Happy Valentine's Day!!

DeA v. Santa

Rock's Birthday!!!

Little Rocko was born four years ago today on a snowy night in Davenport, Iowa.  Right after he was born DeA told me that she loved the sound of his cry...boy did she ever change her tune on that one!

Here' Ryker and Nick getting into the party mood.

 Lindsea was pretty excited, too!

 Ryker put on a brave face, but he realized that his party wasn't for a few more weeks.

 Here's an awkward picture of Rock's Cars cake.  He picked it out at Safeway and told DeA that he had to have it.

 He loves being the birthday boy.

Here's the amazing rendition of Happy Birthday featuring Mama Zista on speakerphone.

Ryker loves eating the birthday cake.

Rock got some cool presents, including Pop Tarts, Rice Crispy treats from Mama Zista and a book with pictures of him in it.

Mama Rae got him an "iPad" so that she didn't have to keep sharing hers with the boys.

Uncle Nick got Rocko a batting tee to help him hone his sweet lefty stroke.

Did I mention that Ryker loves birthday cake?

He may or may not have ODed on sugar tonight.

Wabbit Hunting With Wock

Hi everybody!  I'm Rock England and you're watching "Wabbit Hunting".  I'm your host, Rock England and this is my sidekick, Harry.

 The first trick to hunting wabbits, or big bad wolves for that matter, is that you need to wear your hunter orange.  That way no one mistakes you for a deer, even though deer have antlers and look like deer.

 The next thing you need is your trusty gun.  I prefer a .45 caliber rubber band gun.  It not only takes down the prey, but it also helps you pack it out.

 I cannot stress how important it is to wear Uncle Travis' motorcycle helmet, or an equivalent.

 You'll notice that Harry is also wearing a motorcycle helmet, this one of the CHiPs variety. 

 Welp, that's our show for today.  Now we are off to go shoot hunting.  Wish us luck, and remember: Deers don't look like people, but sometimes mean people look like deer.  Good night everybody!

The Dream Is Over

This is Young Aaron a week before he turned 21.  Look at him, so full of hopes and dreams.  It's as if that sunrise behind him symbolizes the endless possibilities that are in front of him.

Many of those dreams came true: He hit a ball into the corn at the Field of Dreams,

He married above himself,

and he has a beautiful family

 Unfortunately, one of the most important dreams died yesterday when he bought a minivan.  Just like that the dream died an ignominious death. 

Welcome to the family, Bubbles.  Welcome to the family.

Fan Fest!!

One of the nice things about having uncle Nick around is that he sets up things like trips to Fan Fest at Safeco Field.  Rock got ready by playing JetPack on the iPad.  That's great practice for Fan Fest.

Ryker didn't get to go to Fan Fest, so he prepared by feeling left out.

"I know what's going on, and I'm not cool with it.  I'll pretend that I'm cool with it, but I'm not cool with it."

We woke up at like 6:30 AM! on Saturday and drove over to Seattle.  Rock was pretty excited to get out of the car and have a chance to run around.

One of the nice people gave him a tiny foam #1 finger.  It's funny because usually they are grotesquely oversize.

We got to go out on the field and play catch in the outfield.

Then we went and threw some pitches in the bullpen.  Rock was firing strikes like a machine.

He even brought some southpawed heat.

Then he went and sat on the bullpen bench to understand what goes on in the mind of a reliever.  Now he knows that they are pretty much just dinking around out there.

The next stop was the hitting tees.  He got to take some vicious swings and show up the other guys trying to hit.

Uncle Nick was under a lot of pressure to match Rock's power prowess, and Rock's catcalls didn't help.

Look at that textbook swing...poetry with a bat.

Even Papa Dale and Travis got in on the action.

The next fun thing was the home run obstacle course.  Rock dominated that with his home run obstacle course trot.

Rock was so thoroughly dominating everyone that he felt it was especially appropriate to tell everybody that he was #1!