Author: daustin23

Brothers are competitive… this is no secret.  As Ry gets a lot of our focus around bedtime and our reading routine, Coop has taken to “reading.” Our little man is growing up WAY too fast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jstsdBUhPO4

I don’t often post twice in the same day but this evening just required it.  As Jenn and I are furiously typing away at our respective computers, her doing lesson plans and me drawing flow diagrams of database schematics, we heard a loud thump from upstairs.  Glass of wine in hand, I went upstairs to investigate.

At first, I suspected our oversized labrador, Maddie Mudhead, had jumped from her favorite spot on my pillow since I hadn’t heard any crying.  That theory quickly gave way to a thought that maybe one of the boys had fallen when Mudhead came running up to me with her “take me outside” look in her eyes.

My fears were quickly relieved when I walked in and saw the cutest sight in the world.. two boys cuddled together for one of the first times.  A picture does say a thousand words and this one is just telling the story of a budding friendship between two little people whose paths began by happenstance.  As they grow, we can see their friendship grow and they really are truly best buds.  Oh, there will be more conflict over the next few decades but, at the core, will always be pictures like this to remind them that they are brothers.

My apologies for the title, I had to go there!  Today was a really great day.  We started off this morning settling on the plans for our new home in Southington!  The idea of building a home is equal parts exciting and grey-hair inducing but the end result is going to be sooo worth it!

From there we joined Ryan’s friend Dylan for a wonderful 6th birthday Party.  Coop spent most of the party chasing after his big brother but he handled his own on the big slides.

The day gave way to some of the best snowman making snow we’ve seen since moving to Connecticut.  We quickly built ourselves a snowman that stood just a few inches taller than Jenn.  We forgot to give it a name but had we I believe his name would’ve been “Bruce the Great” or perhaps “Beefcake.”

It’s always great to spend some time with the boys.. it’s amazing how fast time flies and so.. if they ask if I want to build a snowman… the answer is yes 🙂  

An old friend (both literally and figuratively) recently shared with me his collection of pictures from our days together in college.  I spent some time going through them this morning and, while many of them are wholly inappropriate to share on a blog about your children, this one spoke to me as being equal parts awesome and inspiring.

This, my friends, is The Beer-Zooka.  If memory serves this puppy was capable of holding 80 beers.  Equipped with 4 2-person independently controlled funnels, this party machine required 2 people to hold and a week’s worth of meal money to fill.  Don’t be fooled though, there was definitely an education that came along with this beast.

Forces of Pressure

First, and foremost, we learned about liquid flow.  When the Beer-Zooka was fully occupied, 8 young males could tackle their libations.  Like any good team, each spout leader would dutifully grasp the shutoff valve and the holder would count “1-2-3” and all would let the beer flow.  This worked well until, undoubtedly, a few seconds would go by and one of the spout leaders would grow cold feet and turn their flow off.  I can distinctly remember (that’s a lie, I barely remember it from photos) the summer night when I first learned that, when everyone else turns their spout off, the same amount of liquid will flow through the last available path.  Suffice it to say, it was showered with beer like I had spent the afternoon sunbathing on the back of a humpback whale.

Beer Does Not Kill Mold

There are those who’ve said that alcohol kills mold.  This has been proven true in certain types but I can assure you, Beer is not one of those types.  Within days, the first run of the Beer-Zooka had its own ecosystem.  This did not stop us from “washing it out” because, after all, many of the finest cheeses in the world have mold.

Brain Power Is Best Spent With Friends

There were a lot of smart people who I went to school with.  Most of my teammates and friends were straight A students who enjoyed learning.  I very much the later and not so much the former.  My learning was best done with friends and the classroom I’ve learned the most in is the classroom of life.  The Beer-Zooka might not be the best result of my educational experience but it sure is a fun memory.

Youthful Ingenuity

This brings me to my last point, the obligatory serious message I like to include.  The one that, hopefully, someday my boys will read and laugh, and maybe learn.  I want my boys to be smart, I want them to grow up to be successful and creative and, most of all, I want them to experience life.  I hope they grow a sense of youthful ingenuity, the sense that they can (and should) build a Beer-Zooka or anything else their minds can create.

The Austin’s have arrived safely in Lake Placid to kick-off the New Year with good friends.

Thanks to the cozy comforts of Chez de Dinolfo, we’re able to create a luxurious base camp for our adventures.  This afternoon, we started out across Lake Placid’s Paradox Bay for a little sledding adventure.  Coop immediately took to the ice-covered dock and looked out across the frozen lake.  As I stood watching, he immediately yelled “I jump in the snow, I jump down there.”  I quickly looked and snapped this picture of our little extreme athlete, Go-Pro safely attached to his head, jumping off the dock into the snow.

As we celebrate good friends and a New Year in the home of the Miracle on Ice, I’m inclined to wonder when, not if, these jumps will get higher and the chance of severe injury greater.  I suspect we shall see a lot more of Extreme Coop in the days to come.

Christmas has always been a time of great excitement for me but truly being able to sit back and see the excitement in Ry and Cooper have given me, perhaps, the greatest gift of all during this season.  After spending Christmas Eve with family, it was a new Connecticut tradition that started last year that brought a certain peace to the season.  We arrived home from New York early Christmas Day and slept in.  Even through the boy’s excitement of Santa’s impending arrival on Christmas Morning, we were able to see the backside of 0 dark thirty.  We awoke and immediately Ryan began to explain Santa’s arrival to Cooper and coordinate the distribution of gifts.  Cooper, ever the obedient little brother, graciously cooperated with his older brother’s instructions.

From there, we had breakfast and played with our new toys.  Around 11, Coop and I retreated for a nap which lasted most of the afternoon.  The evening brought hot chocolate and Christmas with Diego on TV…bath and bed… and Jenn and I cuddled on the couch.  Those are the boring details of our Christmas Day tradition.  It’s tough knowing that our families are celebrating all across the country and, we miss them terribly, but it’s become a wonderful tradition to set aside the stresses of work, traveling and coordinating plans and have a “Do Nothing” Christmas.

When I read this morning that North Korea had hacked into Sony Pictures and ostensibly stopped them from releasing the movie, “The Interview,” I was floored.  I guess the movie was a comedy about two journalists sent to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.  It got me thinking about my trip to the Air and Space Museum in DC.  I was awed by the American ingenuity (and, I hate to admit it but the French ingenuity with the Concorde) but what inspired me the most was the idea that these vehicles represented.  America needed to be the best and the best is what we built.  Our grandparents were leaders in the world and sacrificed everything to keep our country safe and prosperous.  The dangers today are just as real as they were thirty years ago and it’s my generation that needs to rise to the occasion.  Cyber security is a big deal, no doubt, and perhaps we should work together to build the Blackbird of the cyber defense.  We owe that to the generations who sacrificed before us.

I spent most of yesterday on a plane.  I had a 9:30 meeting in Washington DC which brought me out of the house at 4:30 AM and a 9:52 pm flight brought me home.  A quick side note, I have no idea where they get these flight times… 9:52?  Anyway, with my last meeting over a bit early, I faced the difficulty of having to spend a decent amount of money to reschedule my flight.  Being the ever diligent corporate citizen, i decided to save the company some cash and take the opportunity to spend a few hours at the National Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles.  If you haven’t been to this place you should RUN as fast as you can there…. It is truly one of America’s treasures.  It’s small and kind of far away from the traditional DC sites but to be face to face with a space shuttle or The Enola Gay was amazing.  All in all I had a great afternoon and, what’s more, I’ve found a must-see vacation spot for the boys.