Weekend of October 13-14

Been very hectic last couple of weeks.

Mary Ann moved weekend of Sept 29th - 30th. No rest for the wicked, come Monday we were both commuting into NY for work.

All her stuff arrived on Thursday and there were boxes everywhere in the house and the garage. We had the boys for the weekend, but most of it was spent unpacking boxes, hiring a storage facility and moving some stuff in there and trying to arrange Mary Ann's stuff in the new place.

The garage is now completely full of stuff that needs to go into storage (some of MA's, some of mine).

Last week we went down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a few days. Had wonderful weather, around 27-30 degrees every day. Went swimming most days. Played a round of golf on Thursday and the golf school I did a few weeks back must have paid off as shot a 77.

We drove back on Friday and picked the boys up Friday night. Nicholas and I watched a movie on Friday. Saturday was very busy. MA and I went to the gym in the morning. Picked up bagels on the way home. We then went to the Trenton farmer's market and picked up all sorts of tasty food for the pasta we were having for dinner.

Got back and did some more unpacking. In the afternoon the new dining room table arrived which was very exciting. We took the old one to Goodwill, and ate our dinner on the new table on Saturday night.

Saturday evening we played Bingo (which Nicholas one) and a game called Blokkus (which Kieran won).

Sunday MA, Nicholas and I got up and went to 8am Mass. We then came home and cooked up a big feast for breakfast (smoothies, apple cinnamon pancakes and frittata).

We then went out and got a storage unit for the kitchen which we all put together when we got home. I think MA is starting to get somewhat happy with the kitchen. Pot land is now sorted out and Tupperwareville is in a lot better shape than it was a week ago. Apparently a pantry is something you fill with food, something I was unaware of!!!!

After that MA and the boys carved a pumpkin for Halloween (photos attached, plus some photos of the weekend in Chicago that Mary Ann moved). It was very scary by the time they had finished and Nicholas refused to protect me if I got scared looking at it.

Carving the Pumpkin

At 4pm we went to a function at the parish for new parishioners which was a lot of fun. Met a guy there who worked for Reuters on the West Coast for about 10 years, so talked to him for a long time. They had tasty food so the boys were happy.

Dropped the boys off Sunday evening and MA and I went out for a beer to watch the second half of the Dallas New England football game (might as well start watching the American Football as the All Blacks can't seem to win anything).

Weekend of Sept 29-30th

Been a busy couple of weeks.

Week before last I was in London. Pretty hectic although did manage to see a bit of the 20/20 cricket from South Africa on TV which was great, especially seeing the Poms being humiliated.

Got back on Friday and picked the boys up and we went out for dinner. Dropped them back at Anita's Friday night as they were going to a wedding on Saturday. Went home and packed again for another week away.

Saturday morning went to a golf school for the day which was a lot of fun. Flew up to Providence, Rhode Island Saturday evening from Phillie for a conference at Newport which was Sunday thru Wednesday.

Conference was OK. Played golf up there on Sunday.

Wednesday night stayed at Lisa and Stephen's just outside Providence which was fun. Drove up to Bedford Thursday and then Thursday night flew to Chicago from Boston to help Mary Ann move.

Friday the movers came in and took out all Mary Ann's stuff from her apartment. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights and Sunday afternoon flew back to Phillie and drove home. She is now officially a resident of New Jersey and is still getting used to that fact!!!!

Weekend of Sept 15-16

Short entry.

Picked up MA Friday night from Phillie.

Saturday was spent doing jobs in the morning. In the afternoon we drove back down to Phillie as we were all staying in a hotel as MA and I ran the Phillie 1/2 marathon on Sunday morning.

Saturday afternoon we checked into hotel and went to get our race numbers etc from Exhibition Center. When we got back to the hotel the boys and I went for a swim. Then it was an early dinner and early to bed.

Woke up at 6am to head off to the run. We had organized a babysitter for the boys at the hotel room. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and a great day for running. We were confident of breaking the WR.

Walked to the starting area and the race started at 7.45. It was a loop around the city and then up and back down the river (31.1 miles). At the 4 mile mark we passed backl were we started. Because it takes a while to get going to we got to 4 miles around 55 minutes after we started, just in time to see the elite runners finish the race 9and we still had 9 miles to go)!!!!

Did pretty well but I started to suffer after about 10 miles, so the WR was out of reach for this race.

Finished the race (none of you need to know the time) and MA was sporting enough not to race miles ahead of me. It was a great experience and am keen to do another.

Hobbled back to the hotel and after a shower we all went out for Dim Sum and the first beer MA and I have had in 4 months (tasted very good).

Dropped MA at Phillie airport in the afternoon. Have to drop the boys off soon as I am off to Newark as am flying to London tonight. Hate to think how stiff I will be when I wake up tomorrow.

Weekend of September 8th-9th

It has been commented that there is too much information of what was eaten for dinner etc on this blog which some people may not find particularly interesting, so this posting will be food free. Just take it as read that no-one starved.

Picked up the boys on Friday night and we drove up to Mary Ann's friends place in Pawling (Chris, Sue and baby Alex). Got there about 10.30, set up the beds and the boys were out like a light. Had a couple of drinks then it was off to bed for all of us. The exciting thing about the drive was it was in MA's new car a Scion Tc which we bought last week. Little sporty stick shift car. All very exciting. It even got a thumbs up from the purveyor all all things cool, Kieran!!

Saturday morning got up and watched the All Blacks deal severely with the Italians in the World Cup game and then Chris and I went off to play golf. The boys and Mary Ann stayed at the house and apparently spent the next 6 hours in the pool.

Pawling - Sept 2007

Got back from golf $40 poorer (take it from me if you don't know golf it is hard to beat a guy if you are playing on the same handicap and he starts the back nine par, birdie, par, par, birdie).

Played Bingo on Saturday night which was a great hit and an early night for all.

Headed off on Sunday about 11.30, stopped at the shops at MA needed a new bag for work and got home about 4.

It was then time for the great clothes cull as the new closets had been installed on Friday and my clothes had to go back into them. MA, Kieran and Nicholas had a great time abusing my sense of sartorial elegance and threw away my clothes willy nilly.

Dropped the boys off and then MA and I went for a 5 mile run.

Dropped MA at the airport Monday morning (the last 6am flight she will hopefully ever take back to Chicago). She is back again on Friday as we are running the Phillie 1/2 marathon on Sunday morning (God help us).

Weekend of August 25-26

I took a couple of days off and the boys and I went camping up to the Poconos for 4 days. Had to go for a run, do a few jobs, buy provisions and then pack the car up all on Saturday so got off a little bit later than I hoped

We got up there about 4pm. Started setting the tent up and it started bucketing down with rain. We hid out in the car and in between showers we put the tent up and the mosquito net covering thing over the picnic table. I cooked dinner (chicken and pasta with mushrooms and we played a few games of Sequence and then it was off to bed.

Saturday night was probably the biggest lightening storm I have ever witnessed. Seemed to go on forever, must have been at least 2-3 hours. In the middle of it the mosquito net thingie blew over and I had to rush outside dodging ligtening bolts and dismantle it. Fortunately the tent was solid as a rock during the whole thing and didn't move an inch.

Sunday morning the weather was beautiful and I made breakfast of bacon and eggs with toasted English muffins. We drove to a place called Bushkill Flass and went on a lovely 3 hour hike through this forest seeing about 6-7 waterfalls. On the way back to the campsite we stopped in and looked at a craft fair.

When we got back the boys went swimming in the pool and I was able to sit there watching them and read a book.

Before dinner Nicholas and I played The Game of Life. He didn't seem to cotton on to the concept that if you borrowed money from the bank you eventually had to pay it back (if you have been following the sub-prime mess here it is a sentiment he shares with many Americans).

He helped with dinner that night and we made his famous sausage stew which consisted of sausages, potatoes, mushrooms, onion, shallot, garlic all cooked in beef broth with some crushed tomatoes added at the end. It turned out very tasty.

Monday after breakfast we went to Camel Beach water Park. We got there at 11am and left at 6.30 (by which time Dad was exhausted). Kieran hooked up with some kid from Wisconsin who was his age and we pretty much didn't see him for the last 4 hours.

It was a big day for Nicholas as he was officially tall enough to do any ride in the park and he wanted to make the most of it. We did the Swirling Vortex of Terror about 5 times and many other equally terrifying rides. He had a real blast.

Monday night dinner was Uncle Ron's famous hobo stew which meant we had a campfire, put a whole lot of stuff in aluminum foil, threw it in the fire and came back 20 minutes later and it was all cooked. The boys also wanted Pad Thai. I think it is the first ever combination of hobo stew and Pad Thai (sort of East meets West).

Tuesday we packed up after breakfast and drove on home. I dropped the boys off about 8pm. They start school next week. They were much lamenting that fact to me over the weekend.

Photos of the weekend below.

Camping in the Poconos

It is along weekend here this coming weekend (Labor Day). Mary Ann arrives Thursday night and Friday afternoon we are driving up to Corning as her Mum is moving to Mary Ann brother's place in Pennsylvania so we are going up to help with the move.

Weekend of August 18-19

This will go down as the weekend of jobs.

I swapped weekends with Anita for the boys as Kieran had been invited Whitewater rafting on Sunday and then out to the Hamptons starting Sunday.

Mary Ann was here for the week (going back tomorrow morning) so we took the opportunity to get a whole lot of jobs done that had been on my list for a while.

Friday was pretty quiet. MA picked me up from the train station and we came home and had a nice dinner (MA cooked - big surprise she just said to me).

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the gym and took an 1 1/4 hr boxing class. It was an old school workout. None of this fancy equipment stuff, guy just told us to lift our legs 6 inches off the ground and keep them there until every muscle in our stomachs was screaming at us to put our legs down. Apart from that it was a fun class (although I was too afraid to ask MA whose face she was envisioning as she punched the heavy bag).

After the gym and a stop at the bagel shop to undo all the good work we got home and made 3 trips to goodwill to drop off some old furniture I had in the garage that has been there since I moved.

After we had showers, etc we drove to look at cars for MA as her existing car is 11 yrs old and is not making the move with her when she moves from Chicago. She has always been a buy American girl but we test drove a Honda and I think I blew it as she really liked it. We are looking a little sporty 2 door coupe as we have the Explorer we just need something small and good on gas.

After we got home from car shopping we relaxed for a bit before going out for a very tasty meal at a local restaurant that got a great write up from the NY Times.

Sunday we got up around 8 and went for an 8 mile run down by the canal. Took about 90 minutes. When we got home we went and had some brunch and bought some stuff for the house (mainly organizing stuff for the garage). When we got home we attacked the garage and within a couple of hours had it all organized so hopefully we can fit two cars in there.

By this time we were both feeling the effects of the boxing class and 8 mile run and have pretty much been hobbling around like 90 year olds all afternoon.

Went to Mass at 5.30 and when we got back MA very kindly made pesto sauce and a tomato sauce from the tomatoes and basil we have been growing. Looking forward to having both of those for dinner on the camping trip next weekend. Am taking the boys for 4 days next weekend to the great outdoors in the Pocono Mountains.

Weekend of August 11-12 - Pawling NY

Took Friday off as Mary Ann arrived Thursday night and we were going up to her friend's place in Pawling NY for the weekend. Also, we had to meet our new best friend, the closet-man on Friday morning. The closets in the master bedroom are getting done in early September as MA needs a place for her clothes and shoes. We are planning the great clothes cull for Andrew as he prepares to say goodbye to his 10 year old shirts and pants.

Picked up Kieran and Nicholas around 3pm and went back to my place. Friday was Kieran's birthday so there was a lot of present opening. Lots of books and a set on in-line skates. Unfortunately they were too small for him so will need to be swapped.

MA and I had picked up a yummy passionfruit cake earlier in the day for him which we took with us up to Pawling.

After present opening it was time to pack the car and head off. We stopped for dinner and then drove up there arriving about 8.30. There were about 20-25 people there for the weekend. An army of kids which was great and lot of fine food and wine.

We all slept on blow up beds Friday night in the basement (which was just as well as it was very damp outside). The original plan being we camp outside. We had Kieran's birthday cake Friday night and managed to embarrass him enormously with a stirring rendition of happy birthday.

Saturday we got up and did some swimming and then it was time for the men folk to go off and play golf. A great course and very enjoyable time was had by all (especially since I won some money). The ladies (and a few men folk) and kids stayed at home by the pool. As the girls hadn't all been together in a long time it was a good opportunity to catch up.

Got back about 5, a bit of swimming then time for dinner and time for me to lose $20 at Texas Hold'Em. Luckily for us during the whole weekend the host had satellite TV so we were able to watch both the England/India cricket test and the PGA Championship.

Saturday night several families put the up tents around the pool and slept outside. It was a lot of fun and I think even MA may now be bitten by the camping bug. It was a beautiful night and we could all see the stars shining brightly. Sadly the crickets kept Kieran awake for 4 hours but everyone else slept very well.

Sunday we got up and all the kids swam in the pool for it seemed like hours before we had to pack up and go. Got home about 5pm and had to drop the boys off. When I got home MA and I went for a long run down by the canal.

MA was in NY for the week and will work one more week in the NY office in September before moving on 9/28. Andrew is busy clearing out the garage to make room for the new car that is likely to be purchased tomorrow.

Photos of the weekend attached.

Pawling Weekend - August 2007