Dave 'N It Up

This Blog Is Full

2011-06-21T18:31:00.002-04:00

I have reached the storage limit for this blog so I started another one here:

http://davenitup2.blogspot.com

School Is Out!

2011-05-28T08:25:00.006-04:00

Well, another school year has flown by. Helen still has to go back on Tuesday for a teacher work day, but the never ending stack of papers to grade won't be hanging over her head so she can finally relax. Next year, Adam will be in 4th grade and Derek will be in 7th.

Bow and Arrows

2011-05-23T06:33:00.005-04:00

The boys bought a bow and arrow set this weekend while we were out shopping. They couldn't wait to get home and try it out. They had lots of fun playing with it in the backyard over the weekend and, so far, they've managed not to hit one another or any of the neighbors.

6th Grade Awards Day

2011-05-23T06:14:00.005-04:00

On Friday morning, Derek's school held an an awards ceremony for the 6th graders. Derek got awards for all A's and B's, perfect attendance, and for one of his art pieces being selected for the county show.

Piano Recital

2011-05-20T17:45:00.008-04:00

On Saturday afternoon, after the Peachtree Jr Road Race and a couple of hockey games, the boys had a piano recital. Adam forgot his book but played his piece pretty well anyway from memory. Derek struggled with "Come Sail Away", but at least he finished better than he started.

Ms Judy their instructor

As long as we're dressed up we might as well take some pictures

Helen's parents

Peachtree Jr Road Race

2011-05-19T06:52:00.007-04:00

On Saturday morning we took the train to Piedmont Park where the boys ran in the Peachtree Jr Road Race

Retro Good Times

2011-05-19T06:28:00.003-04:00

The boys have given up organized baseball but I'm glad they still ask to play catch with Dad

There's a creek nearby where the boys love to spend time and catch things - just like kids used to do before video games came along

Mother's Day

2011-05-19T06:14:00.005-04:00

Breakfast in bed for the Mommy

In the afternoon we went to Helen's parents to celebrate Mother's Day

Mother's Day Hockey

2011-05-17T06:56:00.008-04:00

On the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend, my Mom came over to visit and watch the boys play hockey

Mom surprised Adam with some plants for his garden since he enjoyed growing things so much last summer

Between games we took Mom out to lunch at Ippolitos

Adam and his friend Nathan. Nathan's brother plays on Derek's team and Nathan's dad is Derek's coach.

Derek's Spring Band Concert

2011-05-17T06:32:00.003-04:00

Derek's 6th grade band had their Spring Concert a couple weeks ago. At the start of the year there was no percussion section, but since then a number of kids, including Derek, moved to percussion. The kids have really progressed and Derek really likes being in the band.

Cub Scout Spring Campout

2011-05-12T08:34:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago we went to West Point Lake for a campout with Adam's cub scout troop

The boys found a king snake near our camp

Lunch at the Varsity on the way home

Easter

2011-05-10T06:50:00.011-04:00

The boys are growing up fast, but the Easter Bunny still remembers where they live

Lizard

Over at Helen's parent's house. Our nieces, Lindsay and Brooke, looking so pretty in their Easter dresses.

Adam is unimpressed and heads down into his Lego building

Uncle Mike and Aunt Chris with their girls

Nanna wants to have photo shoot down by the flowers

The girls love chasing cousin Derek

Hugs for Aunt Agatha

Caterpillar

Uncle Mike and Uncle Paul gave hatchets to the boys for their birthday

Uncle Paul set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids

A cake to celebrate the boys birthdays

Time to jump on Uncle David

Easter With Nini

2011-05-09T06:19:00.006-04:00

We went over to my Mom's house for Easter. She set up an Easter Egg hunt for the boys using plastic eggs with a camouflage green design pattern.

Hannah is very sweet

It took a while, but the boys finally found all the eggs. They said they liked the camouflage eggs because it was more of a challenge.

Now it's time to split up the bounty

A Siamese twin strawberry

Easter Decorations

2011-05-05T06:24:00.004-04:00

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-05T06:16:00.005-04:00

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 8 of 8)

2011-04-29T11:47:00.012-04:00

Derek says his last goodbyes to his crab before he and Aunt Katie take it back to the beach and freedom

We didn't make it back to the beach for our usual sunset photo shoot on the last evening, so we settled for a quick photo shoot on the back deck on the last morning

As always - we're the slowest and last to leave

We went to the Smiling Fish Cafe on one of our first family beach trips. We often have Helen's copy of the Smiling Fish spinach salad. This year we returned for the real thing.

Adam points to the person that put him in the big wave that pounded him and hurt his head

Helen and her spinach salad with crispy duck

I got a tasty wrap with fresh fish, Adam got shrimp, and Derek got...a cheese burger

As soon as we got in the car Adam asked if we could visit some of the other beach towns on the way home. He likes these trees in Seaside.

One strange looking hairless dog

Ice cream break

I was feeling Chikfila on the way home, but we didn't find one and opted for KFC instead. Sometimes it can be good, but this time it was really greasy and sickening. We tried to dilute the feeling with a McDonalds chocolate shake, but it tasted like straight chocolate syrup and we felt worse. It's better to just not eat - we should have known.

Saturday April 9, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 7 of 8)

2011-04-28T17:16:00.008-04:00

Derek puts together the Brooklyn Bridge model the boys got as a birthday present the night before

Adam has some birthday cake for breakfast

I went fishing and caught this crab trap with a few little crabs inside

The boys are reluctant to part with their new pets, but Jason thinks the crabs will be perfect as bait

+15 after the weeklong eatfest

Paul snatched up this fish that was pestering him

Old man hiding from the sun

Adam and Aunt Laine boogey boarding

Jason catching a wave

Everybody (eventually even Helen) got in for one last swim

Adam and Derek cleaned up and watching tv in their man cave

Friday April 8, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 6 of 8)

2011-04-28T16:50:00.010-04:00

Helen getting started on a birthday cake for the boys

Adam soaking up some sun

Uncle Jason playing Scrabble with the Adam and Derek

The gang's all here

Mom really liked that the house had an elevator

Places are set for the birthday bash

Having a good time playing Scattegories

More dancing with those crazy Raving Rabbids

Thursday April 7, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 5 of 8)

2011-04-27T12:32:00.008-04:00

Kelley and Paul were up early making breakfast burritos for everyone. When we came down, we found them cooking and wearing crazy tee shirts with pictures of Jason on the back. We all noticed the shirts right away and wondered "What the heck?" - except for Jason. We were all waiting to see his reaction, but he came in and out of the kitchen several times and we were about to give up on him and then he finally noticed. We all had a big laugh.

Jason and Laine went to visit Kelley and Paul last summer in Anchorage. Jason had grown a beard and then shaved it leaving only this fabulous Lady Killer stache.

Oh my!

Adam is still little enough and willing enough to cuddle

The constant breeze - the sound of the waves lapping against the shore - napping at the beach is the best!

On the deck enjoying some appetizers, including the yummy brie croissant Laine made

Kelley and Paul made ribs (lots of ribs) for dinner and mom made more mac and cheese. At this point, despite trying to stay somewhat active, the weight was pouring on.

Wii night with Raving Rabbids

Wednesday April 6, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 4 of 8)

2011-04-27T11:48:00.010-04:00

Helen made blueberry pancakes for breakfast

Adam took on all comers in Wii boxing

Kelley, Paul, and Katie starting a new puzzle

Paul made this great sand ball and named it Wilson

The boys started making their own sand balls

Jason tries to see if there are any fish in the ocean

The boys head to the inlet with Mom

Me and the boys with a crab we just caught

We caught another one!!!

Adam helps Kelley and Paul investigate something

My sister Kelley

Time to destroy the sand balls and Wilson is the first to go

Mom and Katie had dinner duty. They cooked a delicious roast with all the fixings, including everyone's favorite - mom's macaroni and cheese.

Mom relaxing with a carribean sunrise compliments of Jason our house bar tender

Tuesday April 5, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 3 of 8)

2011-04-27T10:39:00.007-04:00

Helen and Adam playing a morning game of Stratego

Adam checks on the crab he and Derek caught

Looks like another beautiful day

All hands on deck to finish up the puzzle

Helen felt well enough to make it out to the beach

Adam and Derek love to play at the inlet

A bunch of mollusks attached to a pvc pipe structure washed up on the beach

Even Adam got in on the body surfing

The boys skimboarding with Aunt Laine

Derek looks mighty guilty for some reason. Helen and I had dinner duty - fajitas and rice.

Adam and Derek winding down before bed

Monday April 4, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 2 of 8)

2011-04-26T06:36:00.011-04:00

Adam watching some tv in the morning

Everyone's waking up now

Kelley and Katie making sandwiches for the beach

Adam checks out the pool

Jason fishing in the lake behind the house

Katie and me

Adam burying my feet

Derek skimboarding

Jason and Katie playing Scrabble

Mom working on the puzzle

Helen did not feel well for the first few days

Show me where it hurts

Serenity now

Kelley and her "lobster claw" gloves. When we were kids there was a picture of someone with lobster claw fingers in the newspaper and it grossed everyone out, so I cut out the picture and put it in Kelley's jacket pocket so she would discover it at a later time - preferrably at school. That picture was hidden and found many times for years afterwards.

All cleaned up before dinner

Sunset dinner on the top floor deck

Kelley and Paul led dinner preparations - Moroccan Chicken with couscous

Sunday April 3, 2011

Blue Mountain Beach (Day 1 of 8)

2011-04-23T07:13:00.008-04:00

For our annual Spring Break beach trip with my family, we rented a house in Blue Mountain Beach (near Destin, FL) for the week. Here the boys mill around while they wait for the last items to be packed.

This is the first trip where we took the middle seats out of the van. The boys liked it because they could stretch out better.

At the beach house visiting with everyone. My sister, Kelley, and her beau, Paul, came from Anchorage and drove down from Atlanta with my Mom. My brother, Jason, and his wife, Laine, came from Sarasota. And my sister, Katie, came from Baton Rouge.

Jason and Laine volunteered to take the lead on dinner the first night - fish tacos using some of the fish Jason has been catching in Sarasota

John and Tracy, friends of Jason and Laine, came over for dinner with their son, Tate

View from the back deck

We all had fun playing with big Tate

Adam spent a fair amount of time making a game called Adam City before the trip and he was eager to play it with someone

Me and Adam playing chess. The kids love that there's a captive audience to play lots of games with them.

Saturday April 2, 2010

Adam's Birthday Party

2011-04-21T06:44:00.012-04:00

On Saturday Adam celebrated his 9th birthday with his friends. Adam checks out his friend's Ninendo DSI while they wait for more friends to arrive.

Adam chose Andretti Indoor Karting for the activity like big brother, Derek, had done for his birthday weeks earlier.

(L-R) Ryan, John, Adam, Derek, Carter, Ty

Instead of playing fun games, the kids once again chose to spend most of their money trying to get tickets to buy cheap dollar store prizes

Helen captures a hug from her "big baby"

The kids were allowed to pick one "extreme" activity - a ropes course or rock climbing. Adam and Carter were the only ones brave enough to try one.

Ryan decided to try after seeing Adam and Carter. The kids all thought the best part was rapelling back to the ground on the automatic release line.

(L-R) Ty, Ryan, John, Derek, Adam, Carter

Wii party

Adam's "black and white" cake

Watching a movie before bed. Adam wanted the party to be a sleepover otherwise "that's not enough time with my friends"

Bothering each other until midnight didn't keep them all from getting up at 6 am to play the Wii

Adam picked the nutritious breakfast of Fruity Pebbles for everyone

One last nerf gun battle before the parent pickup

Adam's 9th Birthday

2011-04-15T06:17:00.009-04:00

Adam turned 9 on Monday. We blinked and now our boys are 12 and 9. It is hard to believe. Adam chose the Aomi sushi and hibachi restaurant for his birthday meal.

Fried rice bunny

Volcano

Special tempura fried ice cream for the birthday boy

Back at home for cake and presents

A new Raving Rabbids game for the Wii, a Mario Kart game, a Star Wars Jet Fighter Lego, a bike helmet, and a Star Wars sticker book

Adam's cake order was a "black and white donut cake"...with sprinkles

Happy Birthday Derek

2011-03-30T06:55:00.020-04:00

It's hard to believe, but Derek is 12 today! Last weekend he celebrated with some friends from school at Andretti's.

(L-R) Colton, Gavin, Derek, Adam, Josh, Max

Dude! That was soooo coool!

Kids never seem to tire of earning tickets to buy crappy prizes

(L-R) Derek, Josh, Gavin, Colton, Adam, Max

Derek's 8th birthday party in 2007

Derek's 4th birthday party in 2003

Happy Birthday

Pi Day

2011-03-28T07:04:00.004-04:00

Derek's school math class celebrated "π Day" and all the students brought in goodies for a party. Derek made π cookies and came in second in the contest to see who could recite the most digits of pi. Derek had worked his way up to 200 digits at home, but messed up at 55 in the contest and got beat out by a classmate who did 70.

Derek's Artwork

2011-03-28T06:39:00.004-04:00

One of the projects that Derek did in his school art class was selected for display in the art show at the county school offices. The show included pieces from K-12 students from all over the county. It was really impressive. Derek said that he was "kind of inspired but kind of intimidated too."

Harlem Globetrotters

2011-03-18T06:51:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters at Philips Arena

It was a beautiful day to walk around Centennial Olympic Park. The SEC basketball championship game was taking place at the same time around the corner at the Georgia Dome so there was a lot of activity in the area.

After the game we ate at Mary Mac's Tea Room

It was delicious. We (mostly Adam) managed to finish the peanut butter pie, but that still left plenty of leftovers for later.

Stomp

2011-03-16T05:54:00.006-04:00

Derek is doing percussion in the school band and he was so excited when I told him we were going to see Stomp. He said that his band teacher had shown the class a video of Stomp and talked about how cool the show is. The Varsity was the lunch choice before the show.

Adam, who doesn't usually like hamburgers, likes the Varsity hamburgers

Adam had been invited to play with his classmate, John, but couldn't because we were going to the show and Adam was a little cranky about it. John's dad decided to take John to the Georgia Tech basketball game and...eat at the Varsity. We ended up in the table right next to them, so Adam got to see his friend after all.

Adam and Derek were still recovering from the night before when they had gone to the Thrashers hockey game and a spend the night birthday party for one of their neighbor friends, Ryan, where they stayed up way too late.

We left our car at the Varsity and walked to the Fox Theater

When we got out of the show, the temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up. We really enjoyed the show. I was worried it was something that would seem cool at first but we would quickly tire of, however they did a good job of mixing it up and keeping it fun.

We walked back to the Varsity and ate again

McWane Science Center

2011-03-11T06:29:00.008-05:00

Between end of the season hockey playoff games on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, we squeezed in an overnight trip to the McWane Science Center in Birmingham with Adam's scout pack

Adam ignored all the high tech stuff in the museum and went straight to this simple fishing game. You gotta respect a man who needs little to be happy.

Derek, who loves all things science, found plenty of things to keep him occupied

Adam tries to get a virtual butterfly to land on him

Fun with the blue screen

Uncovering fossils

Bed of nails

Wind tunnel

Pulleys

This game of the mind was a big favorite. A sensor is attached to two participants and the person who can register the calmest brain activity wins.

Helen gets in on the action

The first time Adam sat and fastened his seatbelt. He quickly ditched the seatbelt and started standing up.

Dry ice tricks

Building an arch

This dance floor light tag was another big favorite. The object was to keep the random search light from tagging you. Sometimes there were almost 20 kids playing at the same time and having a ball.

Shark and ray touch pool

It was neat to have the run of the museum after closing, but like all these scout trips - there were too many people. There were troops from all over and it was pretty crowded. And because it was so crowded they didn't want you to put out your bedding until midnight (Central Time - 1 am our time). The parents were dying. We staked out a place that was somewhat out of the way so we went to our bed around 11 and tried to hold on.

The kids were still going strong

Derek winds down with his iPod Touch

Adam did not want to get up the next morning

We had breakfast and headed home

Snacks and a movie

Late February 2011

2011-03-10T06:40:00.004-05:00

Me putting some medicine in George's ear while Derek holds on

Our next door neighbors got a trampoline for Christmas and it's been a big hit, although currently we're taking a "break" after some recent bickering and injuries

Derek had a school art project to learn about scale. The students had to transfer a small drawing to a poster board using a grid. Derek has really done a great job of managing his schoolwork without requiring us to get involved. Of course, he has been listening to me say, "take care of your own business so nobody else has to" for most of his life.

The "Valentine Fairy" has been leaving these streamers on the boy's bedroom doors every year

End of the season party for Adam's hockey team

Early February 2011

2011-03-06T17:37:00.005-05:00

Somehow a container of Jiffy Pop popcorn ended up in our house and the kids have been bugging us to pop it. We finally got around to it and the kids thought it was much cooler than our usual pop in the bag microwave popcorn.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet (really just another opportunity to fundraise). Adam says he wants to quit scouts after this year. He says, "Scouts isn't really that fun - you don't get to do all the cool stuff they say you're going to do". Some kids really like scouts and are into earning badges and achievements. Adam couldn't care less. Of course, he gets that from us. It looks like our scouting days are drawing to a close and I can't say I'm sad.

Group/culty/churchy/right of passage face painting and creed recitation makes my libertarian individualist skin crawl. I am so thankful to live in a time and place where the "group" mentality is somewhat subdued.

Nanna and Poppy came over to watch the boy's hockey games one Saturday. We were all surprised that Poppy had sprouted a beard since the last time we saw him.

Lunch at Chickfila between games

It got cold so Nanna had to come up with a makeshift scarf

Adam is number 15 in the middle

Derek loves little kids. Here he keeps our neighbor, Jack, occupied.

I just love to see the kids line up and shake hands after games

Myth Busters

2011-03-04T06:05:00.003-05:00

Derek loves the MythBusters television show so he was very happy when he got a MythBusters science kit from Uncle Paul and Aunt Agatha for Christmas

This project involved building a rocket with vinegar and baking soda as the fuel. The neighborhood kids came running over to watch.

It took a few tries to get a mildly successful launch, but the kids enjoyed the process

Another Political Vent

2011-03-03T07:07:00.003-05:00

This time in reference to this article: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/scocca/archive/2011/03/01/the-politics-of-entitlement-david-brooks-will-decide-when-it-s-time-for-you-to-die.aspx

You can't treat money as a moral issue only when you don't have any. Respect it and align all your actions towards getting enough to take care of yourself and you'll probably be fine. Disrespect it or treat it as an afterthought and you'll probably end up needing help from someone else.

Real conservatives relish the fact that all actions, intended and unintended, have consequences and are willing to accept the results - good or bad. People, like those associated with the banks that got bailed out, are not real conservatives because they buckled when it came time to pay the piper.

There are many factors that go into being successful in life: health, intelligence, charisma, work ethic, family money, etc. Some you can control and some you can't, but you better get working on the things you can control because nobody owes you anything.

Conservatives aren't all heartless people. They generally have a good work ethic and a strong sense of morality and responsibility (to those they deem worthy). It's just that they also expect the same of those they choose to associate with, otherwise don't bother them. Take care of your business and they will take care of theirs.

Real conservatives are always moving forward. If you're not being productive why are you here? A real conservative accepts that when they stop being productive is when it's time for them to go as well. No wasteful expensive procedures to extend an unproductive life. Take us out quick with dignity or, better yet, we'll just do it ourselves.

If you feel that it's your responsibility to take care of everyone else then have at it. That's your choice, but let me decide who I take care of. By the way, it's pretty expensive to take care of everyone else so you better get busy working on the fortune it will take.

Pinewood Derby

2011-02-28T06:18:00.006-05:00

I cut out the rough design of the car

Adam and Derek did the sanding

Starting to take shape

Testing the car to make sure it runs straight

Adam's new car and Derek's car from when he was in scouts

Check-in the night before the race

These guys have it down to a science

Race day

Adam's car is in this heat. We won a couple of heats, but were only good enough for a middle of the pack overall finish.

Mid January 2011

2011-02-25T06:16:00.006-05:00

This winter Adam played indoor soccer for the first time. The games were fun to watch and really fast paced.

Derek played hockey again and still really likes it

We had a decent view of the rink from the car so when it was too cold we stayed in the car where Adam liked to read, play games, and cuddle.

Adam also played hockey again this season. There are 3 other boys from our neighborhood on the team and they've really had fun playing together.

Of course the best part of playing is snack time after the game

Adam with the diorama he made for a school book report project

New Year's Day 2011

2011-02-20T17:01:00.007-05:00

Back at Helen's parents for New Year's Day. Poppy plays a game with Adam while cousin Lindsay looks on.

Helen measured out, baked, and cut all the gingerbread and then brought along all the fun candy decorations for the kids to make gingerbread houses

Uncle Mike liked making the gingerbread houses more than the kids

Derek doesn't quite fit on Mom's lap anymore

Lindsay (4), Adam (8), Derek (11), and Brooke (2)

Post Christmas 2010

2011-02-16T06:06:00.012-05:00

Big brother is usually too busy doing his own thing, but you can occassionally still find them into playing something together and it's so cute

We finally got around to taking the kids ice skating

Adam went whizzing around

Derek was a little more cautious - farther to fall when you're bigger - that's why we weren't out there

Adam would go around a couple times and then stop to give Mom a kiss

Stone Mountain

Waiting in line for the sky ride

View of Snow Mountain

Derek's band teacher makes the kids try out for the percussion section. Derek was playing the trombone originally, but made the percussion section so no more trombone.

Pizza night is always a big hit

Taking down all the Christmas decorations. Our tree is old and more and more sections of lights are out. I finally decided to try and fix it. I swapped hundreds of bulbs one by one (Helen helped but she wasn't happy about it), made a game out of it with the kids to find bad bulbs, changed fuses, took the wiring apart, but there are still some sections that just won't light. Helen still talks about all the time I wasted. I don't like to give in, but I may have to concede this one. Grrr!!!...Breathe....

New Year's Eve fireworks with the neighbors. We had fun watching the festivities from Times Square and recognizing the sights from our Thanksgiving trip.

Christmas Day 2010

2011-02-12T16:19:00.007-05:00

We traditionally spend Christmas Day at Helen's parent's house

The snow made for a picture perfect White Christmas

Christmas Morning 2010

2011-02-10T06:24:00.006-05:00

Come on Mom and Dad - we're ready to go downstairs and see if Santa came

Derek woke up early and worked on the Lego's Nini gave him the night before

Adam is ready to go

It looks like Santa DID come

Derek's haul

Adam's pile. He wanted yet another castle for his wars.

Adam reads the note that Santa left

Time to play with all the new stuff

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-02-06T14:27:00.007-05:00

We traditionally go to my Mom's for Christmas Eve.
My brother, Jason, and his wife, Laine, came up from Florida.

Adam loves to play Mancala

My sister, Kelley, sent her gifts from Alaska. We loved the decorative bags she made to hold the gifts.

Back at home Derek and Adam get cookies ready for Santa

Tinsley, the boy's elf, is ready to return to the North Pole until next Christmas

Mid December 2010

2011-02-02T06:35:00.012-05:00

Helen and niece Brooke enjoying pancakes with Santa at Helen's parents church

Waiting in line for Santa

Derek, cousin Lindsay, and Adam

Brooke is still not quite sure about this Santa thing

Toys For Tots toy collection with Adam's scout den. It was freezing!

Tinsley the Elf up to his usual mischief. While we slept he set his friends up around the table.

Adam plays Christmas songs on the organ at Helen's parents house

It's always fun to play with your cousins

Baking cookies with Nanna

The boys always look forward to my brother Jason and his wife Laine taking them to a movie during the holidays

The boys roped Jason and my dad into a game of golf on the Wii

Jason and Laine took Adam's bed for the night so Adam set up camp in Derek's room

Tinsley takes a ride on Lulu

Sometimes Tinsley leaves gifts for the boys

Adam wanted to make peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses

Helen loves to make coconut cake. My job is to cut and shred the coconut.

Being off of school for the holidays meant there was plenty of time for Adam to do what he enjoys most - setting up elaborate wars

...and cuddling with Lulu

Early December 2010

2011-01-28T06:19:00.010-05:00

Adam and Derek look forward to opening the little boxes in their Advent calendar each day

Adam puts on his holiday apron and uses his holiday cooking knives to help Mom bake some cookies

Derek works on some holiday songs

Over at Helen's family for a Thanksgiving get together that was delayed due to sickness. Here Uncle Paul and Adam are getting ready to race.

Our neices Brooke and Lindsay

We bought Lindsay a holiday snow globe at Macy's On 34th street when we were in New York for Thanksgiving

Time to put up the Christmas decorations

Every once in a while Adam will get out all of his puzzles and put them all together. It takes many days. He calls it his "puzzle store". He puts out a little clock each day that says if the store is open or when he will be back.

Derek and Adam start getting their Christmas lists together. What a special time for a kid.

The boys leave crackers and water out at night to try to entice their elf, Tinsley, to come and visit

Snowed In

2011-01-18T05:51:00.015-05:00

Helen was a mess not knowing if she was going to have to go to school or not. It had not started snowing yet and she was irritated. We were headed to bed and she was letting the dog out when she came back in and said it had finally started to snow. The boys immediately ran outside and we had almost 3 inches within an hour. We had fun staying up late watching all the weather reports from around the city.

In the morning Adam was so excited that he ran outside without a jacket. Helen had to call him back in to put his jacket on. He was all jumpy and with the veins in his little neck popping out he kept saying, "Mommy, hurry I have to go!"

Helen and I went on a walk to check things out

The kids had found a decent hill to sled on

Somebody started a snowball fight - me against all the kids

Lulu didn't like the snow. If had to drag my bare belly through it I probably wouldn't either.

The best part - warming up in front of the fire with some hot chocolate

Adam called this neighbor's driveway his penguin slide

Derek talked Helen into sledding down with him

Derek and a friend from the neighborhood used the down time to work on their Italy project for school

We're back to our regularly scheduled programming after a week off due to the snow. We were just starting to get some traction after the Christmas break when the snow rolled in. It was fun for a couple days, but then we were ready for it to be gone.

My employer required everyone to work from home so it wasn't as carefree as it could have been. Along with the usual distractions, I was dealing with my compulsion to keep things reasonably ordered and with everyone home as well as all the neighbor kids running in and out - restoring order required fairly constant vigilence on my part.

Every canceled day brought new worrying from Helen about when she would have to make it up. It's been a long time since she had to go back to school after Memorial Day, but it's looking like that will be the case...and she's not happy about it.

Back After Winter Break

2011-01-14T17:23:00.008-05:00

Wow! It seems that I haven't blogged in over a month now - where has the time gone? After our big trip to New York over the Thanksgiving Holidays I initially devoted a good deal of effort into post trip cleanup, organization, and blogging...and then I went dark.

I remember, with the Christmas holidays coming up, I was feeling that I should probably get some real work done so that I would keep getting paid. But, as usual, I couldn't resist becoming obsessed with some other non-work related sinkhole.

The sinkhole this time was trying to dump Comcast cable tv. It's always bothered me that we're paying for all this content that is constantly being pumped into our home and we rarely ever watch tv. The idea of all that wasted content makes me sick. I have a compulsion to right size - nothing more and nothing less than is necessary in all things.

I started researching and hatched out a plan to buy an over the air antenna and a computer with a tv recorder since I do like convenience of recording and watching later. I wasn't into doing anything hard like trying to attach the antenna to the roof, but I still thought I might be able to find an antenna that I could hook to the tv and pull in the over the air channels. Unfortunately, it seems that there all kinds of factors that go into getting good reception of the over the air channels and it just wasn't working out.

After many trips to Fry's and Best Buy, hours obsessing and researching, and many late nights of trial and error I finally decided that I wasn't going to dump Comcast. The HD DVR is just so nice and simple when you need it. We don't get our money's worth out of it, but it really is a nice indulgence.

However I did come away realizing that I really liked the idea of the computer hooked up to the tv. We have been using the Wii in our living room to stream Netflix movies and it works really well, but we usually watch tv in the family room so having a computer hooked up to our tv in our family room was something I have been wanting to do. The original idea was to justify the cost of the computer by dumping the monthly Comcast charge, but instead I ended up keeping Comcast AND the new computer.

At first, I had the computer hooked up wirelessly to our internet connection, but it just wasn't as fast as it needed to be so I ended up doing something else I had been wanting to do - run ethernet cable from the kitchen, where our internet connection is, to the family room. That involved several more trips to Fry's. It seemed for weeks that there were packages coming and going all the time, cables and things all over the place, and I was always staying up late. One morning Helen got up and I had never gone to bed. Needless to say she was not thrilled with my latest obsession. She allowed me my indulgence for a week or so before she started getting very agitated with the whole thing.

Eventually the plan came together and now we all enjoy the results - streaming movies from Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, etc. and being able to enjoy the photos, videos, and music stored on the computer in the kitchen from the comfort of our family room.

New York City (Day 6 of 6)

2010-12-06T18:03:00.023-05:00

Somebody didn't "wike" getting up so early

Our hotel was a quarter block off the parade route but the police blocked off the street and made us walk several blocks out of our way - very irritating!

By the time we arrived on the parade route it was a little before 8 o'clock

The parade started at 9 but didn't arrive at our spot at 38th street until almost 10

We had no clue who many of the supposedly famous people were aboard the floats. The kids knew some of them from shows on TV, but Helen and I were looking at each other and shrugging.

This is a group called Spirit of America Productions. There were a ton of these kids and we saw them all over the city on the days leading up to the parade. It looks like you just pay your $2000, practice the dvd they send you, and show up in New York for the parade.

The Lassiter High School Band from Atlanta

My favorite balloon...I always like to tease the boys about girly things like Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, etc

Oh my gawd - it's Kanye. There was a most annoying young woman with a terrible New York accent yelling about Kanye for most of the parade.

We pushed the kids up front so they had a clear view

Santa...finally! We thought it was neat and awesome being at the parade in person...for about half the parade...and then we were done and wanted it to hurry up and end.

We went back to our hotel to warm up and pack our stuff. Adam kept trying to warm his feet on mommy's belly.

I tried to fit in a couple more things on the way to the airport

In Bryant Park for a quick ice skate, but it was too crowded again

Back on the train to see the American Museum of Natural History

Except we mistakenly hopped on an express train that blew past the museum and didn't stop until it reached Harlem. I always wanted to see the Apollo Theater - just not like this.

Adam is gone on the bus ride to the airport

Back in Atlanta

Over to my mom's for a Thanksgiving get together

Thursday November 25, 2010

We had been told to get out onto the streets for the parade as early as 6:30, but I figured that was only if you wanted to be closer to the start or the end of the parade. I thought we would be able to saunter out of our hotel around 8 and be fine. After all, how many people are just going to stand there for hours in the cold waiting for the parade? Evidently quite a few!

We were thwarted right away by the police barricade erected right outside our hotel so we couldn't walk the short distance to the parade route as we had anticipated. Instead we got herded into the general flow of parade traffic. One of the benefits of getting a hotel nearby was supposed to be for better access.

It ended up being okay, but just barely. We got to the parade route at 38th street about 7:45 and the crowd was already a few rows deep. It wasn't long before we could feel the mass of people building behind us. We got the kids to squeeze their way to the front. They had a good view but we didn't like that we didn't always have a clear view of them.

There were some pushy people but also some very nice people. We struck up an enjoyable conversation with a large extended family from Chicago. We worked with some of them to erect a shoulder to shoulder barrier so nobody could pass. Unfortunately just before the parade started the police moved a barricade and created some space that ruined the tenuous steady state that had existed. Some of the pushy people took advantage of the situation and forced their way to spots they should not have gotten. The vigilante in me was not happy but I relieved some of my frustration by sticking it to people around me that I felt were invading the personal space I had carved out.

I was thinking the parade wasn't such a great idea but then it started and there was a definite wow factor. That lasted for about half the parade and then we were ready for it to be over. We had all been standing in one place in the cold for so long that when the parade ended and we started to walk back to our hotel, we all had a good laugh about how difficult it was to get our legs moving properly.

We grabbed a quick snack from a street cart and headed back to the hotel where we warmed up and finished packing. There were still plenty of things I wanted to do and I figured we had a little window before we had to be at the airport for our 4 o'clock flight.

The crowds around the hotel had dispersed by 12:30. We took the train to Bryant Park where I had hoped to finally ice skate, but again it was too crowded. It was a neat park with a carousel and lots of booths surrounding the ice rink. There are neat parks all over the city that are bustling with activity.

With ice skating not working out I fell back to Plan B - run by the American Museum of Natural History. We hopped on the train and stopped at a couple stations, but then just as we were approaching the museum station the train quit stopping and proceeded to blow through each station instead. It turns out we were on an express train that didn't stop at every station. You think you have things down and then there are little nuances that keep popping up to thwart you.

The train didn't stop until it got to 125th street in Harlem. We got off the train and we definitely weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. I saw signs that said that we could catch the M60 bus to LaGuardia from there so we walked out of the station to find the bus stop, which seems like it would be straightforward except that the intersections are pretty big and busy and it's not very clear exactly where you need to be to catch the bus that you want.

A light rain was starting and we were a little tense about the situation. We weren't sure when the next bus would come or if we were even in the right spot. We weren't sure how long it would take to get to the airport and we weren't sure how busy the airport would be. We could see buses passing by and we weren't sure if one of them was our bus or not. Another person waiting at the bus stop answered some of the questions we had and calmed our nerves.

The bus came and we made it to the airport in plenty of time. The airport was pretty empty and we were able to grab something to eat before we got on the plane.

The flight landed ahead of schedule and the offsite parking van took us right to our van. I don't think we went the most direct route to my mother's house from the airport, but we made it. We enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal and visited with everyone. It was nice to see my brother Jason and his wife Laine who were visiting from Florida.

Overall we really enjoyed the trip and will always look back on it with fond memories. I would love to go back to New York for the holidays again some day, but we've found that you can never duplicate that "first time" feeling. We've tried going back and repeating experiences we loved and we've found that you might achieve a "different" experience, but you just can't recapture the "wow" feeling of the first time.

On this trip we loved riding bikes through Central Park and the Broadway shows - especially Billy Elliot. We loved seeing so many famous places that we've only read about or seen on TV or in movies. We loved the holiday decorations and general festive feel of the city. We loved riding the trains and buses on our 7 day Metro passes and feeling comfortable about navigating our way around the big city.

We hated overdone security, crowds, and lines. We regretted not being able to ice skate or see so many of the other things on our list. We wish we had more time to really experience the unique vibe of all the different areas of town (SoHo, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, etc) and we hated that we didn't come close to getting to all the wonderful restaurants we thought we would.