Giving it a try

David had great success on the tube.

After watching the adults ski David decided he wanted to give it a try. He was up! For a second.
I give him two thumbs up for trying.

Not as Strong

When I was sixteen I used to water ski three or four times a week. During the summer three or four of us would get together after work and head out on the Essex river to test our skills.
After graduating from high school the water skiing stopped. The reason, I got to big for the boat to tow and the kid with the good "ski" boat sold it.
We took a mini vacation this weekend to a lake house in Maine, it was great, the house was perfect and the company was terrific. It seems every lake house ought to have a "ski" boat and this house was no exception. So I gave it a go, twenty years without trying and BAM I am up and skiing.
I opted to get up on two ski's and drop one. Unheard of twenty years ago but I figured better safe than sorry.
Not five minutes into the adventure my arms began to burn and my grip began to loosen. I was experiencing total muscle failure, or TMF, as we used to call it at military school. By the time I got back to the dock not only were my arms ready to explode, it felt as though the blood vessels in the side of my head might pop too. Not Good.
I went again on Sunday and it was a little better. Until I woke up Monday morning. I could barely move my arms and had to bail on my morning bicycle ride.
Today I feel much better and am thinking I had better add push-ups to my morning exercise routine, clearly I am not as strong as I used to be.

Merry Can Ride

Merry can ride a two wheeler! The training wheels are off and she is flying. She still needs a little help getting started, but with one quick push she is off. Remember when you learned to ride a bike? The feelings of freedom and flying.

So cool!

BIANCHI FORZA

This is my bicycle, I got it on 7/30/2008, I have ridden 5 of the first 7 days and traveled just over 65 miles. Every day I get stronger and more comfortable. The route I have been riding is 13.9 miles, my fastest time is 51 minutes. My speed has increased each day out. The last ride averaged just over 16 mph. It has been a good start, here's to the future.

Not So Bad

We survived, we camped and I dare say we had fun. The camp site was an island, we had canoes and fishing gear, the moms organized a treasure hunt and scavenger hunt, there was plenty of food and besides a lack of sleep everything went smooth.
There was a forecast of rain this weekend and when we pulled into the camp ground office that forecast came true. It was like God flushed the toilet, an unbelievable amount of water over a short period of time. While Heidi was checking in there was a flash of lighting, I got out of the truck and pulled a tarp from under the gigantic pile of camping gear and just as the first soft ball sized drop of rain hit the pavement I got our bedding and clothes covered. By the time I got back in the truck I was soaked to my underpants but a disaster was dodged.
We sat in the parking lot for twenty minutes hoping the deluge would subside and when it did we went looking for our site. When we found it, our camping mates were soaked, but our bedding and supplies were dry. We set up camp, the sun came out, and the kids had a great time, fishing canoing and camping.
Alls well that ends well.

Domino's

The living room is the domain of the children. The big tv is in there and that is the only tv that gets their channels. At the end of the day the living room is where they watch Max and Ruby, Dora and Diego before bed. I sit in the kitchen and watch the news and Heidi works.

Last night there was a commotion, things were happening around the corner, I got up went into the living room and discovered a new twist on an old game. The room was destroyed and when I say destroyed I mean that the the couch was stripped of its cushions, it looks worse than it really is. The couch getting stripped of its cushions happens all the time, how else would you build a fort?

To my surprise a fort was not being constructed, what I found when I came around the corner was the three children, lined up, each holding a cushion. Merry looked up, sensing my presence, and announced "Daddy look at us we have a new game, Dominoes!" and with that she fell into her brother, who fell into his brother, who landed on a strategically placed cushion. Everyone erupted into laughter and when I got to work I posted a story on the blog, which hasn't happened in a long time.

See ya soon.

Success

Tuesday night Merry and David had a great time at ski lessons and both declared that they loved to ski. Which is music to my ears. The only words that sound better are "Yes Daddy.'
The trip to Sunday River was a huge triumph, even Thomas got in on the action, riding up the magic carpet and skiing down between mom's legs. The entire trip down yelling "Look at me Daddy, I skiing FAST!"
David talked me into bringing him up the chair lift. I connected my poles at the handles, put him in between and off we went. Flying down the mountain, we only had one wipe out of consequence, Davids little ski's could not handle the speed and he face planted, I dropped the support poles, spread my legs and avoided the collision. When I stopped, ten feet down the hill, David looked up, blood dripping from his nose and declared, "I am alright Daddy!" I wiped the blood from his upper lip, near tears with joy and pride.
Everyone is looking forward to lessons on Tuesday night and we are going to bring Thomas along for the adventure as well.

Patriots vs. Jaguars,

Halftime
The Pats are going to come out in the second half and leave the Jaguars behind.
The beating starts now.
Wes Welker reminds me of Troy Brown
BRADY FAKES TO FAULK
What a fake !
Yes!
The best fake ever!
Brady to Welker back of the endzone TOUCHDOWN PATS 21-14 Brady turns his back to the defense takes a deep breadth Reengages, surveys the situation and FIRES
DEFENSE
I have a man crush on Tom Brady
28-17
Brueschie hits Garrard in the nuts, missed the tackle but hit him in the nuts. Then he goes deep, Jaguars score a field goal.
Welker drops it. Brady puts in the basket and he drops it Field Goal 31-20 Fucking Rodney 4th and 5 I love Rodney Interception!
4 Minutes left in the 4th
Game over
Great Football Game
Post Game press conference.
Tell me about the fake Tom.
I want an academy award for that play. We tried it in practice, it worked there and in the game.
What did you say to Wes after the drop?
Lawrence Maroney announces the next game is a "speed bump" on the road to our next Super Bowl. To Steve Burton pats Fifth Quarter on CBS affiliate in Boston.
Who folds Scott Zolack's Pocket handkerchief? Fancy.
Brady 26 of 28 best completion percentage ever. 92.9 percent I think.
Randy Moss blocking was exceptional. Play after play blocks great down field. One catch for 14 yards but responsible for at least 75.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Party

We are having a PARTY! We rented a hall, hired a DJ, and invited all our friends. If you are in the area Saturday 12/22 and want to dance, drink and be merry shoot me an email and I will fill you in on the details.

Summer '07 So Far

A Good Start!

What a great beginning to summer. We visited with friends, attended a wedding, marched in a parade, did lots of swimming and had a cook out. The only thing we missed was a trip to the beach.

The boat is broke! but it is OK because we got Grampy's pool. Life is good except for the fact that I still haven't figured out how to play with my kids full time instead of going to work.

Crash

Just like the rest of the eastern seaboard we had one heck of a snow storm Friday night into Saturday. This Nor'Easter made for some prime sledding conditions and we took advantage of them on Sunday.

There is one stump on the sledding hill, it is located about half way down the slope and it is off to the sledders right. The plan was to send Merry and David down in the first sled with Thomas and I chasing close behind.

I got them set and sent them off with a big push away from the stump. Like a long, arching putt they went out and curved back around. It was almost as if the stump was a magnet and Merry's nose was steel. They crashed into the stump with enough force to launch David over Merry's head and the stump. Merry was not so lucky, instead of going over she went into.

My heart stopped, I could see it coming, I could not believe it but I knew from the way the sled was coming around back towards the stump that it was going to be close. I put Thomas down and started running towards the impact zone. Merry was shaken up but a "blood check" revealed nothing. She complained about her nose and lip, neither of which swelled up. David ended up 100 feet down the hill with out a scratch.

Thankfully everyone was alright. We sledded for the rest of the morning without incident. That first run scared the hell out of me though, and Merry and David too!

Sunday Skiing

On a happier note here are some photos from our family ski adventure. I do not know why this first picture is so small. It represents how I spent most of the day.
I tried to move them to the lifts this way, they couldn't hang onto the poles and I had to resort to the bum push.
This is an example of the bum push and it works terrific.

Anticipation

I sit here on the eve of our first family ski trip filled with anxiety and anticipation. Our friends have a condo at SundayRiver ski resort in Maine, they have been last minute asking us to join them every weekend all season long. A month ago instead of not accepting another wonderful invitation we planned for this weekend.

A month ago this seemed like a great idea, today I am feeling a bit anxious. I am sitting at my desk and nothing has been done to prepare for the adventure. I, we, Heidi, needs to pack up winter clothes for three children, we need food. What about the dogs? I forgot about the dogs. Grampy!

I want everybody to have a good time, I do not want the kids to be scared off skiing, I do not want to argue with Heidi. Heidi and I will argue because I feel stressed and when I feel stressed and have expectation of Heidi she tells me to handle my business and get off her back.

My anxiety engulfs everyone in its sphere, everyone involved seems to be uncomfortable. Conversely, when I am relaxed and confident things go smoother. I am going to stop with the worrying and resign myself to the fact that it is going to be GREAT!

I need to move away from the time line and focus on the activities that need to be accomplished. When one task is complete I will move on to the next, simple really.

I got nothing to worry about we are going to have a blast!

Excellent Adventure

Merry and David spent the weekend with Auntie Shannon, they headed down Maine to visit with Mr. and Mrs. Arch, Shannon's parents.

By all accounts they had a terrific trip, the thing is, that the boy who arrived home Sunday night is not the same child that left on Friday. David has always been a spare talker, not really all that interested in sharing all of the details. Things change.

David has not stopped talking since he got back! Fishing pole this and fishing pole that. I did this and can we do that? It is a nice change although a bit tiring.

Auntie Shannon's influence is spreading over my children. Auntie Shannon can talk with the best of them and David is her new disciple.

Play

I love to get lost, lost in play. As an adult we do not often lose ourselves, one of the gifts associated with being a parent is the ability to get down on our children's level and play.

We got snow here in north eastern Massachusetts last week, the snow was then coated with rain, which then froze solid. This combination almost put Jet Blue out of business. Jet Blue's blue's were the Old Blue House's happy.

We went sledding, I love sledding, you do not get to experience the full effect of the joy of sledding unless you share it with three and four year old's. It is all new to them, the speed, the danger and the exhilaration. It makes me happy and my enthusiasm makes them happy. We cheer and high five and laugh. When the sledding is done, over hot chocolate and cookies, we recount our stories of daring and laugh and high five and smile.

Another game that we have been playing a lot of is "tickle me, Daddy" This is David's favorite and quickly rising on Thomas' list. David yells out commands, "Stop", "Tickle" and we laugh and roll and laugh and catch our breath, and laugh. Lost in time, lost in Play.

Fun

Merry looked out the window of the Old Blue House Saturday morning and declared "Daddy, it's a winter wonderland out there!" and you know what?

She was right.

Friday night we got two or three inches of a wet sticky snow that with the falling temperature was like cement on Saturday morning. Merry, David and I ate breakfast,got dressed and headed to Heidi's Uncle Dougy's. Uncle Dougy is Grampy's brother and he has an awesome hill for sledding.

Grampy met us there and the four of us sledded our asses off. We sledded all morning and through lunch. We broke all kinds of speed and distance records, we went of jumps and had wipe outs, it was great. David and Merry are even big enough to walk up the hill under their own power, most of the time.

We were all pooped but Merry had a play date, her bestest friend was coming for the first sleep over at The Old Blue House. Everybody had a great time and went to bed at a reasonable hour. The interesting part of the sleep over story is that our guest is afraid of dogs. Odd to go to a house with two large dogs for your first sleep over when you are afraid of dogs. In the end, it worked out fine.

Sunday, I dusted off the jogging shoes, the last time they saw action was 1/13, 21 days ago. It was nice, nice and cold and tough, hopefully it will not be 21 days until I get out there again.

Sunday night I watched the Super Bowl home and alone, the children were in bed and Heidi was working the tutus. The commercials were fun, the game was tough. Rex Grossman was terrible and the Colts finally finished their season with a win. No more Peyton can't win the big one talk. Thank goodness.