distraction

There have only been 2 or 3 weeks in the last 13 months that i haven't made a substantive post, and each of those times I had a good excuse.

I am in that position again. I've got a really good reason for not writing much, but it's too hard to explain with the written word.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and despite my lack of effort, today's post will be an approximately 2,000 entry.


I'll let the visuals do the talking.

Here's my current view and major source of distraction.





I know that's not enough, so here's a shot of the star of the show framing the scene.




Hope everyone enjoys their week. I'm sure we can find plenty to do here in Destin.


Since most of the readers are the womens, Happy Mom's Day.


and if any creep is reading this and thinks they have a chance to go rob our house, be warned, we have a house sitter, and both he and his girlfriend will put a whoopin on you.

Nonstop Beefcake

Good news, Riley has gained about a pound in the last month. He's becoming a Beefcake with our Weight Gain 4000 plan, so the doctor won't be taking him away.

He's developing well brain-wise and is getting good at putting the blue oval into his shape sorting cube.





The only problem is he's still too short to reach in and get it back out.





Otherwise, it was another long, adventure-packed week around these parts.

We started off on Tuesday, by doing something we never do...... we went somewhere after work.

That somewhere was the last UL Softball home game of the year, Senior Night, and Anthill's last home game as a Lady Cajun.





Riley wasn't really into the game, which had a great finish.
He mostly just crawled around and otherwise drew attention to himself.









Thursday, we caught the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Rhythms (spoiler alert: there aren't really twelve of them), and Riley learned the advanced primate skill of digging with a stick.






On Saturday morning, we headed out to Lake Martin for a hike/photo excursion with my parents and Joan's mom

We didn't see as many alligators as last time, but did see a wicked looking and very aggressive caterpillar...





along with evidence that the idiots around here will shoot anything, even in a protected nature preserve, to make their tiny brains forget that they are at the bottom of the evolutionary barrel. Idiocracy, here we come.



For more pics, including lots of litter, Joan's favorite photographic subject matter, check out her Flickr page, linked on the right.


On the hike, Riley showed us all of the different positions that can be attained while sleeping in the Kelty Backpack.







After our adventure, it was lunch time, and you know what that means. I feel like I don't even have to say it. And as usual, it was good.

Next up was Anna's second birthday party, where Riley was lucky enough to get a kiss from the birthday girl.






That picture should cancel out any impression given by his Elton John-like taste in eyewear






Because he showed a lot of interest in the animals at Lake Martin, we made Sunday a zoo day. It is amazing to see how much more
interested he is in the animals than he was just two months ago. I think he really enjoyed himself.

It was a light crowd day, which allowed him to get in the playground without being overpowered by the second-hand smoke smell and negative IQs of the usual Skoal-stained zoo children.

Though mommy was hesitant to let him try, he got to take a trip down the short slide.





He loved it so much, that we spent the next 15 minutes shooting him down the big slide.




He was delighted.


We even raced down once, and he totally whooped me.




That's it for stories.
Now I'll just bombard you with some of my favorite pics of the week.

See you next week, with a post with a slightly different feel.

Love Fest

This is one of those weeks that makes us thankful to live in Lafayette.
It was time again for the annual Festival International de Louisiane.

Basically just a big, free music fest Downtown.

Supposedly, it is a world renowned festival, and there are definitely a number of international travelers in town for it.

For us though, it's just a chance to get outside, hear some good music and see people we often haven't seen since last Festival.

Most of the week, for us, was just laying low, knowing that we would be gone most of the weekend.

Early in the week, Riley got his first fat lip when he tripped over a tiny threshold and ate floor.




Before that though, we hurt him even more by making him wear the "bubble shorts" that Lesley got him. In her defense, she had no idea there was elastic around the legs when she made the purchase.





Riley got to spend one evening playing with Granny Lynn in the two new "beach cabanas" (formerly known as tents) that we got for our upcoming Destin trip.





Friday, I took him down to Bach Lunch where he refused to eat anything but bread pudding. He was in a cranky mood since it was near nap time, but between me, some good western swing and a passing dog, we were able to wrangle a few smiles.







Then I made the mistake of passing the fountain, whereupon he spotted lots of kids playing and immediately started babbling and gesturing.
I wasn't planning on him getting wet, so didn't have a change of clothes, but that shouldn't stop his fun.

He was kinda scared off by some of the bigger kids, and never really got into the spray, but had a blast squatting in about an inch of water and splashing away.







After I thought he was done, he tried to climb back out of his stroller for more.





The first thing he wanted when he was finally through was to put his shoes on. His shoes are his new obsession and he must have them on at all waking moments.

I, of course, had to catch a shot of how goofy he looked, and just happened to catch his Granny Lynn's morning walking partner also passing by.





Once we got back to the Jeep and changed his soaked diaper, he was tired but happy, as evidenced by this horrendous smile.



hopefully next weekend will be nice and we'll get to set up at least one of the couple of pools he got for his birthday. (assuming we spend any time at home.)


Saturday, he got his second big boy haircut before we headed downtown for his second Festival International.

There he got to see lots of friends, family and a few pretty good bands.











He also demonstrated how he gives himself kisses as the wallpaper on Nonnie's cellphone.







In an entirely predictable fashion, we finished the day off with a meal at Johnson's. (try the new pulled pork stuffed grilled cheese sandwich)






Despite it being a very long day, he laughed and clapped and talked the whole way home in the Jeep, which he has really taken a liking to.





Sunday was more festival.
We weren't out there very long, but he spent a good bit of time completely captivated by some girls playing with sidewalk chalk. We really need to teach him not to stare.





That's pretty much it.
Hope all the locals had a good Festival.
And I hope everyone not from here had at least good weather (though i heard it was just as warm in Connecticut as it was here)

Time to put this post to bed.
Unfortunately, unlike Riley, blogging doesn't have a clear sign of when to cut things off.

Our kid just goes into his room, grabs his "blanket" (cloth diaper) and finds a clear spot of floor in your sight line to lay down. Just drop him in bed and the night is done.