Father's Day and More

So I have to share that I had a wonderful first Father's day. I don't want to brag about any details because I don't think that it's my style to do that (or at least I don't want it to be my style) and quite frankly don't like when I or others feel the need to compare what you did or what you got. Suffice it to say I was very happy, felt very loved and love being a dad to such an awesome kid. I love my little family.

On that Father's day note, I interestingly decided to watch a Disney movie that day. I watched the movie Enchanted, which I thought was pretty clever as it satirically spun all of the cliche happenings in fairy tales into a modern reality type film. I know its been out for a while but being that I am playing 9 months of catch up on films (Louis is 9 months now) it was new to me. I also think its a perfect lead into an article I read recently. Here's the tie in:

At the end of the movie Enchanted the main princess character loses her shoe as she faces off with the wicked queen, which they framed as her potential mother-in-law. She proceeds to beat her down and then ends up with her "one true love" who wasn't the prince. She ends up with a single parent dad, yada, yada, yada, while the prince ends up with this other dudes girlfriend. The kicker was that the prince who loses his supposed princess bride to be finds the clear plastic shoe of the princess and tries it on the other dude's girl and it symbolically is a perfect fit. Of course they live happily ever after. Okay, now before you go thinking that I am going to wax philosophical on you as to how this relates to this brilliant and educationally inspiring article that I read, I want to tell you that you are about to get a dose of how shallow I really am.

Here's the article I read:Fifth Human Foot Found in Canada. Read it. All I could think about was Enchanted and what if the clear plastic slipper didn't fit her and how that could be this person with the cutting off human feet fetish. Sick I know... but c'mon how sick is this person cutting off feet. Imagine swimming and finding the foot floating next to you!

My favorite part of the article is: "Police have said there is no evidence that the feet were deliberately severed or removed by force. Forensic experts say it is not unusual for body parts to become separated after they have been in the water for a long time."

Watch out your water lovers... You thought pruning up was the worst that could happen to you.

On another twisted note check this video out.

Human Tetris.

Honestly, what are they thinking?

Last but not least, Beantown gets another championship!! As you know the Celtics smashed the LA Lakers in game 6 here at home last night! I can't say that I have been a avid Celtics fan, as have to defer to Melissa previous post about not having a professional basketball team from my home that I could root for, so call me a bandwagon jumper but hey, the wagon stopped in Boston for us and I can appreciate the hype and backing it. Seriously though, having the Celtics win last night and breaking the 22 year drought was reminiscent of the craziness experienced with the Pats in '04 and '05 and especially the Red Sox in '04 when the "curse" was reversed. Boston was littered with crazy fans this time dressed in green wreaking havoc, screaming, blaring their horns, etc. It even spilled over into our Boston outskirt town, especially right after the game's time had expired. I even venture to say it was almost as crazy as when I was in Brazil and they made it to the World Cup. Its interesting to see how injected these places are with following sports and how fanatic they are. It sucks for me that the "rolling rally" will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday, maybe I can play hooky...just kidding (or am I?).

Batter Up

I like being a Sox fan. I know people will tell me that I just jumped on the bandwagon when I moved here, and that I did . But since I was from a state that had no professional sports teams of any kind, I think its OK that I adopt first baseball team I've ever lived near.


Anyway, last night James and I went with some friends to a Red Sox game. There are many things I like about being a Sox fan that I was reminded of during the game.


1) I like how anyone and everyone here is a Red Sox fan. You look around and there is every kind of person you could imagine donning their favorite players' jersey and blue cap. Can you imagine the goths of your high school putting on the highschool colors and actually attending a football game? School spirit was way beneath the stoners, goths, drama peeps, etc. But go to a Red Sox game and you see them all -- decked out in all the Red Sox garb they can pull out of their closet.


2) I love that as you walk to the game (in your own Red Sox shirt, pants, hat and a scarf if you can find it), people start talking and yelling encouraging words to you. James and I parked next to the T last night and on the way from the car to the subway a woman pulled down her car window to wish us luck, another man gave us the thumbs up from across the streets, and in the T people gave knowing nods of approval.


3) The people getting tipsy at the game are quite entertaining. Last night I heard one of my all time favorite quotes, compliments of the two girls next to me that finished four beers a piece before we even hit the sixth inning.

Drunk Girl 1: (after climbing over the seat from behind to get into her seat, while holding a beer and trying not to fall over) Dude, that kid behind us is DIRTY! Kids are so dirty, yuck!
Drunk Girl 2: Really, why is he all dirty?
Drunk Girl 1: Because I just stepped on him with my dirty shoe.
Drunk Girl 2: Yeah, that's cool dude.


Brilliance.


4) And on some nights, you get to witness some real baseball magic. Last night was such a night.

That's right folks, we got to witness the dugout clearing, forty person pile up, mess of a fight on the pitchers mound started by Coco Crisp. Its a good thing that professional baseball players kind of hit like girls, so no one was hurt.

Oh Paradise

So of course our trip to Hawaii was wonderful, relaxing and everything you'd expect a weekend on the North Shore of Oahu to be. Seeing family was great and it is always nice just to be together for a week without work and other responsibilities.

We did some great hiking right behind James' parents house. The strawberry guavas were in season, so we spent a lot of time trying to pull the trees down and get our fill. Louis was great riding in the backpack. As long as we were on the go, he was happy.

We loved spending our days on the beach. Louis, like most babies loved to shove sand in his mouth and eat it at an alarming rate. He even caught a few waves on the baby board.
For some reason, the sounds of the ocean would make this kid sleep like nothing else. Here he is napping on a walk on the beach.... Crashed out after lunch on the blanket.....

Yes, that is him asleep in the water while he was supposed to be swimming.

Other things that were a big hit for Louis were his cousins, the wildlife, the Honolulu Aquarium and Grandma and Papa Faustino's swing.

Things that were a hit for James were early morning surfing, night diving/fishing, eating Hawaiian and Filipino food and just being on the beach.
Things that were great for Melissa included her first real Mother's Day, the beach, having no schedule, all the great food and the hiking.

We've been away for a while

We haven't posted anything for quite a while, but with very good reason......

Its hard to blog when your on the beach everyday. I promise we'll be back soon, when we come back to reality in this 50 degree weather.

You know you married a good one....

.... when he looks this dang hot in a mullet.

I love how this picture captures the mullet in mid-flight.



Also very attractive: being able to pass the same mullet wearing hotness to your son.

Seven Months

Louis is seven months old today. I usually try not to ramble on about him all the time, so we'll stick mostly to pics. His favorite toys are mardi gras beads and cords of any kind. Basically he loves anything that could be a choking hazard (as shown in the picture above). He's also a great roller and scooter. Not captured in the picture above is his fall from the hotel bed shortly after this picture was taken. His parents are slow learners. Luckily he seems to be made of some kind of rubbery material that bounces unharmed off of walls and tile floors.
He also really likes being outside. We go for walks almost everyday, rain or shine. He of course likes nice days better (like the beautiful almost 70 degree weather we had on Thursday above), but doesn't complain when we walk in wind, rain or even snow.

He's also learned the very important task of feeding himself Cheerios. This is great for all of us, because now he doesn't have to scream everytime he wants one put in his mouth. This makes mealtimes better for all.

He loves to play with whatever is on the ground around him. Shoes (with shoelaces- kind of the same fixation he has with cords), books, clothes, and whatever else we are negligent putting away.

Unfortunately, we've discovered he is not the best traveler. He has to have someone sit with him in the back or else he gets lonely. And he doesn't sleep well in hotels at all. Our recent trip to Freeport, ME proved this way to well. Luckily, he is still very happy and cute as we drag him around all day long.

On top of all of that learning, he now puts himself to sleep at night, eats baby food like a piglet, has two teeth and loves to pull our hair when he is happy. He's doing pretty good for having to deal with us as parents.

My New Single

I don't normally like to talk about dreams. They are weird, and even when you try to describe them, you can never figure them out. My one last night though, deserves some introspection and evaluation.

It was my last dream of the night. I was a member of Destiny's Child and we were performing a show on stage. It was an awesome show. I even remember thinking to myself in my dream, "I had no idea I was this good of a dancer!". Some of the songs were actual Destiny's Child or Beyonce songs, but just before I woke up Beyonce announced our last song...
Beyonce: "And here is our last song, our hit single, written by our own member, Melissa Faustino!"

In my dream my mind was racing. I didn't remember writing a song for the group. I didn't even know I could write songs. I just knew it was going to be a good one though. We started singing the lyrics of the song....
"Even Jesus' gots a butt alright, alright!. So that makes mine alright, alright!"
[Insert slow, lower R & B rhythm and a lot of booty shaking - I can hum it for you some time if you like, probably won't show the dance though].

I honestly don't remember the rest of the song, but that was essentially the tag line. According to my dream, it was a world famous hit, our latest single. And I apparently had written it.

I have no idea how to interpret this dream, or what my subconscious mind is doing for that matter. To be honest, it worries me a little.