It's gotta be Christmas somewhere, right?

Cole is growing up. I knew this would happen eventually, but I didn't know it would manifest itself in more drool, more smiles, and the potential for learning high fives. But yes, we decided it was time for some new accessories to help his little mind develop. Enter the overstimulation station:





Here is Cole, semi-floating, flanked by all manner of shiny distractables. He loves poking, smashing, grabbing, and spinning. The biggest benefit of this thing though, is that it melds seamlessly into our industrio-modern decor.







He really does enjoy all the crazy stuff this thing has to offer. I still love accidentally capturing silly faces.





The other accessory we got him is a new stroller. He's JUST big enough to fit in a normal thing where he sits, gets buckled in, and faces forward so he can watch the world come at him. We figure he'll enjoy all of that input. So we put it together, and took him out for a stroll with the whole family. Let's go guys!





Unsurprisingly, he fell asleep within a few minutes.

He's Crafty

I wish I knew more about cars. I wish I knew more about troubleshooting the odd noises they can make. I wish I could dab a finger into the fluids they leave on the driveway and examine the color, smell, or feel and know exactly what to do. I'm learning that stuff now, in my 30's. Does that mean my capacity for understanding is limited? Do our brains become less flexible as we get older? Or do we just have less time to spend on things, absorbing their details?

Who knows.

But I'm getting Cole started early. This past weekend, he helped Bill wrench on his race car, and he helped me watch Bill weld a seat bracket into the floor of our Formula F racing Peugeot.



Bill's race car ( the 240RS Maxi ):


Here's some pics of Bill working on the Peugeot, our <$500 race car. I figured I'd just include some shots of this so you know what I'm into. Note: Bill is doing all the welding; I currently lack that skill.




Cole enjoys the Maxi quite a bit (but I'd like to think he prefers the mini)


He also accompanied me and Kate to another car gathering. He is becoming quite the regular at these events! I don't have any shots of him at the event, but here are some examples of cars he appreciated the most:







This one's for Rick:

Hello, Long Beach!

This past weekend, we headed down to visit Kate's parents in Long Beach. Or Lido Beach if you want to get technical. We had a great time, and Cole already misses all the snuggles and smiles from the variety of extended family and friends. This morning he was like "Where's G6? Where's Grampa? Where's Liz? What about Maggie, Shira, Gale, Steve, Clive, Susie, Aron, Addie, Jon, and everyone else? This place is so BOOORRRRIIINNNGGG!" Sorry kid, but now it's just us. The amount of love he enjoyed among the visitors was incredible, and his smiles and comfy snoozes were his thanks.











I'll also include this picture of Cole cuddling with Shira because it's an artsypants shot, and you know that's my thang.



This was Cole's first time on the beach. We were very excited about that! I don't know why, but we were compelled to take a bunch of pictures. The first day was chilly and Cole fell asleep instantly.



Note the totally kick ass vintage 70's Knicks jersey he's wearing. That's a hand-me-down from uncle John, whom we saw wearing the very same shirt while perusing a photo album of Kate's youth. Pretty awesome.



Aunt Maggie came down and played with him in the freezing water for a bit.



But his hat flew off



So he had to wear mine, even though it didn't fit very well.



I'm telling you, the water was COLD.



So we abandoned the water and played on the beach a little.



And we experimented with what Cole would look like wearing a long fantastic toupee.



It was chilly in the wind though, so we returned home and took some naps.



And hung out with some new friends.




It was a lovely afternoon. That night my uncle Clive, Aunt Susie and cousin Aron came out for a visit. We had a great time walking on the beach and catching up. It had been a while!




It was so fun that we were all frozen in time for a second, a-la the ending to an 80's TV Show.



It was a beautiful night.




We were visited by UFOs.



The next morning there was finally some sun. So much sun, in fact, that it was impossible to get a photo without over-exposing it.




Until I noticed that you can actually change the settings on the camera. Pretty cool right? Moveable switches.




Cole had some energy and we introduced him to the concept of stomping around in the sand. He enjoyed sqooshing it between his toes, and picking it up and smarshing it between his fingers. He was mesmerized.






Fun! Also fun is relaxing in boingie chairs.



But the most fun is getting MARVEL!



Fun for us anyway. We didn't allow Cole to partake because his little gizzards would probably turn into stone if he ate a single sprinkle. Soon, little guy!

That afternoon, my good friend Jon dropped by for a visit. This is the Jon whom I wrote about on the very first post of this blog. The last time he saw us was Cole's birthday. It was pretty cool to spend time with him again in a less holy-crap-what-the-hell-is-going-on type of environment.



Here's Jon doing his best Cole impersonation.



And who doesn't love a smooch on the head?



Shira took this picture of her iPhone. I'm pretty sure she's going to use that as her wallpaper until the end of time. Right Shira?



I now end the post with a curious seagull.