Baby-Sitting the Barbarians

One of the best parts of living at Quarry Hill was spending time with Mike and Jamie and their boys, referred to lovingly, albeit fearfully, as the Barbarians. I've posted pictures of Jack-Jack before, including his startling similarity to Jack Nicholson.

Here are a few pictures of a time when I was watching Nick and Jack-Jack while Mike and Jamie ran errands. Here they are tussling, shortly before Jack-Jack cracked his nose on the railing and had his daily nose bleed. Then there is a picture of Nick, completely unconvinced by my attempt to convince him that the 1975 Reds are the greatest team of all-time. I even had my starting lineup figures out to explain the logic.

Now, Jack-Jack was a little easier to convince, although he was still concerned that many of the Reds had "ploppy pants." However, he was very enthusiastic when it came to belting out his famous/infamous version of the National Anthem, which tends to circle back on itself and never quite get finished - but he enjoys it and so do I. Now, on the end of the spectrum is their younger brother Sam, aka Slug or Spud, who has not quite reached pure Barbarian maturity yet, and who, for some unknown reason, adores me. The older boys put up with me and will, especially Jack-Jack, demand to be put into the torture rack.