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...