If It's October, It Must be Time for Stokoe's

Once again, as the month of October hits, the Mancinis once again joined the Reynolds family at Stokoe Farms for their annual Fall Extravaganza Celebration Festival Party Thing. We won't mention the $6.75 admission that doesn't include the price of a pumpkin, but we will say that a great time was had by all. Just some of the events included tractor rides, live animals, zip lines, a corn maze, and general autumn frivolity.

Bobby picks up a chick.

Bobby rides the zip line all by himself.

Tony "Pumpkin Head"

Tony and Frankie get corny

Strike Up the Band

Tony not only entered ninth grade and the high school this year, but he also joined the Gates Chili High School Marching Band. Here Tony is pictured getting ready to perform at a school sponsored family festival in September, but Tony also marched for every home football game and will soon be performing at halftime during the high school football post season tournament games. It's a good thing that the Mancini men are secure in their manhood as the marching band has been performing songs from the Tony Award winning Broadway play Wicked.

Another Day, Another Milestone

Here you see one of Frankie's first attempts at a kickoff during the Gates Jr. Spartans' game vesus West Seneca (near Buffalo) on Septemper 21st. The Jr. Spartans were able to squeeze out a victory (final score, 50 - 7) and continue their undefeated season.

Ready or Not, Here He Comes

Mid September saw the beginning of the end of Bobby's career as an adorable little baby. Now Bobby, the adorable little big boy, is entering pre-school with his best buddy/third brother, Brett Seaman. Those who wish to contribute to the fund for their teacher's therapy sessions can send an e-mail to the blog author.

It's Apple Pickin' Time Again

In early September, it was once again time to head over to Beez and Papa's house for the annual apple picking extravaganza. The boys (including Daddy) don their hard hats and helmets and proceed to shake the living daylights out of the tree. As the apples rain down from the branches and pelt everything and everyone within a 30 foot radius, a good time is had by all (except for those not wearing a helmet).

Frankie Begins his Football Career

In August, Frankie began what will most assuredly be a long and productive football career with the Gates Jr. Spartans organization. Seen here at their first scrimmage in Hilton versus the Greece Titans, Frankie, #92 on the line of scrimmage, gets himself set to dispense a whole lot of whuppin' on that puny defensive line.

Cousin Will Hits Town

In June, Kathy, Randall, and cousin Will visited Rochester. Usually they visit between Christmas and New Years Day, but this time they decided to try a visit when the weather is more like their Alabama winter. While they were unable to go sledding and have snowball wars, they were able to enjoy the Strong Museum and participate in go carting and miniature golf with the cousins.


Here is a glimpse into the future as the bachelor cousins go shopping for themselves for the very first time.


Here are the cousins after go carting and miniature golf. We aren't going to mention how Will got the cast on his arm demonstrating his latest skateboarding tricks.

A future designer/abstract artist is born

Here is Bobby displaying just a few of his latest creations. Not only does he create the typical spaceships and vehicles, but he also has chosen to represent friends and neighbors in his chosen medium, oversize Legos. Maybe he has a future working with modern bands creating music videos



Anyway, here are a few closeups of some of his first pieces in what is sure to be a long career.


This piece silences any questions as to how strong Bobby's patriotism is.


Here is one of Bobby's more abstract pieces. The description says it all. If you don't get it, then you are truly not on as elevated an artistic level as Bobby is.


Of course, it just isn't a complete Lego collection without at least one Star Wars reference.

This was just a tease of the rest of the ever growing collection. If you want to see more, keep watching for the upcoming Museum of Modern Art premiere.

Winter Break Day One

What do you do if your school district has a winter break in the middle of February? If you're a Mancini, you construct a high speed sledding run in your front yard that potentially launches you into the street. Although Olympic record speeds were not reached, two small hybrid vehicles and a dangerously stressed out postal carrier were minimally damaged by various airborne youth.

Another Celebration

Beez, aka Sue Mancini, stopped by to celebrate an undisclosed birthday. This is the first time in a number of years that Beez was not vacationing on the Gulf beaches of Florida for her birthday. A closer inspection of the cake reveals the unique details that only a Mancini cake can have. Yes that's a sailboat in the corner and an Elmo candle in the opposite corner. If you stare at the cake long enough, you can unlock the secrets of quantum particle physics or see the image of Jim Morrison hugging Amelia Earheart (depending on what decade you were born).

So How Much Did it Snow?

Here's a picture of Bobby standing outside seconds after the storm hit.



You've heard of snow angels? Here's Tony making a snow couch potato.



This is what the house looked like after the fourth round of shoveling.

2 by 4s of the World Beware

Frankie Mancini has now achieved the rank of Yellow Belt (or Kukyu for those of you knowledgeable in the Martial Arts). This means that any unattended wooden planks or concrete blocks are fair game to be split in the near future.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's a little video to get you thinking about love in America.
This video proves what I've been saying for years: there is no love at McDonalds.

A Serious Post

You Tube has become many things. Unfortunately, the bad side of You Tube is what it is most known for (rocket scientists performing dumb stunts, future world leaders dropping their pants, Mensa club rejects lip syncing songs in their underwear, etc.). But the true power of You Tube is that it can be the voice of a world that truly has something significant to say.
Here is an excellent and timely example of how You Tube can give someone a larger audience to say what they have to say. This is a short film that a young girl produced for a film festival that slaps the world in the face about how far we haven't come when thinking about diversity and image.

This is What Being a Mancini is all About

The True Definition of Hat Head

The Great American Icicle Hunters

The manly Mancinis once again successfully work on the icicle overpopulation problem in suburban Rochester. Seen here with their latest trophy just moments before having the vicious beast stuffed and mounted, the Mancini men proudly display the highly developed physiques used to bag this monster. The boys later decided to shave it and douse it with sugary syrup and make snow cones for the neighborhood.

We Will Not Go Quietly

Bring it on! Let it be said from this point forth that the Mancinis are not afraid to meet any neighborhood snowball fight head on. This is a picture of our current front yard fortress, partially completed, ready for any and all attacks from the Galactic Empire. Construction foreperson Lisa assures us that there should be at least one more level, steel reinforced, with lookout outposts, barbed wire, and fully functioning radar. I, of course, am holding out for HD satellite TV.

Where Did January Go?

Okay, it's February already and we have no idea where January went.
Let's give you an update on just a few of the somewhat significant Mancini happenings.
Every Thursday, Lisa has been taking Bobby and Brett, one of the boys she watches three times a week, to the Strong National Museum of Play, quite possibly the coolest place on Earth (outside of Universal Studios Orlando). It's certainly the coolest place in Rochester (outside of this blog, of course). Anyplace that has Hot Wheels, G.I. Joes, a full size replica of Sesame Street, and free Dance Dance Revolution is okay in my book.
Just this past weekend, we participated in the Gates Presbyterian Church Cabin and Sledding Party at Black Creek Park in Chili (for those of you reading this from outside the Rochester area, Chili is a town, not just a spicy bean/meat soup). There was ample snow, sledding, and food, three major winter staples for the Mancinis. Rumors of a particular adult Mancini plowing down any and all defenseless children on the sledding hill while cackling maniacally are greatly overexagerated. Lisa was only screaming and the one little girl will walk again once she completes the appropriate physical and emotional therapy.
As we look ahead to the impending Super Bowl weekend...I mean "weekend of the BIG GAME that is going to be SUPER" (darn those lame copyright regulations) the Mancinis once again find themselves rooting for either the team with the most Notre Dame graduates or the best commercials, whichever will allow us to sit in front of the TV and eat more cholesterol laden snack foods.

Here we go again

Okay, let's try this again. It's been a year now and it's time to attempt to document all the many adventures and exploits of your friendly, neighborhood Mancini family. My hope is that this blog will be easier to keep updated than a web page, but with half the calories and cholesterol. There will be pictures, stories, stream of consciousness, rants, and maybe even a little humor (pretty much the same thing as all the other millions of blogs out there now, but maybe not as pretentious or opinionated).

For no apparent reason, I'm going to include this picture to get things started. Feel free to comment/add your own caption as you see fit.