Wild biker boy

I'm going to try really hard not to post more than one post every few days because I know it's probably annoying--but I had to post this one. This may not appear as hilarious as it was, but for Adam's and my sake, it's going up anyway.

Last Friday night as Adam and I were eating dinner (Ian had already eaten and was playing in the living room), we heard Ian saying, "Daddy hat. Daddy hat." Soon Ian was running around the kitchen with Lindsay's old motorcycle helmet on backwards. This was really funny; but then Ian ran in to his room and got on his little yellow house bike ("yeyow bike") and began riding it frantically around the house, singing a little tune he made up to the words, "Ma ma ma MAAAA!" If I can upload the video, I will. It was hilarious. Here are the pictures for now. I'll see if I can get the video to work so you can see how funny it really was.

Poor kid memories and a boring baby

Ian and I just spent another weekend in New Jersey with Shelly, Kendall, Damon, and the new baby, Audrey. (Adam had to stay and work, unfortunately.) Liz joined us on Saturday night and Sunday. We loved holding and kissing Audrey. Being with her made me excited for our new baby due to arrive on February 10.

Liz, Shelly, and I spent Saturday night until 3:00 a.m. reminiscing about our childhood, while Kendall kindly listened and added a few things here and there, commenting at last that our childhood resembled Tom Sawyer's. I had always thought every kid grew up that way, but I suppose it really is only the poor kids who get to experience the outdoors like we did: innertubing down the dirty ditch behind our house; collecting snake eggs, duck eggs, and tadpoles; charging 5 cents for "Ferrari" rides on the old lawn mower we painted red; rolling kids down the driveway in empty 20 gallon barrels . . . Those were the days.

With no money for toys or pizza playplaces, kids really get creative. One of the best creations, in my opinion, was Lindsay's umbrella stroller hoisted in to the garage rafters via the garden hose. Michael (my brother), wound the hose around and around the rafters, leaving about 3 feet hanging off to the side. We then piled old coats, pillows, blankets, and various padding on the cement floor underneath the stroller. While one of us climbed up my dad's bookshelves in to it, another would pull the hose as hard as she could, sending the elated kid face-first in to the padding. Whatever token rides we dreamed Showbiz Pizza had, they couldn't have topped that.

Ian and Damon had quite the time together this weekend, of course, paying attention only to each other and "Go, Diego, Go!" We came to the conclusion that Audrey, to them, must be some little doll that makes noise sometimes whom they can't hit, kick, or play with. What a bore.

Aunt Liz sure enjoyed seeing her nephews, though.

Lobsters and such

A frequent ritual for Adam and Ian is to pull up the old, abandoned lobster trap next to the boat. Ian goes nuts when we find little crabs and star fish. We were really lucky yesterday when we found a baby crab, a baby lobster, and a mama crab holding her baby. When Adam handed Ian the baby crab, Ian chucked it so hard, the poor thing probably did a belly flop. Hey, at least they're free now, right?

The traps are placed all over the bay; you know you've found one when you see a bunch of plastic bottles tied in a circle. Adam once ran the boat straight over a trap without noticing. The trap and rope were lodged in the propeller, and he got to take a cold swim with snorkel and fins. Don't let him fool you--he loved it.

Adam's boat is docked next to the Aquidneck Lobster Company, which places a lot of the traps in the bay. Every time we visit Daddy, Ian runs straight up the ramp to the loading dock, and we go see the lobsters. There are always hundreds of lobsters (sometimes 15 lb. ones), but the other tank has live fish and crabs, too. Two weeks ago they caught a small shark and Ian couldn't stop talking about it. "Is da sharka dead?" I even heard him crying the next week in his sleep, "Shark!" I guess kids really remember scary things.

Shelly just had her baby last Wednesday. She's beautiful! Follow the link to her website.

http://web.mac.com/shellyandkendall//iWeb/Site/Home.html

The Ocean State

We live in a beautiful place! With all its frustrations, Newport really is gorgeous. Here are some cheesy pictures of Adam and I looking at the ocean, as well as some pictures of each of us with Ian.

Haircuts for the boys

Last week Adam and Ian got haircuts. It wasn't nearly as entertaining watching Adam getting his haircut, so, naturally, we took pictures of Ian's several faces as he got his. We did manage to get one very cute picture of both together when all was done. Thanks to Milynde (stylist); Daddy; and especially Mater, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Too many now; not enough later

We're new to the blogging thing, but we're excited that we finally have somewhere to unload all of our many photos of Ian. Parents with one child take far too many pictures of that child and have no idea what to do with them. We love (okay, Becky loves) taking pictures of Ian; we just hope we can continue this with the future children we'll love just as much but may not have quite the amount of time for. We think that's where blogs and websites come in. If we can make our website a priority, we can--hopefully--give our future children the amount of pictures they deserve. (So, I [Becky] have a soft spot for the subject since, as the third child, I couldn't find one photo--not one--of me as an infant for my junior high French "Qui est-ce-que? [or whatever the French phrase is]" party. I had to cut myself out of a 4x6 family photo and paste it to a blank sheet of paper. The result was a tiny, rough-cut photo, complete with Mom's hand around my leg.) I hope this blog will help me remember the pain. For now, endure the many pictures of Ian. Enjoy!