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Showing posts from 2009

Blizzard of Ahh's

What a day for snow lovers!  Woke up to see the snow coming down, and it's still coming down as I write this.  It's very powdery, though, so it's not very thick.  I went out in it with the kids twice (the first time with Adrian, second time without), and both times were relatively short.  It's pretty darned cold out there!  So the rest of the day was spent inside, organizing all my digital photos.  I've been playing with the new version of Google's Picasa image viewer program (3.6) which has facial recognition abilities.  It's kind of neat watching it guess who each person is as it scans all my photos.  The accuracy seems to get better as you "teach" it who's who. Almost time for dinner...  Heating up a couple of Shop-Rite pizzas in the oven tonight.  Woo-hoo!  :-)

Washing Machine

After looking around in stores and on the web for the past few weeks, we decided to finally bite the bullet and buy a replacement washing machine for our old house (our "rental property").  I'm sure that Don is tired of taking his laundry to his parents' house every weekend! So the final verdict is: you really can't go wrong with buying an appliance from Lowe's.  I mean, Free Delivery, Free Removal, and Free Installation!  Anywhere else we went, those were extra.  Or worse, some places would only give you "Free Placement" which means that they'll put the washer where you want it, but then you have to hook it up yourself.  The winning washer is a Maytag (to match the dryer) that we got for about $429, plus tax and hoses (about $50 combined).  So for under $500, they'll deliver it, disconnect & remove the old washer completely, and install the new one for you. The only problem was that the doorway into our "laundry room" in t

Basketball Practice

Dillon and Jason at b-ball practice (in white t-shirts).

Christmas decorations 2009

Angie and I started decorating for Christmas this weekend.  I pulled all the boxes out of storage (basement, garage, etc.) and she attacked the inside of the house while I tackled the outside.  She helped me outside by steadying the ladder while I was stringing up the icicle lights on the second floor.  I had to use an extension ladder to do the lights on the left side, and then I climbed onto the roof to finish up the right side.  It was a little scary for me since I'm not a big fan of heights, shaky ladders, or walking on roofs... After the second floor was done, it was all cake after that.  We haven't put up the tree yet because the kids weren't home today (they like helping out with decorating and building the tree; yes, it's a fake one).  So maybe next weekend we'll do that.  I believe we're putting the tree in the living room this year, so it will be positioned in the center of the front window.  I'll have to take another pic once it's up. Hope

Dillon and Adrian

Dillon and Adrian enjoy some Dunkin' Donuts hot chocolate at the parade...

Adrian and Daddy

Here's me and Adrian @Thanksgiving Day Parade '09 in Philadelphia.

Daddy and Jason

Here's Jason and I at the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade '09 (Dave Roberts' last parade!).

Dillon and I (Thanksgiving Parade)

Here's Dillon and I in Philadelphia at the Thanksgiving Day Parade (2009). I think you can kind of see the Art Museum in the background. Angie took this pic (nice job, Angie!).

Angie and the kids in Philly

Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia.

Complaint #101519

The clothes washer in our Maple Shade house is on the fritz, and according to the MayTag repair man it's not worth paying to fix.  The "transmission" is shot and needs to be replaced, and he estimated that this part alone is about $495.  He also said there's a bad pump which is causing the machine to leak.  A quick glance at Sears.com and HomeDepot.com shows me that we can buy a new washer for about $300.  The only problem is getting through the little doorway into the "laundry room" in that house.  The opening is only about 24" wide, and the existing (faulty) washer is about 27" wide.  So we'll have to take apart the door jamb to accommodate the delivery and removal of these machines. In the meantime our fearless renter, Don Ocava, will be washerless.  But he's a trooper!  We'll try to get a new one in there STAT.

Adrian at McDonald's (Cherry Hill NJ)

New Photos Posted

Check out the recent photos I uploaded to my Picasa Web Albums . http://picasaweb.google.com/hampton.mark/November2009#slideshow/5404492546525518242 Hopefully, the slideshow will work when you click the link.

Saturday Night at the Hamptons'

Made "Island Heat Chili" from the Killer Chili book tonight.  Turned out well.  Angie said she liked it, and I think she was serious.  :-) Took some persuading to get Jason to finally eat some (he ate it with Tortilla chips instead of out of a bowl with a spoon).  Adrian and Dillon both used a soft tortilla shell to eat their chili like a soft taco.  Hey, whatever works. Actually, Adrian tends to not even finish his entire dinner, so tonight was a milestone.  Usually, he'll pick at his meat, but will absolutely NOT eat any vegetables.  Because of this, we usually deny him dessert (though you wouldn't know it to look at him).  But tonight he got to pick a dessert and was very happy.  I just hope he remembers this tomorrow night! Today was a murky dreary day, but since we didn't actually have rain (after about 9am, anyway) I went outside and took care of some leaves.  I bought a gas-powered Troy-Bilt leaf blower a couple of weekends ago, and it has been worki

Sixers vs. Nets

Angie and Jason at tonight's Sixers game. I got the score wrong in my previous post. Current score is: 76ers 59, Nets 62. 3rd quarter.

Sixers game

Angie, Jason and (sleepy) Dillon at tonight's Sixers game (vs. NJ Nets). Current score: 76ers 24, Nets 19.

Tarzjay

Going for a walk

It is such a nice day today, we decided to take a stroll thru the woods and then back thru the neighborhood. The kids wanted to walk together for a stretch so I grabbed a pic...

In-ground statue

Near the hotel I'm staying at in National Harbor...

Gaylord National Convention Center MD

Part of the HUGE, MASSIVE convention center here in National Harbor, MD. They should have called it "The Monstrosity" or "Metropolis." You could get lost inside...

National Harbor MD

View from the convention center...

Stinkin' Mouse

For the longest time, I've been using a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse (MX700) setup on my home computer. Recently (maybe within the past 3-4 months or so), the mouse has been going completely haywire on me whenever I've using it. If I leave the mouse pointer hovering over a web browser window, for instance, it will start scrolling the page down even when I'm not touching the mouse! And it's not affecting just web browsers (both Firefox and IE), but also Windows Explorer, Adobe Reader, etc.; anything that can scroll down, will do it and I have to fight with it to keep the page steady. Or I can move the pointer elsewhere on the screen. I've found other people on the Internet with similar complaints, but everything I've tried has failed to fix the problem. I've uninstalled the stupid Logitech Mouseware software and reinstalled it about 10 times (currently it's removed), and I've switched out the rechargeable batteries with new ones. I'

House & Yard work today

Working around the house today. Need to clean the filter in the furnace. The previous owners had this Sears electronic air filtering gizmo installed, and it calls for periodic cleaning rather than replacing the filters (like I'm used to from our old house). Seems easy enough, just a bit more time consuming than sliding out a used filter and inserting a clean, new one. The leaves are starting to fall again, so that means it's time to break out the leaf blower, mulcher, bags, etc. This will be a 2-month-long battle: me vs. tons of trees. Along the way, I will break down and pay a lawn service to blast through and do the yard because they're in and out in about 30 minutes. But we'll see. I also need to schedule the sprinkler system guy to come out and shut everything down. Again, this seems easy enough, but since I don't have an air compressor (yet), I don't know how I would be able to "blow the lines" so all of the water is cleared out for the win

It's magic, Jack

We bought a MagicJack from RadioShack on Sunday for $40. You plug it into a USB port on your computer and then you plug a phone line into the phone jack on the device and presto! You're making calls over the Interwebs. Works really well from what I can tell over the past 24 hours of usage. We also purchased a new Panasonic cordless phone system so that I could connect the base into the MagicJack (which resides in the basement) and then plug in all four "satellite" telephones in four other rooms of the house. MagicJack now offers 911 Emergency service, so we mainly bought this thing to have a "land line" for the kids to use in an emergency. Up till now, we've just had my cell phone and Angie's cell phone. I know that if the power goes out, it will take the computer, MagicJack and cordless phones with it, so somewhere down the line I'll pick up a UPS battery and connect all that stuff (including the Comcast cable modem and Belkin router) to it. Th

Huge flag at Eagles game today

E-A-G-L-E-S

View from the West Club Suites, around the 20 Yard Line... Eagles home opener vs. Saints.

Fogo De Chao, Philadelphia

The other night, we went out for a late dinner at Fogo De Chao in Philadelphia, PA. It's located just off of Broad Street on Chestnut Street, before you get to 13th Street. Branded as a Brazilian Steakhouse, it's a meat lovers' paradise. If you've ever had food served to you "family style", you'll be a little familiar with how this works, but in a slightly different way. Typically, at a family style restaurant, each course is served in large portions to the table and if you need more, you notify your server who eventually brings out another serving. But at Fogo de Chao, you're provided with a small cardboard coaster marked "No, Thanks" on the red side, and "More, please" on the green side. A team of "carvers" walks the restaurant floor armed with skewers of beef, chicken, pork, and lamb; and when they see your coaster showing the green side, they will stop right next to you and either plop a skewer of meat onto your

Spline of the Times

Do you know what spline is? Well, you're about to learn... In the past, when I've needed to have a screen door "re-screened" I've taken the door off and brought it to a local hardware store for repair. It's usually cheap ($20/$25 or so) and only takes a few days before it's ready for pick up. But over the weekend, we had a mishap with our sliding screen door (someone walked into it) and it ripped the bottom and part of the side away from the edge. Given where our house is (edge of the woods), we like any barrier we can put up to keep out the insects. So this time I decided I'd try to tackle the job myself. I measured the door (44" x 72") and went to Home Depot in search of a rescreening kit. That's where I learned that you not only need to buy the screen, but you also need "spline" and a spline applicator tool (a "spline roller"). Basically, spline is just a soft plastic line (get it?) that you smoosh into the g

Dutch Wonderland video

Here are the kids riding the "Whip" ride at Dutch Wonderland on August 19th. Dillon is riding solo, while Adrian and Jason try to catch up. For a couple of laps, Adrian was throwing his arms up in the air on the turns, but unfortunately I missed it on the video...

Busy weekend

Barbecue at Uncle Joe & Aunt Jackie's house today and then we'll be going to Uncle Ian's birthday party on Sunday. The kids had a really nice time at Joe and Jackie's, and they're really excited to go to Uncle Ian's party tomorrow where they'll play with their uncles and cousins at the Sportsmen's Club.

The Automobile Saga

After arranging to get a ride to work with a co-worker last Friday, we arrived at 150 North Broad Street only to realize that I'd forgotten the keys to my car! Since I had called for a tow truck through Triple A before leaving home, I had to hope that Angie could beat the tow truck to my office and bring my keys with her. Unfortunately, that didn't happen so I had to tell the tow guy to leave, which put me back into the queue for a tow. After Angie dropped off the keys, I called to reschedule the tow. Five minutes later I tried starting my car, and it started! I was faced with a dilemma: leave it running and drive to the mechanic in Maple Shade (Angie could meet me and take me back to work); turn off the car and wait for the tow truck; or turn it off, cancel the tow and hope that it would start when I had to leave work. I opted for option #1: drive immediately to the mechanic. I called AAA while driving and canceled the tow (this was a bit more of an ordeal than it had to

Maximus Down

My car must be settling into old age now or something. A few months ago, the alternator completely died on me about one block from where I work in Philly. I had to get a tow truck to take the car about 7 or 8 blocks and then wait around until 8:30pm for the car to get fixed. About $800 later, I drove away with my car. I can't really complain about that, though, because the place did fix the car the same day and I was able to drive home (on a Friday night, no less). Then my air conditioner quit and I found out that it requires a part that is on back order. So I've been waiting for the part for a couple of months now. Since I've made it into late August, I can probably do without it until next year at this point. I noticed a "clanging" sound coming from the bottom of the car a while ago. Turns out it's part of the exhaust pipe that has come loose. It's not dragging on the ground yet, but I'm fearing the worst ("hey, buddy! Your thing's d

Open House results

Well, technically we had only one visitor to the Open House today. But we also had a scheduled showing at 11am, so we had a total of two parties look at the house today. We'll see how it goes. The weather didn't help much today, I'm sure. Maybe in a few weeks we'll do another one if we don't hear anything this week. There's some yard work I'd like to do, and I'm sure we can jazz up the interior a little bit more, too. The house has to sell someday!

Chef Mark's Harlequin Chicken

Tonight's dinner... Hoping the kids will eat it. It smells and looks awesome. I hope it tastes as good...

Home for Sale

22 South Clinton Ave Open House today from 1-3pm in Maple Shade, NJ. We recently reduced the price of the house to $234K, and we're offering $2000 to the buyer at closing. If anyone knows someone who is looking to own a house that has all the basics covered (new roof, new windows, new furnace, new A/C unit, new hot water heater, etc.), please let us know. Maple Shade is conveniently located just minutes from Philadelphia, and is close to all kinds of shopping spots: Cherry Hill Mall, Moorestown Mall, Mount Laurel, Marlton, etc. You're also walking distance from grocery shopping at Acme, eating lunch or dinner at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, grabbing a beer and watching the game at the Alden Cafe, having some seafood at Sea-Lect Seafood, taking a stroll in the park, mailing a letter at the post office, etc. Click the link to view the listing and additional photos: 22 South Clinton Ave

The Fightin' Phils

Top of the 9th... Phils winning 7-0.

Boat trip photos

Here's a couple more photos...

Jason's flounder

Jason was the only one of us that caught a fish this morning (it was a small flounder). Angie and I both hooked crabs and threw them back. Jason's fish flopped off the hook onto the boat before Grandpop could get it, so Jason dropped the fishing rod and ran to the back of the boat as fast as he could! He stood at a safe distance while the fish flopped around on the deck, until Grandpop got him under control...

We're on a Boat!

After our 2-hour boat ride/fishing trip with Grandpop...

Feeding the seagulls

Here's Angel (Angie's cousin Chad's wife), Jason and Adrian feeding the seagulls some bread. They had lots of fun doing this!

Jason in Ocean City

Jason pretending to be a seagull.

Ocean City

Here's Dillon, Sophia and Olivia in their own private 'hot tub.'

Adrian at Ocean City

Here's Adrian on the beach at Ocean City, NJ.

Balloon Tag

This was a game where the DJ tied a balloon around your ankle and you had to try to guard your balloon while popping the other people's balloons. Dillon lasted a few minutes and then had to go sit out the rest of the game. That's him running off to the left.

Water balloon toss

Getting ready to start the water balloon toss game (you throw the balloon to your partner and if he catches it, you're still in the game). Dillon and Jason were out after the first throw.

Dillon and the little red-haired girl

Taking a break from the festivities at the block party.

Block Party recap

We had a really nice time at the block party tonight. The kids had an absolute blast, of course. The DJ was great; he did all kinds of games for the kids, and he brought a ton of water balloons for games and a giant sling-shot that he brought with him; he also used hula-hoops and regular balloons to play some games and he had all of the kids do some group dancing. All the neighborhood kids seemed to have a great time. People were hanging out in front of various houses, and most of the older kids were playing volley ball or dodge ball for a while. After the party got going, most of the smaller kids made their way over to the "Tot Lot" to play in the little park on the jungle gym. It was really nice getting to meet more of the neighbors and to talk a bit more with the people we had only met briefly before. There was a lot of food there (tons of hoagies, hot dogs, desserts, snacks, etc.), and everyone brought their own adult beverages. I didn't notice any trouble at al

Here's the video from the pie-eating contest

You can tell Angie has really done a number on these kids... They're so afraid to get "messy" they won't even dive into a bowl full of whipped cream! Eventually, Jason gives in though. Dillon just has a melt-down and quits (he took the hot dog from my hand and finished eating that instead).

Whipped cream pie eating contest

Timbercrest Block Party

Angie's helping get everything ready for today's block party in our neighborhood. I think we're up to about 33 families that are participating. There will be things for the kids (a DJ, a balloon guy, games, etc.) and food/drink for everyone (hoagies, hot dogs, snacks, etc.). It should be fun, at least as long as it doesn't rain. Weather forecast is calling for clouds to roll in around 8pm. The party starts at 4pm, so that should be plenty of time to hang out, meet some neighbors, eat some food, drink a beer or two, and let the kids blow off some steam. I'd think we'd be back home by 9pm at the latest. A full report will follow... :-)

More from Seaside Heights

About to board the Jungle Safari Train in Seaside Heights, NJ. Dillon and Jason.

Dillon at Seaside Heights

Greetings from Seaside Heights NJ!

Dillon and Jason

Synergy

This one's for all the geeks out there with two or more computers... I read about this program called Synergy that allows you to control two or more computers on the same network (connected to the same router) with one keyboard and one mouse. You don't have to use a KVM-type of switch and there are no cables to mess with. It takes a few minutes to get the software configured, but once it's set up you'll be able to control 2+ computers with one keyboard and mouse. If you have more than one monitor, this software will let your mouse pointer cruise from one monitor to the other, too. You can't drag and drop files or move application windows from one screen to the other, but it lets you regain some desk space by removing a keyboard/mouse. I have only one monitor, but it has two video inputs so I was able to connect two computers to the same monitor (I just press the "Source" button to switch between the two computers). But now when I do, I just move my m

4th of July Holiday Weekend

Recap: FRIDAY: Even though I was off from my day job, Angie and I spent the entire morning doing landscaping/yard work at our Maple Shade house (still on the market, interested?). I picked up 5 bags of mulch and 24 impatiens from Lowe's early in the morning and then met Angie at the house. She dropped the kids off at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's first, of course. I cut the lawn, did the weed whacking, cleaned the front-right gutter, replaced the light bulb in the porch light at the top of the foyer, and planted the impatiens in the front while Angie pulled a lot of the weeds out, swept up the scrap and bagged everything up. She spread out the mulch and we smoothed it out with our rakes. It looked really nice when we were done (which was about 11:40am and we had someone coming to look at the place at noon!). After that, we ate lunch at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house with the kids and then headed back to Mount Laurel where Adrian took his afternoon nap. Uncle Ryan stopped by later

Fireworks

Went to see the fireworks in Maple Shade tonight. By far the best display they've had in a long time; it lasted about 30 minutes or so. Dillon and Jason did not have such a great time because they didn't like the really loud explosions. We'll have to see if we can even convince them to go to another fireworks display. Last night we saw Red Orange Morning and Action Set perform in Audobon, NJ. They both put on good performances, and afterward we hung out at "Oaklyn Manor" in Oaklyn, NJ with some friends (including a long-lost friend or two) which was very nice. It was great catching up. It made for a late night, though, so we were extremely tired when we got home. Today was the usual lawn mowing chore for me in Maple Shade, while Angie cleaned and did laundry in Mount Laurel. We went to dinner at Hoolihan's in Cherry Hill and then went to Mom Mom and Pop Pop's to grab the kids (well, the twins), get some ice cream at the ice cream stand and then meet

BSG 4.5

Angie and I started watching the last half of the final season of Battlestar on Sunday night. Last night we finished episode 15, so we only have 5 to go! It's really good. Some of the things that I thought the writers would hold off on revealing until the end of the series were already revealed (like the "last" of the final five Cylons, what happened to Earth, etc.). If you haven't seen it, I don't think I've given away any spoilers because, you know, the devil is in the details. The writing is consistently great, and the cast is amazing. Definitely worth watching if you can dedicate the time to watching in excess of 40 one-hour episodes of the show (not including "Razor" and any other spin-offs). So say we all...

NJ State Tax Refund

Despite e-filing through NJWebFile in February of this year, we still haven't gotten our state tax refund yet (it's only $50). Typically, we get it within about 8 or 9 days of filing, but this year we received a letter from the Department of Treasury about a month after filing saying that we needed to provide copies of our W-2's, social security cards, and driver's licenses. I did all of that within a day or two and mailed it back. Here we are in late June and we still haven't seen the refund. I called the Treasury Department last week and (thankfully) the person I spoke with was able to track down our information and told me that, yes, they did receive all of our stuff back on March 16th (over three months ago now). When I asked if there was something the matter, she said no, that they've just been slammed with returns and ours will be processed soon. I understand if they were slammed, but they've had my return for 3 months! When does the "slammi

Father's Day

The twins made me Fathers Day cards at summer camp and gave them to me this morning. They also made me little booklets with cardboard covers that day "Dad" on the front and blank pages inside. I guess we're supposed to fill up those pages with drawings, writings, and photos. We'll have to start today! Adrian learned to say "Happy Fathers Day" this morning and did very well. (He's such a charmer!) Angie took all of the kids to church and breakfast with grandmom, so I'm having a relaxing time enjoying the rainy, overcast morning. We're having Angie's dad (and Nancy) and my dad (and mom) over for dinner later today, and I'm looking forward to it. Angie's hoping we can fire up the grill for some chicken and steak, as long as the skies clear up. Maybe we could even dine outside on the patio. The twins are looking forward to seeing all their uncles at one time: Uncle Jake, Uncle Ian and Uncle Ryan will all be here visiting at the sa

Weekend Update

I went over to our Maple Shade house to cut the lawn yesterday around 11:30am, and within 15 minutes it started to rain. I tried to "mow through it", but it turned into a downpour in a matter of minutes. Luckily, Don had left the back door open because I had forgotten my key. Unfortunately for Don, I tracked some grass into the house. I tried to clean it up as best as I could, but it was a futile effort since everywhere I went grass was falling off of me. So I had to abort the grass-cutting mission half way through (at least I had finished the front yard completely). The back yard was about half cut. Today Angie took the kids to church and then out to breakfast with Grandmom (who still hasn't purchased a new car yet!). While they were out, I loaded my mower back into my trunk and went back to Maple Shade to finish the job. After that, I came back here and had lunch. Everyone came home around 12:30pm or so, just in time for Adrian's afternoon nap. While he napp

Pictures from Six Flags

Here is a link to some... Pictures from Great Adventure 6/12/09 Alternatively, you can click the Picasa Slideshow link in the right hand column of my blog. Either way, just scroll through the pictures until you get to the elephant...

Six Flags Great Adventure

We (me, Angie, Dillon, Jason and Adrian) spent the day at Six Flags Great Adventure yesterday. We had our two Coke cans for "Buy One Get One Free" tickets and drove straight to the Safari entrance (it was around 11am by the time we got there, I think). With the coupons and paying $10 each for the Safari, it was about $150 with tax (Adrian was free for everything, of course). The Safari was really cool and everyone really enjoyed it. It was a great time of day to go because all of the animals were out and about (mostly eating). One giraffe started "tasting" a car in front of us at one point, which was pretty funny. The kids all got a kick out of that. Then we ate our pre-packed lunch at the Safari "Exploration Station." We grabbed a picnic table and sat down to eat there. Just when we were finishing up, it started to rain (and we had already paid for our theme park admission). So we went back to the minivan and waited about 10 minutes or so before

Dillon and Jason: Great Adventure

On the small tea cups ride.

BSG S3.0 and PS3

Moving right along through Seasons 2.0 and 2.5, Angie and I started watching Season 3.0 last night. We're totally hooked and just motoring through the seasons. Thanks to Matt, we were able to watch Seasons 1, 2, and 2.5 on DVD, but Season 3 we're watching via AVI files that I grabbed off the Internet. At least we're able to watch them in the family room using the PlayStation 3. The quality isn't the greatest, but it's definitely watchable. I have Season 4.0 on DVD waiting in the wings, but we'll have to get through 3.0 and 3.5 using these computer files first. I'm going to keep looking for higher quality versions, but for now these will have to do. I actually learned something about the PS3 that I think is totally ridiculous. For months now I've been trying to watch computer video files (MPG, AVI, etc.) on the PS3 (either via wi-fi or USB thumb drive), but never had any luck. Then last night I had to figure it out because we finished up Season 2.5

T-Ball League Photos

Jason and Dillon's t-ball league photos:

Adrian at the park

BSG S1

Angie and I finally started watching Battlestar Galactica last week (on DVD). We started with the Season 1 discs, which include the original 4-part miniseries, and I must say we're both completely hooked. We averaged about 2 or 3 episodes per night and polished off all 17 episodes within about 5-6 days. The season-ending cliffhanger was a doozy! I never saw it coming... Dr. Gaius Baltar ("No more Mr. Nice Gaius!!") is a fascinating character. I hate him, but I love watching him in every scene he is in. He's such a weasel, but I love laughing at the predicaments he gets himself into while talking to Number 6 (in his head). The scene where Number 6 appears on Galactica as a doctor's assistant is a classic since Baltar assumes that she is in his head and no one else can see her. The looks on the other actors' faces in that scene and every other scene where Baltar is talking to himself are priceless. Great series... I'm actually glad we didn't wat

Thunder Ball (T-ball, for short)

Tomorrow morning at 9am, the twins will play their second-to-last game of t-ball. Ah, t-ball. You've brought such joy into our home... I know that our kids aren't the only ones who "dislike" t-ball. At the last game (Thursday night), our team was the last to bat, so when they ran off the field for the last time I heard one kid yell out, "YAY! LAST INNING!" I saw the coach burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but tell him, "Yeah, that about sums it up..." On Thursday, Angie told me that the twins were hoping for rain. Angie left the game while the kids were playing the field during the final inning, but she had told them that "this was it and then the game is over." She forgot that they had to bat last. When Dillon ran off the field at the end of the inning and sat on the bench, I told him that he would "get to hit one more time." He looked SO sad about it! He said, "Mom said it was time for dinner and we co

Sprinklers

Tomorrow morning I get to learn how to turn on the sprinkler system and program the thing. I hear it's pretty easy, but I want to make sure everything is working right. Plus, the timer thing is the old school "push pins" and I'm not sure how to work it. Of course, this will also set us back about 70 dollars. Add it to the pile!

Ice Cream Social

The twins' pre-school class had their "Ice Cream Social" today and Mom Mom was there with the camera to preserve the moment in pictures. You can click on the "Picasa Slideshow" link at right to view the photos that I added to the "Kid Photos" album or you can click this link for the slideshow.

Home Again

Well, our flight landed almost exactly on time in Philly tonight, so we were able to get to our car in the Economy Lot and drive to my parents' house by about 6pm. Angie practically jumped out of the car and ran to the front door because she could see Adrian peaking out the window. The kids were very happy to see us and began showing us all the things they created during the past 5 days (drawings, booklets, colorings, art projects from school). And we were equally as happy to see them. Like Angie said, "It's almost like we never left." I received a text message from our friend Don letting us know that someone is coming out to look at our Maple Shade house tomorrow. Of course, the lawn hasn't been mowed in 2 weeks, so I have to get my butt over there to mow it tomorrow morning. Thank God I took off tomorrow! Our new house needs a good mowing, too, but that will have to wait until late afternoon at the earliest now. We recently lowered the asking price of o

Big Bear attacks Denver Convention Ctr

Here's a view of the bear from the first floor of the Denver convention center. This thing is pretty huge!