•Both are only children
•Both grew up in bucolic rural areas just beyond the New York City suburbs.
Areas where wealthy New Yorkers built their country estates during the American Gilded Age (1876-1917).   See   Hudson Valley, NY and Somerset County, NJ
• Both played the violin. Brook's Grandfather made hers.
• Tom's G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather, Increase Sikes, was born in
Springfield, Massachusetts in 1644.
Brook's Father was born in Springfield sometime later.
• Brooke went to Highschool in Red Hook, NY, Tom went to Highschool in Lakeville, CT, 25 miles away as the crow flys.
•When Tom met Brooke she was living 1 block from the resting place of Tom's G-G-Grandfather, Jonathan Sikes, from whom Tom got his middle name.
•Both were scholar-athletes in high school and college.
  Brooke: Basketball, Ultimate (Frisbee) (National Champion)
  Tom: Wrestling (New England champion), Lacrosse, Skiing
•Both are Boston Red Sox fans.
  A year after they met the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years.
•
Both like animals
ollie 		Both have a menagerie of stuffed animals stored at their parents homes.
• Both have PhDs in Neuroscience from the University of California at Davis
  (I've got to remember to refer to them as Dr. Babineau and Dr. McBride)

  Brooke did her post-doc research on autism at the NIH and UCSF
  Tom did post-doc alzheimer's research at the Buck Institute for Age Research
See more about their careers.

• Both are members of the Tahoe Back Country Ski Patrol
and certified in Outdoor Emergency Care (Avalanche skills, Search and Rescue, First Aid)
•They are avid bikers, both as a means of green transportation and for triathlon training.
•Both recently completed a marathon and a triathlon and are outdoor enthusiasts in general.
Brooke had a podium finish in their last (long course) Triathlon
                 Swim     Cycle    Run
Sprint         1/2 mi   12 mi   3 mi
Olympic         1 mi   24 mi   6 mi
Long Course 1.2 mi  56 mi   9-13 mi 
Ironman       2.4 mi 112 mi  26 mi
triathlon; Tom got lost on the bike ride and did an extra 12 miles.
•Both are rock climbers and have climbed in a variety of places from Yosemite to the Gunks.

Complimentary Differences:
Brooke is a gardner
Tom is a cook
  • Brooke is a snowboarder
    Tom is a skier
    (Both have equipment (skins) allowing them to ski up mountains in the backcountry where there are no ski lifts.)
  • Tom is better at Mario Kart
  • Brooke is better at HORSE
In November 2019, Brooke delivered a new family member, Arthur Joseph Babineau, Mcbride, named after 2 of his Great Grandparents.

 
I don't apologize for the blatant bragging; Bragging about your kids is one of the privileges of being a senior citizen.

Slide Show from rehearsal dinner

last updated 20 Dec 2019