Kristin seems comfortable enough…but who’s that on the back?

It’s Grammy!  Hi Grammy!  Why you lookin’ so…down?  Kristin driving a little aggressively?

Get the guns!  We’ll really have some fun!  Right Grammy?  Grammy?  Where’d she go?

Asking Mom the question of the night…

So, I’m getting ready to get Paris into bed, and she hops up off the floor in her playroom and says “Hey!  What’s this?”  She picks up something off the carpet, brings it over to me, and it’s a tooth!  When I tell her, the question of the night starts being repeated over and over again…

“Is it bleeding?”

As we see, she was obviously feeling no ill side effects…

You can’t even tell!

So what happens when a young one loses a tooth?  Tooth Fairy!  Oma and Opa are visiting, so Oma reminded Paris that the Tooth Fairy tends to be very generous on the first tooth.  Paris had her handy-dandy Tooth Fairy pillow all ready:

There’s a little pocket on the back side of that pillow that the all-important tooth is placed inside.  The little pillow is then tucked neatly under the regular pillow, and the Tooth Fairy knows what to do from there.

The Tooth Fairy was indeed generous on the first tooth…ten dollars!  Karen caught me grabbing pliers out of the garage…I was going to yank a tooth and see how much I could get.

Flashback!

We had some Halloween pix posted, but I stumbled across some more when I was grabbing these lost tooth pictures.  First of all, I meant to post this one and never got the chance.  I’m making up for it now…check this out:

A careful look might help you figure out what those little guys are…but let me tell you.  Those were the best damn chocolate covered strawberries ever…ever!  Mary Kate sent them to us on Halloween.  Incredible!  Thanks Mary Kate!

And I can’t do a Halloween item without another shot of Paris in costume.  This was taken about a week before Halloween…she was “warming up”:

No comment.

Tidbits:

Kristin made Honor Roll — congratulations!  She’s the smartest one in the whole family…

Cameron refuses to tell us anything about his life.  We think he’s been recruited by the CIA, and he just can’t talk.  His handler is someone that he insists is his girlfriend…but I’m not buying it.  But…he is on the phone with her…constantly.  So maybe there’s some truth to the claim….

Mark is on a Movement Order to Illinois on Monday.  He’s being sent out to watch Navy Football pound Northern Illinois.  There’s more than football to the story though…after the game, he hops a flight to New Jersey.  He’ll be giving a talk at his old High School about life at the Naval Academy.  Afterwards he hosts a question and answer time and engages in a little “recruiting” (I guess…).  I asked him how he was going to handle questions about the difficulties of Plebe year.  He said, “Dad, Plebe Year isn’t supposed to be fun.  They need to know that now, not later.”

Okay by me…

Let’s find out.  We’ve got some kiddie footage taken in Grammy’s back yard.  Fun in the leaves!  And then…well…we have a little fun at Pop Pop’s expense.

But he’s got a birthday coming!  We’ll make it up to him!

Enjoy –

As many of you know, Karen, Paris and I were recently in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for six days.  I planned on taking a ton of pictures and video, but we got so wrapped up in the “enjoying” our company part that we didn’t really shoot much footage of any of them.  This is especially true with Kristin and Cameron (the two we should have shot most!).

I do have some video I’ll try to piece together, and Sami was busy firing away with his camera.  Maybe he’ll share?

In the meantime, I received a DVD in the mail today from USNA courtesy of the Parents’ fund.  It’s a video detailing the fun known as “Plebe Summer”.  This is a generic USNA piece…it is not the video I expect to receive soon that will feature more of Mark.  But!  At the very beginning of this Plebe Summer video, you’ll see footage of our young man humping that damn zodiac he thought was so funny (until he had to carry it, row it and carry it again).  He may appear a couple of more times as well, but any of you that have searched through thousands of photos (like I have) know that “they all start to look alike”…

This thing is 18 minutes long.  It’s “okay”…it’s not going to rock your world, but it does offer some insight into the USNA experience and Plebe Summer.  If you have a chunk of time and you’re in the mood to learn about the madness, hit the “play” button.

Enjoy –

I’m trying to get away from the need for a YouTube link. YouTube doesn’t play nice with videos over 10 minutes long, and I thought the quality was just so-so. Since I’m on a Mac, I picked Quicktime as my default video player. My website host also prefers Quicktime. For you Windows Mediaplayer freaks out there…sorry. You probably have Quicktime on your machines anyway. If not…it’s free to download.

Make sure the video loads a bit before you hit “play”.

We’re using flash video now courtesy of our friends at Bill Webb Studio (no relation…sorry).  We owe them our thanks!  And I owe them some money…

I like the casual shot best.  But some of you traditionalists will prefer this!

Important disclaimer: I picked the shots I liked best out of a pool of about 18 or so.  I’m betting Chris and I would agree on my picks…but you may prefer something different.  That’s okay!  Stephanie (Chris’s Mom for those of you in the extended family) will be more than happy to share the others with you.

Chris, in a few years when you’re busy setting the world on fire, look back on us with favor…pssst…checks are okay…

Only a few short months to go!  Congratulations Chris!

But we live in an imperfect world, and I don’t claim to be an expert at this stuff.  So…some of you that checked in found a post that wasn’t behaving…

For those that don’t know, I tried like crazy to post a video of Plebe Summer courtesy of the Academy.  I had it working (well), and then it stopped cooperating.  I’ve taken the post down because it was preventing the entire site from loading in a timely fashion.  That’s the bad news…

But there’s good news!  I have an expert looking into our “issues”, and once the problem is resolved, I will get the post back up!  The video in question is “okay”, but we need to get this working.  Real videos are coming!  We want to make sure we’ve got all of our ducks in a row!

Let’s talk October!  As many of you know, Karen, Paris and I were in New York, New jersey and Pennsylvania earlier in the month.  Some of this is covered in the post that’s now down, but play along here, okay?  Anyway, one thing you can’t do in Florida is play in the autumn leaves.  Being a good Mom, Karen promised Paris that we’d go back “up North” this Fall to do just that!  And we got lucky!  We had some leaves, and we had some cousins, and we had neighbors, and we had fun!

Paris, Stephen and Troy after Poppop fired up the leaf blower!  But wait!  More leaf fun!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of Grace!  There was a lot going on…maybe she was busy helping Grammy or something?  Grace!  We need pictures!

Oh!  Speaking of pictures…

We met Crissy and Kirk for brunch on Sunday morning. Kristin and Cameron joined us too…Nina’s!  Everyone’s favorite spot for brunch!  Karen and I pull up to the parking area, and what do we see?  We see someone dressed in the exact clothes Karen is wearing.  Karen is laughing hysterically…apparently this happens often whenever she and Crissy go anywhere together.  They swear there’s no planning involved…no phone calls…anyway, Kristin popped this on her cell phone –

Trust me.  Even the damn pants and shoes were the same.

Speaking of “looks”, the beginning of October marks the Naval Academy’s changeover in the world of fashion.  Gone are the Summer Whites (that so many of us kinda don’t like) — in come the Dress Blues!  The blue is actually black, but who’s going to argue with the Navy?  Check out the look (another cell phone shot):

Mark on the left (could you tell?), Susie, Alyssa (Susie’s sister), and of course…Cameron (green shoes and all).  That was taken on Columbus Day weekend when the mids had TWO overnight liberties courtesy of the most incredible, most awesome-est, best-ever, coolest damn Commandant on the Face of the Planet…

Captain Klunder!  Here he is with Mark and friends –

In case you’re wondering, he’s the guy with all the gold on his hat…

Captain Klunder is a true leader.  He’s certified qualified to fly somewhere in the neighborhood of 41 aircraft, he’s done the whole carrier thing, and he’s even been filmed in “compromising” positions for YouTube videos just to boost morale.  The mids will throw themselves under a bus for this guy.  I, for one, will give him a bug hug and a kiss when I see him next.

[UPDATE} 11/3 3:48 AM  Mark sent this insight about Captain Klunder after reading the original post:

Dad — Really cool update about Capt. Klunder:

USNA had its Halloween concert in the chapel this weekend  It sold out within two hours of tickets being on sale.  It’s that good. Anyway, Captain Klunder went to the Friday showing.  Mr. Houck (my squad leader) stayed after on Saturday night to help clean up the miles of cables and the mess.  As he’s backing up blowing confetti up to the wall, he bumps into someone.  He turns around to apologize, and he sees Capt. Klunder on his hands and knees in sweatpants cleaning the floor.  Capt. Klunder didn’t even go to the Saturday night show.  After he put his kids to bed that night he headed over just to help clean up.  That man is awesome.  The Commandant of Midshipmen is on the ground cleaning the floor.  He is probably the best Commandant the Academy has ever had.  Mark

Halloween!

So, a lot of you think that Florida is full of “old” people that shuffle around and hit the early bird dinners.  Some of you even think we’re nuts for moving here.  Wellll…

Let me tell ya’.  Our sleepy little town of Venice was packed with kids trick-or-treating the local merchants on Halloween!  It was literally elbow-to-elbow on the sidewalks, and everyone was having a great time!  Here’s some afternoon downtown action:

That was the “slow” end of the street.  Paris was just tuning up.

So.  What was she?  C’mon!  She was a Monster Bride!  Here’s a better look:

And check this out!  These next two pictures Paris took herself.  She was “trying on” her costume a few days before Halloween, and she decided to help herself to my desk, my chair, and my computer.  Kids today are amazing, and she has no trouble firing up my Mac’s iSight camera and having some fun.  She did this all by herself…I found these on my computer two days later:

She did the effects by herself too.  Not bad, right?

Back to Halloween.  “Old” people need to stay young too, and I say this with only the utmost affection…but these two were older than dirt.  But they’re having fun!

Seriously…her costume made her look younger…

We had a great time!  Paris hit downtown, then she hit the neighborhood.  I followed her and a friend around in the limo (i.e. golf cart), and when they wanted to get soemwhere fast, they hopped in and I hit the gas.  Karen and the friend’s Mom even jumped in every once in awhile (with Karen riding the back like a caddy…priceless!).

It’s a very nice horse, and it’s a horse Kristin drew in her art class.  Kristin is acing the art class…unlike one of her siblings who shall remain unnamed.  That particular sibling set a record in art…let’s just leave it at that.

Back to Kristin: her graduation/yearbook photos were scheduled last Spring.  Unfortunately, the school was “in flames” (as she puts it) when her session was scheduled.  She had to reschedule a session which took place just a few weeks ago.  Being a bad Dad, I forgot all of this.  Actually, I probably forgot it because the “in flames” part turned out to be a smoky fire in the auto shop.  I was ready to do 110 mph over to the school when she sent the “the school is in flames” text to me, but I quickly reconsidered when I learned what was really going on.  Ha-ha!  She just cracks me up…

But that’s a lot of information.  A great story for me to tell my grandkids someday!  Oh yeah…

So!  Let me present to you…Kristin’s addition to the mix:

I think she did a nice job!

What happened to our litle girl?  She’s certainly getting bigger!

Not so long ago…does anyone remember this?

Or this?

Oh my…

For the record, Kristin was pretty upset with me for posting one of her old school pictures.  Hopefully Paris won’t hold a grudge down the road.

And here’s an idea!  Maybe Kristin could make sure Dad gets a digital copy of her graduation/yearbook photo!  Wouldn’t that be nice?  All in favor say “yeah”…

Yesterday was World Animal Day!  What’s that mean?  It means National Geographic gets to promote it’s magazine while also promoting wildlife and the need to protect much of it.  Tampa’s Lowrey Park Zoo was a part of the celebration, and Paris was there!  It was also Tamani’s 3rd birthday!  Cake!  (Yes, really…)

To help celebrate, Fisher Price was on hand to test a new kids’ camera line up.  They held a quick class on photography with the kids, and then they cut ‘em all loose in the zoo to take pictures with their test cameras.  This is how a budding photographer does her job:

And here is the birthday boy!  (At least I think Tamani is a boy…)

Who is this guy?

I gotta tell ya’, folks…giraffes have extremely long tongues.  Paris was feeding this guy…and she wasn’t happy.  I don’t think she’ll ever feed another zoo animal…ever…

Back to our photographer.  She took 139 pictures!  Fisher Price was happy happy!

And check this out: penguins in Florida?  These are actually African penguins…they don’t mind the heat at all:

Oh!  As a final surprise, Congress was in town for more meetings about the “economic crisis” they created.  It was supposed to be a secret, and as you can see, getting busted making back room deals isn’t pretty…but hey!  They should all be kicked out!  Check out this deal making:

Final note:

What makes life much easier for our favorite midshipman?  A Navy Football victory!  Navy beat Air Force yesterday 33-27.  Yeah baby!  (Pssst…Mark watched the game at his Sponsor Family’s house…Dad is a retired Air Force Colonel…Mark exercised a great deal of restraint in the Family Room…I think everything is going to be okay…)

What’s that mean?  Well, first off it means the obvious.  But when it comes to Mids, and especially plebes, the obvious is usually just the tip of the iceberg.

Think about it: plebes have to do chow calls…memorize menus…announce the meal and the time in the hall…screw it up and they’re dead.

This week chow call is simple: announce the time and shout “Beat Air Force sir!”

Upperclassman: “Plebe, what’s your alpha number?”

Plebe: “Beat Air Force sir!”

Upperclassman: “Plebe, how many days ‘tll commissioning?”

Plebe: “Beat Air Force sir!”

Mark has “Beat Air Force!” taped on the bottom of his shoes so he doesn’t have to chop in the halls.  Don’t know what chopping is?  You don’t want to…

He has “Beat Air Force!” taped to his bed so he can lay down during the day (normally a no-no).  He has “Beat Air Force!” taped to his computer so he can listen to audio (normally plebes don’t rate audio of any kind).

He and his fellow plebes have taped off a “porch” area with “Beat Air Force!” taped on the wall…the signage is made up of hundreds of tiny pieces of tape so a quick-thinking upperclassman can’t easily tear it down.  He and his company mates actually get to sit in their new porch area (also a normal no-no).  Plebes don’t rate sitting.

He’s accessing a military iTunes account with thousands of songs that he can listen to…provided “Beat Air Force!” stays on his computer.

In fact, this is a fantastic, spirit-building, fun week!  Unless…

Unless a plebe gets fooled.

Upperclassman: “Plebe!  What’s today’s top news story?”

Plebe: “It looks like politicians have agreed on a financial bailout sir!”

Upperclassman: “Wrong answer!  The correct answer is Beat Air Force!”

Then it all comes to an end…

Chopping, chow calls, day counts, no sitting, no rack time, no audio, no iTunes, no porch, no anything…back to being a lowlife plebe.  Plebes rate nothing, and oh how tough it will be to go back to nothing when they all had a taste of regular life.

So let’s think happy thoughts for them, okay?  Let’s hope that all plebes keep their heads and keep the answer simple: “Beat Air Force sir!”.

Party time!  Paris went to a classmate’s birthday party today…I was busy working on that silly video in the prior post when I heard a dog walk into my office:

Obviously she had a great time!

Speaking of great times…I was lucky enough to hit one of Cameron’s favorite barbecue joints the other night.  Lots of good, smoked food…and Cameron loves good smoked food.  This kid has been able to put back a full rack of ribs since he was three.

Cameron, I sent you a picture of dinner…and you ignored me!  Dude, were you upset?  Were you thinking I was toying with you?  Sending a picture of the most succulent, smokiest, tastiest BBQ…did I hurt your feelings?  Did your mouth water so much you couldn’t pick up the phone?  Text?

Ah well…

More soon…I promise.  Until then — Beat Air Force!

UPDATE: Everything above was written on Sunday night.  This morning (Monday), I learned of an incident on the Yard that brought many of the plebe privileges to a halt.  Some plebe got just a little too enthusiastic.

That’s the bad news.  Mark’s Company is taking the higher road.  It wasn’t some idiot in his Company that got all stupid, so while he’s back to chopping, he still retains many of his room privileges.  That’s the good news!