So Seattle-Suburbs-Summer-'08

Here we are, what, two days into summer vacation, and already the horrible strains of "I'm booooooored. There's nothing to doooooo" have been heard around here.

We need a summer-fun plan. And a place to document that we do occasionally have fun, and it's not all boring. And a venue to share the artistic talents and antics of the bored ones. All of which suggests a family blog. How original are we?

Now, since this is the big bad Internet, and since we have so much fun that it's inevitable that we'll be hounded by stalkers and wanna-be's, we will be using aliases. Handily enough, we have established family pirate names*, which should serve the purpose. What's that you say? Not every family has pirate names? How strange. How sad.

Introducing our pirate family:

ThunderDad, when not actively engaged in piracy, spends all his time playing on the computer for work, according to certain sons.

Next in command, Mom in the Beanstalk (that would be me) is chief chronicler and photographer, in addition to being ringmaster to the four ring circus,

made up of . . .

The dread Sparkle Eye, who, soon to be 14, now thinks that "Sparkle Eye" is not, you know, like, cool enough. So let's just call him "The Pirate Formerly Known As Sparkle Eye" shall we? He's into War Hammer, video games, and the creation of mythical alternate worlds with complex cultures and histories.

Equally formidable is Sandy Heels, aged 11, something of a renaissance brigand, a fine artist, burgeoning saxophonist, and mad reader.

The young Masters Smyles and Spitz, though tender in years at age 8, are accomplished in the finer points of pillaging and general mischief, and should not be underestimated. Both have made their presence known in the world of Webkinz, and have varied interest and enthusiasms.

Mr. Smyles, here sans smile.

Mr. Spitz, on his 8th birthday.

*Our pirate names were originally designated by Sparkle Eye, who at age 4 went through his first pirate phase. At the time, Sandy heels was a tubby toddler who liked hanging out in the sand box, getting more than just his heels all sandy. The origins for Mr. Spitz and Mr. Smyles were self evident in their infancy, as the one was characterized by smiles, and the other by a tendancy to rather a lot of spit-up. As for what suggested ThunderDad and Beanstalk Mom? Not sure. Perhaps there are undercurrents in a child's thinking that parents would really rather not explore.