Colin's Birthday Bash

What is it they say about the best laid plans?  

Oh yeah...they often go awry.

Colin kind of had a bummer birthday.  The birthday cake was baked and the decorations were ready for his party when the stomach flu hit me and Kevin.  So we cancelled the party and tried to ignore Colin as much as possible so he wouldn't get sick too.

We felt so guilty, but in the end he didn't get the flu so being "bad" parents won out.

Thankfully we were able to celebrate the big 1 with my family in California...and we did it in a restaurant so we wouldn't have to clean it up!  No, that sounds awful.  Really, we just had to fit in the traditional cake eating sometime and this is just were it ended up.

First, the attendees:

Mark and Shana

Colin's original uneaten cake was one of those giant cupcakes.  Thankfully my mom was able to improvise last minute!

My dad

Nana and Colin 

Stacie and Mitch 

Steve, Tracy, and Cody 

 

Silly Nana!

Now let the fun begin...

Not quite sure what it is... 

They are forcing me to eat again!

Come on Colin, it's good!

Mmmm! They weren't poisoning me after all!

Jabba the Hut Baby!

 

They've been holding the good stuff out on me!  

We had to strip the poor kid down in the restaurant bathroom just to get him clean enough to leave!

While the bday party didn't quite go how I had planned, it was great to share all the messiness with the family!

A big thank you to my brother Mark for taking the pictures :)

Colin's 12 Month Stats

Weight: 24lbs 7 oz (70th percentile)

Height: 32 in (95th percentile)

Developmental Stats:

• Colin is not quite walking but he is very close...he walks along furniture and while holding our hands
• Colin has sworn off all pureed baby food and is only eating actual big people food.  Of course, he still isn't getting enough swallowed because he gags and spits out most of it, but at least it is progress!
• His favorite words/sounds include: ma ma/ da da, unnnn gah/dah, and whispering pa pa
• Colin can clap, wave, and put his hands above his head when we say "So Big!"
• He plays peek a boo with his blanket
• He loves to shake his head when we say "No!"
• He can go up and down stairs very quickly (a big thank you to my sis-in-law Leslie for teaching him to turn around be fore he descends the stairs!)
• And he's the best baby ever :)

"Wake Up! It's Christmas!"

"It's Christmas morning, man!"

We had an awesome Christmas.  Kevin, Colin, and I flew to LA a few days before Christmas and before we even walked in the house, my sister Stacie said "don't get too excited looking at the tree...all of the presents are either for Cody or Colin!"

But I couldn't help it.

I got really excited...it looked like a Home Alone Christmas!  In the very end of the movie Home Alone 2 (please tell me you have all seen this classic Christmas movie!) they are staying in the penthouse suite at the Plaza Hotel and Christmas morning comes and their suite is filled with presents. 

That's how our living room looked.  AND there was a train going around it!  Every child's dream :)

My mom pulled out all the stops and with all the kids, grandkids, and in-laws present it was a really special day!  And no, not all of the presents were for Cody and Colin...but it was close!

I present to you a candid look at our Christmas "morning" (really it was after church in the afternoon)

   

Okay...this last picture definitely needs some 'splainin!

Kevin and Jess bought Cody a marshmallow shooter.  Sounds harmless, right?  HOLY COW! First off, Cody loves marshmallows and was willing to shoot anyone and anything to get the mallows out just to eat (obviously he could just eat them out of the bag, but as his parents were holding that hostage, he only had one recourse...to shoot them out!).  Second off, Cody has really good aim...and he turned into a marshmallow assassin to get the goods out to eat!  My brother Kevin and Cody were playing war and he captured this picture.  Check out those eyes!  He is marshmallow crazed :) 

My mom reports that she is still finding marshmallows around the house.  So worth it!

Discovery Science Center

Since it is considered fat and lazy to sit around and eat holiday goodies without leaving the house for days on end, the whole family (sans Papa who was feeling "sick") to the Discovery Science Center for some hands on science fun!  

While the adults weren't as entertained as the kiddies, it was good to peel our behinds off the couch and get out :)

Playing with a beach ball "magically" suspended in air

Cody controlling a whirlpool

Kevin sticking Colin in the middle of a tornado

Eco friendly shopping with Cody 

(PS - we could have done with a little agenda pushing!)

Colin loving his Aunt Tracy

 I can't remember why they had a whole section about hockey other than the obvious cross promotion by the Ducks, but Kevin needed a picture wearing the goalie gear

Christmas Eve at Newport Beach

We spent Christmas in California and the weather was...well...AMAZING! 

On Christmas Eve we ventured down to Newport Beach with my brother Kevin and his wife, Jessica. I felt like such a Californian (which I technically am despite my pale skin and current Texas drivers license) eating yummy burgers at TK's, walking down the beach and dipping my toes in the frigid water, taking the ferry to Balboa Island, and wearing flip flops, a short sleeve t-shirt, and shorts in December :)

My two favorite Kevins!

On the ferry to Balboa...

TK Burgers...the perfect beach bum hang out!

Merry Christmas, California style!

Colin Narcissistic? Nah!

Do you remember the scene from  A Christmas Story where Randy thinks that the Dad is going to kill Ralphie and he hides in the cupboard?  If you don't, here it is to refresh your memory. (I love that she gives him a glass of milk and closes the cupboard again - classic!)

Anyway, Colin has discovered the perfect cabinet to hide in and play...no, he doesn't hide in there because he thinks his Dad is going to kill anyone (me?) - he just likes to go in and close the door on himself and play with the jump ropes that I leave in there for my niece, Kate. 

He also loves the washing machine in the laundry room...

I think it is because he can see himself and the clothes moving around all at the same time...he loves to kiss his reflection!

"There's my favorite guy!"

Back to the Future?

Kevin sent me the below and insisted that I post it right away...apparently he was slow at work and thought that writing a blog post would be the best way to occupy his time.  So I present to you, without further ado, Kevin's return to the blogging world (finally!).

***

Leslie often pokes fun at the random nature with which my brain operates.  My thought trains are generally sporadic and discombobulated, with inexplicable leaps between topics.  Even I don’t know where my ideas come from—all I know is that they’re golden.

Recently, as I was awaking from a night’s sleep with my eyes still closed and my brain still fuzzy, I was overwhelmed by a sudden and deeply profound realization:  There is a major plot hole in Back to the Future III.  I must admit, I have not consciously thought about or watched the Back to the Future franchise in years.  But as I stumbled to the bathroom and wiped sleepy bugs from my eyes, I knew that this inspired revelation must be shared with the world. 

For those of you who, like me, have not watched Back to the Future III in a while, I’ll provide a brief recap:  The movie begins with Marty standing next to a tunnel in 1955, burning the Sports Almanac while Doc flies overhead in the DeLorean during a lightning storm.  Doc (inside the DeLorean) gets struck by lightning, which causes him to be sent back to 1885.  Moments later, a car rolls up and delivers a telegram, which Doc sent to Marty from 1885 telling him he’s fine, but the lightning shorted the circuits on the DeLorean and Doc can no longer travel through time.  However, he tells Marty that he hid the DeLorean in an old mine shaft so that Marty, along with the 1955 version of Doc, can fix it using parts that exist in 1955 (but not 1885), to return Marty back to his home time of 1985. 

In the interest of brevity, Marty and 1955-Doc decide that Marty has to go back to 1885 to rescue Doc, so they take the DeLorean from the mine shaft (which Doc left there in 1885) and head back to 1885.  Upon arrival in 1885, Marty is attacked by Indians and the DeLorean’s gas tank/fuel line is punctured, spilling all the gas.  Marty is initially unconcerned, but Doc informs Marty that even though Mr. Fusion powers the circuits and flux capacitor, the engine relies on regular gasoline, which Doc informs him will not be available until sometime in the next century (meaning 1900-ish).  Hilarity ensues as Marty and Doc have to find an alternative power source to get the DeLorean up to the requisite 88 mph in order to get back to 1985 (spoiler alert: they use a train, after horses fail).

So as you can see, the entire conflict in the movie centers on a way to get the DeLorean up to 88 mph, which they could admittedly do if they had gasoline (there’s even a scene where they try substituting hard liquor for gasoline—it doesn’t work).

I realize that was long, but for those of you still with me on this journey, the vistas are about to become delightful.

Here’s the plot hole:  They do have another source of gasoline!  Remember that Marty is driving the DeLorean that he found in the abandoned mine in 1955.  But that DeLorean was placed in the mine (for Marty to find) by Doc in 1885.  Because Marty brought the 1955 DeLorean back in time, the DeLorean that Doc put into the cave (only days before Marty’s arrival in 1885) is still sitting in the abandoned mine and has gasoline in the tank.  In other words, there are two versions of the DeLorean currently sitting in 1885.  One has a hole in it (1955 version) and one does not (1885 version). 

The idea of having two of the same thing at the same time is played on throughout Back to the Future II, but seems to have been forgotten in Back to the Future III.  I find it cruelly ironic that throughout the series, Doc chastises Marty for “not thinking fourth-dimensionally,” but fails to heed his own advice during such a crucial hour.

There you go!  This movie came out in 1990, so it only took my razor-sharp mind 21+ years to figure this out.  For those of you who figured this out earlier, like when you first watched the movie, congratulations! Your intelligence is obviously unparalleled, but it's a shame your childhood was cut short and you had to learn prematurely that Hollywood is not always perfect.