Category: Lex

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Crawfishfest

After choosing not to go to the Fest the last 2 years because of rain, I decided the kids were old enough to handle a little rain, so I committed to this year by buying tix in advance.

Sho ’nuff, rain!

The kids were champs. I was right, they could handle a little rain. It was the lotsa rain that came later in the day that they couldn’t handle. And I can’t blame them, I’d had about enough by then, too.

Saw the Rebirth Brass Band and Marcia Ball. Ate Red Beans & Rice, BBQ Shrimp, Cachon de Lait (roast pork), and we all had some Alligator Sausage.

We also got some cool hats.

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Fall Family Sportsnet Presents



FRIDAY NIGHT
T-BALL!

We had our first neighborhood T-Ball game Friday night. 20 kids (too many), 1 hr of chaos, 1 minor injury (Lex took a linedrive off the side of his head, finished the game, tho).

We all agree, wiffle-ball from now on.


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Lex’s Birthday Dinner

We went out to dinner for Lex’s birthday Friday night. We brought the kids next door, too… Emily and Will, Lex and Charlotte’s best friends.

We went to the local Japanese Steak House, a no-star but convenient, very kid-friendly, reasonably-priced, reasonably-healthy-food establishment.

Lex got to wear a crown during dessert. At least I think it’s a crown. And they took our picture with a Polaroid that they’ll put on the wall with a hundred others…. gee, I wonder why they’re so nice to do that?

We’re having a party for him this Sunday in the backyard. The yard’s a bit damp right now, always is in the spring, and we’re hoping it’ll be drier this weekend. We’ll have gobs of kids, relay races, a pinata (which seems to be standard now), and hopefully no injuries on the see-saws.

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New Cousins

Well, newly met cousins. Lisman’s cousin Ruth (Lis’ father’s brother’s daughter) and her husband Keith have adopted 2 kids, Alex and Andrea. Now 9 and 6 1/2, they were just months old when adopted. We’d never met the kids, they live in Idaho. But they spent a few days with us this week during a 2 week East Coast vacation.

The kids hit it off famously. The first day here they all got to play, along with a bunch of neighborhood kids, in the backyard. I think that cemented the friendships. By the time I got home that night they were best buddies and definitely family. Hangin’ in PJs helps too, I guess.

Pretty cool. From the mouths of babes and all that, y’know? Quite heartening.

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Lex’s 1st Axe

Lex got a guitar today. It’s a Squier MA-1, made by Fender. Very much a real guitar, 3/4 scale. He’s wanted one since before Xmas, and has been very patient as I researched guitars and looked into lessons.

I told him from the outset that I would get him a real guitar only if he was willing to take lessons. I have a good friend (some of you know Gerard) that used to teach young kids. He agreed to teach Lex. Even tho Lex is a bit young for guitar lessons, I think it could work well with Gerard, as we’ve discussed my approach (at this point) is mainly to maintain Lex’s interest in music, not to put him on a learning schedule. To facilitate an appreciation of music and musical instruments, to give him an enjoyable learning environment, to teach him to respect the instrument itself… he already knows quite well that this is not a toy, and he’s cherishing it. I think it’s the first thing he’s owned that he realizes can’t be easily replaced. I sure hope he keeps that attitude. (Fact is, he wants to smash it like Townsend. I think I’ll steer him towards burning it like Jimi.)

I hope I’m making the right decision, cuz he’s so young. I didn’t discourage the idea, but tried not to encourage it either. Like I said, he was patient. And he was persistent. Even Xmas didn’t distract him.

Now I want to get a piano in the house. So I can take lessons.

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Christmas Cards

I finished this year’s Xmas card last night and I decided to put these up here for nostalgia and posterity.

I never much appreciated the cards I got each year with friend’s kids pictured. As a rule they were either crappy snapshots or cheesey Sears photos. (Ken, your pix were always the exception to the rule.)

Once I had children I recognized the motivation to send pictures of one’s kids was awfully powerful, but I wanted to do it a bit differently. I started in 2001, when Lex was barely 8 mos old.

2001

The actual motivation behind this picture was the fact that our house was so incredibly messy, every shot we had of the kids had a background of clutter and crap. So I made a “virtual room” for them. Nothing in the shot is real, except for the kids (and the scans of photos, tho the frames are digital…. note the World Trade Towers).

Mommy would have been proud of the shine on those floors, huh?

2002

This was done by Lis on her first and only foray into the world of digital imagery. One long night on the computer, a crash course using a program called Painter, and she produced this masterpiece. A Winter Wonderland hand-drawn on a computer.



2003

A friend took this shot on a visit to Central Park just after Thanksgiving that year.

It was just too fun (and easy) to pass up.

2004

I was at a loss what to do last year and started searching the Web for a graphic to inspire me. Found an illustration of a Christmas Elf (not a fairy, mind you… an elf). I really enjoyed doing this one and it’s gotten lots of compliments, so I just had to come up with something for this year.





2005

I kinda like what I ended up with this year. Still have mixed feelings about it, tho. It’s not what I originally envisioned, but hey…. that’s the way it goes. Hopefully I got it done in time to get printed and mailed to y’all by Christmas, but if you can’t wait and want to know what it looks like CLICK HERE. If not, we hope to get it to you by Christmas (true, it does look doubtful, but you’ll get it eventually).

Happy Holidays!!

Gary & Lis