Bubba-N-Friends

Welcome to the new and improved BubbaNFriends.org. As we go along, we'll use this as a news site about the friends and family, and to keep folks updated when new pictures are uploaded to the site. Of course, access to your email is still available. Also, the Dog Pound II BBS is also still accessible. Additionally, until I have more links in place, you can view the old site by clicking here.

Well, I suppose I should, at the very least, go ahead and put in the links from the old page. Then, I can start trying to organize the other stuff in some meaningful manner. Anyhow, keeping in mind that each of these is a little series, here we go: The fateful day(s)...Matthew is born and comes home Matthew's first few weeks Matthew invades Toronto for the first time Summertime fun: 1999 Portraits Bunny Pictures: Watch Matt grow...unfortunately, we really didn't keep up with this like we wanted to.

I know that we've told folks about the new house. Since I put the pictures on the net, I figured that we could point them out, here. Because I'm an idiot, it seems that I deleted the pictures that I took of the house when I was still house hunting. They were taken, mostly, for Laurie's benefit, since she couldn't be here with me to house hunt at the time. Luckily, I still have the pictures that were taken since we moved in, and have done some painting, decorating, etc. We will, of course, update this as we do more work to the place.

For Matt's third birthday, We had a little party at his day care. The cake
Matt and friend at the table
Just what is hiding under the table?
Didn't you know that I can drink with my fork?
OK...maybe the fork works better on cake. I'll probably get around to creating a little page with all these links/titles, and then just link to it from here. I've got a lot of work to do, I know.

In December, 2001, we decided to go to California for 10 days, staying through Xmas, and getting home on the 30th...just in time to get a few hours sleep before New Year's Eve. We spent our first night at Tammy's parents, then went up to Anaheim to go Disneyland. We milled about near the entrance for a while. The first ride that Bubba went on was with Mommy, racing a car...you can almost see them in the red car. After the race, Matt wanted to drive solo, for a while: Solo Driving 1
Solo Driving 2
Matt, being heavily into anything Toy Story, got to see the Buzz Lightyear show: Buzz show 1
Buzz show 2
Buzz show 3
Buzz show 4
Buzz show 5
Buzz Show 6 Here, we have a picture of Cinderella's Castle. Here's a quick family picture. Bubba and Daddy took a ride in a fancy new car, in Tomorrowland: Tomorrowland 1
Tomorrowland 2
Tomorrowland 3 Later, we took a ride through the "It's a Small, Small World" ride: Small World 1
Small World 2
Small World 3
Small World 4
Small World 5
Small World 6
Small World 7 Later, Bubba and Daddy were jailed. Luckily, they were able to make their big escape.

Can you believe it? The kid's 4. The way he runs his head into things (walls, floors, tables, counters, playground equipment, other human beings, etc.), it's often difficult to fathom that he'd actually make it this far...but he has. This year, the party consisted, mainly, of letting the kids run roughshod over the playroom. Here, we see Matt's friends, Jonathan, Justin, Davey and DJ hamming it up for the camera. Here, Matt, Nicholas, Heather (Nicholas' mom) watch Blue's Clues, while Jonathan decides on his dueling challenge. Harley, DJ, Davey, Justin, Jonathan and Matt finally sit down to eat. "Aunt" Jen presents the birthday cake, featuring...who else? Thomas the Tank Engine!!! Matt poses, proudly, after having blown out the candle. Everyone looks on as Matt opens a gift. A shot of another gift. Our favorite "rugrat" proudly holds up another gift.

(A couple of the pictures in this entry are rotated sideways...sorry. I'll fix them when I get back to Indy. Until then, enjoy) In April of 2002, we went to Florida. Uncle Ben's mother-in-law...Aunt Cheryl...has a very, very nice house, about 45 minutes away from Orlando, in which she let us stay. Grandma and Grandpa Eckman also made the trip, staying with us for a couple of days before going on to take a cruise...so, we all decided to go to Disney World. While we were at it, we gave Mellisa a call, to see if she'd like to meet us there. As we completed our morning routine, Matt decided that sliding shower doors can be fun. (Sorry...this picture is sideways) As would be expected, the trams were rather full, so we let Bubba go on ahead with Grandma and Grandpa in the first tram. After the tram ride(s), we waited in line to get onto the monorail. Bubba looked strained, wanting to move along, already. Finally, it happened...Matt got to meet Mickey Mouse (Sorry...this picture is sideways). The two new friends chilled for a second, before we moved along. We finally caught up with Melissa and Arin, and then Matt and Arin took a carousel ride. It was a pretty warm day, so Bubba sought out a little bit of shade inside this house. A littel bit later, we took in the Share a Dream Come True Parade. We saw Mickey, dancing brooms , Pinocchio's Honest John, and Pinocchio, himself, with Snow White following closely behind. Following them were Geppetto and the donkey boys. Then, it looked like Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore were looking for Winnie the Pooh. Of course, it didn't take long for Pooh to catch up to them. Captain Hook, currently one of Matt's favorite Disney characters, was still looking for Peter Pan, who was hanging out with Goofy and Donald Duck. Later, Matt met up with a bear. The bear invited Matt and Arin to hang out and inside a pumpkin house, before we eventually called it a day. Bubba decided to wear his Mickey Ears while eating breakfast, the next morning. During one of our drives, Matt spotted the ocean...this was followed, incessantly, by "I wanna go to beach!" So, we decided to go to the beach. Of course, Bubbas have sensitive skin, so it was important to make sure that Daddy apply sunblock before Bubba could play on the beach. Bubba thought it was funny to have green arms. Matt really marvelled as the waves rushed in and out. He could have just sat and watched all day. Eventually, though, he thought it would be fun to play as the waves crashed in and rushed back out again. Finally, Matt had made his way a little too far down the beach, and Daddy had to beckon the boy closer, whereupon Matt lay down on his belly, and let the water run over him, some more. When all was said and done, Mommy desanded our boy, before we left the beach behind. Back home in PA, Matt told his friend Siobhan all about his trip. I think she might want to go, next time.