Voyages in Parenthood

...getting ready for vacation! Seriously, I'm gonna need a vacation from my preparation for going on vacation with a two year old. A two year old who will have to sit in a car seat on a plane for a cross-country trip. For which we will have to awaken her at the god-awful hour of 4:30 in the morning. What was I thinking?? That's right, we take off on Thursday to Portland, OR, for the Wedding of the Century. Brock's brother Daniel is marrying Maggie on Friday night. Leda's dress fits and we'll see how well she handles being the flower girl (ha! we'll see about that!) We had better have everything we need for our trip because we don't have any more room in the bags we are taking! I guess we'll just have to get it there if we don't already have it. We are really looking forward to seeing the family! Claire reminded me that it's been over a year since Sarah and Scott have seen Leda! They'll have the whole week to get reacquainted! May try a post o...

Husband: "Honey, our daughter's a redneck in training" Wife: "Why do you say that?" Kid: "Mommy, Watch This!" (Kid does something cute) Husband: "At least she didn't ask the dog to hold her beer first!"

We actually had a pretty nice weekend, all things considered. I woke up on Friday feeling pretty bad. Very tired, a little achy, but most annoying, a sore throat. What sucked the most was we were scheduled to spend the weekend in the Poconos with our friends the Durhams. Who wants to be sick on a fun weekend like that? I fought my way through the day, and I went over to day care to pick up Leda as Brock headed over to the Durhams to pick up Uncle John and the refrigerator we were taking up to the house in the truck. When Brock got back, we packed up the car and Leda and I followed Brock and John up to the mountains. The trip wasn't so bad, but I had to give Leda her binky (okay, I didn't HAVE to do anything, but for my sanity, I decided it was a good idea). The question, "Where'd Daddy go" was accompanied by "Where'd John go" for about the first half of the trip. Somewhere just after going through the tunnel, Leda thought it was funny to throw her Bi...

To all the Fathers and Grandpa/Granddaddy/GrandDads, Happy Father's Day! We love you all! Phone calls will be made on Sunday, but due to travel for work, Father's day cards were not purchased in time for delivery! (bad me!) We are off to the Poconos for the weekend. Hopefully the weather will warm up a little (but not too much! ;-)

Brock and I must be the only two people in the universe that have never seen an episode of The Sopranos. Mostly because we are too darn cheap to get HBO. Let me tell you, I will not miss being asked at least twice during each season over the past many years, if I watch The Sopranos. Nope, don't watch 'em, never did. But completely understand the fans that are mad today! If the creators/producers of Lost do that to me, well, let's just not even think about that happening!

Leda surprised me (and caused me to get a little veclemped - and yes, this would be the second post in a row that I have used the word veclemped!) this weekend. Yesterday, as we were sitting outside on the patio, playing with markers (washable, thank goodness!) and paper, Leda was holding them high up above her head, and I said, "are they way up in the sky?" And she replied, "way up in the sky!" Next, she did something she's never done before, and I almost didn't catch it. She started to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. "Up in the sky, Twinkle Star, How wonder you are" I asked her to repeat it - okay, and it's not perfect, but man, did my heart just soar. She was singing! Sorta, there really wasn't much of a melody! But it was beautiful none-the-less. She may not win a real Grammy, but she wins my heart over and over every day!

Well, I've entered the iPod Nation. I'm officially an owner of an iPod. I LOVE it already and I have barely scratched the surface! I really didn't think I'd be all about this piece of technology. I'm 'old school' - I like my albums (see, I'm so 'old school', I still call them albums! Heck, I still REMEMBER albums! Oh, let's just face it, I still OWN albums!) I like my liner notes. My favorite activity after purchasing a new album (okay, CD!) is to put it in the stereo, turn it up loud and read the liner notes front to back while listening to the new music. I even do that with my old music - it's nice to get re-acquainted with an old friend once in awhile. Over the past several years - probably due to parenthood, although I wouldn't trade it for the world - I haven't been as into my music as I used to be. The only time I really listen to music is when I am in the car. I listen to Radio Margaritaville on the Internet when working. I...

Last night Brock and Leda and I headed downtown for First Friday - every first Friday of the month is a big deal in our little town - the shops and restaurants all do something fun, they have music playing all up and down the street, there are street performers, lots of fun. We hadn't been able to make a First Friday in the past two years they have been doing them - either we are too busy with other stuff, or too darn tired. Last night we decided to go down for the dedication of the "Children's Plaza" for which we bought a brick! They closed down a little one way thoroughfare that wasn't much of a big deal and paved it with bricks and put in a fountain and some benches and they will have some activities there over the summer for kids. It is a pretty nice little place. So we went down for the dedication, and after they "opened" the plaza, the fountain was turned on and Leda needed to play in it! Luckily we kept her from getting IN it, but she had to put h...

Yes, I finally got my road trip. It wasn't too far and it didn't involve taking the kid. It did involve traveling to a client for some on-site face time, so technically it was work. I had to drive out to York, PA to visit with a client. It just so happens that York is where I lived for 5 years while I went to college. So it was like going home for a day. I enjoyed the ride out, checking out the sites along the road I traveled back and forth on for 5 years. Wow, how things have changed. There's now a Target in the back yard of the "Real live working" Amish House and Farm attraction in Lancaster County (something a little obscene about that). After my productive meeting with the client - who was also a graduate of York College! Small world - I headed down to the college. Now, the spring semester was finished about two weeks ago or so, so there was no one on campus. It was dead. They are building something new at the old gym building - gonna be REALLY TALL! Amazing! ...