from Anjo's.
We've had it before when they call it Mardi Gras cake, but this week it is Easter Cake.

three different layers of cake: yellow, raspberry and almond.
Two different fillings: strawberry and White
Coated with a light whipped icing.

It is really good, especially chilled.





Riley was eager to dig in and had to be held back






and was surprisingly successful at blowing out the candle.





Riley and Caroline enjoyed.





Frankly, one of the reasons for a scaled down party is we wouldn't have room for a whole lot of presents. But Riley did like the "new toys" he got.

While I hoped he would hop right on his new Strider bike, he refused.
He likes walking with it, but just not in the straddle position.





but its got a spinning wheel, which is all he requires for a premium plaything.





and to go along with the new Toy Story DVDs, he got Woody and Buzz toys, and Toy Story coloring supplies, along with a bunch of helicopters and a new, giant Tonka truck.




(in an attempt to excuse the character themed commercialism that we usually try to eschew, here's my justification for all of the Disney stuff: We're trying to prep him for our Disney trip in December, and since the TS characters are everywhere, we're trying to get him to know and love them. But I still stick to my two Commandments. Thou shalt not bring Elmo into my home; and Thou Shalt not bring Barney into my home, lest ye face the wrath of.....me? scary, huh?)


Lesley, having recently been to the Super Bowl, tried to teach Riley to catch.
Unsuccessful in this take.





But Jeff, who was at the big game with her, did better with handoff technique





To finish off the evening, we ordered from BJ's.
Hard to beat a good old Full House.
and for those that don't know, their sausage pizza uses breakfast style sausage. Killa!



(don't forget about 40% off Mondays)



Sunday, being the nerds we are, we were cooking for the week by 8am.
The weather was nice, so for the first time in months, I cranked up the Egg and seared up some fajita meat from HEB.




It should be good once we finish all the cake and bread pudding that we've been substituting for meals.



Later, despite previously witnessing juvenille violent crime and a train derailment (catch a first person account at the Tanory Tantrum) we headed to the zoo.

Since I'm pretty open here I'll let you know our reason: The reason we went to the zoo was that he saw his stroller in Joan's car and said, "That's Riley's stroller. I go see animals at zoo."

So, of course, we went to the zoo. Who's the Boss?


Despite the crowd that would seem trashy even by WalMart standards, and the general filth that permeates the zoo, its actually a pretty cool resource to have nearby.

You can get close to the animals and run up a hill.
That's 100% compliance for certification as an official "Cool Zoo to a 2 Year Old"






The highlight of the trip was that he got to ride to lunch in Nonnie's Jeep.




Lunch at Royal Panda was typical. Riley acted like a ham and Caroline ate like an adult.






the little bit he did eat consisted mainly of his first ice cream cone.





But, as you can see, he is pretty inefficient and not understanding that eating an ice cream cone is a race against the clock.





then, since he dropped his cool guy sunglasses into the monkey moat at the zoo, we were forced to bravely venture into the mall.
He actually fit in a little (to the extent that, like most people there, his clothes were too small for him.)



(I know, those shots have nothing to do with that stament, but I like 'em so i'll post 'em)



Finally, a video clip to give all you mothers out there a heart attack.

A game Uncle Eli and I created this summer that we call "That Thing Where We Each Hold an Arm and a Leg and Spin Him."
Riley likes it.





Unfortunately Necessary Disclaimer- We are very careful not to swing him too hard and not to put any shock forces on his joints. 'Bout as safe as you can be and still have fun. But thanks to me, we've almost met our deductible this year, so whats a little ER visit?