Holiday Times

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's always goes so fast. Typically it's because we are traveling for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. While we have spent a couple of Thanksgivings here this is the first Christmas we didn't travel at all. While it was nice not to have the hassle and stress of Holiday Travel, I did miss not going back home. For the past 15 years Christmas has been at the Wilson house in Beloit. I started going there when Steph and I first began dating. That year the Wilson clan were getting professional family pictures done. Bonnie had one done of Steph and I - we'd been dating officially for about 6-8 months or so. Bonnie said we could use it as an engagement picture. We did have to get different pictures since we got engaged 4 years later, it did come out nice - how could it now really.
Rod and Bonnie came in on the 23rd and left of the 28th. While here Bonnie's project was to swap the Carrie's room with Chloe's since Chloe will be sharing the room with her sister in about a month. Now I just have to paint it this weekend. I'll let you know how that comes out. We had a great time together but missed having Amber, Ryan and Lainey there on Christmas morning. We also didn't get to see my family. We ususally have some time with Mom & Dad in KC before heading out to Beloit. We didn't get to see Kristin & Scott and the kids either. Since they moved to Chicago we will have to make special trips to see them instead of combining them in with visits to KC. Mom & Dad went to stay with them for Christmas this year as they came out here for Thanksgiving. I have no idea what we'll do for next year.
Rod and Bonnie got us a Wii and Steph got me a snowboarding game. I really love it. I am also glad that we didnt' have it when I was out of work. While I would have become a fantastic gamer I'm not sure it would have gone over so well with Steph. Dylan is the undisputed champ at bowling so far and defends his crown with enthusiasm and determination. Chloe is trying to get the hang of finger/button coordination. I'm not a snowboarder, but I play one on TV - and I rock! Right now I play with the handheld remotes as all the stores sold out of the balance boards. When those come in we do plan to get one so I can practice and take my show on the road to Colorado next year. Tim, you might still have to show me a few things though.

BABY WATCH - Steph's last checkup went well. The doctor said that the baby's head was down but there is no progress for Steph. So far we're still looking for an Innauguration timeframe. At least we'll have something to celebrate...

Backing Down

OK, I'm officially backing down from my quest to post weekly. Either I don't have much to say, don't have time or I don't think the daily routine in interesting enough to post the same things each week. Any way I look at it I'm changing my goal to every two weeks now. If more than one shows up - call it a bonus of Reeve material.

I did promise an update to the Salt & Pepper shoot. It was a long day but we got it done. The camera guys were late so we ran late. The first things we shot were the intros and bios. I didn't do that well on this part. Drakeel had asked me before and I had some things that I wanted to say but by the time we started the cameras rolling at about 1pm I just wanted to start cooking and eat something. I'd had a couple of doughnuts about 9am and that only cut it for so long. We were supposed to be about done by 1-1:30 so I didn't eat breakfast. I wasn't thinking correctly or thouroughly to properly express my thoughts and feelings. That will be the first thing I change when we have a chance. The acutal shoot went very well. We did our dishes at the same time pointing out the differences as we went along. We had a lot of fun doing it and I just hope that all came across on film. Now comes the hard part of editing. We should have something to show at the beginning of the year. No worries - I'll let you know when the site is active.

For Thanksgiving Mom & Dad came out for a few days. They arrived Thanksgiving morning. Steph took the kids to go pick them up and I stayed behind to get the food prep started. I did put them to work when they got home. Steph finished the Sweet Potatoe casserole, Mom made a 7 layer salad and helped with the gravy, Dad carved up the turkey. It all came out perfect and with all that help we at relatively on time. I think that's a first.

It's always great to have Mom & Dad visit. They watched the kids so Steph and I could go on a date Friday night. We went to see the movie Fireproof. If you are married, go see it. We had to drive to Baltimore to see it and it comes out on video soon. Dad and I along with my brother-in-law Scott are taking a 'Winning at Work and Home' class together online so this movie played right into that. It offers an interesting perspective on marriage - go see it.

Updates

Wow - 2 weeks since my last posting. Some updates. Steph is pregnant. I guess you probably knew that but she is really pregnant. She is feeling very done with about 9 weeks to go and hoping our little girl joins us a bit earlier than expected. The biggest issue is Steph's inability to sleep through the night. She usually sleeps until about 12-1am and then stays awake until 5 or 6 am. It's not very restful and very frustrating. She's tried taking doctor approved Tylenol PM and got a couple more hours but not the big change she was looking to get. Work continues to be a major stress factor for her as she tries to get things tied up for her being gone. People there are in a rush for her time because they are now realizing how valuable she is and that she won't be around for 3 months. She's feeling pulled in a lot of different directions right now. If you try to call and talk to her, please understand if she doesn't answer, has little time, patience or sanity left. I tell her that her main job is to take care of her health and the baby. If that means she goes to bed at 8pm every night and misses a few phone calls then that's what it has to be. Please know she is not ignoring you. There will be a lot of time to catch up soon.

The kids are doing well. We had a Parent/Teacher conference with Dylan's teacher last week. He's doing very well. The one thing he needs to work on is finishing his "Bell Work". That's the work they are to do in class. When this initially arose we asked him why he wasn't getting his work done on time. He promptly told us that the other kids were distracting him. That when they didn't want to do their work they distracted him but he wanted to do his work. We all kind of chuckled at that one. Apparently he likes to daydream instead of his school work. Not that I blame him much but we are working on it.

Chloe continues to be Chloe. Every few days she suprises me with how much she is growing up and learning. She is becoming a little girl who can express her thoughts and negotiate her way with words now instead of just with a look. I'm still a sucker for her. I can't even imagine what it will be like being wrapped around 2 girls little fingers.

Me? I'm doing well. I'm enjoying my job and I think doing pretty well at it. There are enough challenges to keep me moving right now and a path I can see for when this role is mastered. I know next year will be a bit more travel for me as I go out to the field a bit more. It shouldn't be too bad. Salt & Pepper is filming this Saturday (22nd). I'm looking forward to that. We should have a pretty good product for Drakeel to go shop. It's going to be in HD and done very professionally. I'll give you my story on that next week.

This is sometimes.

OK, so I didn't make the once-a-week posting...

My excuse? I've been busy. At work I've helped coordinate 2 moves in 2 weekends. The first one was my group - Sales and Marketing - and we moved about 150 people from our Home Office building into a newly remodeled space across the street. You would think that just moving across the street is not a big deal. Apparently, it is. Things went relatively well for a move into new space. The clean up on Monday was hectic but fun. I got to meet a lot of my customers (the Sales and Marketing people) and we came out looking pretty good. Even better than I normally do ;) This past weekend however did not go so well. We were to have a 3rd party come in and reconnect all the PCs over the weekend. That didn't go as planned as they were setting people up with their backs to doors and not connecting things properly. Then we had people moving that packed things up we needed to connect. Like - power strips... One guy even took his power strip home over the weekend! We're working through it and I'm glad I wasn't on point for this move. It was the Clinical and Research people.

We did have a good Halloween. Chloe went as a black cat and Dylan was Jengo Fett (Star Wars). Steph went to both school's Halloween parties and managed to take some pictures. That night the Bailey's came over for dinner before heading out together. James and his mom Denise came down also. We were quite a crew all walking the neighborhood together. Scott brought the wagon for the little girls to ride when they got tired so we were pulling that around. The great thing about the wagon is that it has a little cargo trailer. The perfect size to put a small cooler. It was filled with some water bottles needed for the kids after running from house to house and some, ahem, adult beverages for us as we pulled the wagon... The night ended at the Conway's so the kids could play a bit and burn off some more of the sugar.

OH! Rod & Ryan - I found a place near my work that has $0.99 Miller Lites on Friday night Happy Hours - We'll go next time you are in town. Finally a place that doesn't overcharge for Lite beer.

Poker at the Bailey's was Saturday night. Steph and I both made the final table without re-buys and I finished either 4th or 5th. Out of the money but good enough to want to play again. After a couple of bad beats I tried to make a move and got caught chasing a flush that never came.

Sunday we took the kids to the park. We taught the kids to play frisbee for a while before a rousing game of hide n seek. Steph sat that out and played 'Warmer/Colder' to help direct the kids to me. Dylan and I worked on throwing the football and I think it is finally starting to click with him. After a few minutes he was throwing and catching. I'm not sure he's ready to play yet though. Instead of trying to make someone miss when he has the ball, he runs the other way. We'll work on that.

When we got home I was playing with the kids in the front yard for a while and went inside to check on Steph. They started rolling around in the leaves because they wanted to get dirty and when I called them in for supper they had made their way up to the house and were picking up mulch and dropping it all on their heads. Of course they thought this was hilarious! I wasn't quite as amused. They had dirt and wood chips all in thier hair - especially Chloe. After an immediate bath I had dried Chloe and she was sitting on my lap, I was telling her that I didn't mind her getting dirty and that at times it was OK. I said I just wanted her to wait until she could clean and wash her own hair before doing it again. She said "When I'm a teenager you won't have to help me do anything anymore because I'll be able to do it all myself." I said "I know and when that time comes I'll really miss times like this." Then I gave her a big hug. She turned and looked up at me with tears nearly in her eyes and said, "I'm trying not to cry and I don't know what's making me feel like I need to cry." I said, "Well, sometimes you cry when you are really happy." She said, "Yeah, this is Sometimes." And gave me a big hug.

She couldn't have been more correct.

Wine & Pig Races

Another great weekend under the belt. Last Saturday was the Sugarloaf Mountain Winery 2nd Annual Grape Stomp. It was a R&R (Reeve & Rendzio) day last year and we added a few more this year. We got samples of some great Maryland wines and shared a few bottles between the families. The event is held at the winery on a big open area. There was a band, tastings and a BBQ sandwich truck (that had a constant line of about a 30 minute wait - they did pretty well). The highlight of the Grape Stomp is of course The Grape Stomp. There is a stage set up with 3 wooden barrels. The contestants line up and take their turn competing against each other in stomping grapes. The winner getting a free glass of wine and those underage get Hershey bars. It was a cool day but the kids really wanted to stomp so I got up there with them. That's the stompin' barrel above.

Dylan with his game face and Chloe were in one barrel and I was in another. There were two other girls in the 3rd barrel but since I don't know them I'll leave them out of the rest of the story. We step into the barrel and it is pretty cold. Then comes the countdown, the start of the music and we stomp away.

The product of our stomp goes through a hole and into a bucket under the barrel. At the end of the time the judges view the contents and the one with the most juice gets the win.

I think I was robbed by the judges who have an affinity for letting the little kids win. I know Dylan and Chloe had more than the two girls but I'm pretty sure I beat them. Not than I'm all that competitive and have a need to win - against my U-10 kids...













This is the aftermath of our feet. I'm not sure if the purple is from the grapes or from my feet being nearly frozen and numb. We did pick up a couple of bottles of wine with strict instructions that we are not to open them until the baby is born so that Steph can enjoy them too.

The next day we met up with Frank, Katya, Jonathan and Cole Scanlan. Brief intro - Frank and I went to school together and have know each other since 5th grade - good friends since 6th. He lives out here in Alexandria and we have recently made a promise to each other to get together every other month. It's a little crazy that we live about 40 minutes away from each other and we haven't seen each other since January.

ANYWAY, we all met up a a farm out in Virginia. It has little hayrides, a band, food, animals etc to entice the city folk to come enjoy the country. The kids had a great time as the did the wagon ride, trampoline bubble bounce, watched a mechanical dinosaur eat/smash pumpkins and see a pig race. The pig race even got a little political as they had 4 pigs racing and named them after the candidates. The crowd was pretty split as they were introduced and ran. The announcer had to do a double take and was astonished. She said for the very first time since they've been doing it this year the McCain/Pallin pigs won. Some thought it would be the last time that ticket would win anything and others thought it was just the start. The big news was that the announcer said that if you were at the farm that day you could go across the road and up the hill to the Bluemont Winery and have a free tasting. Wouldn't you know it that the farm we pick to go visit is right across the road from a winery. We couldn't turn that down. The kids spent most of the afternoon having their fun so now it was the adult's time. Steph was a trooper and for the second day in a row held off the urge to have a glass of wine at a wine tasting. I think we're done with wine tastings for a while. Much more and it would just be cruel.

The kids still love gymanastics and we will be signing them up for the next session. Last week Dylan got to learn to do backflips - with a spotter - from a large foam pad to the floor and work on handstands. Chloe said she learned backflips too though I didn't see her and she tends to repeat what Dylan says. I did see her do some balance beam work and handstands.

Good Friends, Good Times

Reliving the "Good Old Days" can be fun. This past weekend Peter and Karen Opalka came to stay with us. We had such a great time. As usual we had some lively discussions - sometimes just picking a side we don't really believe just to have the discussion.

Peter and I went to the Sailboat Show in Annapolis and met up with the rest of the crew at Butler's Orchard. Then we headed home for a crab fest on the porch. The next day we went to a neighborhood Octoberfest during the day and Peter helped me grill some lambchops that night.

On the final night we started reminiscing about the times we had together when they lived in Maryland. There were lots of stories recounted, laughter all around the room as no one was left out of being in the target of some memory. This happens with all good friends who have time together. The great thing though is when you don't just talk about the past like it was the peak of your existence. We talked about the future and even did some planning for it.

I think that is the crux of a good relationship. Building upon memories and planning new ones. If all you do is talk about the past (HS, College, etc.) then it gets old pretty quick.

Steph and I are fortunate that we have great friends who can relive the memories but not live in them. I have never laughed harder than when talking with a friend and recalling something we've done together. Usually it's about something stupid we've done together. I know that may come as a shock to you all but yes, I have done a couple of dumb things in my day and in most cases one of you have been around to see it - then remind me of it hours, days, months and yes, even years later. I've been blessed to have things become funnier the further back in the past they become...

What I really like though is the talk of the future. What we are planning as a family, goals we've set and discussing when we'll get together again and do it all over again.

The Older I Get,

The smarter my Dad becomes. It's true. There is no hiding it now. The man is a genius. I'm not talking about the big things he and Mom have been trying to teach me for years. Those like, Love and Honor your spouse, Love and teach your kids, have good friends, Worship God, be respectful to others, Strive for something you might not be able to reach the first time, Live for something larger than yourself, Live within your means, those I get. OK so I'm still working on the live within your means thing - progress...

Anyway, back to Dad being a genius. I'm talking about the little details. Specifically, V-Neck undershirts. Ever since I started wearing undershirts I've worn crew neck. V-Neck were for old men - like my Grandpa and my Dad. They looked kinda goofy when worn alone. Not that I ever really wore my undershirts alone but it just didn't feel right. I would not wear a v-neck by choice. I remember once I was home and forgot an undershirt. I went to Dad's drawer to borrow one and all that were in there were v-neck. Of course I wore it but I was not comfortable. I was even wearing a tie so you couldn't even tell.

I started wearing undershirts really, becasue I was being cheap and lazy. I figured I could wear an undershirt so as not to get my regular shirt dirty. Then at the end of the day I could hang the outside shirt back up and get another day out of it because I hadn't really gotten it dirty - I got the undershirt dirty. This is still in practice somewhat to this day.

What I didn't like about the crew necks were that they stuck out the top of the shirt when you wore a polo shirt or didn't wear a tie with a dress shirt. It wasn't for fashion, the way you wear a colored shirt and layer it with another in a cool way. It's just that is the look of way too many IT guys with their khaki pants. It's like a uniform for some - chinos, brown loafers, polo shirt or plaid button up, and white undershirt sticking out - EVERY DAY. Now if this details you... I'm sorry. No, not really. Chances are I've made fun of you to your face. If not, I will.
I was that guy for a number of years, I don't want to be that guy now. Not that I don't wear that exact same thing every now and then I have made a drastic change that didn't hit me until a couple of weeks ago.

I was getting tired of the top of the undershirt poking out of the top. Part of that reason is due to the cheap/lazy thing again. I had old shirts and the collar was stretched or worn and it didn't look good. I stopped wearing them for a couple of days - that didn't feel right either. Then it hit me. V-Necks!
This is what I remember shortly after that - corrections can be made by SWMBO. I said, "Steph, I think I need to get a few v-neck undershirts so the tops don't show at the collar." She looked at me like I was an idiot (again this is my memory and I may have been imposing my own feelings here) and said "Yeah, I've thought that for a while, we'll get some this weekend." like she'd been waiting for me to come to this realization all along. I might have said "You know Honey, this might sound crazy, but a lot of people are wearing pants when they go out of the house. I might try that, could we pick out some pants for me?" You get the idea.

Now, I have 3 v-necks. I love them. I will get more. It might be something that grows on you (like nose hair) or something you come to appreciate with age (like smelly cheeses). I'm going to attribute it to the genius of my father. Thanks Dad! I can't wait to see what's in store for me to learn next.

The Hard Slap of Reality

You just never know. One day things are going great and the next you are staring your own mortality in the face. That's what happened to some friends of ours. he was just diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Lymphoma. Married father of 2, my age and an all round great guy. He could start treatments as early as next week. This has all happened in about a week and has rocked our little group of friends here not to mention them.
I am trying hard to imagine what they are going through and how they are feeling. I can't. So I do what I can do. I hug my wife and give the kids extra hugs and kisses knowing that it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye.
If you are reading this you are a part of our lives and I thank you for that.
Hug those you love just a couple seconds longer, give an extra kiss and don't forget to tell them you love them.

Gettin' Kicked Around

I felt her kick Sunday night! For the first time. It was so cool.

We've got about four months left before she comes. It's coming quick. We're in the planning stages of what we'll need, what we have - some we can use and others we can't due to it being too old for new safety regulations. The time to clean out the attic and donate/toss has come. We are getting some donations from friends for strollers, carriers and clothes. What we really need/want is about another 2000 ft2 of living/bedroom space. THAT would come in handy. Maybe when I win the lottery we can add on - guess I'd need to play...



With all the rain and me only having the weekends to do yard work things have become quite overgrown. I'm under strict orders by SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) that I have only this weekend to finish it up. Then we start to get even busier on the weekends. Our friends Peter & Karen Opalka are coming over Columbus Day weekend, a grape stomp (I know - wine shouldn't take a priority over getting yard/house work done but who am I kidding - you do realize who's blog you are reading here right?), then I have dress rehearsal for the Residence Inn shoot ( more on that in a bit), then the shoot, next thing you know it's middle of November. Guess I'm gonna be busy weeding and trimming next weekend. It's a lot of fun so if you really want to have a good time come on by and we'll have a sign up sheet for the trimmers. First come First to play!! That's my sad attempt at being Tom Sawyer... did it work for anyone?



Salt & Pepper

Most of you are aware of the show concept - if not, call me and we'll catch up. We have a small paying gig coming up with Residence Inn. They are trying to promote cooking their kitchens for their guests. Since their typical guest stays there from between 5 and 30 days it makes sense and they probably won't want to eat out every day. So, Tee and I are working with them to create simple recipes for the guests to use. We're also shooting 2 promos (in the hopes they pick us up to create more) that show us using the provided equipment in an actual RI room. If the Execs at Marriott like it (and really - how could they not like us) then the plan would be to create about 12 shows for next year. That would be fun. This will also be the first time we are seeing any payment for the efforts. Of course for this first promo shoot it's mostly reimbursement with a small payment from what I understand right now. I don't know for sure what details have been hammered out and what has not.

So Sunday Steph and I headed to the mall to get some new shirts for me since I need to have some options to shoot 2 videos. I now understand the usefulness of having a wardrobe staff and image consultants. What I like, what I think I look good in, what I actually look good in and what will look good on video are pretty much all different. Steph has an incredible eye for that and sat there like a trooper while I played Male Supermodel and sashayed in and out of the dressing room with different clothes. OK - I didn't really sashay - that was tough to do in pants that don't fit (we were just going for the color) and flip-flops. We picked out a bunch and went through them with Drakeel when she came over last night. While I don't mind going shopping for clothes I have never gone into the dressing room with about 20 items - Just to Try. We may splurge for that image/color/clothing consultant sooner rather than later if I have to do this again.
I don't understand the fun you girls have doing this... I think that is item 217 of things I don't get about women.

It's Not As Easy As It Looks

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last week cruised by while I was prepping for travel to a meeting in Colorado Springs and this week I was there.


Here are a few updates.


Gymnastics - the kids continue to enjoy this very much. They even count down the days until they go. Chloe has been practicing walking on the balance beam (going forward and backward) and also doing somersaults on the beam. She works on body control, cartwheels and flipping around a bar. Dylan got to work on running then jumping onto a small trampoline then onto the vault. I think when they get bigger they get to push off the vault and fly into the foam pit. He walked across the parallel bars on his hands and feet, did the balance beam (front, back and sideways) and his chin-up hang time is about 12 seconds. I keep telling him that he needs to practice during the week on my chin up bar. I guess I need to put it up for him...


Their favorite thing to do is to jump into the foam pit, off the side, on the rope swing or from the vault.


Last week I got a blast from the past in the smelling sense. The parents are not allowed to go into the gymnasium during class, we are corralled in a waiting room with windows and tables. Usually when the coach comes to the door we are a ways away and the kids line up and wind their way to the door. Last week I was a little closer and when the door opened it hit me. That "sweet" smell of mats, plastic and sweat mixed with disinfectant. What a fantastic smell that is. If you've ever worked out in a wrestling room or went to a real gym. I'm talking about the type of gyms where there are basically free weights for pumping iron - not the fancy Bally's or Gold's with their fancy lights and floors and decor, though you might get a whiff of it back in their free weight areas. This would be the smell that would hit you if you walked into the gym Rocky started out in. That is the smell that reminds me of wrestling and working out. The smell of sweat, hard work and success. A million memories hit me all at once with that and it was quite a pleasant surprise.


Schools - Chloe's pre-school is moving very shortly from downtown Bethesda to right across the street from Marriott. Chloe is very excited for this to happen especially since her teacher, Ms. Heather, said her class could go on a field trip to see Steph. Not sure how Marriott will feel about it but there will only be about 5 kids in her Pre-K class. I know Steph is really looking forward to it too. It will cut down at least 20 minutes of driving for her each way.


Second grade is different now than when I went. This past week he had 3 tests. One was on Social Studies where he had to know the leaders of the different governments (Local-Mayor, State-Governor, National-President), why you vote and three Rights (Privacy, Religion and Speech). I think it's a bit slanted... I don't recall a right to privacy - only unreasonable search and seizure. Maybe I'm reading more into it and they are just simplifying for them but I'm gonna bet they don't stress the Second Amendment at all. Another was on math and the last was on Spelling.

We found out that he likes to challenge himself. They are working letter groups of 'ch' and along with their regular words they get to pick out a few in the 'ch' group for their own list. Steph was talking with some friends whose kids are in the same class, their boys picked out words like: pitch, catch, or change. Dylan picked out chameleon, speechless, pitcher, and Duchess..... I think they should get bonus points for picking out harder words.


My trip went well to Colorado. I flew in to Denver and met Uncle Milt for dinner on Sunday night. We hung out at El Noa Noa a little outdoor Mexican place. It's a cool place with a nice outdoor patio and apparently is a popular spot for family visiting Denver. I then drove to Colorado Springs for my meeting. For dinner Monday we went to an imported English pub - meaning the whole thing was imported. They handed out song books to everyone and the piano player would yell out the number of song and everyone joined in. Kinda like group karaoke - it was OK to sing out loud and it didn't matter if you were off key because chances are after a couple of half-yards of beer, the guy sitting next to you was too. The next day we toured the Olympic Training Center. It is pretty impressive and all privately funded with donations. They said the US is the only country that doesn't federally sponsor sport. Other countries have a Minister of Sport and provide federal money to support it. I kinda like our way better. Then to dinner at The Warehouse. I had venison for the first time in over 15 years - very good. While being a cog in the Corporate machine has its drawbacks, being on expense with food and wine is kinda nice.


Chloe and Dylan each put a 'present' in my bag for me. Chloe put in one of her horses and Dylan put in his stuffed Stitch. They enjoyed Colorado with me. Here's what we did.



Pike's Peak and smelling the wildflowers





Enjoying the Colorado sun and enduring fluorescent glare of the conference room.




They swam while I worked.




Steph handled being a single parent with ease. Well, at least with only a few incidents I'm sure. She has a new appreciation for those who have to do it full time with no sister around to help out. She did get another sonogram regarding the lower abdomen pain she's been having. Baby-wise everything is good. Dr. Alter said it could be ligaments stretching or even something like the baby sitting on some blood vessels. She is to take it easy. So far she's been doing OK on that. I think the stress from her job is the thing I worry most about. Now that I'm home, hopefully she can get some more rest.


Yesterday I was able to connect with Tim Slowey. He flew out here for work when I flew to Denver. Luckily, he was staying longer here than I was staying out there so he came up for dinner. It was good to catch up since we hadn't seen each other since I went to Boulder, CO for work with IO a couple years ago. Frank would have met up too but had to fly to California this week. His loss.


That's it for now. Stay tuned for the next episode.

A Bunch of Monkeys

I think we may have stumbled onto something. Gymnastics.

Last Saturday was the kids first day of gymnastics. We signed them up to take lessons on Saturday mornings at Hill's Gymnastics not far from home. It's where Dominic Dawes trained so I guess it can't be too bad.
We had them watch the men's and women's events during the Olympics and they both seemed to like it.

Dylan was a bit nervous before going and told Steph his stomach hurt. The first time we tried to explain 'butterflies' to him he wondered how they got inside him...

Once we got there they both were pretty excited. Dylan went in first and is in an all boy group. It was cool to see how he stacked up against some others. The instructor started them out doing warmups - jumping jacks, running line drills, etc. I think only one or two of the boys could actually do coordinated jumping jacks - Dylan was not one of them. Most jumped up and down and waved their arms up and down. While he was waiting to do something he was just bouncing up and down - the whole time. He did some forward rolls, trampoline work and got timed hanging on a pullup bar. I don't think the smile came off his face until it was time to go - it reappeared when we told him he gets to come every Saturday this Fall.

Chloe wasn't much different. She got to do some of the same things with her class. Her favorite thing was when the coach put the team in the middle of the trampoline and bounced them all around. At one time she hung upside down on the bar and got stuck because she was trying to flip through her hands but split her feet apart so one was trying to go between her hands and the other was not. The coach had to help her out on that one.

All in all - a great time. They also got to burn off a LOT of energy. They were much more calm the rest of the day. Imagine that.

Other goings on:

Last Saturday I came in 2nd at the Bailey Birthday Poker Night - I had to let Wendy win since it was her birthday.

Sunday we had Chloe's birthday party with her friend Amelia at a My Gym in Bethesda.

More jumping, hanging, climbing and sliding.

The Birthday Girls

The work week went well for all and we still have kittens... for now. Oh, Buzz, we found out wanted to be a loner and a rebel all along. He got out one day last week and won't come back. We heard him meowing and found him between our fence and the neighbors fence. He ran from me but Steph picked him up to bring him back inside. He started hissing at her and wiggled out of her hands and took off again. We haven't heard from him since. So, we're down one - 8 to go.

We're Growing

The Envelope Please...

Here we go again! Just when we thought life was getting easier, we were getting into a groove and had some smooth sailing ahead - BAM! Number 3 is on the way. Now that the initial shock has worn off we are becoming more and more excited.
The kids were pretty excited to begin with and each immediately wanted a sibling of the same sex.
With that stage set we decided to go ahead and find out. So, in we went to see Dr. Alter last Thursday. The plan was to have the nurse write it down, put it in an envelope and we would all open it up that night. Steph calls me en route to the doctor's office and said she didn't want to wait until that night. I almost gave in but held fast and she finally relented. I did however, make the nurse give me the envelope. I love Steph but I don't trust her not to look early - I know her too well.
Thursday night came and we had Chloe open the envelope and Dylan read it. Before opening we went around the room and gave our guess of what it is. Everyone except Chloe thought we would be adding a boy. When Dylan read "It looks like a Girl" he got upset and ran from the room. Apparently he really wanted a brother. Chloe was ecstatic.
We both tried talking to him. I told him we'd get to do fun Dylan & Daddy things but it didn't go far. I think Steph made the most progress when she said that he was such a good big brother that God gave him another sister to protect and take care of. He told her that he would watch out for Chloe but the new sister was under Chloe's care. He's calmed down a bit now and will be fine.
We are glad that we told them early so they could get used to the idea.

PS - Last night he asked me what his favorite month is. After going through the typical December (Christmas presents), May (birthday presents), and October (Halloween candy), he said "No, January" Surprised, I asked him why. He said, "You know, because of the baby". He said he was excited to have her and wants to help pick out names. My, how he is like his Mother...