Tropical

Have you ever in your life seen a cuter kid?

I didn't think so.

Me neither.

This is Nico's "this is way too cool" face.

The face he makes when he's looking at parrots.

Nico loves parrots.

And, apparently, parrots love Nico.

But some parrots don't so much like their pictures taken.

Sorry.

Two notes:

1. The parrots are not native to or wild in Key West.  They belong to a very nice lady who rescues them from people who think it would be neat to own a parrot.  Illegally.  She takes them in and loves them at least as much as I love my children.

2. I know you're all coming here to see beach pictures.  And we have them - boy, do we have them.  Except remember when I mentioned that my computer died?  And now I have to use Dan's work laptop?  Well, the dumb computer can't seem to read the camera I've been taking to the beach, the pool, etc.  Seeing as how I've already dropped it in the sand while trying to stop a certain five-month-old from eating a fistful of sand, I'm thinking the good camera will continue to stay home.  And I'll continue to bug Dan about my computer woes.  All this to say, yes, we do go to the beach - often.  And I'll try to share the proof.  But don't hold your breath.

Debut

Remember when I said we love the Red Trouser Show?  And then I didn't tell you why?

Well, this is why:

You see that grin?  It showed up about half a second after Tobin (that's right, we're on a first name basis around here, whether Tobin and David know it or not) called him up.  And it hasn't faded since.

My boy had his Mallory Square debut.  And he earned $6 in the process.

Like I said, we love the Red Trouser Show!

On Mallory

We enjoy spending evenings at Mallory Square, where we watch a beautiful sunset and thoroughly enjoy the street performers that come out to play!

There are always guys on really tall unicycles.  Most of them juggle.

This statue scared some boys I know when he started moving...

There are the dangerous shows that just plain make me uncomfortable.  I'm supposed to be pretty impressed, but honestly, these aren't my favorite acts.

This cute "little" juggler is way more my speed.

As is the crazy cat-man.  He is wonderful.  And deserves his own post.  So... moving on.

What would one of the greatest gatherings of street performers in the world be without a toothless Vietnam vet swallowing swords?  

But here's the thing.  We enjoy them all.  But to be perfectly honest, we have a favorite act.  They're called The Red Trouser Show.  For obvious reasons.  And we love them.

Not because stuff like this is just their warm-up.  Though that's pretty cool, huh?

Or because they are fun and hilarious.  Cool, too, though!

Not because they can juggle fire while standing on each others' shoulders...

and throw that fire across the square.  And catch it.  And keep juggling.  Cool too, but not why we love them.

Oh, and it's not because they juggle knives while standing on one foot on top of each others' heads.

Or because they can do awesome stuff like this.  That's awesome, right?!

It's not even because they can hold themselves sideways on a ladder.  Did I mention the ladder is held up by four audience members?

So like I said, yes, these Red Trouser guys are our favorite act.  And they do amazing things.  And make me happy.  But our love goes way beyond any of that...

Tune in tomorrow to find out why we're red trouser fans!

Egg 2012

We may not be anywhere near family.  We may be far, far away from any Egg Celebrations.  At least those involving throwing eggs at loved ones and over three-story houses.  But we can still Egg.    

 Just not over the house.  The golf course is behind the house.  And the old men might be alert for stray golf balls, but I don't think they're looking out for the wayward egg.  Plus, I would never remember to yell, "fore."

But who am I kidding, the closest I've ever come to getting an egg over the house was the time I smashed it right into the front wall.  Yep.  True story.

Anyway, we had a blast throwing eggs at each other on Easter.  And I'm pretty sure the neighbors had a blast watching us through the slits in their blinds.  We're nothing if not entertaining.

Both big boys chose their daddy as partner for the egg toss.  This probably had something to do with the whole "egg into the front of the house" incident, but I can't be sure.  I like to think maybe they just wanted to make sure we got good pictures of the event.

So I took lots of pictures.  I couldn't let my boys down, you know.  

Also, they make cute faces when they catch flying eggs.  

And they're mighty handsome, too.  Somehow, without my encouragement or permission, these boys keep growing up.  I don't get it.  It's like overnight they went from cute little chubby-wristed toddlers to big, handsome long-legged boys.  Huh?  

Oh, and just so you know.  We don't really "toss" the eggs.  We huck, launch, and pitch the eggs.  Our method may not win any Egg Tosses if you're looking for unbroken eggs, but we like it.  We did end the day with a winning egg.  And spent the next three days carrying it around Key West.  It's gone now.  But don't mention anything to Camden.  It went away while he was sleeping.

And in case you were wondering about the oldest and youngest children...

They were both on the sidelines, hoping we'd give them a chance to put an egg in their mouths.  One of them ended up eating about half a dozen eggs.  (No worries grandmas.  It wasn't the youngest.)

Easter was good.  We missed being with the family, but had a sweet day together, celebrating Christ's gift to us.  And chucking eggs at each other.

Bad Blogger

 Okay, here's the thing.  I used to be a good blogger.  Now, however, I am a bad blogger.  And every day I think, "today I'm going to post on that ol' blog of mine."  And every day I don't.  The creative juices just aren't flowing lately.

But I like to post on this ol' blog, and I know my mom likes me to post.  She just wants to see pictures of the grandboys...  And I think maybe - just maybe - if I force myself to just sit down and do it EVERY DAY, maybe those juices I like so much will begin to flow again.

So here's to fresh new starts.  And here's to cute boys.  

Who happen to be driving me positively batty today, by the way.  Okay, just one of them.  I'll not mention any names, but he might be seven and his name might start with a C and rhyme with ... absolutely nothing.  Just being honest with y'all.

Are you ready for this?  "Cause I've got lots to share, and maybe I'll actually start doing it.