Email From Marty- May 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Hi guys! I hope you had a safe and dry Memorial Day weekend. Sure doesn’t seems like Summer is on it’s way with all of this wet and gloomy weather, but it hasn’t slowed me down much!!!

I’ve been super busy the past 2 weeks. Mommy and I took a mini-vacation to Aunt Mary and Uncle Vic’s house in North Richland Hills. We had a great time, only thing was that they weren’t home while we were there! We were “house-sitting” and taking care of “Precious,” their Westie and “Kitty Hope,” their cat while they went on an airplane and then a boat with some of their friends. Mommy and I stayed up late and played, slept late in the mornings and had a nice relaxing time!

Grandma and John Daddy live only 10 minutes from Aunt Mary and Uncle Vic’s house so we saw them a lot during our mini-vacation. I spent a few nights with them and there was a present at their house for me every time I came over! We also spent a lot of time with Uncle Tommy and Renee and Charley. They have a new swing with a special car swing just for me and lots of room for me to ride my trike. I had a few crashes with boo-boos to prove it!

Best of all was a surprise new pony that Uncle Tommy got for me to ride! “Tony, the Pony” lives at their house but he’s mine to play with and ride anytime. He’s really cute, check out the photos on our website photo album to see him. Mommy says I was a little spoiled on our mini-vacation…but she was a little too!

The only bad thing about our mini-vacation was my sudden illness. One afternoon I was playing in the Johnson’s backyard and all of the sudden it felt like a bug flew in my ear! It really hurt. I told Mommy and NayNay (Renee) but they couldn’t see the bug. I kept on playing but holding my ear. Mommy took me to Grandma’s house because she was going out with friends that night. John Daddy looked in my ear and said it looked OK to him. I rode my tricycle at their house, holding my ear, which Grandma thought was strange, but I didn’t complain. I just kept saying that there was a bug in my ear! Later I climbed in Grandma’s lap and curled up, now holding both ears. Grandma decided she’d better call Mommy, since I was not acting like my usual jovial self. She called just as Mommy was leaving to meet her friends. I always have had good timing when Mommy has made other plans!!

So Mommy cancelled her plans and took me to Cook’s Children’s emergency clinic. She was now worried too because I was acting like I was very sick and she was afraid I would be worse if she waited until the next morning. She got us checked in at the clinic and we waited our turn. In triage I explained to the nurse that I had a bug in my ear while she took my vital signs. She seemed sympathetic to my problem. We went back to the waiting room to wait again. We waited and waited. I was beginning to get bored and my ears were feeling a little better. I was watching a video on the big TV screen and got down out of Mommy’s lap to dance to the music on the video. I think Mommy was embarrassed that I was dancing and didn’t look sick like the other kids in the waiting room. But you know me, I love to dance!! Just as I was really getting into the groove, the double doors opened and “JEAN MARTIN” was called. Boy did the nurse lower her brow at Mommy as she dragged me –still dancing- thru those doors and into the examining area. Mommy was a little pale herself…but her color came back, even got redder when I stood up and announced to the doctor when she came in that I had a bug in my ear!! 5 minutes later, we were out of there with a prescription for antibiotics to cure my ear infection…and I was dancing and singing all the way to the car!!

Since I last wrote I have been exploring the different modes of transportation. One evening Ella, Ethan and I took our mommies to a carnival in Frisco and had lots of fun. We rode in teacups, on a train, inside a huge teddy bear, and my personal favorite was the helicopter! Our mommies were a little hesitant about putting us in the helicopter because some of the helicopters on the ride went up very high and they couldn’t figure out which ones went high and which ones stayed lower to the ground as they went around. But us kids insisted that we ride! So they buckled us in tight, put Ella, the oldest, on the outside and told her to hold the bar in tight to her chest because it was a little loose. The ride began and around and around we went. All of the other helicopters went up and down, but ours stayed low to the ground. Our mommies were relieved but we were disappointed that we got the bum helicopter that couldn’t fly! Just as the ride was about over we all figured out that the bar that Ella was holding in tight was the lever to push out and make the helicopter fly up! Oh well, we had a really fun time that night!

Then Cousin Grace and I decided to try out the train at Forest Park in Fort Worth. Her grandparents (Aunt Mary and Uncle Vic) and my Grandma took us for a fun day. Later in the month we decided to try the Tarantula Train in Grapevine with Grace’s parents and Mommy. Wow is that train big! It was a fun ride until we had a train robbery, and a masked gunman got on the train! There was a shooting that Grace and I weren’t expecting and it was a little scary. I almost cried but wanted to look brave for Grace! Thank goodness there was a sheriff on the train and all was well in the end!

Good news! I’m all signed up for summer camp beginning in July! There’s a really cool two- week camp for kids my age that teaches all about “Things That Fly” so Mommy and Daddy thought it would be perfect for me since I love airplanes, helicopters, balloons, kites, etc. ! It would also be an opportunity for me to expand my religious culture awareness. The camp is at the Temple Shalom of Dallas. Daddy liked it because the curriculum was science based. Mommy and I went over to the synagogue and met the Preschool Director and toured the school. Mommy liked it because it offered other fun things like art and splash days and stuff I’d like, as well as learning more about the Jewish customs. I think it will be fun!

I’m getting my sunglasses and sun-block packed because we are heading to the beach! In a few weeks we are flying to Orlando to visit the Vaneskahians and then we’re off to Cape Canaveral to see all of the space stuff that Daddy tells me about! After that we are all going to the beach for a few days with my cousins Perla and Isabelle! Before we leave Orlando, we are going to a party at the waterpark! It’s going to be a fun trip and I’ve missed seeing my Abuela and Abu so I’m excited about spending time with them.

Have a great Summer and send me a postcard if you get out of town!!

Love ya,
MARTY aka Jean-Martín Garabet Vaneskahian

Email From Marty- Spring 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

A Belated Happy Easter to you!! I’m still working my way through the candy filled-eggs. It may be the 4th of July before I eat all of my candy!! That cool Easter Bunny laid a big bunch of eggs in my backyard this year. If it hadn’t been for cousins J.D. and Carley being in on the hunt and quite faster than me, I would have had enough candy to last through Halloween!!

I am a big boy now, as I no longer fear the fuzzy fellow. I even had my picture taken with him! Our neighborhood party had an egg hunt and the Easter Bunny came early to see us kids. Then he showed up again when Ella and Logan and I had lunch with him at the City of Allen and got our pictures taken. Mommy said he came during the night to our house and left my basket full of toys and laid all of those eggs in the backyard.

For those of you who read my last letter and have been patiently waiting to hear the news…I did get accepted into the Spanish Schoolhouse in Frisco!! Mommy beat out the other parents in time to get me enrolled, so I’ll start school two days a week in September! Even thought they’ll teach us Spanish in school, Daddy already has begun my Spanish “immersion” and I can count, I know the colors, some body parts, and of course I know that “avion” is airplane in Spanish!

Speaking of airplanes, you won’t believe where I’m going this weekend!!! The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels team of precision show planes will be performing at the air show at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi and my fabulous parents are taking me to see them and all of the airplanes and helicopters at the show! I have a metal replica Blue Angel airplane that goes most everywhere I go. Mommy calls it my teddy bear, even though I don’t think it looks like one! I ask Daddy all the time if he’ll please take me to the Navy, but he just says I’m too young. I can imagine what a cool place the Navy must be…a playground filled with airplanes to play with and climb in, and no mommies to call you in for naptime!

I’ve had a busy time these past few months. Ella had a really cool birthday party at a place filled with bounce houses and toys. I think I’d like to live there! I’ve been afraid of those bounce houses, but Jill coaxed me in and jumped with me and made it fun. Then Daddy climbed in and started jumping too!!

Cousin Grace and I took the folks to see Elmo Live at Nokia Theatre. I think they had a good time. We certainly enjoyed it! All of the characters from Sesame Street were there!!

For Mommy’s birthday, Daddy took the day off and we took the train from Plano to Dallas and had lunch on top of Reunion Tower at Antares Restaurant. I could watch the airplanes and helicopters fly right by at eye level. It was fun and so was the train ride. It was my first train trip. Thank goodness I came along with Mommy and Daddy or they may have never made it home!! I like to read letters on signs and ask what they say. We took the RED line train to Dallas, hence the “RED” would be important to get back on that color line to come home. On the trip to Dallas I asked what the red sign said, along with other signs inside the train car. After lunch we hopped back on the train to go home. A while into the ride I started looking around at signs again. I asked Mommy what the BLUE sign said, she looked and casually read, “Downtown Garland.” A few seconds later it registered to Daddy and he jumped up and yelled “Blue Sign?” Yes, they had put me on the wrong train!! Good thing I was there…I think they are becoming a little absent-minded!

My next train ride came just days later when Ethan and I hopped aboard the train at the Fort Worth Zoo. We rode it twice!! Our Mom’s took us to see all of the animals at the zoo. We had a great time! It was our first time to visit a zoo and we know the animals were really excited to finally meet us.

Ethan and I also had the pleasure of that annual Texan tradition- pictures in the bluebonnets! Our mommy’s met in Grapevine and took us out in the field of flowers and took a million photos. Of course we tried to make it as challenging as possible for them by not standing still or posing!!!

Big news- Uncle Tommy has new baby cows! I got to see the new baby cows and they are so cute. I climbed the gate to try to get a look because all of the longhorns were way out in the pasture. But as soon as they saw me they started coming in. When they got a little too close I got nervous and got down until Renee and ChaCha came back over with me.

You can see the longhorns if you look in the photo albums, along with our day at the zoo, in the Bluebonnets, Easter and more! JUST CLICK HERE!!

I hope you are having a wonderful Spring! Please keep in touch!!

Love ya,
MARTY aka Jean-Martin Garabet Vaneskahian

Email From Marty- Happy Valentines Day 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Valentine’s Day! Wow, February is already here and I’m still breaking in my Christmas toys!! I hope you are having a terrific 2007! I know I sure am…

We had a late holiday celebration with my Bolton side of the family in mid January when we could all finally get together. It was really a great idea to extend Christmas by a few extra weeks and I got to open EVEN MORE presents! And, let me tell ya my Aunt Mary and Uncle Vic did me up good with the gifts this year!! In fact, Daddy and I kinda got two-for-one gifts because I wanted to play with his present and he wanted to play with mine!

Daddy got a really cool indoor flying helicopter that is remote controlled. At first he was very cautious about flying it around the house, at least while Mommy was watching. But it didn’t take long before he was flying it up the staircase and zooming through the house. Unfortunately during one flight Mommy walked through the kitchen just as it crashed into the chandelier above the kitchen table- boy was that cool! From the look on her face she didn’t agree. Daddy let me fly it after a few lessons, but we didn’t let her know. I think those eyes in the back of her head spotted me at the controls one time because she came running to protect her big crystal bowl in the entryway and yelling at Daddy not to let me hit the crystal sconce from Uncle Martín on the wall. Mommy just doesn’t appreciate cool toys. That’s what Daddy always says.

My toy that they gave me is called an AIR HOG! It’s an airplane that you pump full of air, then let it go OUTSIDE and it flies. On our first flight out we went across the street from our house to the park area where there’s more open space. Mommy came along with the video camera. Daddy pumped the air into the plane, disconnected the pump, started the propeller and launched the plane. It flew about 30 feet and took a dive into the creek. Mommy and I looked at each other unimpressed as Daddy went to get it out of the water. Second try- it only made it about 10 feet and it went down prop first into the grass. Third try was a charm though! It took off, made a loop and headed straight for our house (the second story windows to be exact) but it side-swiped our house, did the same for the next door neighbor’s house, looked like it was headed for the back window of a Lexus parked on the street but suddenly took a sharp left turn and headed straight for me and Mommy!!! We screamed, ducked and it missed us by a hair- but guess who was standing right behind us… yep, Daddy! It was headed full throttle right for his head! He made an attempt to catch it and stopped it before it went for a second loop. What a stunt plane! I was jumping up and down yelling, “Cool Daddy!!” Mommy was yelling too, but I’m not allowed to say the kind of words that she was saying! She got it all on video but she says we can’t show it to anyone until Daddy edits out the audio.

Well I started off my year with a trip to the Rodeo and the Fat Stock Show in Fort Worth. Even though I live east of the “line” (Tarrant County line that is), I think I’m now an official cowboy. My Uncle Tommy took me, along with Renee, Charley and Mommy. We had a fun day, I rode a bull (see the picture- don’t tell anyone that the bull wasn’t moving, or even breathing!), and saw lots of horses and cowboys, I ate a FOOT LONG corn dog all by myself, had fries, funnel cake, coke, a stomach ache and saw a LOT of pigs and cows! Then we went for Mexican Food!! Fort Worth just can’t get any better than that!!

Daddy and his friends went on a trip last month to Washington DC. It was his Christmas present from Mommy. She coordinated with his friends from Miami to plan the trip. It was something they had been talking about doing for years but had never done. They all wanted to tour the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, see DC and just have a “guys weekend.” He was really surprised when he found out! He was even more surprised on the morning of the trip when he was leaving the house at 4:30am to go to the airport to catch a flight and Ben showed up at the front door with his suitcase to go along too! Mommy and Ben had kept that part a surprise too. It made Daddy’s trip really special. He came home with lots of great toys for me, as you can imagine. It’s a good thing I’m too little to understand where he was going or I would have had one big tantrum and made him take me along too! Of course, next time I will HAVE TO GO!!

Mommy and Daddy recently took me to visit a prospective preschool they would like for me to attend in the Fall. It’s a really neat school, called the Spanish Schoolhouse. It’s what they call a “Spanish immersion” school where the teachers speak only Spanish all day except for one English class. Mommy and Daddy really liked the concept, and since my Vaneskahian side of the family all speak Spanish it makes since that I should be bilingual! Mommy thought she was really ahead of schedule by checking into schools this early- 8 months early! But nooooo, registration for school beginning in the Fall is actually this month! Mommy was surprised it was so early. She was even more surprised to learn that there is such a demand for placement in the school that they now only have online registration. It’s like getting concert tickets on the internet at Ticketmaster!!! You log onto your computer at a certain day and time, along with all of the other parents and the fastest typers get accepted and the others are put on a waiting list! I think Mommy was ready to camp-out at the school the night before to be first in line at the door for registration. She says that’s what they used to do for concert tickets “in the old days!” She also says she didn’t have this much trouble getting registered for college! I guess her college wasn’t as fancy as a Spanish immersion school for toddlers!! (I’ll let you know in my next letter if Mommy typed fast enough to get me enrolled in school!)

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!


See our all of our latest photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaneskahian/sets/.

And, visit our website at http://www.vaneskahian.com/.

Luv Ya!
MARTY a.k.a. Jean-Martín Garabet Vaneskahian

Jean-Marie's New Tiny R/C Helicopter

Jean-Marie and Marty both got some very cool presents from Uncle Vic and Aunt Mary. Jean got a tiny R/C Helicopter and Marty got an Hir Hog compressed air powered Airplane.

Here is some video of the R/C Helicopter flying.

Ella Clendinning's Christmas Recital - 2006

Here is video of the dance recital of our good friends The Clendinning's daughter, Ella.

Email From Marty- Merry Christmas To All! 2006

Merry Christmas to my favorite family and friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, or holiday celebration of choice! As you can see by the photo, I made friends with the big guy in the red suit just in the “nick” of time- no pun intended! Hohoho!

I’ve feared the old man for the past 6 weeks, since he first entered the malls before Thanksgiving. Mommy dragged me kicking and screaming, but I wouldn’t get close to him! Our next attempt she brought Renee and Charley (my Aunt NayNay and ChaCha) who promised me she’d buy me a bigger helicopter than Santa could bring if I’d just sit on his lap long enough for a picture. I thought long and hard about that bribe, but in the end I just high-tailed it back to the stroller! Well, I knew I was running out of time…so I finally braved the big lap of fur and fuzz. You know, he wasn’t so bad! He had a nice voice and we talked about airplanes and helicopters. He was hardly scary at all! I told him I’d been good- hoping he couldn’t see through that stretch of the truth and he said he’d leave me some presents after I was asleep on Christmas Eve!

He did it! Santa Claus even remembered that I was at Grandmama and John Daddy’s house in Hurst! I got just what I wanted plus a few extras too. We all had a very nice Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at church and then at my Aunt Sandy and Uncle John’s for dinner and then Mommy and Grandmama and I went to visit some family at a Christmas party in Fort Worth while Daddy and the guys stayed home and got ready for Santa, whatever that means! Today we all had lunch at Grandmama and John Daddy’s and opened even more presents! I also talked to my Vaneskahian grandparents in Florida who were having a nice Christmas too. Abuela had just been to visit me last week and brought lots of presents too. You just won’t believe all of the presents I have! I’m a very lucky boy, and very loved, and of course very deserving too!

I hope you all got everything you wished for and a few extras too! Have a wonderful holiday and a very happy and safe New Year!

Love ya lots!
Marty a.k.a. Jean-Martin Garabet Vaneskahian

Christmas Video 2006

Here is video of Marty opening his presents from Florida in Christmas 2006

Email From Marty- Happy Thanksgiving 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

“Obble, Obble, Gobble”….that’s what the turkey says! Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great Turkey Day at my cousins J.D. and Carley’s new house. We had lots of food and cousin Grace came too so I had someone my age to get in trouble with! It was a typical day with too much yummy food thanks to Grandma, John Daddy and Aunt Mary. Uncle John and the guys were in front of the TV watching football, Mommy and Aunt Sandy were digging thru the sale flyers in the newspaper, and there were a few naps for some of us. Mommy and Daddy went to a movie between lunch and dinner, and after we got home late that night and Mommy tucked Daddy and I into bed she went off to join all of the other women in Collin County at the Midnight Madness Sale at the Allen Outlet Mall! You know Mommy, she can’t miss a sale!

I know it has been a long time since I’ve written and I apologize for the delay. My parents have me on a tight schedule and I’m afraid that I’m on the verge of toddler burn-out!

I try to be a good boy! I really do. I want them to be proud of me and I try to show off when they want me to recite the alphabet or my numbers. Yes, I’ve learned the colors to make Mommy happy, and I’m trying my darnedest to learn to count objects to get Daddy off of my back! BUT…they’re taking this TOO FAR! Daddy’s driving me nuts with his science stuff! Wouldn’t ya know I’d get a Dad with a science major! We go outside every night and say goodnight to the moon. That’s ok, but now he’s got me memorizing the planets! He’s even got the ENTIRE DVD collection of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos Series which we watch every night! To combat this influence, Mommy is fighting back with her love of art!! But I’m afraid she’s not fighting on the same level. To keep up with Daddy she should have me studying the master’s works at the Louvre in Paris, but instead we’re taking a “Mommy & Me” class called Abrakadoodle at the Rec Center for 2 year olds that’s lots of fun! Every Monday we get to paint and get all messy! I come home with my own framed masterpiece to show Daddy. Though, I think he’d be more impressed if I was painting a picture of the solar system!

My true passion is airplanes and helicopters. I live and breathe them! I wake up to them, make engine noises and pretend I’m flying. I can name most all of the parts from the tail rotors and skids to the ailerons and rudders, and even the pittot tubes. I love to hang out at the McKinney Airport with Daddy. We do that at least once a week! Usually on Sunday mornings we get up early and let Mommy sleep, go get some breakfast at McD’s and then head out to see who’s flying! They all know us pretty well out there and the regulars recognize me. I’d stay there all day just to watch planes take off and land if Daddy would let me, but eventually we have to leave. But as soon as we come home I play with my toy planes and helicopters! I have lots of them!! I have some really cool books too. Just the other day while we were shopping at Half Price Books, Mommy found a book in the children’s section about airplanes with cute drawings and cartoons that she thought I’d like. But I’d already found the book I wanted- the 1995 International Directory of Civil Aircraft!! It’s got photos of all kinds of airplanes and helicopters. Yes, most kids might like the cute, juvenile books, but this catalog is really cool and I spend hours looking at the pictures in it every day! I can even pick out the photos of the piper cub and the DC-3. You don’t think that’s weird for a two year-old, do you???

I got to attend my first real Air Show at Alliance Airport! It was a little overwhelming. Especially when the simulated air bomb attack started over head that no one had warned me about! Ella and Logan and their parents came along and we had a fun day, though it was really hot. We saw all kinds of airplanes and helicopters. I think Daddy had a good time too. He really likes all of that stuff too. He’s the one that got me interested in aviation. Just last weekend he and Mommy took me to an airplane museum that was really fun too. I walked up to an engine on display and told Daddy that it was a piston engine. Now how many two year-olds know what a piston engine looks like, huh?

I’ve been busy with some other fun stuff too. Mommy decided I needed a little exposure to my heritage so she and Daddy took me to the annual Armeniafest. I think she went just for the Baklava! All of the people there looked like Daddy and his side of the family. I sure didn’t look like an Armenian kid! But it was cool to watch them dance, though I think I could teach them a few dance steps myself. I liked the food too.

We also went to Grace’s house for a Halloween party that was really cool. I was dressed as…you guessed it, a pilot!! We decorated cupcakes (I ate all of the decorations off of the table while no one was looking!), we jumped in the bounce house and even hit a piñata until candy came out! Then a few nights later we went door to door begging for candy. Now this is something new that I really liked!!! Mommy says we can only do it one night a year but I really like the concept. We went over to Aunt Sandy and Uncle John’s neighborhood and to Grandma’s house. However next year I’m not riding home with Daddy…my candy dwindled on the ride home!

Well folks, it’s Christmastime again. Last year it was still new to me, but this year I think I know how to work the system! I know it all starts when the scary fat man in the red suit hits town. I realize that I MUST brave the mall and the line to sit in the creepy guy’s lap long enough for the dreaded photo and to appear that I AM a “good boy.” After all it IS all about appearances! Then I come home, email him my list of wants and sit back and wait for Christmas morning! In the meantime, I must endure being pranced around in silly little holiday outfits that Mommy thinks are “just adorable” to wear to Christmas parties. I must be tempted with a million plastic ornaments hung on a fake tree in the family room that look good enough to eat but really taste terrible. Then there’s the living room tree. It’s in the “no-touch zone.” It has china ornaments than any other time I would never be interested in. But just because I know I’m not supposed to touch them, I just CAN’T resist. The urge is more powerful than I am!!

I’m having a little party of my own and you are invited! On Saturday afternoon, December 16th please come on over to my house for my 1st Annual Christmas Cookie Party. We’re going to be decorating cookies to eat and to take home for Santa! (I’m going to need a good bribe when he gets to my house to make sure he leaves me some gifts!) It’s from 2-4 p.m. at 5028 Avery Lane in McKinney. We’d love to have you stop by so please come! RSVP to my email at marty@vaneskahian.com or call Mommy at 972-540-0884. I hope to see you there!

LOVE,
MARTY (Jean-Martin G. Vaneskahian)

Email From Marty- August 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Heat Wave! Hope you are all staying cool this summer. I’m not! After a HUGE electric bill last month, Daddy put Mommy and me on a spending diet starting with the air conditioning. Now we just get in the car during the 100+ degree days and spend $3 a gallon driving around to keep cool instead of staying home and sweating in the 78 degree house! Or worse, go to the mall where it’s really cool! Mommy says not to tell Daddy though, it’s our little secret.

Part of our “diet” also includes cut backs in other areas including this newsletter. You may have noticed that it’s not fancy, no headlines enlarged and in color, and no extra software expense to mass mail to you all at once. I’m also having to use Mommy’s email address to send you this letter. That was all cut from our budget! Sorry…..

We had a nice summer vacation to Florida to visit the Vaneskahian side of the family. Daddy’s sister, my Tia Ani that lives in Uruguay brought her new baby boy, Paolo to meet his American cousins. I also got to play with my cousins Perla and Isabelle that live in Orlando. Then we all got in a big van and went to the beach for a few days. We had a great time!! We played in the sand and hung out by the pool. It was nice to spend time with my grandparents too! My Abuelo, (I just call him Abu) just came to visit me last week! He came to celebrate Daddy’s birthday and spend time with me! We had lots of fun. He even went to The Little Gym class with me! He did pretty good for an old guy! Then my Abuela will be here in a few weeks for my birthday party!

Good news! Aunt Mary and Uncle Vicky are all moved to Texas now from Memphis, yeah!! Cousin Grace and I went over to help them unpack. Once they are settled in Grace and I are going to vacation for a week or two at their house. I know they will want us to stay longer but I’m sure Mommy and Daddy will start missing me by the second week. Since Grace is their granddaughter she might stay longer. I bet Uncle Vicky will take us to Six Flags and the water parks. I think the zoo might be nice this time of year too. I’m sure that he and Aunt Mary will do anything that Grace and I want to do!

Grace and I have been seeing a lot of each other lately. Our parents took us to a new place to play called “Kid Muse.” It’s kind of an indoor play place. If you look at the pictures taken that day, it looks like our parents were having more fun that we were. Daddy was hogging the air hockey table and Brian took a nap in the bean bag chairs!

I’ve developed quite a collection of airplanes and helicopters! Sometimes I spend all day just flying them around the house. Mommy really likes it when I do! What she likes most though is when I leave them on the carpet. They are metal and she finds them with her bare feet! Everytime!! I always know when she’s found one because I can hear her. Daddy’s teaching me all the body parts and I can identify each one’s cockpits, wings, propellers or turbines, rotors, etc. Mommy works with me to teach me the letters of the alphabet and the numbers and Daddy comes home and it’s all about airplanes and helicopters!! Daddy even lets me read his Air and Space Magazines! (When he’s finished with them, of course!)

Another milestone was reached this last month. I went to my first cinema. Mommy and Daddy planned a whole Saturday around my first trip to the movies. We got up early and went to the new Cinemark to see the movie, Cars. Daddy had the camera, Mommy got the popcorn, cokes, and forbidden candy and we got the best seats in the house in plenty of time before the previews began. I had time to run up and down the row, eat some popcorn, dig in Mommy’s purse, check out the seat mechanism to fold it up then down, pull the straw out of Mommy’s coke and drop it on the floor, run up and down the row again and climb on the hand rail. Then the previews began…about 20 minutes of them. By the time the real movie started I didn’t care anything about sitting in a seat watching anything, I’d had all of the popcorn and candy I’d wanted, and I was ready to begin my decent on the stairs in the dark. After the first 15 minutes of the movie Mommy was tired from wrestling to keep me in her lap and Daddy was embarrassed because we were being so loud so they scooped me up, popcorn bag and all and out we went. Daddy had a disgusted look on his face. I felt bad that I had disappointed him but he just had to understand that Barney himself could have been there dancing in the row in front of us, but after 30 minutes I’ve hit my max and I’m ready to go!

Speaking of disappointing parents, I think Mommy has given up her dream of me being a concert violinist. She’s finally faced facts that the best she can hope for is a drummer in a rock and roll band! I’m sure it would be ok with her if I could get a job with Bon Jovi!! I got a set of drums for my birthday last year and she and Daddy kept putting off taking them out of the box. They said I wasn’t old enough, but I know they just didn’t want to hear me practice. (She said I’d already been ruined with the Leap Frog Drum from Old Uncle Dave that I got last year!) Well, I began playing Uncle Tommy’s drums in his garage at he and NayNay’s (Renee) house in Southlake. Tommy said when I get older he’ll really teach me how to play! Mommy started feeling guilty so she told Daddy to get out the drums and put them together for me. Boy, can I really rock!! I’m much better than I even thought I would be. Anytime you want to hear me just ask me to play my “bum bums.”

I think I disappointed the old man too. He’s in a big hurry to have a little scientist in the family…and well, Mommy tried to tell him it wasn’t a good idea…. Anyway, Daddy had a rocket that he and J.D. had launched a couple of years back and he decided that I would think it was really cool. I’m not even 2 yet (but only 12 shopping days left!!) and J.D. was about 5, but Daddy thought I would like a loud blast and a fast shooting rocket. So he drags me and Mommy out in the 120 degree heat in a field and gets it all set up. Did I mention he forgot something and had to go back home and left us standing in the blazing sun!!? Anyway, finally he’s all ready and he gives Mommy the blast-off button to push so he can hold me and all of the sudden there’s a shotgun sound and I think I’ve been shot!! I’m screaming and can’t be still long enough to see where blood is coming from. Daddy’s trying to get me to watch where the rocket is going up and I’m just trying to run for cover before the sniper hits again. For some reason Mommy is laughing hysterically. All is happening in a matter of seconds and just as I realize I haven’t been shot, out of the sky comes the rocket falling directly overhead so I make a run for it! Daddy just shook his head and through the pieces of the rocket back in the box and headed for the car. Me and Mommy were already inside with the car running and the A/C on high!

I had a little road trip this summer and did my first crusin’ 6th Street in Austin on a Saturday night at midnight! Mommy and Renee have been on many, MANY, road trips over the years, but never with a toddler in tow. We dropped Charley (Renee’s daughter) at a volleyball camp at UT in Austin and headed south for a weekend of outlet shopping and visiting Carolyn (Renee’s mom) and Grandmama Smith who just moved to Boerne. Our last night back into Austin late to get a hotel room so we could be there early to pick up Charley the next morning somehow Mommy got us in the 6th Street traffic. Mommy and Renee laughed about how many times they’d been in the crowds there before (20 years before), but not in a Suburban, and not with a toddler in the back!

I shouldn’t have to mention this, because I know it’s on everyone’s calendars….but my 2nd birthday is coming up in just days!!! Yes, I know it’s hard to believe that I’m growing up so fast but I’ll be 2 on September 4th! Unfortunately Mommy made a promise to Daddy last year at a weak moment that this year’s party would be scaled down from the blow-out we had for my first birthday party. That promise added to our “spending diet” and this budget birthday may not be one for the scrapbooks!! But, come on over anyway and help me celebrate. I think we can afford a cake and some ice cream! We’re going to party this year at home on Saturday, September 9th starting about 6:30pm. (Maybe Daddy will be in a good mood and we can turn the air conditioner down a few degrees for the party!) Hope to see you then!!

CLICK HERE FOR OUR MOST CURRENT PHOTO ALBUMS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaneskahian/sets/
July-August 2006, Kid Muze, and June Trip to Orlando

Love,
Jean- Martin (Marty) G. Vaneskahian

p.s. from Mommy
I apologize for the many red eyes in the photos. Our camera is terrible about red eye and I used to go in and adjust the color on each of the photos, but I seem to be running out of time these days!! Sorry!! ~Marjorie

November 2005 - Marty Videos

Here is a video collage of Marty getting into trouble during November 2005

Part #1

Part #2