After spending most of the day at the in-laws, swimming in the pool and eating way too much, we made an inpromptue stop on the way home to see the New Haven fireworks. Quinn loves fireworks - and I love watching Quinn watching fireworks - so I was feeling a little down about missing the display in our home town. Even though it was WAY past the girl’s bedtime, we decided to go. We parked in the IKEA parking lot, just on the other side of the highway, figuring we would still be able to get a good view without having to attempt to drive to the wharf. The newspaper said they were scheduled for 8pm…, and we were there at 8pm, but the fireworks didn’t actually go off until 9pm. Turns out, that was a good thing, as we weren’t the only ones who thought parking at IKEA was a good idea. We were there early enough, however to get our pick of parking spots, so we have a great view. They were over in about 20 minutes and it took us 45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot (I’m not kidding), but it was worth it. This clip is a little long - almost 13 minutes - but since I was already posting it on the North Haven News, I thought I would share.
I was in NYC the same night as the 2008 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. I was across the street from where the stars were walking the red carpet and caught a brief glimpse of John Lithgow. He waves to the cameras at the end of this clip.
Today was the first full day of summer vacation, so I took the girls to the school playground for a while. I also used the opportunity to experiment with shooting some video with my Canon SD600 instead of the Sony mini dv cam I usually use. For these quick little moments, it’s nice to be able to pull a small, pocket-sized camera out instead of the bulkier camcorder. Once it’s compressed and uploaded to the web, you can’t really tell the difference anyway. I’m also trying to talk myself out of buying a Flip Mino, Pure Digital Technologies’ newest incarnation of its wildly popular Flip camera. It shoots at exactly the same resolution as my Canon…, I’ve just been in the mood for a new toy. Gonna hold off until July 11th, however, when I decide whether I want to finally splurge on the new iPhone.
Much like Bill Gates, this is my last week at a job I’ve had for the past 6 years. Although I’ve worked the night shift for most of the past 11 years, its only been the last 6 that I’ve held the title Stay At Home Dad - which I’ve always felt was a bit of a misnomer due to the fact that I actually worked a full-time job in addition to my fatherly duties.
It’s a good time for the transition - my wife and daughters are in their last week of school; I’m just coming off a week-long business trip to NYC; my wife and I just celebrated out 11th wedding anniversary; and summer’s oficially here - so this life-change coincides with several other transitional periods.
As I said in a previous post, it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment for everyone. Eleven years of working the same hours and a man gets used to a routine. I’m sure, however, that we’ll all adjust quickly and be better off for it. We were very blessed to have been able to do what we’ve done all these years. Not many people have the opportunity to raise their children on their own with both parents working full-time jobs. As difficult as it was at times, I can say without a doubt that raising our children ourselves was the best thing we could have done for them. They’re both beautiful, smart, confident and funny girls, and although I’m sure some of that is purely genetic, I think my wife and I deserve some credit for how they’ve turned out.
We seem to be going through an unusually large amount of toilet paper lately. We’re all pretty regular folk, but the TP seems to be flying off the roll these last few months. Maybe it’s because 3 out of the 4 of us are girls, and require using toilet paper regardless of whether our visit to the John was a #1 or a #2. Or maybe…, just maybe…, it’s the TP Gremlin?!
What’s a TP Gremlin, you ask? It’s the little monster that uses more toilet paper than necessary. It pulls and pulls the roll until most of it’s on the floor of the bathroom in an undulating ribbon of quilted mess. It’s the very same monster who likes to wet their finger and bore a hole through the paper hoping to touch the cardboard tube long before it’s exposed through the natural erosion process of pull, tear, use, flush.
Don’t believe in TP Gremlins? Well here I offer up photographic evidence of its existence!
Grace finished up her final year of preschool by putting on a short concert for the parents. I normally only subject family members to video clips such as these - and really that’s who I’m posting this for - but feel free to watch my daughter sing “Your Face” with her classmates.
Quinn slipped in her flip-flops coming up the deck stairs and took the impact square on her shin. I knew it had to hurt - bad. If you’ve ever hit your shin bone, you know what I’m talking about. Once she stopped crying, all we could do was wait for the bruise to show up. And the next morning, there it was - the mother of all bruises. I took a shot of it and left her knee in the photo so you had a sense of the scale. She was proud of her purple badge of courage, however, and insisted on wearing shorts to school to show it off. Ouch!
Its been several months since Grace had her feeding tube removed, and I’m happy to say that she’s been doing very well. I think she really enjoys not having the g-tube sticking out from her belly, which has allowed her to wear certain clothes and do certain things that might have otherwise bothered her (video clip to be posted soon that illustrates this). She’s eating more than she’s ever eaten, however, she not really gaining any weight. I’m really not that worried about it - the kid’s small…, always has been, always will be. At least she’s growing, right?
Well yes, she IS growing, and here’s how we know. My wife took the kids to IKEA the other night, and for the first time ever, Grace was tall enough to go with her sister into the play area they have set up for kids to play in while their parents shop. My wife called me at work to tell me the good news and let me know how excited Grace was that she could finally join her big sister in the playground.
It was a little thing, but sometimes it’s the little things that matter most.
Gonna hold off until July 11th, however, when I decide whether I want to finally splurge on the new 
