Ry and Coop Dot Com

So I got a new toy for my camera, a lens that allows for some lower light level shots.  So, anyway, our little dude had his last doctor’s appointment and he’s hovering in the 30th percentile for size.  While I find it incredibly hard to believe, it appears to be true… though this young man is equipped with billions of little rolls, none of them make him exceptionally overweight.

I think Jenn and I are just used to Mr. Man who didn’t pass the 20 pound mark until he was 2 1/2… Coop is at 16 1/2 at six months.  Check out the top picture which is Ryan at six months… and the bottom is Coop at six months… they both have the middle-aged male pattern baldness look and chubby cheeks….they’re gonna be one handsome set of bros…

They say that you can measure health by the number of rolls a baby has so Coop is very healthy.  Incidentally, so am I.

Well I don’t have something to say but Cooper does!

I can vaguely remember the days when I’d dress up in a costume and gallivant around the neighborhood  begging neighbors for free handouts.  I was pretty young when I gave it up, I’d say it was fifth or sixth grade when I realized that my parents often bought way too much candy for Halloween and my father would declare Marshall Law in the Austin household and ration my haul out over several weeks while sneaking a few of the commandeered supplies for himself.

As I look back on tonight, Batman and his sidekick Super Cooper had a great time going house to house asking for candy and, though exhausted at the end, we all survived the evening.  This was the first year where I’d say Ry really got the full Halloween experience.  He was scared when he was supposed to be (Skeletons in bushes) and happy with the free candy.  Coop, well he didn’t have a clue but he was pretty vocal about it anyway.  Check back tomorrow for a great video of him “flying” in his Superman costume.  All in all, a great night and a great way to spend the evening with the family.  Like many other things in parenthood, reliving these days through the eyes of your children is pretty cool.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http://redirector.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D05359ad263fa5296%26itag%3D5%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1419410509%26sparams%3Did,itag,source,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3DBBF9BF171C355D32840FC6B4FE8A23648A434024.8688578645C93581A164A2107B60303D22414BCF%26key%3Dck2With Halloween approaching, a storied tradition has continued in our family once again… the visit from “Boo”, the friendly ghost who visits our house and delivers candy.  This year it got me thinking, what’s the deal with Halloween anyway?  So, the kids get all dressed up as monsters, ferries and other strange things ( I remember when my friend Tim came to school in fourth grade as a shower… best costume I’ve seen yet) I went two years in a row as Pierre the Peanut only because I was too lazy to think of anything else and my dad had made this really cool costume for me.

Anyway, I digress.  So, we dress our kids up, on purpose, as scary monsters, and then we walk them around the neighborhood getting bags of free sugary candy, on purpose, so that they can come back and we can eat half of it, on purpose. With a belly fully of sugar and kids who’re too scared to go to sleep and are too hyped up on sugar anyway, how did we ever think Halloween was a good idea?  Then I see videos like this one where Ry-guy gets his annual “Boo” visit and I remember why.

I think it was maybe Kenny Rogers, or maybe it was Lionel Richie, or maybe it was that 70s band Bread or maybe Friedrich Nietzsche that said, “a picture paints a thousand words.” Often people use pictures to prove a point or to verify the existence of something unbelievable.  There are others who use pictures as a weapon (ask President’s Bush and Obama and my college roommates )

I say all that to setup this picture.  You could look at it and say that Coop is being attacked by his father’s helpless inability to control a spoon but you’d be wrong!  You’ll want to look at this picture instead as Dave “The Spoon Master” Austin who can wield a spoon filled with sweet potato mush like a champion!  That is all.

Old people typically speak of their “Bucket List”, a list of things they’d like to accomplish before they die.  Typically these lists include such things as; jump from speeding airplane, have dinner with a President, make a million dollars…and spend it all at the race track, dance with a Super Model (keeping it G-rated for future little readers) or perhaps tailgate the home game of every NFL team…oh yeah @Matt Clement is doing that, by the way, at Tailgate32.com.

On that list somewhere needs to be, slide down a giant inflatable slide with a good friend.  The smiles are incredible and the sense of fear seems to be totally absent.  This picture reminds me a lot of myself, kind of blending the line between careless and fearless but enjoying it all the way…. of course I won’t lie and tell you I wasn’t just a bit nervous on this one little man’s journey…but I’m sure that’ll be par for the course for the rest of my life…

It’s been nearly a week since ESPN The Picnic and I’m just now getting around to sharing this picture.  Consider this like a family test run of our Disney trip in February and a chance for us to experience more of what Connecticut has to offer.

ESPN has given me many silverish hairs over the years, though I’d argue our older little man owns more of them than my job.  What was cool was last week, as they do every year, ESPN rented the entire Lake Compounce amusement park and provide all the free food, beer and soda you can imagine as well as free access to short lines.  We gallivanted around the park, mainly the roller coaster, merry-go-round, the dumbo ride and this REALLY slow and annoying caterpillar train thingy.  It was a hot day but fun and we really had  a great time.  What’s best about it is that ESPN picked up the entire bill for the Austin family.  Officially, they say it’s the company’s way of saying “Thank You” but unofficially, like with the free entrance to Disney and the hotel discounts, it’s the best way to keep me working for them.  How could I ever leave ESPN when the family has so many smiles from a single day.  Great company, great day and great family.

There are times when pictures say it all….ahh the lazy days of summer ….