Tuesday, November 29, 2005
November 26-27, 2005
On Friday we both had to work. It was Erin's last day at Sabre so she had her exit interview in the morning. I took Liam
into work with me. We had breakfast together in my little cubicle. Since it was a light day and only 3 people were in I took
Liam on a tour of the hangar and showed him the jets. He was interested in the planes but way more interested in the tractors.
Friday was a laid back evening.
On Saturday we all huddled up on the couch and watched a couple of cartoons and enjoyed breakfast. With then got motivated
to do a few chores that needed to get done. I put our old storm door back on. It will get us through the winter and is a little
tighter than before. We will look at a door next year and ask for help when we do it. Erin started taking the gazebo down
and helped me with the door as needed.
With the door finished up I gutted the grill and put new parts in as it was worn out. We use it all the time. I also
helped Erin finish up the gazebo. Liam was enjoying the outside time playing in the backyard. Once Erin and I started raking
the leaves Liam really started having fun. In the pic below it looks like he is crying but he is actually cackling hysterically.
Raking out in the side yard I noticed the Holly Trees are in full Christmas bloom!
Now rewarded with doing the chores we decided to continue our Christmas shopping. There was a new Train and Hobby store
in Leonardtown that just opened up and we decided to go there. Our friend Perry will love it next ime he is down our way.
We were able to find a nice starter set of Thomas the Tank Engine for Liam. I wanted to also get Liam his first race car set
so we set out to look for that.
Along teh way we made a few stops and found a couple of presents for others. I found a great Fisher Price stock car set
for Liam. He inspected it all teh way out of Target. Luckily we still have his lack of memory in our favor. We felt good about
the purchases and are closing in on completing Christmas shopping. We just ate pizza Saturday night and watched TV.
On Sunday Erin picked up around the house and I did some PC maintanence. We had decided to go caching so after Liams
nap we went to four local caches that were all within a few miles of the house. We foudn three out of four. The first having
elluded us after a half hour search. Two caches were near playgrounds so Liam got a little playtime in as well.
On Sunday evening we relaxed and played with Liam and Erin prepared to start her new job at Greenfield in my old lab
on Monday. So far so good. Lots of changes and not as cushiony as far as an office area of hew own but the work is good and
I can testify first hand to that! ;-)
Friday, November 25, 2005
THANKSGIVING 2005
Well this year we got a chance to stay home and ironically our dear friend the Hoffman family were in town too. It had
been a few years since this had occured. We offered up the Turkey and the frying and they offered to host and prepare all
the scrumptious fixins and such. Erin baked her first apple pie complete with lattice work on top.
We had a bit of a oily start on the fried turkey. Russ made the mistake of thinking the new oil was the same size jug
as usual but it was bigger and Erin had not water dropped it the night before.
Russ and Dave both realized the oil was way too high. They funneled quite a bit out but not enough. Dave shut off the
flame and a good thing as we overflowed dropping the turkey and had to hose off the area of the oil. After we felt it was
safe we relit the burner and waited an hour. Thanks to the patience of Dave it might if been our best turkey and most moist
too!
Sue was baking a small turkey mainly for stuffing. Dave said that oddly this bird had been split so they had to
cinch him back up to make him a stuffing bird. Liam made himself at home as he had been there for the week as Sue had watched
him for us. It was a Godsend as we were stuck with no day care this week.
The girls were delightful as always. Heather was working on fake tattoo software on the computer. Jenna has a quest to
get a collie for a pet and Erin worked with her introducing her to not only Petfinder.com but the responsibilities of being
a pet owner. Amy was so sweet with Liam. She played with him and entertained him. She even gave him a Raggedy ann doll. She
also challenged Russ to Tony Hawk 4 on the Playstation. After cutting Russ some slack and letting him think he was better
than he was Amy put her game face on and annihilated him in the second round. Dave's mom Shirley was over and was delightful
company for dinner as we all set around the table and talked after dinner a bit.
Alas with work the next day we headed out at nine. The only downer was Erin and I completely forgot about Survivor for
the FIRST time ever. That must say something about the day. We are very blessed to have such good friends around the corner
and felt it was a special day that we all got to share together!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Nov 18-20. 2005
Friday morning, the sun was shining, even though the air was cooler than it had been since last winter. Russ suggested
we take a trip to Fredericksburg, VA to do some Christmas shopping. We hadn't been there to shop in a few years, so
the plan was initiated, and we were soon all bundled up and heading South. Fredericksburg is only about an hour away,
so the drive was short, but really pretty.
We enjoyed the day going in and out of pottery shops, toy stores, antique stores and music stores among many other quaint
little boutiques. We had lunch at a pizzaria called Spirits, although none joined us for lunch. Understandably,
Liam had a wonderful time at the toy stores, although was quite disagreeable when it was time to move on!
We all had a delightful day, and put a good dent in our shopping list for the Holiday!
Like many Saturdays, this one was a day of running local errands. We needed dog food and some groceries, and at
Russ's suggestion headed to Lowe's to consider purchasing a new front storm door. As expected, we found one we liked,
and made the purchase, although I was uncertain at our ability to actually install it. "6 easy steps!" it said on the
box, but as time would tell, we barely made it past Step 1!
We also made a trip to the landfill on Saturday too, and chucked an old grill and mattress set. Luckily the trip
was a short one, and we made it without any major mishap, although I could have sworn that mattress was inching it's way off
the roof of the truck with every mile.
We smartly chose not to tackle the door project until Sunday. Most of Saturday was spend doing laundry, and putting
away groceries. I found myself utterly exhausted - I blamed the pregnancy, but since Russ was tired too, perhaps it
was just all the errand running.
Sunday, we awoke with a little more energy, so we rounded up supplies for the door project. Russ removed our current
door, and began to look over the instructions and supply list. We knew we needed a new hacksaw, some Peanut Oil for
frying a turkey with the Hoffmans on Thanksgiving, and even some more propane, so another trip to Lowes was commenced.
(In attempting to find out how much of our propane was left, what remained of our dying grill guts gave one last final puff,
before the contents disintegrated - prompting another Lowes purchase - grill guts.)
So, upon our return with our supplies, we began reviewing the instructions and opening up our new door... only to discover
that some of the molding on the bottom was cracked. We called Lowes and were told to bring that part back to exchange,
so I left with that mission just after our friend Dave Hoffman stopped by to share some of his tools and expertise.
While I was gone, Dave and Russ discovered that the door was too small for our opening. Figures. As can be
imagined, upon my return I was none to happy with the whole ordeal. This resulted in a very irritated re-packaging of
the whole stupid door. We found the receipt that we thought was lost, loaded up the stupid door and returned to Lowes.
Then we took a couple of hours away from each other to cool down after the fiasco.
Finally, the anger wore off and we had a nice afternoon together finishing up the laundry, playing with Liam, and relaxing.
We steamed some Alaskan crab clusters that we'd gotten on sale, and Liam wolfed down some raveolis for dinner. MMMM
Since Anna, Liam's babysitter was off all this week, our dear friend, Sue Hoffman, Dave's wife, offered to take him on
for Mon, Tues, and Wed. So I packed him all up, and we all ended the day watching the remake of the Poseidon Adventure
on TV. I fell asleep before they made it out, so I can't tell you who survived.
Monday, November 14, 2005
11/11-11/13
Monday in the week before we attended the Southern Maryland Pizza Nite Geocaching event for our 350th event. It
was just a get together to look at coins and visit as the temperatures are getting colder. There were a couple of new nearby
caches but we needed to get Liam to bed.
During the week Erin also interviewed for Russ' old position at the HIS Project Executeive Helo. She accepted the
position as of this morning. It will be a great move for Erin and help the family out too.
On Thursday night we watched Survivor. Great episode as Gary found the hidden immunity idol. Man that seemed like
geocaching a little. Friday mroning we got on the road by lunch time. We arrived up at Grandmom's around
dinner. Grandmom enjoyed playing with Liam all evening. Noah was working Friday evening so he could get the weekend off.
On Saturday Russ picked up Noah and brought him over. The big news was Noah has a girlfriend named Kayla. Of course we
asked him a few questions. If they are still an item during the holidays we have invited him to invite her for a birthday
dinner and movies in January. Liam was so funny. He said Noah as soon as we pulled in the parking lot the day before so needless
to say he was happy to see him.
Erin and I went down to get Mom's mattress and box spring. We hit a quick microcache along the way. Upon arriving there
was a mix up about her cancelling the order. We tried to call her but Noah said she went to her Eye Doctor early. So back
we went to the house. Finally it was figured out she wanted the mattress and box spring so Noah and I went to get it. It gave
us a great time to catch up. We hit a geocache in Peace Valley park on the way down.
We then arrived at the mattress place and loaded up the mattress and box spring. When we got to the apartment Noah and
Russ loaded them upstairs. The problem was there were two mattresses and no box spring. Mom was initially mad but Erin convinced
her to negotiate to keep them as the mattreses are way more expensive. Erin negotiated the deal and Mom was happy. Finally
we were able to all go for a ride. We went to the Indian Walk which is a nice store that has an old time Carousel that was
closed. Erin and I got a little Christmas shopping done. On the way from there we saw at least 8 hot air balloons that must
have been in a rally.
We then headed over in the late afternoon sun to Peddlers Village to let Liam see the Grand Carousel and walk around
the shops. Liam acted a little leery of the giant horse but then cried when we left so we are not sure if he liked it or not.
We then found a couple other Christmas gifts and headed to a great Italian Family restaurant named Giuseppe's. Erin has been
having a bit of morning sickness so it was great to see her enjoy her meal!
We all enjoyed the evening and playing with Liam and watching an old horror movie called the Sentinel after Liam went
to bed.
On Sunday morning Erin made breakfast while Noah played with Liam. Grandmom wanted to watch Liam as Noah, Erin, and Russ
went hiking in New Jersey. It was a beautiful warm November day.
Noah, Erin, and Russ ended up at a cool pedestrian bridge across the Delaware river while caching. We were all in a silly
mood and enjoyed the time together.
After the geocaching we went into New Hope Pennsylvania on the Delaware River. New Hope is a quaint shopping and restaurant
town. We ate outside at a great restaurant called Havanas. Grandmom and Liam had a grand time except for a torched sock in
the microwave.
Alas the day got away from us and we had to head home. It was a hectic weekend but we had fun and made plans for Christmas
time and travels. Erin had a great chat with her folks on the way home and Liam's Sock Monkey Slippers Gramma got him came
in. Liam giggled when his mom put them on. He can be be so funny sometimes. He thinks every fast food restaurant has pizza
now. On the stops to those now he yells pitsa pitsa!
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
11/3-11/4/05
The week has been a whirlwind of activity. Both Russ and I have been very busy with our jobs. In a way, that's
good because it let's us know our occupational value, but in another way... it's just plain stressful and exhausting!
We were glad to finish up the week Thursday night. Liam too, seemed really tired, so he went to bed a tad early, before
Russ and I settled in to watch Survivor. It was a great episode, but was interrupted by a knock at our door. I'd
forgotten (let's blame my pregnancy) that a former dog adopter was bringing her dog by for us to petsit over the weekend.
Shelby, a little Pappillon mix who we'd fostered about a year ago bounded in the door with her owner. We exchanged plans,
and got Shelby settled just in time for me to see who got voted off the Survivor Island for the week.
Friday morning, Russ went into work to make up just a couple of hours. While he was gone, Liam and I scampered
about the house and shed looking for items to donate to the ARF Yard Sale.
When Russ returned home, I loaded up the truck with our donations (which gained us a little more room in the shed), and
we headed to ARF's new location to drop off the goods. After we unloaded the truck, we headed to the beauty salon to
all get haircuts. YES, Liam too. I was actually surprised how good Liam was. He had a few moments of terror,
but for the most part he kept all ears and eyes intact while still loosing his adorable curls. It was time. The
curls were cute, but were such a magnet for all sorts of goo. It's amazing. He now looks like a little boy instead
of a baby... sniffle sniffle. Russ got his hair buzzed, and I got quite a few inches taken off of mine.
Once all spruced up we decided to check out the new Old Navy and Petco stores. We all got a couple of new shirts,
and the dogs got some new dogfood (Pro Plan) and some tastey treats.
Last stop was the grocery store. We really did some damage there, but it felt good to have the freezer and pantry
stocked once again.
We had a nice dinner of steamed shrimp while we watched a cute Pregnancy video that Russ had ordered from Netflix.
Saturday morning, I awoke earlier than I wanted to. Sleeping has not been a favorable experience for me lately,
so I hope my body figures out a better schedule soon. I used the time to start some laundry, and finish up some
dishes from the night before. Then I enjoyed some quiet time in front of the TV before Russ and Liam woke up.
Liam later joined me, and we cuddled on the couch while watching
Jimmy Neutron.
After a few more loads of laundry, Russ offered to take us out to lunch at the new Pizza place,
CiCi's. It's a pizza buffet. It was pretty good, and we ran into our friends, Carla and Steve on the way in. They too,
had dined on a Pizza lunch.
Once we departed CiCi's we needed to do a little local Geocache maintenance. We also wanted to find
a new local one put out by our traditional Caching friends, Terri and Billy. We had a nice time on a beautiful
day taking a stroll through the woods. Since one of our geocaches involved a part in a playground, Liam also had a good
time, climbing, and frolicking.
When we returned home, we finished up a couple of cleaning tasks, and relaxed until dinner time. Russ wanted to
do a cheese fondue for dinner, so we got it all set up. It was really good, and we had a great time dipping and
noshing together. Even Liam enjoyed it! That night we attempted to watch the movie,
Alone in the Dark, but it was so bad, we gave up about mid way through. There's only so much monster shooting in the dark, that a viewer can
take. We had high hopes for it, but it just lost us after about the 50th monster killed.
Sunday morning, I slept in a little, but was still up and about well before Russ and Liam. So I
took the dogs for a much deserved walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, I raked up the side yard - a job that
was also a bit overdue. By this time I'd worked up a hearty appetite. Russ offered to take us to IHOP, so after
a quick shower, I happily agreed. Sadly, though, once at IHOP, the wait was about 20 minutes for a table, and neither
of us felt like waiting. So, we headed North to Bob Evans, but when we saw a crowd of a dozen waiting
outside its doors, we gave up and returned home for some French Toast. Might not have been as tasty as IHOP,
but it filled our bellies!
A friend of mine, Sheri, was supposed to come over for some baby wearing instruction around noon, but we must have miscommunicated
because noon came and went without her. Oh well. Honestly, but 12:15, I had found myself on the couch drifting
off to sleep. Liam too was napping, and until Russ woke me up nearly an hour later, I was in daytime dreamland!
Felt great!
Around 3:00 we journeyed to Carla and Steve's house. They were hosting the monthly playgroup. The
kids always have fun playing around each other, and it gives us parents some time to compare notes. It was
really a nice time, but Liam is going through a very possessive stage, so there were a couple of times when we had
to sternly reprimand him for being too rough. I'll be glad when this phase passes.
Sunday night we had a really tasty steak dinner. Russ is SOOOO good on the grill. My appetite has been
really bad lately, but I had no problem with this dinner. It's always nice to finish off the weekend with a nice
home-cooked meal together.
