Getting Called up to the Big Leagues

(cont from prev post "getting caught up")

That catches us up to now or at least last August - vacation month. We look forward to going to LBI every year (well the past three) and getting some beach time with the Philpott clan. We stay in a hotel and use Steve's parent's house as a base. This year was no exception. We got left a little late on Thursday because I made Steph get her hair cut before we left. I knew it would make her happy and then she wouldn't complain about her hair being so long and full while we're trying to relax in the sand. Her only complaint was that she saw too many grey hairs and needed to get it colored. Other than that - Momma was happy. We got out there in good time because we were pretty much packed before the hair cut. We got checked in and did the traditional run to the beach while waiting for the Philpott's to come by and head out for dinner. I just updated my post on Facebook with the quote from a favorite song "Got my toes in the water, A$$ in the sand, not a care in the world, a cold beer in my hand, life is good today". I started taking some pictures of the kids in the waves. They were under strict orders NOT to get wet this year. If you remember they had the same instructions last year and then Steph led the charge into the water, all got soaked and had to change before heading out for dinner. They did good this time. Then I heard my phone ding as we were about to head back to the motel, telling me I had a new message on FB. It was from my friend Jon Specht, a guy I grew up with from Denison, asking me if I wanted to work the sidelines during the Chiefs/Ravens game the next night in Baltimore. I happened to be 4 hrs away in New Jersey. I kicked the sand and started kid cursing - what I say when kids are around - that sounds something like sassafrackingobblegookradiflapogginate. You get the idea. If you haven't figured it out yet - I'm a big Chiefs fan and my friend Jon works for the Chiefs Radio Network as a Producer. They were in need of a couple of people to hold the parabolic microphones on the field during the game. The job would be to stand on the sidelines at the line of scrimmage and point a dish at the players. If we had been home it would have been a no-brainer but here I was 4 hours away on family vacation at the beach. Two of my favorite things were pulling me in seperate ways. After much debate and even checking with Dad to see if he would leave a family vacation to be on the sidelines of a Chiefs game (he would) I texted back that I could make it. Trouble was - he needed two people. So I contacted Joe Rendzio who said "Why wouldn't I do it?" After verifying that I wasn't feeding him a line of S. I called Jon to let him know we were in. HUGE thanks to Steph for even giving me the go-ahead. We take our family time together on vacations very seriously so it wasn't an easy decision. Also to the Philpott's for helping her out with the kids and transport since I had to take the van back to Baltimore for a day. Jon gave me the info and sent me a couple of documents to review. I know it was serious but I had to laugh when one of them reads "The sideline is a very dangerous place to work. In accordance with the NFL credential agreement policy, you are allowed to be on the sideline, but you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. It is imperative you beaware of your surroundings at all times. Do not take your eye off of the action, especially on passing plays. If you areused to watching a game on TV or from the stands, you will need to be aware of how much faster the live action is. Plays develop very quickly, and players coming at you are at a full run. If you don’t begin to move early, you will not be able toget out of their way. In case you have not contemplated the results of a collision between you and players wearing pads(a.k.a. “body armor”), the best case would leave you sore, but able to walk. You must understand there is a very real danger of serious injury when working on the sidelines." The part about the best case scenario was what stuck out for me.
Joe and I connected at the Baltimore Marriott and walked across the parking lot and through Camden Yards to get to Raven's Stadium.  We still had to go all the way around to the other side and were running late.  Jon met us at the gate, gave us credentials to get in and escorted us up to the radio broadcast booth.  There we got to see where the broadcasters sit and meet the production crew.  Jon, Joe and I were standing out in the hallway going over what we had to do when none other than Len Dawson (color commentator and HOF/Chiefs Legend) comes walking in.  I don't usually get tongue tied and can keep my cool in most situations but I ended up babbling something that was hopefully intelligible and non-stalkerish like "hey! I know you. I'm a big fan of yours Mr. Dawson."  and stick out my hand.  He cordially shakes my hand and says (paraphrasing) "thank you. and who are you?" Me still in hero worship awe mumble that I'm a longtime friend of Jon's and am helping out with the sound.  Jon steps in and properly introduces us as up to this point I still had not mentioned my name.  (Thank you Jon)  Len then goes into the booth to get ready.  Jon brings out some paperwork to fill out so we can get paid and Kendall Gammon walks up.  For those not in the know he was the Chiefs long snapper for a long time and now is the sideline reporter for the radio broadcasts.  Very nice and funny guy.  Jon then takes us on a tour of where the post game press conference will be, what our roles will be during that and then a walk down to the field so we know where to go and what to do.  We did get to walk in and out where the players run out the 'tunnel' to the field.  After some obligatory pictures on the sidelines we headed back up to the media level to get something to eat in the media cafeteria.  Basically everyone who works the game can grab something to eat in there.  We didn't see anyone famous in there but it was a cool experience.  A few minutes before game time we headed down to get our equipment and get to the sidelines.

The mike we held looked like a dome about 2-3 feet wide and had a mike in the middle.  We had to stand as close to the field and line of scrimmage as possible.  The only place we couldn't walk was between the 40s where the team sat.  So I'm standing on the Chiefs side about a foot away from the team - those guys are big and the kickers were warming up right behind me.  All of a sudden I hear a loud boom, jump a little and turn around to see Ryan Succop practicing his kicking.  It's amazing how loud it is when you kick a football 50 yards.  I also had headphones on that allowed me to hear the what I was receiving on the mike and in the other ear was the radio broadcast.  That took a while to get used to.  I learned a lot about what goes into a radio broadcast.  I got to hear all the off air conversations between the booth, field and production.  They get pretty candid.  It was a preseason game so nothing was on the line and the starters didn't play a lot but it was incredible to be watching the game from the sidelines, just a few feet away from the line judge.  Not really a better place to watch a football game in my opinion.
When the game ended we waited for the players to leave then we headed into the room where the post game interview was going to be held.  The reporters I watched, listened to and read were all coming in and I got to hold the boom mike that I would direct at whoever was talking.  I stood about 5 feet from Todd Haley (head coach).  It was a bit surreal to me to see the behind the scenes and everything that goes into a broadcast.  I've seen some from taping Salt & Pepper shows and being on TV but I'm usually in front of the camera not working the technical aspects of a live show.  Jon mentioned that the entire Chiefs crew had about 45 minutes to an hour before the bus left so there was not time to catch up or chat.  The tear down and loading of the equipment happens pretty quick.  As we finished packing up and headed into the hallway some of the players were coming out of the locker room already changed for the trip home.  They grabbed the boxed lunch/dinners that were set out for them and headed out to the bus.  I think they all left the stadium before Joe and I got out.

All in all it was a great time.  I told Jon that I would be his parab guy in the Mid-Atlantic from NY to Carolina.  I would get a chance to see an old friend and a four hour drive isn't bad to see the game on the sidelines behind the parabolic mic.

Catching up

OK team, we're back at it. After a near year of self imposed sabbatical from writing I will once again try to impress upon the masses of readers (if there are any that still check) the fact that our family is a little crazy, a lot of fun and a whole bunch of love.

We have had a very eventful year with ups and downs and a lot of travel lately. Recap - stayed here for all the Holiday's last year. My parents came for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we also hosted Sterling's two aunts and had a lot of fun. Made my first (and probably last) country ham. Rod and Bonnie came for New Years. Steph arranged for my 40th birthday present to get a helicopter ride from the Montgomery County Airpark to Frederick airport then board a private plane to Atlantic City for the night being the co-pilot on each leg. Courtesy of John and Theresa Tomasini (Wendy Bailey's brother is a pilot and owns both the aircraft). I have a new passion for getting my pilot's license and a plane. Dylan was in two basketball leagues and learned a LOT. He's looking forward to getting back into it this year too. I do have him talked into trying wrestling this winter too. He is going to be one tired kid. Chloe was in an after school art program that she loved and continues to amaze me with her drawings. Addison talks all the time, is potty trained and working on staying in her own be all night - every night. Not there yet but it can't be soon enough. Chloe also did Girl Scouts and began the never ending job of earning badges (badges? we don't need no stinkin' badges - sorry it had to be said). Steph's project went live but the headaches and drama didn't slow down much. She has needed the trips back home just to regroup. She's been tested, poked and prodded to try to find the source of her stomach pains to no avail yet. We have a CAT scan or MRI or something coming up soon to tell us more. Salt & Pepper got our first paying gig with Whole Foods in Tyson's Corner. We were brought in as Cooking Consultants for 3 weeks straight and came up with recipes on the spot to promote the foods they had on sale. They loved us and we had repeat customers that came back just to see us. We now have a booking in the Kentlands and are working on scheduling more in the other area WF. Those are fun times. I'm developing a new project at Medimmune to open a walk-up IT center that will be going live in the next couple of weeks. We went back to KC & KS three times this summer. Once for Mom's Retirement party (complete surprise to her that the entire family - Kristin's and mine - came back), once for Independence Day where we dropped the older kids off for their month with Mid-West family starting in Beloit. We took the kids out to the country so they could really see the stars. They were amazed at how many they could see. Then city boy Dylan got freaked out because there was not much light around and he kept hearing "things" in the bean field. Then the last time was for Grandma Woldruff's 90th Birthday in Clarinda with the entire Woldruff side of the family there. That all happened from mid June to mid July. Mom & Dad brought the kids back with them at the beginning of August and stayed for a week. I think it was the first time they had stayed an entire week in about 10 years. We had a good time and got to go tour the Naval Academy with the Philpott's with Steve and Ann providing background and insider info since Steve graduated from there then taught there for a couple of years.

(to be continued)

Where's Russ?

The status on Russ's blog says it all. On his blog site at the top right it has always had the question of "Where's Russ?" to give an update on where he was. The answers reflected where he was at the time of his writing. I can't remember what the previous answer was but I know he made his final posting about a week and a half prior to passing away. He wrote it without knowing how soon things would come to an end. I believe that he intended to write another post with comments on how him being at home was causing chaos in an already chaotic household. He would have something witty to relate about the nursing care he was receiving and apologize to those he thought he was putting out. He would have provided his insights and thoughts on treatments and next steps. We all would have smiled a little, possibly even laughed and probably teared up a bit. Instead, he wasn't able to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard anymore. He prepared all us readers for what might come and what all too quickly did. That's the way I knew him and from what his long time friends said about him at the funeral, he'd been that way all along. There to lend a helping hand, provide insight and look out for others.
I'll miss you buddy.
Oh, and the final answer to the question of "Where's Russ?" Home.

Saying Goodbye

As promised here is the rest of the story - as Paul Harvey would say.

The Hospice care was to bring over a hospital bed for Russ to the house. They said the drugs he was receiving were not improving him any but I've got to think that they were at least keeping it at bay. I believe this because it wasn't long after he stopped taking them that he went downhill. I will keep details brief as some parts of the last couple of weeks are hazy whyle others stand out in amazing clarity. Russ went to the Casey House which is a hospice house the same day the bed was to arrive. As time has passed I don't recall the exact reason he went there other than there was a need for it and it would be better there than being at the house. Steph and I went up on Thursday night so we could say our goodbyes. They weren't sure how much longer he would hold on. It could be days or it could be hours. Baileys and the Conway's were already there when we got there and Marla's mom was taking Nolan & Audrey home. We talked for a while as a group then Kevin and Denise went in to talk to Russ. He was actually having a good night. He was awake and talkative. When Steph and I went in he looked great, on the outside. Though knowing what caused the weight loss (not being able or wanting to eat) and the dark tan (onset of jaundice) diminished what otherwise would be a cause of celebration. I got to see glimpses of my friend that night when we talked about cooking and trying to sneak in some avacados the next day so he could show me how he make his special guacamole dip he would usually bring to our gatherings. He got a glimmer in his eye that I remember him getting when talking about something he loved. I had some alone time with him and we discussed his constant pain, nursing care, how much he was going to miss everyone, how strange it was to discuss your own impending death and his kids. I reassured him on the last point that they would be OK. That he instilled enough of himself in them, taught them enough and would live on in them. It was a touching moment for me. I told him I would be there as a man and father in my own right to help Marla with anything she needed. Our conversation was interrupted by him dozing off and then waking up again usually within 30 seconds or so. I told him that he seemed tired and that it had been a long day. He replied, yeah it's been a long couple years. I hugged him, said my final goodbyes and told him to get some rest, then I left. He made it through another week.
The funeral/memorial service was last Saturday.

Bridges

In my last post I mentioned that we would be heading to Long Beach Island, NJ to spend some time relaxing in the sand before the chaos of school starts. We did that with the Philpott family. We got there Friday afternoon. We got left late as we were helping get some documentation to Anne at the National Cancer Institute for Russ. We found out earlier in the week that Russ was not to continue treatments at Johns Hopkins as he was not responding to treatments. There simply wasn't anything they could do for him any longer. Anne helped funnel Russ's papers to the right people, to see if there were any clinical studies going on outside JH and for Marla to get a second opinion. The conversation Marla had confirmed what JH said. Nothing more to do at this point. Russ's type of ALS is rare so there has not been further study in it yet. (another reason to run and raise money for LLS - as if I needed another) Russ was to continue transfusions as long as he was able and they gave him 2-6 months - I think. Regardless, the transfusions were 3 times a week and required a trip to JH each time. The news saddned us all and put a bit of a shadow on our weekend. Marla and Russ were to discuss things and figure out what the next steps were. We went on with the vacation.
The trip up was much nicer than last year with minimal traffic. Last year we spent what felt like 2 hours going the last 10 miles. We checked into the motel, which reminded us of the motels we would stay in when going to Rockaway Beach for Thanksgivings at Grandma & Grandpa Reeve's. It had a shower that was clean but by no means new and had rust spots everywhere. The beds were pretty worn out and so was the carpet. But, like I said it was clean, 2 blocks from the ocean and .75 miles to the Philpott house. After unloading the very stuffed van that was filled with clothes, toys, sandwich makings, snacks, towels, kids, Bloody Mary mixings, wine, beer and a body board, we made arrangements to meet Anne, Steve and the kids for dinner out. They were heading our way to pick us up in about 15-20 minutes so we figured we had enough time to hit the beach to see how the Atlantic was doing. The kids took off on a run with little Addison chasing after the other two but not really knowing why. Of course when we got there the kids asked if they could put thier feet in the water. Since we had a little time we said it would be OK just "don't go in and get all wet, we're heading to dinner soon" That lasted all of about 30 seconds. They all got soaked - including the ring leader - Steph. It was worth it though. A quick change and the Philpotts pulled up right on time and we were ready. A good sign for the weekend as it is a rarity for either family to be "on time". After dinner a walk along the dock by the restaurant with the kids brought about a lesson in crabbing a people were dropping crab traps all along the dock. Only a couple people had anything though. Not sure how lucrative the crabbing would be right along there but who knows. Then we headed over to the much ballyhoo'd Fantasy Island. No, it's a kid's carnival place - there was no Mr. Roark and it wasn't Vegas... A great thing there was that Cole had not gone on a roller coaster there at all but didn't want to be left behind by the other 3 so he went. He sat with Chloe who revealed her inner daredevil to him and dragged him to the front seat. I don't think he knew anything about the front being the "best" place but he handled it well and got off with a smile. Granted it wasn't anything real big as they went around the same track about 6 times that basically went up about 2 feet and circled down.
Saturday was sunny and had warm water. We spend all day at the beach, dug pits, boogie boarded, fought the waves, searched for sea shells, tried to re-apply enough sunscreen and had a great day overall. Poppy, Steve's dad, made dinner for us all and we hung out on their back deck telling stories until it was time to head back to the Motel for some sleep. The older kids stayed there to sleep upstairs with the Philpott boys.
Sunday brought the clouds. We headed to the beach for a little while but by lunch we were getting rained on and headed back to the shelter of the house. While the boys were distracted with DS and the Little League World Series, Chloe was getting some painting insight from Poppy, who happens to be a bit of an artist. She was totally enthralled and came up to me asking to go back to the motel to get her drawing book and pencils because "seeing someone paint or do art makes me want to do art".
We did try to get out of the house between rains and thought it would be a good time to go see the Barnaget Lighthouse on the north shore of the island. We had some misting on the way up but nothing too bad. We got there and started walking to the lighthouse thinking we had only a couple of minutes to get inside for the walk to the top before it closed at 5pm. About half way there it started to pour down rain and then to top it off we got to the base only to find out it closed at 4:30. So we turned around and headed back to the vans. We found the entrance to a visitor center. Though the door was locked it did have a roof so we were out of the rain. After it died down a bit we made a run for the cars. We made plans to meet at a restaurant to get a snack - Steph and I were going to stop at a little craft/gift store to look around first. Philpotts ended up coming back to that store with us because the restaurant was even closed. The next thought was Viking Village, which is essentially a marina where fishing boats are docked and has some touristy things and shops. It held off raining for most of this time. We headed back home for dinner. That was supposed to be a done deal as we had a chicken brining for most of the day but the discussion was - do you think one chicken is enough? well, it depends on how you cut it and what else we have to eat with it. Might as well grill two of them then. Ok that will take a couple of hours adn it's almost 6:30 now, should we feed the kids something else? sure how about dogs and burgers. Sounds good, I think I'll have a burger too - I'm hungry. Me too. When Steph and Anne didn't want to eat anything I had a burger and warmed up some leftover pork tenderloin, Steve had a burger and we still grilled the chicken.
That night Dylan wanted to come back to sleep in the motel with us. He was very chatty when we got there and didn't want to go to sleep. It was cool to hang with just him for a while and talk. I had to cut him off though because we were meeting for breakfast at 7:30am for a special of 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 sausage for $2.22. You can't pass up that deal. The only bad thing is that you have to be there before 8am. Good thing is - we all made it to Uncle Will's on time and had a great breakfast. Then we headed to the beach. Yay the sun came out. We had a great morning doing all the beachy things we did on Saturday only today was hard to go out into the waves. They were pretty big but there was also a fast current that would take you down the beach in a hurry if you weren't paying attention. I tried to go out on the boogie board to try them out but by the time I was about halfway to where I wanted to be I would be 100 feet down the shoreline and exhausted from paddling and fighting the waves. I gave up and went back to the house to take a conference call for work. When I was heading back to the beach after the call I met the whole crew coming home. Seems it started raining a bit on the beach so they came home for lunch. We also had to pack up and get on the road home since we had to work on Tuesday. We relaxed a bit, headed to some stores for some shopping (we had to get Dylan a new hermit crab since I left the top of the cage open and his climbed out a few weeks ago) and packed up finally getting on the road about 6pm. A stop at Target for some essentials on the mainland and gas were the only stops.
On the way home we got messages from Marla that they had decided to keep with the transfusions for as long as he was able and would have hospice care come to the house to help with medications. Russ wrote what will probably be his final update in his blog and Steph read it to me as I was driving down the road. He spoke of facing the reality of him dying. That's where I thought of the bridges.
We were all crossing bridges that night, literally and figuratively. We were crossing many bridges to get back home making that trasition from Island to Mainland, from Beach Life to Real Life, from Vacation to Work. Our group of friends was about to go across the bridge of having 4 families who love each other's company and get together as often as possible to having an empty seat at the table from now on. Marla and Russ were facing thier own Bridges - Life to Death. Facing death, one's own and that of one you love. Some bridges are fun to go across and others are scary beyond belief but they all have to be crossed. I can't even imagine their conversations, feelings or the decisions they have had to make. They both have been so strong through this entire ordeal and to have the fact that there are no more options when you have a terminal illness is like getting lost in the mountains, climbing for days thinking that at the top you'll be able to see the next town and you'll be safe. Only to get to the top and find out there are mountains all around you for as far as you can see with no safety in sight.
I will close with that as the post is already longer than anticipated. Next post will update on what has happened since we returned.
Thanks for reading.

A Few Months - WHAT?

So in the last few months we've been to Beloit for Easter where the Wilson's hosted us and my parents. We also celebrated Steph's 40th birthday. Two weeks after that we had her Birthday party here hosted by the Bailey family. We had a great time with everyone, some we hadn't seen in a while - even the Opalka's made it down for the weekend festivities.

May took me to Illinois to spend Mother's Day with my mom and Grandma Reeve. It was a short notice weekend as my Grandma was rushed to the hospital, had intestinal surgery and released the day before Mother's Day. I was able to see her and I brought Addison with me so Grandma was able to see her. I also was able to say a big Thank You and Goodbye to her as she passed away at the beginning of July.

June brought a trip to DC for just Steph and I. Granted we did meet up with my friends Frank & Katya and Dave & Jenny. Just what Steph wants - to spend our anniversary with my friends, especially after last year when I went to my 20 year reunion on our Anniversary. Actually, once we got down there we had a really good time. Frank & Kat had to leave pretty soon so we hung out with Dave & Jenny for a while. Well, honestly we closed down the bar. While they had to go to a wedding the next day we were able to sleep in before we went exploring. After lunch we stumbled upon the National Portrait Gallery. We went in just to kill some time and ended up spending all afternoon there. What an amazing place. Go if you are in town.
We also made a trip to Iowa for my Grandpa Woldruff's 90th birthday celebration that tied in with the annual Woldruff Family Reunion and Father's Day in Clarinda. It was a great event and I got to hang out with cousin Amanda and family who I had not seen in a few years and her sister Alexa who I had not seen in about 8 years. We got our parents to watch all our kids one night and hung out as adult cousins for the first time. After a quick beer run we sat around in one of our hotel rooms as the nightlife in Clarinda is limited to dimly lit, smokey, small bars. It worked out great because we were able to talk and share stories that some remembered and some completely forgot. The ages ranged quite a bit from Alexa who is in her mid 20s to Scott who is closer to 50. Lots of laughter was had that night and we even made it up for church the next morning. Then Amanda's husband made lunch in the church kitchen for us - some amazing biscuits and gravy.

July took us to Connecticut for Independence Day with the Opalka clan. It was the first time for us to spend a night on the Opalka boat. Back in the day when Peter and Karen lived in Maryland we would do that quite a bit with them but since we started having kids - no dice. It actually worked out very well. We traveled across Long Island Sound to Port Jefferson, NY from their marina in Bridgeport, CT. We even got in a little fishing even though we didn't catch anything - this time. Reasons for that range from no fish to be seen on the radar (Pete's excuse) or that bad driving tangled the lines (mine). Regardless, we had a fantastic time. Pictures can be seen on Facebook. Bonnie also came out for a week to watch the older kids at our house, then took them back to Kansas for a 1.5 weeks. She transferred them to my parents who then took them to Kristin's in Hampshire, IL where they stayed for another week. All in all the kids were gone for 3 weeks straight. We initially hadn grandious plans to lounge by the pool many days and a couple of weekends. We got one full day - alone - at the pool. We also had a scare with an axe wound on Steph's leg. No, I didn't go all Lizzie Borden on her. She thought it would be a good idea to help cut up a tree branch that fell during a storm. She didn't use the saw that was "broken" but thought an axe would work well. Why she didn't use the tree trimming loppers, the world will never know. Nothing major from this one, just a good story and a tetnus shot. The big weekend we were planning to spend lounging was spent heading back to Clarinda for Grandma Reeve's Memorial Service held in New Market. That was nice as well because I got to meet up with more cousins - some I had not seen in almost 10 years. We were able to catch up a bit, remember Grandma and plan to keep in touch more.
From there I headed to Colorado for our national sales meeting in Colorado Springs. I spent the week at the Broadmoor, an amazing place if you ever have a chance to go. I flew out from there to Chicago to spend the weekend at Kristin and Scott's for our own family gathering. Then headed home. I was ready to be home after living out of a suitcase for 11 days. Dylan was also ready to come home - even though he had a week of vacation with his cousins left. He did have a good week with them but was sad he wasn't coming home with us.
August so far - Kristin brought the kids home and came with Lauren for the weekend. We had a pool party that Saturday to welcome the kids home and Chloe was able to introduce her cousin to her friends here. They formed a fast bond and Lauren was very sad to leave.
Last weekend we had the Scanlan, Ferson, Rendzio and most of the Huisenga families over. Vic and Jen Ferson recently moved from New Jersey to Northern Virginia so it was great to have them over for the first time since they moved. I have to say that Reeve kids are heavier to throw than most of the other kids. I guess we grow some solid kids - I was sore the next day from throwing them. One of the most exciting things was when I walked up to the pool area table, grabbed my beer and took a drink. Immediately I spit it out all over Katya's feet. The reason? Warm beer? No, I'd drink that. Funky beer? No, I'd drink that too. A bee? Yep. I had a bee in my mouth that was now swimming the in pool of beer on the deck. Someone, Vic I think, asked if I got stung. I said no but then felt something on the roof of my mouth. It felt like when you burn your mouth on hot pizza for a second. Then I realized that I hadn't had anything hot yet so I stuck my finger in to feel around. I scraped the roof of my mouth and incredibly something came out. There on my finger was a bee stinger, venom sac and some bee guts that were ripped out of the bee as I spewed it from my mouth. That's about when the pain from the sting started kicking in. Vic mentioned that putting onions on bee stings helps so I grabbed some and put them in my mouth to suck on. That didn't work so well. My idea helped a bit more - whiskey. I grabbed a bottle, took a swig and just kept it in my mouth for a few minutes. It did swell up a bit but stopped hurting after a couple of days. I'm all good now but I think Steph is rubbing off on me a bit.
That's all for now but I promise to be better about posting. Summer has been unexpectedly busy. We're headed to Long Beach Island tomorrow for a few days and then school starts.

Shamrockin'

I know it has been quite some time since you have heard from me. I wanted to update you all on your donations to my run to support LLS and more specifically Russ French.

Last year 2 weeks prior to the Shamrock Half Marathon I signed up to run and to which you donated, I developed IT Band Syndrome. Basically the ligament that runs down the outside of your legs tightens up. I had shooting pain with each step. Apparently, I'm getting too old not to stretch properly before and after runs. I had to back out fo the race and cheer on my friends from the sidelines. Due to other circumstances I was not able complete a run last year so I signed up for the Shamrock again this year.

I signed up and started training late Fall. Training was sporadic and was limited to time and unimaginalble amounts of snow that blocked streets let alone sidewalks to run. This past weekend Steph and I made the trip to Virginia Beach for the race weekend. I was meeting up with my friends that I talked into running with me last year to uphold that end of the bargain as well. The weekend was warm and sunny and overall great. Despite limited training I completed the run in 2:14:49. Not the time I wanted but respectable enough.

It was not easy. We got to the starting line late after waiting in the port-a-pot lines for what seemed like forever so we didn't get in the correct pace corrals. I spent the first half of the race trying to catch up to my pace group. That expended a lot of extra energy up front so by mile 11 I was at the wall. I also had a full bladder. There is an uncomfortable feeling when you know you have 3 miles to go on a full bladder. I had already passed the last official potty stop so I started looking for a good bush. With so many people on the sides and running through a residential area I was not even able to do that. Miles 11 & 12 were the biggest obstacles to overcome as I was tired, hurting and felt like I was running alone. One of my goals was to not walk and two guys helped me through it. One was my friend Joe, who's off-hand words came back to me at this time, "You can do anything, just don't quit". Thanks for those words Joe. The other was the inspiration of Russ, the reason I started running for a purpose. He just recently went back in to the hospital. The strength he and Marla have to deal with this is amazing. I know they are going through incredible emotions. Just thinking of what the French family has gone through I figured I could power through and put up with whatever I was going through for another 20-30 minutes.

The course goes down Atlantic Avenue until the last 1/4 -1/2 mile is run along the boardwalk. God answers prayers and there were some port-a-pots stationed right at the turn. A quick stop was all I needed and felt much better to finish strong. Another boost was seeing Steph along the boardwalk cheering and taking pictures. I picked up the pace and tried to leave it all on the course. It felt very good to cross the finish line. I accomplished a couple of things. One being that I reached a goal of running 13.1 miles in a race with some of my best and oldest friends. The other and probably longer lasting is that I ran with purpose and for a cause to help a friend. I'm not a doctor so I can't help that way but I can go through a little pain and hardship to raise money to find a cure.

I'm already looking at other races to run, some 10k some half and yes we've even discussed a full marathon next year, but this first one is special.

Russ, this first one is for you.

A Walk in the Park - Part Duh

So now that SpongeBob is on I got the kids some lunch at the little stand. We sit there for awhile so Addison can sleep a bit in her car seat. We had received clearance to go back and be with Steph a while earlier so after about 3 hours of sitting in front I thought we'd go back and see how she was doing. As the four of us followed the nurse back through the twists and turns of hospital hallways we finally made it back to the er. As we all said hi to Steph one of the doctors mentioned that this was not a good time for the kids to be around her. I quickly figured out why they said that. Steph's left hand was held up by her fingers in straps. They were about to reset Steph's bones. I herded the kids to the little waiting area there and turned on the ipod music to cover up what was about to happen. I found out later that Steph had no idea what was about to go on. The doctors kept her talking and all of a sudden yanked down on her elbow, she screamed and the bones were reset. Job well done. We got to leave about an hour later. The kids did well overall and were very helpful. We got Steph home an picked up her drugs. She was strung out for a couple of days and stayed in bed for the rest of the weekend. They didn't put her in a hard cast - just a splint/brace. The pain never really went away and was pretty bad Sunday so she made an appointment to go see the specialist on Monday. While talking with Dr. Beiber he told her that the bones had moved apart again and he woudl have to reset them. Remembering the pain from the last time she asked for options. He said that if they did the surgery she wouldn't have to worry about the bones coming apart again as they would put a plate in to keep them togather. Then she woudl be able to get therapy to move her wrist faster. She took that option and scheduled surgery for Wednesday. While this is all happening I was in a training class for the entire week so Aunt Alice took Steph to the appointments. I talked to Steph about taking the day off to take her to the hospital but she said that Alice could take her and all I would be doing would be just sitting in the waiting room all day. So I stayed in class. I'm not sure how much I paid attention that day. She didn't get home until after 8 pm that night partly due because she wouldn't wake up from anesthesia right away. After another few days on Percoset she decided she was going Huey Lewis and needed a new drug.
Oh, I almost forgot the week before Addison was home sick fo r a couple of days, the Saturday night Steph broker her arm Chloe got sick for a few days then the Sunday after Steph's surgery Dylan got sick for the entire week. So a little Brian pity party - over 2 weeks everyone got sick or hurt and I had to take care of them.
She's doing better now and the doctor has thrown down the challenge that she's not progressing fast enough so she'd kicked her therapy into high drive and has some mobility back.
Now she's able to pick up Addison a little and even took all three out for the day last weekend and didn't have a problem. So we're now back to the normal chaos of our household. Stay tuned for new developments.

Just a walk in the park, Kazansky

Sooo, it's been a while. I truly have been too busy to write. Between work and home I have barely had any downtime that I'm not sleeping. Work issues have been that I was given a project, the scope changed and then it was taken away. Why would it be taken away you might ask? Too many questions, that was truly the official answer. When the scope changed I asked silly questions like, "Do those changes require any approval?" and "We don't have the inventory for those changes, when will we have it?". I've always heard no question is a bad question. Apparently it is when you are dealing with underfunded projects. Oh well, on to the next project.

Home issues as most of you know are surrounding Steph's broken wrist. I know, I know the first question to pop into your head is "how could such a graceful cautious person like Steph break her arm?" Answer - Just walking in the park. Truthfully, it was a bit more than that. We were at Needewood park for the kids fun run one morning. We got there late because at first I was just going to take the kids while Steph stayed home to clean the house. Sidenote- I was supposed to be running the Baltimore Half Marathon that morning but signed up a few days late and didn't get in. Steph decided right before we were leaving that she would go too. I was pushing for this as I wanted us to go as a family. It would be fun, I thought. We got there and most everyone had already done the walk/run as it's only a barely a mile down and back. It was also raining a bit so we just kind of hung around, let the kids play with their friends and chatted with Scott Bailey who was there with his two. We were packing up to head home when we suddenly changed our minds and decided that we were at the park we would go for a walk. The rain had stopped and the sun came out a bit. Steph went ahead with Chloe to run a bit and I had Addison in the stroller with Dylan walking with me. About a half mile in Dylan saw some rocks and a tree that had fallen down across the little creek that runs through the park. He climbed on the rocks for a few minutes while I waited with the stroller. He was trying to find a way across but the leap to the tree from the rocks was a little to far for him without someone there to help, so we headed out to find the girls. We all met up about a half mile down and walked a bit more. The Dylan wanted to show Chloe the rock climbing place so we headed back. Steph was feeling good and started to walk across the creek. I know you are thinking "This is it, this is where Steph falls off a wet rock and breaks her arm" No, she actually did very well and even helped Dylan get across. The two of them explored the other side while I stayed with the girls exploring the close side. Chloe was trying to find aneasy way acrosss for her but we coudln't find one so we just played a bit on our side. Steph and Dylan were looking around, balancing on fallen trees and having a good time. By this time it was getting close to lunch so we decided to head home. Dylan came across OK and Steph got off the fallen tree and was on the wet rocks helping Dylan across them (No, not here either). I turned to put Addison in the stroller when I saw both of them were off the wet rocks and Dylan was on the dirt. Steph was only a step behind him. Then with only about a foot or two to the dirt it happened. Out of the corner of my eye I see Steph just go down. There was no off-balance wobble or anything she went straight down.

She popped back up pretty quickly and said she broke her arm. Honestly, my first thought was something like, "no it's not, suck it up, I'm gettting hungry". Then immediately after that I saw her arm. I could see the bone pushing her skin up on her wrist. After a quick assesment I gave her some instruction to hold her wrist up and close to her body. I got everyone moving back to the van. Dylan and Chloe started crying because Steph was crying. Dylan started blaming himself becasue he wanted to climb on the rocks. I was trying to calm everyone down on the half mile walk back to the van. We drove straight to the hospital where I dropped Steph off at the door, parked and walked with the kids to the waiting room. The good news is that by the time we got in there she was already admitted and was going through the preliminary assessments. The kids were very good and were very concerned about Mommy. I talked to Dylan about how it was not his fault at all and it seemed to stick with him. The Shady Grove hospital has a kids emergency waiting room with a tv and fish tank. There was a short time when we first went in that I was playing AV tech trying to get the tv to the correct station the kids wanted to watch and find the volume buttons. It took a while to find the right buttons when the buttons are on the top of the tv and the tv is about 8 feet off the floor. I found buttons and just started hitting them. 5 minutes later we had SpongeBob.

To be Continued

2009 August Long Beach Island

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The Swimsuit Issue

We just had a taste of what all the fuss is about out here. Most people out here take at least a week and head to the beach. We went for a weekend to Long Beach Island, NJ and found out we need to take a full week next year. We've been talking about it for years with Ann & Steve Philpott to take the kids to the beach. Steve's parents have a house there so they make the trek a couple of times each summer. Poppy and Mom-Mom opened their house to us to use as a base point. They had also just added an upstairs with 5 twin beds. Just enough for our two oldest to sleep over with Will and Cole. Will and Dylan are two weeks old and we met the Philpotts back when the boys started daycare together. Cole is a few months older than Chloe. They all get along very well. Steph, Addie and I holed up in a motel not too far down the road. The kids didn't even go see it until the last day there. Chloe came over to help pack and mentioned that she was really glad she got to stay with Will and Cole because our motel didn't even have room service. I guess she gets used to staying in Marriotts too.

We drove up on Saturday morning. Big Mistake, Huge. Ann & Steve forgot to mention the Saturday morning traffic might be bad. We basically went Saturday instead of Friday night because we wanted to save a bit on the hotel cost. We weren't getting the employee discount there. The trip itself should take about 4 hours. We got 13 miles away from our destination according to the GPS and came to a standstill. Now, I'm a pretty laid back guy and don't get rattled easily. I also travel very well and don't get antsy about being in the car for long periods of time - I leave that to SWMBO and Dylan. I tell you what though, we went 3 miles over the next hour. I was a little tired because we hosted Happy Hour the night before and I didn't get to bed very early and then got up early to get on the road. Needless to say I was a little punchy to begin with and I hate not moving and sitting in traffic so I was on a roll. I'm not sure the family had seen me like that before. I was talking with other cars (well really the people in the cars, I wasn't that out of it - yet) singing songs and making jokes. I really needed to get out of the car, hit the beach and have a cold beverage. So six hours after we left home for a four hour drive, a four hour drive (think Gilligan's Island) we made it to the beach. It was everything we needed. Surf, sun and a beer. Next time we'll splurge for an extra night in the motel. It took Ann and Steve only 3.5 hours to drive up on Friday...

After some body surfing, wave battling and playing wave masters (a game Steph and Dylan made up) we packed up and headed to the Philpott home to get cleaned up and eat dinner. Poppy is a bit of a cook himself and made some ribs, burgers and dogs. After a few hours of chatting on the back patio Steph and I headed to the motel for some much needed rest. We had checked in and set up the pack-n-play earlier so all we did was put Addie down and plop into bed.
Next day was more fun at the beach, but with toys! Steph made a run to the local surf shop (read expensive place) and picked up a skim board and a body board. The body board was essential to those of us who like to body surf but don't like getting chests and stomachs scraped up in the sand when riding the wave all the way in. The body board gives you a better ride and reduces the sand scrapes to the legs. The skim board on the other hand is like trying to slide on ice. The idea is to wait for the wave to come in and when there is about 1/2 inch of water start jogging, toss the board down, jump on and surf/skim the wave into the water. It's best done on a flatter area of sand for beginners. Needless to say we were beginners and we didn't have a flat area. After numerous falls and heavy laughter from the peanut gallery watching I did master the skim -for about 3 feet and I didn't fall. I determined after seeing other and more proficient kids doing that on bigger boards, that Steph just got me the wrong size skimboard. Maybe next year I'll go bigger.
That night after getting cleaned up we had one of the most delicious meals I've had in a long time. Poppy went fishing that morning and caught a couple flounder so we had that in a white wine and caper sauce along with some Shrimp Diablo - shrimp in a spicy sauce and bread for dipping. Incredible.
Monday was our last day there so after breakfast we tried to squeeze in as much beach time as possible. We headed out just before dinner so we could grab some seafood on the way out. We headed out to a souvenir shop that also sold Chamelia charms. Steph was getting a crab charm as a reminder of our trip to Tilghman Island and the beach. Poppy gave us a couple of places to stop. Charm shopping went off without a problem but food was not working for us. every seafood place we stopped was jam packed so after trying 4 places with an hour wait we went to a Joe-Pops surf bar and grill. We didn't think it would be that bad but it was basically a nightclub that served dinner. The kids loved it and thought it was cool. For Steph and I, it just wasn't what we wanted for our final dinner on the island. We tried to put on a happy face for the kids because we decided that they liked it and it was building memories for them. We didn't want our food snobbiness to sour that memory.
Thanks to the Philpott clan for hosting and letting us hang out for the weekend.

I'm a runner?

No "S", there I was. I thought I was gonna die.
Not really but I was having a hard time breathing. I ran my first race since I was in 8th grade. OK I wasn't really running to win. I was running to finish and at some points just to get to the finish line. I cought a cold the week before the run and was hacking things up all week. Let me provide some background. I am running and training for a 1/2 marathon again. I have learned that stretching is good when you get old and apparently I'm getting old. The knees, muscles and ligaments are all doing well so far. We were planning a trip to see my sister and family outside Chicago in Hampshire, IL. She flew to DC to pick up the two oldest kids and kept them for a week. Then Steph, Addie and I flew there to bring them home. We made it a little vacation as Mom and Dad drove in from KC and Grandma Reeve and Aunt Diane made the trip over for a while on Sunday. It also happened to be the Coon Creek Country Days the same weekend. I forgot how much I enjoyed small town festivals. Beer tent, nightly band(s), midway games, carnival rides and even a parade and fireworks. The girls had a fun day out sponsored by Grandma to the American Girl store in downtown Chicago. They took the train in and had a good Chic Day. Most important (to me) was the 10k. Kristin mentioned when we were first planning this that I could run in their little 10k since I was training for the 1/2 Marathon. I almost dismissed it but then thought better and saw that it fit right on my training schedule. I was supposed to be running 6 miles that weekend anyway. Why not?

Since Dana (Lenz) Hartwigsen lives about 20 miles away from my sister I invited her to join me. She said she would register and even chastized me to make sure I wouldn't back out on her. Come to find out when I went to pick up my number the day before the race it was SHE who didn't even sign up. A quick call resolved the issue. In true Dana form she was running behind and didn't get to sign up. She was planning to do it the morning of the run though and assured me she would be there. A true friend she was and showed up at 6:50am to my sister's house ready to run. One of the highlights of the run, besides making it through, was at the end of mile 5. My nephew Andrew was at the final water station handing out cups of water. I was thankful to get the water and see him on the run. Keep up the good work Andrew. In true female form Dana didn't stop talking until we went to church after the run. We were sweaty and still in our shorts but showed up anyway to see the kids do their Vacation Bible School program. Kristin/Supermom had all the kids in VBS all week. We got a few strange looks by the regular Sunday crowd but at least we were there. I don't recommend running a 10k and then sitting in a cold church. Dana and I were freezing. At one point we had the baby blankets over us to keep from shivering so much. next time I'll at least change my t-shirt before going somewhere after a race unless I can sit outside.

The next big event was the festival parade. All of Kristin's kids were in or on a float - Andrew for football, Scott and Matthew for Cub Scouts and Lauren for cheerleading. Dylan and Chloe thought it was almost as good as Halloween. They didn't have to walk and people just threw candy at them. Dylan's highlight was getting a carrott and a potato from one of the floats. He was so excited and it was the first thing he ate when we got back to the house and peeled it for him.

So while I may have run in my first race since 8th grade I still don't consider myself a runner. Maybe I eventually will. Right now it's something to do to keep in shape and I have a goal to train for, nothing more. It's not a part of me and I don't miss it if I can't get out for a couple of days. I feel I have potential to be considered a runner because if I only get out once during the week I do find myself looking forward to the next run. It's some 'Me' time and a stress reliever but maybe that's all being a runner is.

Fish, Golf and Blood

I know, I know 2 posts in 2 weeks. It's getting to be a habit. I have a ton of work to do both at home and work but I felt the need to write.
This past week seems to have been only about 2 days long. Last weekend seemed like a 3 day weekend partially because we had a happy hour Friday afternoon to kick the weekend off. Saturday we took the kids to the National Aquarium in DC. The good thing was that it was inexpensive - relatively. $7 for adults and the whole thing was about as big as one floor in my house. Baltimore Aquarium it is not. The kids had cameras in hand and were snapping lots of pictures of fish. I remember thinking during that time that I was thankful that we have digital pictures now and can just erase the bad pictures. When I was growing up with my 110 camera and later the 35mm I had to actually pay to develop the pictures to see the bad ones. Oh the money I wasted on bad pictures. Speaking of pictures. I think I'm going to dig out a few of the picture boxes I have saved from those days and scan them in. I have a bit of my Grandpa Woldruff in me and I'll take pictures of anything. Though I don't have a slide projector to show them on so this blog and facebook will have to be the venue for most. SWMBO will have a say in what pictures are posted as well. This is a family site...
Sunday, went golfing with the guys for the first time since last Father's Day. I hate to say it but I'm still a bit sore from al the swinging I did. I got my money's worth of golfing though. All those other guys were trying to swing fewer times on each hole. I figure if I can get 2 or even 3 swings per dollar spent then I don't feel so bad. Some of those guys were barely over one swing per dollar. I may not have scored well but the economics works out better for me. I either have to golf more, stretch more or take a bottle of aspirin with me and keep it in the bag. We did have a good time on the course. 2 foursomes with a little bragging rights competition. It came down to a 2 stroke difference between the two groups - my team lost. I blame myself. My putting was terrible. I had the line dead on but apparently I was feeling like playing hockey instead of golf and slammed that ball right over the cup about 4-5 times. I tried to blame the fast greens but Jorge corrected me and said it was just me. So instead of getting par or even a couple of birdies I would go 1, 2, or 3 over. Again - the economics were great but I guess good economics don't equal a good golf game. Maybe that's why so many politicians are good golfers. Just a thought. The kids got me a new golf bag for Father's Day and were very excited about it. They gave it to me Saturday night so I could use it Sunday morning. Steph, ever my stylist, got me a pair of Under Armor golf shorts and shirt. I may not have been the best player but I was probably the best dressed.
I did hang out with the family later in the day. It was great. I made some ribs and sat out on the porch and relaxed. Of course that was after I did my fatherly duties and mowed the lawn and cleaned the pool. Some things you don't get off doing even when it's Father's Day.

Oh, one night (seriously I forget which one) Steph was out for a work thing and I had the kids at home. Dylan and Chloe finished eating and went inside (we don't really eat anywhere but the porch in the Spring/Summer/Fall time). Well, let's say the went in to the house and right back out the side door. Dylan was riding his bike (he's doing much better now after he saw his friend James riding his bike to our house a couple of weeks ago) on the driveway under the carport. Chloe go on her bike, without shoes or a helmet and headed down the driveway hill. They do this and then like to run the bike into the grass on the other side of the street. They know we are to be out there to check for cars and give the go-ahead before they do that but apparently the lure of fun was too much for Chloe. The next thing I know Dylan is running back to the porch to tell me Chloe is in the ditch with blood on her foot. She had run the bike into the ditch on our side of the street, probably out of control, and sliced her foot open on the drain that goes under the driveway. I didn't know whether to be mad she was riding her bike down the driveway with out me, helmet or shoes, Thankful she was relatively OK or worried about how badly she was cut. I think I was all 3 at the same time. I'll spare the details of me rushing her up to the bath tub to wash it out and all the screaming, crying and apologizing that went on. She's OK. I cleaned her up, determined she didn't need stitches and bandaged her up. It was a bit of drama though and now she's running around on it.
Kids.

Similar but Different

I ended my Reunion weekend with a small glass of good whiskey and Addison sound asleep in my arms after I finished giving her dream feed when I got home. I was a pretty happy camper. I just spent a fast 72 hours of travel, friendship, drink and food with my classmates and was now back home with my family.
Some I hadn't seen in 10 years, other's I hadn't seen in nearly 20.
I had not been back to my hometown of Denison in 10 years. Since Mom and Dad moved away when I was in college I don't get a chance to go there. It's not really a destination/resort kind of place and I missed the 15 year reunion.
I have to give Steph major props. The reuinon took place over our anniversary weekend. I won't say she was happy about it - especially because it happened to be our 10th but she knows how close I am to my friends. I am planning to make it up to her with a nice trip and something shiny. Man, I love her.
Frank and I flew out together from Baltimore. We stayed with Mom and Dad Thursday night while Tim flew out from Denver the same night and stayed with his parents who happen to live about 10 minutes away. We connected Friday morning with Tim's dad driving him over to us. Steph reminded me that it started out like we were young again when we had to have our parents drop us off before we could drive.
We headed out for the first segment of our road trip - up to Blair, NE to pick up Troy Greder. Troy and I went to college on wrestling scholarships in Blair at Dana College. He stayed there after I left for UNI and went to Nationals for Dana the next 3 years. He took me up to the school so we could see his wife who was working there and to show me around some of the changes that have gone on since I left. It was like I was being hit with a million memories of my year there as we walked around the new sports center and wrestling room. We drove through the small campus due to time and the rain. The new Main was there (the Old Main burned down the year before I went) but most everything else was the same.
Segment 2 of the trip was to Denison down the very familiar stretch of road - Highway 29. The four of us were talking up a storm and catching up a bit on what we'd been doing since we last talked. Luckily we keep in pretty good contact so there was less catching up and a bit more "Remember When..." stories.
Pulling into Denison I was hit with a few changes off the bat. The bull statue had been moved from out by the trailer park to the (I found out later) Fairgrounds and the IBP plant is now Tysons. Driving through a few more stark changes. The Hardee's we all either ate or worked at and served as the general meeting place was now what looked like a run down mexican place. There are a lot of Latino stores, shops and people. Some stores had dual language names and signs. Apparently Denison is about 50% latino. That's a big change from 10-20 years ago. Some of the stores are there still but a lot were gone. Reynolds moved to the old JC Penny store and The Vault was torn down and a new Crawford County Bank was built. They also built a new Jr High out by the High School. There were some new businesses but it also looked like a lot had closed. A big stab to the heart is that the house I grew up in and served as the central gathering place for my friends (largely due to the fact that I my parents wouldn't buy me a moped as a kid to get around so they all had to come to my house - a fact they continue to give me grief about to this day) was painted. Not was it just painted a different color but it was painted PINK!!! It looked like someone spilled a large bottle of Pepto-Bismol on it. The back yard that was open to the neighborhood to play Ghosts In The Graveyard was fenced in. It was very sad. Driving around town I was reminded that there are some very beautiful Victorian homes there that are very well kept. Greder even had done some painting on some that looked amazing with all thier details.
Familiarity began for me when we pulled up in front of Frank's house. The only difference was that they enclosed their porch and there wasn't the big station wagon his dad used to drive sitting out front. Inside was much the same even though Pam made Jim move the deer head from the living room to the basement at some point in the past few years. Jim and Pam were very gracious hosts to us. They said it was good to have all us kids back in their house. She corrected herself to say that we weren't really kids anymore as we are almost 40 now. I told her that I don't think it will matter how old we get, when we come back and get together we'll always be kids.
Jim and Pam were having friends over for dinner and Liz, Dana and Lisa were also coming over. The guys went shopping and I cooked dinner for all of us. Jim did grill the pork chops - I don't like to grill on other people's grills so that worked out well, Greder played bartender, Frank cut the cheese and Tim held the garbage bag open for me once so all pitched in.
Then it was off to the Pub for the evenings festivities. Walking in the place and seeing a ton of people I grew up with, partied with and hadn't seen in years was pretty cool. While we all didn't always hang out together or even get along all the time, we all were there catching up and reconnecting. There were people I hadn't seen since graduation and some I'd seen just a few months ago. A lot of them came up to me to congratulate me on the show. I had put it out on Facebook and it seemed like everyone had watched it. I really love doing that show and it was nice for people to comment favorably on it. With such a small town and knowing everyone in my school let alone in my class, I have been influence by each and every one of them in some way. I hope the show takes off, that they can be proud of me and can say another Denison Boy done good.
We closed down the bar and headed back to Frank's with a small group of about a dozen. There were a few of us that saw the sun rise before hitting the sack. Morning came early.
Saturday was for hanging out at Liz's, the class picnic in Deloit, a short nap, dinner at Liz's and then to the bowling alley. The time at Liz's was again a small group for the day. Mainly seven of us that have kept in touch over the years. Liz, Dana, Lisa, Me, Frank, Tim, and Troy. Others had spouses and family around so they had other plans for the day. I'm not sure there was a subject we didn't cover sitting around the table in Liz's parent's garden/yard. Laughter was a constant, pictures were taken and friendships strengthened. It's still amazing to me that we can pick up right where we left off. I think it was Lisa who said we can still finsih each other's sentences and jokes. We are some funny people - just ask us.
We headed out to the bowling alley where the evening gathering was to take place. Some people from Friday didn't show but new ones were there. I got a chance to catch up with Bother Bri, Johnny and Ahrenholtz along with a few others that night. I was also witness to Tim's neon bowling shoes he rented and Lisa's two balls two strikes bowling adventure. The bowling alley loked much smaller than what I remember. They had done some remodeling and it was nice. Another nice thing that I didn't expect was that all the bars - includeing the bowling alley- were non-smoking. It was a nice change not to have to take a shower before going to be to try to get the stale smoke smell out of my clothes and hair.
When that finished a lot of the crowd went over to another bar. Since we'd seen the sun rise that morning not many of us wanted to head to another bar. We did however want to go to the Fridge. No, not a refrigerator, it was basically a hill in the country where we used to go hang out. It's a small town, country thing. It had been raining so only one car could make it up the road. It happened to be the car I was in so only Dana, Lisa and I made it. We had a beer out there and then headed back to Liz's to meet up with everyone else. More laughs, ribbing and even some singing went on. No, we didn't see the sunrise that evening. It was a good thing. The next morning Frank's parents hosted breakfast for all of us. I'm not sure when I've laughed for almost an entire weekend before but my cheeks got quite the workout. When it was time to say good bye and head out for KC and the trip home I was ready. I had a great time with my friends but I missed my family. We posed for the group photo, hugs all around and hit the road. Memories of the weekend, previous gatherings and plans to connect in the future were the discussions between Frank, Tim, Troy and I on the way back. It was interspersed with texts from Liz, Lisa and Dana as they met another classmate 8 1/2 months pregnant (Angie) for lunch and made their way across Iowa back to thier homes. I love my friends. I know a lot of people don't stay in touch with people from their High School. I do and I have a special group of friends that have been through each others successes and failures, marriages, divorces, births, deaths, arguments, debates, college, kids, worries and laughter - always with the laughter.
Til next time - Palimino!

It's a good burn

I know I'm supposed to be smart enough to wear sunscreen. But I usually don't. Especially at the beginning of pool season. I guess I like the pain from the first slight sunburn. It tells me summer is on the way and takes me back to those lifeguarding days. Those days I used to put on baby oil to cook myself a bit more. Got pretty tan and I try not to think of how much damage it did to my skin. It's a good thing I didn't have to jump in after anyone when I had that on. They probably would have slipped right offf.
Right now I have a little burn. Spend yesterday out in the sun and it feels good. In the morning we went to the JDRF walk at the Nationals baseball stadium. Then we came back to our pool. I cleaned the pool, trimmed some bushes, played Marco Polo with the kids and relaxed in the chaise lounge poolside with a cold beverage (or 2). The water was clear and 70, the sky was clear and 80. All-in-all a great day.
Just got word that we're booked on Channel 9 WUSA again on the 25th in the morning and I received my iTouch for making the final table at the company poker tournament during the National Sales Meeting in Vegas. Today is going pretty well also.

Where did April go?

I can't believe how fast this past month has gone. Well kinda I guess.
Steph started back at work and jumped right into the swing of things again by spending most of her days in meetings. I think she secretly wants to stay home and schedule meetigs around yoga class and lunches with other stay-at-homes. Wait - that's no secret.
April began a tripling of work for me. My Customer Service group that used to have 5 people is down to 2. We had a little reorganizing of our group and the other 3 went to Service Delivery. So now I have 3 represent instead of just one. I now have my original Sales and have added Research and Develpment and the Medical/Regulatory departments. I would guess it's about 70% of the company. Needless to say I'm a bit busier.

Easter took us to Connecticut to spend time with the Opalka's and Shawvers (Karen's family). We had a great time and it went by very quickly as those visits often do. Addison did very well in the car so there weren't any extra stops. We did borrow a GPS for the trip this time so I wouldn't have to try and read directions going through NY traffic. It saved us a couple of times and if we did more of that travel I would invest in one. Right now it seems better to borrow one for the weekend.

Dylan figured out last night that he has about a month of school left. He was pretty excited about it and is ready for the summer to begin. I think we all are. We spent last weekend (or 2) cleaning up around the outside and getting the pool area ready for opening. I just got the call a few minutes ago that the pool is officially opened and should be ready for swimmers in a few days. That is if you can handle 65 degree water. I'll wait until about mid June personally.

For Dylan's birthday we hosted a family oriented cookout/Kentucky Derby party. Since the Derby is always the weekend of/after Dylans actual birthday we've had people over for at least the last 3. Next year we are making it mandatory to wear a hat. I'm debating on wether to wear a cowboy hat or the pig ear cap if I can find it. I'm leaning toward the pig ears. Speaking of pigs - I cooked about 5 slabs of ribs for the party. MMMmmmm ribs.... they came out pretty well. Drakeel came over and helped make a home-made sauce from the drippings. That was a first for both of us and it came out pretty well. The other first for the weekend was Kevin Conway and I figuring out how to make Mint Julep. We're getting there. It was tough because we both prefer to take our Makers Mark straight so we were happy not to have too much sugar or mint in it. I think I'll be working on those over the summer as they are pretty light and 'summery'.
This past weekend (9th) we had Dylan's birhtday party with his friends. We took them to play Laser Tag. We had 8 kids and 4 adults in there for our group - Russ joined Steph, Carrie and I - and I'm not sure who had more fun. It's dark in there and Dylan did get clocked across the eye with the butt of one of his friends gun. He's got a bit of a black eye and a scratch. He took it pretty much in stride. Since it was dark in there I didn't see how bad it was when it happened so I basically got him calmed down and asked if he wanted to leave. He said no and ran off. It wasn't until we were out of there 15 minutes later did I see the bruise forming around his eye. We got it iced down and it's not so bad now.
Chloe and Addison have been spending their days with Aunt Alice. It has been great. She comes to pick up the girls from our house in the mornings and I meet her at a park to get them back. Alice - who has 3 boys of her own (Jr. Hi, High School and College) is getting used to dealing with girls. I think she's enjoying it but I know she's tired at the end of the day. Aren't we all. Chloe really enjoyed hanging around Middle School play rehearsals a few weeks ago. Alice was helping with sound so Addie and Chloe got to go until I picked them up. Both girls had a little fan club of 12-13 year old girls showering them with attention. When we went to the play Chloe had a number of girls wave to her and call out to her. She was eating it up and felt very important.
Addison is doing well. She's growing quite a bit and is getting more and more interactive. She is starting to try and roll over. It's only a matter of time before we have to baby proof the house and move breakables up above the 3 foot level.
Major News - We are now a cat free house. I'm not going into a lot of detail but I'm sure they will find a good home and I now have my basement back.
Salt and Pepper Update. The website is active - www.saltandpepperchefs.com and video is posted. We've done 2 local news shows recently and have another on the 28th. We are in the beginning stages of talks with a local station to become regular guests. Nothing final yet but I did get the directiveto start writing those recipes down. Amazingly, that is pretty hard for me to do. Something I have to work on though.

Disappointment

I had to officially pull out of the Shamrock Half-Marathon. I am getting things changed to a new venue to be decided.

Ugh.

I was kinda ready to be done training and just go for fun runs of 3-4 miles for a while.

I am currently still stretching the ligament so I can start to run again. The information I have read says that recovery is different for everyone. It could be relatively quick - 1-2 months and others have had issues for 6 months or so. I'll keep you all posted and try to not let my frustration and disappointment show through.

Here's the back story and details on the weekend.

I went to go see a specialist and after some pushing and prodding(5 minutes after waiting 1.5hrs) he said I have runners knee or IT Band Syndrome. It's where the ligament that runs on the exterior of your legs becomes inflamed due to rubbing against a bone in your knee. Apparently stretching is key. So he is sending me to physical therapy so I can learn some stretches to keep this from happening again. I've called the therapist and haven't heard back yet. I've taken it upon myself to go to the Internet and look up the stretches that I would be paying the therapist to show me. If I ever get a call back I guess I'll go but I don't have time to wait around. When I told the Dr. that I was training for a 1/2 marathon and the run was that coming Sunday, he stopped writing and looked at me like I was nuts and said "Well, you're not running in that". I of course pushed the matter and asked if there was anything I could do. He said matter-of-factly that it was up to me and how I felt but I took a great risk in injuring it further and causing more damage. I decided to follow his advice. Like a good friend of mine said after he inquired about the run - You only have one set of knees and you're not 18 anymore. Getting old stinks.

We decided to go on down to the race since the hotel was already paid and I had the time off to make it a mini vacation. That was an excellent decision. We made it down there just in time for me to go pick up my Shamrock shirt that I got for registering and my runners number. We then checked into the hotel (a Sheraton - we were spying on the competition). Steph had called ahead to see if we could get an ocean view room and they said there were none avialable. When we got there she turned on the charm and got one anyway. The room had a balcony that looked onto the beach/ocean and the boarwalk right below was on the final .25 miles of the race so we got to see runners filing by on their way to the finish. It was pretty cool.

Saturday night we met up with Vic & Jen Ferson and Dave & Jenny Huisenga for dinner. Our hotel had a pasta buffett so we just stayed there then headed to bed since the race began at 7am. I made plans to meet them all the next morning for the start. Fersons were walking and Huisengas were running.

I didn't bring my running clothes at all because I knew I would be tempted to just go run/walk with them. I almost did the walk with Fersons just to do it. I am kinda glad I didn't because with all the walking I did I was beginning to feel the knee again by the end of the day. I probably could have made it OK but would have been icing my knee still today.

I watched the start of the 1/2 Marathon at 7am then walked down to see the start of the full Marathon at 8am. I got there just as they were starting a special ceremony for a guy who was doing his re-enlistment to the Navy prior to the race. Then he hugged and kissed his wife and ran the Marathon. It was pretty touching to see that. It makes me appreciate all those who serve and have served just a little bit more. Thanks to you all.

After the start of the full race I heard the announcements over by the finish line that was about a block away that the first 1/2 Marathon runners were finishing. It had been about 1:05 from their start. They were bookin. I went back to the room to help get the kids up and ready. They had already ordered room service and were enjoying the fresh ocean breeze by the time I got there. I took Dylan & Chloe with me to head down to the finish line to try and see the Huisengas come across. I think I bent down to talk to one of the kids and missed Dave and I'm not sure where I was when Jenny came across. We did meet up with them after as they were walking to their hotel across the street from the finish line. Dave looked tired and Jenny was limping with a sore hip. They headed off for a soak in the tub and rest. We walked around a bit then went to the beach side of the race lane so the kids could go to the water and I could watch for the Fersons. I somehow missed them too but the kids got soaked in the freezing water...

I talked with Ferson's and Huisenga's and they were going to get cleaned up and meet up for lunch. They were heading off that day while we were sticking around and heading back home on Monday. Steph was exhausted and crashed with Addie so Dylan and Chloe and I headed to lunch. After we met up with everyone we were walking to the diner. Dylan was walking along the sidewalk in front of a laudromat. He and Chloe were playing the 'don't step on a crack' game. Then all of a sudden the door opened and smacked Dylan right in the head. He stepped back a couple of steps and had a smile on his face for a couple of seconds. The guy coming out apologized profusely and Dylan seemed to be OK. He then came to me and buried his head in my side. He was hurt a lot more than he let on and he was embarassed too. He did get tears in his eyes but didn't make much of a fuss about it though he did have a big red mark for a couple of hours on his forehead. Poor guy.

After lunch we said our goodbye's to Fersons and Huisengas and headed back to the hotel to watch the Jayhawks play in the NCAA Tournament. The kids and I then went to the pool to play for a little while. They are tougher than me as they would jump from the hot tub into the big pool multiple times. I did that once and I thought the regular pool was a little chilly even without hitting the hot tub first. I guess I do have a bit if Dad in me. He doesn't like getting in the water unless you can see the steam rising. That night we went out for sushi and tried to teach the kids to use chopsticks. It's a work in progress. With all the walking and swimming we had done the kids were tired. Chloe even finished eating and laid down on the bench to sleep. We only let her because there were only about 5 other people in the whole place and we were about to go anyway. She wouldn't wake up really so I had to carry her about 5 blocks back to our hotel.

Monday morning we went for breakfast at Pocahontas Pancakes... Interesting but pretty good pancakes. I do have a tough time going out to eat pancakes. I have a tough time spending $10 on a meal I can make twice as good myself. The buscuits and gravy weren't bad either. We walked around a bit after that and ended up in one of those beach side tourist shops that sells everything with Virginia Beach on it. The kids talked Steph into getting them hermit crabs. We got a boy and a girl that share a cage. Soooo now I have two more pets to take care of. At least the hermit crabs don't meow all night long and shed everywhere.

Before heading home we drove up to the Old Cape Henry lighthouse at Fort Story - it was the turnaround point for the 1/2 marathon. We got to meek the lighthouse keeper and he gave Dylan and Chloe special coins that you can only get from the lighthouse keeper. To show it's a small world. John, the keeper, went to church at the Redland Baptist Church when he was young - it's about a mile away from our house. We got to climg a bunch of stairs to the top of the the old lighthouse which was the first government paid for building. The kids did it twice - once with me and then again with Steph. Oh to be young again. They wouldn't let us take Addison up because of the steepness/liability.

Though it was very frustrating to me not to be able to run it was all in all a great weekend. I look forward to running it next year so I can get my beer and Irish Stew.

9110

9110 - That's my race number for the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon.

I'm hoping it's not an omen...

51

51 - That's the age that Wii Fit assigned to me last night. What a crock! Though I do feel old at times but 51!! Come on. I think it's faulty for it's basis as it uses BMI as a barometer. BMI has me at borderline obese. It doesn't take in the fact that I lifted weights for years and have muscle mass that weighs more than fat. Don't get me wrong I have a little junk in the trunk. I know I need to lose about 10 pounds but according to BMI I would still be drastically overweight even for that. So I get the BMI skewed weight thing but based on some agility and balance tests they put me at age 51. Even though I haven't run in about a week I feel pretty good. maybe 42 but not 51. Maybe I'll lay off second helpings for a while.

Knee update. I am still sore from who knows what went wrong on my 13 mile run. I am able to go up and down stairs with no problems now. I did go out on Saturday to test it out. I got about a block before it started hurting. I turned around and went to the top of my hill thinking I just needed to work it out a bit - kinda like walking off a charley horse or a near sprained ankle. No good. I headed inside put the brace back on and did some stretching. It does feel even a bit better each day so I'll probably try to run with a brace this week.

Steph, Chloe and Addison went back to KC/Beloit for Steph's friend's baby shower. They spent a few days in KC with Mom & Dad and a few more days in Beloit with Rod & Bonnie. Sunday they went to see Michelle at the hospital after the baby was born (about a month early but healthy). All day Chloe was complaining of a stomach ache but with all the chaos of traveling and visiting not much attention was paid. On the way home she got sick in the van. Steph, of course, felt horrible for not listening to her earlier. I felt bad because she had to clean it up as best she could on the side of the road and then had to do a deeper clean when they got home that night. She also would have to be up with Addie when she gets hungry at night. I knew she wasn't going to get much sleep then. It breaks your heart when kids tell you something and you don't pay much attention to it then something bad happens. You feel like if you would have paid more attention to their needs then you could have prevented it - even if nothing would have stopped it. They get back on Wednesday night so hopefully we can all settle back into life and get some rest. Or at least what we call rest in our house.

Paternity Leave

So here I am nearing my month off work for Paternity Leave and I've not posted anything the whole time. Hmmm, why is it that I can find 20 minutes to write something during the day while I'm working but not while I'm at home? The biggest thing we've realized this past month is that we forgot just how much work newborns really are. We had these grandiose plans for what I would do during my time off. Not many of those things have been completed unfortunately. It's pretty frustrating for both Steph and I. To be fair we had a lot of company with Rod, Bonnie, Amber, Ryan, Lainie, Mom & Dad. We've really only been sans company for a couple of weeks. Having them all visit was great and I wouldn't trade it. Getting into our own regular routine has taken a bit longer than I remember though.
The Shamrock 1/2 Marathon is coming up quickly. I can't believe how much progress I've made. When I started I could barely run 2 miles now I go out for short runs of 3-4 miles. A couple of weeks ago I did 12 miles and felt pretty good after then the next weekend I dropped down to 8 miles. Just this past weekend I did 13! That is the longest I've ever run - EVER. There is a downside though. My left knee started hurting just a bit off and on about mile 3. At about 11.5 it really started to hurt with each step just under and to the left of my kneecap. I powered through pretty good but did have to walk a bit then sucked it up for the last .7 mile. I came home to ice, shower and go to a party (nothing much keeps me from a party). I did dig up a knee brace that I've been wearing nearly constantly. I was able to keep the pain away for the first couple days by not bending my let which is a bit difficult in a house with lots of steps. Sunday I did stay off my feet pretty well and Steph took on extra duty of getting me things. She's a saint. I can now walk up steps without wincing. I will take it easy this week as far as running. I'll do some cross training and hopefully not lose much stamina. If it does not keep healing I'll get it checked out. I also need to check out what happens to the race if I can't run. I seem to recall that if you get injured you can apply your fundraising amount to another run so I still plan to raise the amount needed. If you have not had a chance to donate you still are able. Send me a check or go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/shamrock09/breeve .

Addie is getting so big. You can tell she's a Reeve baby because she's now got her cheeks. She has a little cold that keeps her nose pretty stuffy. It also drains into her chest so she coughs quite a bit. She is doing well though and only cries when she's hungry or tired. Dylan and Chloe are doing well with her too. Chloe is still a helicopter. She wants to be involved as much as possible. We think they were both a little jelous for a while but that has been going away recently. Chloe's been going to her school part time for the past month so she stays home with us on Tues/Thurs. She loves it but Dylan is jelous of her. Dylan is doing OK at school. He has another slight bully incident but we believe it has been resolved. He was not getting some of his school work done and we think it was because of the bullying and jelousy at home. Now that those are going away his work is improving.
Steph and the girls are heading to KC/Beloit for a week leaving tomorrow. Dylan was pretty upset that he couldn't go with them when he found out. I tried to explain that with the girls gone we get to do some cool guy stuff. Like no bathing, watching Star Wars in our underwear and burp and fart without saying excuse me. Those plans were going well until someone reminded me that Carrie would still be here so we may have to curtail some of those things. We'll see. I may have to come up with something else equally as cool. I already have offers for sleepovers for Friday and Saturday nights so I'm not sure what we'll do.
I do have pictures of the family and I know I've had lots of requests for pictures of Addison. They are still on the camera and I'll get them on here in the next couple of days. I also go back to work soon so my postings won't be so far apart...