Saturday, June 26, 2010

Day 9...

It has been nine days since the family went to Costa Rica. It has been anything but a vacation for me.

I wake up.
I get ready for work.
I go to work.
I come home.
I chill for a little bit.
I go to sleep.
Rinse and repeat.

I leave for Costa Rica soon! It is just not soon enough for me.

I was catching up with a friend of mine from NY. He was asking for pictures... so I sent him a few. Well, I can at least post some of them here... in no particular order.



Debra and I at Canyon Lake April 2010



Novatana and Michael crawling out of the gulf... clearly survivors!!



37 years old... with silly faces. (Perhaps scary faces!!)



Novatana... um-Deb... what kind of picture is this? What is the message we are sending our oldest daughter?



Novatana winner of the Hillsborough County Science Fair - 3rd Grade



Michael with an innocent smile.



Maddy & Daddy



Mike playing flag football



Little dude



Halloween 2009

Friday, April 30, 2010

April

We were in AZ, but also Mike and the kids had a boy scout function at our local community center.

The parade was great (Debra tells me) and Mike was one of a few boy scouts that participated. No pics of the parade since Debra and the girls needed to walk with Mike. (The parents had a choice... walk with your kid or risk the parade ending and then catching up with your little one in a crowd in a very busy public place. Since I could not be there, Debra needed to brave the parade with all three kids.)

After the parade the kids had thier faces painted.



Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Vanity Set


Nova and Maddie love the new vanity set... remember what I wrote about.... sell stuff and then it cost you....

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Taking time to account...

As I was driving home from work the other day... I was thinking of being thankful. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, 1,100 people were laid off at my work. Although there was a 1% chance I'd be apart of that group, it still had an effect. In this economy... during this Great Recession... I do not think it would be fun to look for a job - let alone need to find one. I feel it is out of my hands 90% of the time, but I also feel the need to account for the many many blessings I have been afforded. Someday, it will matter not what my bank account looks like or how many times I did what I wanted on a given moment. What will matter is how my sole mate, children, family, and friends thought of me. Next week, I'm going to turn 37. When I am 43, my youngest daughter will be 10 years old and my oldest will be driving a car. Time is not going to slow down per se, rather have the illusion of speeding up. What will keep that from happening is the ability to take account, carefully measure, and most of all be thankful for whatever blessings come to maturity.

My dad will turn 70 this year. Happy am I to walk in his image and do my part to share his story with my children.

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Today, well in a couple of hours, we have our spring neighborhood garage sale. Debra is selling everything it seems, but the sad reality is the replacement cost looming in the near future. Crafty gal... she will tell me in a few hours of the money made.. later next week.. it will be the savings she secured... in the end I have learned that garage sales do not make us money... it costs money! (As she goes out replenishing sold items!)

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Next week for my B-day we are pulling the kids out of school and going to St. Augustine. For those that do not know, it is the oldest city in America. The weather should be good and the time with the family on an extended weekend outing / mini-vacation will be great.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Pics.

Here is another draft...

I was suppose to put pics here. We all know Mom and Dad are the worst with pics... boxes and boxes of pics... we need to scan and make into electronic media.

???Note to self.... high quality scanning tool. Or price how much for 300 scans without purchasing the equipment.???

Dusting off the computer...

I'm back. We are into weekend trips. The kids are of age and the sites are plentiful. Last week, we saw a civil war battle at at local historic site. One of fondest memories growing up was my Uncle Jack taking me on these wonderful summer trips through the country of MD, PA, WV, VA, and upstate NY. (No - never Jersey... the toxic waste state)

This weekend (tomorrow) we will put our feet in the white sand on the gulf coast. The water will still be too cold to swim, but that will not stop my 8,6,and 4 year olds!

I highly recommend weekend trips. Next week, I'll get around to posting about the prior couple of months. As well as my upcoming trip to AZ... if I have never mentioned it... I love AZ... everything that is wonderful for me... started in AZ. Well - a couple of things are from AZ that needed to present themselves in NY... but that is for another post.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Sports... is it a curse or a blessing?

I need to keep my eye on the goal. Sports is not suppose to me re-living my youth. I need to embrace my kids talents regardless of what I think of them. After a weekend that included my team get struck down by a should-be-retired QB, I accepted the truth... Mike will not be a flag football star!

I am proud and support, but secretly I am crying... I want him to score a TD... know the feeling... but I may wait a long time for that joy. For now, my joy is centered on seeing him get a flag on defense when the game is out of reach.

It is not sad. It is what the Dad of the left bench warmer looks forward to!


All kidding aside, I am proud he is out there trying... he shows up for practice and gets on the field with less time on the clock than it takes to boil an egg... but he is out there! I am really happy the team is pretty strong so those moments where it does not matter come often!!! (No really I am happy... not bitter at the lack of stardome... not at all!)