Zooloo and the Quilt

The Big Guy, also known as Son #1, has been up to his usual shenanigans. In addition to finishing out his semester in DC, he's been filming for an intern contest with Zooloo. What's zooloo? Who the heck knows? I have my guesses but I'm keeping them to myself. You know, to avoid going out on a limb and all....You'll have to do your own investigative journalism on this one. My last foray into intrepid investigating wore me out.

Here's Geoff's video complete with flannel quilt made by the grandmother.

Big Guy and the Playahs

You may recall that a certain child of mine is doing a certain internship in a certain capital city. Dr. Barry H. Corey
Senator John Thune
Which leads to certain meetings with certain university presidents and certain US senators.

Based on the evidence I can surmise one thing. Mr. Thune must be a tall drink of water. Unless he's standing on a box. These are the interns from Biola, the Biola president and his wife, and the distinguished Biola alumnus serving South Dakota in the Senate.

Dear Mr. Fact Checker (and I use Mr. in the most generic sense because I know you are just as likely to be a Ms.),

I'm including a note for you because I know you will come for a visit. So, hi, how are ya? How's the weather in DC? Are you an intern or paid staff? Did you get a chance to attend the inauguration? Feel free to chime in and leave a comment, unless of course that sort of thing is frowned upon in the office. You can see I'm very nice, I didn't say mean things about your senator, and I'm just a proud mama. I'm sure your mama is proud of you too, but maybe she doesn't embarrass the heck outta you by posting your every move on her silly blog. Geoff would tell you to thank your lucky stars. One more question: how did you land your job? Pushy enquiring mothers want to know.

Love, Big Guy's Mommy

in which Big Guy plays the part of the Big Dog

You may remember that the Big Guy was slated to play Nana in his school's production of Peter Pan. Being the true stage mom that I am, I got special permission from the director (whew, I feel important now, and why am I letting myself feel intimidated by a college kid for heaven's sake?!) to take some pictures while the actors were warming up.

So, the truth is, I'm not very pushy, and I try to be sort of a little teensy bit sensitive to embarrassing the heck out of my kids. That's my lame excuse anyway. The majority of these pictures came about because the Big Guy handed off my camera to a cute photography major who actually knows what she's doing. The others came from The Land to Which I am Forbidden to Go.

This was a super fun production with lots of audience participation and imagination required. We felt that after lots of bark coaching from our Resident Puppy (otherwise known as Annika) Geoff performed his role admirably. We especially enjoyed the nod to the famous Hannah the Dog Attempts to Drag Baby Colin into the Bushes while Geoff Hangs on for Dear Life and All the Children in the Backyard Scream at the Top of their Lungs incident, a moment that has obviously gone down in the annals of Radcliffe folklore.

What has been weird about this whole experience is the gender confusion. I speak of Nana as a she, because, well, she is a she. I speak of my son as a he, because, once again, a "he" he is. And I guess I'm not enough of a method actor's mom to think of my son, or even speak of my son, my manly man son, as a she. Call me old fashioned. Enslaved to gender specific roles, even. I'm just sayin'.

You'll notice that because of his superior acting skills, the Big Guy played 2 roles in this production. (Okay, never you mind that so did several of the other actors; he's brilliant, I tell you, BRILLIANT!) Hence, the little boy garb as we see Nana play the part of Curly, Lost Boy Extraordinaire.






Apparently, acting is quite the workout.

The Big Guy

Let me introduce you to the big guy.

When he was little, I heard an old wives' tale that went something like this: measure your kid at age 2, double the number, and you'll find out how tall he'll be as an adult. What could be the harm? So I measured the little dude--3 foot 3 inches. What?! I figured that tale was a load of hoo-ey, and so I didn't bother measuring the rest of the kiddos when they turned 2.
Fast forward 19 years. Guess what? He's just a tad under 6'6" and claims he's still gonna bust out another inch before he's finished!

He's currently a senior at Biola University in California, a fine institution if I must say so myself. (It happens to be my alma mater, as well as my mom's, dad's, and brother's, so you can see we're just a tad biased.) He is majoring in political science, and if all goes as planned he will be spending the spring in DC and then graduating shortly thereafter. I'm sure ruling the Western hemisphere is on his to-do list, so stay tuned to future elections and be sure to vote for G-Man.

Here he is with his cousin Jaclyn (she doesn't want to rule the world; she's too busy going to hippie school)

and with little bro and little cuz .

Geoff's favorite quote when torturing younger siblings and cousins: "If you can talk, you can breathe." Translation: "I'm not getting up off of you just because you claim you're being squished." Hmmm...I hope this doesn't reflect his thoughts on foreign policy.

(Disclaimer: no children were harmed in the making of this photo; it only appears as if they are unable to breathe. Trust me--they were still yappin'.)

In November he'll be appearing in a production of Peter Pan. Yes, I know you're thinking he'd make a wonderful Captain Hook, what with his booming deep voice and all. The director, however, neglected to consult me, and cast him instead as . . . are you ready for this?

Nana.

The dog.

I guess size counts for something.