A trip to the Bronx Zoo

Today I took the day off and we all drove to the Bronx Zoo to see the animals. We had a really great time and the weather was outstanding. Here are some of the highlights:

Pinewood Derby again

On Tuesday night we all went to the annual Ward cub scout pinewood derby. I got to be the announcer and score keeper while Heather ran the program and Mark acted as line judge. We all had a good time.

Bagel Friday is back!

Can't live in NY without Bagel Friday! I'm actually in the office this week so I get to partake of my favorite Friday Ritual. Today is an Everything Bagel with Veggie Cream Cheese and OJ. Yummy, even my fat rolls are smiling. Today also marks our Summer Hours here at work which means I get to go home at 1:15 today and every Friday until the summer is over. I will be back in the office again next week but will travel to Scottsdale next Friday to work over the weekend there, blah. Mark Peterson will be with us all of next week, the girls are excited to see Uncle Mark. We just purchase Mario Party 8 for the Wii so they will have something to do. Heather has a pinewood derby to run and Isabelle has dance recitals coming up (she is in Tap and Ballet this year).

It's pizza night tonight

Waiting for my order at Papa Johns Pizza.

Jared and Michelle and Chase are here!

Visitors!

Fun Saturday

Today we all went to see pirates of the carabean. It was great. Now we are eating at Olive Garden. Heather got her hair cut and is absolutely georgous.

Heather has a new clock!

We bought a new clock tonight. It's a Rhythem clock that plays music and spins around.

Death of a chocolate molton cake

The remains of dessert.

Our weekly jaunt to chilis

Me and Isabelle

Getting set to go home

Just kick'n it at the Toronto airport Admiral's club, waiting for my flight.

Warehouse

This may seem boring to you but I love to walk through a big warehouse. This our largest facility in Canada.

Window with a view

Interesting fact. The flight from NY to Toronto is only 1 1/2 hours. They have just enough time to serve a drink with one hand and take it away with the other.

Heading to Toronto

I'm sitting in the admirial's club in Laguardia waiting for my flight. I am heading out on a quick two day trip to Canada to be the bad guy with the business. They want system enhancements and like the Capital One commercials I will be saying "NO" all day. Should be fun.

Shopping for a new dress.

Aubree is true girly girl. She will only wear dresses and white dress shoes all day long and it is a battle to get the dress and shoes off for bedtime. So she now has enough sun dresses to get through an entire week. She is proudly holding her new dress at the store and won't let go of it. Crazy girls.

Saturday fun

We went to see Shreck the Third with Isabelle' friend Eliza. We then took the girls to lunch at Chili's which is next to the theatre. I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars, it was equal to the first two. Even Aubree enjoyed the movie for the most part.

Picking up Isabelle from school.

Medford Elementary

Day off with a date.

I took the day off today. I took Heather and Aubree to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch.

Potty training woes

Aubree is potty training

Happy mothers day!

Mmmm, smelly flowers for my sweetheart! After spending a very long week in management meetings in Union, Missouri, I was forced kicking and screaming to Scottsdale, Arizona for the weekend to supervise the team putting in the new system there (simulation tests for the weekend). Unfortunately I let the Europeans plan the Sim test dates and they did not realize the dates fell on Mother's day. So I diligently sent Heather some flowers from afar and gave her the best Mother's day ever (without me there to bother her... aha).

Isabelle's 10th Birthday bash

Isabelle has officially turned 10 in May (May 10th to be exact). I had to be out of town for her Birthday (in Union, Missouri). So we celebrated early. Here are some pictures of the event.

My new toy - Blackberry Pearl - I'm back in business

Happy Valentines Day!

For Valentines day I got a TomTom One GPS handheld navigator (because we can't seem to find a Nintendo Wii). Heather got lots of lov'n for her valentines present. So now I have a very sexy voice that can tell me exactly where and when to turn and doesn't judge me when I take the wrong road.... hahha.

Winter - kinda late!

Hey, what a slacker I've been on my blog. I figure if old man winter can slack off on Long Island, so can I. We have had a very nice winter thus far, however today it actually snowed for the first time. It may only be a half-inch, but the freezing rain and wind are making up for the lack of snow here. You know it is going to be a long day when it takes 2 hours to go 29 miles and when I got to the parking lot I noticed that everyone has their windshield wipers pointing up to the sky to avoid freezing them to the windshield. I am extremely busy at work right out of the gate this year. I am leading an outsource initiative to eliminate 8 of my staff over the next three months, which includes relocating 150 servers from Long Island to Scottsdale, Arizona. These servers are the lifeblood of three divisions of Esselte and drive $500 million in annual sales, so the risks are high and the pressure is on me.

Good times in Scottsdale

I am in Scottsdale Arizona for Thursday and Friday this week. They have thier annual Christmas party tonight and they have a traditional soccer match in the afternoon. Of course, I volunteered to be on a team since I'm out here so here are a couple of pictures from the game. My legs are officially Jello, I'm out of shape and not getting any younger. There were four teams playing in a round robin, my team only had 6 players so we did not have the advantage of substitution, so we lost two games and tied one. I had a good time.

Santa's Little Helper

Santa has a new name this year...UPS, USPS, Fedex. We are doing most of our Christmas shopping this year online. I suspect it will be a good online shopping season.

Christmas is Coming!

Stockings were hung by the chimney with care.... well anyway, we got out the lights and decorations. We also had Andrew and Angela visit us for a couple of days after Thanksgiving. We enjoyed their company and had a good time. I even got my fried turkey sandwiches.

Thanksgiving Celebration

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration at home this year. The Turkey and fixn's were delicious!

Travel Log

I'm busy, busy, busy. End of year push with projects have kept me very busy. My December schedule is as follows:

Dec 6 -9 I will be back in Scottsdale Arizona
Dec 10 - 15 I will be in Warsaw Poland for management meetings
Dec 18 - Jan 03 We will be in Southern Utah for Christmas and New Years

It sorta takes the fun out of the month. I will post some pictures from Thanksgiving as soon as I get to it. I am switching out my Blackberry phone for a new Samsung Blackjack phone that has a decent camera, then the pics will start flowing again. I will have a picture below of Poland for those of you who are geographically challenged.

Primary Halloween Activity

It's that time of year once again. The primary put on a great Halloween party (Pagen activities in the Church, oh my!). The girls had a blast, it was very well done. I'll include a couple of pictures. What I am unable to show you is the finale to the night, where everyone gathered outside and they had a pie throw at the bishopric. Somebody forgot to mention that you should use pie tins not cake tins when doing a pie throw, so I ended up with a bloody nose and a cut chin before the night was over. We then did our traditional "trunk or treat" where everybody opens thier trunk in the parking lot and the kids go round and round until the candy floweth no moreth.

Isabelle has Braces!

Yup, we now owe the wire man our souls. Isabelle is adjusting nicely to her new teeth appendages. She was very excited up until she actually realized that having braces is not so much fun after all.

Fall Cleanup has begun

Isabelle took some pictures a few weeks ago when we started our fall cleanup. The leaves are changing and getting pretty.

Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs - Custom Paper Models at PaperToys.com

Paper Toys - Paper Cut-Outs - Custom Paper Models at PaperToys.com

Hey, I'm back in the office again after my long travels. Check out this really cool site for the paper folding fanatic.