Fred visiting!
Fred came to visit! Right before my birthday. Time to hang out and relax with him.
Beanbag chair!
Christmas 2000
This is Corey. He lived with my parents at the time, so of course he was there for the festivities.
Corey
My dad’s parents came to our house for a visit.
Grandma & Grandpa Decker
Dad was happy to see his folks.
Deckers
Here we all are! On the left side, that’s Yuichi (the guy sister P was dating), my grandmother, me, sister Lindsay, sister Patricia, Dad, and my grandfather.
Decker grandparents, Dad, sisters, Yuichi
Later that night, there was a dinner. There’s Corey, Lindsay, Patricia, Yuichi, and Dad helping themselves.
Dinner: Corey, Lindsay, Patricia, Yuichi, Dad
We had Heather (who used to live with my parents) and her younger sister Sam there too, and on my other side is my mom’s ‘Net friend Bill.
Dinner: Heather, Sam, Ivy, Bill
Gotta get the whole table! There’s the backs of Yuichi’s and Dad’s heads, and then you see Heather, Sam, and me (with my mouth full embarrassingly).
Dinner: Heather, Sam, Ivy
Rare shot! Mom almost never sits down, but there she is!
Dinner: Mom actually sat down
Yuichi plays piano, you know. Nice pose, guys.
Yuichi & Patricia
After the dinner, we all played a group game. Kind of a tradition in our house.
Game tradition
Here’s the first of many gift-opening shots. Mom and me.
Opening gifts
Mom’s a gift
Opening gifts
Opening gifts
Opening gifts
Opening gifts
Opening gifts
The dorkiest outfit
Fred took a picture of me getting ready to go out, wearing the dorkiest stuff I could muster: a beanie hat, my lovely spectacles, and crazy shorts with a rainbow on the butt, a velcro fly with a drawstring top, and a texture like they are made out of a tarp.
Spectacles and beanie
Haha
This is something called a ha-ha circle! Get your friends together, lie on each other’s stomachs in a circle, and someone starts giggling. Eventually everyone is roaring and there is no way to stop it except to stand up.
Haha Circle
That’s it, we’re gone.
Haha Circle
Here is a series of pictures from when a very strange boy named Seth managed to shove himself completely into a JC Penney’s bag. His “hatching” is documented here.
Seth in a bag
Seth in a bag
Seth in a bag
Seth in a bag
And here are a series of pictures of me doing semi-perverted things with an inflatable sheep that Jessica and Ron got for a wedding present. Oh my.
Sheep is nice
Sheep is nice
Sleeping on sofa
Jessica’s Wedding
Jessica and Ron at their wedding reception, having their first dance as children attack them with airborne bubbles. (I don’t have any pictures from the actual wedding, as it was not open to the public.)
Jess & Ron with bubbles
This is the freaks table at the reception: Jessica’s friends. Here is me visiting them. (Fred and I were actually seated at the long front table with Jessica and Ron.)
The Freak Table
There were shells all over the table and I gave Fred the idea to put two of them behind his glasses. Isn’t it cute?
Fred with shell eyes
The wedding cake.
Jessica’s wedding cake
Jes and Ron cutting their cake.
Jess & Ron’s cake
And it’s Jes and Ron *eating* their cake. Oh, isn’t it cute, barf barf.
Jess & Ron fed each other cake
Silly traditional wedding things . . . Jessica’s about to throw her bouquet here. Observe how I’m attempting to get out of the way.
I hid from the bouquet
It’s the wedding crowd doing the chicken dance! AHH!
Chicken dance
This is me and Fred with Jessica’s mom. I am making an inexplicably weird face!
Me with Fred and Jess’s mom
After the reception, there was a real party. Observe Jes and her friends in the pool.
Friends on the raft
Here’s where I spent most of the party, on the side of the pool talking to my new friend Steven, who is quite nice, a good listener and has stuff to say besides.
Pool party
Steven, the Leader of the Penguin Tribe, is swearing fealty to me, Queen Ivy and High Priestess of Budgiland.
New friend Steve kneels to me
I liked this rope swing. I spent lots of time there during this party. (Mostly talking to Steven and watching the pool partiers frolic.)
Rope swing
It was nice and shady there.
With Steve in the shade
Jessica’s Pre-Wedding Dinner
We went to help Jessica decorate the place where she’d be having her reception, and a flower was broken. Here’s me holding the flower . . . and Fred holding the stem.
Flower and stem
I can make crowns out of napkins. Here is me wearing one I made out of my napkin, at a dinner party that took place the night before Jessica’s wedding.
Crown napkin at rehearsal dinner
Here’s Fred wearing the crown I made out of his napkin. This is my favorite picture of Fred from this vacation.
Crown napkin at rehearsal dinner
This is me and Jessica at this same party. It was very loud in the room and we were probably attempting to speak to each other.
Hanging with Jess at the dinner
Jessica and her mom at the party. Just an amusing moment.
Jessica with her mom
Hijinks with Jessica
Fred liked the exercise bike in Jessica and Ron’s apartment. We had a joke that when he pedaled, it powered the computer.
Fred tries the bike
Jessica and Fred engage in mortal combat. Fred is obviously the loser in this particular fight.
Jess runs Fred through
Jessica did my hair like Princess Leia, and I took her lightsaber and attacked Darth Maul, puppeted by the happy-go-lucky Fred.
Fighting Darth Maul
Fred was unwise to fall asleep in the same room as four pranksters. We decorated him.
Fred sleeps and gets decorated
Imagine waking up to find you are covered with stuffed animals, a banana, and a paper umbrella with tape on your glasses? D’oh.
Fred awakens decorated
Squirt attack
On our way to Jessica’s house in Melbourne, we had to stop to get gas. While Fred filled it up, I looked around the gas station for something to prank him with. I found a squirt gun, bought it, filled it up in the bathroom, and when Fred came in to pay . . . ATTACK!
Squirt gun in a convenience store
Visiting Meg with Fred
Here’s when we visited Meghan, Anthony, and Katelyn in Tampa.
Visiting Meg & Katelyn
Golf with Fred
Here’s the next morning. I was getting ready to go out mini-golfing, and decided to show Fred what I looked like with my hair tucked into my shirt!
Pretending to have short hair
At Putt-Putt, Fred mini-golfing.
Fred at Putt-Putt
A similar picture of me golfing. Exciting, I know.
Ivy at Putt-Putt