Ready to Take Over for Kim Jong Il

Hey everybody!
Here are a few random pictures that seemed to fit in with current events. I'm a political junkie and actually watch those politically-charged round-table talk shows on Sunday mornings. As you may have heard, Kim Jong Il is not doing so well physically and reportedly selected his 25-year old son to succeed him in charge of North Korea. I think Shea should make a play to replace him. Here's Shea's application for the job. Tell me what you think.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Representation of "Lil' Kim" from the movie "Team America." I think it's INEVITABLE that Shea will replace him as leader of North Korea!

Actual picture of Kim Jong Il.

Tell me he's not a dead ringer for "Lil' Kim" thanks to some photo editing software. At times, he not only looks the part, but he acts the part. See below for examples.

"See, I can even look down on the people I beat down and repress!"

Here is Shea's version of Chinese finger torture. Shea takes it to another level by incorporating the entire hand and wrist and by using paper towel rolls. I think that qualifies him to be an evil dictator.

Shea is also skilled in sleep deprivation torture. They say it's a common practice among state-sponsored interrogation activities. This will serve him well when he's in charge of a 3rd-world communist regime. Here's a sample of what he looks like and what we see after he cries for several hours at 1 in the morning and then wakes up at 4:30.

"Discovery"

Hey everybody!
Childhood is all about discovery. A child discovers that if he/she cries, either mommy or daddy is bound to come running to take care of their needs. They also discover their voice, how to use words, and what the objects are within their world and how they interact. However, one of the more fascinating discoveries is watching them exploring themselves. Whether it's realizing that they have hands, let alone that the left hand is distinct from the right, or first discovering what's hidden beneath the diaper, it's all fun to watch. Even though this later "discovery" happened some time ago, these pictures, taken a month or so ago, perfectly capture his expressions at the time. I always said I would not post any bath pictures given the ease with which information is available in our digital society. However, I had to share these. I hope you enjoy! I'll be posting more this weekend.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

"What's this I feel down there? That's something new!"

"PE-nis! He, he, he..."

"No mama, I wasn't touchin' it again."

Marlboro Moments

Hey everybody!
I hope you enjoyed the video clip last week. I'm editing more for nother posting, so stay tuned. Here are some pics we took recently. Not much new to report lately. I survived a very stressful 2-day long meeting in Portland, but the Council finally made the decisions necessary after 2.5 years of debating this latest management action. So, I'm going to be spending the next 3 months intensely writing regulations. Hopefully, there will be fishermen left after we're all done with this. We'll see though. For now, enjoy these pictures.
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

"Music is my life; rhythm is my god."

"I rock big hair bigtime!"

"All you need is a good toke once in a while to ease the stress of the day."
(don't worry, it's the plunger from a medicine dropper)

"Cigarettes are bad for you? No kiddin'?"

"All that smoking is aging me before my time."

"Nah, it was just bad lighting! I'm still cute."

Beat Drum!

Hey everybody!

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there! I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful summer-like weather we're experiencing up here in Salem...I kid, pun intended. ;} Anyway, here's the latest skinny on our happenings. Shea is getting his last tooth (at least we think based on the quick glimpses into the back of his mouth that we get now and again - we don't dare reach into that bear trap), so he's been a bit fussy. It figures, as he goes for his 18-month check-up tomorrow, so of course he's not eating too well. He's pretty solid though, so we're confident he'll at least be on the growth chart, if not above the bottom.

The basement playroom is finally done!!! I'll be taking some pictures and posting them soon. It looks great, if I do say so myself. We had a test run last night when Gemma and Scotia came over to play. Shea actually jumped on his trampoline and sat on his rocking horse now that we moved them downstairs and he had an audience.

We've been working a lot outside. We planted this year's garden. Let's hope it's more productive than last year. Unfortunately, too much rain last year made the tomatoes split. That can't possibly happen again this year, could it??? Around the raised beds, we put down weed barrier with pea gravel on top, so we might not have to take 4 hours to weed the garden area next spring. We also found out that the tree out front is a Norway maple which has poisonous roots that suck nutrients and water out of the soil, killing all other plants around. So, we got some more plants, transplanted those from the front into other areas, and hope they all survive. I'll post pics of the garden soon.

This week, we replaced the knob-and-tube wiring in the house. We needed to do that to blow insulation into the attic. With the tax refund and a $2,000 rebate from the electric company, we couldn't pass it up! Hopefully, the electric and heating bills will be lower and we can have more $ for vacations and such.

My left shoulder is shot. Shea is all about being held lately. He's such a jiggler that my shoulder is all out of whack and my tendons are strained. I went to the chiropractor last Friday and, after 4 hours of pain, walked out of there hoping my shoulder will get better. I hope so, otherwise I might miss the sail to Halifax. That may not happen for other reasons, but I was hoping that I could participate if it ever did occur.

Ok, this post is getting long, so I'll wrap it up here. I've uploaded a bit of the video of one of Shea's most favorite activities. It seems like the musical talent inherent in our families skipped a generation or two, but is alive and well in Brooke as well as Shea. I hope you can all download it and enjoy!

Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Funny Faces

Hey everybody,
I thought I'd post a few pictures of Shea making funny faces. We've got a few movie clips that we'll post one of these days. There's not much else to say and I'm kinda pooped. Enjoy!
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

"Hey, I can be funny, just watch!"

"Rambo ain't got nothin' on me!"

Peekaboo!

Grandpa's Gift

Hey everybody!
We had another stellar weekend with family. This time, we went to NY so Shea could get to meet the other kids in the family - Jess's cousin's kids. I guess that would be his second cousins, but I could be wrong. Anyway, we got to once again experience one of NY's most cherished traditions - a big church event followed by a catered feast accompanies by a DJ. Joey, the oldest child on Jess's side of the family, had his first communion this weekend. Shea wasn't very interested in the ceremony, but really had a good time at the reception, where he danced, ate like a champion, and played with his cousins. After going to a carnival Saturday night, Jess and I got to play adults and stay out past our bedtime. We actually went to a bar, a real bar, and drank and talked with Pete, Barbara, Marta and Nick, Jeff, and Leslie until about 1:30. Surprisingly, we stayed awake and didn't even have a hangover the next day! I actually had over 3 beers (3 and a half to be exact) and could still stand up. Wonders never cease!

The highlight of the weekend, at least for us as a family, came when Grandpa gave Shea a special present. He wrote the music for a lullaby some time ago, but just recently finished the lyrics to it. He hasn't recorded it yet in his studio, but we got it all on tape! We had to upload this clip right away, as it really touched us both in the beauty of the song itself and how Shea reacted throughout by looking Grandpa in the eyes as he played, watching his fingers ply the keys, gently touching Grandpa's arm, and then giving a rousing "Yeah" when the song ended. So, here it is. Enjoy the world premier!

Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Bouncing Around the Room

Hey everybody!
There's a song by Phish called "Bouncing Around the Room" that pretty much describes the Easter trip to visit my family in PA (I tried to upload the song onto this entry, but the computer just wouldn't let me). Not only were the kids and rest of the family really excited to see us, but we were all hopped up on sugar the entire weekend! Thanks Easter bunny, "bock, bock!" Anyway, the trip helped us charge our batteries, even if pneumonia kept us all coughing all weekend long. Oh yes, we all probably had pneumonia. Shea was the one with the official diagnosis, but it's pretty clear we were all suffering from something.

Thankfully, we're all better now. The sun is out, the temperature is above 40 degrees (for 5 days in a row, mind you), and all is looking brighter. We've had a good 2 weeks since Easter. We've been outside most of the time. I've been busy preparing Sekhmet (our sailboat) for launching on May 9th. We've also been finishing up the basement spackling. Jess has proven she's up to her title of "Master Spackler," showing me how to finesse it so that I don't have to sand much. By the end of this week we'll be ready for trim moulding and then paint! The end is near!!!

I hope you enjoy some new pics from our Easter trip. I've got some videos that I'll upload one of these days. If only I had some time to get it all done! I gotta apologize for the lame comments beneath each picture. I just wasn't feeling the flow this posting. I'm going to try to channel Danny Noonan next time ("Be the ball Danny, be the ball.")
Love,
Doug, Jess, and Shea

Hershey's kisses taste much better when you get it all over your face!

Easter egg hunt. Shea ended up grabbing the head of the turtle statue too. Yanked it right out!

Thanks to Uncle Eric, Shea got to explore the fire truck and rescue truck! He even got an honary badge and helmet!

Fire truck! Woo, woo!

Future firefighters of America

What a contented look on that face. It was good to be home.

"Balloon!"

Me and Mommom!

"Hey Uncle Steve, I wanna bee-ah (that's Shea talk for beer)!"
The kid's only 16 months old and already droppin' the "r's" like a townie.

Sometimes being around family too long can get ugly...just ask Paige! :-P

Not quite the "I wanna twirl" dance common at most Phish/Grateful Dead shows, but close enough - Brooke and Paige enjoy dancing around the room.

Wagon ride with Paige.