Family Festivus

Sorry for taking so long to get these up, everyone, but our Internets have been down. And I hope that no one is offended but I wanted to open and close with the oyster shots because they are a metaphor for all the great food that we ate together last weekend. O wait, they weren't a metaphor for the food, they were the food -- but thank god not all of it. Thanks for the amazing brunch, Mom and Dad!

Hive-fivin' cause its all-u-can-devour!

Exchanging 45th Anniversary anecdotes: Not fair,
Mom is the only one that remembers the details.

In conclusion....

Happy 45th, You Two!

Impossible, you're only just 47 now!

Well anyway, we all gathered around the big Chiwawa table for a feast of Sea and Land, Surf and Turf, Big and Tall tales of love and longevity. Memories!

"A story? You tell it, Honey, No you tell it".

Dad, you wouldn't make a very good fisherman:
it was bigger than that. Mom, you tell it.

Aunt Barbara had lots of input and helped
keep the laughter quotient high.

A part of the peanut gallery!

Don't worry Carol, we'll get you out of there!

Who you lookin at, Willis?

Thanks for sharing, we love you guys!

St Francis and Me

Look here, Mister Francis: this is my turf now so you just watch it.

Who's in da House?

Grandma's in da house! Grandpa's in da house! Aunt Barbara is in da house! And Kian is one lucky little gangsta!

The crib is a dangerous place: Kian trying out his new lid.

Annie's parents are in town and living with us, and the first thing that I have to say about that is.... VACATION! Yeah, they take up so much of the load of taking care of Kian that it really feels like a vacation. The next things that I have to say are how fortunate we are to have them come stay with us, and that they are laid back enough to share our already tiny space with us.

Grandpa Francis was in town with us for just a week, and Grandma will be with us for another 3 weeks. Hurray! And Aunt Barbara from Ohio is here visiting for a week and will be hanging out in Seattle and the Chiwawa. Par-tay! And we're spending lots of quality time with the other Grandparents and our local relations: these are good times!

Last weekend we went to another Mariners game and got to see them wallop their opponents. Here's a few pics of us relaxing in the sun. We also did the Aquarium the other day and I've got a few pictures to share.

Looka-Like-Meter: Resolved!

Remember way back in August of '08 just after El Nino's birth when I posted regarding the Look-A-Like meter? Of course you do, and I'm sure you've been wondering ever since what the results were and exactly which of us looks most like Kian. Well, I finally put our mugs to the test and I think you will find the results rather fascinating.

While Kian and Annie are cute and darling, Daddy is more like sexy and provocative, as I'm sure you'll agree and so most would intuitively bet in favor of Mommy. Anyway, the results below speak for themselves. Here are a few of the actual print-screens as we performed the tests, and we did so several times to assure the utmost accuracy.

Okay, the first test was done with the following pics. Result: drumroll... (click on snapshots to expand):

A dead heat!

So, I plugged in a new picture of Kian in which he has his head thrown back making him look a bit lusty though somewhat dwarfish which I thought would sway the test in my favor, but to no avail, another dead heat.



And so for Test #3 I used yet another picture of Kian and a different one also for Annie. Much to my pleasure, in the picture of Annie she happened to be holding the "Kiki-in-a-Bottle" and the computer simulator actually scanned that face into the equation as well. I had to go with it. The result:

... Annie looks 23% more like Kian when he is crammed into a snow globe. Means nothing.

For the next test I decided to try and fool the computer, but fool it I did not. For the picture of "mother" I inserted a picture of Kian with a Halloween wig on. Result: Kian looks 52% like himself with a wig on. Why not 100%?


But back to the task at hand. For the final and decisive test I... WE!... inserted a picture of daddy as a wee, Kian-sized, two-toofer child and presto: Daddy wins!

Daddy wins!

Daddy wins!

Okay okay... when mommy wakes up and see's this new posting I know she'll cry foul and demand a rematch. I'm prepared. But I wonder if she can find any baby pics of herself with two-toofers?

America's Spunkiest Videos

Happy Birthdays!

Bambino goes to Italy

Okay, so it was just Mama Melina's, but its our little slice of Italy away from Italy. That's where we went the day after the big B-day with Grandma and Grandpa Francis and Aunt Nina. Yum-deli-icious: its how we say grubbin' in Italiano.

Here I am in Cinca Terre!

And there's Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Nina looking sky high!

Ain't misbehavin'. Yet!

Dirty dancing to the piano guy: he asked for requests,
we wanted I Am The Walrus, and sure as a dirty
diaper he played it, not too shabby either.

One, Done, Diddley-i-o!

On August 6th we had a family gathering at our place to celebrate Kian's and Annie's Birthdays and all the grandparents were in attendance (despite doctors orders: thanks pops!). We had family in from Arizona, fresh from California, from over the pond in Bellevue, as well as clear from Snoqualmie -- thanks for coming everyone. Most of the following pics come courtesy of JEL - great pics, sis!

Cousin Reid teaching Kian some new tricks. And below,
Cousin Justin teaching Kian some new tricks... gotta be quick!



Not very subtle, but live it up, its your birthday!

Thats my boy, walking by one.

The Grandma's, a Grandpa, and Aunt Norma posing with the Birthday boy!

The Birthday Ticker

Welcome to Camp Kian, Grasshopper

On the eve of Kian's first birthday we are still undergoing extensive baby training. He has us doing interval sessions: when he drops we learn to pick up, over and over. We are doing some feedback-response training: he squaks and we come running, and then he times us and offers ways for us to improve. And he has us doing constant problem solving exercises, very zen-like stuff: he cries and we have to figure out what the f is up: sometimes its a poopy diaper, sometimes its teething pain, but sometimes its really nothing at all -- very cunning is our Guru. And he's got us on a rigorous physical conditioning program with some pain-threshold training: he bites us, pokes our eyes, pulls our nostrils, fish-hooks us, and we are not allowed to retaliate or grimmace.

So far its going well and we've almost survived the first year at the International School of Baby. Master Kian says that if we do well, in 18 years he'll let us graduate and he'll go off to an expensive private college back East. But little does Kian know that I've already got a 529 Plan going for him at the best community college in LKC (Lower King County).