Happy Canada Day!

This is the second coldest Canada Day I've ever experienced. When will this miserable weather end and summer begin?!? The only time I've been colder is when I had to buy a fleece in Whistler one year because it was practically snowing. Sheesh!

End Of Season

Heh, heh, heh! Justin was really having an awkward time smiling with his new front teeth for his baseball photo!!! But Brooks is so sweet she could play for the Angels!

Anyway, school and activities are winding down for the year. The Green Gators had an impressive 7-1-2 record for the short baseball season, and Justin played very well. Brooklyn's t-ball team is also winding down.

The summer is wide open now...if it ever arrives!!! Judie wants to buy new patio furniture and I don't know why. To look at, I guess. We've had one day over 20 degrees and we ate outside once so far. Brrr. I need another trip to Hawaii to warm up!

Go, Go, Go! Busy, Busy, Busy!

Sometimes my faithful readers (who never seem to post comments on the blog) send me snot-o-gram emails wondering when I'm ever going to update my blog. Well, between work, home and kids activities, there isn't much time left in the day to write a proper post. What have we been up to? Well, I've been to New York again, killing a few days of precious time. And the kids have been full on with activities now that the weather is FINALLY getting better.

First of all, a belated congratulations to Justin and Brooklyn, who passed Swim Kids 3 and Whale respectively at the Atlantis swimming program. Brooks is now stuck because she's reached the top level for kids under 6!!! She can't register for Swim Kids 1 or 2 for another year and a half! Both of them were very pleased and swimming better than I remember doing at that age.

Second of all, Justin has been running 3 days a week before school in the "kilometre club", which encourages kids to be active. He hit his goal of an accumulated 100 kilometers last week! Way to go, Justin! As a reward, we bought him some goalie equipment for street hockey that he REALLY wanted.

Justin blocks a shot with his pads.

Justin decked out in his new goalie equipment. He's about as graceful as Luongo (take that comment any way you want!)

Justin catching. The Green Gators are 7-1-1 (with one rainout) this season. Coaching 7 year olds at baseball is like herding cats! Our team seems to be the only team in the league where we have to teach the kids to be less competitive! They are killers! We turned two double plays in a recent victory over the Spitfires.

Brooks is playing t-ball, which is about as exciting as watching paint dry!

Justin takes Trevor's dog, Reggie, for a walk. The kids desperately want a pet but I'm sticking to my allergic-to-dogs-and-cats line.

Justin finally riding his bike. He really should have a proper bike with gears. The "Hummer" bike he's riding must weigh at least twice as much as he does!

Brooks still has her training wheels on, but she looks stylin'!

Justin takes to the fireman pole at the playground.

Brookster smiling down after climbing the wall with the chain.

Monkey bars!

Brooks scales the tower from another angle.

Geez, Justin doesn't even need a push on the swings anymore. When did that happen?

Um, not sure what to say about this picture. Oh, Brooks. She said she was supposed to be a clown...with a bag on her head and a deflated inner tube around her neck. At least she has an imagination!

And this? This is the picture my dear, sweet daughter took of me on the patio yesterday! No respect, I tell ya!

By the way, the picture quality isn't great because I took all of these with my Blackberry, not a proper camera...but at least I was able to capture the moments and give you an idea of what we've been up to!

Just Another Weekend In New York

Well, with my airmiles account still busting at the seams, it was time for another weekend in New York. We arrived late Friday night and stayed at the lovely Muse, a boutique hotel just off of Times Square. The room was spacious and they had free wine in the lobby from 5-6 every day! Whoo hoo!

Judie had never run in Central Park before so her idea of a "get-away (from the kids)" weekend included an early rise to run the 6-mile loop around Central Park. I have to admit it was nice, the weather being perfect and Park Drive being closed to traffic on the weekend. It did sort of feel like we were in a race though, as there were literally thousands of people running in the park. I even went back for additional punishment the following day, including the aptly named "Great Hill" at the northwest corner of the massive park.

Times Square was busy day and night, despite the troubles a couple of weeks ago. There was a strong police presence, but there always is. The potential car bomb incident doesn't appear to be keeping anyone away from the area.

Judie went to an outlet mall on Sunday, so I had some time to kill. I spend so much time in New York, and I've seen so much, I decided to take a trip to Brooklyn for a change of pace. The area around the somewhat disjointed Brooklyn Museum is quite lovely, with tree lined streets and amazing brownstone row houses. The Montauk Club, inspired by a Venetian Palace, is a particularly extravagant architectural display. They even have their own version of the Arc de Triomphe at the Grand Army Plaza, called the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch!

Mostly, this trip seemed to be about food. While Judie was in town, we enjoyed great steaks and lemon cake at Delfrisco's, a cavernous, busy, noisy, restaurant on 6th, and checked out Gordon Ramsey's Maze on 54th the other night. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, so we didn't get to hear him using the F-word.

After Judie jetted back to Vancouver, I was on business, and ended up at Madison in a surprisingly trendy area in Hoboken, New Jersey. Next we had a magnificent meal at the Bayonne Country Club, a Links Course built on dredge spoils overlooking New York Harbour and directly across the water from our container terminal at Bayonne, New Jersey (check it out on the web at http://www.bayonnegolfclub.com/). The clubhouse is spectacular and the food was to die for.

I also had a chance to enjoy Veal Milanese at La Catena, my favourite Italian spot near Roselle Park in New Jersey, which always leaves me wondering why Vancouver Italian restaurants can't do veal like they do in the Big Apple. Finally, back in Manhattan after a successful bank meeting, I sat down to a delicious braised short rib at the trendy Brasserie 44 at the Royalton Hotel. Needless to say, I will be exercising in earnest the next two weeks.

I have to go back shortly...but will mainly be stranded on Staten Island. Oh well, it just means lots of delicious Italian cuisine!

Recently Heard At Our House...

"When can we go to Hawaii again?"...Brooklyn...Geez, we only came back from Maui less than 30 days ago! Gimme a break!

"Which one is Uncle Bruce? Is he the bald haired uncle?"...Brooklyn...Hahaha. Out of the mouths of babes. I told her yes, Uncle Bruce is the bald uncle who catches frisbees like a ballet dancer.

"NO GOAL! The net was off the morons!"...Justin...One of his many excuses for letting in a goal playing street hockey. And that's "moorings", you little moron!

"NO GOAL! The goalie was itchy!"..."NO GOAL! You chanted U-S-A and you're from Canada!"..."NO GOAL! My fingernails were dirty!"...Justin's many excuses for letting in goals...He has more excuses than Luongo!!!

Happy Mother's Day

What says Happy Mother's Day more than your children "dancing" to the Wii game "Just Dance"? You may have to crank the volume after the start to hear the music...it is Kim Wilde "Kids In America" they're dancing to. This is one of their favourites, after "Who Let The Dogs Out" (Justin's top pick) and "Hot And Cold" (Brooklyn's top pick).

Unfortunately, my blackberry videos cut out at 3 minutes.

Enjoy...Brooklyn is at least as good as Pam Anderson on Dancing With The Stars!

A Little Maui Story I Forgot To Tell...

One lazy day after beaches, waves, pools and waterslides, we decided to have pizza on the patio for dinner. The problem was that we only had 3 chairs...including one from the room we moved outside. So off I went to pick up the pizza, and by the time I got back, I could tell the kids had thought it through and concluded that I would be the one with no chair and I would have to stand. They laughed and giggled.

Anyway, it was dark by then and pretty quiet around the hotel. I served up the pizza and looked around. I ducked next door to a dark room and swiped one of the chairs from their patio, sat down and started eating my pizza.

Well, my goodness! You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces!!! Like I'd broken the law or something! They simply couldn't believe what I'd done and sat there speechless with their mouths hanging open! It was hilarious! They just kept staring at me with the oddest look, the two of them! And of course I said I'd put it back when I was done (Justin checked the next morning).

What a couple of nuts. Like they've never seen me do anything bad before!