thought i went awol, right? that i took all your pictures and ran? i didnt and i will be back to regularly sceduled posting tommorrow. we are away for the weekend and really enjoying our time out on the east end. lots of pictures to show when we get back. enjoy the rest of your weekend too! oh, and igot the coolest new phone~ the lg dare. its like the iphone. and since i really dont have a computer out here to edit pix with im actually going to bed.now!

So totally out of our realm of normal, but so fun and so great, and so glad we did it. My cousin-in-law Alex rides horses and is quite accomplished (not to mention just a great, sweet, beautiful person too). She and her horse Coastal rode in the Bridgehampton Classic this week in a few events. We went out on Thursday (her first day) to watch her jump competition.

She is so sweet and just dotes on the boys and asked them to help her get Coastal washed and ready for their event. They were more than excited to meet him and give him a bath. They had a lot of fun with the hose! After the horse sneezing incident (scroll down to the 3rd to last picture in the post) with their race horse, Timmy was more than happy to see the horse from a far distance. Far enough where there would be no snot.

After he was all clean and dry, it was time for Alex and Coastal to get dressed. We followed her over to the ring where her event was held. Watched all the riders/trainers/owners "walk the course". By now, the nervousness had really set in for Alex. The horse (who is 25 years old by the way) looked like he was about 5 seconds from dozing off. Alex said he always looks this way before an event- I thought maybe he was just saving up his energy for the jumping-I wasn’t so far off. We met up with John’s cousin Kevin who also is so good to the boys. Timmy really loved him and was willing to visit the horse upclose as long as Kevin was holding him.

Alex went 16th and did awesome! A totally clean ride (none of the rails knocked down- don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about??!) and damn, that horse can fly!! He came out all kinds of pissed off and we heard Alex yelling "git" at him once or twice, but whatever it was- it worked. He was sooooo fast and jumped so high and it was so exciting to watch. Alex rocked and came in first place!!!! So glad we were there to see it and take pictures.

Doesn’t she look so proud?

See how great Alex is? She gave the boys a little ride on Coastal (who was a good, good boy and very sweet- especially if you had some treats) and they can’t wait to do it again. Timmy was in charge of carrying the first place ribbon. Eventually he relented and fed the horse one treat. He liked it but didn’t love the slobber so much. Must be residuals from the snot thing.

We all went out to dinner at Cliff’s Rendezvous (the same owner/food as the Elbow Room) and had a great night. Didn’t get home til around 10:30ish, Timmy passed out in the car around 10 and everyone had a great, great time.

I can’t wait to go to my next horse show. Oh, and Alex and Coastal got 2nd place on Friday, and 7th out of 72 on Saturday. But she told me Coastal had the fastest time on Saturday, but knocked down one rail on a jump. Not bad for a 25 year old guy, huh?

Took way more pictures than what’s posted above. If you’d like to see them all, check out the album on the left on the top of the blog.

I invited my friend Jen and her two boys to join us for the day outeast on Tuesday. There were a bunch of locations that I wanted to go back to see (read: to take pictures of the boys in) so I thought it would be fun if we all went. Jen is even more anal than I am (hard to believe, I know. But I think that’s one of the reasons we get along SO well), but she broke out of her schedule and we spent the whole day out there. And boy(s), we had lots of fun. (Jack & Patrick get photo credits of the pix of Jen & me, and the ones of Timmy & me).  

Left home around 10 and made it to the easthouse around 11:15. I didn’t have a key, so really it was just someplace to stop. We went to the park across the street for about 1/2 an hour. Love that they have the old kind of carousel at the park– I think it might be the only one around still. I tried so hard to get Patrick up in the tree for some pictures but we couldn’t do it. He’s so heavy and everytime I lifted him, he started laughing, so I started laughing and had to drop him. Good thing it’s all sand on the ground. Jack wasn’t happy with me "putting his life at risk" making him take a picture in the middle of the street. Nevermind that a car only comes by once every hour or so.  

Drove from the park out to Greenport and had lunch at the Coronet- my favorite luncheonette. It’s a total throwback to the 50’s/60’s which I just LOVE. Not only was the food delish, but I decided to order a chocolate milkshake. Oh. My. God. It was melted chocolate icecream in a cup. Fantastic! The boys decided they had to have one too and not only finished off theirs, but mine too! I thought their heads were going to implode from trying to get the milkshake up the straw.  

After lunch we walked around Greenport and of course made a stop in the toystore where they sell all kinds of rubberduckies. Everyone got a few. We went for a ride on the carousel and I even caught a ring for Timmy. He liked that a lot. It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we walked out onto the "lawn" area for some more running and jumping. A little "stroller derby".

We then headed to the eastbeach for some sightseeing and rock throwing. Patrick even found a ladybug on the jetty, but it must’ve been a really smart bug cause it flew away before Timmy could "pop it". All was perfect UNTIL….Michael (Jen’s smallest one) decided it would be a good idea to go IN the water. And I mean in (under). Poor kid was in total shock from the freezing cold water and I saw Jen fly in after him. He was fine once he had some dry clothes on. Crazy man! Jen left after that. We stuck around for a little longer and then drove by the easthouse to use the "peepee tree" to have a potty break. All the boys did. Funny!

Hit a farm on the way home- couldn’t resist the red barn. And the chairs. I had to munch pretzels the whole way home so I didn’t fall asleep at the wheel. And Timmy didn’t nap at all the whole day!  

All the boys were so great the whole day and told me they had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again. And when I asked Timmy what his favorite part of the day was, he said….the peepee tree! Such a boy.

I had a shoot Sunday late afternoon far out on the island, so we decided to make a day of it and all go out. Ended up being a really good idea. Got a much later start than we had wanted (yes, my fault since I didn’t wake up for good til around 10am) but did make it out eventually. The boys had great TV face on the way out watching Ratatoille. Hit the outlets on the way and bought a dress for mom & ken’s wedding in May, bought a few sweaters and pretty accessories too. And boat shoes for the big boys that will actually fit. Then headed over to the easthouse to drop off all the boys so I could drive back 45 min to the shoot. Uneventful, right? Wrong.

On the way to the easthouse we saw two things we have never seen. One, a deer. Two, that deer getting whacked by a car while said deer was running across the North road (all 4 lanes). Well, he did make it over two, but met his flipping in the air demise on the 3rd lane. Bummer. And so crazy to see. Especially considering it was like 2 in the afternoon. I thought they only came out around dusk and after. The thing FLEW up into the air. We didn’t really see the aftermath at the time, but as I was driving back to the shoot, I saw the EMS people removing people from the deer car on stretchers. I hope everyone was okay. I guess those deer can do some pretty serious damage. The big boys were torn between saying it was cool and sad. Cause it was both. The most ironic part is that I NEVER see wildlife when it is actually "life", only when it’s dead on the side of the road. So the one time I finally see a deer (never before alive in all the time we’ve been going outeast-like 9 or so years) alive, he’s not for long.

The boys played outside like crazy at the easthouse while I did my shoot. No park, just baseball, football, & soccer in the yard. As soon as I got back, we left for dinner at The Elbow Room- our most favorite steak restaurant (sorry, Nel). Their marinated steak is just beyond yum. And the rolls. And the broccoli & cauliflower poppers. And the soup. Jack ate an ENTIRE marinated adult size porterhouse steak all by himself. Seriously.

And on the way to dinner, I spotted the most awesomest truck. So I made John loop around the block (you know how totally thrilled he was about that!) so I could take pictures of the boys on it. And it’s for sale. I want!!! And I know I’m biased, but just look at those gorgeous boys! Even without teeth, they are so handsome.