Like Owner, Like Dog....

Neither Koby or I will be able to sire any offspring. Today was Koby's procedure. I picked him up from the vet's office about 2 hours ago and he's still a little groggy. He's a very sad little puppy.

Cape Cod Pictures....

Pictures from our trip can be found here.

Video of Nicky can be found here (note that the sound is pretty bad due to the wind, so either turn down your speakers or mute it)

The Long Ride Home....

I’m writing this while in the car. We are on our way to a brunch date with friends of the family who live in Rhode Island and are a very short detour from our course home. It’ll also help break up the long ride home, so I think this will help the kids a bit. This afternoon we’ll be driving straight to Jen’s parents’ house in Teaneck for dinner and to pick up Koby. We haven’t seen him in almost two weeks and we all miss him – especially the boys. They’ve asked about him every day. They’re also going to see their cousin Joey whom they haven’t seen in over two weeks since he was on vacation with his dad the week prior to our week on the cape.

We won’t be coming back to the cape next year since we’re planning on going to Disneyworld, but I think we’ll be coming back the following year. I think Jennie is warming up to life on the cape. The first year I took her was a lot different. It was the summer after we got married so it was just the two of us. The cottage we were staying in had a 3rd guest that stayed with us – a mouse. She wasn’t too fond of taking a shower and seeing him run past her along the top of the stall. The next time we went was 2 years later when Nicky turned 1. We stayed at a hotel that time since Jennie didn’t want to deal with the wildlife of the cape. We then went back 2 years after that when Nicky was 3 and Thomas was 1½ and stayed at the same hotel, but in one of their beachside efficiency units. The back door led to a deck that was right on the beach. It was pretty convenient in that we didn’t have to lug all the beach stuff down to the beach and we could just leave it right out on the deck. This year we were back at Topside Cottages. The walk to the beach is a little bit longer, but we didn’t have to carry our beach stuff back and forth each time. Jim and April’s cottage is right at eh head of the stairs that lead down to the beach and they let us keep our stuff under their deck. Jim and April were great to us this past week. We had a very enjoyable week on the cape and I think Jennie is starting to like it also.

Some random notes. I need to get a new cell phone. I’m going to have to stop by the cingular store some day this week and pick one up. The one I have is just busted. About 2 weeks ago the screen got all weird and got those horizontal lines on the lower ¾ of the screen. Then on the first or second day on the cape it stopped working almost completely. The screen and keypad would light up when I plugged in the charger but I couldn’t turn on the phone or see anything on the screen. One of the kids that we (Ev, Max and I) got to know during our earlier years on the cape was staying in the one of the cottages right across from ours. I got to talking to his dad and found out that he grew up right around the corner from where we live now in Bergenfield. Small world. Our kids are pretty great. I’m not one to brag about myself, but Jennie and I must be doing something right with them. They were such a pleasure to be with all week and I’m going to miss them when we get back into our usual routines of work and school.

Ok. We’re almost at Danny and Vivian’s house so I’ve to do some navigating to do. More later….


.... It's later.

Brunch and Danny and Vivian's was very nice. The kids were very happy to see that there was a dog there and Thomas and Alexis were not their usual shy selves. We hung out and caught up with each other until about noon then got back in the car to head back to NJ. I wish someone could figure out why traffic on route 95 in Connecticut really sucks. There was stop and go traffic 2 miles into CT. We eventually got sick of it and hopped over to the Merritt Parkway and took that all the way to the GWB and into NJ. Our first stop was at Jen's parents house to have dinner and pick up Koby. Geralyn and her family drove out to drop him off and stay for dinner. The kids were very happy to see him and ran to find him before saying hi to anyone else. We finally got home and unpacked and got ready for Monday and were in bed at 9:00. Everyone passed out right away. A very enjoyable week for everyone. Now back to the "real" world....

Brian And Meaghan's Big Day....

This morning we ate breakfast, packed up the rest of the stuff in the cottage and left for the lower cape by 8:30. Knowing that check-in at the hotel was not until 2:00, we planned on stopping somewhere to keep the kids occupied. We decided to stop by the glass museum in Sandwich. The big draw to the place is the fact that they have live demonstrations on glass blowing. I was very interested to see that first-hand and I knew the boys would like it also, especially Nicky. Much to my disappointment, there was a sign next to the register where you walk in “No Glassblowing Today”. We were already there and the price was pretty decent ($4.75 – although they should offer a discount when there’s no glassblowing – that’s the whole point of going anyway) we decided to stay and check out the museum. Anything ever made from glass was at the museum. Lots of colors and shapes. It was pretty neat. They even had a little treasure hunt game for the kids which was good. It was a sheet of paper with pictures of different objects that could be found somewhere in the museum. It definitely did the trick for keeping Nicky interested in seeing all the different glassware in the museum. He would have been pretty bored otherwise.

After the museum we figured we would stop by the hotel and take a chance that our room would be ready earlier that normal. No such luck. So we went out to lunch at a local diner and went back to the hotel. 1:00pm. Still not ready, but I filled out all the info for the room anyway and did all the check in processes short of getting the room keys. Even though we didn’t have the room yet, we were still allowed to use the pool. So Jennie took Alexis for a walk into town while I took the boys into the pool. The pool was not as advertised and was not heated. It was quite freezing, but it still hot a nice chill to it, which of course did not stop Nicky from jumping in. We hung out in the pool until a few minutes after 2:00 and we dried off and stopped by the front desk to get our room keys. The room was still not ready. What happened to the 2:00 check-in time? No big deal. They gave us a room that had been cleaned and was ready. It was only a few doors down from our original room and it made no difference anyway. We finally got settled in and Jenna finally arrived.

Brian and Meaghan’s wedding was at 2:30 (which we knew we couldn’t make it to) and the reception was at 4:00. Jennie and I got prepped and ready for the reception and then we drove Jenna and the kids to a playground and dropped them off. Then we hopped on the bus and rode over to the reception. The Guineys rented out an old historic farm out for the 3 day weekend and the reception was held under a big tent out behind the big barn. It was a very lovely setting with a large pond. It must have made for some great wedding photos. There was lots of drinking. Lots of food. Lots of dancing (no so much by me). Lots of fun. By 11:00 we were ready for bed and hopped on the bus and headed back to the hotel.

Last Full Day At The Cottage....

Tomorrow we’re leaving the cottage and heading into Falmouth for Brian and Meaghan’s wedding. So we’re in the mode of using up all the perishables so there’s very little that has to be thrown out. The fridge is just about empty save for some milk, yogurt, an apple or two and some soda. We’re in pretty good shape for tomorrow.

Some time during the night Nicky climbed into bed with Jennie and I and soon after that Alexis woke up screaming for Jennie. So Jennie left us and slept with Alexis. Nicky and I were woken up by Alexis and Thomas laughing hysterically playing some kind of game together in their beds. This next part might surprise you a bit. After breakfast we went down to the beach for some fun in the sand. We hung out there until Jim, Evan, and Ziad returned from their big fishing trip. One striped bass. That was their haul. They caught a bunch of small ones that were under the legal size so they had to be tossed back. While Nicky and Thomas watched Jim filet the fish, we cleaned off all the beach toys and packed up the stuff on the beach.

After lunch we packed all the beach stuff into the van and started to get things gathered up in the cottage for the trip home. Then it was off to one of the local stores to do some souvenir shopping. Then back to the cottage for dinner and more packing. The big crisis of the trip then happened. Thomas got a very bad splinter in his foot while playing outside on the deck. He came running inside and hopped on a chair and said something about hurting his foot. He’s a pretty tough kid (except when it comes to his brother hitting him), so for him to say something bothered him, we knew something was wrong. He had gotten the splinter on the bottom of his foot near his pinkie toe. It had broken off and there was a nice sized chunk left deep under his skin. It wasn’t a simple “pull it out” splinter. It was eerily reminiscent of a splinter I got as a child that eventually needed a doctor’s visit to get taken out since it had gotten extremely infected. I took him outside in the sunlight to get a better view and tried to take it out. He screamed bloody murder when I attempted to use the tweezers on him and I needed Jennie’s help to keep him still. We decided to stop torturing him so I sat him inside with his foot soaking in a bucket of water hoping to soften up his skin for later extraction. After we ate dinner, I got some sharper tweezers we held him down until I got it out. That had to be the longest 60 seconds of my life. The screams and tears were unbearable. I hated to hurt him like that, but it was for his own good. After I was all done and had the bandaid and medicine on his foot, he told me that he didn’t like me anymore because I hurt him so bad. But after a minute of calming down, he came back to me and as far as we could tell, his foot wasn’t bothering him any more. He was back to running around in no time, with no problems stepping on his foot like before. To make it up to him, I took him to the store (where I had to go anyway) to buy him some candy or a toy.

At the store, he picked out a Frisbee with stars and stripes on it for him and Nicky to play with. We got back to the cottage and met Jennie, Nicky and Alexis on the beach. Nicky was playing with the Frisbee and it rolled into the water and the waves sucked it out to sea. We looked for a few minutes but were unable to find it and it didn’t come floating back. On our way back to the cottage we stopped by Jim and April’s cottage so the kids could say goodbye to everyone there and we wound up hanging out there for almost an hour. As we walked into our cottage, Nicky apologized to me for losing the Frisbee. I told him that of course I wasn’t mad at him since it was an accident, but it’s really striking how big he’s getting. His concepts of various aspects of life are maturing so rapidly. It’s very bittersweet. He’s no longer our little baby and he’s growing up so fast. His first day of kindergarten in 2 weeks is going to be tough. For both Jennie and me.

Before I start crying, I’m going to end this post and go do some packing for tomorrow. It’s 8:49 now and Alexis is in bed sleeping and Thomas is on his way out. Nicky is watching “An American Tail” and looks like he could fall asleep any minute. But knowing him, he’ll be up ‘til 10:00 or so.

Let's Fish....

Today was the big day for Nicky. After breakfast we headed down to the beach for some fun and to kill some time until our 10:30 launch time for fishing. Jim swam out to his boat and pulled the poat up to the shore where Evan, Nicky and I boarded. We headed out into the bay and fished for fluke. 4 lines in the water for the 4 fishermen on board. And the first line to catch a fish was…..Nicky! He tried to reel it in, but it was a little too tough for him so I had to finish it off for him. The fish was too small to be a keeper but he was excited anyway. We went on to catch a bunch more, but only two keepers. Next up on the hit list was bluefish. We switched rods and trolled for blues. Totals from the trolling: 3 lost lures, 1 fish that got off the hook about 20 feet from the boat, 1 fish that was beside the boat and jumped out of the water and spit out the hook, and 2 fish that we got in the boat. After netting the second blue, we headed back to the cottage.

After some more beach time, the boys watched Jim cut up the fish to prep them for cooking. They couldn’t take their eyes off of him cutting the fish up and asked a ton of questions. We’re not going to eat the head, are we? What do the eyes taste like? What is that pink thing? What is that green stuff? Why is there blood in the fish? What are scales? Etc, etc, etc. After showers and clean clothes we went over to Jim and April’s place for dinner. We brought over chicken nuggets and french fries for our kids since we knew they wouldn’t be eating fish with the rest of us. But much to our surprise, Nicky followed through on his promise earlier in the day and tried some bluefish. And he enjoyed it and had a few more forkfuls.

Thomas fell asleep while we were outside on the deck checking out the stars in the sky while the other two were wide awake when we eventually left. There were a few shooting stars out tonight which Nicky got to witness and was very excited about seeing. After a few more questions from Nicky about stars and what/where they were, we took the kids back to our cottage to get some sleep. Alexis was changed and given a bottle and was out in 2 minutes. Nicky took a little bit longer and fell asleep a few minutes ago (9:50pm). With hardly any nap for Alexis and no naps for the boys, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they sleep in past 6:15 for the first time this week. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Tubing, Basketball, And Dancing....

We got our wish. The kids slept until 6:45 this morning. So after a late breakfast we went down to the beach for some play time. I took the two boys out to the raft and we hung out there for a while. While standing there at the raft I saw a jelly fish and caught it. I put it on the raft and went back to shore to get a bucket to put it in. But on my return I found the jellyfish was gone. Nicky had been scooping up water with his hand and keeping it wet so it wouldn’t die and inadvertently washed it off and into the water. So I walked around for a bit looking for more jellyfish and found a large shell on the seafloor. I picked it up and we found a tiny baby crab holding on. After hanging out there for a bit longer and almost catching two more jellyfish we headed back to shore to show Jennie our catch.

While sitting there at our spot on the beach, George came over to say hello to us and offered to take the boys out on the water. He owns his own boat and has it anchored right off of shore here at the cottages. He’s also got one of those large tubes that you can tow behind the boat and ride on. First up was Nicky. He sat in the middle and I held on to a couple of the handles and got dragged along while floating in the water. After a little bit (30 seconds or so) Nicky got mad at me for holding on and staying with him. Since he considers himself a big boy now that he’s 5, he felt like he should be able to go on solo. So I let go and he rode by himself for a little while. Next up was Thomas. He is definitely still too little to go by himself, so this time I sat in the tube and he sat on top for the ride. He wasn’t too impressed with the ride. He was excited for the first 10-15 seconds but then all he wanted to do was stop it and ride in the big boat. So the boys and I sat in the back of the boat while George’s grandsons got on the tube for their ride. Matthew, 13, and Daniel, 11, were very funny. Due to the fact that the tube is 25 feet behind the boat and the roar of the engine makes it difficult to hear anyway, we had to rely on hand signals from whoever is on the tube to let the driver of the boat know what to do. There were 3 signals. Arm extended forward with the palm up and moving the arm in an up and down movement meant to speed up. Arm closer in with the palm down and making the movement as if you were pushing something down meant to slow down. The third signal was to extend your arm out and bend at the elbow 90 degrees so your forearm is parallel to your chest. Then you make a wavelike motion with your arm to signify that you wanted the boat to make some turns so that the tube would go over waves and make for a bumpier ride. So we pulled the boys out to deeper water traveling at a slow speed then sped up when it got deeper. There was Matthew on the back giving the “speed up” and “wave” signals, while Daniel was giving the “slow down” signal. Although we couldn’t hear him, we could see that Daniel was screaming at Matthew that he didn’t want to speed up. Maybe the whole scene was so amusing to me because I can see that scene playing out between Nicky and Thomas in 8 years. So after pulling Matthew and Daniel around for a few minutes, George dropped off Nicky, Thomas and I at the shore and we went up to the cottage for some lunch.

After lunch was play time. We drove to the basketball court in Provincetown where I met up with Max, Jim and Evan for some ball and the kids played in the playground adjacent to the courts. Today was also the annual parade through down which took place down Commercial Street which was only one block from where we were. There was no problem hearing all the music that was blasting and the boys would stop wherever they were and danced along to the music every time a different float drove past. Basketball was good. No one got hurt and we all got in some good exercise. Then we went back to the cottage for some more beach time. After a short time on the beach, we went up to the cottage for dinner and a movie. With only one nap for Alexis and a very short one for Thomas, along with a pretty busy day, all 3 kids were asleep by 8:30.

Rained Out....

So much for Nicky’s big day. We woke up this morning to cloudy skies and rough water. We decided to wait until after lunch for the weather to clear up to see if we’d take Nicky out in the boat. So, instead of going out in the boat, we went down to the beach to take a walk. We all headed down to the beach toward the little convenience store about ½ mile away. About halfway there, Jennie took Thomas back to the cottage to get the car. Nicky, Alexis and I continued on our way to the store and wound up getting there at the same time. We picked up a couple of new beach toys and a kite to play with. The kite was a big hit with all three kids as they all got turns to hold the string.

It rained for a couple of hours around lunch time. Even after the rain stopped and the skies cleared up, the water was still too choppy for us to even think about venturing out. After all, we didn’t want a repeat of what happened to that other guy yesterday. We took the kids into town again to refill their candy supplies, buy some nice shells for Nicky, and get some dinner. Before leaving for our vacation, Nicky talked about finding pretty shells on the beach, drilling holes in them, and making a necklace from them. Shell finding has been pretty bleak on the beach here, so we figured the shell store in Provincetown was a good place to take him to get his supplies. With that huge selection in the store, all he bought was a tiny shell smaller in size than a dime.

Thomas fell asleep on the ride back to the cottage and we plopped him right into bed where he stayed for the night. With Nicky, Alexis, and Jennie very tired, we put on The Incredibles and shut the lights. With the two kids half asleep, I headed over to Jim and April’s cottage to hang out and see Max and Lisa who arrived late this afternoon. This other guy we know who’s been coming up to Topside Cottages the same week every year joined us for some poker. After poker, Max shared some cigars he brought up with him for a celebratory smoke in honor of me landing the new job.

After smoking only about half of the cigars we decided to call it and night and save the rest for another night.

We're Taking On Water Captain....

After a nice leisurely breakfast of cereal we took the kids to the zooquarium. We had taken them the previous two times we were here on the cape and it was a big hit each time. Why mess with success? When we got there we saw some bad news posted on the outside bulletin board. The two sealions that performed had both died within a week of each other a couple of weeks ago. The performance was always exciting for Nicky and Thomas. The zooquarium is on the smaller side so you can get pretty close to the action. It was a lot of fun seeing them do tricks in the water and jumping out of the water as well. We didn’t mention the fact that they died to Nicky and luckily he didn’t ask about seeing them perform. We had fun anyway. There were all the other animals there for them to see and feed. We also got to watch a short presentation done by one of the workers there about pythons. She had a ball python with here that she used for demonstration purposes and at the end of the presentation everyone was invited up to touch the snake. Both boys were brave enough, but not Alexis. I got her to stand there while I showed her how to pet it, but no way was she about to extend her arm out and try to touch it.

After the zooquarium we headed back to the cottage for some lunch. After lunch we walked down to the beach for some fun in the sun. The water has been getting warmer each day and today it wasn’t that bad. Nicky and I took a swim out to the raft to meet Evan. It took a minute to get used to the water for me, but Nicky is such a water rat. He would spend all day there if we let him. The bay was a little choppy today with waves around 2 feet, but Nicky did pretty good for himself in the water.

After some time spent in the water we were hanging out the beach and a guy in a boat drove up to shore in front of the neighboring cottages to let off one of the guys onboard. It was quite an adventure for the man getting off due to the boat rocking up and down so much but he eventually made it off without killing himself. With all the rocking of the boat and the waves crashing into the back of the boat, he started taking on water. The guy tried some evasive maneuvers and tried getting the boat pointed in the right direction but it was too little, too late. He took on so much water his boat died and he was in very near danger of capsizing. Everyone on shore saw what was happening and a whole bunch of guys ran into the water to help turn the boat around and bring it in to shore. The rest of the people on shore ran for their cameras. After much deliberation and more water taken on board they finally got an anchor rope tied from the boat to a truck on shore. Since the boat’s future looked pretty bleak, the owner of the boat cleared out everything of value to him and waited for help to arrive. A front end loader arrived and they hooked up a chain to the boat and pulled it on to shore. Then it lifted it up at a high angle to drain as much water as possible from the boat. After that, it picked up the boat from the side and placed it on a waiting trailer to be taken away to get dried out and fixed.

After dinner we took the kids to go see Barnyard at the local drive-in theater. It was the first time for any of us at a drive-in, so it was a pretty neat experience. Alexis and Thomas fell asleep pretty early on in the film, but Nicky stayed awake for the entire thing. He also stayed awake for the whole car ride back to the cottage. Within 5 minutes of arriving back at the cottage he passed out on the coach.

Tomorrow’s a big day for Nicky. He is going to get to go out on the boat with me, Jim and Evan to do some fishing. Tune in tomorrow for a recap of the fishing trip.

Innocence Is Bliss....

The kids slept in this morning. Nicky didn’t wakeup until 6:30. Thomas and Alexis waited until 6:50 to wake. The first thing Nicky and Thomas asked to do? Go play on the beach. After a breakfast of mini eggos, we all headed down to the beach for some fun in the sun. It was still relatively early and there was quite a breeze, so it was a little chilly for some. We also got there around the same time as low tide so there was lots of sand for the kids to play in and the water was less than waist deep for me (chest high for Nicky) for several hundred feet out from shore. Nicky and I headed out for the raft and hung out there for a little while. We headed back to shore and got Thomas and brought him out there with us for a little while also. Due to the less than warm weather I mentioned earlier, some of us wanted to go back to the cottage.

Once back, I found a church for Jennie to go to so she wouldn’t miss Sunday mass while she was here on vacation. So we all changed and headed out to drop off Jen while I took the kids to a playground. After 45 minutes or so on the playground we picked up Jen and stopped at a little grill type place for lunch. It was your basic no frills place that offered burgers, pizza, etc. Much to our surprise, when we ordered pizza for the boys, we were told that they hadn’t made any pizzas yet so we couldn’t order them. What? So we ordered the other type of food they eat – chicken and french fries.

After lunch was more playtime at the playground then we headed back to the cottage for some more beach time. (side note: Alexis and Nicky just fell asleep 9:10pm) After a couple of hours on the beach, and a very brief dip in the bay by Nicky and me, we showered, changed and headed out to Provincetown with Evan to get some pizza finally. Oh yeah. Almost forgot. Jennie took a dip in the bay also. Although, it wasn’t by choice.

None of the kids had had any naps yet, so we were hesitant to put them in the car for the ride to town. Having them take a nap that late in the day would be a near disaster. They’d be up extremely late if they napped after 3pm. (side note: Thomas just passed out 9:15pm – YEAH!!!) Thomas fell asleep about 2 minutes before we got to the parking lot and I woke him up when we got there without much fuss. We stopped by George’s for some pizza (finally!) and then walked around town for a bit. We took a walk down the pier hoping to see the replica merchant’s ship, but were saddened to see it wasn’t there. We stopped by the candy store for dessert and headed back to the cottage.

We took the scenic, longer, route back to the cottage hoping that the longer car ride would finally put one or more of them to sleep. Nope. All were wide awake and talking to each other. As you might have notice with my little side notes earlier, all three kids are finally asleep. All it took was some liquid (juice and milk) and an Elmo dvd.

One good thing about Nicky still being too young to grasp many things is his reaction to many things in Provincetown. He and Thomas were very excited to see so many rainbow flags hanging everywhere. They were also amused by the many “women” with strange colored hair. I know there’ll be a time when he figures out that those “women” are really men dressed in drag. I guess now is a good time as any to start thinking of answers to those types of questions when they start to come.

Off We Go....

I set the alarm last night to go off this morning at 4:30am in order for us to be on the road by 5:00am. After hitting the snooze button numerous times, I finally crawled out of bed at 4:58. So much for the plan! We were on the road and crossing the GWB around 6:00am. The ride was pretty uneventful and the only traffic we hit was getting on to the bridge to cross over the Cape Cod Canal. We arrived at our cottage a few minutes before noon.

We unpacked the van and got everything put away in the cottage then took the kids down to the beach to play. Nicky “the fearless” immediately wanted to go swimming in the near 50 degree water. It was quite chilly. Unfortunately for me, Jennie still does not own a swimming suit and I was on watch duty. (note to self: Jen’s not really self conscience about her legs, she just doesn’t want to step foot in the cold water). I almost had Nicky talked into swimming out to the raft about 100 feet from shore, but once we both got our whole bodies wet by going under the water, he wised up and we went back to shore to play in the sand.

After playing in the sand we showered off and got dressed to head to the supermarket to do some food shopping. All 3 kids fell asleep on the 10 minute trip to the store. Once back at the cottage we made dinner and headed back to the beach. The plan was to take the kids on a nice long walk and tire them out so that they’d be ready to pass out once we got back to the cottage. Like I said – that was the plan. So after walking about ½ mile down the beach searching for shells and pretty rocks, we turned around and headed back. About half way back, Nicky and Thomas decided to run all the way back. I figured they’d tire out rather quickly and just lay down on the sand and wait for us to catch up to them, but that was not the case. I wound up running after them trying to catch up. Didn’t happen. They beat me to the staircase and stopped by Jim and April’s cottage to say hello. Nicky, Thomas and I hung out with Jim, April, Evan and Erin while we waited for Jennie and Alexis to make it back. When Jennie finally got there we hung out for a few minutes then headed back to our cottage for dessert, movies and bed. Dessert has been eaten. Pajamas have been put on. Teeth have been brushed. The movie is about to start and there’s no sign of tired kids.

So much for the plan.

Random Notes....

This past weekend was Brian's bachelor party. Some things to remember from that night:

• I met up with everyone who went to the Mets game at the Boat Basin Cafe which is located directly under the entrance/exit of the west side highway at 79th street. It is one of those "hidden gems" in the city that you'd never know was there unless someone told you about it. It was a pretty cool place.
• I had a really good time just chilling with Max and Jerry at the boat basin just talking.
• I beat Max at foozball 5-4, then Andy proceeded to kick my ass and beat me 7-2.
• We went to a bar where they had a beer pong table all set up. I teamed up with Andy (who had never played before) and we only lost by 1. I think Andy actually made one or two shots but completely missed the table on numberous attempts. Good times.
• When hiring strippers to perform at someone's apartment, it is best not to pay their "manager" in cash, in full, before ever seeing the strippers or having the strippers step foot in to the apartment.

Two nights ago, Nicky did his usual routine of climbing into bed with Jennie and I some time during the night. While that is not unusual and would normally not warrant mention here on my blog, what happened later on does. Kids (and adults) will often talk in their sleep, maybe even cry if they're having a nightmare. That particular night was different. Jennie and I were awoken by hysterical laughter. Nicky was laughing non-stop in his sleep. There was no one tickling him. No one telling him funny jokes. No funny movies on. Just Nicky. Asleep. Laughing uncontrollably. Jennie and I went back to sleep and left him laughing in his sleep.

Yesterday I went on my follow-up interview at Signature Construction. The first interview was last week and went really well and the owner suggested I come in and spend a full day with him to see what I was getting myself into before accepting his job offer. Yesterday was pretty uneventful and along the lines of what I expected. The only thing that stood out was that he took me to a fancy shmancy french restaraunt for lunch. We met up with an acquantience of his (whose birthday was yesterday) and went to the restaraunt. Almost the entire menu was in French except for a few items that had english translations. "Le Cheese Burger" and "Le Burger" were pretty easy to translate by myself, but I had no clue on the rest of the items. I ended up having the grilled sirloin and fries.

This morning I handed in my letter of resignation to my immediate boss. I called him at home last night to tell him what was going on and we talked about it. He was very understanding of my position and the reasons for taking the new job and said that if it were up to him, he'd match all the money I will be getting at the new place to keep me around. It feels really good to know that he appreciates the work I do and I will miss working for him. It's been a really good experience working at R&L and I really enjoyed working with everyone here. I'm going to miss everyone, but at the end of the day, it's all about what is best for my family.