This week's Lincoln Park day...

Last week's sandwiches in the park day turned into sandwiches in the basement day because it was too windy outside.

That was better than this week though.

This has been Lincoln since Sunday evening. He's a miserable, sick little buddy. He's been running a fever between 99 and 101 for two days now. Hopefully he pulls out of it soon. It's sad :(

Lincoln Park

Angel has declared Mondays to be sandwiches in the park day. We figured it would be fun to take Lincoln to play on the toys and swing on the swings. We were right about the playing on the toys part. It turns out that the only park around us with swings is the closest park to us (which is good), but is also on the corner of two busy streets (which is bad), and is also built on top of a pioneer cemetery (which is creepy). We didn't go there. We went somewhere else.

It was fine though because Lincoln likes slides...

and making a break for it...

and rock climbing (gotta start 'em young)...

and smiling...

and throwing things up the slide (you can't see it so, use your imagination)...

and his beautiful mom...

and giving shout outs...

and chillin with his dawgs (and by "his dawgs" I mean "some random dog at the park")...

but he doesn't like it when the dog doesn't try to catch his frisbee throw (in the dogs defense it didn't exactly stay in the air very long)...

March Pics (clever title, I know)

Hey Howdy Hey!!!

Well, March is gone rather quickly but it wouldn't quite be complete without a picture of me in spandex.

If you're in the know then you call them biking shorts or something similar. I have now officially spent enough money to look like I'm in the know. I've taken the bike out on a couple of rides and even though it's working muscles I haven't used in a while it's a lot more fun than running (though much higher initial investment).

Which brings me to my next point: don't smoke crack.

I'm really not sure what to say.

Lincoln is obsessed with looking sharp when he goes to church. One tie just isn't enough sharpness.

Even in green and purple pastels, like the sharpest of cheddars.

Also, Lincoln is a thug.

It's Lincoln Day!!!!

Lincoln's first birthday was this last Wednesday. It's kind of hard to believe that's it's really been a whole years since we had any semblance of control over our own lives. So, we spent a day letting Lincoln boss us around, have whatever he wanted, and we pretended it wasn't just like every other day. In fact, it wasn't just like any other day... this day had cake.


Since I have lots of pictures and my limited amount of comedic energy was blown on the previous paragraph I'm going to "crowd-source" the humorous captions. I'll number the pictures and if you have something to contribute please leave your hillariousness in the comments with the corresponding number. Thank you.

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These are actually from today but, it's a birthday outfit.
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Memerizationation helpification

This is something I posted on my other blog but I thought since 0 people read my other blog and ~2 people read this blog it has a better chance of finding someone interested over here.

I was recently asked if I could make a simple program that when input a chunk of text would output the first letter of each word preserving punctuation. So, that's pretty much what this does. Although it sounds like a silly thing to do, it can be a helpful aid for memorizing blocks of text(This isn't working in Internet Explorer right now. Try it in Firefox. I'll fix it when I get a minute).

Lincoln found his "killer app"

For those of you who don't know, in the technology world there is this thing called a "killer app" (app=application). It is the application or use for a product that makes the product worth using. Without it, a product really can't become successful. For the desktop computer it was the spreadsheet. For the Internet it was email. People didn't use desktop computers or the Internet much until these applications showed up.

I'm pretty sure Lincoln has had the physical ability to walk for a couple of months now but he just recently discovered a "killer app" for walking: carrying two things around at the same time. As soon as he figured out that walking allowed him to do that he pretty much just started walking and is now strutting around like he owns the place.

He tends to pick two objects, two fridge magnets (usually two letters or Pinocchio and the Italian bunny), two pairs of socks (eventually two individual socks), a whisk and a spatula, any two random objects and then walk through the house holding them out, showing them to things. It's not clear if he's showing them to things or showing things to them. Either way there are lots of introductions going on at our house these days.

And I'll leave you with this picture of him in the tub on Christmas Day:

Santa's Lap

We thought we would be good parents and take Linc to sit on Santa's lap. Even though there was no huge mounted throne with a winding slide going down, or even any weirdo kids with adventure goggles plastered to their face, it was still quite the outing. There was of course, fear and screaming kids, we're just fortunate that our kid wasn't one of them. He was instead, the "oh see, look at that cute little baby, he's not crying" kid. (In all honesty I'm not sure why Linc wasn't screaming because while waiting in line we almost got pinned by a jolly spinning kiddie train.) I'm not complaining our kid is awesome; he waited patiently in line, sat on Santa's lap, and even let us take a picture. I'm not sure he really cared, but we felt like much more dutiful parents after the whole ordeal.

Goofy Hat Club

Anyone who knows Tyson knows that he's a fan of goofy hats, and he decided to resurrect some oldies but goodies. He is also trying his darndest to convince Linc to join his goofy hat club and well..he still needs more convincing.

I was so close...

Apparently the old farm house was on a bit of a hill. It also had a detached garage/shed/cow milking...place. This building was built into the side of the hill and had two levels so that the top level opened directly onto a higher part of the hill and the lower level to a lower part of the hill (next to an orchard, or maybe just an apple tree or something). I really only have one memory of being in the lower part where I understand they milked the cows (I have to say, the fact that cows were milked in there is something that is in my mind and I have no idea how it got there. Basically, I may very well have made it up but it does make the story cooler somehow, as opposed to my explanation just now...). It's understandable why I would remember this particular time in the milking shed. Why, you ask. Because when I was in there I found these:

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "that just looks like an ab roller exerciser thing and a gear." Well, to the untrained eye, yes. But, first of all, I'll have you know that there may have actually been two more wheels (but definitely not three because I know it added up to less than four) and possibly more than one gear, my memory on those details is a bit sketchy. Second of all, any kid can tell you that when you have a couple of wheels and some gears you've got about 90 percent of sweet GO-CART! The excitement of the possibility of tearing around the yard/neighborhood/city/world with reckless abandon, leaving everyone in the dust, and never having to walk again got my mind to racing (no pun intended (seriously, I didn't even notice until I read over it again)). All I needed was the last 10 percent:

• another wheel (I remember needing at least one more wheel, that's why I know I had less than four)


• a steering wheel


• maybe some sort of frame


• the rest of the engine (already got the gear part so I don't need to worry about that)
  
• ... that's about it.

Unfortunately, I guess I just didn't quite have the resources to push through that last 10 percent or, it was taking longer than my four minute attention span. Too bad though, that go-cart probably could have put me down the path to a rally car racer by now...dang it!

Hand/Foot/Paw Prints

When I was young we lived in this old farm house that according to my memory was right next to the freeway, and some sort of office building yet still had a field in the back with a stream running through it. It seems somehow contradictory or wrong but I definitely, kind of remember all those things (or something like them). Anyway, the stream is the reason we've journeyed back to the old farm house. I also had this older brother who was kind of a jerk (although I'm not sure he was trying to be in this particular story but either way, he gets his comeuppance later (that's some foreshadowing for you (I like nesting parenthesis))). On one fine afternoon I was out exploring the stream area in my stylish red galoshes.
The record (my memory) is a little unclear about the details of these galoshes but they may have have Sesame Street characters on them. It's impossible to say for sure but I like to think it was Grover, or Cookie Monster... or better yet one of each, let's go with that. So, here I was exploring my surroundings with Grover and Cookie Monster when my evil older brother came along and decided to show me how far he could push Grover down into the mud. Turns out it was pretty far which, I have to admit, was pretty cool for a minute. Then the novelty wore off and I wanted Grover back. Turns out Grover had grown fond of his new home there in the mud and felt no qualms about letting my foot go and just leave without him. So there we were, Cookie Monster and me just standing there on one leg screaming/crying (Cookie Monster wasn't crying, he's tough). Evil older brother? Gone, maybe for help but, I wouldn't count on it (I think he had Oscar the Grouch galoshes). Eventually Dad, or Mom, or some random adult came and saved the three of us from certain doom and there was much rejoicing.

We now venture from the stream to the driveway of the old farm house. Oddly enough, we still have water. This time it's in a kiddie pool. Man, I was having some fun times in that kiddie pool. I liked the kiddie pool. You know what else I liked? The kitty. So, what could be better than turning the kiddie pool into the kitty pool, right? Now, it is a well known fact that cats don't like water. It is also a well known fact that little kids, in this case maybe 4 years old, don't know well know facts.
Off I went to get the cat and help him get in the water. I successfully got the cat and successfully held the cat over the water but, my drop of the cat was somewhat less successful. He figured out pretty quick what was going on and the specifics of what happened in the following moments are a bit of a blur. I'm pretty sure the cat suspended the laws of physics and gravity as cats often do. I came out of the scuffle a little shaken (ok, I was bawling again), a little wiser (this is how well know facts get to be that way), and with a small paw shaped wound in my left elbow pit (don't act like you don't know where I'm talking about).

For our third and final vaguely related tale we head inside the old farm house to the kitchen. Let me set the stage for you. The players are me, my mother, and my evil older brother. My mother is somewhat upset. My evil older brother is weeping and wailing. I'm in trouble but I don't seem too concerned about it. My mom apparently was determined to help me understand what I had done so that I could feel bad about it. So, she lifted up evil, sobbing older brother's shirt to reveal the damage. Apparently, I had slapped him in the chest (who knows why but I'm sure he deserved it (this is the comeuppance I alluded to earlier)). The damage came in the form of a full, quite distinct, red hand print across his chest. The site of this probably didn't really have the desired effect since I seem to remember just being fascinated that I could do that by slapping him. From then on this scene came to mind every time I saw one of those super special hypercolor t-shirts.

This is probably the only time in my memory that I came out on top in a fight against the evil older brother. I'd like to dedicate the win to Grover and Cookie Monster.