Welcome to Atlanta where....

So we've had a really busy last couple of weeks, I mean really busy. Since August 15th we've:

Took one last outing in DC (is it bad to take a baby to a cemetary?):



this was not an easy picture to get...



thanks Jack...



Way to go Shelby...

But we did manage to get a picture of the illusive "Bird Face":



Moved Back to Atlanta:

Our place in DC was absolutely tiny, but we somehow managed to have an absolute ton of stuff packed in there. So upon packing we ended up with boxes everywhere:

In the office (or bedroom if you will):














In the Kitchen and living room:




















And in the hallway:




















(Don't worry, we put air holes in the box)

One thing is for certain though, moving with a child is exhausting.














So Tiring....


but like they say, sleep when your baby sleeps, so we did...



Met a lot More of the "Kin Folk":

But its been great to get back, and we've had a booming social calendar every since:

The deRijke's welcomed us back, and brayden got to meet his cousin rece and aunty casey:



His uncle Jazzy (jeff), although they may have to be reintroduced, as he slept for the entire visit:



His great aunt Kathy (although I'm not sure if he's been formally introduced to the monkey or not yet, but who we owe a ton of thanks, along with peggy, for setting up the nursery):



Were hosted to dinner aunty brooke and uncle chris at their new house. We were also joined by aunt julie, margaret, and henry.



Also Met grandpa and Tami, although I can't seem to find the pics with grandpa, and we even dressed him in his pirate outfit especially for the meeting, to make an extra special first impression (thanks to grandpa for picking up the nursery so kathy could set it up):



went to dinner at Emily and Trip's new house with Mark, Jen, Jake and Emma:



Were treated to our first night out on the town by Opa and Oma at Einstein's



met his cousin's henry and margaret (virtually impossible to get a good picture of 3 kids under 4)



And were hosted to dinner by nana (and henry and margaret)




These are just a few of the things that I can think of that we've done in the past two weeks. The one thing that we really haven't done, to this point, is actually unpack. We have a ton more pictures that you are welcome to sort through if you like by clicking HERE,

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs...

It seems that I have come across a plethora of great signs in the past couple of weeks. I'm sure these things are all over the place, i guess for some reason it took me nearly 30 years to truly see, and appreciate the glory of these signs. Without further adieu here are some of the best that I've run across lately:

You Pick the Caption:
Ok, so there were so many zingers that ran through my head when i saw this sign that I just can't pick. So i'm leaving it up to you, the people to decide the caption. Leave your comments about what you think the caption for this beauty should be (this also gives me a gauge on who is actually still reading my non-sense). I'll get you started: "Really?"


So Far Wrong that its Actually "Right"

Sticking with the Bush theme..... I don't know if this guy is trying to keep the glory days alive forever or what, but its amazing how things have changed '84 ('88) and H.W. was in office.


Ok, so the original is a little tough to read so I went out and found the actual bumper sticker on ebay. Here is a closer look:

(This will probably be the only republican propaganda you will see on this site)

Who are the Advertising Geniuses Who Came Up With This One?

I don't really like to make fun of people for things that they can't help, and this guy can't really help the way he looks, but he CAN help the advertising campaign he is waging across NW DC. In his effort to smile, this guy is actually making the AFLAC duck, Gilbert Gottfried and all, look like Handsome Dan.


Need a closer look you say? Ok

Creepy...

I Want to Write, I Want to Paint, I want to Sculpt something Massive....

Ok, I know what the people in Gaffney, S.C. were going for here. But in reality, every time I drive down 85 and see this water tower, it doesn't so much remind me of a giant peach, but more like a huge, ugh, well, you know...

(An alternate header for this sign: "Got Asteroids? Naw, but my dad does. Can't even sit on the toilet some days." Coincidentally, both from the Vacation Series)

Witnessing the Birth of a Legend
And last, but certainly not least, of all the signs that I've seen in my life, there is one that I will never forget. Probably only 1 person who reads this blog will know what I'm talking about, but my favorite of all time is a guy named Rito Seinz (OK, so this one is a homophone for Signs, but still counts). With all of the talk lately surrounding Barry Bonds and the Steroid Era of baseball, it takes me back to the beginnings of the "long ball", and the true HR king. When we were 14 years old, it was the East Cobb Astros right of passage to venture to, as good ol' Hairy Mason would put it "ah er perduker kentucky" for a baseball tourney. This is where we ran into man who became the legend of Rito Seinz. Now several amazing things happened on this trip, from Coach Mason making the unheard of "catching change" mid-way through an inning, pulling Andy Kropf, Vanderbilt's future starting catcher (I believe somehow Jeff Battaglia was involved in this as well) to the card games with the local 18 year olds. But the one thing that sticks out the most from this trip was birth of the legend named Rito Seinz. You may ask how Mr. Seinz came to this legendary status, and I'll tell you. With Mike Herman on the mound dealing his ferocious curves, Rito Seinz unloaded a Ruthian shot that easily cleared the left field fence, a light pole shot if you will. It cleared the fence so easily that it actually cleared field behind our field, and landed on top of their dugout. One thing was certain, that it was definitely a HR, the thing that was unclear was that because he hit it over 2 fields, should we give them one run or two. As a side note, I believe that was the last curve that Mike Herman ever threw.

Must be In the Jeans

You all may be wonder just how did i ever manage to attain the incredible talent that I have for the written word. Well, I have 2 words for you "It's the Jeans". Many of you may have heard the stories of the lost PJ deRijke novella, and I let you know know that I will not rest until it is found. But as a consolation to the lost manuscript, below you will find a sample of the deRijke genious, a short story composed by Jeffery Andrew deRijke Titled "JUMBO PAPER CLIPS". Without further adieu, I present to you "JUMBO PAPER CLIPS", Enjoy...

Pretty amazing how the simple things in life can make you happy…

In case you didn’t know I have a slight obsession with a standard office product.

Over the past couple of months I have grown accustom to these beautiful manmade delights …

One day I realized that my paperclip dispenser was running short on Jumbo Clips…

Me being the IDIOT that I am… went immediately to the office manager to tell her that my paperclip holster needed to be reloaded with my precious jumbo clips…

She then informed me that no one in the office used or liked the jumbo clips so we didn’t have anymore!

From that point on I poured out my love for the jumbo clips and how I had grown so accustomed to them and basically dependent on them!

I explained to her that I would be like a man with out his legs, a dog without his bone, a monkey without his banana…you got the Gist.

The office manager assured me that she would order me some jumbo clips and that they would be there before I ran out!

I knew this was all a lie…I only had about 20 remaining and I would say that I am a paper clipping machine!

I use them obsessively…

Then came the one day that I had dreaded for so long…my last jumbo clip was sitting there in its dispenser all alone. The sad part is I felt even more alone than that clip…he is the one who had lost all of his friends and family…yet I still was yearning for my Jumbo Paper Clips…

About two months have gone and I have resorted to the rinky dink small paper clip…

Work just hasn’t been the same since that sad day in May…Everyday at the office has kind of lost its glamour with out my Jumbo Paper Clips…

Well I just want to let you know that the ship has landed!

I just got a fresh order of JUMBO CLIPS!

Seriously just used three for no reason b/c I am so happy to have my babies back!

Thank you Ms. Office manager for reconnecting me with my love!

Art is Scary

Stephanie and I ran across a fairly frightening display last week on the way home from walking the dogs. At the end of our block we ran across some street art that seemed to be gathering a great deal of attention.

We had to go in for a closer look to see what all the fuss was about....


Holly Cra......

We later found out it is actualy called healing, by Kata Majia. More information about it can be found here. This piece of sidewalk art had most of the passer-byers recreating Edvard Munch's "The Scream". And an even closer look...leave the children at home for this one....

(Is this street art or a reenactment of a scene from The Ring?)

And they thought picasso was weird...

Uncle PJ Stops in for Dinner

After getting to see Aunt Julie and Aunt Brooke over the weekend, PJ made a quick stop in DC on his way to Gettysburg for work. Brayden was kind enough to stay awake for the entire visit, in fact he actually stayed up for about 4 straight hours!!!

It was a quick visit, but we loved seeing him and hearing all about rece and casey and everything happening with the new house. More Pics can be found Here.

Brayden's Biggest Week Ever!!!

Looking back on it, this has to be brayden's busiest week EVER. Ok, so he's only 3 weeks old, but he had a lot of stuff happen this week. Milestone's this week at a glance:

Tuesday

• First Car ride alone with Mommy - Brayden and Mommy took a trip to the doctor. Checkup went really well. The doc popped off the remnants of brayden's umbilical cord, and told us he was ready for a real bath. They weighed him in at 9 lbs. 6 ozs. Head size 75%, and weight and height at 50%.
  
• First real bath - He seemed to enjoy this much better than his sponge baths, although he still wasn't sure about it. Later in the week, Aunt julie pointed out that we need to relax and not scrub him so hard, brayden appreciated truly appreciated this.

Wednesday

• First day at work - Brayden and Mommy went to NIH to meet all of stephanie's work friends. I hear he was quite a trooper, as he lasted from around 11 until 5pm. Right around 5, all kinds of chaos broke out for the entire deRijke family. I got an email from work saying that I had a conference call that I had to attend to at 5:30, which left me very little time to get the dogs to the park for their afternoon walk. As I leashed up the dogs to take them to the park, I walked out the front door to our landlords staring at a large brown box addressed to stephanie and I. They told us we had received a honey baked ham. This was a fantastic gesture, but raised a couple of problems.......I had about 25 minutes to get the dogs walk and get back for the call, we don't actually eat meat anymore, and the box was apparently not ant-proof. I told the landlords that there were welcome to the ham, just save the card for me (we subsequently found out that the ham was from my work). Just then stephanie calls me on my cell to tell me that brayden is freaking out in the back of the car on the ride home (which he truly was, i could barely hear stephanie over his crying). We decided it was best for her to pull off and try and relax him. I finally make it to the park, and just at that moment i hear sirens blaring from all directions, and coming my way real fast. Shelby decided she would join in the ruckus and proceeded to howl like a hound dog. Cops are arriving from all directions, even driving down one way streets the wrong way to get to the circle. I'm not sure whats going on, but I'm just hoping there isn't some sort of drug bust or something going on. In the end there were 5 cop cars, a full size ladder fire engine, and an ambulance. As I'm walking around the circle I'm looking back to try and figure out what is going on, all I can see is a few of the local bench sitters being questioned. Well, i probably should have been paying a little less attention to the middle of the police activities and a little more attention to what our dogs are doing because the next thing I know my leg was feeling awfully warm and wet, Jack had stopped to mark his territory and I had walked right into the stream. I did my best to shake it off and we were on our way home. I made it just in time to catch the conference call. Here's a summary of the call....Client:"We're not ready to meet, can we call back in at 6:30?...........that would have been fantastic to know 30 minutes ago. So manic monday or manic wednesday, they're all the same.
  

Friday

• Met Aunt Julie - We drove out to dulles to pick up aunt julie who had flown in to meet brayden and party like its 1999 for brooke's bachelorette party (we're still working on Julie's moniker).

• First Trip to the Mall - We stopped off at tysons corner on the way home from the airport to meet up with heather, ciera, adam and teagen
  
• Met the Stanley's sans Aaron - We met up with the stanley's for lunch so they could meet their newest nephew/cousin. You can view the pictures from our outing here.
  

(can you spot the adults in this picture? Also, notice the sorority pose sported by all.)

Saturday

• Met Aunt Kinky Boobie (our the boring verion.....Aunt Brooke)
  
• First Bachelorette Party (the male entertainment for the evening)

although he did not take part in the late night kareoke with mommy and the aunts:

(More pics of the bachelorette party can be found here)

• First night alone with Daddy - For the most part this was fairly uneventful. Brayden slept from the time we arrived home at 8 until around 11. Apparently, a good rule of thumb when bottle feeding......check the bottle to ensure that the top is secured tightly, about half of the bottle was lost.....and found by both brayden and my shirt, lesson learned. He then slept from that time until around 2 am when he decided he wanted to eat again. In my haste to change the bottles nipple from size 2 to size 1 (yeah, apparently there are different size nipples) i accidentally threw the ring which holds the nipple (wonder if there is a term for this part) and hit brayden in the head. He was on the very edge of losing it until the sweet nectar of the breast milk hit his lips. Mommy and aunt julie arrived just in time to help finish the feeding. I wish I had taken a picture of this moment, because both looked like they had hiked across the Sahara Desert to make it home (apparently the AC was out at the greatest Kareoke bar this side of the Mississippi, Peyote).

Even more pics of our weekend can be found in this Link