Ry and Coop Dot Com

I’m not a cultured person.  I drink beer straight from the bottle only when plastic cups aren’t available, I prefer the fiddle to the violin and I almost always prefer movies  that don’t require any thinking.  With that said, I’ve always wanted to experience Broadway.   

I spent some time this morning talking to a co-worker of mine who has some experience with the New York City theatre scene and she recommended that I consider The Little Mermaid as a good introductory show that I could bring  Ryan too.  After looking around a bit on the web tonight, I found that The Lion King is on Broadway now and has a few openings.  Exploring further I found this clip which is from the Lion King short performance in Disney.  This, I assume, gives me a small taste of what the Broadway experience would be like.   

So, I watched it a few times and really enjoyed it.  Then, I went on Ticketmaster and found seats available for $100 per seat.  Ummm… that’s $300 for me. Ummm… I’m not a cultured person.  I think I’ll rent the DVD from Red Box for 99 cents.  Maybe with the savings I’ll invest in my cultural experiences in other ways, like perhaps a set of pint glasses.

For bloggers it seems there is the ever looming fear of having nothing to say and saying it anyway.  For us amateurs it seems that’s often the case.  I spent some time this afternoon (while on a run for the first time in a very long time) thinking about how I can continue to entertain my readers and build back much of the audience I lost during my last hiatus.  I thought for a long time (well not that long since I nearly had a heart attack one mile into this run) and I realized that I need to cheat a little and be okay with it.  So, where words fail me, videos of kids and puppies will ALWAYS win.  Here’s the world wide debut of my parent’s new puppy, Echo and our little man.  Cheating?  You betcha.  

I’m sometimes asked whether Ryan takes after his mother or his father.  That’s not always an easy answer.  Though it seems that he has his mom’s musicality, good looks and sense of humor, there are times when I can see a reflection of myself in him.  When he trips over his feet or when he finds himself taking apart his toys and trying to figure out how things work, in those brief moments I can see myself.

If there were any doubt where he got his dance moves from, that doubt has since been satisfied.  Last night we celebrated my cousin Mike’s wedding to Kristine (Welcome to the crazy family Kristine!)  and we saw the Ryanesque moves in full force.  Note to those who’re upset with this picture.  That’s cranberry and seltzer in Jenn’s glass and yes, my sister drank Jenn’s share for the evening.

There’s no doubt where Mr. Man got his moves.  Now, I just need to figure out where I can get them.

They often say that a picture says a thousand words but in this case I’m not sure how many words to use.  It’s kind of like finding a mouse in the house.  The little thing is all furry and cute with its big googly eyes but you don’t want it in your house.

Tonight, at Thanksgiving we had our own cute but kind of disturbing moment when Ryan and his cousin Eamon got together.  As always, I’m reminded that you get what you ask for in life and I asked Ryan if he’d give Eamon a kiss.  Well, as it turns out, he did just that.  It also turns out that Eamon is a sorta wobbly one year old and the two factors mixed well together to create this once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity.  It is cute however, at Ryan’s age, I really need to encourage him to hold back on the kisses.  If I were Kevin and Whitney (Eamon’s parents) I’d encourage Eamon to save the loving embrace for his significant other, when he’s 30.

Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving at my Uncle Lee’s house in Ruby, NY.  Don’t know where Ruby is?  Don’t worry, you shouldn’t.  I guess the best way to describe it is as a suburb of Woodstock.  One of those towns that’s not quite downstate but not upstate.

My uncle’s house has been in the family for what seems like a hundred thousand years and so many memories came flowing back as I walked around.  I’ve been there many times but this was Ryan’s first time as a toddler and it’s really cool, scary and fun to relive things through his perspective.  As I snapped this shot of him reading in the corner of the living room it hit me that this is the 4th generation to spend time in “the corner.”  This was the place where my grandfather would spend most of his days chomping on an unlit cigar and reading the newspaper. Typically we’d spend our time climbing up on his lap and watching TV or listening to the radio. It’s nice to be reminded about such warm memories.

Children are funny creatures. After playing hard all day, Ryan fell asleep as usual.  He woke up in the middle of the night and Jenn and I could hear him through the monitor as he was fussing around and crying to picked up.  Typically we watch through the video monitor to see if he’ll fall asleep.  After only a few seconds he was asleep, but he was also not appearing very clearly on the monitor.  After going in to check on him, we discovered this.  He never quite made it out of the bed.

It’s pretty obvious he didn’t really want to get out of bed.  This is a good reminder for me that, though I might think I want something, I should remember to think closely.  Sometimes the things I want I don’t really want.

I hope to remember this lesson the next time I’m thinking of going through the McDonald’s drive-thru.

With much fanfare on this Friday evening, I’m proud and excited to announce that Jenn is officially pregnant with #2!  While we won’t be able to find out if the pint sized skeletor in this picture is of the male or female variety until December, Ryan is already very excited.

He’s very aware of where the baby is, though I became very depressed this morning when he smacked my stomach and asked me where the baby is.  Not cool!

This couldn’t come at a better time for this blog either.  There are few things more entertaining than the miracle of birth and pregnancy.  Expect many updates along the way.  I’ll leave you with this one.

Update: Jenn is definitely pregnant.  Besides the photographic proof and the sound of a heart beat, every baked potato in New York has or will soon be eaten. 🙂

Creative writing has always been a challenge.  One of the lessons that you’re taught at an early age is, to make a story compelling you should always try to create some element of controversy.  I’m not always able to do that but one area that usually creates controversy is music.  I’ve heard some great philosophical debates on the greatest guitar players of all time.  Was it Clapton or was it Hendricks or was it some obscure guitar player that only people who grew up ten miles from Woodstock remember (cough cough Alvin Lee from Ten Year’s After,  Mom!)  The same could go for bands.  Ask Howard Stern or Steve Siebrecht who the greatest band of all time is and you’ll, without a doubt, get Van Halen.  Ask my wife Jenn and you’ll get a different answer every time.  Ask my mother, my aunts and uncles on her side and cousins and you’re likely to get the aforementioned obscure hippie band.  My father?  The Eagles.  My Grandfather?  The Union’s Army of the Potomac Marching Band.  Ryan?  Raffi or Miley Cyrus.

All I know is the debate can go on and on.  The real answer is probably going to come in 20 years.  Move over Alex Van Halen.  Introducing Claire Danchetz and Ryan Austin as the powerful duet Clayan.  (Thanks to Mrs. Clement for the super cool rocker hat!)

I’m not a very artistic person.  My sense of rhythm is rivaled by most every species of tortoise and my musical abilities put me somewhere between T-Pain without his auto-tuner and most of the contestants on American Idol’s first week of the season.  Thankfully Jenn has enough musical ability to offset any damage I’ve done to our young performer’s abilities.  With that said, I was both impressed and scared to see how easy Ryan’s friend Claire was able to show off her moves and teach him one or two.  The “shake a booty” move was particularly impressive.  I guess it’s true that you learn by example.  These two are going to be rock stars someday.