First Day of School 2010-11

The bus picked the boys up right on time at 8:46 AM on Tuesday the 7th. We had a great summer with quite a bit of travelling towards the end, so hopefully the kids have a lot to talk about at school today. The house is very quiet right now..

Wise guys

Ok, I get it... the kids want a pool.

Ohio Trip

We had another great trip to Ohio. Dad and I put up the new porch in record time, and the kids had fun at the playground, picking berries and playing with Smokey's cat door. Dad's garden probably produces more tomatoes than the state of New Jersey, and some of his zucchini are almost as big as Ryan. Those are the grillin' zucchinis :)

Down the Shore

We took a quick trip down to Seaside this weekend. It was good to relax and do some crab fishing, but the weekend wasn't exactly uneventful. For the past few weeks, beach-goers have been talking about their shark encounters in the waters around Seaside Heights and Seaside Park. We didn't think much about it until we heard that a six-foot sand shark came right up onto the beach about an hour before we got there. There's a pretty good video of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVeibNMhLg

I guess you can't blame the shark, he's just going where the food is. Maybe he likes fried Twinkies and sun tan lotion?




..And here are some pictures from crabbing. In the first picture, Michael's trying to shoot me with a dead fish that ultimately ended up being used as bait. We caught close to 15 crabs with that dead fish!

Our Newest Rock Band Member!

Froggy

The first of Joey's three tadpoles was released into the wild. It's been over a week since he lost his tail and turned into a frog, so it was time for him to get his own pad.

He now lives in the water retention basin off Eyland Avenue.

Biking at Kittatinny

Michael and I took the bikes up to Kittatinny State Park on Sunday to do some trail riding. We did about 4 miles around the park, found some pretty good fishing holes and watched the planes land and take off at the airport. Afterwards we stopped at McDonalds for lunch.

Lake Aeroflex

We went fishing at Lake Aeroflex in Andover yesterday. There’s a small airport at one end of the lake, and the runway is positioned so the planes have to land and take off over the water. The fishing wasn’t all that great but it was fun watching the planes fly right over us.

Danielle won the “first fish” contest and her reward was an apple pie. Unfortunately, she had to make it herself because she’s the only one that knows how to cook.

Moon Confusion

Michael: Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon.

Me: That's right, do you remember who was with him?

Michael: (deep in thought)
Me: Here's a clue.. his first name was Buzz.

Michael: (eyes wide) "Buzz Lightyear!"

Franklin Mine

Danielle and I took the kids to the Franklin Mineral Museum on Sunday. It was HOT, but luckily most of the tour was inside air-conditioned buildings. There were some interesting rocks but very few visitors. Local attractions like the Franklin Mine and Wild West City seem to be having a hard time in this economy, probably because they're competing with places like Great Adventure and Action Park.

The kids did some mining and found some willemite, franklinite and calcite. We used our black light at home to see how the willemite and calcite phosphoresce in green and red.

Driveway Driving

It will be 14 years, 8 months and 18 days from today when Ryan will be asking me for the car keys. With any luck, my car will still be running (it's a Honda.. it could happen).

Beatin' the heat wave!

Temperatures hovered in the upper 90's all weekend, but we found some fun ways to beat the heat.

Stephen and Coleen's wedding

Everything went great, from the rehearsal to the reception. Michael performed his usher duties flawlessly, and Joey walked the rings down the aisle and was rewarded with a box of legos in his pew.

The only unplanned event happened when Pastor Foss hurt his knee while dancing. After a quick trip by ambulance to the emergency room, doctors confirmed he tore a ligament and dislocated his knee cap. He'll be having surgery this week in Long Island.

The Baking Soda Submarine

You can almost feel the anticipation in this picture :)

Joey-ism

Dad, how do fish whistle?

- Joey, 6/20 Horseshoe Lake

Father's Day

The kids pretty much wore me out, but it was a great day that I'll never forget. We put together a list of everything we wanted to do on Father's Day:

- fishing

- car show

- sandbox

- wrestle

- Wii

- soccer

- baseball

- basketball

- golf

- rockets

- water table (it's a table with water in it)

- build a model

We completed almost everything on the list, plus we went to church, had a BBQ and got slurpees from Dairy Queen. Danielle and the kids got me a new fishing pole, tackle box and a pair of sneakers.

Joey's Graduation

Joey graduated from the KEDS program this week. The program is run through his nursery school as a supplement to Kindergarten. They play games, raise tadpoles and basically just have fun.

The chicks

Danielle's class incubated and hatched a few chicken eggs, so she brought the chicks home this weekend for a visit.

And now a little chicken humor:

Juan was driving down a country road when he saw a chicken farm. To his surprise, all of the chickens had three legs. The farmer came out of his house, and Juan said, "three-legged chickens? That's astonishing!"

The farmer replied, "Yep. I bred 'em that way because I love drumsticks."

Juan was curious. "How does a three-legged chicken taste?"

The farmer smiled. "Dunno. Haven't been able to catch one yet."

Joey-ism number 357:

Daddy: Come inside Joey, it's starting to rain.

Joey: But dad, how are we going to bring the pool inside?

Parade Pictures

Michael and I drove Rescue 16 in the Memorial Day Parade. The chief let Michael sit in the officer's seat as a reward for working so hard down at the firehouse.

Why the life jacket?

Because you never know when you're gonna get hit by a rogue wave in the water table :)

Ryan and the Electric Candle

Ryan kept trying to blow out the electric candle. Too funny.

Birds Nest

Every year, the Robins make nests around our house. This year they made one right on the front porch. It's been fun watching the baby birds grow. Every time we get close to the nest, the mother bird flies to a nearby branch and chirps at us like crazy until we leave.

The Boys Like to Clean

Joey helped clean out the fridge this weekend (and reaped the rewards of eating whatever was left in each jar before it went into the recycling bin), and the effort Michael put into cleaning the ladder truck earned him a spot in the passenger seat in the Memorial Day Parade this weekend. I'll be driving the truck so it's going to be one of those "proud daddy" moments for sure.

Blue Belt!

Way to go, Joe!

Hole in the sink

Not much to say about this one, except that you should never keep a ceramic candle holder next to a ceramic sink. According to a friend of mine who's in the construction business, when ceramic hits ceramic the outcome is never good.

what I did on my lunch hour today

One of the guys I work with has a backhoe loader at his house. Who am I to turn down the opportunity to help him move it around for a while? It beats sitting behind a desk staring at a computer monitor and eating a PB&J.

Paco... or is it a Tizza?

My talented wife found a way to combine two of the most delicious things in the world, Pizza and Tacos, into a single delectable culinary creation. Say hello to... The Paco!

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Thursday was Take Your Kid to Work Day, so I brought Joey to work with me. Since my job really isn't all that exciting, I brought a video player so Joey would have something to do at my desk. It turns out that we didn't need it because he had PLENTY of real work to do. Joey sent an email to Nana from my computer, spoke with my customers, worked in the lab and warehouse and even helped ship a box. The girls gave him papers to shred and they taught him how to stamp envelopes with the postage meter, and the guys at the loading dock let him throw stuff in the dumpster.

Michael went to work with Danielle, and he helped teach her class using the SmartBoard. They also made bird houses from old milk cartons and paper mache.

The Ohio trip!

Some visits just go by too quickly, and this was one of them. Hopefully we can come back soon to take over your house again!! :) Thanks for everything, we had a great time.

Ohio Trip - more pictures

Here are some more pictures from our Ohio trip. The kids had a good time playing with my old toys (the indian and horse, millenium falcon and star wars figures). We also went to the Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, and we went fishing with Dad. All of us had a great time.

Easter!

Battle of Route 10 Champions!!

Congratulations to the NJ Freeze, the Aspen Mite winners of the Battle of Route 10 Tournament! What a great way to finish the 2009-2010 season. We've actually got a 4 week hiatus from hockey until the spring season starts. Hopefully that's enough time to do our taxes, fix the truck, stain the windows, put a new dimmer on the porch lights, finish the moulding in the den, clean the basement...

Cake batter bliss!

This went well beyond Danielle's better judgement!

Turtle Back Zoo

After the tournament, Danielle and I took Joey and Ryan to Turtle Back Zoo since it was right next door to the hockey rink. Michael went to the goalie's house for some driveway hockey and video games.

Shamrock Tournament

Michael's team started the tournament with a big win over the Titans! The kids played some incredible hockey games.

Thursday: NJ Freeze 4, Titans 2
Friday: NJ Freeze 2, Colonials 4
Saturday: NJ Freeze 2, Kings 5
Sunday: NJ Freeze 6 Kings 5

Overall, the team took home the bronze medal this weekend. Next up - The Battle of Route 10.

More info here
http://www.devilsyouth.com/