Taylor Family

Our house modeled in 3D...revisited

2012-01-31T13:18:00.004-05:00

Google notified me that my 3D house model was rejected. All models require photo realism. I'll have to take some pictures of the house and stick'em to my model. I haven't done this before, but I know there are some tutorials on line showing how. I'll work on this and try again.

My original post on this can be read by clicking here.

Laundry room make over

2012-01-29T19:18:00.003-05:00

Kathleen says I gave her a honey do list this weekend - tile the laundry room back splash. Well if this is true she gave me one right back - finish painting the laundry room drawers. Now I really didn't give her a honey do thing. I just suggested she stop by Home Depot to pick out tile. She goes by one to and from work.

She picked out a nice looking tile mat. Instead of using mastic to glue the tiles up, she tried a newfangled product; an adhesive mat that first gets applied to the wall and the the tiles are stuck to it. It worked really well and the tile went up super easy with no mess. By late Saturday night she had it all grouted. Her project is about 98% finished. I'll do the last 2% this week by putting up a piece of molding to hide the gap at the top.

And I did get the drawers painted as well thank you very much.

Sitting at my computer

2012-01-29T18:19:00.002-05:00

I took this self portrait sitting at my computer. I was trying different exposure and flash settings.

Two Payton's

2012-01-25T21:56:00.003-05:00

Our house modeled in 3D

2012-01-21T16:03:00.002-05:00

I mess around with Google Sketchup every now and then. Today I attempted to model our house in 3D. It turned out pretty well. I submitted it to Google to put in Google Earth's 3D Warehouse. If accepted you can see my model in Google Earth. To see it, and other 3D models as well, you have to have the 3D Buildings layer turned on. Here is a what it will look like.

Can't take the Cincinnati out of the kids

2012-01-20T15:48:00.009-05:00

Yep, some of Cincinnati is still in the boys - and me too. Payton and Parker still love Skyline chili. I'm fortunate that I can get this wonderful stuff shipped to me by the case. Believe me - because no one else does - the stuff is that good. Just ask my boys!

And now for something completely different

2012-01-19T16:35:00.007-05:00

I have, er had, a problem with our powder room remodel. No matter how tight I tighten the toilet seat bolts, the darn seat would slide from side to side. This toilet doesn't have the normal bolt and nut holding it on. It has a special newfangled nut that I didn't want to strip out. I found what seems to be a nifty solution - Safe-T-Bumpers. These little plastic L brackets screw to the seat and eliminate the side to side movement. I just installed them and they seem to work, but time is the true test.If you have this same problem and want to give them a try you can find these on Amazon.com. They cost four buckaroos. I got two packs to fix two toilets.

BTW, I put our old sink and toilet up for sale on Craigslist. Within a few days I had sold them. A lady bought them and said they would be perfect for her vintage style bathroom. I didn't ask much, just $50. I was glad to get rid of them.

Update: These little brackets have done a good job at eliminating the seat's side to side movement. I am pleased.

Making good choices

2012-01-18T16:00:00.003-05:00

Today I received a call from Payton's school. Usually I say "Oh Crap" when the school calls, but I didn't this time because I didn't look at caller ID first, I just answered the phone. Payton's teacher Mr. Marrone called to let me know that Payton had been doing well and making good choices at school. Whew, that's better than bad choices. It was a good call to receive. I got Payton a special donut for him to enjoy when he got home from school.

Our new garage

2012-01-17T13:36:00.016-05:00

On December 5th ground was broke marking the beginning of construction for our 2-car garage. Since then work progressed steadily until it was stopped January 13th. The garage structure is complete except for the exterior finish. That will have to wait until warmer temperatures in the spring. The electrical contractor will soon begin running power from the house to the garage.

The garage has 2 bays and is 24'x30'. It has stairs leading up to an attic. Now I have a place for all my tools and lawn machinery. The new attic provides loads of additional storage for the things we have now and seem to be collecting.

I was happy to see the project started!

One week later the foundation and floor were finished.

It didn't take long for the walls to go up.

The roof took shape quickly after the walls.

The exterior finish will match the house - eventually.

The dormers add lots of space upstairs.The (almost) finished garage.

The attic is big and I've already started filling it.

Ahh, a nice shop area.

There will be no running water in the garage. There was really no great need for this. Maybe some year in the future we'll add plumbing. The building would make a nice studio apartment.

Jungfrau mountain

2012-01-16T21:06:00.003-05:00

Now I think this a pretty cool. To celebrate the 100th year of the Jungfrau railroad the Swiss have lit up their mountain with their flag. El Paso, TX has a star on their mountain, but with this the Swiss have topped them 100 fold. But I doubt the Swiss will be making this a permanent display. I wish I could have seen this with my own eyes.

Our newly remodeled powder room

2012-01-15T19:36:00.002-05:00

We finished our powder room remodel. We just didn't like the pieces or fixtures. The pieces were a grayish putty color. The fixtures were brushed nickel, but they had gold trim. But worst of all the room didn't have an exhaust fan.

Now the room is painted a pleasant blue - a steel blue sort of. We added crown molding. The fixtures are biscuit and the sink has a nice furniture-like vanity that offers good storage. An exhaust fan was installed in the wall. The house's framing layout didn't allow for the usual ceiling mount. We are quite pleased.

Ringing Rocks Park

2011-12-31T18:20:00.017-05:00

Today was a nice day. Maybe a rare one with the coming of winter. We took advantage of it and went to see a natural oddity. Ringing Rocks Park is north of us, but still in our Bucks County. At the heart of the park is a field of rocks. This field is said to be about 7 acres in size while the entire park is some 120 acres. The rocks have an unusual property. When they are struck with a hammer or another rock, they sound as if they are metal and hollow and ring with a sound similar to a metal pipe being struck. The park also has Bucks County's largest waterfall.

I only had one hammer. I used to have several, but after unpacking from our move I haven't seen any of the others. Anyway, Payton did most of the pounding, but Kathleen and I struck a few rocks ourselves. Parker just had fun climbing over the rocks. It is a cool place for a little boy. I took my camera for pictures and Kathleen took her little one to record some sound. Back to this in a minute. People won't be hauling these special rocks off easily. They are good sized with many being very large. I imagine this park will around for many generations to come.

We also walked along a nice creek with a pretty neat looking waterfall. The boys tried to stay dry, but by the creek was mud and water. They brought a good amount of this home. Fortunately neither of them went for an unexpected swim. There is a family campground nearby. We just might spend a weekend up there this summer camping.
Remember how I said Kathleen brought her camera to record some sound? Above is Kathleen's camera with no battery. I've done this sort of thing before. I once drove a ways for a photo shoot. Got there and didn't take a single picture. I had left my memory card at home. Aaargh. No matter, some guy posted a good video on YouTube and you can watch it below.

Family Christmas photo

2011-12-25T18:36:00.003-05:00

We got one - a Christmas photo. We waited until the last possible day, but we got one. You'll have to look at it for a while as I'm using it for the blog picture. It can be trying to get the four of us together for just a blink of an eye, but we did it on the first take.

The boys had a great Christmas. They play with one thing for a minute before moving on to something else. They'll be busy for days.

We hope that all of you had a great Christmas too.

Christmas trip to New York City

2011-12-18T17:21:00.009-05:00

This weekend we traveled to New York City for an overnight visit. We went to see a Saturday matinee of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the world famous Rockettes. And a spectacular show it was - very well done and very entertaining.

Grandma is visiting us for Christmas so she was able to join us. Kathleen's brother and his family live nearby as were also able to join us. By suggestion we traveled a little differently than last year. Instead of driving a little ways from the house and taking an hour and a half train to the city, we drove a couple of hours to Hoboken, NJ. This is just across the Hudson river from New York. We parked there and took a 15 minute commuter train into the city. Much better and way easier than last year.

Saturday was nice, but Sunday - while sunny - was pretty cold. Saturday night we walked by a small city park call Paley Park. It really is small for a park at 4200 sq. ft. Within the park are shade trees and some table and trees to enjoy the space. At the far end is a width of the park 20 ft. tall water fall. It drowns out the city noise making the space quite tranquil. My phone wasn't going to take a decent picture at night, but I think the silhouette looks cool.

Our decorated house

2011-12-13T20:08:00.002-05:00

Instead of just decorating 'the low lying fruit', this year we decided to have someone string lights for us. I don't have a ladder tall enough nor did I really want to climb that high on one if I did. We like how it all turned out. We did a few extra things on the inside too. Each year we'll keep adding more. Good thing our new garage is under construction because we need the storage space between seasons.

Merry Christmas to all!

2011-12-08T12:24:00.004-05:00

Santa's coming is just around the corner. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year. Now enjoy our Jib Jab Christmas videos!

Okay... I went a little overboard making these little videos. But it was so easy to do on JibJab.com. They're a lot of fun. Enjoy!

Another sleeping Parker picture

2011-11-29T19:32:00.005-05:00

Parker can and does sleep just about anywhere. Today was a day without a nap. Come dinner time he was getting a little rowdy. I was ready to send him off into the other room to sit on the time out stool. He and I butted heads a little while and then he just dipped below the table and got real quite. We checked on him a few minutes later and he was dreaming of Santa Claus.I guess he can just eat his dinner a little later.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T19:02:00.003-04:00

Kathleen took the boys around the neighborhood last night. Payton is of the age where candy is the great motivator so he made the round without a hitch. Surprisingly Parker did quite well. He didn't get bored or cold and raked in quite a nice haul.

Vanzant Aerodrome

2011-10-23T18:22:00.008-04:00

About nine miles north of our house is the small Vanzant Airport. It's a grass landing strip on some of the highest ground in the area. It's a bit of a local attraction. People go there to watch the planes take off. They even sell hamburgers, hot dogs and cold drinks.

Another reason people go here is to take plane rides. You can hire bi-planes and even gliders. Rides range from 15 minutes up to an hour in length. This is why there is always a plane taking off.
I would like to take a ride in one of the bi-planes. Today the weather was perfect. Blue skies. Perfect temperature. No wind. I checked into taking a ride, but they were booked up for the day. Oh well, there is always another day.

Parker is still young enough to be a real cutie pie.

The Greatest Show Off Earth!

2011-10-10T20:03:00.010-04:00

We traveled to Albuquerque, NM last week for a short vacation. It was the 40th annual Balloon Fiesta, billed as the Greatest Show Off Earth! The last time we visited the Fiesta was 4 years ago. Payton was three. He's now seven and Parker is three.

The weather wasn't favorable the first few days. We did get to see some of the special shapes 'glow' Thursday morning, but the wind picked up canceling all flights. The next three sessions of the Fiesta were canceled due to rain. Saturday morning was beautiful. It was a bit nippy and in the fifties, but we bundled up and did just fine. After sun up the National Anthem was played and the flag raised to begin the Greatest Show Off Earth. No land based flag pole would due for the flag raising.Parker was very excited seeing the balloons. He absolutely loved seeing them. Neither Kathleen or I remembered to bring our camera so we had to rely on crappy cell phone pictures.
Many of the balloons have major sponsorship. Below are the State Farm and US Bank balloons. Look in the background at the Sandia Mountains - click on the picture to enlarge it. Overnight 6" of snow blanketed the mountains.
The shark balloon was new this year. It was really nice looking. Apparently many of these balloons are made in Brazil. These manufacturers bring newly made balloons to the Fiesta not for the enjoyment of the crowd, but to sell them. The shark balloon is currently for sale, but I don't know for how much.
The Nightmare House has been around for awhile and is still a nice looking balloon. Its creation was inspired by a haunted house toy.
I like looking up into the balloons as they fly overhead. I think it is neat seeing inside these flying things.

The special shape balloons are the largest with some being around 120,000 cubic feet. I'm not sure, but I think that's about 4 or 5 average sized homes. It is kind of fascinating to see a balloon inflated. They use a small, but still quite powerful 3' propeller fan to cold inflate the balloon first. At this point the balloon is laying on the ground with its basket on its side. The basket is tilted up slightly and the burners are ignited to start heating the air inside. A balloon's burners put out a lot of heat. You can be 20' away and feel a hot blast when those babies lite up. As the air inside heats up the balloon starts to stand up. Up and up it goes until it starts to lift off. Final prep is completed, the pilots egg the surrounding crowd on and up and away they go.
Like any other show there are always exhibitors. One such exhibitor was NASA. Payton got to sit in a real F-16 flight simulator. Lordy lordy there are a lot switches in planes. Using their displays I made Payton into a 60's experimental test X-15 test pilot. They had a neat photo booth to get your 'Commander' picture taken too.
We take advantage of the park and ride buses. We think it is really the best way to and from the show. The morning sessions start quite early. Sunrise is at 7am so you need to be there by 6:30. You can't see the balloons glow unless it is dark. Getting there by 6:30 means getting the boys up around 5:30. That's mighty early. Getting up that soon means nap time comes early. Below is Parker on the way home Saturday morning around 10am. He was sound asleep and drooling on the seat.
After getting back to our car we headed to the Sandia Peak Tramway. Remember that snow I mentioned? That's where we were headed. At the base it was sunny and in the mid fifties. Four thousand feet up it was 20° with winds up to 20 mph. Buurrrrrr.
It took about 15 minutes to get to the top. It was indeed cold and there was lots of snow. The air was great. Cold, crisp and very clean smelling. It was refreshing. The clouds came and went. Sometimes letting the sun peak through, sometimes not. The boys had fun playing in the snow. Cold as it was it wasn't too cold to play in.
The city of Albuquerque spreads out 4000 ft. below the peak. There is a restaurant at the peak - the world's highest full service restaurant - called High Finance. I don't care for the name but that is what it's called. Kathleen and I are going to have a sunset dinner there on our next trip to the ABQ.

Another drag of a day

2011-10-01T22:51:00.008-04:00

I don't mean what you might think. Today I went to the drag races at Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, PA. It is another NHRA venue close to home. I went by my lonesome as I'm not sure a full day of drag racing would yet peak Payton's interest. Hopefully it might next year. I was lucky - as was the event and all the other fans - that it didn't rain. It was cold overcast day. It misted for a short period. The rain held off though I did drive through some on the way home.
Though the weather wasn't the best for the spectators, it was great for the cars. Race cars are faster in cooler weather. The air is more dense so the engines get more oxygen. A hot track is slick whilst a cool track has more grip.

Happy Birthday Payton!

2011-09-19T09:14:00.000-04:00

Mom made a great Ssssnake birthday cake for Payton.

Today is Payton's 7th birthday, but he had his party yesterday. A few of his friends came over for some fun, games and of course, cake and ice cream. Payton received a much needed new bicycle. A 20" 6-speeder. He was way to big for his old bike. It was kind of funny watching him ride it. His new bike fits him well. He likes switching gears and the hand brakes. He also got a huge Transformer Bumblebee wall decal and some smaller ones as well. We put these up in his closet since his closet is his private little playroom.

Seven years old. I read a phrase somewhere, "The days are long, but the years are short." Oh how true this is. Happy birthday son.

Payton, his friends and of course his little brother - his best friend.

Bumblebee keeps an protective eye on Payton. Prime eyes all who enter the playroom.

Payton was just plain tuckered out by the end of the day.

Improvised swimming pool

2011-09-07T20:48:00.002-04:00

The other night Kathleen filled a small tub with water so the boys could light some floating candles. The candles didn't work out so well, but no matter to Parker. He saw an opportunity. He stripped down and went swimming.Earlier in the day we we loaded up our bicycles and took them to Stockton, NJ. This isn't far from home. From there we road down the Delaware Canal trail to Lambertville. We took in some refreshments at Lambertville Station. The picture above of Payton was taken there.

Happy Birthday Parker!

2011-09-02T23:02:00.000-04:00

Parker turned 3 today! We have a happy active little 3 year old. We celebrated with a Lightning McQueen cake.
Later in the evening we set up our new car camping tent. It was going to be a nice night and was as good a time as any to test it out. Our cots with pads were very comfortable. We went to sleep around ten o'clock. Payton slept like a rock in his sleeping bag. Parker bothered Mommy all night by sleeping on top of her. I slept pretty good too - waking up around 8:30.

Lawn stripe

2011-09-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

A while back I installed a TruStripe kit on my mower. It does a really good job striping the lawn. It is essentially a wide mud flap - much like you see on a semi - that just drags behind the mower bending over the grass. I like a good stripe in our yard.

Back to School

2011-08-31T11:39:00.003-04:00

Payton headed off to school today. A first grader the young laddy is. I think he really needed this, as do most kids probably. He needs to get back to that creative structure.On a sadder note we lost Grandpa Dolan a few weeks past. Here's a couple of nice pictures of when we went down to the Island for the services and to support Grandma.

Arr, Matey

2011-08-23T00:39:00.004-04:00

I got the boys a pirate flag for their playset. It looks pretty cool.

Vacation

2011-08-22T22:25:00.009-04:00

Vacation! A week at the beach and with Grandma. The weather was pretty good. A little rain here and there cooled things off, but otherwise it was warm and a little steamy. The water was really warm and by the afternoon jelly fish could be seen. None of us got stung, but others did.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened and we just did the usual things. Well there was one thing that happened and it really took us for surprise. Parker swam. One day in Grandma's pool he just started swimming. We haven't had him in lessons, nor have we been working with him ourselves. We think he has just been watching his big brother. He learns so much from him.

Some mornings we would ride to Starbucks and enjoy a pastry, coffee or chocolate milk. One day we stopped at a park and Payton made friends with an alligator.

Swimming can be very tiring - at least for the boys. I can nap just about any time.

Payton Payton Payton. Getting him to smile is sometimes impossible.

Check out this video. I told you Parker can swim!

Short side trip today

2011-08-02T23:35:00.002-04:00

Parker and I took a little side trip today. Hwy 263 had it's bridge over Neshaminy Creek replaced some time ago, but the old Eight Arch Bridge was left in place. It's the last remaining eight arch bridge in Pennsylvania. A hand laid stone and mortar 218 foot long structure with distinctive and graceful arches, the bridge was built in 1803. It's now part of Dark Hollow Park. The creek meanders through the park for some distance. It may be worth taking both boys to just to walk up and down its banks.

Summer right of passage

2011-07-17T09:05:00.000-04:00

New trees in the back yard

2011-07-17T00:18:00.005-04:00

Remember a number of posts ago showing me pulling a white pine tree stump from the ground? I pulled three and in their place I planted two sugar maples. Stupid white pines. These babies are going to grow and give us some wonderful shade one day. We've named the trees Payton and Parker. (God what parents will do.) We're going to try a snap a picture each July 4th (or thereabouts) of each boy with their tree. Here are the first pictures.

Hey, what the heck?

2011-07-16T23:51:00.003-04:00

I don't know the whole story in these pictures, but what the heck is going on? Here is what I know. Kathleen and Parker are at Peddler's Village. Parker is eating a cup cake. He probably just licked the frosting off and was finished. Then he's feeding his face with ice cream. I'm pretty sure that if I was the one behind the camera here I would be getting an ear full.

UPDATE: A reader (er, Kathleen) explained to me that the cup cake was dropped, there was crying and blah blah blah an ice cream cone made the world all better. Sounds about right to me.

Our little gymnast

2011-07-16T23:40:00.003-04:00

Parker loves his gymnastics class. He can run, tumble and climb. He is almost ready to do a flip around the high bar. He can't jump up and hoist himself into the position above yet. What he does is climb up the support posts and then shimmies out onto the bar.

We visited Cincinnati

2011-07-16T22:33:00.011-04:00

The week after July 4th we traveled back to Cincinnati to visit our friends there. The drive was easy enough. We crossed the whole of two states; Pennsylvania and Ohio. Ohio's highways were much better than Pennsylvania's. Ten hours there, ten hours back.

Our first full day there was spent down at Newport on the Levee. This is in Kentucky just across the river from downtown Cincy. We visited the aquarium and saw the movie CARS 2. On Friday we went to the zoo. Payton stills loves seeing the animals. It was Parker's first visit to a zoo as well. We didn't take many pictures, but I did capture this parting shot as we left.
We enjoyed visiting with our former neighbors. We miss them a lot and visited with them as much as we could. Kathleen took a picture of Payton with Kaylee. I think Kaylee is 10 or 11 now. Below is a picture of the two of them from 5 years ago. Payton was just 1½ years old. They're older now, but really neither of them has changed at all.

Here's a picture becoming very common. Payton doesn't have a hand held gaming system, but he sure enjoys playing Angry Birds: RIO on my phone.

Soccer camp

2011-07-15T15:53:00.005-04:00

Payton has spent his mornings this week in soccer camp. He didn't want to go at first, but after having been he had a great time. We've decided to sign him up for another week in August. Parker likes Payton playing too. While big brother is playing soccer, little brother plays on the playground. Below is a little video action. Payton has a blue-green penny on and is wearing read shorts.

First day at our new swim club

2011-07-01T22:45:00.013-04:00

Today was our first day at our new swim club. We had joined a different club earlier in the year but we were not happy with it. We are very happy with Village 2 Swim & Tennis Club. The place has six pools. Different activities are done in each.

At our old club Payton needed to pass a swim test before being allowed in deep water. The same is true for our new club. The test is swimming approximately 50 meters and treading water for 2 minutes. He hadn't come very close to these requirements in swim lessons yet. I made a deal with him; do the distance and time at swim lessons or actually pass the test and he gets a new toy of his choice. I told Kathleen I think I made a pretty safe deal for this year. Boy was I wrong. Payton tried the test for the first time and passed with no problem. I don't think the toy was his greatest motivation though. He wanted to dive off the diving boards. Now by wearing his special ankle bracelet he can swim in any pool - except the dedicated lap pool.

Oh, and here is a nice picture of Parker from earlier in the day on a playground slide.

2011-06-21T15:54:00.003-04:00

A few weeks back I attended another NHRA drag race - the Supernationals. Englishtown, NJ is only about 90 minutes from the house. Kathleen watched the kids on Friday while I went to see the races. I couldn't believe it when the FRAM-Prestone-Autolite team asked me to drive their car. I was pretty hungry and on my way to get a bite, but I said sure. I could always eat later.Lucky me there is another drag strip in Reading, PA that will host the NHRA Nationals in October. I hope to be able to attend this race as well.

Funny stuff

2011-06-16T23:13:00.006-04:00

What a hoot! I saw some doctored father and son pictures on Yahoo and I thought they were really funny. I picked out a couple of pictures of me and Payton and thought I would try the same effect. They came out pretty good.

First time having corn on the cob

2011-06-13T01:39:00.006-04:00

This is Parker having corn on the cob for the first time. When he's hungry he'll try almost anything.

Day Lillies galore!

2011-06-12T22:14:00.003-04:00

Kathleen is so happy about her Day Lillies. She has never had so many at her house. We had three Day Lillies plants in Cincy, but as soon as buds appeared the deer gobbled them up like I do Oreo cookies. Sometimes we got to see a flower, but never the next day. So far in east PA the deer have stayed clear. We have a one large group in the front of the house and a larger one in the back. Kathleen is sitting by the one in our back yard. We'll be moving the these to another spot. We need to make room for a patio enlargement project. The lillies are looking nice.

Donut breakfast

2011-06-09T10:00:00.003-04:00

Today is supposed to be the hottest of the heat wave passing through. Today's temp might reach 97! Parker and I are sitting in the shade curbside at Wawa enjoying a cool drink and donuts. His wasn't enough so he had to grab one of mine. He's a two fisted donut eater.

Can sleep anywhere

2011-06-07T21:46:00.006-04:00

By the time I finished pulling two more tree trunks from the yard this morning, it was getting hot. I sat on a stool in the driveway and sprayed myself down with the hose. Afterwards I let Parker have his fun with the hose. I sat there cooling down and had Parker spray my legs and feet every once in a while. The cold water felt nice. Parker got a little out of hand with the hose so I told him to put it down and sit next to me. I was browsing the internet and checking mail on my phone and noticed Parker lay back and soon he was asleep. The driveway by now was getting pretty darn hot to my feet. I really don't see how he fell asleep, but he did. He woke up shortly after this picture. If he hadn't I would have woken him. Sometimes you can sleep anywhere.

Pulling stumps

2011-06-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

I pulled this stump out of the yard this morning. It used to be a 10' or so white pine. This was the first of two today. Tomorrow I have one more and some trunk of a dead tree. We just didn't care for these three pines. They served no real purpose so we got rid of them.

I love having a truck.

Monster Jam!

2011-06-04T23:28:00.016-04:00

Tonight Payton and I drove into Philadelphia to see the Monster Jam monster trucks. The show was at the Eagles football stadium. We met Uncle Jack and cousin Ryan there. It was quite a show. The first part of the show was head to head racing. This was okay, but last part - freestyle - was the best. It was really good. We all had a great time. Check out the video of Grave Digger's and Maximum Destruction's freestyle. Grave Digger won and deservedly so.

Pictures of days past

2011-05-20T17:03:00.016-04:00

We haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, but we have taken some. I sure haven't been posting what we have. Here are a few of them.

Parker was sleepy one day. He grabbed his blankets and headed upstairs, but he didn't get very far.
This is Easter morning. The boys are dressed for church. After church they had an Easter Egg Hunt in the basement. Later in the day Jack and Jill and theirs kids (the cousins) came over for Easter dinner.Grandma and Grandpa were up from the island to share Easter with us.

Payton has been playing T-Ball. He likes playing and has improved much since his first practice. Parker sure would like to play. He doesn't like sitting on the side lines. We have to entertain him. He will follow along in his brother's footsteps in just a couple of years.

Aaarrrgghhh

2011-05-20T15:23:00.003-04:00

Today was Parker's gym class. Using my cell phone I shot a video of him doing the circuit, but unfortunately the file got corrupted. The instructor had a pretty good circuit setup too. I'm bummed I can't share it.

On the other hand we had a good lunch at a downtown eatery - Basically Burgers. Parker had a hot dog. I had a Black & Blue. Blue cheese cooked between two black peppered patties. It was good.

The Monster Mile

2011-05-15T12:38:00.002-04:00

Friday we left for an overnighter in Newark. Payton and I met up with Uncle Jack and cousins Erin and Ryan and went south to Dover, DE to see the NASCAR Truck Race at the Monster Mile. This was Payton's first stock car race. His interest in the race came and went, but he enjoyed being with his cousins.

Kathleen and Parker stayed back at the hotel and spent time together. They swam and walked around downtown. It's a college town, Friday night, things were hoppin'.

The next day we stayed around to see Ryan's baseball game before heading home later afternoon.

Is this the future?

2011-05-09T21:25:00.004-04:00

I was mowing in the yard this morning. Parker was playing on the playset set and in the sandbox. I stopped to check on him and found him as you see him. If he was of drinkin' age I would have thought he was passed out, but just as I figured he was asleep. Normally I let the boys sleep where they fall - don't wake a sleeping baby. But this was not a good place to sleep. I picked him up, brushed him off and took him inside to continue his nap.

Ahh, the digital age. Did I immediately pick Parker up? No. I picked my phone from my pocket to record it for posterity, but first I did check to see if he was okay.

Peddler's Village

2011-04-18T19:11:00.001-04:00

Tonight we went to a local shopping area called Peddler's Village. It is a quaint outdoor mall, but not a strip mall. It is much like walking through a turn of the century village. We didn't go there to shop. We went to the Dairy Queen!

Inaugural tee-ball game

2011-04-16T09:54:00.001-04:00

Payton's first tee-ball game was this morning. There was no loser. All the kids were winners. It was cold; something like the low 40s.

More hot dogs

2011-04-15T12:57:00.001-04:00

Me and my out and about partner are out and about. We stopped for a hot dog at Target.

Five Guys for lunch

2011-04-06T12:34:00.002-04:00

Parker and I are running errands. I thought stopping in at Five Guys Burgers and Fries would be good for lunch. A cheeseburger for me and a hot dog for Parker.

McDonalds playground

2011-03-31T19:55:00.003-04:00

We're eating at McDonald's tonight. This location has a pretty large indoor playground. Parker is on the upper (4th) level. Payton did really well by eating his dinner before playing. Parker not so much. He's getting a doggy bag.

Hungry boy

2011-03-31T14:15:00.001-04:00

While out and about I stopped at Wawa. Park was hungry and wanted a hot dog. He was hungry enough to want a second. It's getting late in the afternoon and he feel asleep half way through the second dog.

Spring training

2011-03-30T18:55:00.001-04:00

This is Payton's first tee-ball practice. Coach has them running the bases at the moment. It is nippy out. Coach said he won't have them practice too long.

Vacuum hose storage

2011-03-24T15:45:00.001-04:00

Do you have a central vac system? Is it a PITA to store and move the hose around? I thought so, but I like the darn thing so I was going to figure out a solution. What I came up with was using a bucket. It's big enough to coil the hose up in it and hold the accessories.

Dad and his youngest

2011-03-23T17:14:00.002-04:00

Payton likes playing with my phone. He likes playing Angry Birds. The new RIO version is good. He also snaps a lot of pictures. Every once in a while I scroll through my pictures and see a lot that I didn't take. He snapped this Polaroid of Parker and I today.

Hungry man

2011-03-21T19:13:00.001-04:00

Payton either likes my cooking or was really hungry tonight. Probably just hungry.

More storage for the garage

2011-03-20T11:39:00.003-04:00

I just finished putting up some over the garage door storage. I got this 3'x8' rack from SafeRacks. It will hold several hundred pounds. More than enough for me. I plan on storing our Christmas stuff here. Most of this stuff is light weight, not temperature sensitive and in sealed plastic containers. Moving this stuff here will free up space in our basement storage area. It is filled to the brim.

Chowing down

2011-03-19T13:49:00.002-04:00

We got a kick out of watching Parker eat his Costco pizza. The slices are pretty big. What was funny was him trying to always take his bite out of the middle. It left him with a big 'Joker' style grease grin from cheek to cheek.

Brave little boy

2011-03-18T16:49:00.002-04:00

Here is Parker on the backyard playset. He is climbing the Jacob's ladder. For reference, his feet are at my eye level. I need to put a bell up there for him to ring.

Darn good dog!

2011-03-17T11:28:00.002-04:00

Costco dogs are bigger, but I think IKEA dogs are better. Parker thinks so too!

Monkeying around

2011-03-15T17:23:00.005-04:00

Crossing monkey bars is pretty easy if you're a kid. My grip is strong enough, but I don't think my shoulders can support my weight. God I would hate to be hung up in a dungeon! Payton makes it look easy.

Brother is now Payton

2011-03-15T15:43:00.001-04:00

We are entering a new phase in Parker's life. Sadly we are leaving one as well.

Parker's speech is developing more and more with each passing day. Something we have enjoyed is hearing Parker refer to his brother as Brother, not Payton. You could point to Payton and ask Parker what's Payton's name? His answer would be "brudder".

Those days are ending now. Now he is calling his brother Payton. Sadly we are happy.

Sleeping at Costco

2011-03-12T13:59:00.001-05:00

We're at Costco and both the boys are crashed out. They had swim lessons prior to shopping. Payton just woke up. He must have smelled the pizza we are having for lunch! Parker just woke up too.

Our l'il Picasso

2011-03-11T21:10:00.003-05:00

Parker loves painting. He sticks his tongue out just like Dad.

He's a tough guy

2011-03-07T23:13:00.003-05:00

Parker went mano-a-mano with the treadmill the other night. The treadmill won. He was a real trooper swollen eye and all. This picture is several days later. We didn't take a next day pic. He's pretty much healed up now. He's a tough little kid.

Sometimes you just turn 'em loose

2011-03-07T22:52:00.003-05:00

Nice picture eh? I think so. Payton took this picture. Good thing about digital cameras, your kid can just snap away. And just like with any photographer; if you take enough pictures you are bound to snap a good one. He even got his finger in the picture for that touch of reality. This picture is a keeper - both the subject and the picture.

School dance

2011-03-07T09:57:00.008-05:00

Payton and I attended his first school dance this past weekend. We made it a real date night and went out to dinner before the event. We dined at our local pizza place and made our entrance at the dance fashionably late.

The school did a great job with the set-up for the kids. There was plenty of dancing led by a DJ in the gym, crafts for the less rhythmically inclined, and plenty of cookies, ice cream and punch to keep everyone energized. Payton was quite impressive on the dance floor when he wasn't running around with other kids. I think he was a little surprised at the music since all we usually play at home is Country. We're definitely not helping his cool factor!

The dance was for K-5, with family members welcome to attend. Next year we will be sure to make this a full family date night and include Parker and Dad too!

Remember the Alamo!

2011-03-06T21:22:00.002-05:00

Here is something kind of cool. In honor of the fall of the Alamo, the San Antonio Express-News front page featured a reprint of their front page from 1836! Click the image above to see the whole page.

Sandbox

2011-03-02T22:18:00.002-05:00

Parker has his sandbox back. He likes playing in it. I don't like it when he throws the sand into the yard. I tell him if he throws it all out I won't get anymore. It's an idle threat that doesn't work very well.

Burn baby burn

2011-02-27T21:09:00.002-05:00

It was such a nice today that Kathleen did a little yard work. She did a good cleaning of the mulch beds and cut down most of the grass plants. I cut down some branches. I knew we'd end up with quite a brush pile. What to do with it? I decided to burn it. Burning isn't illegal in our parts, though you can only burn natural vegetation. Kathleen wasn't to keen on this idea, but she 'warmed' up to it. I started a fire in my wheelbarrow and just kept feeding it. Five or six trash cans of yard waste was reduced to a wheelbarrow of ashes. I left the wheelbarrow out in the middle of the backyard to smolder. It will probably rain tonight putting the embers out for good. The ashes will go into Tuesday's trash. It was much easier than trying to dispose of it and it was fun.

New laundry room

2011-02-25T16:19:00.004-05:00

Before...

Our new laundry is nearly complete. The before picture is pretty much the way the room looked when we moved in. Before there was a fridge were the shelf is and there was a single wire shelf above the washer and dryer. Now it is more of a proper laundry room. We got rid of the laundry tub and replaced it with a counter and laundry sink. We added as many cabinets as we could and have lots of storage now. The IKEA cabinets worked very well in this room.

We're making changes and a couple of big ones soon. But more about that later.

After...

Crazy Hair Day!

2011-02-25T09:03:00.013-05:00

Payton's class did really well - such as behavior, drawing, working, playing, etc. - and earned 20 bears. For this they get to do something special on Friday. So today is Crazy Hair Day!

Mom is out of town. I wasn't going to go rummaging through her hair products drawer to do something crazy and worse non-reversible. I thought about hair paint, but didn't want the mess. Besides it is raining this morning. Can you imagine Payton going to school with water soluble hair paint on and it is raining? Instead of crazy hair day, it would be ruined clothes day. I passed.

We went to Party City last night and bought a wig. Middle of the road solution and Payton can wear his hair 'till it falls out. I had an after thought when leaving the store; he would have been very funny with a bald head cap on too!

Parker in our bed

2011-02-25T07:57:00.001-05:00

I snapped this shot of Parker a couple of nights ago. He is dressed and prepped for bed.

Polaroid camera, but no phone?

2011-02-24T22:06:00.000-05:00

If Polaroid had stuck a phone on this thing way back when, they would have had something.

Chores are done, time for fun

2011-02-24T14:50:00.001-05:00

Park and I are home now. It's pretty nice out so we spent a little time on the backyard playset. I grilled a burger. Parker is sharing it with me. He says "Bite bite." Who can refuse that?

Hot dog at IKEA

2011-02-24T11:57:00.001-05:00

Parker and I are out and about today. One of our stops was IKEA. It was nearly lunchtime so Park chowed down on one their 50¢ hotdogs. We have a couple more places to go to. Our day isn't done.

New shoes

2011-02-23T17:28:00.002-05:00

Parker got new Crocs today. Just what y'all wanted to know right?

Skiing and a Water Park

2011-02-20T10:20:00.012-05:00

Payton had a couple of days off from school so Kathleen planned us a skiing trip in the Poconos. We traveled to the Jack Frost/Big Boulder ski area. It was an easy 2 hour drive. We got there with plenty of time for Kathleen and Payton to ski a few hours in the late afternoon. Big Boulder has nighttime skiing. Parker and I just hung around the hotel room. Payton did great skiing. He hadn't forgotten his Swiss ski lessons. After an afternoon of skiing we all settled into our room to rest.

Friday started with more skiing. This time at Jack Frost and Parker and I went along. We hung out in the lodge while Kathleen and Payton skied. We picked a good time to go skiing. Parker drank half of his drink and climbed up on my lap and went to sleep. I sipped a beer and read an ebook on my phone. Payton gained more confidence with his skiing. He is curving left and right down the slopes. He sometimes gets his skis parallel, but mostly he still snow plows down the hill. He mastered using a chair lift. He never used one in Switzerland. After a few hours a skiing we headed back to the hotel for the water park.
Our hotel wasn't the greatest, but its indoor water park was. It was smaller than that of Great Wolf Lodge, but it wasn't crowded and had as much or more things to do. The Komodo Dragon was fun. They call it a flow riding ride. I call it a boogie board thing. It was fun. Payton and Parker loved the place. Kathleen planned us a good trip. We played in the water for 4 or 5 hours. We had planned staying two nights, but after swimming we packed up and headed home. We were home by ten.

Gas prices can be ridiculous here

2011-02-13T21:41:00.003-05:00

Gas prices are night and day between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Yesterday I filled the truck. We don't buy gas in Pennsylvania if we can avoid it. Luckily we live a mile or so from Jersey where gas prices are much lower. A nearby Lukoil station was selling regular for $3.35 cash / $3.43 credit. Just across the river a Shell station in Jersey was selling regular for $3.09 cash / $3.19 credit. Hey, in Jersey they pump your gas as well!

No front teeth

2011-02-13T21:05:00.004-05:00

In a matter of days Payton has lost all of his front teeth. He sounds a little funny sometimes when he talks now. We can already see the tips of his new teeth coming in.

Momma loves her boy with or without teeth.

Toothless

2011-02-09T22:18:00.002-05:00

Payton lost two more teeth - TONIGHT! Both of his front bottom teeth fell out this evening. He's looking like something out of Deliverance.

Parker ready to play hockey

2011-02-04T21:43:00.003-05:00

Parker likes playing air hockey. He's an easy win now, but he tries. One day he'll get the best of his brother.

Lost first tooth

2011-02-04T19:16:00.006-05:00

Payton lost his first tooth today! His left front tooth has been loose for a while now. He was eating a cookie at school and it finally came out. The school nurse gave him a big tooth pendant to put the tooth in and he wore it around his neck the rest of the afternoon. Tonight he is going to get a visit from the tooth fairy!

Jump Rope for Heart

2011-02-01T12:16:00.000-05:00

Payton made this video, all by himself, to ask people to contribute to Jump Rope for Hearts. I think he has a natural talent! Watch the video and if your interested in donating click here to visit his personal donation page. It will bring you to a page to make a donation online!

Snow update...

2011-02-01T09:52:00.001-05:00

We missed a big one. No snow, just some freezing drizzle. No big deal.

More snow predicted for tonight! Arrggghhh!

2011-01-31T21:35:00.004-05:00

Shoveling the drive is kickin' my arse this year. I think I have shoveled more snow here in PA than I did in 2 years in Switzerland. Go figure. This August I'm getting a snow blower. Why August? I don't know exactly, but I remember reading (in Consumer Reports I think) that this is the month to purchase this item. If you know differently let me know.

Parker can make some noise

2011-01-30T21:42:00.004-05:00

Parker loves pounding on these pegs. What kid doesn't? The noise can get annoying really fast. Payton loved doing this too. All the little dents in the coffee table are courtesy of Master Payton. Parker is just leaving his mark too. He has some real tongue action goin' on!

Kathleen went on a business trip to China

2011-01-30T20:40:00.010-05:00

Recently Kathleen traveled to China on business. I can't discuss that part of the trip in this post - like I know anything at all. As part of the trip, her group was taken to the China's Terracotta Army. She says it was quite fascinating. See took a few pictures and it sure looks like a great thing to have seen.

You can read more about China's Terracotta Army by clicking here. She brought home a nice statue from the place. It will look nice in our home. Another thing she brought home were traditional Chinese outfits for the boys. Several years ago she brought one home for Payton. He loved it and wore it often, but out grew it. These new ones are much nicer and even came with a little beanie type hat. We only have a picture of Payton in his. Parker's is blue. I'll have to get a nice shot of them dressed up together.While Parker didn't want to dress up for a picture, he was certainly willing to be in a picture.

When Parker is hungry

2011-01-14T22:17:00.003-05:00

When Parker is hungry he starts looking for food. If he finds something he likes he just starts eating. This red pepper suited his fancy one particular day. Other days he has been known to suck the the cheese out of the individually wrapped cheese slices - since he cannot yet open them.

Snowing snowing snow

2011-01-14T15:12:00.009-05:00

We have had a few snow storms come through lately. Nothing really big, but certainly big enough to require the driveway to be shoveled. I am tired of shoveling already. The last storm netted me a kindness from a neighbor. He brought his snow thrower over for me to use. I gotta have a snow thrower now. Next year...

The boys like playing and making angels in the snow. They don't stay out to long though. There is a sledding hill not far from the house. We haven't gone there yet. I think we'll wait for the next snowfall. I hope this thinking doesn't jinx us with no more snow. Wishful thinking.

Below are a few pictures from Christmas. We didn't take many. The boys sure had a good time. Parker still hasn't quite caught on to opening gifts. Good thing he has an older brother who is a pro. Next year will his year - his rookie season so to speak.

New York city

2010-12-30T11:24:00.000-05:00

This week we traveled to New York for an overnight stay. We were accompanied by two of Payton's cousins and their mom. Instead of driving we took the train. The train ride wasn't up to my acquired Swiss standards, but hey, it beat driving.

We stayed at Times Square; the convenient Marriott Marquis. A cool thing about this hotel is its elevators. They are centrally located in the building, traveling up and down the outside of a column. The elevators are each given a letter designation. Normally you press an up button to go up and then look all around to see which elevator opens up. Here you go to a centrally located panel and input your floor number. The panel then tells you which elevator to go to. So smart and so cool.

We didn't do much on our short trip. Tuesday night we walked to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree. Everyone but me and Parker got up early early on Wednesday to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Parker and I slept in. We woke up about the time the rest of them were finished skating.

Snow Ho Ho

2010-12-26T12:30:00.013-05:00

We didn't get a white Christmas, but we had a nice one. Here it is the day after and the snow is starting to fall. Several inches are expected to fall overnight. Burrrrrrr.

Killing time

2010-12-24T15:16:00.010-05:00

It's Christmas Eve and I have been sent out with boys to give Kathleen some time at home. She needed time to do a few things. I needed paint, but the Sherwin-Williams store was closed. We wound up at Starbucks. Parker is crashed. Payton is tired and waiting for me to finish this post so he can play Angry Birds.

Our first projects will be...

2010-12-20T19:41:00.010-05:00

We have been in our new house for a couple of weeks now. What will be our first projects aren't exactly what we thought they would be.

Tomorrow I am supposed to get a shipment of flooring. We have a room in the basement that is finished, but the floor is bare concrete. This is going to be our exercise room. We found a 4 station home gym and decided to buy it. We chose the same kind of flooring the seller had in his home. It is rubber and a full 1/2" thick. Really heavy duty stuff - just like you'd find in a gym. This is going to be the first room we paint.
We have a nice laundry room. The problem is that it is just a room with a washer, dryer and laundry tub. I have found a source for specialty plywood and hope to get started building a couple of base cabinets and then putting in a new countertop across them and the washer and dryer. Phase I will have the laundry room looking pretty much like our laundry room in Ohio. But this is just the start. This room is big enough to be a mud room too. Phase II will be building a 'locker' for each of us to keep our coats and shoes in. Phase III will be adding shelving to get some storage out of the room as well.

Payton is doing well in school. There have been no issues with adjusting. He is riding the school bus and enjoying it. It has been some 35 years for me since I last road a school bus. Now I find myself waiting at the bus stop each morning and afternoon. Something ain't right here. I'm not going to school.

I got the garage straightened up. It is much bigger than our previous garage. It is a proper 3-car garage. The only problem I have is that I need a 4-car garage to store my stuff. We would like to build a detached garage. Then I would have a place for all my stuff and the house garage would then be just for the cars and bicycles.

The kid's playset and basketball goal were set up this past Sunday. A couple of guys did it all in about four hours. The backyard is looking a little more homey.

The basement is still a wreck. But the gym is in pieces all over the place. Once that is put together I can tackle putting the remaining stuff away. Ahh, the joy of moving. Try it. You'll like it. Not!

We were invited to a Christmas party at a neighbor's house this past Saturday. It was real nice. Met some more people around the neighborhood. They had a Santa come to the house. He road in in a local cop car with lights flashing and siren blazing. One of our neighbors is a retired G-Man. He has connections.

Any who, Merry Christmas to y'all and Happy New Year!

First night in the new house

2010-12-08T08:15:00.005-05:00

We spent our first night in our new house. It was so much better than the hotel. We still have A LOT of unpacking and moving in to do. Our first impression is that we expect this house to be a right nice place to live. It would be incorrect to say the house is perfect because it does have its imperfections. There is plenty to do to make the house our home.

Payton's room is nearly setup. There is lots of room for the boat bed and then some. The undersea mural on the wall goes perfectly with his bedroom theme. Previously this was a girl's room; a blue room for a girl. At closing we were told she wanted to know if we were keeping the mural. Of course! It's why we bought the house.

The boys with the grandparents

2010-12-01T16:00:00.002-05:00

I hustled everyone outside to try and get a picture of the boys with Grandma and Grandpa. I told them to be patient. We trekked out into the vacant lot next door and took the picture in the woods. It turned out fairly well and will look nice on our wall at home.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T13:47:00.013-05:00

Every Thanksgiving the Dolan clan gathers at Hilton Head Island for Thanksgiving. The clan just might be at its maximum size now. The eleven grandchildren range in age from 16 down to 2.

BTW, obviously we are all packed and are living 'homeless' in Hilton Head right now. Not bad considering. We head north to close on our new house in a couple of weeks.

Just about ready to leave

2010-11-17T11:39:00.002-05:00

The movers have been packing us up for a couple of days now. Today they started loading the truck. They say they'll be on the road Thursday evening. If that happens we'll be on our way to Hilton Head early Friday morning.