Fun with Jack at the pool

Jack's goal is to try and touch my feet as I dive over him.

Opening his eyes would improve his odds! (Note pointed toes!)

He missed but is squealing.

Serious downgrade on the entry splash!

Annie Liebowitz? Maybe not...

Dad thought it would be fun to create some family portraits.

Here we are, getting ready to submerge so Cathy can get an underwater shot of all the Seiferts.

Jack is skeptical and certainly NOT joining in as that would require him to get his face and hair wet. Not happening.

Post-portrait. Jack is looking at Papa with one of those "Have you all lost your minds?" looks. Son, the answer is simple: Yes; many, many years ago!

Juxtapositioning

Jeff at the pool. And six feet away....

the rest of the crew. How can he look so serene?


Years of practice.

Around the dinner table...

Anna is happy to be at the beach!

The boys and their dad after a long day of baseball and a great meal by the McDonoughs.

Martinique makes us laugh and makes us smile!

Cousin Anna and Cousin Sage were superstars!

Anna and Sage spent tons of time showering Jack with affection and he ate them up. We were so happy to have them playing with them, watching over him, and loving on him. Thanks girls for being so sweet to your cousin!

That's my boy.

Just after bathtime

He's very contemplative and very peaceful. . . which resonates throughout the household.

Grandpa Gordon gets some sugar...

Jack just crawled into his lap and gave him a big hug and kiss one afternoon. Completely surprised and completely sweet. This one scene was worth the whole vacation for me.

Take me out to the ballgame

In McDonough baseball, there are two teams made up of one player per team. Dad plays outfield and referee. One out per team per inning. No walks. Ghost runners advance on a very strict and rule-bound basis. After each inning--ballpark permitting--the teams go to their dugouts and rest. (This may have something to do with the rarity of actual dugouts in their regular rotation of fields.) These games are very, very serious and very hotly contested.

The teams approach the field with the appropriate equipment - mitts, bats, and a shopping bag full of tennis balls - remember, there's no catcher.

He's out! Dad's a tough but fair umpire. He's also very hard to argue with, given the hierarchy!

It's a HIT!

Michael is considering trading his center fielder in the next draft....

At the beach!

We returned to Lewes for a week in August. Last time we had mostly Dygert relatives and friends. This time, a truckload of Seiferts showed up. Mary Ann's boys love to play baseball so we went over to the local diamond for an afternoon game.
For about a year, we have been working with Jack on his sprinter's start. Not sure how successful the starting techniques have been adopted but he LOVES to run. In this series Jack and Papa are racing. As you might imagine, Jack won just at the end of the race. For you racing fans, note Papa's running posture...very akin to Michael Johnson's upright positioning.

Best Friends!

This is Evan. He is Jack's best friend. How do we know this? Is it the fact that we love his parents Sarah and Tim and are imposing our relationship on them? Is it the fact that having them be best friends means we know he'd have a great role model and wing man for years to come? All of those are plausible and rational answers. The truth is simple: Jack loves Evan.

Every morning when we start our routine we will ask Jack what he dreamed about. Setting aside that we're not sure he even understands the entire concept, Jack responds nine times out of ten, "Evan. I dreamed about Evan!"

These pics are from a early weekend evening dinner with just the six of us. And what is dinner without dessert? Evan showed Jack how to REALLY invest in ice cream.

You can see that Jack of course is a little concerned that Evan has no nerve endings in his face because Evan hasn't tried to scrape every last morsel of ice cream from his visage. Seriously.

We love Evan (well, Sarah and Tim also).

Uncle Greg's turn

Uncle Greg is a natural...

Ready Set Go!

We spent every day in the pool or at the beach. By the end of the week, Jack had become very comfortable with the water. These shots bring back so many memories for me and my childhood with all of my cousins. There was always a young relative on the side of the pool being encouraged to jump, Jump, JUMP!!!!

Lincoln falls asleep in the water

A couple of days we went to Tom and Vince's and hung out at the pool. At one point, Lincoln was so blissful, he just fell asleep in Danielle's arms. It was the sweetest thing.

Danielle and Lincoln at Dinner

She is such an fantastic mom and has another one on the way!