The OBX

The biggest event I missed writing about was our trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was our first real family vacation in 14 years...and it was fabulous. We spent 9 days on the road...flying into Norfolk, Va. for a night, then driving down to Nags Head for 7 days, then back to Norfolk for a final day to visit their aquarium and science center. It was all fantastic.

I could give you a day by day, activity by activity, meal by meal account of the trip...but I won't. It would take about 40 posts and involve overwhelming Blogger with hundreds of photos. But I will say we had the opportunity to enjoy swimming and playing in the ocean, going on dolphin watches, touring nesting sites of sea turtles, hiking, visiting the largest natural sand dunes in the eastern United States, flying kites on the beaches and the dunes, and so much more.

Yes, there were four of us with digital cameras so we really did come home with hundreds of photos. Son21 even documented his trip in food...taking a photo of his plate at every restaurant we visited. And I'm sure if you visited the Facebook pages of the kids, you would find more photos of our trip.

But I'll only show you a few here. If you want to see them all, drop by the house for a beer and a slide show.



We rented a house in Nag's Head for the week. It was a beautiful house with all the amenities - fully stocked kitchen, laundry service, heated pool, hot tub, five balconies, and nine (yes NINE) TV/DVD players. And each bedroom was a master suite so every kid had their own bedroom and bath. They felt quite pampered! LOL

The best part of it all was the location. Sitting in the family room or the dining room, we could look one direction and look out over the ocean...and in the other direction we could enjoy Albermarle Sound. And to walk to the beach...60 seconds. The photo above was the beach we visited nearly every day. It was perfect.



Not sure the photo really illustrates just how big and tall the dunes at Jockey's Ridge really are...but they were huge! It was definitely a workout to hike around the dunes. And Daughter15 and I returned to the dunes later in the week for some kite flying.



It seemed we could not get enough of the beautiful sunsets...whether on the beach, on our balcony, or here at the Sound.


There are a lot of famous lighthouses on the Outer Banks. This one, the Bodie Island Lighthouse, was closest to where we were.



It really was one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. And even in a busy summer week, there were plenty of open spaces and serene locales.

It was a fun trip. And after the past ten months or so, it was quite restorative for our family.

I love to read!

One thing I totally love about summer are the extra opportunities to read. Extra days off work allow for reading during the day. And it means I can stay up later at night and read. Days at the beach or the pool mean sitting in the sun and reading. Lots and lots of reading.


For the most part, I'm not reading anything of earth-shattering importance. I read a lot of journals and blogs that relate to my profession, but I'm not working my way through the non-fiction best seller list.

Of course there are some books to help plan our trip to North Carolina.

And I read a lot (a LOT!) of blogs just for fun.

But mostly I love the fiction. Murder mysteries. Horror stories. Creepy stuff. Funny stuff.

At the moment, I'm reading the second book in Dean Koontz's Frankenstein trilogy. Before that, I was reading a book about werewolves. The books in this photo are just a small portion of those I've worked my way through this summer. And I've still got about half a dozen sitting on my bedside table just waiting for me.

I love to read!

Where did he go?

Camping! And more camping. And swimming and kayaking and basking in the sun. And don't forget sleeping late. And napping. And eating tons of good food off the grill. And reading. And a bit of mini golf.

And then I started over and did it all again!

The best photos definitely come from the lake. The early morning trips on the kayak when the lake and campground is quiet. There might be a few columns of smoke up in the trees from someone cooking breakfast over a morning fire. But other than that...peace and quiet on the lake in the early morning.

And when I go out later in the day, Daughter14 is always eager to
jump in the other kayak and go along for a paddle. The rest of the family prefers a more leisurely ride in the paddle boat.

So what's next on the schedule? Well I gotta come around and visit your blogs...see what has been going on.

And we've gotta do a little work around the house and a bit of back to school shopping. Which seems so wrong cause school has barely ended and now we are buying backpacks and new clothes for the upcoming year. Too fast!!

And then, in just ten days, we'll be leaving for our family vacation. Now what makes this one so special? Because we have not taken a real family vacation in fourteen years. Yep, 14. My work schedule wasn't conducive to it. And sometimes we just couldn't afford it. And the reality of a kid with special needs is that it can be very difficult to travel, stay in hotels, deal with unpredictable schedules, etc.

But this time, we are out of here! We'll be heading to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and all the kids are coming along and we can hardly wait!

But for now...home for a few days...and I'll be around to visit soon!

So what to do when it rains?

That's right...the 60/80 conundrum yesterday left us wondering what to do for fun. And all the kids said bowling! Something we had not all done together in years. But we headed to the lanes and had a great time!

Son21...

Daughter14...

and Son17 all showed off their styles.

And they all thought they would kick dad's butt. They didn't! Na na na na na na! But trust me, my score was nothing to brag about. In fact, I have photos of the electronic score sheet. But its my blog and I see no reason to embarrass myself by posting that! :)

Bird Stuff

Mating dance? Territorial dispute? A bizarre and fascinating bird thing?

Yes...definitely the last one. Perhaps one of the others.

Yesterday, these two birds spent about 15 minutes doing their thing in our yard. They chose a stump from one of our recently removed trees as their stage. And they performed.



Sometimes one - or even both - would run off into the grass, but they never ventured far from the stump. And the ritual never ceased.


They sang. They danced. They bobbed and weaved.


There was lots of posturing and tail flaring.


And it was fascinating to watch.

I'm no avian expert. I have no idea what kind of birds they are. Perhaps a Ruby-Headed Grass Dancer. Or a Flair-Tailed Stump Hopper. Maybe some dear reader can identify our little friends. But if you have to look it up in Black-Throated Stump Dancers of Connecticut, Volume III, don't go pretending like you knew it all along.


Eventually, they both took off and the yard was quiet again.

Grab your PFD and let's go!

To all the dads out here...HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Hope everyone had a great day in whatever way you celebrated. Some had breakfast in bed. Some got a long afternoon nap on the couch. Some had a special dinner. Some got gifts. A lot of ways to celebrate this day...and I hope your way was fabulous!

For me...a relaxing day. A delicious dinner of steak on the grill, potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner.

And gifts! Well, really just one big gift...and a couple of accessories that go along with it. And what was this one big gift?!?!

A little sit-on-top kayak for the campground!


That's right, boys and girls, I'm ready to do some paddling! And just to make it more fun, we actually got two of them so I can go out on the lake with one of the kids or with my wife. I'm so excited, I can't wait for school to be over so we can head to the campground and get out on the lake.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by. We'll go for a little paddle together!

Timberrrrr!

When I left for work this morning, our front yard looked like this...


And when I came home this afternoon...voila!


A huge change!

Stunning actually - even though I knew it was coming. To actually see the difference was amazing.

So what brought about this change? Just our hatred of trees? Hardly. We love trees. We chose to live with woods behind our house so we could see lots and lots of trees. But not too long ago, this happened...



We woke up one morning to find a rather tall tree had fallen across our back yard. Fortunatly, even though it fell toward the house, it was in the very back of the yard so it didn't reach anywhere close to the house. The only damage done was a few divots in the grass and a couple of azalea bushes got a little crunched.

But it made us think a little bit about all the really large trees that were very close to the house. In many cases, they had quite large branches that hung over the house. And we decided it was time to bring in an arborist and see what trees had damage or disease that might weaken them...and what trees were simply overgrown and in need of some pruning.

We'll have two days of work done in order to get it all done. And they really brought in the big stuff...

The bucket truck for the tall stuff...










The tractor for pushing trees, pulling tree trunks, carrying limbs, etc...







And what self-respecting tree guy would show up without a seriously powerful chipper...












On Tuesday they'll return to do a lot more work in the back yard (with me taking some photos, of course!). But for now, we have a couple of days to get used to our front yard...which just seems so much more sunny and open!

(Yes, all the pics are clickable if you feel the need to see the work a bit better)

The Birthday Girl

Today is a big day in our house! Today is my wife's birthday. And before you even think about a number, you can be sure I'm not going to reveal her age. I have learned a few things in all our years of marriage! LOL (Don't even try counting the candles...it is not the right number!)

It was a very relaxing day...she got to sleep in...she got to spend an afternoon watching DVD's and opening gifts...and the family went out to dinner.

And what big, romantic gift did I give her? Nothing. At least nothing romantic. No jewelry. No flowers. Nope...it was way better than that. It was better because I gave her something she truly loves. Something she really wanted. Something that will entertain her and make her happy for hours and hours. And hours!

So what was this magical gift?

The X-Files.

Not just one season. Not just the movie. Everything! All nine seasons, the movie, the movie poster, the episode guide...everything.

She'll be watching DVD's for a long time...and loving every minute of it.

Happy Birthday!

The Day of Love!

It's Valentine's Day and I wanted to show some love to my wife. And I decided the best way to do that would be to share one of the ways she shows some love to others.

See, my wife loves to crochet. And I've watched her do this work - this process of poking that little needle-like probe in and amongst a tangle of yarn and ending up with clothing. It seems like magic that a bundle of yarn turns into something nice and warm. At one point I thought that looking at the directions would help me understand the process. But then I saw this one line of instructions...

dc next 9 sts, dc dec, 9 dc, dc dec, 4 dc, 2 dc in each of next 8 sts, 4 dc, dc dec, dc remaining sts

...and realized that not only was she creating magic with her little stick but she was reading a secret language that only those blessed by the gods of crochet could understand.

She has made a variety of winter hats and scarves for the family. She has made some baby blankets for friends with newborns. And all of her stuff looks great.

But that is not what this post is about.

This post is about her hats. Her premie hats. My wife crochets hats for premature babies at hospitals. It seems that the hats which hospitals sometimes have available, even in the NICU areas, are often too large. Also, they aren't adjustable and don't have openings in them for the various monitor leads that get attached to the baby's head. So there are special patterns for creating premie hats that really meet the needs of the doctors and nurses while looking cute and snuggly on the babies.

The local hospitals collect some. And there are national organizations, working through web sites, that collect them and distribute them to hospitals nationwide. The Premie Project is one such web site, but there are many others, dedicated to providing hospitals and families with hats, blankets and booties for premature babies, and burial dresses and other items through their Infant Bereavement Program.

Here is a sampling of my wife's recent creations...

Watching her make these is pretty interesting because I am not a crafter and the process mystifies me. But then holding these little hats is just a bit heartbreaking. After watching our three children being born, I hold these hats and am amazed at how small a baby would be that would need a hat this tiny. The photo above doesn't really give you a sense of the size, so I took one additional photo where I put my car keys on top of one of the smaller hats. We all know the size of a key...so now you know the size of the hat...

Pretty damn small! It makes me sad in a way. But I'm awfully proud of my wife for donating her time and her talent to make this small difference for a family struggling through the birth or their little son or daughter.

I love my wife for many reasons and her generosity towards others is certainly one of them!

Happy Valentine's Day to my wife...and to all of you! Hope you have a great day!

Leaves From Afar

Look at the size of this leaf!

Yesterday I did a final leaf cleaning around the yard. And found numerous specimens of this gigantic size. Scary. I know there was nothing this big hanging over my head in the summer. That would not look like leaf cover. That would look like a tree filled with patio umbrellas! The only explanation I can find that makes sense...aliens. Someone from another planet is dumping his/her/its fallen leaves in my yard! That would certainly explain why I keep raking but never finish.

Man vs. Nature

We have a lot of wonderful trees in our yard. Different sizes. Different kinds. And right behind our house is a big patch of woods, so looking out our windows we see nature everywhere. And on one side of our property there is a stream surrounded by more trees. In the spring everything is glowing green as new leaves bud on the branches. In the summer it is lush with a cooling shade. And it reaches it's peak in the fall when it explodes in reds, yellows, browns, golds, and oranges. Just beautiful.

And then those leaves fall. And fall. And fall. A carpet of leaves. Piles of leaves. Leaves from our trees. Leaves blowing in from the woods. Leaves blowing from the stream. And the battle begins. The leaves trying to cluster in the gardens, on the deck, against the house. While I try to put them back in the woods or pile them near the street for the giant leaf-sucking truck. Choosing the right time to rake is more of an art than a science. Clearing the yard too soon just means I'll have to do it over and over. Too late and I run the risk of an early snow that turns them into a thick, heavy, wet clump that is almost impossible to move. (I speak from experience having used the snow shovel one year to 'rake' the leaves!)

My Magic 8 Ball told me this was the weekend. Working along with Son19, two rakes, a pitchfork, a hand-held blower, and the big 5 horsepower blower, it took us seven hours to turn that thick carpet of leaves into The Great Leafy Mountain Range - mounds of leaves all along the edges of the yard and in the woods. Well, to almost accomplish the task. Some leaves will blow back in the yard and need to be cleaned up. And there is still one large tree in the back that hasn't dropped any leaves yet. Maybe by Turkey Day. But most of it is done.

Anyone got some Ben Gay?

AM/PM

I love taking photos with my digital camera. I have all the basic photos of family events and activities, but I also try to grab other shots just to see what sort of things might turn up as I review them. Here was an interesting day...

AM
The drive to work on a gray, rainy, fall morning in early October...










PM
That same afternoon but it looks like an entirely different day. It is sometimes amazing how different one day can be!










I love fall in New England!

(For those worried about me driving while taking photos, no commuters were harmed in the making of this post.)