Max McMahon

It's baby month around here. Everyone around us is having children. Guess it's our turn, huh? There's a new edition to the McMahon crew. Max was born this past weekend in Santa Fe, NM. His big sister Vincenza now has someone new around the house. Should be a great time for her and the rest of the family. Congratulations Shaun and Tammy! He's a cute young man.

Say hello everyone!!!





-MS

Ode to Molin

This photo was taken by one of my coworkers on the streets of New York City. I dedicate it to my sister and brother-in-law who have shamed the family by selecting Verizon as their wireless carrier. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maybe one day in the distant future, after much time has passed, this will be water under the bridge and Molly and I will be able to speak again. If she doesn't drop the call, that is.



-KS

Fall Approaching

It was another peaceful visit to the lake this weekend. You can definitely tell that Fall is approaching. But that makes it extra nice to go down there because a large number of visitors have stopped going for the summer. It makes the boat traffic less of a pain and the boat rides a lot more enjoyable.

On Friday, I took my car in to Baron Automotive to have a few minor repairs done and was given a new 3-Series loaner. It sure was a blast to drive and the features are extra-amazing - the Xenon headlights were my favorite part. It gets insanely good gas mileage, too. It goes back early tomorrow.



Saturday morning we all got up and went for a boat ride. The weather was amazing. There is nothing better than a quiet morning boat ride. Then we spent the rest of the day kicking around the dock and house. The dogs (as usual) spent a good part of the time in the lake.



Saturday evening after dinner, Scott and I went outside on the deck to relax. I just couldn't take it. It was the most absolutely perfect evening outside. "LET'S GO FOR A FREAKIN' BOATRIDE," I said. So we grabbed a carafe of coffee and headed for the main channel.



It was actually a boat ride that lasted into the night. Along the way we saw some of the amazingly huge homes on the lake, including those seen here.





Kristen and I got up this morning, watched the Italian Grand Prix, where (you guessed it) Michael Schumacher won and announced his retirement. We then went for a short run and headed back home. It felt like it took nine hours to get home. Ugh!

Oh yeah...The Chiefs and Royals still suck.

-MS

His colors are gray and gray.

Mark has chosen two shades of gray. One is much deeper than the other.

Bye-bye Ghettofab!

The voices in my head finally won. I submitted last night and cut about 4 inches off my hair. I went in to the salon and asked my stylist for the "Kelly Henry." Feels so aerodynamic!

The New Garage

Since taking off Friday from work and having a four day weekend, I can honestly say it's somewhat nice to get back to work. There is just something nice about getting back to the swing of things.

Since our trip to the lake was cancelled, we decided that it was a good time to do something with the garage. It has kind of taken a back seat to the rest of the house and started to become a storage room instead of a nice home for our cars.

We decided that a good painting would do the trick, and boy did it. It looks ten times better than it did. We went with two shades of gray and are very happy with the result. In the month(s) to come, I'm going to have to do the floor and finish it up for good. Here are some pictures of what we accomplished.

Beaumont Trip

Well, I'm back from my fabulous trip to Beaumont. Molly looks fantastic and is getting along great. She has her diabetes more under control and was giving herself shots several times a day. She also conned Mom and I into having our blood sugar tested a few times as well.

Unfortunately, my Yankee blood must be pretty sweet because I received around 30 bug bites the first day I was there. There are mosquito control planes that fly 100 feet over the city and trucks that drive the streets spraying pesticides. Molly calls them cancer planes.

Saturday morning, Molly had a baby shower at her friend's house. There was a HUGE turnout including mostly coworkers and attorney's wives from her firm. Her two friends from SMU, Sophia and Kelly, were there as well as her friend Nancy from Lafayette, LA. It was a great time and she received many wonderful gifts! She's getting all ready for the upcoming birth of Sweet Baby James!!!


Deuce's Cake

Me, Molly, and Koffee at the Shower

Molly's Coworkers and Friends

Molly and a coworker

-KS

Boys' Weekend

It's been almost a week since I've seen Kristen and I'm beginning to think she's never coming back. No - actually, she and Kathy went to Beaumont, TX to visit Molly since Colin is away for a wedding. So I had the pleasure of going to the lake with Scott this weekend. Blue, as usual, was more than happy to accompany me.

Friday night, Scott and I went to the grocery store to stock up on food, beer, and other items for the house. On Saturday we went out for a morning boat ride, and when we got back I proceeded to assume the postion you see below...


24 oz Coors Light, Floatee, and Me

While in the process of "getting my float on," Scott and I worked with the dogs on their commands and threw their dummies to retrieve. Let me tell you, it's damn hard to get these two out of the water when it's time to leave. In fact, as I've said before, you could leave Blue there full-time and he'd be perfectly happy.


Blue and Chili

After a few hours of playing and turning into a prune, I decided I'd better get out and start working on dinner. I had been thinking of a pasta idea for a long time and decided this weekend would be the perfect time to see it through. Here it is...was...


Fusilli Pasta with Beef, Roasted Peppers, Arugula, & Goat Cheese

All-in-all it was a very nice weekend. In addition to the above, we watched the Chiefs Saturday night and also caught a couple episodes of Miami Vice. When Kristen gets home tonight I'll tell her that she needs to get everyone up to speed about her trip to Texas.

-MS

626 Horses in Lawrence

This past weekend, after a long bike ride at Shawnee Mission Park, Kristen and I cleaned up and headed to Lawrence for lunch. We went to Free State Brewery and had a few beers and lunch. After, we decided to walk around Mass St. for a bit. As we were getting closer to the end of the street, Kristen yelled "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?" Pointing toward one of the side streets, I replied, "HOLY CRAP, THAT'S A MERCEDES MCLAREN SLR!!! THEY'RE RARE AS HELL!!!" I went on to say, "those frickin' doors open straight up - not out like normal car doors." I then proceeded to tell Kristen that the car probably cost about $180,000.00, has 626 horsepower, and that we were seeing one of the rarest cars made today. It was extremely exciting to see it. Needless to say, it was a very cool car.

Later that evening, after returning from Lawrence, I decided to go online to see just exactly how much the SLR McLaren costs brand new. I didn't really know for sure, and I didn't want to tell Kristen it was a $180,000 car if in fact it was only a $100,000 car. Well...boy was I wrong. Brand new, MSRP is actually $452,750. That's half-a-million dollars people!!!

So see, we really did witness something otherwordly in Lawrence on Saturday. Needless to say, I drove around the block a couple times to get a few extra looks at it. I still find it odd that the car doesn't come with a personal body guard. I know I wouldn't have left it there alone on the street like that. So then I think I'm going to have to get one of them now.

Here's a video from Top Gear...

-MS

V is for Visitor

The Starrs have had quite the reptilian summer thus far. Earlier, on a weekend at the lake, we awoke to find a Northern Water Snake munching on a fish along the shore. After corralling the water dogs so they weren't bitten by the water snake, we realized that there was not one, but two snakes and they had apparently created a homestead under a rock on the beach. Viva la Ozarks!



Continuing the Summer of the Snake theme, Mark and I got up early today, loaded up our bikes, and headed to Shawnee Mission Park for a long morning ride. We wanted to try and "scale" a giant hill out there. (Get it, scale?) Along one of the trails, we came across a snake that was approximately 2-2.5 feet long winding itself across the path. I got a close look as I rode past to look it up when I got home. Fantastic! Turns out, it's a Northern Copperhead. Excellent! Glad we didn't have the water dog out there today for this chance encounter.



And to add some anticlimactic icing to our reptilian cake, I also saw a common garter snake today. Snore.



-KS