A lot can happen in a year!

So, it’s been a year since I posted on this blog and thought I’d do a quick update.  First of all, our family ranks have swelled with the arrival of Natalie Elise Augustine.  As you can see from the picture below she’s a beautiful little girl and I’m not saying that just because I’m the proud daddy.

 

 

Cheyenne is all grown up now and is talking about getting an apartment in Bangor with her boyfriend so they can be closer to their job.  Where did the time go???  How did she go from a little girl to a young woman so fast?? 

Rowan is growing up fast too.  A couple of weekends ago we went to the Owls Head Transportation museum for a mighty machines day and he got to climb around on some of the equipment.  So did I. 

 

It brought back the days when I used to operate heavy equipment… back in the good old days before computers.

On a sad note Aunt Madeline died last week after a long illness.  She was the family matriarch in Canada – Dad’s sister – and she will be missed by many.  It will seem very strange going to Red Bank and not going to visit her.  In the past when there was any type of big family event it always took place at Mad’s house, now I wonder who will take up the mantle?  All things change, but I’m very much saddened by her passing.  We miss you, Aunt Mad.

Secret Halloween Costume Unveiled

But first, here’s a couple of more pictures of Aunt Mel and Uncle Mike.  What’s in the box?

 

It’s a tiger!

 

Resting up the day before Halloween.  It’s the only time he’s cuddly. 

 

And now for your viewing pleasure…  THE AMAZING CHICKEN COSTUME!!!!

 

You can see how thrilled he is to be in the Amazing Chicken Costume.  :-)  Check out that huge candy basket.

 

Cheyenne and Phil showed up with some diet busting Chinese.  Thanks a lot, Chey.  Hey, is it just me or is everything in this picture red?  Red truck, red coat, red hair, red bag.  What the???

 

What are you doing here Poppa?

 

Time to eat! 

Halloween Movie

Just so you can understand the power of the chicken costume I made a short movie to post here.  Starring Mom and Rowan.

Mel and Mike Visit Maine

Melanie finally brought her new husband to Maine to visit.  Turns out he’s a pretty nice guy even if he is from Rhode Island.  :-)

They drove up I95 Friday and missed the Bath exit and wound up going through Augusta and down Rt 17 to Rockland.  Strangely enough they saw Bonnie running along side the road when they hit Rockland and picked her up.  How’s that for a coincidence?

We stopped by their hotel room on Friday and visited for a bit ,then they came over Saturday morning.  We went to Augusta for lunch and a trip to the book store then came back to our house and had Moody’s take out for dinner.

Here’s Mel digging at some ice cream.  Do not get between the pregnant chick and her food!

They went back to their hotel after watching a movie then came back over on Sunday morning to visit.  Bonnie went to breakfast with them while Ro and I stayed home and built a fire.  I was showing him the finer points of table manners…

when they all showed up after breakfast. 

We sat around the fire for a few hours and visited before they had to take off back to the southlands of Rhode Island.

Bonnie got a ride down the hill in with Jake…

And Mike and Mel got a chance to relax a little before the long drive south.

Looking forward to next time guys!

Camping Out

A few weeks ago I decided to test some of my camping gear out in back of the house and Bonnie and Ro came out and sat with me until it got dark. 

First they helped me set up my shelter…

Ro telling a couple of jokes

He had to make sure my fire pit was set up right

 

Then it was on to some important business.

  
Don’t over cook it little buddy!

After dinner it was time for a little puppy love.

And man, does Bonnie love her smoors! 

I tried to find a picture of her not eating one, but I couldn’t!

Man, she’ll be furious when she sees this picture!  :-)

Punk’d

Oh I wish, I wish I’d had a camera with me last Sunday.  Bonne and I took Ro over to Mom and Dad’s for another cookout and Dad told Bonnie he’d seen an animal in a hole over by the big tent he uses for storage.  They went over and Bonnie, ever curious, was bent over looking at it when Dad reached down and grabbed a string.  He gave the string a good tug and pulled some kind of furry raccoon tail or something from the hole and Bonnie shrieked and did her “I’m freaking out” spider dance, waving her arms and running in place and screeching. 

I told him to let me know if he does something like that again because I wanted to film it.  That would have been a hit Youtube punk’d video!

Here’s a few pictures from the first cookout two weeks ago.  As you can see we all had a good time and George and Helene came over as well.

Working Out

Last night Ro and I were working out in my basement gym and I’ve got to say I really liked his form.  Check out his shoulder press technique…

Get a good grip on the bar

And up over the head!

Pretty impressive eh?  Now what does any self respecting weight lifter do after a heavy lift?  You guessed it… Looking good baby 

We were going to do a little boxing…

Bob and weave, bob and weave

But he ran into a little problem with the gear, so we decided to do it later.

Stupid wrist wraps….

All in all it was a good workout, but I don’t really trust him to spot me yet when I’m lifting heavy as he has a tendency to drift back to the mirror.  He’s a true Augustine alright; he’s never met a mirror he didn’t like.

Well hello Gorgeous…