Bone v. Metal

Forgot to include a picture of the mysterious "double slide". We went by the school on Saturday to reenact the crime. Matthew finally admitted to the Orthopedic doctor that he was pretending to be Indiana Jones and jump over the slide. Yes, it's metal.

Matthew's 1st "Big Break"

Well, it has certainly been an interesting week at our house. Wednesday, Mark received a call from the school nurse saying that Matthew had fallen on the playground and was upset about the fall, had a scrape on his hip, and had hurt his arm. She said he seemed well enough to go back to class, so he did. Come to find out later, he went back to class only to go to P.E. and complete a fitness challenge which included running back and forth across the gym 24 times.

His arm was hurting when he got home and he had a slight fever, but he was so tired he ate dinner and fell asleep. We woke him up to finish his homework, and put him back to bed. We went back and forth all evening on whether to get the arm Xray'd. 50/50 chance and this time we should have gone. On Thursday, Mark took him to get an Xray, then off to get a cast. Buckle fracture of the Radius (bubble near the end of the larger bone)

It has taken a couple of days for everything to sink in, no baseball, no light saber fighting, no soccer, no gymnastics. He is counting the days until October 9th.

Wildcat Baseball

Matthew decided he wanted to play baseball again this fall and today was his first game. Thanks to the late afternoon wind yesterday, the fields were in good condition today. Matthew loves to catch, even in 90 degree heat. Matthew is #14.

Playing 3rd...

Catching...

Hanna Pajama Day!

In honor of Tropical Storm Hanna, we declared yesterday a pajama day. We also planned ahead for the rainy day and had a special surprise for the boys that would keep them occupied. They have been doing great handling school, baseball, soccer, getting up in the morning, getting homework done, getting to bed on time, etc. (Ok, Matthew wore us down and we caved.)

Meet the Lego Star Wars Republic Gunship (1034 pieces)

and the Lego Star Wars MT-T (1326 pieces)

We are very proud of Matthew as he completed his with very little help from mom and dad. He finished the last parts of it this morning, almost 12 hours of Lego building!

Andrew slaving in the Droid factory

Last day of Summer

If you follow the pool calendar it is! It is usually crazy at the pool on the last day so we tried a new strategy, show up at 4 pm. It worked! It was crowded at first, but most folks were gone after the kid swim at 4:45, then we had the whole pool. Andrew was almost brave enough to go down the slide today. Here are a few shots that will help us get through winter to Memorial Weekend next year...

Matthew's Cannonball

Andrew's Cannonball

Matthew helping Andrew swim back and forth to the side of the pool. Andrew can't quite stand up in this end of the pool.


Bye Pool!

Back to School

The crazy days of school have returned. Monday we attended a meet and greet/drop off supplies at school and the boys officially started school today (2 days later than the rest of the county because they are attending a brand new school). It is incredibly nice and they are very excited. There are bathrooms and water fountains in each classroom. Everything is very well thought out down to the tile colors, building layout (3rd, 4th and 5th graders are upstairs), etc.


Andrew has the only 1st grade teacher to come from his old school so he already knows her (pictured below and she is expecting a baby boy).



Matthew has a new teacher for 2nd grade but she seems very nice in person and per his report at the end of day 1.



The school mascot...starfish!




Andrew's classroom with the SmartBoard in front. This is not your parent's elementary school (mine either).


Computer Center with connecting door to the library. This school is technology heavy which is really great to see!


Unfortunately they almost missed the bus this morning as there was a misprint in the schedule and we ran the last 1/2 block. New haircuts for the big day...

First off the bus (no surprise) Welcome home! Missed you dad!


and now on to homework, snack, baseball practice, dinner, bath......bed. Overall, a great day except mom got home at 8 pm!

Soccer Camp

Well, Matthew still has the third loose tooth, so no three-peat. Andrew attended a 4 day soccer camp the week of 8/11 and had a great time. Photos are posted on the Picasa page - link to the right. I also put up a few pics of the house with the new chairs on the porch which I really like.

The boys and I stayed home last weekend while Mark attended his 25th High School Reunion in California. He had a great time although I have to go on record to clarify that the red and black tie that he was seen wearing at the reunion did not originate in Maryland. Apparently all that advice he was asking me about what to wear was to throw me off the track of him finding a school colors tie. Whatever!

The boys have spent time at the pool this week enjoying their last week before school. We have a meet and greet on Monday morning where we see the classrooms, meet the teachers, and drop off supplies. First day of school is Wednesday and their bus leaves at 8:30 which is 15 minutes earlier than last year and they should get home about 15 minutes earlier. They are both really looking forward to school starting.

Can he make it 3 in a row?

So, Saturday lunch seems to be the time for losing teeth! Yep, he did it again this past Saturday, another bottom tooth missing!

I say missing because we didn't realize the tooth had come out until about 3 pm when I was talking to him about something totally unrelated and said "Where's your tooth?" It was extremely loose in the morning and then we had pasta at Carraba's for lunch (Matt's fave). Since the tooth was there before lunch, gone by 3 pm, and he doesn't remember anything about the tooth in between....we have to assume that.....you guessed it, he swallowed it!

Here's the note to the tooth fairy:

On an educational note, his first tooth was in the Twinkle Toof holder so we had to take it out Saturday night so the tooth fairy could come again. I didn't have a great place to put it, so I sat it on our dresser so we could get the kids to bed. The tooth fairy came overnight, but Sunday morning was cleaning day. I saw the tooth on the dresser and thought to myself "I really need to get a ziploc to put it in before we loose it". As I was cleaning in Matt's room, I noticed a ziploc on the floor with his name on it...PERFECT! I took it in to our room, dropped the tooth in, and back to his room I go to finish cleaning, carrying the baggie with me.

When I got to his room, something made me look at the bag to verify the tooth was inside. To my horror, I look down to see both ends of the ziploc had been cut off like someone was going to use it to frost a cake. #@!$ ! I look down at the carpet between Matt's room and our room. While it is only about 20 feet, it might as well have been the Pacific ocean since the carpet and the tooth are exactly the same color! I got down on my knees and searched by hand right where I put the tooth in the bag hoping it fell straight out, no luck.

I then decide to rev up the new bagless vacuum we got after the other one died the day before we left on vacation. I emptied the container and started vacuuming right inside the door to our room. Within 6 inches, I heard a click in the container and shut off the vacuum just in case. Woohoo, can you believe I found it on the first sweep?

It was only when I pulled the container off the vacuum that I realized what a rollercoaster of fortune and misfortune I was experiencing. The tooth was split in half right down the middle, it would never be the same, his first tooth, I had just dropped 20 levels on the scale of mommyhood. How would I explain this one?

Tell the truth MOM! So I did and approached it with an educational slant. Where else were they going to see the inside of a tooth? Matthew was not happy, but understood and now he has two (half) teeth to make up for the one he swallowed.

The next tooth that comes out is going to be bronzed and wall mounted within 15 minutes. Let's see if he goes 3 for 3 this weekend (it is a possibility) :-)

Vacation Photos, return to life as usual

A BIG sorry for the delay in getting the rest of the vacation photos posted. Long story, but I don't recommend trying to upload 680 photos in one web album in Picasa using a laptop, trying to create a Storyteller Photobook at the same time. Anyhoo, we have recovered, reorganized, and they should all be posted by morning (running overnight!)

It was a long week getting adjusted back to life in the fast lane last week. Not to mention that Mark had to clean out the entire basement and entertainment center for the arrival of his Father's Day gift on Saturday. We spent the entire day with the Geek Squad and the DirectTV folks who had a great time on our roof in 90 degree heat.

In the midst of all that, Matthew lost his first tooth!!! He was so excited. It was really bothering him to eat and it was "hanging on by a thread" so he ordered a PB&J for lunch. Halfway through the sandwich, chewing got a bit easier! So then we had to deal with the whole tooth fairy thing including a family debate over who works harder, Santa or the Tooth Fairy. Luckily we have been prepared for this event for at least a year now and we even took stuff on the trip just in case. The crazy Twinkle Toof that you see in the photos has been to Hawaii and back!

Late Friday night as we were moving the entertainment center in the basement, I got this crazy idea to take the two end parts of the entertainment center and squish them together to make a china cabinet (which I have never had). Volla!!! It worked and all of the china is finally out of the dungeon in a nice place in the dining room. Andrew wanted homemade pizza for dinner on china on Sunday.

Sunday the men spent most of the day in front of the TV, ahem! Late in the day, we discovered Monty wouldn't start so Monday morning, I stayed home for a bit and Mark picked up a new battery. Worked like a charm. Somewhere in there we thought the ice maker was broken, but seem to have started working after a slight "kick".

I have been getting home late all this week as we were hoping for a scanning go live this Friday but it looks like we will wait until after Labor Day now. Too many things at once.

Getting ready for soccer camp, signing up for fall baseball and soccer, learning about orientation plans at the boys new school, contemplating school supply runs, you know, just your usual August!!!

We all live in a white submarine, white submarine...

Ahh, today was submarine day in Waikiki. Definitely a tourist trap, because we spent more on pizza than the sub ride (not really, but $63 for Round Table Pizza for 4 - no alcohol, is rediculous!) They do have the best pizza on the planet, but I digress.

So, we got to Waikiki in time for lunch and a lesiurely walk to check in for the sub ride. They have two subs, one is fairly new and huge, seats 64 passengers. We sat right behind the captain, so the boys got to watch him drive. Atlantis worked with the University of Hawaii to purchase and sink two ships and one airplane, along with building some pyramid shaped reefs. Since they started the reefs over 20 years ago, the sea life has increased by 3000% in the area. It was really a great sub ride and we got to see a sea turtle.

After that, we wondered around Hilton Hawaiian Village (4 separate hotel towers combined) and ate ice cream, bought a few things, and met Mark's Navy buddy Rumel and his girlfriend Maggie for dinner at Benihana. It was great to see Rumel again and meet Maggie. The food quality has really gone down at Benihana (or the Japanese restaurant in our neighborhood is just that much better). Anyway, we all had a good time and we put the boys in the car to come home and Andrew had passed out before we turned out of the parking garage.

The boys are really great travelers and we are looking forward to our day with the Johansson's in Kaneohe tomorrow. Photos from today are posted at Picasa.

Dinner with 1300 Cousins

So our day started off a bit slow this morning, Matthew and I have some cough/head thing going on and neither of us felt like moving. We hung out at the house for awhile and gave in to Andrew's repeated requests to eat lunch at McDonald's. This didn't turn out to be a bad option for me, in Hawaii, they have Haupia Pie (rather than Apple Pie). I had to try it. The filling was warm creamy coconut and it was quite tasty.

After lunch we went to Punchbowl Cemetary which is an old crater filled by 33,000+ graves, including 700+ from the attack on Pearl Harbor, hundreds from Korea and Vietnam, as well as several mass graves of unknown soldiers. The cemetary is immaculate and then you get to enjoy the panoramic views of the mountains, Hawaii Kai, Waikiki, downtown Honolulu, the airport, the new SuperFerry that takes cars to Maui, and beyond.

We came back to the condo to visit the box office for the Paradise Cove Luau to see if we could attend tonight. They were supposed to open at 3 pm, but then we were told 4 pm (@!$! Hawaiian Time!), they told us to call anyway. So the doors open at 5 pm and off we go to the luau. In all the time we were in Hawaii, we never went and boy was I unprepared. You get there and you see tour bus after tour bus, 9 in all tonight. They feed you one drink, take your picture, then you get to walk around and take in the activities like paddling an outrigger canoe, getting temporary polynesian tatoos, making leis, hula lessons, games for the kids, etc. Which is all fine until you realize you are slowly but surely becoming a sardine.

Right before dinner, they do a quick luau show on the beach (audience participation) followed by a lesson in throwing a fishing net (ok, that was cool, see photo). The sun sets, and they begin herding you table by table through the buffet line. I had no idea until the end that there were 1300 "cousins" there (remember everyone in Hawaii is related). They were pretty efficient with the buffet line. The food is nothing to write home about but you get to try roasted pig, lomi lomi salmon, almond jello, etc. About half way through dinner, the singing and dancing and fire knife show begins. The show was great and I think the kids really enjoyed it. Some of the photos didn't turn out too well, but good enough. The luau is on the beach under the moon and the big dipper.

All said, a good day and the best part is that the drive home from the luau was about 2 minutes. It is right across the street from our condo. We were thinking about walking, glad we didn't as the boys washed face, hands, and feet about an hour ago and crashed in bed. Tomorrow we are off to Waikiki and the Atlantis submarine which should be great. Updated photos on the Picasa site.

Tora, Tora, Tora!

So today we were out of the house at 9 am to go to Pearl Harbor. We arrived at 10 am and were nearly the last car in the parking lot. Got tickets for 12:40 tour. Waited around, got snacks, talked to some folks from Colorado, and then we watched the movie and took the boat to the memorial. Beautiful as always, and the boys were very interested in every aspect of what happened to start the war and why the Japanese are now our friends and make Prius cars.

After the Arizona Memorial, we went to the USS Missouri, you are herded in large tour buses across the Admiral Cleary bridge to Ford Island where the Missouri is anchored a short distance from the Arizona Memorial. Ford Island looks completely different than when we lived here...the new bridge for one, the golf course actually looks taken care of (instead of the honor system and little wooden box you were expected to put your $1 in), there is new base housing for enlisted folks that looks nicer than our house in MD, a new officers quarters building, the Missouri, and the new Pacific Aviation Museum.

We had a great tour of the Missouri, I have been on it twice now and things have changed since it was used in the Gulf War. The fact they were actually using such a historic ship in combat and risking that it could be destroyed boggles my mind. I am so glad they set up the tour and brought it to Hawaii. It is a nice beginning and end to the story in one location.

The Aviation Museum was a pleasant surprise and the story goes that the hangar that houses Phase 1 of the Museum is about 60 feet from the location of the first bomb dropped on 12/7/1941. Inside the museum they tell the story of before the war and how the war began. They have all sorts of aircraft exhibits. They have also recently acquired the F-15 used in the movie Top Gun, but it was not yet on display. Their plans are to use several other hangars for Phases 2, 3, and 4 which will cover the later years of the war, the Korean war, and Vietnam. At the end of those projects, they are then going to restore the air traffic tower for the Ford Island airstrip. It is one of the last photos on the Picasa site and the white portion of the building was in use on 12/7/1941. The tall red and white tower was built after and used in the movie Pearl Harbor (I have to watch this again now). They now use the red/white tower for training submariners on how to safely ascend out of a sinking sub.

Another treat today was to see the Bonhomme Richard in port http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonhomme_Richard_(LHD-6)

They are in town for RIMPAC and they were practicing maneuvers with the hovercraft all day (forgive me for all the pics of the hovercraft, I am fascinated by the thing and the noise it makes on the water). It was parked across from the Arizona Memorial.

The boys had a long but fabulous day, we caught the last shuttle off Ford Island at 5:05 pm. We managed to find our favorite steak house (used to be Black Angus, now Cattle something) for dinner, talked to mom & dad, and then headed to KMart to pick up a few things we forgot and some new snorkle gear for the boys. We are considering going to Haunama Bay tomorrow but I think we may try to go later in the afternoon instead of first thing in the am (parking permitting).

See the new photos on the Picasa site.

ALOHA!

Yay, the condo has wireless access! So updating our travels from the last post, we drove from Debbie's house back to Glendale on Sunday. We hit some end of the holiday weekend traffic, but made it to Grandma's house in about 4 hours. We all ate dinner at the food court at the Glendale Galleria so everyone got to eat what they wanted. We dropped Grandma off at home, picked up a couple of our suitcases, then headed to LAX. I returned the rental car Sunday night (smart move!) and we were in bed around 10:30 pm with everything packed.

We flew to Oahu on Monday and everything went well. The flight was a little less than 5 hours and we managed to get the rental car (remind me not to buy a Chevy Uplander minivan - no offense if you have one) and get to our condo by 3:30 pm. We unpacked a few things and then went in search of food. Ate dinner at Chili's and picked up the essentials for breakfast and lunch at Safeway.

Today we went to the lagoons at the Ko Olina resort where we are staying. The Johansson boys and mom Kristin joined us and they had a blast playing together in the water...like no time had passed at all. We came back to the condo for lunch and clean up. Then we took off on an expodition to find our old house and explore the North Shore. Our old house in Mililani is in great shape the neighborhood looks the same. Not much has changed on the North Shore, beautiful beaches and the best Shave Ice! We ate pizza at Pizza Bob's in Hale'iwa and Mark and I stood in the parking lot afterwards feeling like we never left this place (did I mention no one drives more than 60 mph on the freeways?). Definitely a different pace.

The boys got a bit of a sunburn today even with sunscreen on so we are taking a break from the beach tomorrow and going to the Arizona Memorial and USS Missouri. The boys were fascinated by the whole story of the Arizona and the war with Japan so we had a lengthy history lesson before bed tonight and looked up some info and photos on the web.

We picked a great week to be in Hawaii, it is the annual RIMPAC exercises for the military and there are planes and ships here from all over the pacific rim. There were F-18's and F-15's flying over the lagoons today preparing for the war games. Mr. Johansson is planning a tour of the tower and a P3 aircraft at Kaneohe Marine Base on Saturday for us and his boys.

Mark and I are now trying to figure out what conditions would allow us to move back over here again and how we could pull that off and not have to work - I say LOTTERY! (Just kidding about the move part!)

Hope all of you are having a good week. New photos from the last couple of days are on the Picasa site (link is on the right side of the blog).

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th! everyone and hello from Templeton, CA. We are barely a week into our vacation, but it feels like we have been away for a long time. We started our vacation on a low note after leaving BWI and flying to LAX. Andrew fell asleep on the plane and he woke up shortly before we landed. On top of the fact that Andrew and I were both on antibiotics and our ears were plugged, Andrew threw up all over his blanket, socks, shoes, my purse, his backpack, and the floor of the airplane within 5 minutes of landing at LAX. Thank goodness I had a pack of wipes with me because I used them all just getting him cleaned up enough to get off the plane. He proceeded through the airport and to the hotel in a pair of Matthew's socks. This all occurred at 11:30 pm west coast time, 2:30 am east coast time.

Moving on to the following morning, we drove from LAX to Grandma's house in Glendale (did a load of laundry, thanks Grandma!). Then we moved into our home away from home in Altadena (the house behind where we used to live) with Miss Christy Joy. We were very disappointed to see that our old house had deteriorated and the awning had recently blown off the deck in high winds. We had a fabulous time with Christy Joy and Ron, catching up on all of the changes since we left and enjoying some great dinners on the patio.

On Friday, we went to visit my previous co-workers at City of Hope and spent the afternoon with the Burkhart boys in La Canada playing ball in the park. We spent Saturday at Universal Studios and had a great time. Sunday we had lunch and dinner with cousin Brenan who came up from San Diego to Grandma's house in Glendale.

Monday we had planned to go to Disneyland, but Matthew wasn't feeling well. We stayed in and did a load of laundry, watched movies, and then in the afternoon, took Matthew to the hospital in Pasadena where he was born.

Tuesday we went to Disneyland and took Grandma along. We arrived at 10:30 am and left at 8:30 pm - long day but it was really fun and the boys had a great time. Their favorite ride was Space Mountain which we saved for the end (roller coaster in the dark). Andrew asked me to hold his hand, but after the first few turns, he was holding onto the lap bar and now claims he wasn't scared at all.

Wednesday we piled all our stuff in the car, picked up Grandma, made our second run to In n Out Burger (YUM!!!!!) and headed to Debbie's house in Atascadero. The ride was beautiful along the coast, except for the blazing brush fire in Santa Barbara. We arrived at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Caleb's house just in time for dinner and their home is absolutely beautiful. It sits on a hillside above the coast and the sunsets are gorgeous. They have 4 goats on the property to help keep the grass in check on 2.5 acres. So far the boys have picked peaches off the trees, fed cantelope rind to the goats, played baseball in the yard, and eaten plums fresh off the trees.

We are staying in a very new Marriott hotel in Paso Robles and the boys are enjoying the breakfast buffet. We stayed in at Debbie's house yesterday and today as the boys are having a great time playing with toys that Debbie got for them and playing baseball in the yard. It's good to have a break from the running around. Last night, cousin Tiana and her boyfriend Jon arrived just in time to join us for a game of wiffle ball.

Tonight we are going to the Meridian Winery where Aunt Debbie works to enjoy the fireworks. Tomorrow we are going to a barbeque at Uncle Caleb's family's house in San Louis Obispo. Suffice it to say, there is no shortage of good food when you spend time with Debbie and Caleb!

Sunday we will pack up again and head back to LA to drop off Grandma and drive to the airport. Off to Oahu on Monday around 11:30 am. We are having a great trip and I am in the process of uploading photos to the Picasa site (click the link on the right side) so you can all see the sights of Southern CA.

I am hoping to update again from Hawaii, but if not, I will update when we get home to Maryland, sometime after 7/18.

Where have you been?

Wow, I know it's been awhile, but bringing you up to speed from Mother's Day weekend will be a trick...here goes:

• Robin got a new iPod Nano for Mother's Day - soooooo cool, how did I ever live without?
• Robin got Strep Throat on Monday after Mother's Day - oh how I could live without!
• Matthew got two loose teeth for Mother's Day (and now one more!) - I hope the tooth fairy travels as I have a feeling Matthew will loose at least one on vacation.
• Matthew and Andrew have been playing baseball like crazy! Some weeks we have had 6 games plus practice thanks to rain outs. Luckily, Matthew's ended yesterday and Andrew's ends Tuesday. We are celebrating with a parent/kid kickball game for one team and a pool party for the other.
• Combine that with Mark's hockey schedule and Robin's projects at work and it has been quite hectic but it's all good.
• We celebrated Mark's birthday with a whirlwind trip (15 hours to be exact) to Luray, VA to see the caverns and the zoo. How awesome can you get when there is a Tastee Freeze across the street from the hotel? We made it back in time to get Mark to hockey and Matthew to his ball game (although it was rained out 1/2 hour before start time). Mark got new hockey skates, cards, and other gifts.
• Andrew celebrated his birthday at home with McDonald's for dinner (his request), gifts, strawberries and cream cake, and what else? Baseball. Andrew called a do-over birthday out of exhaustion, but yesterday he decided that a do-over wasn't necessary. We went to see Kung Fu Panda and spent the evening at the pool - good enough!
• Robin's group at work passed the American College of Surgeons Oncology Program Consultant Survey last Thursday so we are on to the final survey in the fall!
• Matthew and Andrew finished school on Friday and are off for the summer!

Now we are gearing up for Father's Day and vacation - Yay!

One last item of note is a new link on the blog, go to the right side and click on Picasa Web Albums. This will take you to a Picasa web page with all of my recent photo albums and you can look at more photos than you care too!

Feeding Frenzy!

Dinner time on the deck last night in the rain. Tonight in the rain, we counted 14 finches at one point. Some wait in the trees for a place to land, others hover around the feeders and battle for feeding space. There is one female cardinal (or some kind of finch with a red hed) that usually joins the group. We also have one male cardinal who hangs around the yard and waits until the chaos is over to get something to eat. They definitely enjoy eating under shelter and provide dinner entertainment for all of us.

Rest in Peace Rider Dog 1994-2008

We lost our beloved Rider dog today. He was quite possibly the best dog that ever lived and he has given us 12 years of unconditional love, lots of laughs, and tremendous consistency for our family.

Rider has not been well for the past month, but a steroid shot to his shoulder seemed to turn his neurological issues around and we thought we had a bit more time. Last night after dinner, he wasn't moving around so well, but we got him outside and then he layed down on the carpet instead of his bed to sleep. This morning, Mark went downstairs and he could not walk. He had also made a mess on the carpet. Mark got him outside and could tell he had lost control of his bowels but couldn't urinate. He also refused food. We called the vet and our favorite doc was there so Mark took him in at 8:30 am. I got the boys to school and met him at the vet. The vet was concerned that he was anemic and that his issues were physiological rather than neurological this time. He drew some blood and took an abdominal X-ray. Turns out Rider had a mass in his chest and a mass on his spleen. He was definitely anemic and his white cell count was high so the vet believed the mass on his spleen had ruptured. As if all of this wasn't enough, Rider was in full kidney failure. Even if we agreed to operate on the mass and stop the bleeding, there was a very slim chance his kidneys would recover. Our vet was really wonderful about the whole process and even as he was injecting Rider with the sedative and overdose of anesthesia he commented that we were racing against God and that he likely wouldn't have made it through the day.

We have to thank Rider dog for all of the times he waited patiently for us to come home, waited not so patiently for his breakfast and dinner, alerted us when things weren't quite right, completed his "head count" each night to ensure our family was safe, welcomed new members into the family with open paws, helped our toddling boys stay steady on their feet, cleaned the kitchen floor after each meal, kept Emma dog entertained so she wouldn't destroy the house, howled on queue, scared us into thinking he had seizures by performing his "psycho dog" routine, for being a (NOT SO) brave Lab when forced to swim at the beach or lake against his will and for teaching us the joys of a half open squishy tennis ball.

Thank you for all the wonderful memories, we hope doggy heaven is a never ending buffet of bacon and Special K Vanilla Almond. There will never be another Rider dog.

The Championship and the Playoffs

Mark's first hockey season ended last Monday with a final game between the best of the beginner teams...now that he has a Division Championship (can you believe it?) under his pads, he is moving on to the spring season which starts next week. Gold medal and all, he is quite the happy camper.

To make it even better, he went to the Caps/Flyers playoff game at the Verizon Center in DC yesterday and he said it was the loudest place he's ever been. He sat in the second row, behind none other than Annapolis' own Pat Sajak and took some fabulous pics...

Matthew played his first baseball game yesterday and it was a 18-19 "Tie". The kids all played great and Matthew had 3 hits, crossed home plate twice, and struck out once. Not too shabby!

Train us to the Ball Game!

We had a really great day yesterday checking out the new home of the Washington Nationals. It is a really great stadium and while I didn't experience it first hand, Mark said they are still working out a few kinks in the food service areas. I was just impressed with the warm water in the restrooms on a chilly spring day.

We took the Metro to the ball park (extra $16 but the boys love the train). Best of all, Mark was one seat away from the DC Lottery Lucky Seat game. They ask fans a trivia question and you get a pack of Nats stuff. The TV camera man and group hung out through the first inning and we all got a chance to be on the big screen (did I mention that the entire score board is more than 4300 square feet?!?!?). I didn't catch our picture then, but look who's sitting next to the "Lucky Seat"...

The "Presedential Race" was really funny!

Cherry Trees are in partial bloom.

They never gave any updates on the Washington Capitals game during the baseball game but Mark was actually excited they lost! This means the upcoming Saturday game will definitely happen and Mark has a ticket in the 2nd row behind the Caps bench - I never thought I would say this about a hockey game, but I'm jealous!!!

One down, one to go!

1:06 pm

2:00 pm

Priceless!

A little of everything...

What a roller coaster weekend it has been. I will start with a few pics from last weekend of the boys coloring eggs...

Baseball started for Matthew this week which means practice on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays until games start and then add Saturday morning to the mix. We are waiting to get Andrew's schedule and Mark has decided to continue with another 8 weeks or so of hockey.

Last Friday night into Saturday morning, our dog Rider has some kind of neurologic or vascualar "event". He had trouble walking and we thought his vision was affected. After a few days he was getting around better and compensating for his deficiencies so we decided to let it be. This past Friday afternoon (I'm beginning to think he is timing it so someone is here to help!) he had another event and could barely walk Friday evening. His shoulder muscle is in constant spasm and we had to carry him outside. We made a vet appointment Saturday morning and we had already decided no heroics. The vet suggested a muscle relaxer which did little on Saturday. Saturday night he looked like he was in pain so we added pain meds. He is up walking around a bit more today, but it is still difficult for him. He is still eating and drinking so that's a good sign. We now agree with the vet that his neck is involved, so Mark is going to call back tomorrow and see if we can get Xrays and possible steroid injections. If he has a bad disc in his neck, we can at least make him more comfortable, it's so hard to watch him but he is trying to tough it out. The end is drawing near, we watched Emma go down slowly over 6 months and it all seems a little too familiar.

We went and had family photos taken today and they turned out really great - too many to choose from! I am so proud of the boys, they have just been great all weekend with Rider and they actually had a good time today (didn't hurt that the photographer was good at getting them to laugh!).

And now we are facing a possible NCAA Championship game between UCLA and KU. This is always a fun but tense time in our house. The boys have already decided we will all root for one team if either loses in the final four, and they have also decided how to divide up if we play in the final game. (Andrew knows a good team when he sees one) :-)

Special Easter Gift for Dad

The Easter Bunny brought a special Easter gift for Dad...it just took awhile to figure out what it was. The boys each gave mom and dad one Easter egg out of their stash this morning. It just so happens the first egg Mark opened was an egg shaped piece to his puzzle. Looks like we get to check out the new Nationals ball park on April 13th. I won't mention that tickets for opening day (which happens to be opening night - Sunday at 8 pm - who scheduled that?!?!) sold out in 42 minutes. We'll go for a Sunday afternoon game instead.