meet up at the MacG's...

the next couple of days are going to be packed with posts in an attempt to stay current, at least as far as the birthday stuff goes. it's going to be a flash-flood of posting activity, the kind that destroys homes, washes away dreams, changes lives forever as it cuts a swath of destruction across the very fabric of existence. actually, not so much all of that stuff. but there will be a lot of posting going on, no hip waders necessary.

and speaking of hips and such, bebe has recently discovered pockets. she hasn't yet figured out that she can put things in them, aside from her fingers that is.

when she does, i'll be really curious to see what kinds of things she feels the need to hold on to in her travels.

this. this is vito. vito is from italy, where he lives with his mom lucy. lucy paints for a living and is a close family friend. once a year she has a show stateside at a gallery in lenox, ma. it's a no-miss event for us (and for lots of other people as well). lucy is an amazing painter. her command and presentation of both light and perspective never fail to refresh and amaze me. every year i see her style evolve a little further, and this year was no different. when she comes back for her show, with vito in tow, she has no place to go. just kidding, i wanted to keep the rhyme going. what i was going to say was that she stays at her parent's house. they happen to live really close to mems and teed, and they also happen to be omi ingie and papi don! pretty awesome coincidence. if you believe in such things.

she's usually back for a couple of weeks, and her brother alec (who is one of mommy's closest and oldest friends) comes for a week or so with his wife and their two sons harry and john. we always have a blast getting these two families, who have multiplied into almost six* families by now, all together in one place. we're really glad that bebe is getting a chance to hang out with and get to know everyone.
(*uncle ben and aunt marge's wedding pending)

while the beebs still retains a healthy amount of stranger phobia, she's perfectly happy to play on her own in a secure environment. she's got a burgeoning imagination and can play with big kids, little kids, or all by herself. this is her watching vito and uncle ben.

she's curious to know what that wheel barrow is all about.

he seems to be loading it up with balls. bebe and uncle ben don't like the look of this.

they seem to be frozen in place.

once unstuck, bebe tries it out. she likes it okay, or "o-tay" as she likes to say.

with all the cool toys and open space to play in, it wasn't long before the grandfathers got involved.

go easy on those kids! they're smaller than you!

vito models the latest in european anti-grandparent apparatus.

"rawrrrrrrrr!"
vito, when you're being monstrous, don't slouch. and get those arms up higher. jeeze, what school of monstrosities did you graduate from?

""RAWRRRRRRRRRRR!"
much better!

unfortunately for him, this was a pretty jaded bunch. they were like 'ho hum. a monster. whatever.' i told him not to take it personally, that anyone can have an 'off' night.



still, he insisted on challenging his critics.

uncle ben: "look, it's not my fault your roar is just not up to speed. your arm movement was uncoordinated and your intensity, quite frankly, was lacking."

vito: "listen mr. short shorts- you wouldn't know intensity even if it pulled those little socks you like to wear up around your armpits!"

mommy, bebe, and aunt marge all look on as the two exchange barbs. this went on for a while.

eventually lucy stepped in to break it up.



when she needed reinforcements, we sent in the grandfathers!

"EEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"



why is teed making those funny noises?

"pretty sure i pulled something. maybe even two things."

the ladies kept a safe distance.

hey you guys, give those kids a rest!

"daddy? make them stop. i'm tired and i don't want to play anymore!"

bebe and vito tried and tried to get up

but no matter how hard they tried

they just couldn't do it! the grands looked on in a state of total relaxation.

in one last attempt at freedom, bebe hurled herself into teed.

"vito?

even after she had escaped, the grandpa's merciless and ruthless play-attack continued on poor vito as everyone watched helplessly.

one of my favorite shots of a kid in action.

finally, vito escaped. i managed to snap this pic as he fled frantically past me, arms flailing wildly above his head.

"hey! why don't you guys come back? best two out of three?"

"y'know, tack, i'm pretty sure i've got a hoolahoop around her somewhere. or we could climb that tree..."

at the end of the evening, vito presented bebe with her very own hard hat, to ensure protection from those pesky grandfathers.


thanks for a great time, MacG clan! see you a couple of posts from now...