Sunday, April 27, 2008

Ahhhh, Puerto Rico!!!

We're back!!
Our trip to Puerto Rico was unbelievable! The temp was 85 during the day, 70 at night, nice warm breeze, and a beautiful beach! Here's the beach we were on...
Yes, that happy little palm tree was our beach companion for 5 days. Notice anything missing? That's right...people! Every once in a while, a couple people would walk by, but we pretty much had the beach to ourselves the whole time. We did have some other visitors, like this guy...
That's a pelican who spent some time diving for fish by us. Then there was this little fellow...


And, a few of these...
No food mongering seagulls, and, NO FLIES!! You know, those annoying green flies that attack you at the Jersey Shore?? None to be found! Come to think of it, there weren't any mosquitoes either. Ditto moths. We would keep our balcony door open all night, and not a single flying creature would visit!
This was our morning view...

This was our evening view...
And this was our afternoon/snacktime view...

We did take a few trips into town, and to some nearby areas. Those will come in later posts, but I do want to show you one of my personal favorite things. Apparently, according to a friend of our from church who is from Puerto Rico, most Latin American towns have a plaza in the center of town. Kind of like a town square, but only more tropical. The ones that we saw all had a fountain in the middle, some statues of local heroes, palm trees, churches, and my personal favorite, the obligatory old Puerto Rican guys sitting at tables playing dominoes.

Here are some shots of "La Plaza" in Rincon, the town we stayed in...

The Fountain

La Iglesia Catolica

La Iglesia "Presbyterian" (Forgot how to say it en espanol)
Anyone care to guess what the painting says in english??
And finally, the old guys playing dominoes.
I enjoyed watching them so much, that I bough myself a set of dominoes!
This trip was a real blessing from God for us! It was the first time in 10 years that Danielle and I were able to go away on vacation alone together.
Somebody we know, who wishes to remain nameless, has access to the condo through a timeshare. They offered it to us for our 10 year anniversary. What a way to celebrate 10 amazing years!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And a big thank you to my parents for watching the boys for us while we were gone!! And, thanks to Aunt Joyce for coming up and helping! And, thanks to the wonderful people who made our "cafe con leche" every morning at the bakery!!
I'll post more as the week goes by, but that was a little taste of our vacation!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow. 6:25 PM. Newark to Aguadilla. Continental 312.

5 Days of sun and paradise in Puerto Rico with my beautiful bride of 10 years!!

Mom & Dad, thank you for watching the boys!!

See you all next weekend!

(No, we will not be checking our blogs!!)

Friday, April 18, 2008

For your listening pleasure...

So, I've been on a bluegrass kick lately. In my listening, I came across this family band called the Cherryholmes. Here's their website.

(You'll find a lot of family bands in bluegrass. In the part of the country where this music originated, this is one way poor families would spend time together, singing and making music. Sounds pretty rich to me! Besides, when family members sing together, their harmonies sound better since they have the same genes. Their voices blend really well!)

Sorry, I went off on a music teacher moment there...

So, the Cherryholmes. Mom, Pop, 2 brother and 2 sisters. The kids, by the way, didn't start playing instruments until 1999. As you'll see, they've come a long way. Check this out..


Here's a clip of them doing some Celtic Dancing too. You see, a lot of the people that settled in these areas of Appalachia were of Irish/English background, so bluegrass and Celtic go pretty well together. Sorry, music teacher mode again...


As if that wasn't enough for you, here's some more bluegrass. Alison Krauss & Union Station singing "Man of Constant Sorrow"


And, just to show another bluegrass/Celtic combo, here's Alison Krauss again. Man, she's good. Here, she's singing an old Celtic tune, Molly Ban, along with The Chieftains (traditional Irish Folk group). Very sad song.



And, for good measure, here are The Cheiftains doing some straight-up Celtic music.


I mean, really. How could you not like that?

Teacher moment - extra credit if you can tell me where the term "Bluegrass" came from...

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Mulch, Putrescence, and other birthday fun!!

As most of you know, Saturday was my birthday. 34. woo-hoo!

As far as birthdays go, it was the best day I could have hoped for. The day started at Home Depot (always a good thing on a saturday morning!), where I got some mulch, and other yard stuff. The next 8 hours or so were a grand assortment of yardwork, playing, and partying, all with my 3 boys. The day was beautiful; warm, sunny, not a lot of bugs. First the boys helped me spread some mulch (or mulcher, as Kevin says). Then, we played soccer in the side yard. Mommy made a goal out of a wagon turned on its side, and we played goalie for a while. The boys took turns standing in front of the wagon, trying to block shots, while the rest of us tried to score. OK, so I got a little enthusiastic trying to score on my 4 year old son and hit him with the ball pretty hard once or twice, but he thought it was funny, so it was ok.

After soccer, we decided to plant seeds, so the boys scattered some Columbine and Purple Coneflower seeds in various places. Actually, they didn't really scatter, they kind of dumped the seeds.


Here's Columbine...


Here's Coneflower...

Then the real fun began when we sprayed "Deer Off" on some plants that have started getting nibbled. The active ingredients in Deer off are:

1) Putrescent Egg Solids (rotten eggs)
2) Capsaicin (basically hot pepper)
3) Garlic

Eggs, hot pepper, and garlic? Sounds like my typical Saturday morning special breakfast! Minus the putrescent part of course. At one point, a little breeze kicked up and blew some of the spray back in my direction. It smelled like sweet Tabasco mixed with some funk. bad funk. So, for the rest of the afternoon, the boys were running around yelling, "AHHHHHH, RUN! THE PUTRESCENCE IS COMING!!!!" Very funny stuff.
At the end of the afternoon, the boys ate ice pops, and I had a nice cold Smithwick's.
The day was capped off with one of my favorite meals, Rigatoni with sausage and meatballs, followed by chocolate cake with my wife and parents. Thanks honey and thanks family for a great birthday!! And thanks Mom & Dad for the Home Depot gift card! Thank you God for 34 years!!!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Random stuff...

I've been banished to the virtual garage!
When I walked in the door, the boys told me I had to go downstairs and not come up until they said so. As I walked down, I caught a glimpse of a chocolate cake getting frosted (my birthday is tomorrow)! I better be good and stay down here for a while...

So, while I'm waiting, here are a couple of pictures of the boys doing what they like to do.

We sometimes refer to Ryan as "Rand McNally". Here's why:
Yes, he's reading a road atlas. This is his "recreational" reading! He also loves to read a huge world atlas that we have. He knows all 50 states, and their capitals. He knows a bunch of different countries. This boy is unbelievably smart! God is going to use him someday! And, lest you think that we push him to learn this stuff, think again. He discovered these books on his own. He has declared that he wants to travel. He's very excited to try out our new/used pop up camper this summer. Unfortunately, he hasn't fully grasped the idea that you can't go to Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas over a weekend!

Now here's Kevin...
Kevin loves to fix things! Whenever I'm in the basement or the garage working on stuff, he is always right there with me, "helping" out where he can. Tonight, he decided his dresser needed fixing, so he grabbed his toolbox, donned his hard hat and goggles, and set off to fixing it. He even drew plans as a guide. Kevin is becoming such a little man. He is definitely going to be the class clown when he's older, yet, he is our "thinker". He ponders things. When he is in clown mode, he can make you laugh all day, but when he has nothing to say, he'll just sit and think.

And then there's Sean...
Sean is one tough 20 month old! He has to be to keep up with his brothers. It's going to be interesting to see how Sean's personality develops over the next couple of years. He is, by far, our most tenacious kid. What Sean wants, Sean tries to get at all costs. We frequently hear one of the older boys saying, "Mommy/Daddy, Sean's hitting me!". And woe to the older brother who tries to take a toy from Sean! We sometimes, lovingly, refer to him as "Seanzilla". No explaination needed...
Well, what started as a post about random stuff has turned into all about my kids. That's OK, they're fun to write about!
In other news, I had a root canal on wednesday! Woo-hoo!!
Next post will be an update on what projects I've started...stay tuned!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Turkeys!

With the arrival of some spring-like weather today, we decided it was time to start up one of our warm weather routines - The Evening Walk!!

We have a cul-de-sac behind our house, and our neighbors graciously let us walk through their yard to get to the street. At the end of the street, there is a field, and in the field tonight was a sure sign of spring...


That's right, the Eastern Turkey!!! It's Turkey Season!!!

There he was, a nice big Tom, strutting his stuff for 2 hens that were out in the field with him. Of course, the hens weren't interested, but he kept at it! The best part was that Ryan & Kevin were with me, and they got to see the Tom all puffed up with his tail fanned out. That was pretty cool!

My two hunting times are Fall/Winter Bow season (deer) and Spring Turkey. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to turkey hunt this year. The week I have Spring Break, Danielle & I are headed to sunny Puerto Rico without kids (more about that in another post), and out of the six saturdays in the season, I already have things planned for 3 of them. Besides, New Jersey, being the money hungry state that it is, has made turkey hunting almost too expensive to enjoy. Oh well, I'll just have to enjoy watching them from afar!

Oh, and I would just like to say, for the record, in response to my wife's post here, the boys and I had a great time on Saturday while Mommy was on a MOPS retreat. We got to see our new niece/cousin, Sophie, and had some good quality Daddy time. And, nothing got broken...

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Sorry no post...

OK, so I haven't posted in a few days. There's a good reason. I'm in the final week of the musical at school, and I'm the director.

This is my first time directing a play, and I have to say, it's been a fun experience. We're doing "Annie". I've gotten to know about 50 of my students on a whole different level. We started on January 22, and end on Friday.

One of the highlights of this whole experience was shaving my student's head. The kid who plays Daddy Warbucks is a 7th grader who we'll call "Ken". He is one of those kids who has long-ish, shaggy, thick hair. Well, as you may know, Oliver Warbucks is bald, and so, last Friday, I brought my hair clippers to school. With the blessing of Ken's mother, and the encouragement of his peers, Ken let me shave his head. Boy, was that fun!!

I honestly can say that I couldn't have asked for a better group of students to work with. They have been hard working, dedicated, and a ball of fun! I'd love to show you pictures of me shaving Ken's head, but school policy prohibits it. So instead, here's the original Daddy Warbucks, Albert Finney...