Saturday, October 27, 2007

Back from the Beach!!!! LOL

Well friends, I am officially back from a very long virtual day at the beach. The other day I received a comment from a reader who shall remain nameless, at least for now, asking if I was still at the beach. Virtually, this was true, but realistically, I was at the beach solely in spirit.

The $64,000 question is and shall be for this blog...where have you been since, and what have you done? I will attempt to answer those.


The short answer is a combination of writer's block, and busyness. However, I will write a synopsis of my activities over the last few months.


August

In August, we went on vacation early in the month to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It is a great resort in the Mid Atlantic states that when asked about it in New England, I refer to it as the Cape Cod for Washington DC. There is a wealthy population that vacation there as well as a large gay population. While we fit neither of those demographics, it is a great place to go on vacation. My granfather discovered it back in 1980 and we have gone back to it over the years. My own parents made an annual pilgrimage there from 1986 to 2001. We have resumed going there this year and plan on making our own pilgrmimages there annually for the foreseable future. I am sorry that I do not have any pictures as I realized while enroute on I-95 in Wilmington, DE that i forgot my camera at home. It was a great time of vacation as a family and we are looking forward to next August already.


Just a few days after Rehoboth, my sister Tracy got the idea to try to get tickets to see the Yankees/Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Well obviously, there were no tickets available from the Yankees, but there is a great site called StubHub that allowed us to purchase tickets to the game. There was a reason for planning this. My dad had a meeting at THQ in West Nyack, so we planned to all meet at the hotel the evening before and travel to the Yankee game. A few minutes after we arrived, we headed to the Bronx. As soon as we parked in my "special" spot, I immediately sensed that this would be a different experience. There were more barricades then usual, there were more police then usual, but those are good things typically. After grabbing, some hot dogs at Stan's, we heading into our seats in the left field bleachers. Our seats were located just behind the Yankee dugout, so we were able to see Yankee starter, Andy Pettitte warming up. As the Red Sox lineup was announced and the fans booed, we could see Andy laughing as Youklis, Manny, Big Papi, and Varitek were booed with intensity. The game was simply amazing! Andy pitched solid, handed the ball to new Yankee phenom, Joba Chamberlin, who in turn gave the ball to Mariano Rivera. I have always wanted to be at Yankee Stadium when Mo comes in. To sing, Metallica at the top of my voice seeing Mo come through the fence, was amazing! It was also amazing to join the cheers for Joba as he came in and chant his name as he struck out the side with a fist pumped that is still seen on highlight videos on YES. The bleachers were an amazing place to sit. The fans were totally into the game, and I think I will be sitting there much more often. For one, it is cheaper, secondly, it is a lot more fun.


September

While they actually began in late August, September typically marks the beginning of school, and Jay and Sam are now in Kindergarten and 2nd grade respectively. They are both excited and eager to begin a new year in school.


In the middle of the month, we regretfully had to say goodbye to Tucker. Despite training, he had grown very agressive and was becoming dangerous to keep. We had to make some tough phone calls to the SPCA, Lab Rescues, Training Centers, and all told us, that no one would take him due to his agression. This was sad because 99% of the time he was a sweet dog, but his agression was coming out more and more. It was determined that it was a genetic problem due to his breeding most likely at a puppy mill. We took a chance with him, and never would have dreamed this would have happened to us. When I took him to the vet for the "last time" the vet reassured me I was doing the right thing, and that he himself had to make the same decision with one of his dogs. The good news in this is we still have a great dog in Jasmine and she is truly spoiled!


In late September, I had the opportunity for yet another Yankee game. This was from a rainout that I and a friend attempted in April. It was a day game make up so the stadium was relatively empty. I did remember to take my camera to this game and have attached some pictures. Again, Andy Pettitte pitched, but it was a boring game. Both teams did not seem to into it, and despite having awesome box seats in the home run porch in RF, I was missing the bleachers. I kept wishing I was sitting there.


Here are some pics from the game.


October

In October we were able to have a quick visit from Mom, Dad and Tracy. Even better was that they did our meetings for us! It is always great having family come and now that they are closer we will be seeing them more often.


Today as I write this, we have just returned from our...I can't even say it, Christmas Party. I am sorry, but to this day, I still have difficulty singing carols in October! It was a great time in Waterbury, and the kids had a good time with friends and swimming in the hotel pool. I was shocked, Jay actually went under water on multiple occasions. The kids both got gift cards to Build a Bear Workshop. Sammi got Webkinz, and Jay got a couple of Transformers.


It is hard to believe, but October only has a few more days left. Where has the time gone!


I promise I will be back to regularly scheduled blogging!!!!