I miss blogging, but not enough to really start back up. I have stories, most of which seem to be relating to work, that I have been writing, but not as a blog. My writing has mostly focused on work. How to solve rodent problems, the reason there are bed bugs in the building, how to stop the termites from eating your house. These are the topics I have been writing about. My audience has not been the blogosphere it has been property managers and land lords. More profitable, less opinionated.

My sister in law has been in town with her two daughters for a couple weeks and my mother in law just left. MIL is planning an addition to our home that is proving to be a bit tricky to pull of. She has gone back to Florida and I have just been told I need to move my shed to conform with a decision made by the ZBA 6 years ago so that she can apply for the waivers to build her new place. I do not know how to move my shed. I have until Wednesday to figure it out.

My dog Maxwell got run over in my driveway. He was sleeping in the shade under Heidi's car when sister in law backed up on him. He spent almost a week in the hospital with bruised lungs, cracked ribs and a severely dislocated rear leg that needed surgery. He is healing slowly but surely.

Merry, David, Thomas, Aiden and Addison are having a terrific vacation and everybody but David is behaving. He is rude to his mother and I am not sure how I can solve this dilemma. I am not there, speaking to him after does not seem to help and I am at a loss. Super Nanny or Mary P please help.

Father's Day Weekend

The weather was beautiful and we took advantage. When I go swimming with the kids it takes me right back to an age of innocence and fun. The worries of adulthood rinse off with the first plunge into the brisk water.

Merry is perfecting her "pencil jump" hands pinned to her side, toes pointed, eyes scrunched up. Before take off you wave to the spectators stand at attention and then proceed with the jump. Upon resurfacing one hand should be raised above your head in a fist that exclaims victory.

I am proud to report that she almost has it mastered, along with the butterfly jump and the ballerina jump she is developing a very impressive resume of tricks. It makes me very proud.

My son Thomas wants to and thinks that, he can fly. He jumps off the side of the pool into and under the water. I pull him up to the surface slowly and he smiles and yells, Again, Again, Again! He learned that from his sister. Sometimes I hold him in my arms, we run down the hill and leap into the pool. He likes it almost as much as I do.

David is far more reserved. Saturday he barely got wet,opting instead to watch and assist his Grandfather in digging a trench. Sunday he swam, but he does not enter the pool with the same abandon as his father and siblings. David makes sure his bubble is secure and lowers himself down the stairs with caution. He doggy paddles around in circles for hours happily swimming in a world of his own, only occasionally asking for the world to "look at me!"

The next ten or twelve years are going to be great fun. I love playing with my kids and I think that they like playing with me.

Here is to sunshine and summertime!

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.

A Gift

My mom gave me a laminated copy of the following, to place in my kitchen , in the window, behind the sink.

No one will ever get out of this world alive. Resolve therefore to maintain a reasonable sense of values. Take care of yourself.

Good health is everyone's major source of wealth. Without it, happiness is almost impossible. Resolve to be cheerful and helpful. People will repay you in kind.

Avoid angry, abrasive persons. They are generally humorless. Resolve to listen more and talk less. No one ever learned anything by talking.

Be wary of giving advice. Wise men don't need it and a fool won't heed it. Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.

Do not equate money with success. There are many successful money-makers who are miserable failures as human beings. What counts most about success is how a person achieves it.

I am not sure about the rules of putting this on my blog but just in case any of the readers here think that something this universal came from my brain it did not. Somebody else thought it up, I just don't know who.

Thanks mom.

Pitch

Had dinner at Grampy and Maymay's last night which was terrific. It afforded me the opportunity to watch American Idol. I do not see this show much and last night I was reminded why. Because I don't care, that's why.

That bass playing fellow with his "Your pitch was off, Dog" was more irritating than Paula "Baby do you Love me?" Abdul. It was like a bad record, repeating itself over and over.

I felt bad for Ryan Seacrest, having to stand next to those tall, good looking, talented woman. Him being so petite and with that obvious lack of any type of talent.

Some of the girls could sing, were cute and provided a nice back drop to Merry's dancing.

Peter Out, Dog.

Princess

Friday, following her morning obligations the princess will head to the Salon to have her hair, toes and fingers attended to. Her "Knight in Shining Armour" will pick her up and whisk her off to the city.

They will tour the Museum of Science and then head to the The Ritz for the evening. They will sit for a formal dinner and then rest. Saturday will be a very busy day.

After brunch, they will search for an appropriate dress for a princess to wear to the The Nutcracker. There are many fine clothiers on Newbury Street in Boston and I am sure the highest levels of service will be provided.

After the show its back to The Ritz for dinner and an evening with Dora The Explorer. Sunday, after brunch they will head back up to the North Shore and retrieve the princesses not so special little brother.

Little Lord Fauntleroy and his Princess sister will have an audience with Old St. Nick himself. Enjoy a dinner at The Club, and then get dropped off at home to once again be reunited with their parents, littlest brother, dogs, and the avalanche of "No's" that come when the world is no longer your play ground.

Reunion

I was caught off guard by the emotion I felt when I first saw Merry, Thomas and Heidi at the Fort Meyers airport. Thomas looked so big, how could a kid grow so much in seven days? It looked as though he had put on 15 lbs. Merry's hair had grown, she looked older and Heidi was more beautiful than ever.

David was so excited to see his sister and Momma, big hugs and kisses were had all around. Merry, when she saw me, came running and jumped into my arms, I almost cried. Nanna was there to pick us up with a mini van that was perfect. The vacation was on, the weather was beautiful and we had nothing but time to enjoy it. We started that afternoon, swimming in Nanna's lagoon of a swimming pool. We beached it every morning and swam in the pool every afternoon, with three adults watching three children the parental obligations were manageable. Heidi and I got to go out to dinner a few times. It was a terrific vacation for a family with three children, aged 4 and under.

Thank you Nanna for such a wonderful time, your hospitality and help with the kids was great. Everyday I count my lucky stars for the tremendous family Heidi and I have been blessed with. Your patience and help with the kids over the last week made for a very relaxing, worry free week of Florida living for a family from the cold North East. I can't wait until next year!

Destroyed!

The verdict is in, David did not adapt and was destroyed! I believe my son had an action packed, adventure filled day, the likes of which, he will experience, again and again in his life. I am relieved that the adventure is over and that he will soon be back on schedule.

It has been tough coming home from work to a boy that is so tired by 5:00pm that he closes his eyes and isn't heard from again. We got home, I put him on the couch, covered him up, turned on all the lights, turned on Sesame Street and asked him every ten minutes or so, if he wanted to wake up and eat something.

I did not get a response until 8:30 when he woke up coughing. I jumped on the opportunity to get him upstairs, cleaned up, pajamas on and into bed. "I don't want to brush my teefth" got him out of brushing them. I will do a good job on his teeth in the morning, I promise.

We are getting up early and leaving for Florida to meet up with Mom, Merry, Thomas and Nanna. We are going to have a great time swimming and beaching in the warm spring sun. David and I miss the rest of our family and can not wait to be reunited.

If you purchase a tutu, or have any questions concerning your purchase The Tutu Boutique will remain in business even though Heidi and I are on vacation, isn't that cool? The power of the Internet.

Nanna has a computer so maybe there will be a "Sunshine State" post or two. Have a nice weekend and more importantly, fun at work next week.

Stuff

David is adapting. We had some fun last night wrestling, watching TV and reading stories. He was asleep by seven, which is early for him but he slept until seven this morning and was feeling really good when he woke up.

This morning we got some errands done, because tomorrow we head to FLA. to hook up with Mommy, Merry, and Thomas. When I dropped David off at my sisters this morning he was ready to play. He gave me the Big Hug, Kiss and "Good Bye, Daddy!"and was on his way.

A couple of observations from the weekend: Golfers have big teeth. Was it just me or was that fella Steve Ames having a hard time keeping his choppers covered up. It looked difficult for him to get his upper lip down over them. It certainly did not effect his game, the guy was brilliant. I watched 60 Minutes on Sunday night and had a hard time concentrating on the content of the program because Tiger's teeth were mesmeric. Their size and brilliance held me transfixed.

Andy Rooney, the old cad, made a very good point. Why do girl scouts need giant multi-national food companies baking their cookies? Would it be more appropriate for the girl scouts to actually bake their own cookies? Old ladies at church sales seem to pull it off just fine. Why not the girl scouts?

I got an email from The Wick, seems as though a Rook was hazed. These are serious charges that surprise me a bit. I was under the impression that the place was getting soft. I hope these allegations have merit. Norwich doesn't need this kind of press over nothing. I don't know any of the details and I am personally aware of the fact that people can over step boundaries, the problem is, where is the boundary? It is different for everyone. Doing push-ups until you pass out, for me, is not over the boundary, for someone else it may be. Norwich will survive these allegations, they have in the past and will in the future. Walking that line, between hazing and initiating is part of what makes Norwich special.

David and I are off to see Nanna, wish us luck. I hope the weather is good, it is going to be a lot of fun swimming and going to the beach. Later.