Friday, April 21, 2006

Vacation Update




Well i am finally able to update my blog. At my inlaws home in Buffalo, I am able to get on one of their neighbors wireless network. I barely have a signal...I have to be in a certain room and have to the have the computer angled in a specific way to acquire the signal.

We had a great time in Erie! After a long trip on Sunday, we arrived around 11:15 pm. This time I decided to save $15 by driving across I-80 instead of the NY Thruway. I don't think I will do that again! The trip seemed very long, and of course there is the Pennsylvania road construction to deal with. It never ceases to amaze me how they close miles of interstate to fix a few hunderd yards of road.

On Tuesday, Dad, Tracy, and I travelled to Toronto to see the Yankees. One of the joys about going to see baseball in Toronto is that the event staff are very lenient on letting fans line up to see the players during batting practice. We set up above the Yankee dugout.



You can see from the picture how close we were. That is a picture of Yankee shortsop Derek Jeter heading back in to the dugout. What was neat is that Yankee catcher Jorge Posada gave the kid standing next to dad his bat. He pointed to the kid with his bat and then slid it on the dugout roof to the kid. Newly signed center fielder Johnny Damon also signed autographs and interacted with the fans for a while.

Well after and exciting top of the 1st inning that featured back to back home runs by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi, the game went south from there. Randy Johnson could not hold the 4-0 lead that was given to him. The Yankees played sloppy and Jays capitalized on the mistakes.

On Wednesday, we took the kids to the Erie Zoo. It isn't a big zoo, but they do have some great exhibits. As always the big cats were my favorites.

I hope to be able to post again over the weekend. We are having a good April vacation.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Spring Break=Vacation

It's spring break for kids. I remember as a child enjoying that week in April where we would have a whole week off of school. Well, since Samantha is in Kindergarten, she is enjoying that beginning today. What does this mean. It means that following our Sunday services on Sunday, we will be loading up the Toyota for a road trip.

The first stop will be Erie, Pennsylvania to visit my folks. We will make a day trip to Cleveland to see our good friends Steve & Janice Howard who are taking up appointments at the International College for Officers in London. They are our kids godparents, and have really embraced that role. We love them like family.

I along with Dad and Tracy will be travelling to Toronto on Tuesday to see our friends the Yankees play against the Blue Jays. We are very excited about that. With the exchange rate and lack of interest in baseball north of the border we are able to get very good seats at the stadium formally known as Skydome, now known as the Rogers Centre or Center. I just heard on tonight's radio broadcast while driving people home from the Good Friday Service that future hall of famer Randy Johnson will be pitching for the Yankees. This is great. The last time I went to Toronto for a Yankee game, Roger Clemens was pitching.

After a few days in Erie, we will travel to Buffalo to visit Elaine's parents. While there, we will celebrate Elaine's father's 60th birthday. It is going to be a great weekend for the Smith family to all get together and celebrate Jim's first 60 years of life.

It promises to be a good week. We have been looking forward to it for some time. I will probably post a few during the week to update everyone on the good times.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Baseball is Back!

It has been a long week! Daylight savings time went into effect, and the Yankees opened on the West Coast. It was most difficult staying awake watching the guys play the Athletics of Oakland. I hope I am able to stay awake tonight as they open a 3 game series against Anaheim or is it the Los Angeles Angels.

Baseball is back! It is great to know that most of my nights will no longer be channel surfing, but rather tuned to channel 36. In Norwich that is YES.

In addition to Major League Baseball, the minors have also started. Last night Samantha and I braved the elements and went to Opening night at the Connecticut Defenders. The Coast Guard Academy color guard presented the colors, and the Coast Guard Academy Glee Club presented the national anthem. Before too long, the call to "play ball" was announced and the game was underway.

The only problem was it was cold!!!!! The game time temperature was 43 degrees, and there was a breeze. Sammi and I lasted about an hour. After that we packed it in, and headed home. We didn't pay for the tickets as they were comps. We had stopped by the stadium a couple of weeks ago to buy the cadets t-shirts, and were given two great tickets.

It is great to be able to enjoy this great sport not only in our living room, but also follow the hometown team.

Baseball is back!