Birthdays, Canines, and Cookouts.

*Update: photos added

Nothing says Memorial Day better than the sound of high power assault rifles and the smell of bullets. Dad went to the firing range with Kurt and Jon to "pop some caps" as we say in 'da hood. Dad got to shoot the full arsenal of weapons, from the AR-15 & AK-47, to the 40 caliber hand gun. While dad would never actually own his own assault rifle, it sure was fun to shoot on the range. Dad was also VERY impressed with Kurt and how cautious he was with gun safety and making sure none of us made any mistakes. Thank you again Kurt for not letting us shoot ourselves or anyone else.

Friday was Shelbys Birthday. Yes I am a horrible husband for not posting on or before her birthday. 32 is a big deal and it was celebrated as such. Charlotte was dumped off at Kelly and Dave's and mom and dad hit the bright lights and big city of Portsmouth NH for a little shopping and a wonderful dinner. Of course it was the HOTTEST day of the year so walking around Portsmouth baking in the sun was not as glamorous as it sounded. As I am typing this mom is reminding dad to update the blog (4 days ago she had a birthday). It wasnt even announced. Am I going to update the blog and tell everyone it was her birthday? Do I know again that it was 4 days ago and yet no mention of it anywhere? If she would just stop telling me this as I type I can finish telling YOU what we did on her birthday. Ok back to the story...Portsmouth, sun, shopping, walking, you get the picture. We had dinner at Pesce Blue, a fancy seafood place that looks like it belongs in NYC not Portsmouth. The appetizers were awesome, and the mojitos were delicious. As for our meals, well....mom went for the hangar steak. It was a far cry from Milan at 55 Main in North Adams MA (the best hangar steak in the world). Dad got a whole sea bass cooked in a salt crust. Also a little lackluster. Oh well. He tried the best he could to impress mom. Sometimes it better to stick with what you know. I love you Shelby and I did try my best. I hope you had a great birthday with me none the less.

Saturday dad lugged rocks around the yard, and painted the deck (ok, primed the deck, he will have to finish the paint some night this week). Mom went to the nursery and bought some plants. Charlotte has the last of her teeth coming in. Mom says they are her canines. But we all know they are her incisors :) (this is why I love Shelby) Charlotte has been miserable all weekend long because of this. Therefore we arent going to say much about her except she was miserable all weekend. Oh and she is cute. So damn cute. She is walking around babbling. Mom bought her a kazoo in Portsmouth. She thinks she is the kazoo queen of Kansas. Walking around the house making horrible kazoo sounds and laughing (when is isn't crying because of her teeth).

Sunday we went to Paul and Jena's house for a cookout. Again Charlotte was miserable but we did make her watch Finding Nemo which kept her occupied for a while. So in the end the weekend was about a few things. Moms Birthday (yes for the 20th time she is telling me it was her Birthday on Friday), Charlotte's Canines, and lots of cookouts.

Digital cameras have very few moving parts. This of course is supposed to make them last longer then standard film cameras. However, after the farm last weekend the camera just wasn't working so good. Maybe a little sand in the switch to zoom in and out was the cause? Dad took it apart. Tiny screw by tiny screw. He didn't see much wrong. Of course taking it apart was easy. Putting it together was another story. He is proud to say it works. For the most part. However the zoom now doesn't work at all. He isn't sure which is worse. A zoom that sticks or a zoom that doesn't work. If you notice a sudden drop in photos, now you know why.

The last few days have been cold and rainy. Not much fun and rather miserable to say the least. Saturday we decided to hit the mall. Charlotte loved watching everyone from the confines of her stroller. Again dad took Charlotte into the pet store. The cutest yellow lab in the world was stuck behind the glass. Charlotte really really wanted to take him home. But dad had to say no.

The highlight of the mall was Charlotte's first ride on a carousel. (yes with germs and all). You know the kind of carousel that the horses go up and down and it spins in circles. Mom stayed behind to take pictures. Dad took Charlotte up to a pretty white horse with a pink hat. She cried. And screamed. She wanted nothing to do with the horse. Mom motioned for dad to go ride in one of the non-moving carriages or something. Of course they were all full of other kids that were Charlotte's age who wanted nothing to do with the horses either.

Dad had a choice to make. Either tough it our with a crying daughter or get off the ride. Determined, he stuck it out. He sat on one of the horses, petting it, telling Charlotte how pretty it was. Her crying stopped and she gently started smiling. Next thing you know the ride starts up and everyone was happy. However, she still was not about to sit alone on the horse. Dad realized how much he hated rides that went around in circles. After about 3 revolutions he had enough. It seemed like the ride went on forever! Finally it was over. He was very glad and felt horrible for some time to come.

Sunday morning we all got dressed up in our Sunday best and hit the local community church. It was very nice. Definitely a small tight knit community church that seemed like a very nice place to become involved in. They have a nursery, and Sunday school, and are very involved with the town. It was "Children Appreciation Day" so the sermon was a little different then usual. There were so many kids and everyone seemed to have so much fun, including Charlotte. When they would sing, Charlotte would clap. It was a nice start for a life of Faith for her and renewed Faith for us.

Happy Mothers Day!

Dad took Charlotte alone to the grocery store,
so mom could lay in bed and sleep in some more.
He shopped with her and came back to see,
mom was as happy as a clam as she should be.
For today was her day to have a whole lot of fun,
to play in the yard and go out in the sun.
We gathered the family and jumped in the car,
and drove to the petting farm that wasnt so far.
It wasnt exactly what mom had wanted to do,
but the beach was too cold and we didnt want to turn blue.
So instead we hit the farm and played with a horse
and goats, and cows, and pigs of course.
Charlotte had a giant smile from ear to ear
and she touched the baby goats with no fear.
The farm was a hit we must have to say,
and mom had a blast on her second Mothers day.

Wow, is that Wilber the pig from Charlottes Web?

Dad caught a baby goat for me!!

Ohh so soft!!

New lambs

I love my mom!

Saturday we went to Lisa and Ryans house for a little cookout. Charlotte of course had so much fun playing with Colin, Brodie, and Mason. Dad ate too many cheeseburgers and even had two slices of key lime pie. He drove home from their house stuffed like a turkey.

Kissing Brodie is only allowed when you are under 3 years old.

The boys with their balls, Charlotte with a cell phone. Go figure.

My hair had a party last night.

Our front tree in full bloom!

Stop and smell the flowers

Good advice that we should all listen to. We all know the adage "stop and smell the roses". Flowers, roses, whatever. We know the metaphor yet none of us do it as much as we should. Except for Charlotte. She stops to smell everything, especially flowers. She even smelled the arborvitae trees. Crazy kid.




Mom and dad have learned to enjoy shopping in the evenings after dinner and after Charlotte goes to sleep. Last night dad hit Lowes and Target at the prime hour of 9pm. What a great time to shop! No crowds and great parking! Dad broke down and spent a whopping $9 on an Elmo sprinkler knowing it was going to be hot today.






It was so hot that mom and Charlotte sat on the kitchen floor eating ice cream. Not a good habit to start mom.



I scream, you scream, we all scream for icecream!


Look at my cute pony tail. Can I go play outside now?


I love playing outside!



Last year we purchased a picket with our name on it as a way to donate to the building of the new playground. Well the new pickets are up! Here is ours:

Day at the beach

Charlotte is just like her mother and father. She loves the beach. We just couldn't resist taking her on the first 85 degree sunny day of the year. Dad was able to use up a vacation day, have mom throw some sunscreen on him (remember this),pile in the minivan, and hit Hampton beach for a little fun in the sun.



We thought the beach would be pretty empty being that it is May. Nope. Packed. It must have been Senior skip day because there were tons of high school kids everywhere. Charlotte better not try to pull that when she is older or else! We had a blast. Charlotte was an angel. It took her a while to warm up to the idea of touching the sand with her feet or hands and even longer to warm up to the idea of splashing in the water. But once she got the hang of it she was just busy playing while mom and dad sat back and watched. We joked that we should have brought books because she was so good playing on her own. Give her a bucket, shovel, and tons of sand and she will keep herself occupied for hours.

Tracey met us at the beach with a friend and her son. Charlotte continued to play until she started laying down on the blanket. She was getting tired.
Around 3pm we had had enough sun. We decided to throw our stuff in the car and grab an early dinner at LeBec Rouge on the strip. Charlotte sat in a booster seat for the first time! No straps! She had fish and chips with mom while dad had a giant plate of fried clams (yes real ones with the bellies of course). On a scale of 1 to 10, Family Beach day was an 11! Dad is so proud of his family and how much fun it is to be a dad and husband.

Upon returning home dad's back felt a little hot. Funny he thought, mom sprayed sunscreen on his back before we left for the beach. Maybe it was just the leather seats hot from the sun. As you can see from the picture of dad giving Charlotte a bath, it was not from the seats. Mom did a spectacular job evenly coating his back with suncreen. :) At least she didnt write DORK with it.

OTB

Travers here we come! Yesterday was the 133rd running of the Kentucky Derby. We turned on the TV just as the horses were being shown walking from the paddock. Charlotte saw number 8 Hard Spun and started screaming. If we were at the Derby or anywhere near a booky it would have been $100 on Hard Spun to Win, Place, or Show. Well Hard Spun didn't win, however he did Place (and was in the lead the whole race, look at the above pic). We would have made some serious cash. $980 to be exact for our $100 little bet.

Charlotte is now our little gambling friend. We are going to use her to pick all of the winning horses. August 25th is the Travers Stakes in Saratoga. You had better believe Little Miss Charlotte will be there picking the pretty horses that are going to win us loads of dough. Maybe we can give her a shot at picking the winning Powerball ticket too!

Being a kid

Look Guys, I threw a pile of pillows on the floor so I could climb onto the coffee table!

Charlotte is now a kid, doing kids things. She loves fresh air. She loves running around outside. She loves playing with rocks. She loves when dad comes home from work. She loves when mom has tea parties with her. She loves being chased around the house. She loves to climb. She loves to try and say "I love you" although it doesn't quite sound right. She loves to wave goodbye when dad leaves for work. She loves to climb on moms lap. She loves the playground down the street. She loves her stuffed Cookie Monster and Elmo. She loves to read books. She loves to watch the Wiggles. She loves pushing buttons on remotes.

Watching your child grow up and learn things you teach them right infront of your eyes is an amazing experience. There are no words to express how it makes you feel to be a parent. You could try by using the words Proud, Happy, Enlightened, Fulfilled, but that would only scratch the surface. Those of you with children know what I am talking about. Take all the bad stuff like lack of sleep, temper tantrums, making messes, etc. and they still don't equal all of the great things that happen with children. It has made us closer as spouses and has made us realize how lucky we are to be a family. For that we are thankful and happy for every single day.

We know its bad luck to ever talk about how your children are sleeping. So instead of talking about Charlotte we will talk about us. We as parents have had some great sleep lately. If we wanted to go to bed at 6:30pm like Charlotte, we could literally sleep until 7:00am the next morning. We aren't trying to rub it in for those of you with infants, but we want you to know there is hope and that all of the sleepness nights really make you appreciate the nights when you are well rested.




Getting Charlotte to bed has become sort of a game now. She has nights when she wants to go to bed and other nights when she fights it. Dad says, "Good night Charlotte. Time for sleep" as he puts her into her crib. And one of two things happen. She either grabs her blanket and covers her head and literally zonks out, or she looks at dad shaking her head saying, "No, No, No" then starts crying. This is where the game comes in. Dad will then pretend to put cooking monster to sleep. Feeding him some milk, laying him down next to her, rubbing his belly, saying good night to him. Hoping that Charlotte will get the hint. Or he will lay Charlotte down while she is crying, rub her belly for a minute to calm her down, gently lay the blanket over her eyes, and then run his ass out of the room as fast as he can before she sees him leaving. Such a fun game.

Charlotte is also being taught to run the lawn mower. Dad is hoping she will have it mastered by the middle of the summer. He envisions himself sitting on the deck, watching her mow the lawn, while he sips a lemonade. He can dream.

This lawn mowing thing is fun!
I think I missed a spot. I should go back to mow it again.

Fiesta Weekend

Despite the gloomy weather we had a rather festive weekend (with the exception of Friday night which we did nothing ). Saturday we shopped then took Charlotte to the babysitter where Jasmine was having "girls night". Movies, bon-bons, and gossip. Mom wanted to stay but we had plans to go the the Asia in Portsmouth to celebrate Kurt and Tracey's birthdays with some bad Karioke and scorpion bowls. So we dropped Charlotte off with the girls and drove out to the coast for some fun. Time flies by when you are having fun and before we knew it mom had already thrown back two Sour Apple Martinis and it was time to pick Charlotte up. We ended up back home at 1am. Charlotte did great, staying awake in the car ride from Jasmine to our house, then zonking out again as soon as she hit her crib.

Sunday we headed to Boston for a little family fun day. Dad bought some tickets to see Sesame Street Live Elmo's Coloringbook. We weren't sure how Charlotte would do at the show but she was spectacular. She had so much fun. Dancing and clapping at all of her favorite characters. Dad of course bought into the Sesame Street commercialization and broke down and bought Charlotte a stuffed cookie monster. She loves it. After the show we hit our favorite Burrito joint Anna's Taqueria in Brookline for a little on the go dinner. We had a great weekend and are in awe of our daughter. Every day she seems to do something that just makes us smile.

Is that really Elmo on the stage???


I can't believe I am here!!

Here's Elmo!!

I love Cookie!

Crayon Monster

Someone loves to eat crayons. She is indiscriminate when it comes to the colors. Blue, Red, Brown she doesn't care. Let's face it they all taste the same. We can't wait to change the mulitcolored diaper in the morning.

Done

Dad sort of had to laugh when he walked down into the basement this morning to find it under 3 inches of water. For some reason the sump pumps popped the circuit breaker causing the water to back up into the house again. Then dad pulled the wrong pump out of the water causing it to burn out, thus having to replace it. These mini fiascos are now just funny to him. He probably would have be pissed off it were some other time, but at this point there is nothing to do but laugh and try to stay positive. Everything is out of the basement so there was no harm done. Just an extra day of renting the drying equipment.

The nice thing about the flood is it forced us to throw out a lot that we just didnt need. The dumpster is now full. And the rest of our things from downstairs are either in the shed or in the attic. It makes you realize how much crap you can accumulate in such a short period of time. And it made us realize we need a fire/water proof safe for our important documents (which we didn't lose because they were place up high enough). It also made us realize that flood insurance was not such a bad deal. $300 for the year. Granted there is a lot it does not cover but without it all of the expenses would be out of our own pocket. Even if just our washer had a broken water line we still would have been able to use the flood insurance. From the outside our house looks normal with the exception of the dumpster in our front yard and piles of trash bags in our driveway. Oh and today we were welcomed by the sound of a helicopter just above the tree line, circling. It was the Red Cross in an Army helicopter. Unfortunately they are a little late in getting here but still a sight to see.

As always, dad realized that despite all of this stuff the only things that really matter in his life are his wife and his daughter. The highlight of his weekend was mom telling him what a great job he was doing. I know it sounds like something really simple, but it made his day and made all of the hard labor worth it.

Tonight we had dinner on the back deck. We grilled some chicken and brought Charlottes high chair out so she could eat with us.It was such a nice evening to sit outside and finally relax a little. Just a little.

PS. We would also like to give our sympathies to Mike and Hayley Hoppe. They are Virginia Tech Hokies through and through. Mike was an engineering student there years ago and unfortunately lost one of his professors in the massacre this week. Our hearts and thoughts are with you and the families and friends of everyone who was killed.