Annual Pacers Game

For Thanksgiving it's a tradition to attend an NBA game at Thanksgiving (which we unfortunately missed last year thanks to Max's birth). The Indiana Pacers always play a game the day after the Thanksgiving, and this is the game we target. This year's contest featured your Indiana Pacers against the Dirk Nowitzki-led Dallas Mavericks...and resulted in the worst home loss for Indiana in the season thus far: the final score was 113-92, and even this does not reflect how much of a blowout the game was, as Nowitzki scored 31 without even having to play a minute of the 4th quarter. We actually dared to bring all four cousins (Sophie, Max, Henry, James) to the game with us and they did a great job cheering the Pacers, mercifully forgiving the fact that they played liked dogs. Max even got a chance to shake hands with the Pacers' mascot!

Diet Coke & Mentos

Diet Coke & Mentos: the classic, foam-inducing combination. For my nephew Henry's 4th birthday, I bought him a special contraption ("Steve Spangler's Geyser Tube") which allows the rapid plunging of a whole stack of Mentos into a 2 Liter bottle of carbonated beverage, resulting in a 25-foot geyser of foam that spews forth. We conducted the experiment just before Thanksgiving dinner, and overall the audience was impressed. My brother-in-law Tim assisted in the effort.



Of course, this is nothing compared to these guys:

Thanksgiving '09!

Ever feel like you need a vacation after a vacation? I definitely feel that way after this long weekend's Thanksgiving at my parents in Indy. We had a GREAT TIME, but traveling with 2 kids on an airline that changes your original flight from a direct one to one with connections that gets into Boston around midnight is no picnic... But why dwell on the negative? Here are some pics of the Hellman Thanksgiving extravaganza.

Cathy & Jamesy
Claire supervising piano playing by Max & Sophie
Aunt Susie & Max (who is trying to get over his separation anxiety from mom)
The full Thanksgiving pie selection: grasshopper, pumpkin, cherry, chocolate mousse, apple (and plenty of whipped cream).
Sophie shows off the winning half of the wishbone.
The hosts of the show (Mom & Dad) with Max in his new winter coat.
Uncle Tim, Silly Sophie, and me (happy my high school letter jacket still fits).
Uncle Joe teaching Henry how to play the accordian.

The Taste of Tony's Frosted Flakes...

Nate's Blog has often referenced the bizarre world of sweetened cereal mascots. Here's a shout-out to the classic Frosted Flakes jingle, in which the All-American jock tiger Tony reports on the grrrrrreatness of his cereal and its ability to "bring out the tiger" in those who eat it. Assisted by Sophie Hellman.

Max's First Birthday!

Hard to believe it's been a whole year since Maxime Hugo Hellman was born...but today we celebrated one full year of Max's existence! Bon anniversaire, Max!

Max blows out his single birthday candle (with a little help from maman, papa, and Sophie)
Opening presents--not surprisingly, he's still more interested than the ribbons and wrapping paper than the actual present...
Chaos ensues...
Sophie celebrating.

Battered & Bruised

Figure illustrating evidence of current abuse: cut on the forehead from where Sophie clocked me with a book, and a fat lip suffered in yesterday's pick-up baskeball game.

More Max

Found the camera! As promised, more Max photos...

Excuses, Excuses

Arg! 11 days since my last post. I can't find my camera with a bunch of good pics on it (chances are, Max or Sophie hid it somewhere), I'm studying for my Nephrology Boards exam scheduled to take place on Wednesday, and I spent the weekend driving all over southeastern Massachusetts visiting patients with sick kidneys at multiple different hospitals as part of a new moonlighting gig. That's a slightly more confusing version of "the dog ate my homework", but at least will provide some excuse for my lack of blog productivity.

Here are a few recent pics I dredged up from my iphone; Sorry, Max, I know you are underrepresented here but I swear I'll make it up to you...

Sophie in pigtails.
Blocks!

Reading with maman.

Nate self-portrait from his San Diego hotel, Halloween night, 2009.