The McGinleys - a blog dedicated to our family and friends abroad

Bobsled Bliss

2012-01-08T10:44:00.003-05:00

Dad had purchased a bobsled in 2011 near Duluth (yes, Duluth) and was kind enough to haul it back to the farm where he and Mom spent countless hours repairing and painting it in preparation for Christmas fun.

Unfortunately, no snow for most of the holidays. We lucked out, though, and a few days after Christmas we awoke to a blanket of heavy, wet snow that afforded us a few trips on the beautiful bobsled. The kids and kids-at-heart enjoyed the trips, despite the nip in the air.

The kids stayed out make snow angels and a series of snowball fights, some targeted at the unsuspecting adults lingering too close to the danger zone!

Celebrating with Nana & Grandpa

2012-01-08T10:31:00.003-05:00

After Christmas morning mass, we headed over to Mike's parents house for breakfast. The kids were crazed after the morning rush of Santa gifts and at the sight of seeing Aunt Nikki, whom they adore. We spent the remainder of the day playing with the new toys, visiting with Grandpa Sal, visiting Dave's extended family as well as my Aunt Peg and Uncle Chris.

The next day we ventured to Bruce & Beth's house for Carol's side of the family's Christmas. It was a beautiful day --- the lake didn't even have a hint of ice --- and we had a nice brunch complete with goodies from a NYC bakery that Sal had remembered from his childhood. The girls are all getting big and are full of personality: Grace (3), Charlotte (1.5) and Sophia (1.5)......... Boy enjoyed being surrounded by all the ladies :).
It was a nice and relaxing day.

Christmas w/ Papa & Grandma

2012-01-08T10:24:00.005-05:00

We all gathered at Mom and Dad's house for Christmas celebrations and more to see how much the kids of grown and how they interact. My niece, Evie, is a now a year and a half. She's changed so much from when we saw her over the summer, although Cole and Avery still want to hold and carry her around as though she was a newborn. She's playful and has the cutest (at least to her Aunt) Popeye smile. Oliver is all boy and it was fun to see the kids all wrestling around, except when they got to near Mom's hutch (nervous nellie I am).

It was a great Christmas celebration and we so appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and the ability to come home for the holidays :).

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks...

2011-11-30T10:23:00.002-05:00

Carol and Dave joined us for a low-key Thanksgiving: parade watching, meal sharing and decorating for the holidays.

Pumpkin Pickin

2011-10-31T10:19:00.001-04:00

Another wonderful fall in Florida.......complete with a visit to the Pumpkin Patch with Papa and Grandma!

NO Labor Day!

2011-09-30T10:09:00.002-04:00

I'll admit it -- one of my favorite vacations is a weekend stay at the Disney waterparks. We ventured down over Labor Day with our friends Ed & Amy as well as their children -- twins Nathan and Hannah (6 months older than Avery) and Sarah (6 months younger than Avery). We have rented houses in Windsor Hills for years now --- this one was a real winner with 3 great kids bedrooms and 2 master suites upstairs, a game room and of course a pool. These are a great deal for a large group and they are within 5 minutes of the parks.

We spent 2 full days at the Blizzard Beach waterpark ---- sufficient time for the dads to once again build up the confidence to go down the large, wedgie-inducing slide. The kids covered nearly every aspect of the waterpark with at least one adult in tow. The lazy river continues to be a favorite of mine, for obvious reasons :).

Birthdays Galore

2011-09-01T09:55:00.002-04:00

It is hard to believe the calendar has rolled around to August.....the last few swim days, start of school and, of course, the kid's birthdays. This was the first year (ugh) that we didn't have the celebrations together, other than a small get togehter with our friends Amy/Ed and their children (Nate, Hannah and Sarah). We enjoyed a night IN playing the Wii and enjoying cupcakes from the Crumbs store near my NYC apartment.

Cole's school friend's party was at a local kids spot with indoor inflatables, video games and pizza. His pirate theme was a hit and lots of friends, including close buddies Camille and Copeland.

Avery's 8th birthday party was an adventure in and of itself ---- a sleepover. We had 8 girls how turned the living room and deck into a disco, rockband stage, pictionary game, necklace/braclet making and a multitude of other activities that I could not keep up with on my best day. They dined on Chick-Fil-A and had a sundae making buffet to round out the sugar high. Loads of smiles.... a great gift for Mommy!

Visit with Nikki!!!

2011-08-07T10:35:00.005-04:00

On the way back to Florida, we wanted to spend a couple days in Indianapolis with Mike’s sister, Nicole. Nikki arranged to take the kids to the world famous Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. The kids really enjoyed exploring the four floors of hands-on learning centers and the large carousel ride. Cole liked the scuba diving and DJ station; Avery liked the Barbie fashion show and

Down on the Farm!!!

2011-08-07T10:35:00.002-04:00

We thought it would be fun to spend the night at our family farm in order to get an early start to fishing off the Bridge. Dad and Mom have spent a great deal of time and energy keeping the farm up and it really showed. The kids liked exploring Papa’s old bedroom and the toys that must have been around since I was at least their age. We had a nice breakfast thanks to Grandma’s banana bread, yogurt and some hard-boiled eggs and then headed back to the Bridge. We hardly got the bobber in the water when the fish took to them: loads of bluegill, a small bass and a large catfish gave us a fix to last another year. Cole especially enjoyed it, especially digging out the worms!

We returned back to the house just in time to welcome Mom, Dad, Ralph, Nancy as well as Max and Nancy Mason to the farm. They were taking the tour of the Farm on Dad’s specially rigged trailer and then enjoying BBQ and Nancy’s famous cherry pie for dessert. Another good day on the Farm was in the books!

Nana's Pooltime....

2011-08-07T10:34:00.002-04:00

Nana and Grandpa’s house was, of course, a stop on the Fort Fun tour too. The kids spent nearly every waking hour in Carol’s pool enjoying spinning Nana on the raft. A couple days some friends came over, including Max (son of one of Nikki’s friends) as well as second cousins Grace, Charlotte and Sophia. One day while the kids spent the day pruning-up their fingers again, Mike decided to play a round of golf with Sal. They had a great time, if not 100% reflected in their scores!!!

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

2011-08-07T10:32:00.001-04:00

I knew the time was coming, but I tried to put it in the back of my mind convinced that if I didn’t think about it I may be able to avoid it altogether. But this year brought it to a head: MIKE AND COLE WENT TO THE FIREWORKS STORE. Mike’s rationale was it was a ‘2 for 1’ sale…….. I’ll just leave it at that. Having his son along for the ride coupled with most of the fireworks were planned to be shown at Bruce’s lake house, who himself has always put on a good firework show, only encouraged Mike to fill the trunk.

BELOW IS A VIDEO: You may have to click the screen to play.

We always have a good time at the lake, but this day was extra special at it was Sal’s 88th birthday (Mike’s grandfather)! The family spent the day out by the water with the occasional trip out on the water. Avery and Cole took in tubing behind the pontoon as well as trip on the jet-ski with Mike. Most of the day was spent just hanging out by the water, with water guns in tow, enjoying the day. We capped it off with a slice of birthday cake (see picture of Nikki, Sal, Alex, Mike, Avery and Cole ---------- isn’t Cole a mini Alex?) and fireworks by the water.

Fort Fun!

2011-08-07T10:31:00.001-04:00

After a week at John’s, we all piled back into the Yukon for an eventful trip to Fort Wayne (long story that involves car trouble and me trying to write a proposal with four kids in the car). Papa and Grandma’s house was an especially welcoming site. As always, we enjoyed spending time just hanging out on their “patio” as we watched Avery and Cole log thousands of miles on their bikes going up and down the driveway. The first few days Cole had some allergies that kept the bike riding at bay, but alas Grandma’s collection of toys from “a special place” were suitable tonics. The kids picked wild black raspberries and also gave the Ever Joy Park bear a much needed update to his worn coat of fur.

Papa humored us with a tractor ride or two; Cole even got to steer the Kubota at one point. We also enjoyed visits with my Aunt Peg and long-time family friends, Ralph and Nancy Martin, who came in from the Pacific Northwest with stories from their train travel and the kids/grandkids. It was so very good to see them and visit with them. I do hope Mom and Dad will make it out to their house as I’m sure the trip would be memorable.

The latter part of the week we went to a community park that is near the new hospital out by Mom and Dad. The kids immediately found new BFFs as there was a little girl and little boy approximately the same ages as Avery and Cole. The park was very nice with plenty of equipment, beautiful flowers and a large hill that beckoned the kids to climb and roll-down it over and over. On the way home we stopped at Sandy and Harris’ house, who have been life-long friends. Sandy took Mike on a tour of the house while the kids were stalking Sandy’s cat. We ended the tour with a stop in the garage ------ Mike and kids took her up on the offer to scoot around the neighborhood in her too cool white little convertible. We capped off the afternoon with a stop at Blue Moon for some ice cream….. just as good as I remember as a kid!

Thank you to Papa and Grandma for their hospitality. We’ll return the favor in the fall when temps are more relaxing in Florida.

Visiting the 'CON

2011-08-07T10:28:00.002-04:00

The latter part of June we made our way to John & Amber’s house in Wisconsin for the start of our summer vacation. The mild temperatures and the chance to play with Oliver and Evelyn had the kids excited for weeks. Avery and Cole immediately explored every nook and cranky of the house as well as Oliver’s stash of toys that consume a room in their basement. There was much to do in the ‘CON. We took a visit to the Milwaukee children’s museum and took in a beer brewery tour just in our first day. We visited the unbelievable park not far from their house, took Oliver too his first movie (Cars 2) and made smores. John & Amber braved the great outdoors with Oliver, Cole and Avery in their tent in the backyard ----- Amber was on guard with her rollerpin!!!

We also took in nearby Cedarburg’s Annual Strawberry Festival. The town itself is quite quaint and comprise of numerous foodie and artsy stores that I could have spent hours looking at, but the 4-year-old boy had other plans!! We were taken in by the numerous art booths with unique and colorful goods as well as the constant smell of kettle corn, which eventually broken down my WeightWatcher’s shield and I purchased a bag. We enjoyed a pseudo-picnic while being entertained by a young violinist and her brother……….. they were quite good and had the perfect spot to garnish a few dollars for the sentimental crowd as they strummed their tunes and heartstrings. It was a lovely day, capped off by some of the strawberry wine that John & Amber purchased.

After a weekend of fun and excitement around the house, we piled the four kids and four adults into our Yukon for the 1.5 hour drive to the Wisconsin Dells (Papa and Grandma elected to head back to Fort Fun to prepare for the next round of festivities). We piled out of the car and the just-breaking 70’s temperature had the Floridians a little worried about spending the day in the water ------------ strong sunshine, however, encouraged us to jump in! We had a great time on the lazy river and numerous water roller coasters.

We had a great time and are thankful to John, Amber, Oliver and Evelyn for hosting us 

Summer Itch

2011-08-07T10:25:00.001-04:00

By May the children always begin turning into wild animals as they sense the approach of summer and the days really heat up to the point that only a cool pool provides relief. For Avery, May brought another distraction though: the Second Grade Class Play. As part of her curriculum, she has drama/music twice a week. The school has a small stage above the old gymnasium that was transformed into beautiful scenery for Disney’s Jungle Book story.

Avery was one of the elephants and she LOVED every minute of the production. Carol came down for the show and Cole was right down in front cheering on Avery. He was ready to hand her flowers at the end, which Avery proceeded to give them to the two teachers that organized the play . It was too cute and I was glad we captured it on tape to enjoy at some yet-to-be-determined first date, graduation party, etc.

Memorial Day followed soon after with our nearly annual trip to our friend’s, Ed & Amy, house to cool off in their wonderful pool. The father’s take turns tossing the kids into the pool, which is become more of a workout each year. Sooner the cheers for the WAVE came and the fathers accommodated with synchronized cannonballs. A great time was had by all.

Avery's 1st Holy Communion

2011-05-01T09:27:00.008-04:00

Avery's 1st Holy Communion was an absolutely perfect day. There was not a cloud in the sky and, by in large, the heat stayed at bay. Carol and Nicole made it here safely Thursday, despite having to navigate the severe storms and tornados in Tennessee and Alabama. To say the kids were thrilled at having Papa, Grandma, Nana and Nicole all under one roof would be an understatement!!! All of us enjoyed a dinner out at a new Mexican restaurant on Friday night ---- 2 for 1 margaritas and killer cheese dip!

Saturday morning was a flurry of activity: getting 6 adults + 2 kids showered and around, picking up the cake, getting everyone fed, arranging Cole's peonies & stargazer lilies he got Avery, bidding on eBay tractors & golf bags (wink) and of course going through the practice session at the church. Prior to getting to church for the vigil evening mass, I took the family to a local park and took some pictures on the little bridge I had snapped Avery's photograph on many times before. As the song says, we got to the church in time.......... nearly 45 minutes early in true Londt fashion. My friend Amy, who was Avery's religious education teacher, had also gotten there early (shocker) so we were able to take pictures of her twins --- Nathan and Hannah ---- with Avery. The children all looked angelic, especially carrying in their roses for Blessed Virgin Mary! Simply a beautiful day to celebrate such an important day.........I shed only a couple tears getting her dressed and hearing her name called at the end of mass. It's a mother's right (Daddy's too if I saw correctly).

Easter Eggs Galore

2011-05-01T09:27:00.002-04:00

Each Easter I brace myself for the possibility that this may be the year that the kids are "too old" for egg coloring....... alas, another year with dyed fingertips and a dozen hardboiled eggs that nobody knows what to do with (except Mike of course --- homemade chicken salad). Mom & Dad where kind enough to make the long drive down for Easter and then stayed on to participate in Avery's first communion, which was the following week. We had a nice Easter Sunday, complete with ham and Mom's beer bread (yummy) as well as various Easter gifts --- including black jellybeans for Mom. It is always nice to visit with them and the kids are so very happy!

Bibbiti, Bobbiti, Boo

2011-05-01T09:26:00.004-04:00

We've had a tradition for the past few years of attending the spring ballet for the local dance company. However, this year was just packed with other commitments and so Avery and I decided to attend the afternoon fundraiser's tea. The spring production is Cinderella and there was a brief dance program, which had the little ladies all spellbound. Surrounding the old house where the event took place were various Cinderella's themed craft stations: painting your own glass slipper (aka ballet shoes), pumpkin chalkboard decorating, tiara making and of course cupcakes. It was a nice afternoon with my special little lady, who seems to be growing up way to fast. Wonder if the Fairy Godmother has a spell to freeze time.

Cole's Art Show

2011-05-01T09:26:00.002-04:00

Cole's classroom hosted an art show and afternoon tea party (just an excuse for cookies I believe) for the parents. I'm always amazed at the creativity of the teachers and the talents of these 4 and 5 year olds. I recognize I may be bias, but Cole is quite the little artist. He really enjoys the art center and I am thankful that we have a school that still offers art, drama and music as part of the lower school curriculum. The final picture is Cole's girlfriend, Copeland, who will be attending a different school next year........... ah, the heartache.

Stone Mountain

2011-05-01T09:25:00.010-04:00

The latter part of Spring Break, we traveled just east of Atlanta to take in the Stone Mountain memorial. The large mainly quartz mountain was formed along what is known as the Blue Ridge mountains. On one side is a memorial to the confederate soldiers and includes General Lee, President Davis and General Stonewall Jackson. The craving itself is bigger than Mount Rushmore, which the guide said is the memorial the original artist left Stone Mountain to complete. We took the tram ride to the top, where we were surprised to find some vegetation and a great view of the Atlanta skyline. At the base of the mountain was a little village of outdoor activities, including a large-scale rope climbing course, rock climbing, an obstacle course, zip lines and some unique stores. The kids especially liked the glass blower and the homemade confections. It was a nice weekend getaway destination.

April activities, but few showers

2011-05-01T09:25:00.007-04:00

April has brought some crazy weather to our doorstep. We planted our tomatoes earlier this year (mid-March) to hopefully have a more abundant crop so as to not struggle against the heat when first starting out. So far, it looks promising: beefsteaks, regular and cherry tomatoes in abundance. In addition, the kids planted some zinnias, bachelor buttons and cosmos. Cole really enjoys "feeding" the plants!!! He's also adopted a neighbor's cat, who comes by just for a petting or too --- no kitty treats given out (yet). Cole said maybe by Halloween!!

We've had some new creatures present on the deck...... an unusual frog and a lizard that is definitely NOT a gecko. We are planning to replace the deck at some point this summer as 10 years of heat and tropical rains have taken their toll. The hot weather also forced my hand with breaking out the water guns a little earlier this year ---- we could have used them when playing with the messy (but cool when they actually work) Crayola color bubbles.

All Things in Bloom

2011-03-19T21:09:00.002-04:00

Avery Jane will make her first Holy Communion just after Easter this year. She has been diligently working through her religious education classes and is quite inquisitive (as is Cole). We would ask all of you to keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she continues down this journey.

I thought it would be nice to have some keepsake pictures of her at the beautiful state gardens not far from our house. The azaleas were towards the ends of their peak, which is funny too me given two weeks before, when Mom & Dad were down, they were just barely out. Mom & Dad were able to take in the beautiful tulip trees and other early blooms and Avery looked beautiful against the last of the azaleas.

Good Luck....

2011-03-19T21:08:00.002-04:00

St. Patrick's Day was quite fun. Cole's class had a leprechaun play some pranks in their classroom, leaving green footprints and even using the boys bathroom. The kids found skittles and gold chocolate coins as treats and even set a trap for him, but alas he was too "tricky" according to Cole. Ah, to be 4 again.....

Celebrate Good Times....

2011-03-19T21:07:00.001-04:00

February is full of birthday celebrations with friends and family for us. Our friends, Ed & Amy's, children were all born in February. We are so gratefully to have them as friends and for the invitation to celebrate with their family for the Love, Peace & Celebration themed birthdays. Something about the age of 7 & 8 that kids seem to be into peace signs and tie-dyes. We had a great time, as always.

Mike's birthday is the end of February and is always a good excuse for Carol to come down and melt a little from the cold winter. This year was an extra special treat as Sal and Dave came with her. My parents joined us after spending some time in southern Florida for a tractor show. Our kids were THRILLED beyond words to have all their grandparents in town at the same time..... Avery is still talking about it.

Won't You Be Mine?

2011-03-19T15:41:00.000-04:00

The children's school has a wonderful celebration for Valentine's Day, complete with classroom parties and the long anticipated Father-Daughter dance. I helped with Cole's party --- it is always fun to see Cole's little friends and "girlfriends". Avery and Mike went out to dinner with a group of girls this year to a Japanese hibachi steakhouse (or as Cole calls it the 'cook-in-front-of-you' place).

We also exchanged some small gifts ourselves. The kids received travel size perfume and cologne to wear to church instead of Mommy and Dad's. Mike received his "retaliation" Nerf gun. Avery and Cole each received a much smaller version of a Nerf gun for XMAS from Mike's Uncle Bruce and Aunt Beth. As he is usually the target at some point, I thought turnabout was fair play.

Hoping for Heaven in 2011!!!!

2011-01-06T00:07:00.003-05:00

We arrived home at 2:00am on New Year's Eve (flight delays in Atlanta) rested up and ventured out later that day to a co-worker's family oriented New Year's Eve / FSU watching party. It was 70 degrees and the kids spent most of the night outside on the swing set, enclosed trampoline, playing with the dogs or roasting marshmellows. We came home in time to get the kids in their PJs, teeth brushed and positioned to see the ball drop. 1-1-11 at 12:01:01 they were in bed and so were we!!!

God Bless you and yours in 2011!

XMAS at Nana and Grandpa's

2011-01-06T00:02:00.004-05:00

After our visit in Celina, we joined up with Mike's family for some late Christmas day visiting. We opened gifts the next day, which is Dave's birthday and latter that evening had a nice dinner. We capped it off with cupcakes and the delightful Jeni's ice cream that I treat everyone (selfishly my own guilty pleasure too) at XMAS.

The Cuttitta clan came over on the 27th for our white elephant gift exchange, but really we all just wanted to enjoy the little ones: Grace (2), Charlotte (5 months) and Sophia (6 months). Lots of noise, motion and smiles that day.

XMAS at Papa & Grandma's...

2011-01-06T00:00:00.003-05:00

Our first few days in Indiana were spent in snow suits, enjoying our nephew Oliver and niece Evie, enjoying Mom's cooking and catching up on Dad's recent tractor purchases. We had a lovely few days, with the high point being the sledding at the Farm.

Avery & Cole take Manhattan

2011-01-05T23:58:00.002-05:00

We decided to spend a few days in the Big Apple this year since the kids have endured my multitude of trips to Manhattan throughout the year and were quite curious as what was so special about this city. We turned in my frequent flier miles and arranged for the kids and Mike to fly up after school let out.

We all piled into my 700 sq ft. corporate apartment located in the heart of the Financial District. I think the concept of living in a "hotel" was funny to the kids. As were the "spinners" (revolving doors), the doorman and the fact that there were dogs that lived in the apartments. Just seeing them experience the City was a treat, for them and us.

The first evening --- after the trip across the Brooklyn Bridge (Avery was so excited to see the skyline, but feel asleep in the car) --- I had arranged for us to have dinner on Mulberry Street (aka Little Italy). We past Chinatown (one street over) and turned down the small, one-way street lined with Italian bakeries, nick-nack stores and quaint restaurants with suave Italian men trying to convince you theirs was the only place to dine.

We selected Da Nico, which had received good reviews and it surely delivered. To start, we had a wonderful caesar salad, awesome calamari (when we could get a bite away from the kids) and Mike had the Insalata Di Mare (salad made of shrimp, clams, calamari, fish with an olive oil and lemon dressing). The kids split shrimp scampi, I had linguini and clams, Mike selected a lobster ravioli. It was a WONDERFUL meal!!!

Afterwards we took a walk down Mulberry street to the Ferrara bakery (click for a video) that has been around since the 1800's and been run by 5-generations from the same family. There were way too many selections and, with a commitment to return later in our trip, we settled on some spumoni, blackberry sorbet and gelato.

NYC – Day 1

Saturday was a jam packed day. We awoke to beautiful weather, although we still bundled up as our blood has gotten thin from living in Florida for over 10 years (Lord!). We walked from my apartment through the Financial District photo-op spots: Federal Hall, New York Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, etc. We were the only people around given it was early on a Saturday morning --- normally the area is briming with tourists, stock exchange workers and of course heavy security. Along the way we also passed the Tiffany jewelry store and a number of foodie carts, which the kids thought were quite funny.

About 8 blocks away from the apartment is Ground Zero. The Millennium Hilton Hotel is literally across the street and has been my home-away-from-home while I’ve been in NYC prior to getting my apartment. I thought it was important for the kids to see and understand (as well as a 7 and 4 year old can) the events of 9/11. From the 3rd Floor restaurant you can see the memorial fountains and new tower construction. It is hard to believe it has been almost 10 years…….. just down the way from the site is an I-Beam found in the rubble that was bent (or melted) into the shape of a cross. It is the “current” memorial and, to me, is quite moving in its current state and simple plaque.

After a full breakfast we hoped into a cab and headed for Bryant Park. Avery’s only request was to go ice-skating and I had looked around for a place that was not going to take hours to get onto the ice, had lockers and more importantly bathrooms!!! In my 38 years I don’t think I’ve EVER been (or ever will be again) on skates. I was proud that I made it around one lap, intact no less despite an impish 7 year old that was literally skating circles around me and giggling ear to ear.

Cole lasted a little longer, although Mike was primarily bearing all of Cole’s weight as he tried to usher Cole through the people and around the ice. With desperation and exhaustion in Mike’s eyes, I suggested Cole come off the ice with me and enjoy some hot chocolate and popcorn. He eagerly agreed and we sat under a junior version of the Rockefeller tree as Mike and Avery did laps around the Bryant Park rink. Avery was pleased as punch!

We ventured on to Times Square for a ride on the ferris wheel inside the 3-story Toys-R-Us store, a trip to the new Disney store and lunch at TGI Fridays, where Cole fell asleep. We ended the day with the kid’s first trip on the subway and ordered in sushi --- this kids enjoyed teriakyi chicken and “sticky rice”.

NYC – Day 2

Avery lost her second front tooth just before coming to New York. We had been humming the “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” song when it hit me that we would be within blocks of the Today Show taping area on Sunday morning after visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral. So… we headed out a little early with sign in tow. The kids were excited and the cameraman was kind enough to take our picture and give us a 2-second driveby on-air shot coming back from a commercial break. The kids (and us) were thrilled. We anxiously called the Grandparents, whom we informed the night before of our plan, only to hear “we weren’t watching but its on the DVR”. HA!!!!

Content our on-air debut had been captured, we headed in for some breakfast and hot chocolate. We ventured inside the 30 Rock building, which has an entire concourse of stores underground and of course a Starbucks. Mike snagged a table on the ground level near the Rockefeller ice rink.

After wiping off the coco mustaches, we headed a few blocks to Radio City Music Hall for the AWESOME Christmas Spectacular show. Ninety minutes of music, Santa and 3D screens were a truly special event and the one thing Cole wanted to do, mainly because of the Rockettes. Afterwards we headed up Park Avenue and enjoyed a late lunch at Benihana’s --- always a favorite. Needless to say we all slept well that night.

NYC – Day 3

We started the day at a wonderful place I found when planning the events for the day. Alice’s Tea Cup (location #3) is a tiny little place that greets the guests with a dusting of fairy dust before seating you down to a table, whose prior life appeared to be an old sewing machine. There were velvet seats, mis-matched china placesettings and hand-painted menus with Alice in Wonderland characters dancing around the explanation of the 150 different types of tea they served. The breakfast choices were vast with traditional elements as well as scones and crepes. We had our fill and were energized to head out to start our magical day (maybe the fairy dust helped).

We strolled West, passing beautiful row houses and running smack into the Central Park Zoo. Turning our feet Southbound, we walked a few more blocks and took in the Plaza Hotel (our kids immediately recognized it from the Home Alone movie) and made our way to FAO Schwarz. The toy store lived up to everything we expected and the Big Piano was a great (surprisingly free) adventure for the kids. There were two “professional piano players” that put on shows with tunes including “Chopsticks”, “Heart and Soul”, “Jingle Bells” and an encore of “Carol of the Bells” Probably one of my personal favorites of the trip as it was pure childhood bliss!!!

Afterwards we took a brief carriage ride through Central Park with Ian, our driver from Dublin, and his horse Roger. After being out in the fresh air and knowing we had "grand plans" for the evening, we decided it was time to get in a nap and headed back to the apartment.

I had read/heard of two "must take in" places with kids: Dylan's Candy Bar and Serendipity. The ONLY reservation I could get at the latter was for dinner at 8:30, which I made nearly 3 weeks prior to our trip. To kill time, we first went to Dylan's Candy Bar which is literally 3 floors of every candy imaginable. They had one wall where celebrities had picked their favorites in a "candy box" and signed it for posterity. The kids put together a little bag for the plane and we bought my mom some black licorice. I felt like we should all see the dentist from just being in the store.

100 feet from Dylan's is one of the Serendipity locations. We checked in for our 8:30 reservation and overheard the wait (outside no less) for walk-ups was 3 hours!!! We felt like celebrities being ushered through the crowd and into the overdone with decorations room two floors up. Mike, Cole and I all ordered one of the famous frozen concoctions: Apricot Mash (Mike's), Pineapple/Coconut (me) and their main claim to fame: frozen hot chocolate. Why the waiter didn't point out the size of the drinks (especially with it being 9pm and a full drink ordered by a 4 year old) is beyond me. They were HUGE and Avery quickly regretted her decision for a simple rootbeer. She made up for it with the "small" sundae that was nearly 12 inches high and drenched in the best hot fudge you could dream up. The only downside of Serendipity's was a VERY old bathroom that was smaller than the linen closet in our master bath.........HA!!!!

Again, we all drifted off to sleep without issue.

NYC – Day 4

Our final day was pretty low key and, as with most of the trip, filled with free holiday events. I decided the kids should experience a “typical” NYC breakfast, so we bundled up and headed across the street from the apartment to grab bagels from Leo’s bagel store and some fresh fruit from the 24-hour Korean deli across the street. We huddled around the breakfast bar in the apartment and finished up the kid’s letters to Santa.

By now the kids knew the path to the Subway --- Cole was quite proud to lead the way and ushered us on the subway to 34th Street and the grand Macy’s Department store. We saw Mrs. Claus and made our way onto the “train” to the North Pole (the floor of the queuing sections even rattled like you were really on a train). After 10 minutes of winding through a winter wonderland, the kids were met by Santa and (thankfully) restated the same requests they had conveyed to us a few weeks earlier: a guitar for Avery and fast cars for Cole.

We dropped off our letters at the mail box (Macys donates a dollar for each letter received to Make-A-Wish) and headed onto Herald Square. We pointed out the Empire State building and took a cab to Grand Central Station. The scale, age and windows are truly mesmerizing. The ceiling is a beautiful robin egg blue with constellations painted in gold with LED lights to frame them. We treated ourselves with lunch at the Oyster Bar, which is itself a historical place within the heart of the Grand Central Dining Concourse. It was delicious and a seafood lover’s dream. Avery still talks about the crab there…

We headed back to pack for the early morning flight and shared all the “high points” of the trip. Christmas time was a great time to go --- so many things to do that were free and the large-scale decorations all over the City really gets you in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas is Coming......FAST!

2011-01-05T23:48:00.003-05:00

Christmas seemed to come at warp speed after Thanksgiving this year. We have a few small traditions, however, we we still managed to get in prior to the trip to the Big Apple. We went to the local ballet company's performance of the Nutcracker at a beautifully restored theater on FSU's campus. We were also entertained by Cole's school pagent --- Cole's little friends are simply too cute for words. Mike's parents were kind enough to spend the day after Thanksgiving putting put the tree and outside lights, so at least for a few weeks we had some holiday spirit showing around the house.

Tastes Great, but NOT less filling!!!!

2010-12-03T08:17:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving was a small group this year as it was just our crew, Dave and Carol. We got a smaller turkey and brined it again this year ---- juicies one yet. This year was especially fun as the kids are really into cooking and wanting to help.

For fear of hot burners, I had Cole help mix up the filling for the pumpkin pies. He was very precise with each measurement although some of the brown sugar happened to "slip onto his finger".

The morning began with an assortment of breakfast snack foods that I had started making shortly before 7am: pigs-n-blankets, cresent rolls with a mixture of sausage/mushrooms/cream cheese, a plate of fruit and juice. Very good if I do say so myself.

After the bird was in, we started watching the Parade. I had contemplated going to see it given I've been working in NYC, but the seats (at least this year) are better at home. We saw the kick-off and were thrilled when the big Purdue drum and band came into view to kick off the festitivites.

But alas, the meal preparations were calling. Carol has been my ambiance guru, having decorated the table and completed the flowers for the last few years. We love setting out the kids past Thanksgiving artwork and it all comes together just beautifully.

Avery loves the stuffing we always have and wanted to help make it this year. I make it the "old-fashioned way" with sauteed onion, celery over dried bread with a little baking powder and liquid from the bird itself. Avery sliced up the veggies and even sauteed them. That's where it ended.... drawing off the drippings from the bird and the boiled giblets was just too much for her!!!! Actually, I think she just wanted to see the end of the parade. She still ate a good portion so the experience didn't seem to scar her any!

Dave is my potato man. There are two types of potatoes to be had (as if we don't have enough startch in this meal). Dave and I are the mashed potatoe lovers, everyone else demands sweet potato casserole with marshmellows. Cole is my marshmellow helper --- again, for the "extras" that seem to "drop to the floor". While Dave was mashing, I was trying to get just the right level of golden brown on the marshmellows which ended up looking more like ones roasted too near a campfire --- they all said it made the taste even better.

Mike is the carver. He is a perfectionist when it comes to carving a bird and uses the carving set like a skilled surgeon.

Soon we were all settled down to the beautiful table, surrounded by a wonderful meal and gave our thanks. Within 15 minutes it was over!!!! We had our fill, washed it down with some sparkling grape juice and settled in on the coach for a nap. It was a very, very nice day capped off later that evening with pumpkin pie and an antipasta tray of olives, salami and cheeses.

We are all so very blessed and thankful! We hope you had a wonderful holiday too.

Cole's Feast

2010-12-03T07:41:00.003-05:00

The last day before Thanksgiving break, the PreK-4 classrooms all share a feast together. The entire week before they had been learning about Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, completed a food drive and even made some meals for the needy. They had also been VERY busy with their art projects: each child had an adorable placemat with a large picture of them dressed as a pilgrim, there were little turkeys made of tiny clay seed pots and the kid's handprints cut out of different colored paper for the feathers and (my favorite) an "Indian" garment made of from Daddy's old undershirts that they had stained with brewed tea, decorated and labeled with each child's Indian name. Cole's was Playing Deer.

The morning of the feast was filled with a small program of 10 songs full of the parent paparazzi that surely had a ratio of one camera/video recorder to every child. The ended the program with a prayerful song and sat down to dig into their turkey, potatoes, grapes and pie.

As the "class photographer" it is always a good excuse to lug along my camera and seeing Cole with his buddies (Hannah, Copeland, Cullen, etc) warms my heart.

Party, Party, Party

2010-11-13T07:34:00.005-05:00

One of Avery's classmates is Ted Turner's (aka CNN, Time-Warner cable) grandson. They put on a huge Halloween party every year for classmates, family friends and people that work their 30K+ acre plantation just East of where we live.

At the pick-up line at school they asked if we were coming and encouraged us to bring Mom & Dad along, so we did. It was a lovely (if not warm) day. There was plenty to do --- bounce houses, horse rides, a little petting zoo, face painting, etc. They had transformed the rec center into a haunted house!!!

We munched on hotdogs, burgers, chocolate covered fruit and of course cotton candy. The kids were thrilled. We also ventured into the "dessert tent" that is a collection of custom (homemade) Halloween creations that the kids all enjoyed.

It was a great time and a nice afternoon outdoors.

A Stroll Down Mainstreet....

2010-11-13T07:23:00.005-05:00

On Thursday while the kids were at school, we decided to revisit a little antique & furniture town nearby. We darted (well darted may be an exagerration) in and out of the country stores, craft venues and the multitude of antique stores. There was even a store that sold thread, buttons, dollies and a collection of old hats. The woman that owned it was quite nice and very passionate about her shop. One wondered if she really would part with all her treasures. We ended the trip with a dip of ice cream and an old-fashioned rootbeer float. It was a nice stroll down the main street of this little town.

Our visits with Mom and Dad are always nice, if too short. This time of year is nice as we can still enjoy the warm weather, without being too hot before 8am. We played games, read books, did some art projects and even made some of the best Halloween-shaped jigglers I can remember. It was really a nice visit.

Halloween night, Mom & Dad manned the house with the Candy Caldron fully stocked, while Mike and I escorted the kids around the neighborhood. People decorate their golf carts and some even pull long hay-laiden trailers through the neighborhood. The kids ended up with a sufficient "haul" by 8pm and then turned into pumpkins themselves.

Halloween in Overdrive

2010-11-13T07:09:00.004-05:00

Halloween is always fun with the kids. Cole wanted to go as a bat after seeing a $60 costume in a one of the many catalogs that are stuffed into our mailbox this time of year. Instead, I found the cutest one on ebay for under $10. He LOVED it, although it was a tad warm for down here!!

Avery wanted to go as a Mermaid Queen, not to be confused with Ariel the Little Mermaid ---- Avery pointed out that she didn't have red hair like Ariel and a wig would be "too much". HA! She is really growing up.

Mom and Dad made the long journey down just in time to participate in many of the celebrations. On Wednesday, I was a "parent reader" in Cole's room while Mike carved the classroom pumpkin. Friday was the full-on parties. The Pre-K program puts on a parent-run halloween carnival. They start the day by walking up to the big school and through the hallways. The older kids sit outside their classrooms and cheer on the little kids.

Upon returning, the kids are greeted with their Halloween themed morning snacks and then ushered outside to the carnival. Mike and Mom manned the Pumpkin Toss, while Dad and I made rounds trying to keep up with Cole and his buddies: Copeland (black winged fairy), Hannah (Strawberry Shortcake), Brooke (FSU cheerleader), Camille (Princess Tiana), Cullen (Davey Crocket) and too many others to name.

The games were quite cute and the kids had a great time. After things winded down there, we took Cole home with us and laid him down for a much needed nap. Mom, Dad and I then returned to the school for Avery's party. We visited her classroom and then joined the festivities outside: games, carmel apples and even a fortune teller. Good fun!!!

Pumpkin Pals

2010-10-17T20:22:00.003-04:00

I love Fall. Our fall has taken some getting used to given it is still in the 80s here and the leaves don't really turn, but then I remember that fall preceeds winter and all is forgiven.

We once again visited the Pumpkin Patch at one of the local baptist churches not far from our house. The kids enjoy seeing the pumpkins dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, Pirates and this year Justin Bieber (a teenie-bopper singer). We picked out a few baby pumpkins for the kid's classrooms and enjoyed all the little babies getting their "first Halloween" pictures snapped by paparrazi of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc. Too cute.

This past weekend we visited a fall festival we've gone too for the last few years. It is a nice little town, with great antique and furniture stores that I still don't venture into with the kids. We took Grandma Londt there on one of her visits. She enjoyed seeing the dishes, kitchen wares, linens and other items. I recall us going to the ice cream parlor and her saying she wanted Black Walnut Ice Cream and by God they had it (or by Howard!).

It was a nice day --- a little fair food, a few fun games, a dog costume contest and time out in the sunshine. Hope you are all enjoying Fall too!!

Cuteness Caught in Action

2010-10-17T20:13:00.003-04:00

Grandparent's day is a tradition that has been around, as I recall celebrating with my own grandparents back in Indiana many (too many I may add) moons ago.

The program this year was "Happy Days". The kids were all dressed in white T-shirts, jeans, scarves for the girls and even some teachers wearing poodle skirts. The Pre-Schoolers sung renditions of "Rockin Robin", "The Twist" and various other musical scores. Cole enjoys music to his core and was one of the few boys even going through the motions. His sunglasses, fake microphone and the fact that Mom & Dad were there did distract him some..... as did his "girlfriends" -- Kenley, Hannah, Copeland and Hailey.

In Cole's classroom, his wonderful teacher had a series of black-and-white photos of each child dressed as a grandparent. They looked adorable, as did the artwork lining the walls.

Avery's program was of course much larger, with the entire 2nd grade filling the gym stage and performing a few songs which Mike dutifully captures on digital film for later screening by the grandparents in the comfort of our living room. She too had a "reception" at her class room, artwork and lots of introduction to friends.

Summer's Last Breath...

2010-10-17T20:01:00.004-04:00

Labor day always feels like a sigh of relief and relaxation. The kid's birthdays and the start of school behind us, yet the anxious energy of the fall holidays remains on the horizon. We enjoyed a rather warm Labor Day at our gracious friend's house soaking in their pool. The kids enjoyed cooling off and the temptation of the 'dollar store' water guns was too much for the kids of all sizes.

Our children are growing older, a fact I face every day. But Cole shaving with his toy shaving kit put me over the edge with tears of laughter and a little sadness knowing these cute moments are fleeting. Hence the permanent fixture of my camera in my hand. Oh well, digital cameras were made for me as they are disposable images, yet based on the number of external hard drives we have now I am not succeeding with my selecting editing. HA!!!

Avery has become quite the renassiance lady. She enjoys reading, crafting, football and has most recently taken up tennis. She is an official member of the US Tennis Association and takes "lessons" once a week immediately after school. The tennis program at the kids school is great and she is having loads of fun. She received her racket the other day. I'm waiting for the tennis skirt and racket cover to show up on Santa's list now, although she'd rather have her tie-dye shirt!

Birthday Buddies...

2010-08-28T10:36:00.004-04:00

August is a busy, busy month in our household. Back-to-school fever (maybe more so a symptom for Mom & Dad) really set in early this year. Fortunately, our kids start school relatively early with a mid-August start.

Avery is now in Second Grade and enjoying the new challenges being faced with some old friends. Despite being the youngest (she just turned 7), her does extremely well in school and loves math, science, drama and computers. Cole too was reunited with many of his friends --- girlfriends as he would say --- from school: Copeland, Camille, Hannah, Azsa, the list goes on a on and includes also some very nice young boys as well.

Cole's 4th birthday was the first day of school and odd enough so was another little girl's in his same class (although Cole is about a foot taller). He had a great day and the class enjoyed the "cookie-cake" that Cole had been requesting for weeks. His teacher is pretty good about posting snapshots on their website of weekly activities (Click here for class website).

With nearly 2 months of steady 95+ temperatures, we agreed to once again have the kid's celebrations at one of the city's fabulous pools. The kids, their friends and all the parents enjoyed the water and the large slide was a hit too. As it was a morning event, we elected to have Chick-Fil-A breakfast nuggets and donuts in lieu of cupcakes. It was a great time and (selfishly) easy clean-up.

Cole was so tired by the end of it he could hardly stand! Avery informed us we all needed to go home a take a "good long nap", which we were happy to do!

Thank you for all the well wishes!!!

It's Party Time in Indiana...

2010-07-20T12:50:00.005-04:00

As our blood continues to thin with each year living in Florida (10 years now), we have been more and more stratgic with our visits North choosing to return now in late June, early July versus the tempormental May. There is also the fact that Avery is in school, which lets out just shy of Memorial Day. Hard to believe she'll be in second grade and making her First Communion this coming May.

40 Years Together

Our visit home to Indiana is always jammed pack and always too short. This visit was especially fun and exciting as there was much to celebrate. My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a casual party at a local park. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Mom & Dad's commitment and a testament that, in this day and age, you really can have a "life partner". I appreciate the example of love and support they have given to myself, Mike, John, Amber and the grandkids. Thank you to all that came to celebrate such a noteworthy milestone and achivement.

Big Birthday and New Beginnings
We also celebrated with Mike's family: Sal's 87th birthday (and still going strong I may add), Bruce and Beth's beautiful new lake home, and little Grace's new sister due to be born in August. We spent the day with the Cuttitta family, including John and Joseph, Carol's cousins from the East and West coast. We had a nice time taking in the lake environment and just visiting. The kids especially enjoyed spending time with Grace, which included a viewing of the movie WALL-E --- Grace's first if I remember correctly.

The last set of pictures are from Amber's family's lake house, where Mike and the kids visited and went tubeing. Many thanks for a good time there!

Playtime with the Grandparents & Oliver
Cole became singularly focused on going fishing while at Papa's house. Last year was their first trip, and Cole remained a little guarded. This year was a completely different situation --- wanting to hold the pole himself, bait the hook and even wanting to through the fish back "on his own" (words that are quite common in our house from either a parent's mouth or Cole's).

We got started as early as two retirees, three kids and 4 adults can in the morning and were back the Bridge (a proper place for sure) before 9:30. We had managed expectations to the lowest level possible, as you never know what will happen. God, however, smiled down upon us (Grandpa Londt may have had a hand in it too) and we could hardly keep the poles baited. Before long we probably had caught-and-released at least a dozen good sized blue gill. Cole and Mom took first prize. Cole caught the first fish, probably an 8-10 inch long bass, but the line broke. His "fish story" telling has begun in ernest. The last fish belonged to Mom --- a large catfish.

We ended the day with lunch, a nap and homemade ice cream --- just as life should be.

While the first part of the week was quite busy, the latter part was a little more low key. We visited my grandmother, Dorothy, who is doing much better. We played Uno and the kids made her necklaces, flowers and other trinkets out of their wickie-sticks (great toy I have at the ready ALWAYS). Later in the afternoon we visited Mike's parents and most of the McGinley family, including Jim and Kathy from the East Coast. The kids enjoyed the "pool" and Nana enjoyed the water guns that I had brought along, a bad idea in retrospect.

The remainder of the week was filed with playing with Oliver, talking about the new baby (Amber is due in September), catching fireflies, watching the deer and enjoying the Denny's pool (thanks Bob & Grace).

Our final full day was spent at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. The kids have their favorite activities, rides and animals. It is not quite a complete visit home without a trip to the zoo! After a cooling down/nap period, we ate dinner at St. James in Avilla (yummy) and ventured over to Auburn to take in the life-like bronze statutes sprinkled around the quaint town. The kids enjoyed the hunt for sure!!!

A wonderful visit for sure. Thanks to everyone for your hospitality! Can't wait to do it again next year!!!

Happy Father's Day...

2010-06-22T21:16:00.004-04:00

Father's Day, or as Mike would say Father's WEEKEND, began with the watermelon festival and ended with a cold beer & BBQ. Our good friends, Ed & Amy, invited us over to have some hot dogs on the grill complete with all the fixins. We took advantage of their lovely pool.

All the Dads gave into the chants from the children for cannonballs and "kid-tossing", a now annual tradition. The belly-flop stings soon subsided and a great time was had by all.

Many thanks to Ed, Amy and their entire family.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!

Watermelons Galore

2010-06-22T10:26:00.003-04:00

Given the 100+ temperatures, there is little to do outside if you are not in a pool this time of year. However, we were brave enough to venture out to the 60th Annual Watermelon Festival not far from us. It is a small town festival complete with food fare and games, politicians shaking hands and of course a parade. The watermelon was sure tasty (Florida is one of the nation's largest growers) and got us out for a few hours.

Cole was sporting his new hairdo and Avery had the cutest watermelon top that I had purchased last year on a clearance sale. Too funny! The kids enjoyed the bounce house, self-contained human containers (see the pics) and of course cool watermelon chunks ----- spitting the seeds was just a bonus round event!

Sassy at Sixty

2010-06-22T10:19:00.003-04:00

Mike's Mom, Carol, turned sixty earlier this year and the entire family and some her friends went in together to get her a get-a-way week on the beach. Earlier this month, Carol and some of her friends ventured South to Amelia Island (awesome) to a nice home with its own pool in the front courtyard. It was a nice home with plenty of space and close to the beach, although the neighborhood pool with a good book was the routine for most days.

Our family joined them for the first weekend and headed the beach the first chance we could. Cole spent the entire day playing in the sand, while Avery was in the ocean for all but 15 minutes. Schools of dolphins (you can see some in the pictures) swam by and the water felt great.

Mike was nice enough to prepare gourmet fajitas that night, complete with margaritas. A great time was had by all!

Life Lessons - It Takes Time to Grow (both tomatoes and hair)

2010-06-22T10:09:00.004-04:00

Some things in life are just hard lessons that can only be fully appreciated when experienced first hand. One such lesson is the pleasure, and work, of growing a garden. Mike and Cole are quite found of tomatoes and we thought we would expand to a tomato tree this year. As part of the effort, the KIDS are responsible for tending to the plant. While the "fun" soon turned into work, they were very proud of themselves and the first tomato they grew themselves. Lesson Learned!!! Hard work and commitment pays off.

Unfortunately, Cole also learned the hard lesson that scissors are indeed meant for paper. The barber indicated that many boys fall victim to this temptation indicating that this situation was a "common" occurrence for boys of the 3.75 age, although I'm sure Cole didn't take any comfort in his new found brotherhood. He has come to enjoy the fact that he doesn't need his hair brushed every morning and even thinks he swims faster with his new haircut. That being said, he asks routinely if it is growing back. Again, Lesson Learned (at least for now)!

Go Alex!!!

2010-06-22T10:03:00.003-04:00

Mike's cousin Alex and some of his IU fraternity brothers participated in Push Across America's Florida bike route to raise awareness and money for people with disabilities. The bike event starts in Miami and over the course of 10 or so days the team makes their way to Tallahassee's beautiful old capital building.

Mike and the kids met up with Aunt Jane to celebrate Alex's achievement in this over 800 mile journey, which I'm sure was much more than a physical endeavor. We are all very proud of him and were excited to be there to cheer him up the last big hill toward the capital building.

Mother of all Weekends

2010-05-13T20:59:00.009-04:00

Wow, May has come up on me quick this year. Mike and the kids surprised me with a Mother's Day weekend in Orlando. With my travels this year, we had a free hotel stay and already had seasonal passes to the Disney Water Parks --- Blizzard Beach rocks. We have found this weekend to be a great time to visit the waterparks as it is hot enough to enjoy the water (90+ each day we were there), but it is not crowded at all. I don't think we waited in line once and most of the pools were nearly empty until mid-afternoon.

We also took in, as Mike would say, "the house with the mouse". Cole is now 43 inches tall (scary to think he is only 3.5 years old) and had crossed the height limitation for the big roller coasters, although the "Mommy is going to have a heart attack barrier" was barely surpassed. We rode Splash Mountain (boat ride with a 5 story plunging soaker) and Big Thunder Mountain railroad, which were all hits with Cole and of course, Avery.

We capped off the weekend with a trip to Cirque Du Soleil's LA NOUBA, which has a permanent showing at Downtown Disney. I have seen this particular show 5 times, and each time I think it is best money I've been on a live performance. Afterwards we did some window shopping. There was a "build-your-own" model car store, a candy cauldron with the cutest apples that had been dipped and decorated to look like Mickey Mouse's pants and grabbed some sushi from Wolfgang Puck's.

God Bless all the mothers and the children that gave them that special title.

Spring has Sprung

2010-05-13T20:53:00.005-04:00

Springtime in Florida lasts about 3 weeks, but what a show. Mom & Dad have historically ventured down to take in the sunshine, warmer weather and some quality time with Avery and Cole. March is especially beautiful as the flowers are all in bloom and the sweet smell of honeysuckle is in the air. The side effect, especially bad this year, is a daily dusting of yellow pollen.

The following pictures are a composite of our town's spring festival, which featured a gulf coast sea specimum exhibit, art projects, and the festival staple: bounce houses. There are also pictures of the kids enjoying the warmer weather, Cole's classmates and Easter Egg hunt as well as our Easter with Mom & Dad.

We hope you too had an Eggcellent Easter!

Happy Birthday Mike......29 right?

2010-03-01T16:27:00.005-05:00

Mike's birthday was this past weekend and his family made the trip down from Indiana. Carol and her dad, Sal (a 'young' 86) drove while Dave opted to surprise Mike with a flight into town mid-week.

We were blessed with some nice spring weather and took the kids to the park a couple of the days, ate lunch outside and the Hoosiers worked on their tans (obviously not my family as we just burn).

For his birthday dinner, Mike wanted to drive down to the start of the coastline to a family owned seafood place. We got there just as the sun was going and noticed the moon was already up and full, which may have explained the kid's crazied looks.

We capped off the weekend with a dinner at home: jerk chicken, parmasean coucous, asparagus with pepper cheese, dinner rolls with Grandma Dorothy's jelly, and feta cheese stuffed tomatoes. Dessert was a selection of cakes: Avery's Devil Food cake made with her Easy Bake oven and Cole's Lemon Layer cake. YUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!

Backyard Bandits!

2010-02-28T21:51:00.005-05:00

WE WERE ROBBED!!!

That can be the only reason our birdfeeder that I filled a mere 3 days ago is now suddenly empty, swinging freely in the warm Spring breeze. In my "Neighborhood Watch" stakeout to catch the stealth like thief I discovered an appreciative squirrel and a series of birds were the bandits.

They are like family now, frequenting the bird feeder as often as they like. Even sunning themselves on the deck. Too funny!

I Love You!

2010-02-28T21:44:00.005-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all those that we love....

I had "party" duty at Cole's classroom for Valentine's Day. I secretly love it and Cole loves being host too. We made a special fruit tray with all his favorites and took in his hand-written Valentines for his little buddies.

We had a little celebration at home too --- any excuse for cake. In addition to all that fun we celebrated our friends, the Gendusa's, twin's birthday, which happens to fall on Valentine's day.

We are lucky to have such loving family and friends in our lives. Have a good day.

Dog Gone Good Time...

2010-02-10T10:28:00.007-05:00

Super Bowl Sunday was a day of mixed emotions in our house. On one hand, we had the 'agony of defeat' cloud lurking about as the Colts lost to the New Orleans Saints. We were all disappointed, but did acknowledge that the Saints --- at least for those 60 minutes --- were the better team and the victory was tempered by the fact their quarterback was a Purdue graduate (GO BOILERS).

On the other hand, Avery had attended a little friend's birthday party earlier in the day that was the end-all-be-all for a girl of 6 years old. The party was held at a local boutique that specializes in "little girl" events as well as etiquette lessons.

The theme of the party was "Pampered Poodles" and the girls dressed up like, you guessed it, poodles. First they had their nails done. Then they moved on to create their own "doggie bath" product (aka bubble bath). Next, they adorned themselves with tutus, gloves, doggie ears, high-healed shoes and every imaginable accessory available to them including a custom "dog collar" that they made themselves from beads.

After they were in full gear and their faces painted to fit their poodle personalities, the girls danced around the boutique (to the song 'Who Let the Dogs Out', completed the limbo and even did a conga line). You can imagine the noise level.

The party ended with a formal tea -- complete with linen napkins, china and crystal slippers that were overflowing with gummy bears. The ladies were treated to tea cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, tea (aka pink lemonade) and dog biscuits that looked to be gourmet pretzel rods.

The guests were given gifts ---- yes, this is a new and weird tradition to me --- of plastic pursues filled with candy as well as a pink and white poodle, which they stuffed themselves as part of the afternoon's events.

It was a lot of fun and Avery was overjoyed with the girl treatment. We did, however, return home only to have her rip off her girly clothes, put on some sweats & her Colt shirt, gather her football and cuddle up with Dad on the couch to watch the kick-off.

A true renaissance woman! HA!

Daddy's Little Girl

2010-02-06T16:12:00.006-05:00

Wow... February is here already? It is a fun, albeit short, month for us with numerous friends birthdays, the SuperBowl --- especially fun this year, go Colts! ---, Mike's Birthday and of course Valentine's Day.

And while all that has occupied Avery's mind since Christmas is using her new Easy Bake oven to make her Dad's birthday cake, I was able to distract her for a few days this past week. You see the first Friday in February is the Father-Daughter dance at the kid's school.

This year's theme was "Denim & Diamonds", so we were trying to find appropriate western wear. I was able to find some clearance cowboy boots at Walmart and some felt pieces that we fastened into a vest ----- it is amazing what some fabric glue can create. Avery looked adorable, although I am of course bias!

I worked the event and can attest the girls (and the Dads) all had a great time!

Christmas 2009...

2010-01-03T15:48:00.008-05:00

Merry Christmas!

I'm writing this entry from our den, with all my precious angels fast asleep for their Sunday afternoon nap! We had a GREAT time with our visit back home to Indiana. The older I get the more I appreciate the small traditions that we can all count on to make the holidays special and to weave the memories into the fabric of our minds. This year was no exception...

The day we arrived the town had just been blanketed by a beautiful snowfall. The kid's eagerly took their naps on the way to Papa & Grandma's house in anticipation of playing in the virgin, white snow. Papa was game too. Braving the winter cold and an ever-growing granddaughter with a well equipped sled and lawn tractor. Cole was quickly overcome by the cold, but Avery endured. She made snow angels, picked snowball fights with me and even helped clean off the driveway a bit.

Christmas Eve was spent with my family. John, Amber and little Oliver (suffering from an ear infection, but fairing pretty well) as well as my parents and my grandmother, Dorothy, all huddled around the beautiful table and meal Mom had prepared for us. Dad read the story of the Christ child's birth and we settled in to reflect on the blessings before us: our family, our health and our good fortune to have a lovely Christmas.

That night was spent preparing for Santa's arrival. We decorated gingerbread cookies for Santa to snack on and even spread out special glitter infused food for the reindeer. The kids quickly went to bed once they heard sleigh bells outside their window....... the rest is history!

Christmas morning was spent attending church with Mom and then making our way over to Mike's Aunt & Uncle's house for an afternoon buffet. Excellent food and a nice visit with the family made us all longing for a corner on the couch to catch a quick nap before the night festivites with Carol's family.

The Cuttittas all gathered to marvel at how much Grace had grown and how playful the kids were -- anxious for sure with the anticipation of more goodies. We had a nice celebration, complete with a white elephant gift exchange that still left all the family members talking to each other (HA!).

We rounded out our time home with a big birthday bash for Dave, a trip to the Farm for some awesome sledding (2 hours outside followed by hot chocolate and more slumber), a family reunion at Peg & Chris's comeplete with all the great-grandchildren except little Oliver, a celebration dinner for Carol's 60th Birthday and a joint New Year's party at Mom & Dad's.

We hope you have a VERY blessed 2010.

Holiday Preparations

2010-01-03T15:30:00.008-05:00

WOW! Are the holidays REALLY here already? I'm still rationing out Halloween candy to our little ones. It has been a little harder to get into the holiday spirit given the recent passing of Mike's paternal grandmother, Rita, and my recent travels to the Big Apple, however last week gave us a shot of Christmas Spirit that we needed.

I was so very fortunate to be in Cole's classroom the morning of an annual event just for the faculty and students in grades PreK - 5th at the kid's school. I joined the 40+ children ages 3 & 4 in the school bus ride up to the "big school" to avoid the tidal wave of showers happening outside.

As I took a seat in the cafeteria, my heart was warmed to see the eager faces of all these children. Soon the choral director took center stage to lead the children in Jingle Bells, Rudoplh the Red Nose Reindeer, Feliz Navidad (a little rough), the 12 Days of Christmas complete with hand gestures and finally "Let there be Peace on Earth" (a tear jerker for sure).

As the last notes still lingered in the air, the often stern looking headmaster soon was before us. He told the children, eyes wide with anticipation, that he had something VERY important to read to them. He quickly turned around, placed on his Santa hat, and was soon reciting Clement Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas". These innocent, young faces hung on every word!

A very special moment that I was blessed to have shared with Avery and Cole. Here are some of the pictures as I am NEVER without my camera as you all know...

We also took some pictures of our favorite city park all decked out and our holiday decorating, many of the items made by the children or things I have collected over the years. Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

2009-11-28T21:34:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving is always a good time. As is our tradition, Mike's family came down last weekend and spent the week enjoying their grandchildren, shopping, soaking up some sunshine and helping prepare for the holiday. The kids enjoy many fun things when their Aunt and grandparents are down: movie nights (and afternoons), face painting, dress-up, crafts, outside play, etc. It was a hectic week, but still a nice vacation.

Avery, Cole and the entire family helped prepare our "feast" as Avery calls it. We tried brining our turkey this year, which is essentially an aromatic salt bath to seal in the juices before roasting. In addition to salt, we had allspice berries, candied ginger, brown sugar, whole peppercorns and vegetable stock. While the flavor didn't really change, it was a very juicy turkey indeed. Definitely a keeper.

That was the only real break from tradition -- my group is serious about their Thanksgiving being consistent in order to achieve full nap potential afterwards. As such, the turkey was accompanied by sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, crossaints, stuffing, cranberry sauce --- not like Grandma Dorothy's though :( --- and of course Grandma Sacher's pumpkin pie with Cool Whip! Delicious if I do say so myself. Many thanks to the people in my life, especially my Mom, that showed me how to cook and bring family and friends around the table to share these special memories.

Our visit with Mike's family ended, as it always does, with breakfast at "Another Broken Egg" Cafe. They have the most wonderful Santa and the kids were decked out in Sunday best to state their case for being good and to provide an inventory of items for appropriate compensation of such good and noble acts through the year. WE SHALL SEE!!!

We are truly, truly blessed!

Holidays w/ Mickey

2009-11-28T21:17:00.004-05:00

During the Summer my family had decided to venture to Disney World as our Christmas celebration.... plus there were great flight deals from Wisconsin ;). We rented a home that our immediate family had stayed in earlier this year. It is a rental property about 5 minutes from the park, has 5 bedrooms, large kitchen plus a pool & spa (very reasonably priced).

Our first main event was to attend the Very Merry Christmas celebration at the Magic Kingdom. This is largely a night event complete with wonderful parade, hot chocolate, cookies and all the merriment that the park provides naturally. We kicked off the night by having dinner in Cinderella's Castle --- great food and the Fairy Godmother was a hit with Oliver, Cole and Avery Jane! Dessert was a hit with all the adults!

Day 2 brought lounging around the house and taking in the pool and spa. The kids enjoyed spending time with Oliver, Grandma and Papa as well as John & Amber. It was a nice relaxing day for the group that was capped off with the ever popular "Polar Express" movie.

Day 3 centered around the Gaylord Palms hotel. The hotel was completely decorated for the holidays --- Christmas trees, wreaths and flora galore. The hotel's large atrium was home to koi fish, alligators and several gnomes that the kids enjoyed finding while the adults took in the other sights of the season.

The main event of the day was the ICE show. On a day that was near 80 degrees outside, we bundled up in parkas that the event provided in order to walk through the 9 degree display of 2 million pounds of ice that had been scuplted into various forms of winter wonderland themes: eskimos, polar bears swimming, a carosel, a life size nativity scene (the pictures don't do it justice) and of course Santa. The kids favorite --- and Grandma's too --- was a series of slides made of ice. Cole, Avery and Mom all ventured down the frozen tundra!

Our final full day was spent at Downtown Disney. There was an art festival, although the majority of what we saw were unbelievable chalk drawings down around the grounds. Thankfully the weather cooperated. We enjoyed going through the World of Disney story and other favorites including the miniture train that apparently is still big enough -- and cool enough -- to transport Avery! We ended the afternoon with lunch at TREX, which is a restaurant complete with animatronic dinasors. Oliver's eyes were as big as saucers.

We had a great time just visiting and sharing a few special outings out with the family.

Halloween Night with Candy Delight!!!!!

2009-11-08T12:02:00.006-05:00

We had a wonderful Halloween Season this year, despite Papa & Grandma delaying their usual Halloween trip to a family get together at Disney World in a week or so.

I had taken a few pictures of the kids a few weeks before Halloween in order to send to the family. The kids had also worn their old costumes (Raggedy Ann and Peter Pan) to school for their "dress as a literary character" day during Homecoming Week. Too cute.

We enjoyed our annual trip to the local pumpkin patch. It is always fun and we typically pick out a couple small pumpkins for the kids to take to their teachers. Cole's pumpkin present, however, made it's way back home as he appararently thought it was merely a show-and-tell item. HA!

The day before Halloween was full of Halloween parties at the school. Mike and I both helped with the 3 & 4 year olds halloween carnival (loads of fun). The kids started out with a parade for the older kids and met up with their 5th grade buddies. They then ventured onto their playground, which had been transformed with games that parents had thought of (some very creative people) and some fashion stations complete with orange and black nail polish. I ran the face painting station, which was quite popular as you can imagine. Loads of fun.

We capped off our Pre-Halloween Night by hosting dinner with our friends the Gendusas. We had the kids make their own "BODY PART PIZZAS" complete with blood (sauce) and other assorted toppings appropriately labeled. Our dessert, compliments of Amy's famous triffle bowl, was an eerie dirt-dessert with gummie bugs and chocolate rats. The kids LOVED it all....... especially the mini-sodas that were covered in Frankensteins, Mummies, etc. We always enjoy our time with the Gendusa family!!!!

Halloween night brought a first for us --- WE LEFT THE HOUSE. We typically have a full-time job Halloween night just handing out candy (we buy nearly 70 pounds of it). This year we were invited to a lovely Halloween party hosted by 4 families, two of which have children that attend school with Avery & Cole. They had a blow-up haunted house, a permanent play fort in the shape of a pirate ship and loads of goodies for the kids. After eating, the parents had arranged 3 separate trailers with hay bales to pull the kids around through the VERY quiet neighborhood for trick or treating. It was a beautiful night complete with a full-moon. We are very blessed to have such thoughtful friends.

We hope you had a SPOOKtacular Halloween too!

Fall! Finally!

2009-10-17T16:09:00.006-04:00

Well we've been wanting Fall to arrive and boy did she this weekend. We went from temps in the upper 80s last week to not even in the 60s today. While I realize our family up North may still find this nothing to cause alarm, our kids were "chilled to the boney" as Cole noted.

Despite the cooler temps and a strong wind, we headed out to enjoy one of the many fall festivals in the small, quaint towns around us. The Pumpkin Festival is one of our favorites as there is so many different things to do and all the merchants decorate their stories with some fun fall & Halloween decor.

This year had all the traditional fair items: fair food, face painting, kiddie rides, an International Fire Truck and of course pumpkin painting. The committee also added a costume pet for your pet ---- 3 dogs dressed as Wizard of Oz characters won --- and a stage for children to dance upon for free entertainment. There was even a fortune teller --- Avery is apparently very smart, going to be a cheerleader in high-school and invent a smear-free lipstick that makes millions. We shall see!

It was fun to do all the activities, eat some "healthy food" (note deep fried oreos were being offered as well as homemade potato chips from a guy that rigged up the potato-corer to a drill) and see the very unique merchanise offered in this quaint little town. We capped off the afternoon with a hay ride pulled by an old tractor and an even older gentleman.

We hope you too are enjoying fall!

Yee Haw Ya'll...

2009-09-30T20:41:00.003-04:00

Fall is definitely upon us, despite the mid 80 degree temperatures. You know it is fall when the nightly topic swirls around school --- the homework, the report of the day, the who-did-what-to-whom on the playground and of course the "EVENTS"! Last Friday was Grandparent's Day --- a nice Hallmark Holiday that has made it's way into our school's fall line up of activities. I volunteered to assist with Cole's room and attended Avery's program as well.

Both were very nice, with Western adornment on the children and classrooms alike. There were many smiles and all-and-all it was a nice event....

This week is 'HOMECOMING' week, which Avery quickly pointed out made no sense as they were not going home but rather going to school --- too smart for her own good. That puzzle quickly fled her mind when she found out that she could wear her PJs to school (Monday) and her Purdue cheerleading outfit (Tuesday) and Western wear today. I broke out my glue gun, fabric paint, and special printer paper that allows you to create custom iron-on transfers to create some Western day gear --- capped off (literally) with some hats that my cousin Joe and his wife Heidi had sent our kids a few years ago!

Ah, to be a kid again...... although I don't think my PJs are in any shape to wear to work ;)

BFF (Best Friends Forever)

2009-09-09T07:42:00.003-04:00

We took the plunge, literally, this Labor Day Weekend to celebrate the kids birthday and spend some quality time with Ed & Amy's family. Our group of 9 ventured to DisneyWorld's Blizzard Beach water park for 2 days of swimming, climbing and lounging around the pool. We had a great time. The weather was great and the crowds were fairly light.

Mike & Ed took the Summit Plummet challenge and lived to tell their story, which seems to increase in 'near-death' scariness each time it is told.

We stayed at a rental home about 5 minutes from the parks. It was very nice -- 5 bedrooms, its own pool & spa and about half the cost of a hotel (even better these days).

We ended the weekend with a trip to the T-REX restaurant which has a prehistoric theme and animated creatures. It was a great deal of fun and the kids especially enjoyed the lava cake & ice cream (complete with dry ice smoke) that stood in for the traditional birthday cake.

Avery Jane Turns 6!!

2009-08-30T07:18:00.003-04:00

Birthdays are a big deal when you are under 10!!! Balloons, the cake, notification to every living soul that today is your special day, etc.... this tradition is only heightened when it involves Avery for she knows no stranger. Avery, again, is the youngest in her class turning 6 only a few days after school started. She enjoyed her school celebration (the other little girl is Larsen who was in her Kindergarten class) as well as the small family celebration we had.

She received many wonderful things --- THANK YOU --- and especially enjoyed her magic kit, Ariel doll and whatcha-ma-call-it where you make a shape by depressing these soft pins (see the pictures).

We had a great time although --- just think our first-born was turning 6!!

It's back to school we BOTH go!

2009-08-23T22:36:00.004-04:00

The day has finally come -- Avery and Cole are once again both at the same school, which happens to be only 5 minutes away. It was hard to leave our daycare that had been so welcoming and loving to our children, but cutting off 35 minutes each way to and from school has sure been nice.

Cole is in the Pre-K 3's room with 10 other children. He has enjoyed school and is just as outgoing as ever. He has transitioned very well -- including bathroom usage and naps -- and was eager to celebrate his birthday with his new BFFs (best friends forever for those of you non-texters).

Avery too has seamingly settled back into her routine. She was slightly disappointed one or two of her friends were not in her homeroom, but she got over that quite quickly. First grade is an adjustment for us all -- no afternoon rests, homework everynight, on-line weekly grade/progress reports, etc. She is enjoying it and looking forward to celebrating her birthday with her classmates too...

Cole Hayes Turns 3!

2009-08-23T22:24:00.005-04:00

A mere 24 hours before he started Pre-School, Cole officially turned 3! He seems well past that tender age to Mike and I --- size, wit and ability to hang in there when wrestling with his sister have always made him seem older. This coupled with a recent 'teenage-like' desire to do it on his own make me long -- just briefly -- for a time when he could only say DaDa!

But alas, our little man is growing. He still loves to be cuddled, read to and anything involving his sister. Cole loves to help in the kitchen or "boy projects" with Dad outside. Mike has been longing for this birthday as it is the official transition from toddler toys to, as Mike puts it, the "cool stuff". NOTE: The large transformer toy in these pictures was Mike's idea and took him about 1 hour to 'transform'. But hey, it makes cool noises.

We had a relatively low-key birthday given school was starting the next day. Carol, Dave and our gaggle went to a local kids place that has 8 or so inflatables inside (in the A/C) as well as arcade games. It is what Cole wanted to do and both kids had a great time. We returned home, had some pizza, opened gifts and ate some wonderful cake.

It was a great day!

Fire in the Hole!!

2009-07-05T20:34:00.003-04:00

We had a lovely 4th of July weekend..... Carol was down for her 'summer visit' and we hung out at the city pool and with our friends, the Gendusas, for a good bit of the holiday. We started the celebration with our favorite 4th of July meal -- crab legs (cheap this year) and homemade lemonade! Yummy!!!

Saturday night, we ventured to a little town about 30 minutes North to attend their hometown --- FREE --- Fourth of July celebration that the kids and I found last year when Mike was at a Nascar race. The festival is very nice --- crafts, bounce houses, "fair food" and one of the best fireworks displays. The kids enjoyed the snow cones and goodies that Amy and I had packed --- including glowsticks and hair glitter. It was a hit with the kids, the adults and the grandparents! Too bad Avery's make-up I did at home didn't survive --- she looked like a member of KISS by the time the fireworks were done.

We ended the weekend with a dip in Ed & Amy's pool Sunday afternoon..... as always, a good time was had by all. Mike, however, is a little sore from launching the kids in the pool --- we are renting him out for parties now to pay for his renewed golf habit!!

Happy Independence Day!!

Pictures of Americana

2009-06-28T18:31:00.003-04:00

Land of the Free, home of the Brave. In a few days we will celebrate our independence and while things are not perfect with our country ---- don't get me started ---- I feel blessed that I live in a Land where I can gather together with family and friends to celebrate the simple moments of life.

Maybe this all sounds cheesy to the "outsiders", but who cares. Spending time at Mom & Dads, the farm and just visiting with family renews us to venture back to the corporate world we were desperately seeking refuge from in the first place.

There were many "firsts" this visit...
- John's first Father's Day
- The kids first time fishing
- The kids first time picking raspberries
- The first time Oliver went swimming in a pool
- The kids first visit to "the Magic Wand" ice cream parlor
- The unvealing of the restored John Deere tractor
- Cole's first time on a horse

It was such a nice visit and I look forward to many more!

Follow me, follow me...

2009-06-28T18:27:00.004-04:00

Do you remember the song? "Follow me, follow me to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. There's so much here to see and do if you follow me!". A visit to the zoo has become a tradition of sorts on our journeys home, assuming the weather permits. The FW Zoo has been consistently rated as one of the top children's zoos in the country and recently opened the new African Journey.

We had a large group with us, with both sides of the family attending: Beth, Christine, Gracie, Nikki, John, Amber, Oliver, Mom & Dad and of course our crew. It was a very nice morning and the kids really enjoyed the new exhibits and spending time with their cousins.

Sun-bathing Beauties!!!

2009-06-28T18:23:00.004-04:00

We decided to venture home to Indiana during some warmer months this year and settled on Father's Day weekend. Our first full day home was spent with Mike's family at Bruce & Beth's wonderful lake cottage.

We had a wonderful day --- mid 80s and a nice steady breeze. All the girls enjoyed the pier and the laughter of the little kids that seemed to drawn to the water. With Avery's encouragement, I braved the frigid lake which ended up being pretty refreshing!!

Alex and Christine were kind enough to take our speed demons on a jet-ski ride, which of course was a big hit.

The kids could not stop talking about the lake and seeing Gracie Jane! It was a picture perfect day...

Schools Out for Summer!!!

2009-06-14T21:33:00.006-04:00

WOW!!! Has it really only been 2 weeks since school has been out? Seems longer, and I'm not even home with the kids all day (HA!). We started swim lessons the last week of school --- Avery and Cole with an instructur every night, four days a week. The kids love it and have learned alot.

It has made days like today (100 degrees here) all the more enjoyable as we can enjoy the pool a little easier, although a cautious eye is always on them --- especially Cole 'I think I'm a fish' Hayes!

We had a lovely afternoon with our friends, Amy & Ed, and their kids: Nathan (6), Hannah (6) and Sarah Ann (5).... the kids (young and old) enjoyed the relief from the hot, humid temperatures.

We capped off the day with a fashion show from Cole & Avery --- note Cole's big boy underpants complete with skull & crossbones. Avery enjoyed her newly painted blue nails. Too cute.

Hope you all are enjoying summer too!!!

Hard Work Pays Off

2009-06-14T21:19:00.003-04:00

Not many people can say they love what they do and while I don't profess my undying, daily devotion to my "FIRM", I do enjoy the fact the work that I do has an impact on the way citizens and business owners do business here in Florida.

Each year, the ComputerWorld Honors Program recognizes IT projects from around the world at their awards banquet held in Washington D.C. This year, approximately 150 projects from all over the world, representing everything from a "green car", to a new technology at a blind school to welfare eligiblity determination solution in Georgia were recognized.

I was very proud that the project I most recently managed was also selected. I attended the event with my client counter-part, Janice Jackson, and our company had5 other projects receive awards (two with achieve the highest honor in their categories). While we didn't take home the proverbial 'brass ring', I was very proud of the work we had done and that we were in the company of projects that were in the 100s of millions (DOD Homeland Security).

The night was perfect, the venue goregous (this was the building where Truman signed the NATO agreement), the meal delightful and the company entertaining.

I am truly blessed to work for a company that encourages us and celebrates our victories as a partner with our client.

Splish! Splash! Mommy needs a nap!!

2009-05-16T07:27:00.003-04:00

We had wanted to get away this year for Mother's Day, but weren't quite sure where to go. Months ago I had ordered tickets to the Space Shuttle Launch, but thought the crowds and the fact you had to be there hours before the launch for security checks were going to be too much for the kids. As such, we gave our tickets to some friends and all worked out!

We still headed to the Orlando area as we had season passes to Disneyworld and the kids (big and small) still enjoy going and seeing the magic! We spent two days at the Disney waterparks ---- the one looks like a ski lodge and they have a ski lift to get you to the top of the "mountain" for the really big rides.

This was one of the most relaxing vacactions, mainly because we spent a few hours in a lazy river pool!

After the heat of the day had burned off we would head to a park: Magic Kingdom the first night and Epcot the second. The kids had not been to Epcot and there was surprisingly more for them to do then we had remembered. The flower show was going on there, which was a hit to see Disney characters in topiary form, and there were some other new attractions we took in throughout the afternoon and evening.

We capped the night off with a character dinner, which happened to have all the "major" disney princesses there: Belle, Cinderalla, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. These are worth every penny to me as you get a great meal, have the characters all come to your table and they usually have some special drink/cup for the kids.

Avery was thrilled as Ariel was her favorite.......... Cole has been "over the moon" for Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty) since we first watched the movie. He literally could not take his eyes off of her when she was in our area! Too cute! She acknowledged the crush with a little peck on the cheek, which Cole still thinks is there!

Disney will always be a magical place as you see the innocence in the eyes of the children and the return to youth for the adults (assuming you haven't stayed too long!).

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL

2009-05-16T07:10:00.003-04:00

Avery played Spring soccer with practices once a week and Saturday morning games, it was manageable and she really enjoyed it. Cole did too as we typically took a blanket, cooler and a Play-Doh pack for him to engineer new creations.

The games were 4 on 4, with Avery's team most weekends only having 4 or 5 at most. She was with much older children (ages ranged from 5-7) and varying skill levels. One boy was definitely a ringer as his Dad was a professional European player -- fun to watch.

She enjoyed it, but is glad to be moving on to swimming lessons as it is "not so hot"!

The other pictures in this slide show are of Avery's science experiment. The children had to present something scientific to their class and only had 5 minutes. The teacher stressed it should be fun and easy to understand. Admist the 4 or 5 baking soda volcanos, Avery's "Egg Vaccuum" was a hit. Essentially, a vaccumm is created when a lit match is placed in the bottom of a glass bottle and a hard boiled egg is placed on top. The oxygen is consumed and the fire drawls the egg in (creating a vaccuum) to try and get more air.

Avery's teacher said it was too cool!!! The kids really enjoyed it as you can image!

Look what the Easter Bunny brought...

2009-04-19T09:13:00.006-04:00

Mom and Dad delayed their usual Spring trip to coincide with Easter this year. We had lovely weather --- warm, little rain and not humid --- which we celebrated with a trip to our local nature education/conservation area. It includes a boardwalk from which Florida panthers, brown bears, wolf, water fowl and other animals can be seen.

The walk is nice -- although unnerving as parts of the boardwalk jet out into an almost black and surely alligator infested lake --- and was a good reason to get "the stink blown off" as my family would say. At the end of the trail is a nice playground, which offered some welcome relief to the adults that by then were craving a seat and some shade.

We quietly celebrated Easter with Cole accompanying Mom & I to an early Church service, the coloring of Easter eggs and the "hunting" of untold Easter fortunes!! We enjoyed a nice meal, took in a "few" episodes of 'HOUSE' (Papa's latest tivo-aided addition) and just visited. The trip is long, the time is always too short, but we SO enjoy the visits!!!

Here Fishy, Fishy

2009-04-19T08:55:00.004-04:00

Our main "scheduled" event for the trip to Atlanta was to see the Georgia Aquarium (click here). It is, I believe, the world's largest and has some very unique showcasing of species.

There claim to fame is the Ocean Voyager exhibit which includes a tunnel on the lower part of the tank so the fish & sharks are swimming above you (really cool -- plus it has an automated track you just stand on to keep things moving). The tank has 6 million gallons of saltwater. The exhibit has a 61' wide, 23' high and 2' thick main viewing window from which you can see hammerhead & sand sharks, gigantic grouper, whale sharks (largest fish species) and manta rays. It was VERY relaxing....

There were several other exhibits that had touch ponds (you could touch sting rays and sea anemones), large spider crabs --- probably 2-3 feet tall, beluga whales that performed a ballet of sorts, jellyfish and sea otters!

In the Tropical Diver exhibit we were there early enough to see a SCUBA Diver in one of the exhibits cleaning the coral.... Cole was mezmorized by this. The aquarium actually has a dive program for the Ocean Voyager exhibit... I think I'll pass for now!

Where the Wild Things Are...

2009-04-19T08:41:00.006-04:00

This Spring Break afforded us just a few days from work, so we elected to make a long weekend of it and headed to Atlanta. We made an unexpected visit to Zoo Atlanta and really enjoyed the zoo. We had read about it as it has many unique animals, including Giant Pandas, and is one of the oldest zoos in our nation.

Cole's favorite was feeding the parakeet's (an exhibit that happened to open the day we were there); Avery's favorite was the climbing wall --- about gave me a heart attack.

The trip also introduced the kids to downtown Atlanta complete with a carriage ride, a Southern Food restaurant called Pitty Pat's Porch, a "fancy hotel" (Embassy Suites was full, so we stayed at the Hilton) and room service. They LOVED the views from the room!!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

2009-03-29T16:06:00.003-04:00

The weather the past few days has been a little on the wet side, but we needed the rain desperately. It did not, however, spoil the fun at the Easter Egg Hunt we attended over the weekend. Avery's classmate invited her, Cole and a "few" other friends over to enjoy their youth conservation acerage about 20 miles from where we live.

The party was complete with BBQ, face painters, an Elvis look/sound-a-like, pony rides, a petting zoo, balloon animals, slushies, cotton candy and the Easter Bunny himself. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed being outdoors, but the 30x30 foot dessert tent didn't hurt either.

Here are some of the pictures (Avery's classmate Beau is in some of them).

Flowers in bloom (kids too!)

2009-03-18T06:11:00.004-04:00

Mid march is the perfect time to enjoy springtime in our part of the world. Azelas are in bloom! The kids seemed to have bloosomed through the course of the past few months too.....growing taller and more inquisitive each and every day!

While Mike was enjoying a much deserved "guys weekend", I took the kids out to a local park and then onto a state garden. The gardens were once privately held and are one of our favorite picture spots, as you can see.

The kids love it too as there are many 'secret' gardens to enjoy and the multitude of reflecting pools, which seem to tempt fate with a 2 year old boy on the loose.

It was a great time and a beautiful weekend. Hope these pictures bring a little sunshine your way.

You Gonna Eat That Cannoli?

2009-03-18T05:58:00.004-04:00

As is the tradition, Carol came down to celebrate Mike's birthday and get her "brown on" by sunbathing in Florida's 80 degree version of Spring. Sal came along this year and the kids were THRILLED to have both Nana and great-grandpa to show off to and play with as the temperatures warmed up.

We had a great visit. Mike and Sal got to play around of golf, while Carol and I took the kids to the Spring ballet performance. I know it is hard to image a 5 and 2year old sitting through the performance, but it was geared toward children and they were both excellent. We also hauled everyone to Avery's soccer practice... too cute.

We capped off the visit with a great Italian meal, cannolis ---- Cole was a HUGE fan --- birthday cake for Mike and our new favorite, a Dublin inspired ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. We worked it all off with a competitive round of Wii bowling!

A very nice visit.

Butterfly kisses..

2009-02-14T21:48:00.012-05:00

Do you know the song 'Butterfly Kisses' (Click the link)? The lyrics are from a Daddy who used to give 'butterfly kisses' to his little girl at night and how she's grown up and it is her wedding day.

This song was playing in my mind as Avery was buzzing around getting ready for her
school's Father-Daughter dance. The girls in Avery's class had been bursting with excitement all week and after showing up to work the check in table, I could understand why....

The "old" gym was decorated from head to toe ---- balloons ready to drop from the sky, Christmas lights that had made their way off the Christmas trees to twinkle again on this special night and enough red/black decor to make Las Vegas look dull. They really went all out.

Each girl would "check-in" their date and then be announced by one of the volunteer mom's to the crowd -- spotlight on them and an outpouring of "you look beautiful" comments showered the girls!!

There was food, punch and cookies and elegantly decorated tables. They even had
craft stations setup in case the girls (or the Dads) need a break from
the dance floor, which was perpetually fenced by a congo line of 5th grade girls.

Mike had taken Avery to a local French restaurant ahead of time... she was thrilled with the Shirley Temple and alfredo!

A very special night...

Holiday Season 2008........

2009-02-14T21:23:00.007-05:00

I so enjoy the holiday season and our visit back home and settling in for some good old fashioned family celebrations. This year was especially nice since we had extra special events: Dave's 60th Birthday and our first meeting with Oliver Henry!!

Forgive the montage of pictures, but I'm VERY late in posting these and I wanted to get the holiday set all together. We celebrated Christmas with my family first... Grandma Dorothy came for the night and the kids were all a buzz with preparing for Santa Claus to come. We made sure to leave out the milk, cookies and reindeer food that Grandma Jane was clever enough to put green glitter in so they could see it!!!

On Christmas day we ventured out in the bitter cold (too cold this year to sled) to Mike's family's house. We enjoyed the time at Bruce and Beth's house (the kids love the stairs, wood floors to slip and slide on as well as the pool table). The big kid's had fun with Bruce's new toy as you'll see from the pictures. Avery especially enjoyed spending time with Baby Grace, who is too cute for words.

The next day was Dave's 60th Birthday party. We had a great group of family and friends join us and enough food to feed an army. Carol and Nikki made an "adult-only" beverage that was the hit of the party. A good time was had by all.

A few days later we all met up at my Aunt Peg and Uncle Chris' house. It was a very nice afternoon. The kids got to me their second cousins and played away the afternoon. We had a wonderful meal and had a lively exchange of White Elephant gifts (no blood was shed, but it was close!).

Our last night in town was New Years Eve. We did it up right with party hats, noise makers, "wine" (aka sparkling grape juice) and, again, a wonderful meal.

Mike and I are so very blessed with such loving families and the times we can all share together make memories for a lifetime!

Christmas Countdown...

2008-12-13T20:20:00.007-05:00

Christmas is just around the corner and we've been busy getting ready (odd to have to get ready for a holiday that has at its core a message to slow down and enjoy all that God has blessed you with this year).

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending Avery's school Holiday concert. It was very nice and was timed just long enough for the Grandpas and Grandmas to get their snapshots, Moms & Dads to get the video and smaller siblings not to combust from having to sit still AND quiet. There are a few pictures of Avery and some of her classmates....

Last weekend we decorated for Christmas..... inflatables seem to be a big thing around us, I guess because the weather remains decent (as you can see we don't even have coats on). I found a "plump" snowman that was a little different, so we hooked him up along with our outdoor tree. The city's electric company is I'm sure pleased.

I long ago gave up on live plants so I continue to use artificial poinsettias outside on the porch as well as around the tree.... anymore they look so real, plus I don't have to worry about watering them (HA!).

I took some snapshots of some of our holiday decorations.... bells that Mike's Uncle Bruce provided for years, a Santa from Grandma Londt, a Christmas fairy (Avery has the entire collection) and a new sign that I bought this year: Just Be Claus. About sums it up....

Happy Holidays.... see you at the other end of the Christmas Dinner Table soon.

Pass the Turkey Please...

2008-11-27T21:56:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving is here once again.... the forgotten holiday, but one of my favorites. I love cooking the meal, gathering around the table and ushering in the Christmas Season (the pumpkin pie sets the mood too!).

As is our tradition, Mike's family hit the road for the 14+ hour drive (thank God gas prices are down). The kids have enjoyed having Nana, Nikki and Grandpa to play with during their visit.

We've kept busy preparing for "Turkey Day" by watching yet another Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, painting some holiday pictures and Nikki even found time to crochet Avery a beautiful scarf.

Everyone pitched in for the dinner.... many thanks!!! We all had ample time for a nap before we went out to a local city park to enjoy the holiday lights --- 1 million plus. We came back and had bruschetta, havarti cheese on crackers and pumpkin pie (all low-calorie)........YUMMY!

We are very blessed and hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday. Don't stub your toes when the alarm goes off at 3am to get all those Black Friday "bargains". As for me, I hope to cuddle with the ones I love....... at least until mid-morning (HA!).

Enjoy..

Dino-mite Week...

2008-11-15T20:12:00.006-05:00

We have had a DINO-mite week...

First, my friend Julie was in town. It was great to catch up with her and hear all the adventures she and her family have had since we last saw them, which was when I was pregnant with Cole and we all went to Disney (see prior posts). Mike and I talked how nice the visit was and how we longed to be closer to Indiana (Ugh!).

Later in the week we took the kids to the Walking with the Dinosaurs production. This is one of the coolest things I've seen in years. It is a show with a paleontologist host that guides your through the various dino-ages. As he describes each period LIFE size anamitronic dinosaurs come out. Their movements, features and sounds made you forget their support base as they moved throughout the stage. As you can see, some of them were so tall they nearly reached the top of the civic center.

Avery and Cole both LOVED the show. Cole hasn't stopped talking about it since last Saturday!!!

This weekend we opted for some discounted tickets to the fair. Not quite like Indiana's fairs, but still pretty cool for a 5 year old and 2 year old. We had a good time that was rounded out by a picture with some very friendly sea lions (does anyone know how to get fish smell out of your hair?) and some cotton candy.

Great memories...

Spooktacular Day.....

2008-10-31T21:38:00.005-04:00

Halloween has come and gone........alas, the Great Pumpkin didn't rise again!!! The kids did, however, watch Charlie Brown's tribute to Halloween repeatedly over the past week or so.

We missed our church's fall festival, but found a fabulous festival in a little town just West of us. There was a hayride, face painting, crafts and even pony rides. The kids favorite thing was exploring the fire truck ---- nice plug for International!

Today was filled with MUCH celebration. Avery's school had a parade and then bused all the kindergarteners to one of the kids home (would you have 40 five-year-olds at your house?). Mike said it was a grand event, complete with catering.

I helped with Cole's party (13 two-to-three year olds in Mommy-bought costumes). It is always a great event ---- it is all on video, so alas no pictures. However, you can enjoy some of these others.

Have a happy fall...

And they lived happily ever after...

2008-10-09T22:12:00.004-04:00

In early October we attended the wedding of Mike's cousin Sally and her long time beau, Brian. Avery was one of the flower girls in a wedding party that looked like something out of Elle magazine. We had a great time visiting with all of Mike's family, including his second cousins Joseph (San Diego) and Jimmy (New Jersey). Avery danced the night away with Joe. He's a hit in her book!!

We also had the chance to meet Gracie Jane (the bride's niece). She and her parents (Christine and Chad) were all doing well, although maybe a little sleep deprived.

The wedding was beautiful and a great time was had by all. Here is a slideshow of some of our favorite pictures (click on it to see them larger).

View Album

Get your own

Crisp Fall Air..

2008-10-09T21:57:00.010-04:00

We are trying something new (much to my brother's pleasure) and linking you all to a slideshow of our photos. This is all in an effort to get them posted before the kids graduate high-school and to make it easier to download them.

In late September, we ventured home to Indiana to celebrate the wedding of Mike's cousin Sally (see next blog entry as Avery Jane was in the wedding). We made our normal pilgramiage up to the farm and paid homage to Mom & Dad's new barn. They really have the farm looking nice. Enjoy the pictures from these days..

Click on the slideshow to see larger pictures or to download/order prints.

First Day of School

2008-08-21T21:53:00.007-04:00

I must be dreaming as that is the only logical explanation for little Avery Jane being old enough to start Kindergarten. She was obviously more prepared than her mother (and dare I say Dad) -- she walked in like she owned the place, introduced herself to the kids around her and quickly noted her seat as one of the best in the class.

Despite being THE youngest in the entire school (the cutoff is end of August and her birthday is a few days prior to that), I don't think she'll have any problems. Neither does her teacher!

Princess Avery...

2008-08-21T21:29:00.012-04:00

While Carol was down for the birthday celebration, the "girls hit the town". A new children's store opening was the perfect FREE celebration --- complete with face painting, balloon artist, "tall man" and clowns.

After indulging in that, we headed over to have Avery fitted for her Flower Girl dress ---- aka princess dress. Luckily the Tinkerbell on her face did not need to come off.

Later in the week we saw the same artists at a local pizzeria (again FREE as it was kid's night). This time Avery decided to have Ariel (and accompanying balloon) while Master Cole's choice was the always favorite Elmo. Elmo face painting & balloon met their fates later in the evening though!

Birthday Bash...

2008-08-21T21:15:00.005-04:00

We celebrated the kid's birthday's in early August in order to invite some of Avery's friends from her Pre-K class. The party was held at one of the city pools ----- nice day and lots of fun as you can see!

Old-Fashioned Fourth of July...

2008-08-21T21:03:00.008-04:00

The 4th was a little quiet here.... Mike and Dave had gone to the Nascar race in Daytona so it was just the kids and I. We ventured out to a church sponsored Independence Celebration, which was perfect. We celebrated with our own fireworks celebration (and a little guitar hero for the Wii) when Carol came down. We feasted on a traditional BBQ complete with burgers, sweet corn and jello-jigglers for the kids (and the kids at heart!!!).

May Madness...

2008-07-26T15:11:00.020-04:00

We went home in May to visit with the family, attend some graduation celebrations and check in on "Baby Londt" (John & Amber's 1st baby is due in October). We had a great time and were thankful to get out of the Florida heat for a period of time...

Daddy's toys don't compare with Papa's!!!

The old hickory tree surrounded by alfalfa.... really pretty when the wind blows.

Grandma Dorthy, Avery (4) and Cole (1) taking a rest.

Avery went "to the woods" with Dad, Mom, Papa and Grandma Dorothy in search of the rare Indiana morel mushroom. She loved it -- especially the tree house (aka deer stand).

Grandma & Cole waiting for the next ride on Papa's tractor!

We had a nice visit at Mom & Dad's house --- Carol & Nicole joined us for a fire and smores!

Mike's cousin, Alex, graduated H.S. and we went to the celebration. He was 2 when Mike and I started to date (God I'm old!!!!). Doesn't Cole look like Alex?

Mike's Aunt Jane, Avery and Soon-To-Be Mom Christine.

Mike's family (minus Dave, who was working a Nascar race). Wini & Sal where out in full force celebrating Alex's graduation...

Jacksonville Beach...

2008-05-03T13:59:00.026-04:00

We planned part of our trip to Jacksonville to include a few hours at the beach. The sand castle competition coupled with the sun and breeze made for a perfect day. The kids really enjoyed it -- Avery picked up shells, Mike & Cole flew a kite and we all enjoyed an occasional dip in the Atlantic's cool waters.

Where do I dock the boat....
In desperate need of a pedicure....
Alice has lost her cat...

Horton...

Mommy playing photographer.......

Avery found LOTS of shells, which of course we couldn't just leave on the beach!!!

Cole played in the sand for 5 hours!!!! He took a skinny dip in the Atlantic when we were done to get the sand out of the unmentionable places!!

Avery helping Daddy get the kite up, up and away...

The guys admiring the view............ of their kite, or so they said...

Tuckered out.... all of us....

except Avery -- she was too busy jumping waves!

The birds loved the leftover sandwich bread...

Hangin out....

2008-05-02T22:32:00.020-04:00

We took a long weekend and visited the Jacksonville zoo.... it is large (over 90 acres) and has many exhibits for hands on experiences. The kids loved it...

Daddy, Cole (sporting his big-boy haircut) and Avery Jane..

Avery and Cole liked the new Stingray exhibit -- one is just flipped up one of its rays for Avery!
The zoo also has a free splash park -- we let Avery in to get cooled off. Cole hung out with Dad enjoying his first ever snowcone with lemon & raspberry flavoring.

Rock on Man!!!!

This is the lorikeet exhibit -- the kids can feed it citris nectar in an open aviary. Cole was REALLY into it as was Avery Jane. The birds were very welcoming....

You could feed the girafees too --- the zoo was well equipped with wash stations right with all of these hands on exhibits for both the kids safety and the animals.

Avery's favorite....

Cole's unapproval of the hat Mommy picked out!

Avery started pee-wee soccer earlier this spring....

We forgot how much fun a pan of jello and jigglers (non-alcohol of course) can be. I had some letter cutters, which Avery loved. Cole got frustrated so we went and got a spoon and started shoveling it in.....

Mr. Man riding his bike...

Sunny & Seventy....

2008-03-29T15:53:00.000-04:00

Spring usually beckons the family from up North to come down and get thawed out for a bit of time. Carol made her usual trek down for Mike's birthday and Mom & Dad came a couple weeks later to celebrate Mom's 60th as well as help out while my big project at work went live (many thanks to all 3 of them for all their support!!!!!).

Here are some of the memories from the visits...

Beautiful Maclay Gardens as the back drop for this picture!

Main drive through Maclay Gardens -- this was the driveway!

Azaleas in bloom all over the place!

Mike and Cole laughing around.....

Avery looking out the "secret garden"....... there was a wedding going on and the bride was at the end of the reflecting pool getting ready to walk into the oriental garden (see below).

Cole and Grandma enjoying a juice box....

Avery and I "planted" the spring flowers on our front porch ---- no water needed!!!

Celebrating Mom's 60th birthday..............

Fruit bouquet from John & Amber!!!

Tulips from Cole & Avery!

Nana having a great time in the sunshine with Avery & Cole....

Our funny little valentines...

2008-03-01T06:57:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of Avery and Cole on our deck (yes, February in Florida is wonderful). It is hard to believe Avery will start Kindergarten this Fall and as you can see, Cole is holding is own on the growth chart for only being 1.5 years.

Hugs and Kisses to all..

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.... Happy New Year!!

2008-01-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

We rung in the new year at our friends home with children running every which way. There were mocktails and "sparkling grape juice" for the little ones and other libations for those a little longer in the tooth (HA!).

As always, we had a great time. The kids especially loved the 9pm count down complete with streamers, horns and funny hats. It was a PJ party and it was warm enough that most of the evening we were all outside.

God bless and keep you and yours in 2008!!!

I'll be home for Christmas...

2008-01-06T14:22:00.000-05:00

We loaded up the plane with the "required" gear and presents with sights set on the frozen tundra of Indiana. There was enough snow the first day that we were able to make a snowman, which disappeared the next day.

We had a wonderful visit with my family, albeit too short. The visits renew our vow to "move closer" to family.... we'll see what 2008 brings us all!

Avery and Cole around our tree at home... anxious to head out.

Avery at Mom & Dad's house by the woodburning stove.

Papa, Avery, Mom and Cole

Avery shows Grandma Dorothy her new Strawberry Shortcake...

Aunt Amber, Cole, Uncle John and Avery Jane

Reindeer food that Grandma found to guide Santa to Papa's house....

Great Uncle Chris, Cole, Avery, Kenna and Great Aunt Peg

Avery with her surprise that Santa delivered... a blue push scooter

Visiting Nana & Grandpa

2008-01-06T10:38:00.001-05:00

As is our tradition, Christmas morning after we have breakfast with my family we migrate "in-town" to Mike's parent's home. Christmas has extra special celebrations as the 25th is Wini's (Mike's grandma) birthday and the 26th is Dave's (Mike's Dad). Plenty of sweets to go around!

Cole enjoyed the dancing/singing Christmas tree so much we all longed for the batteries to wear out! Alas, Grandpa always seemed to find some more....

Mike and Grandpa Sal...

Nikki, Christine, Wini, Sally and Avery Jane

Alex (senior in HS) and Cole -- Mommy thinks Cole is Alex's twin!

Four generations... Sal & Wini, Carol, Michael, Avery & ColeFour generations.... Rita, Dave, Mike, Avery & Cole

Cole and Great Uncle Ed (aka Santa)

Cole loved his dinosaur!!

Mike sporting some "hard to find" Purdue gear!

Precious moments... Nana gets a new digital camera....

Grandpa Dave's Birthday Celebration...

Avery helping decorate....

Avery helping Grandpa out..... she said he was 69, but noted that was younger than Nana!
Cole and Great Grandma Rita curl up on the sofa!
It took about 20 minutes to get a picture with Nikki and the kids -- post sugar high!

Winter Wonderland...

2008-01-06T08:59:00.000-05:00

While we were home there was snow on the ground. Avery, Mom and I made a snowman the first night, which was melted by the next afternoon. There was, however, some later in the week snow that gave enough dusting to have some good sledding up at the family farm.

Avery and Grandma Dorothy's cat!

Despite the picture below, Cole enjoyed the sledding. Doesn't he remind you of the kid brother on the Christmas story movie ---- a tick about to pop!! At least we aren't yet potty training.

Avery caught in the act as she throws a snowball Mom's way!

Taking off at the top of drive gave enough speed to carry you all the way down the lane, assuming you avoided the cement posts!

Cole and Grandma enjoy the crisp, winter air!

Just in case!!! The old outhouse has found a new home!

The little, orange truck somes in handy when hauling anxious sledders (and tuckered-out Moms) up to the top of the hill to tackle the terrain again.

Grandma Dorothy stayed inside to fix lunch and a special treat -- hot chocolate from scratch!

Fall Family Fun....

2007-11-03T03:24:00.000-04:00

Mom and Dad were once again kind enough to make their way down to Florida for Halloween. Avery was especially excited to see them --- we had their arrival date on our calendar for 3 weeks. We all had a good time, although the visits always seem so short. Here are some of the pictures....

Avery loves to ride her bike and is actually pretty good. We've tried having Cole ride on the back with us, but he has a physical aversion to the helmet. Truth be told, I think he prefers the view from his stroller as opposed to Mom's back when riding my bike!

Cole is a never ending eating machine -- we usually make him the same size plate as Avery, although she eats like a bird unless it is Chick-Fil-A. Cole had a multitude of costumes to choose from..... the firemen won out for the school's party!

Daddy, Cole and Grandma stroll through the pumpkin patch

Avery - 4; Cole - 1

Avery is such a happy child... she is a little mother hen with Cole too!

Cole wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was around these "orange things".

Avery enjoying "milking the cow" at our church festival.

Some girls were offering free face-painting at the festival. Avery was too cute as a kitty cat!

Luckily Mommy brought wet-wipes... the cotton candy is always a special treat! Papa introduced Cole to it -- an instant favorite!

Avery getting her groove-thing on.... she loves to dance!

Pumpkin guts galore!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... she knows how to melt heartstrings (and purse strings!)

Avery's jack-o-lantern all a glow on Halloween Eve!

Avery's school always does such nice parties. She will miss it next year as they do not offer Kingergarden. Until then, she will keep lovin' on her friends. Funny thing, she has a "Cole" in her classroom and Cole has an "Avery".

Daddy ordered a pizza for Halloween dinner --- needless to say we had numerous leftovers!

Grandma, Monkey Boy and FrankenPapa all get ready to hand out treats!

Supergirl and FrankenPapa

Grandma and Monkey Boy

Notice Grandma holding Cole's tail -- he discovered Twistlers!

Avery showing her "ink"!

2007-07-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

July 4th Celebration...

We spent a nice afternoon with our friends, the Gendusas, enjoying their company and their pool. It is hard to imagine these rambungious kids as ever being Cole's size --- I'm starting to sound old.

Cole enjoying cooling off --- don't you love his surfer style rash guard!

Avery is a bathing beauty -- we starting using a swim cap this year to help keep her ear plugs in place. She actually really enjoys it as I think it is a "differentiator" as most kids DON'T use one!

Do I smell the grill?? Avery and Sarah Ann enjoy some traditional July 4th fare! Cole enjoyed his first bites of watermelon and would have eaten as much as Mom would have given him.

2007-07-07T14:43:00.001-04:00

A few of our favorite pictures visiting Nana's house...

Crafting with Aunt Nikki...

Having fun with Great Aunt Karen...

Sally, Cole & Daddy....

Avery, Great-Grandpa Sal & Cole...