Happy 1st Birthday Aubree!

Happy Birthday Aubree!

Aubree's new toy phone, hello hello

Aubree loves presents!

Isabelle gave Aubree some presents too, what a sweatheart she is

Birthday fun with the family

NY City Trip with Heather's Parents

This Friday we took Heather's parents into NY City. We drove in and parked near the Temple then we took the subway down to the Staten Island Ferry, where we rode it back and forth to get a closeup look at the Statue of Liberty and the downtown skyline. We then walked up to the World trade center area to see the construction. Then we rode the subway up to Times Square and ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp House. Next, we walked down to 5th ave. and Isabelle got something at the American Girl store and we toured the St. Patrick's Cathedral and watched the ice skaters in Rockefeller Center. We then drove home. It was a balmy 40 degrees but sunny otherwise. We had a really nice time. Happy St. Patty's Day Everyone!!

Eating good at Bubba Gump's Shrimp house

The Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry station

Enjoying the view on the Ferry

Ihop for Lunch today. Aubree has an affinity to all things book-like, including the menu. She will sit there and turn the pages over and over again. She has a tooth coming up this weekend and is mighty cranky.

After the big jump, success! This is Isabelle's "Superstar" pose.

Isabelle's first attempt at jumping off the diving board, this is very scary for her and nobody else in her class will attempt it. I just keep thinking how badly I want to do a backflip with a double twist - I think my brain is wired wrong after all those years on the trampoline.

At swiming lessons, we get to go in and watch Isabelle swim today.

Primary Activity Day

It's that time again, Primary activity Saturday, which means a lot of stress and rush to prepare a massive activity. This time it is a Pirate's treasure hunt theme, the kids were broken into 4 groups with a captain and they all got to wear eye patches and bandanas. They were all given a map of the church where different activities (primary focus of course) were marked and held. At the completion of each activity the team would get a puzzle piece that would eventually clue them into the treasure in the Bishop's office. They had a temptation room called the "Everlasting Chocolate Mountain" or something close to that effect that was not on the map to try and get the kids to trade in their puzzle pieces for candy, funny stuff. The children had a really good time as usual and I am now safe for at least another month or so until the next activity and I lose my wife to the world of frantic preparation...

Pirate's map of locations in the church for the activity

Heather is manning the "Bog of Eternal Stench" location on the map for the activity.

Pirate's booty for the Primary activity

Look, a pig in Toronto!

After a week in Toronto dealing with problems, I am obliged to take advantage of food. Near the hotel is a place called Boston Pizza that I decided to try out, it was very good. My outbound flight was a disaster to which I will have to forever strike from memory (after I write this of course). My flight was to leave for LaGuardia airport in NY at 11am so I arrived at around 9am to get through customs etc. only to find my flight was cancelled, so I then got booked on the 2pm flight but because of weather in NY they delayed, and delayed, and delayed forever. Finally the plane and pilots arrived (from LaGuardia of course) and we got on the plane at about 5:30 but then were told while we were trapped, that they would make a decision at around 7:30 if the plane would be able to take off, so we drove the plane to a remote location and sat there for 2 hours. We took off at about 8pm and the total flight time was only 1 hour!!! So my day was wrecked and 10 hours in an airport is something I would never want to do again.... blah. And all this for a half inch of snow at the stink'n airport, sheesh.

Alone in Toronto, eating at Boston Pizza, yummy brownie icecream delight

Bagel Friday is back!

I have not had a Bagel Friday update in quite some time (probably because I have been out on Friday's on trips etc.). It has been a busy week at work, especially since we had Monday off but the rest of the world did not. I will be in Toronto again most of next week (Mon-Thurs). Trust me, it's not that exciting to be in Toronto in February (brrrrrr!).

Salt Bagel with Vegetable Cream Cheese

Happy President's Day!

Eat'n out on President's day, at Olive Garden.

Excitement for this past week

This weekend we had the largest Blizzard in recorded history for NY. The city got 26.9 inches and we got about 20 inches. It was pretty over-rated if you ask me. We got to cancel church meetings again, hurrah! You will notice the hanging ice of death on our house (due to lack of gutters not installed yet). I'll post some more pictures from the storm, enjoy.

Look at me, Blizzard boy! I keep holding off on buying a snow blower, and then every year we get a big storm and I grunt and groan with the snow shovel and complain, all the while thinking 'I'd pay 500 bucks right now not to have to do this hard work!'. Ah well, maybe next year, hahah.
Isabelle made a snowman (or snow gnome). Notice Nala assisting being obsessed as usual with the strange newcomer in her backyard.


Isabelle had a playdate with her best friend Sarah. They did some creative face painting.

Can you tell from this picture which way the strong wind was blowing during the blizzard? My Pacifica turned into a square box.

A new roof for the house

Very exciting! Tax time is here and we used the refund to fund a new roof that we have desperately needed for more than a year now (the grey tarp on my roof is attractive, but not practical). So the weather has been good and they came out this week and ripped off the shingles, repaired the roof and bye-bye leaks! They even put in a new vented ridge and we are rid of the house fan. The new gutters will go on some time next week. Heather took some pictures for your entertainment, while I was vacationing in Toronto for two days (meetings, blah). Enjoy!



Aubree and Nala enjoying the show!








The Mexicans are doing a great job, notice Aubree and Nala in the window, how funny!




The final result (minus the white gutters that will be put in soon). Very nice. It looks like the fixer-upper bargain price we paid for the house (a small fortune actually) will be worth it, with all the work we've done (thanks mom and dad) it's going to make for a gold mine investment here on Long Island.