The Little Drummer Boy

Over Thanksgiving break, Tristan received some drumming lessons from cousins Chris and Mikey.

Turkeyday in Rochester

Thanksgiving 2008 was spent in Rochester visiting with Jennifer's cousin Kris and family. Kris stocked the house with toys for the boys and food for everyone.



The drive up was pretty uneventful. There was some snow along the way, but nothing to stop us from proceding. The roof rack did spring a leak and we needed to use Kris' dryer after we unpacked, but with two boys, we figured we would be using the washer and dryer throughout the trip...not to mention the occasional spot remover on the white carpets.

Mikey, our cousin attending West Point, came up to visit Kris' boys (a little more age-appropriate than Tristan and William). Mikey insisted on helping with dinner, staking a claim to the mashed potatoes and gravy.  We all got a kick out of the West Point cadet spending his vacation peeling potatoes.



Christopher took a break from his studies at RIT (and playing Rock Band 2) to teach Tristan the subtleties of storming a castle:



William had a blast playing ball with Kris. And Kris doesn't provide just your run of the mill ball. Her's is basically twice the size of William!

Ragamuffin Parade

This year's Ragamuffin Parade featured the debut of Tristan and William's costumes for 2008. Tristan long ago decided that he wanted to be Captain Hook and that his little brother should be Peter Pan. Dad joined in by donning a crocodile hat and an enormous alarm clock. Mom volunteered to be TinkerBell, but decided that the temperature was far too close to freezing to wear fairy wings.



This picture was taken by the town photographer...and we are looking forward to seeing our segment on local public accesss television.

Leaves!

On another visit to Kent, Tristan and William discover the joy of leaves.



The family would have had a fantastic new portrait...if only Tristan weren't having so much fun!

Pumpkin Blaze

The Blaze is a pretty cool annual event that takes place at Van Courtland Manor in Croton on Hudson. They put out literally thousands of illuminated pumpkins around the old manor house. You really need a tripod to take decent pictures. The boys enjoyed it...and so did Aunt Patty and Uncle Skull.

Studio Shoot

The boys sat down for some studio photos. Have you ever seen two more photogenic boys!

Rest in Peace, Aunt Lucille

We just found out that Tom's great Aunt Lucille recently passed away. We hadn't seen much of Aunt Lucille lately as she and Uncle Dick moved to Florida a number of years ago. But as a child, Tom remembers many family events where Aunt Lucille was a significant presence. Uncle Dick passed recently, soon after his brother John.



If you click on the picture above, you can see pictures from Uncle Dick's 80th Birthday Party.

Aunt Lucille will be missed. Rest in Peace.