Saturday, April 30, 2011

Finding Room To Roll

In the name of science we are setting out this evening to experiment in our sleeping arrangements. For the last eight months we'vee been resigned to the far reaches of our mattress while the baby rolies and polies between us. Tonight we've installed the playpen at the foot of the bed and inserted baby into said playpen which we will hereafter refer to as the sleep cage. It's an experiment remember so the resulting outcome is a mystery until all the data is collected and processed. Goodnight.
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Friday, April 29, 2011

Cat Unlike Reflexes

A Door Able

Get it?

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The first three days of this shed project were sun up to sundown, long and too much coffee drinking days. Now all I have is a few hours here and a few hours there to piece things together. Today I got up and out to get these doors on. What's the point of keeping stuff in there if we can't close it up at night. So doors. I finished the front door, which was a pain in the ass. Laura wanted a Dutch style door, which is much easier said than done. It ain't pretty but it's up and it functions. I got about a third of the way thru the back door. I may have a couple hours tomorrow, and then maybe Monday morning to close it up. Then the real fun begins!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Pops

For your birthday I got you an excuse to come visit your granddaughter. 112 feet of excuse.
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Whiting Playground

Yuula had a good time at Grandma & Grandpa's. She's a good time girl.

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We bought her a visor on the boardwalk. Perfect fit!

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Aussies In The Church: B.Y.O.B.

I started off messy.

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I wore a nice white t-shirt on our date, but ruined it eight seconds into my plate of panang salmon. I can't have nice things. Smile Cafe was tasty tho, and conveniently located. We didn't let their BYOB status ruin the experience.

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Around the corner was the First Unitarian Church. A grand venue that we were jammed in the basement of. We were prepared to be hotboxed. Differing from the scene we experienced the night before, the F.U.C. was a mixed bag of young bums, black guys wearing glasses, Fleet Foxes facial hair and dudes in black gym shorts that dance real slow. Again, the BYOB took us off guard but we improvised.

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Yawn was up first.

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Upon first glance they look the spitting image of an Animal Collective wannabe. The animal they chose to mimic sonoically was the panda bear. They were surprisingly enjoayble and we had a base. I was forced to make a trip to the package store after their set due to extreme thirst. It was going to be a long night.

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After the most painful sound check we've ever experienced, Yuck wailed on a pretty impressive setlist that complimented the gentle sway we had already established. Highlighted by the slowest and heaviest jam I've ever heard, they were sinfully tight while they swung thru hits of their un-ironic early 90's sound.

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The place was stoked for the headliners. We forgot about the surge and the settle. The crowd tightened up but I knew the first note would break us loose. Our strategic positioning six feet in front of a stack of speakers caused less worn ears to head for the rears after just a few tunes. We stayed the course and this morning our ears are paying the price.

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Tame Impala is the tiniest band in the land. They played all the hits, in a fury of psychedelic wonder, warping our minds and surprising us at every turn. Songs morphing and abruptly switching gears, a cover of Massive Attack's "Angel" and closing out with a continous 20 minute freakout that actually made Laura laugh out loud. Good stuff. Great stuff.

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So we got it out of our system, in 28 hours we saw six bands and went 6 for 6. We caught Philly on good nights. Today it's back to Mom & Dad, manager and instructor. At least we won't have to listen to people's crap. We still can't hear anything.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Impala, Yuck & Yawn

this evening's entertainment....

Tame Impala



Yuck



Yawn

Obco's Open!

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The seasonal donut sensation and childhood hotspot, Obco's has been a hit or miss (usually miss) when we seldom pass-by on our way to/from the shore. Today, by chance, we spotted the open sign like an oasis in the dessert (purposefully misspelled) and of course had to stop for a pastry or twelve.

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There wasn't much left from the morning run, so we just bought it all.

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mmmmm

Foggy Seaside Baby

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Perfect weather for a walk along the boardwalk today. In a matter of weeks this place is gonna be filled with the highest quality of guido, so to be here on a cloudy, blustery day is the best opportunity to only be mildly offended, skeeved and downright assaulted by the coming flood of obscenity.

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So we had a nice walk on the boardwalk. Most of the piers were shut down still and under construction, prepping for the summer. A few shops were open, selling monstrous slices of pizza, profane t-shirts and boogie boards. We wanted to get Yuula a shirt emblazoned with "NJ: Where the weak are killed and eaten" but we couldn't fit it on a onesie. Next time.

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The fog made for some creepy looking ferris wheels and roller coasters that you couldn't pay me to get on.

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And next to no ocean visibility. Didn't stop us from dragging the girl across the sand to meet her first tidal wave.

Photos with mom:

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Photos with dad:

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We chased some seagulls...

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Balancing the camera on a fragile combination of baseball hat and sunglasses we managed to get a family photo. The ocean is implied.

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We made it down to the giant boy statue and showed Yuula where she can get the waffles and ice cream, a place we will frequent quite often upon our return to the boardwalk. Tradition.

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She had seen enough so Yuula slept on the walk back.

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Gangy And Oompa

Documenting the difficulty of the grandparent/grandbabies photo session

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third time's the charm