Pax Is 1

Pax has turned one year old. We did it! We were able to take such good care of him that he is still alive one year later! We are super proud! I don't think I've ever been happier. Every time he looks at me I have to smile and be happy because I want him to smile and be happy too. It's a nice positive feedback situation to be in for sure. I think I have done a half decent job recording his life progress so far in my database. He will know things like; the first time he rolled over, sat up, stood, hold his own bottle, climbed the stairs, took steps, took a sip of beer, etc, etc. We also probably have 5 billion pictures and videos of him. It's ridiculous really. Everyone loves him because he is so cute. I can't wait to see how this next year pans out. What else will he do / learn? All I know is that I will do all that I can do be the best parent possible for him.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

I haven't written in a while and we got some much needed time off over the holiday so I figured I'd try to put an update out here.

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Mimi's as we normally do. She tried to get out of it but apparently my sister threatened her with 'I'm not coming up to visit unless you cook and have Thanksgiving at your house' so she relented. Everyone pitched in and made something and all the normal people were there, Me, Ale, Isaac, Pax, Mimi, Chuck, Autumn, Gaines, Dee, Jed, Jed's 2015 girlfriend Lisa, Zip, Chuckie and Kevin.

From what I've gathered from talking to everyone after this was one of the better Thanksgivings. Everyone had a great time. I know I did. I don't think Mimi had a great time. She takes it upon herself to do too much and I think that causes her stress. Maybe that's where I get it from.

FRIDAY
We didn't really do anything but relax and recover. I played games and hung out her Ale and the babby.

SATURDAY
Tried to set up a lunch with Autumn and Gaines so we could hang out since they made the trip the whole way here. It didn't work out so Ale and I had our own lunch which was awesome. They did come over afterwards to our house and hung out so it worked out anyway.

SUNDAY
Just did more relaxing. Got a lot of database work in.


EMPLOYEE YEAR END BONUS

We received bonuses at work for the holiday. Nothing great but better than nothing is how I'll politely describe that. The problem this year is that Ale and I got different amounts but somehow in their system the gave us the wrong ones. I got hers. She got mine. We weren't supposed to know that but we did. The official story as I understand is that there was just an error. On the paper they give you when you go into the meeting the amount was crossed out and rewritten, the deposits were wrong in our bank accounts, redacted and redeposited and the statements on the ADP website are also incorrect. Instead of fixing mine they gave me a second bonus to make up the difference. Why they didn't do something to resolve this before handing them down is something I do not understand. It really reflected badly on whoever is in charge of that and I heard all the managers were irritated as well.


MORE EX DRAMA

The boy texted me the other day at around 9-10 pm (which is super late for me, luckily I was up) telling me he was scared and that I should come get him. Mom and Anthony were fighting. What I found out was going on was that apparently she found a new boyfriend or crush or something and for some reason told the boy about it. (This must have been part of the plan because it is naive of her to think telling the boy anything will not get back to the relevant person) In hanging out with her current boyfriend (who from what I understand is just a babysitter to her) the boy must have slipped and said something. The guy immediately latched on to this and made the boy spill his guts as to everything he knew. This caused this guy to go into some sort of rage. He broke the plasma TV, her phone and it got physical between her and him. Obviously she has attempted to cloud the true events of that altercation as she is wont to do with severely confusing misinformation after the fact. The worst part, the part I find unconscionable is that she straight up puts the blame on that on Isaac. She texted me that it was his fault. Everyone has known she is incapable of taking responsibility for anything that has happened to her in her entire life but now she is starting to blame her children. I am doing my best to set the boy straight but man is she in his head. I fear for his future with the things she has done to him. I can tell he is getting smarter and can see what's going on but it some cases she still has him wrapped around her finger and it is really saddening. The boy was not the one who got a new boyfriend before breaking up with the old one. She did. I truly do not know where her head is at.

Anyway I did find out that instead of getting a PFA against this guy as she told me he promised that he will pay for the TV and phone, get a job and everything is just hunky dory and they're back together. What a wonderful gesture. You certainly wouldn't want to lose your rent-free house, etc, etc. I give this 3 months. He'll be back on the couch and everything will be as it was. Some people just don't learn and can't move on. Again as the boy gets older he will see.

I got another text of some sort recently basically saying if she can't get free healthcare for the boy then she will do nothing else to help provide it and it will fall to me to handle. Wonderful parenting! You don't pay for anything you can't lie to welfare and get for free but I'm somehow always portrayed as the bad guy to her.



BOY DRAMA CLUB

I told the boy at the beginning of the school year that he needs to get more involved with things and to do that I suggested that he join some sort of club. I don't care what. My first choice would have been some sports team but as long as you pick something I don't care. I found out at the beginning of the month that he had chosen the Penn Middle Drama Club. Ok good enough. I'm cool with that. So for the first play being held in December they had chosen to perform A Charlie Brown Christmas. Again that's fine. That's a classic. He did not chose to participate as an actor. He chose to be a part of the Stage Crew. This all makes me happy. I guess his job is to make set pieces and move them in and out during the different scenes. Good job boy. I am proud of you and I can't wait to go see the play (Dec 17th) so I can see you in action. My only concern (as it usually is): is his mother capable of getting the boy there and back to all his practices he needs to be at. My vote is on 'Extremely Unlikely' . He already needs to stay over Friday night since she can't get him there for Saturday's rehearsal. He needs to be there every single day next week and that worries me as well.

I did have a weird experience picking him up the other day from there. Apparently every parent that has a kid there tries to jam into the back parking lot when rehearsal is over and there's not enough room so a traffic jam is created. When I pulled in and saw that I parked in a lot that was away from all that and figured I'd just walk over and get him then come back. Well just as I got out of the car some guy, I don't know who, the principal, a teacher, someone who felt they were in some position of authority, sharply barked at me if they could help me. Of course me being me I instantly had 5 smart ass things I could have said but I bit my tongue and just as politely as I could answered, 'Nope just picking up my kid'. I don't know if he was confused at my refusal to get in the traffic line like every other sheep or what but it was unsettling to me.


GAS LEAK

The other day we came home from work and found several trucks with red flashing lights parked on our road. It wasn't the police so I guessed fire trucks. maybe someone had a kitchen fire or something. it ended up being the gas company. A guy came to our door to tell us that there was a leak in the line somewhere between our house and the meter on the road and that they shut our gas off. We needed to call a plumber and get it fixed before they would turn it back on. I called Chuck right away and he was in denial about it. He talked to the neighbors and got it all straightened out. I guess there really did end up being an issue because he had to pay $1000 he said to get someone to fix it. It was only out 2 full days and wasn't that big of a deal to us.


STAR WARS

Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on Dec 18th. I definitely want to go see it and take the boy. He wants to go with his friend Dylan so I friended his mom on Facebook so I could communicate with her and figure something out. We're definitely going when I planned so we will definitely see it. Hopefully we can work something out because this is the kind of movie you see more than once so I'm cool with going again.


CONCLUSION

Sorry so long. I should try and keep up with this more but that's okay. I finally got a good thing going in my database to log life as we go and that makes me happy. Ale makes me happy. Isaac is doing okay. Pax is the most cutest bestest babby ever. I think things are going to be okay.

Don't Forget

The happiest time in my life is right now. The best time in my life is right now. I love spending time my wife and boys. This is why I've toiled and suffered for 40 years to get to this point. When they look at me and smile because they are satisfied, it's the best feeling in the world. I can see now that this is time I will look back on when I'm old and say 'Yes, this is the time I knew I'd made it. When I was at my happiest.'

40TH ANNIVERSARY BIRTHDAY SPECTACULAR!!!

I turned 40 this past weekend so I planned a nice weekend out for the occasion.

Day 1 Friday July 31st

• We first waited out for the Dark Pit amiibo
• Went to the David L Lawrence Convention Center for ReplayFX
• Went to Pappy's

Day 2 Saturday August 1st

• Left to go to the beach
• Arrived at the beach after much driving and traffic
• Swam and beached for a few hours
• Came back via the shuttle to get our Neptune photo
• Had pizza

Day 3 Sunday August 2nd

• Went to Sandbridge
• Saw the USS Wisconsin
• Drove back to Pappy's
• Grilled out
• Had cake

Day 4 Monday August 3rd

• Played frisbee
• Drove home
• Stopped to hang out with the boy and eat food

Yay! Fun! I'm 40! :O

Continued Success

I own 2 acres of land. I have an 11 year old son and a 3 month old son. I have the most beautiful, real, soulmate that anyone could possibly hope for. I have every amiibo released so far. I get to play all the awesome new games that come out on the best systems. I have plenty of awesome bike trails to ride to my hearts content. Now I just got a promotion at work. It doesn't feel like a promotion you see on TV or in a movie but I think it's pretty darn good. Certainly turned this year around from the way it started. Let's hold this together and keep moving forward to even better stuff.

No Good Year

I can't say I've had a good year so far. I feel a lot of negativeness.

JOB
First off my supervisor Kristen has put in her two weeks and quit. We all went to Social on 01/16 for her last day party. From what she tells me there was just too much pressure and something finally pushed her over the edge, she couldn't do it anymore. I don't like that. A bad place to work uses up every ounce of everything from a person and then discards them. A good place cares for their employees and makes sure they are happy and healthy and taken care of so they can do the best job possible. I wish her the best but I need to worry about myself and my family. I know they are not going to promote me to her job but I figured if I can help with as much as I can hopefully they can help me in return. If not we'll have to see who will. I"m going to need a bunch of money to pay for things (see below) and I am not yet where I think I need to be here.

BOY
Apparently the boy is still missing school because of this whole big thing with his mother's van. This started before Xmas break and is still going on. I don't know what the problem is over there or why in the hell does it persist for so long. Obviously it ended up me being the one that had to throw money at the problem to resolve it. I sent a letter to the boy's school to make sure they knew what was going on and there were things out of our control that we were doing our best to maintain.

MONEY

• At the end of January the car insurance is due. That's a grand. 
• This stupid high interest loan needs paid off as soon as possible. We have to pay that off to start with the mortgage stuff and building our house. 
• The baby is coming. It's going to cost a fortune to have and to keep since we both work. Ale is hesitant about asking Aunt Dee about babysitting. 
• We will probably have to pay a little bit when we file our taxes instead of getting money back because last year was a year that she claimed the boy. 
• Now Chuck has raised our rent like $80 a month out of nowhere.  

I am not enthusiastic about our financial future.


BABBY
One day Ale got really upset when she felt the baby was not moving enough. I know at one point they told us 8x in 8 hours and then I think it upgraded to 10x in 1 hour twice a day. Well she didn't feel it was moving enough and got super upset which then upset me. Luckily the doctor was the next day and when I kept pressing her about it she seemed to think if she paid attention that the baby was moving enough. We brought it up to the doctor and she suggested to take an hour off and just sit there and pay attention. Apparently everything is okay now but that was a scare I didn't need.

VIDEO GAME CONSUMERISM
I had Majora's Mask 3D pre-ordered on 3DS as soon as it was available to do so. One day I came home and read on the internet that there was going to be a Limited Edition version with an awesome Skull Kid statue. I checked the websites but it sold out in less than 2 hours. I kept poking around and even visited a store to check but apparently that was the stock. It's gone now. I am not very happy that I was not given a shot at buying this as I most certainly would have.
Also a new wave of amiibos have been announced so I have to worry about getting my order in before they all disappear again. I need to keep my collection at 'obtaining one of every single one available'. This is not a fun game to play. Me and my stupid possessions should not cause me such anguish.

MORE MONEY
I got ripped off at least twice so far this year on food purchases. I swear I have always checked my receipts but I must not be doing a great job lately. That and I don't like the conflict of bringing it up to somebody.
It took me 3 years to fully fill a punch card for Brooklyn's Pizza to get a free X-Large pizza. I finally went to cash it in and ordered a pizza and wings. Somehow that order came out to $22. Somehow I got ripped off there.
We stopped at Sheetz just the other day to get food for the boy who was home alone after school while we were at the party for Kristen. I got him a thing of popcorn chicken and fries. It came out to $13. Somehow the lady added all these coffees on my receipt and only minused off one or two so I ended up paying for one or two. WTF!? I must be more vigilant in stopping and checking my receipt after I buy something and say something if I notice it's wrong.

FAMILY
Blair is still having trouble with MaryJo and it seems that whole thing may be done with. It all starting with drinking and her kids were worried she was partying too much. (Yeah thanks for interfering in a grown couples business kids) So it started out they both quit then I noticed at family gatherings she was allowed to drink but he wasn't. Then I hear he could drink if she drank with him but not by himself. Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. You can't make someone stop doing something if they don't want to. Especially if you feel you can do whatever you want. So he drank by himself one day and she flipped. He took it very hard and the decision was made to leave. I had to help him this past weekend get all the crap out of his house and to a place out in Ligonier by his buddy and funny enough his first ex-wife's sister (who recognized me!).  He seemed to be in a daze the whole time. I feel bad but you don't want to have to deal with shit like that. The best part was when she came out screeching what a horrible inconvenience this was for her. Seems like you made the right decision Blair.

HEALTH
Health-wise I had a crazy thing going on with my right ear for a few days. I was hearing out of it very strangely in a way that I have never experienced before. Some people said I was getting an ear infection, others said it was just ear wax. I tried to clean it out then Ale bought me some drops and a few days later it seems to be okay but it was still worrisome to me.


Anyway some of things are bad, some may only seem bad to me but damn if you compile them up like this I truly am not having a good year so far. I need to focus, do what I can to fix what I can and not worry about the rest. Here's hoping this is the worst that I have to worry about for a while and that the rest of the year turns out to be a good one that moves my life forward and especially that the baby is born healthy and happy.

Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Boy turns 11

The boy's birthday was approaching so I had to think of something special to do for him. He wanted to invite his friends over so even though I suck at talking to people I did my best to try and help him get the word out so this can happen. We did this last year with some success. He wanted to make out his own invitations and pass them out so that was good for me. We made 5 and 3 kids actually showed up and only 1 of them couldn't stay for the sleepover, Ayden and Dylan stayed and Gavin had to leave.

Those kids were cool and nice and I didn't have a problem with them. They only broke 2 things, Isaac's bedroom door and someone stepped on a Disney Infinity character. They played games and Legos and hung out in his room and watched videos on the computer. Due to Ale's pregnancy and relaxed dieting rules we even were allowed to order pizza and make a 'real' cake from a box of Betty Crocker. I haven't tasted anything like that in a while. We ordered way more food than we thought we'd need but they ate it all and drank 2 cases of pop anyway.

It was all very nice and I was very happy that Isaac had a good time. He got some Legos and Minecraft stuff and some gift cards so his friends were very nice.

I even got to eavesdrop on some of their conversations where they tried to outdo each other on how late they stay up at night hiding the fact they play games on their phones all night secretly after their parents put them to sleep. That sounds like a boastful claim I would have made back when I was their age.

Father's Day 2014

There were a few things that threw me off this past week but for the most part it was a great time.

For starters this past week was E3 and there was tons of good stuff going around. The Nintendo event started with Reggie fighting Iwata and that right there was enough for me to call a winner. They showed a lot about the new Zelda and Hyrule Warriors and they finally became available to preorder on Amazon.

There was an incident where a cop punched my car but don't get me started on that. I was kind of upset for like a day after but I have since calmed.

I also got a little irritated trying to convey a lesson to the boy via Ale. Not sure what happened there but I guess it worked out in the end. I'm still not sure.

Besides those downers I guess everything started on Thursday. Since the boy was going away for the next week we had our Father's Day celebration this day. We had an awesome cookout outside and the food was great. I am really liking the grill we bought last summer and I think I am pretty good at cooking on it. We cook pretty much every piece of meat we have in the house when we cookout so we don't waste the charcoal and then we have food to eat for several days afterwards. I invited my mother for like the 10th time to our cookout but like every time but one, she ignored the invitation and did not show up. Her loss.

The boy made me a gold trophy at Penn Pals out of a piece of paper and Ale collaborated with him to buy me a new power screwdriver set so that was good. It's nice to get something useful once in a while. The boy did fail to call me on Sunday but I guess I won't mess with him over it.

Friday was awesome too. I had a tattoo appointment with Danimus. A lot of progress was made on the 'I bleed black and gold' tattoo. It may even be finished the next time I'm in. I guess I will finally be able to show it off. After we were done we even hung out and did some stuff. I was kind of jacked how Dan never acknowledges my texts or anything so I wasn't expecting to do anything but it seems like we are still friends and I should let stuff like that go more easily. He showed me a lot of what he has been learning about beer. Apparently he is at a whole different level than I knew even existed. He's online trading beer and I rediscovered that the Giant Eagle in Irwin has an awesome section of craft beers which would ensure I never have trouble trying something I've never had before. I even got a bunch of new badges on the Untappd app from all the different beers I tasted.

Weird Al got permission from Iggy Azalea to parody her so a cryptic announcement was released this weekend. July 15th the newest Weird Al album will be released.

In 2 separate trips I rode the boy's new bike over 20 miles this weekend in training for the PT Triathlon which is this next weekend (June 21st). My legs were killing me the 2nd trip but I am super happy with the bike's performance. Hopefully the boy really appreciates that bike because it was not cheap. I am happy my bike is still able to be ridden as I've enjoyed the couple times we have gone out together riding. Hopefully that continues.

Saturday after the bike ride I know I worked on and made good progress on my VGDB so that made me happy. I wish I had more time and resources to research and add all these games. I do it because I love it but I do kind of wish on the side that I could monetize it in some way. At lease showcase my skills to an employers that will let me do this would be nice.

The LA Kings won the 2014 Stanley Cup. They kicked ass. They were absolutely the best team.

The World Cup has started in Brazil and we watched Argentina beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 in their first match.

On Sunday I got a good few hours in on Watchdogs. That game is pretty fun and for as long as I played it for as much as I did I am still not even that far along. It is an extensive game to be sure.

Besides all that I got to spend a lot of time with my beautiful wife, Ale. I don't know what I'd do without her. We are still moving forward with the house. We do own the first acre of the property and we are still saving up I guess. I am still paying my student loan down and I hope to have that taken care of by the end of this year.

Done with Kennywood

I love roller coasters. I don't like waiting in line after line only to have the ride break and be shut down before I get my turn. That's the only way I can describe my most recent (and probably last) visit to Kennywood Park. I haven't gone for a long time anyway. I know I've taken the boy before but he was just an inch too short to ride anything good. He wanted to stand at the end of the Pittsburgh Plunge and get splashed all day that time anyway. We decided to go this time because Ale's parents we visiting and it seemed like a fun activity to do with them.

First thing I noticed that I didn't like was that they changed the parking lot structure. Used to just be able park anywhere, not anymore. It's pay. The free spots are way way in the back and seemingly insufficient in volume. Now I walk so I would prefer to park in the back but when I see the pay lot is completely empty and idiots are parking on the hillside in the free lot then I think we have a problem.

Second thing I noticed was the entrance fee is back to one price only. You have to pay $41 to get in. That seems like a lot for a regular person. That seems like a whole lot for people that don't intend to ride anything. What happened to General Admission? Ale's mom and sister aren't going to ride anything. Why do they have to pay full price when they are just going to sit on a bench all day? Luckily Ale researched and found so coupons so we didn't get totally ripped off buying admission tickets.

So we are through security now (because that's totally necessary). You walk through that tunnel that takes you under the road and BAM! You're in! At least that is still fun. The boy couldn't reach the ceiling. I remember knowing I was growing the time when I was able to touch it. So they took the Turnpike ride out and put in the Sky Rocket. I say let's jump right in and get in line. So me, her dad and the boy get in line. We wait 35 min. We're at the part that goes up the stairs to the area where you board the cars. We hear an announcement. The ride is shut down for maintenance. Wow that sucks. Should we wait it out or come back later? We were close enough we could see that some guys came over and are working on the brakes on one of the cars. We waited 10 more minutes and then left the line. This wasn't going to be running again soon.

The boy wants to ride the Phantom so we head that way. On the way we did stop and get on the bumper cars so at least we got that first ride under our belts.

When we left that, across the way was the Cosmic Chaos which I have ridden and enjoyed before. The line didn't seem long so we queued up. After about 10 minutes we can tell we will be in the next batch of people to get on. The ride stops and the people get off clearing the way for us. Excitement! Wait what are they pointing at? Where are those employees going? I hear another announcement. Someone yakked on the ride and they are closing for maintenance. Wonderful! We are out of here.

The boy had enough at this point. He starts dragging me towards the Phantom. I see a sign: "Only one car running today. Sorry for the inconvenience". Oh really? I pretty much have no choice. We get in line. About 55 minutes later we are in the boarding area. At this point I can tell 2, 4, 6 people in front of us so that's 3 cars worth until our turn. I also notice in the one working car they have that 2 of the double seats on the cars are blocked off. Their one car isn't even capable of a full load. The boy is really excited. At least this ride is working huh Dad? Don't jinx us boy, I said. Finally we are next. The car pulls in and the people get off. Announcement. Temporarily closed for Maintenance. FFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCK! I could see disappointment clouding up on the boys face. Someone asked what was wrong and the guy replied something back that didn't seem to serious. In fact, as we all stood there for what seemed like an eternity but was probably just 5-10 minutes, no one looked at anything that I could tell but then all of sudden we hear the 'please board carefully' message. Yay! We can ride now! The boy was fairly terrified but he did it. We even got this cool picture Ale paid $15 for. :|

After that success we walked around a little and saw the other parts of the park. I told them where everything used to be around the park. We rode the train ride. I noticed they have huge dryers outside the water rides now to bilk stupid people of money. We went into the arcade where I explained I spend plenty of time in my younger years. They had almost all of the exact same games, Rampage, Double Dragon, etc. That was kind of depressing. While that was a Golden Age of Arcades some good games have come out then you should probably have here. Did they do nothing but rearrange them every year since then? We wanted to get some food or something but I said I had to at least ride that new Black Widow ride before we left so I went over to get in line solo. You stand almost under it to wait in line and it seems pretty impressive for that vantage point. I was excited. Too bad that 2 rides into my wait they shut it down. That's it, I'm out. Everyone got out of line and I went to find my family by the Merry Go Round. I'm pissed. I want to go. If they new the rides weren't ready yet or whatever they could at least warn you and charge you half price or something. So we left and I had to apologize to her family. This isn't what I expected. This isn't a good impression to show a bunch of people who have never been here before.

It's because of this total bullshit that I will not come back to Kennywood.

Highlights 2013

Well I wanted to make a Top 5 list of the best things that occured in my life this past year but as I was looking for notable events that happened I found way more than 5 things I wanted to remember. Without further ado here is a list of things that happened this year that are memorable to me and a brief explanation of each. This is somewhat in chronological order.

Ear Of Luigi - According to Nintendo after pushing Mario down our throats for 20 some years it is finally time for Luigi to shine.

Data Analyst 2 - At work I have finally been recognized for my hard work and effort and after they retooled the job titles I have been promoted. Long overdue but at least I finally got a noteworthy bump in salary to help pay for the things that have gone up in price in the last few years when they skimped on giving us more money.

Attended 100th Pens Game - I've been to a lot of Penguins games and luckily I have a lot of friends that are fans that went with me. I don't know how much longer I'll have the tickets but I am super satisfied with what I have achieved so far. (add my record here)

May Trip To Argentina - Well I have been out of the country before. This was actually my 3rd trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina in my life but this time we were able to take Isaac. He is now an international traveller. I think this was super good for him to see another culture. Hopefully it sticks with him.

1 Year Anniversary - On 2013-06-08 I have been married to my wonderful wife for a whole year now! How is that not awesome?!

Took Isaac To See Weird Al - This wasn't the first concert the boy was ever at. We took him to see Phish before but we haven't been able to get him to a Weird Al show until now. Unfortunately due to the venue we were not able to meet up with him after the show but it was still a great experience.

Bushy Run Battlefield 250th Anniversary - Despite living only a mile or 2 away and it being around my birthday ever year, I have never been to the Battle Of Bushy Run Battle Reenactment before. We finally made it this year and it was the 250th anniversary to boot so it was a good one. I got some cool swag.

Ale Got Her Driver's License - She failed the test 5 times. I was admittedly not very happy. I couldn't understand how someone as smart as Ale could not grasp the concept of driving. She's still not a pro at it but finally at least she passed her test and is a licensed driver.

Green Baycation - I had on my 'bucket list', if you will, to attend an NFL football game at the holy mecca of football stadiums, Lambeau Field in Green Bay Wisconsin, for several years now. The problem is due to the way they make the schedule the Steelers only play Green Bay once every five years and of course last time they met they played here in Pittsburgh but finally this year it was our turn. I have been pushing this to all my friends for years and it seemed like I had a following but when it came time to put up or shut up, no one came forward. I was disappointed but not deterred. I had to shanghai Ale and take her instead. Luckily the whole trip worked out better than I imagined. We saw Chicago and the game went down exactly as I pictured it, snowy and wow what a game to boot! (link doc and pic album)

PS4 - Sony released a new system. Pretty impressive. I hope they follow it up with some good games. There wasn't really anything good that I craved at launch so I am still awaiting justification. Hopefully Infamous Second Son, Watchdogs and Destiny are kick ass.

Xmas Vacation - I took the rest of the year off after December 20th. Not only for the Green Baycation but to spend time with the boy and play with him and play video games of course. I had a lot of stress this year so it was nice to be off and not have to do anything for a while. Hopefully I can make this an annual thing.

Babbies - To say this was the year a lot of my friends had a baby is an understatement.

• ADELYN MAE WEYANDT  - MAY
• CARTER RYAN MEALS - AUG
• DANIEL MOOK FREY - SEPT 
• ZACK WEIN - OCT
• GALL - NOV 

Health - Also did a lot of things to stay healthy.

• I walked 4 million steps (4,322,302 to be exact)
• Did 10k push ups (10,220 to be exact)
• Read 50 books (52 to be exact)

IN CONCLUSION 
Well if you look at it like that it seems I had a fairly awesome year. Hopefully in my mind I can change my perception to think of this year in these terms and that should help me stay happy and positive. Next year as Ale and I have already discussed won't be filled with as many trips and events as we have been doing because we need to start saving money but I think it will still have some noteworthy happenings going on. Here is a small preview:

Big Stuff Planned for 2014

• Paying Off Student Loan
• Buying Property For Dreamhouse
• Groundhogs Day
• Cartwright Babby :D

Boy Does Homework

The boy made us very proud today. It was unfortunate that he had to severely disappoint us first. He is learning long division and he had a 6 problem worksheet to do. It was not a good time. We kept trying to explain that it you just do the same steps over ad over again until you run out of numbers. He wasn't getting it. I tried. I could see the look on his face and none of the information or methodology was getting anywhere near his brain. I did example problems, walked him through a few and every time I'd leave him alone for one second he just went blank. Very frustrating. Ale tried. She did great as she maintained her patience a little longer than me but after 3 hours together it eventually ran out too. Nothing was registering with him and he wasn't absorbing anything so we sent him to his room. He had to be in there for 2 hours or so but when I eventually stuck my head in I was surprised to see he had all his papers strewn out on his bed and he was trying to do problems. This was a positive sign. So I sat in with him and asked him what problem he was on now. We went over the method again and something amazing happened. I could see the gears turning in the boy's head. I swear I actually heard something click. He was getting it!!! We all persevered through this day of long division hell and he boy was getting it! Wow was that amazing and totally worth it. The best part of it is the way I could see that he knew he was getting. He understood that at first he didn't know what he was doing. He understood the pain of the effort of working on problems over and over all day. Now he was understanding that he got it. I made sure he also recognized that progression. It was wonderful to watch and I was proud of him. He was proud of himself. I think that was even more important.

Satisfaction

I still don't understand my internal set of values and things that allow me to feel satisfaction. I think accomplishing certain things should make me feel good and sometimes they don't. Sometimes I do things that I feel are unimportant or insignificant and feel great satisfaction after completing them. It's strange.

I was super impressed with the help the boy provided this weekend. I had a huge list of chores that needed done, from cleaning, to phone calls, to errands run and everyone was extremely helpful in getting them done. The boy himself personally oversaw the cleaning of the bathroom and vacuuming. I again was very thankful and I've conveyed to him several times now how much that meant to me. I hope he gets my feeling and it helps him build on it and grow into a better person. I do wonder why most of my satisfaction comes from chore related tasks. I think I have my mother to thank for that.

Also I don't really like barking commands to be followed out to my wife. I like to bring them up in regular conversation at earlier points and be like 'Hey we're going to need to do this soon. I'll need you to do this.' Sometimes we reach the point where I can't continue until she comes through though so sometimes I do have to say to her 'Hey, get up, let's go with this'. What is absolutely wonderful about her is even if she not in the mood she is smart enough to realize the advantages of taking a few minutes of her day and getting up and getting things done. It's not like I'm trying to inconvenience anyone or that I'm asking some back-breaking, effort-intensive activity that benefits no one and I'm asking simply to irritate her. If you put a halt to what I'm doing here I may become cranky and who knows when I'll work up the gumption to get on this kind of a roll again. She realizes that helping me out really helps our whole family out and damn, after what I've been through in the past this is indescribably beautiful to me. I love that woman so much again I don't know if whenever I feel these waves of emotional thankfulness and I try to convey that to her if I could ever possibly come across in a way that she can understand. I love talking to my wife. She is my best friend. Most of the time I get the feeling that she listens to me and cares what I say and think. That is a good feeling. She shares my concerns. We are in this together. Sure some times I talk about stupid stuff that doesn't matter but even then she still half-listens. I can't really remember connecting like this with someone in the past.

I guess I'm just trying to say I love my wife, I love my son, I love my family and I am super lucky to have them. I am trying my best to be the best for them. Doing so makes me feel good. 

2011 Father's Day

It was the weekend of Father's Day again and because I was keeping Isaac an extra day this weekend (Friday into Saturday so I could make sure he went to karate practice) I thought we'd do the Father's Day thing on Saturday since I already had him. My mom cut me out a page from the PT paper about an event going on down Pittsburgh this weekend called LegoFest and I saw a couple people facebooking about it so I decided 'Hey, Isaac loves Legos!' this is going to be our activity this year!!

We got up that morning, had some cereal and went to karate practice. After we were done we went home and had some lunch as our tickets were for the 3-8pm session that day (I printed them on my new wireless printer that ma babby bought for me). Around 2-2:30pm I decided it was time to go so I grabbed all my fully charged electronic devices (I brought my 3DS for 3D pictures, my iPhone for tweeting and facebooking pictures and my Sony camera to take high quality pictures and videos) and we hopped in the car. We had no problems with any traffic or finding the place. We parked and walked towards the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and went in. There were lots of people but we really didn't have to wait that much.

The place was ENORMOUS!! (PIC) The first thing we saw were these little boxes with scenes set up in them and that was pretty neat. Then we saw a huge map of the USA made of Legos all laid out on the floor and although its outline was complete and the east coast was built up the majority of it was blank. I wondered what this was so we investigated. Here you could take a base piece and build whatever you wanted on it, a house, a tower or a weird art thing. Pretty much anything you could imagine that fit on the piece and then when you completed it you took it over to the map and someone would take your genius over and put it in the masterpiece. Isaac built a crazy little house and I think it got placed somewhere in the Kansas/Missouri area.

Some of the other thing we saw:

• An area with life size Lego characters such as the Harry Potter gang, characters and droids from Star Wars, and a lot of different kinds of dinosaurs.
• There were several areas where there was only 1 color brick to build with. I guess Target was a sponsor because in the red brick area they were putting those white dog mascots with the target around their eye on everyone's finished piece. There was a pink section were a lot of the girls were, a dark blue section and a green section. Green is where Isaac spent a good amount of time constructing his awesome tower.
• There were a couple of huge spots where they just dumped a bout a billion Legos out on the floor and you could just wade out there and sit in the middle and build whatever you wanted.
• There was a part where grown-up nerds that probably take Legos way too seriously made some cool scenes, some guy had a car show out of cars he made from Legos, there were a bunch of cool trains and futuristic monorails that Isaac definitely took an interest in, and neat dirt bike track.
• There was an area that had lots of wheels and other parts to make a vehicle of some sort and then you took it over to these ramps where you raced your creation against other peoples.
  
• Another section had high-tech futuristic Legos that had sensors and hooked to computers that you could program to do stuff. They also offered Lego camps there but it's too far away from where we live for us to go.
• The other big thing we did which I didn't think Isaac would want to do was climb one of those big rock climbing walls. I was surprised at his enthusiasm and lack of fear for wanting to do it but I was a bit disappointed he gave up about a 3rd of the way up at the first place he kind of got stuck at. Maybe next time he'll make it to the top.
  
• We also signed up to get a free subscription to some Lego magazine so that will be cool when those start coming for him.
  

All in all it was another fun daddy/son day. We were there for a long time and he got a little cranky at the end so I decided it was time to go. It seemed like the place was already clearing out and there were a bunch of workers taking some of the things down. We walked out through this cool fountain waterfall thing they have and then I drove him back to his mom's. I was sad to see him go but happy we spent quality time together doing something memorable.

You can see the rest of the pics on my fb

Isaac's First Taste Of Fail

Last night was pre-test night at karate class and I'm sad to report that Isaac will not be testing for his gold belt this weekend. I'm pretty sure this was one of his first tastes of fail and I hope he learns to not like it.

I did my part to help him as much as I could. For the last 2 weeks I made sure he was practicing all the time especially on days before class. It is helpful for him to have it in his mind before he goes I noticed. The Saturday this started (which probably would have been the 11th) he had the worst class of his life. He got yelled at constantly, repeatedly had to do push-ups and Mrs. Romano even asked him to sit down as he didn't seem like he cared or knew what the heck was going on. I had a talk with him at this point about what he was going to do. I found out that his mother (*shudders) hadn't be taking him to class for the last 2 weeks she had him. I think I detailed this before. Anyway he followed that up with the two best classes I've ever seen him have and I thought he was on track to earn his belt.

I have noticed that when we start practicing he never actually punches, he just raises his arm up and same with kicks. He also just moves his legs forward taking a regular step instead of properly going into a stance (legs wide apart, knee bent). Usually I see this and tell him about it and he does a little better. Apparently this was one of the main things that kept him from testing. I made him go and ask what the problem was. I felt it was a good idea to teach him that. Can't learn from your mistakes if you don't know what they were.

I didn't watch it go down. I sat in the car. I felt I gave him all the tools and assistance he needed at that point and it was up to him now to perform. I didn't want to be a distraction for him as he always seems to look at me to see if he thinks I think he's doing well or not. Well he didn't. He went about it all lackadaisical and it ended up biting him in the butt. All in all Master Romano clipped 9 kids this time and I saw several run over to their mommy's crying about it when they discovered it was them. Isaac was very disappointed in the car. I had sweetened the pot with promises of rewards if he did well and I don't think I like this but it seemed he was more upset about not getting the rewards than not earning the belt.

I keep getting asked 'Why push him to do this if he doesn't like it or want to do it?' and I have to answer like this: He's 7 years old. He doesn't know what he wants. When he's 10 or 12 or 15 THEN he can pick what he wants to do. It's my decision as his parent to do what's best for him. I made the decision to enroll him in karate because I discovered through research that it :

• Builds character, discipline and self-esteem.
• Teaches respect.
  
• Gives him an activity to do so he isn't sitting around the house on the couch playing video games all day everyday or getting into trouble because he's bored with nothing to do.
  
• Related to that, it's good exercise. It helps build his muscles and gives him self-control.
  
• He gets to hang out with and talk to other kids doing the same thing.

I stand by my decision. If someone else can come up with a alternative solution that provides as much benefit as this then I would definitely listen, if not then stfu. Anyway he's paid up until November of this year so he might as well get used to it. In life we all have to do plenty of things we may not want to do. He needs to acknowledge that and learn to develop a way of dealing with it. I will not see him cower and avoid this things. I want to teach him to conquer and overcome these types of obstacles. It's going to be a tough road ahead due to this setback. Now he's stuck doing the same things for the next 3 months and that's going to be hard to keep his interest. Also with his mother finding it easier herself to give in and not take him. I can't go over there everyday when she has him just to ensure that he gets there. I don't know what he does or doesn't do over there but it seems like the work I'm doing with him gets undone to a degree. I hope that is not the case. I want Isaac to be prepared for life and know what he needs to know to succeed and most importantly be happy and although it's hard work and I get confused and depressed sometimes wondering if I'm doing things right or if I made a good decision I know that at the end of the day I am doing a good job and I will do my best to continue that. Hopefully this setback will actually end up being a good thing and he will learn some valuable life lessons that will help him in the future.

Still Super Happy

My awesome gf linked me to a leaked copy of Weird Al's new album ALPOCALYPSE so I don't need to wait until they actually sent it to me and it's AWESOME!! The unusual thing I find about Weird Al's album which has happened again is that I don't really get it the first time I listen to it. Al is my absolute favorite artist ever and you would think I would instantly be falling in love with everything he does but it's so weird that not only do I not get it the first time I listen to a new album but sometimes I actually don't like some of the songs. I find that very strange. What turns out to be awesome though is that the more and more I listen to it though the more it starts to jive with me. [My current Top 3] I don't know why that happens but I think it's even better than immediately liking everything. It kind of bonds and grows on me and that makes it be awesomer longer somehow. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

The best part is that even though I'll have heard and learned all the words to all the songs before I even get the album I still can't wait to get it because he made VIDEOS for every single song on the album. I don't know if those have leaked yet or not because I haven't looked for them but I can wait. I'm sure those are going to be a hilarious bonus to what he's already created.

That reminded me how bad the last album went for me. I started ordering the albums directly from Al's website. I do that so all the money goes directly to him and he has my name somewhere in his database so he knows who I am and that I definitely have his stuff. Well the last album (or maybe it was 2 albums ago, I forget) was released and every one bought it and listened to it but the shipping from Al's site took so long that I didn't get it until almost 7 full days after everyone else and they already knew all the songs and everything and it sucked.

The other thing that is going good right now is that Isaac has kicked butt the last week or so at karate. He had a really bad class last Saturday where he got yelled at like 3 times, was made to push-ups a bunch and then actually was told to sit out due to his lack of trying. Since that day however he has bounced back strong. I think he was doing bad because his mother decided that she was no longer on board to take him or practice with him or anything. He finds it easy to manipulate her I guess. So because of him being out of the swing of things for so long he had a rough time getting back on track. Luckily with me he has resolved that. We've been practicing a lot everyday because his belt test is coming up soon (June 25th) and he would really like to make sure he knows enough to test so he can earn his gold belt and move up in the ranks. I am very proud of him and I made he a deal to help motivate him. If he is permitted to test and he passes we will immediately go to the hobby shop and buy him a model for us to put together and I will also take him to go see the new Cars movie that will be debuting that weekend. He is really excited about that and I think as long as I continue to work with him he should have no problem accomplishing that goal.

I have also been watching the Smallville TV show lately. Ale had watched all the Star Trek: Voyagers with me so in turn I decided to watch her favorite show with her (Although we're not exactly watching them at the same time so far). The weird thing is that I always thought this was a 'teen' show and that I wouldn't really have an interest but I'm finding it's a very well written show. A little too much drama and dialogue sometimes but like I said there is good writing and the story is constantly progressing, there is lots of action, semi-good (for a TV series) special effects and you can always tell when something happens you don't understand that it's a part of the mega huge underlying plot that is running throughout the series as a whole. I am really enjoying it and that makes me happy.

Of course I can't close this post out without reiterating how awesome Ale is again. She is so awesome that I don't know what to do sometimes. She's always there for me to talk to and to get advice from and just to be there for me when I need someone. I hope that I am doing enough back for her to show her how much she means to me. I think I am but I always want to try harder because she so deserves it. I just am so amazed every day because I have never had a connection like this with anyone in my life and it just makes me so happy I want to puke. We're filling out the immigration stuff now together and it just sucks that paperwork takes so long to process. Before we even do anything she needs to fill stuff out and mail it to me because some of the forms have to be signed by her that go into this packet we submit. That right there is going to take a while. The only thing that could make my life any better at this point is for her to be with me physically. We are going to tear stuff up when we get together.

Although I still get depressed sometimes and feel things suck, thinking about her and trying to pick out the good stuff that is happening in my life so I can write about it always makes it seem better. My life may not be as awesome as someone reading this might make it out to be but if I could just find a way to get over the bad stuff quicker and stop it from bringing me down, it would be damn close.

Quick Update

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. I have been doing so much (that I probably should have been writing about).

I finally got my new job in December. I moved from my old Miller project group to my new Stores group. I"m finally getting to learn new things and be useful. I love this job. I'm writing SQL and learning Appworx chains and all kinds of things. There's so much to know that somedays I feel like, 'Oh yeah I"m getting it' and then the next day I'm like, 'OMG I'll never ever understand all of this'. It's all okay though. I'm just going to do the best I can and I know good things will happen.

I finally got a new car to replace my beat down Buick. I bought a 2001 PT Cruiser from a junkyard that was totaled. Someone Chuck knows does body work so he fixed it up. It took 2 months but I finally have a sweet car that hopefully won't give me problems for a long time.

And lastly, I am finally back out on my own (w Isaac). It took about a month of constant hard work but we fixed and cleaned up Chuck's old farmhouse and I moved in there. It's pretty nice and big and we like it. It's just nice to be out by myself again. I'm scared about paying all the bills with Lisa still hounding me for money but I can't stop living my life just because she's a freak.

The best part is the #mayvacation is like less than 70 hours from now. I finally get to see and be with Alejandra again. She's so awesome. So many people were asking me, 'What's going on' and we finally get to sit togehter and figure out when she can move up here and stuff.

My life is rocketing off towards good things and I love it.

What A Great Holiday

This was an absolutely fantastic holiday season. Perhaps one of the best ever!! Everything went great and with the exception of my car not a thing went wrong at all. I saw tons of my family and friends and did all sorts of fun things with them. I am so very lucky and happy and I wish I could feel this good all the time.

Wednesday 12/22
It all started when I went to the Pens game with Drew. (read more) We had a blast and got to see each other and hang out and catch up on stuff not to mention that the Pens whooped some ass that night. Perfect way to start the holiday.

Thurs 12/23
No more work for the weekend!! I was supposed to call Drew to invite him over to Matt's for his holiday/the dog's birthday party but he ended up being busy with his family but it didn't matter. I had another absolutely fabulous time. I got to meet Matt's new girlfriend Brandi and she seemed really nice. Plus tons of other friends came over and we watched the Pens and then the Steelers and did shots and got drunk and it was just insane. I remember wanting to cut out early when I started getting tired but because I was the first one there my car was jammed up in the back and there was no way I was getting out. I ended up sticking it out and being the last person to leave. The only bad thing that happened is that Brandon broke the ESPN food dispensing football thing that Matt had. Now it doesn't play the sound when you hit the button to open it so we had to do it manually all night. People wondered why we were doing that but it was funny to us.

Friday 12/24
I got up late today and decided to just laze around until 6pm when Isaac was supposed to be here. I had a package in the mail though when I went out to check and it was my copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes for PS3 that Ale had bought me for Xmas! Yay!! There was something for me to play.
Got Isaac, left out bells for Santa

Sat 12/25
Xmas!!
We played all day!! The big toy of the year, Snap Circuits, was a huge hit!

Sun 12/26
Globetrotters, went to see Pappy, Rick's for dinner

Mon 12/27
Played, went to see Pappy, saw the cigar box guitar museum at Speal's Tavern

Tues 12/28
Played, practiced karate, built Lowes trains

Wed 12/29
Thurs worked

Fri 12/30
Went to Nate's, played w iPad

Sat 12/31
Winter Classic, tailgating

Sun 01/01
Recover time, went over goals with Ale

History Was Made

This past weekend seemed to fly by. I can't believe it's Monday morning already. Now that I think back I guess we did do a lot but it seems like I should have at least one more day to rest and recover here. That is disappointing. What isn't though is the fact that Isaac came with me to the Pens game on Friday night to kick off our weekend and the Pens made history. They got the first ever win in the new arena and we were there for it. Now Isaac can tell people when he gets older and all the kids grow up and forget there even ever was a Civic Arena that he was there for this historic victory. I'm super happy about that. (you can read more about the game here)

He was very good during the game although he did get a bit delirious towards the end. We went right to bed when we got home because I thought I had way too many things we needed to get done on Saturday. It turns out I was wrong. My mom was supposed to go with us to the toy store to see what kinds of toys Isaac wanted for Xmas and to get him something for his birthday but she was too busy. I think she's taking him Monday while I'm at the game with Joel. We also skipped grocery shopping because I couldn't figure out how to fit it in without having to leave the stuff in the car while we did other stuff.

So Saturday morning he ended up playing video games all morning for the most part. He did take a birthday call from Pappy and open Aunt Autumn's card to him. I talked to Chuck about various things including some interesting information about his house and he helped me look at my car again. There was an issue with the battery light and so far I got a new alternator and battery but it still flickers on every once in a while. Hopefully that doesn't turn out to get more serious. Once that was fixed, we took off. We needed to work on his Halloween costume so we were headed out to Greensburg to find the Halloween store. On the way however we made a bunch of stops because I discovered a new pastime that I wanted to share with Isaac, Geocaching! We ended up stopping a bunch of places that day and while we did experience some frustration finding the one we did find all we attempted. It sucks that it's almost winter or we'd be out more often looking for them. No hurries I guess. They ain't going anywhere.

We found one cache and then made it to the mall. I could have sworn there was a Halloween store here behind the mall but I was wrong. I decided to try our luck and actually go in the mall. Maybe it was in there so we went inside and did find it. Whew! Why is it half toy store though is my question. The whole front end of the store was toys, not just Halloween toys but regular toys. That was confusing. No good costumes here either for kids here unless you want to be Spiderman or a fireman. Looks of sexy adult costumes though. Isaac wants to be a zombie so we did find fake blood capsules. That was all the good this place was doing us so we left. On the way out of the parking lot we found one more cache and then another down the street further. We stopped Arby's to get some food as we headed out to Nate's to watch the Pens game. I got us there a bit early so we could walk out to the lake to find the one cache we couldn't find last time I was here. That's 4 total for the day. Good job us!! The Pens destroyed the Flyers and we had a blast hanging out with Nate and the family and then we went home.

The next morning we went over to Brandon's again to watch the Steelers game and played a little frisbee after. For dinner he had his favorite meal of tacos and afterward we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to him and ate chocolate cake. Yes, these will be the time I will love to remember when I'm older.

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ISAAC!!!! :D

Hiiiiii-ya!!

Isaac started karate lessons through the PT community program this week. He has it every Tues & Thurs for 4 weeks. For some reason I have been gung-ho on him doing karate for a while now and I'm glad we finally got this chance. What I'm even happier about though is that after both classes so far he has run up to me when it was over and exclaimed how much he LOVES karate!!

He seems like he is the youngest one in the whole class and he's not doing all the things right yet but he is learning. That's what this is for. It's good for him for many reasons. He will get exercise out of it and be physically fit and healthy and another main reason is learning discipline. He will learn to follow the strict commands of his Sensei. He will learn to sit up straight and tall. He will learn to be confident in his responses and actions. This is what I was hoping for and it seems I hit pretty close to the target on this one.


We'll keeps tabs on this one and see how it progresses.

2010 PT Fall Festival

This past weekend was the 4th Annual PT Fall Festival and of course Isaac and I went. We went last year and had probably one of the best times of our lives and when I heard midway through August when the dates for this year's was (Sept 17th & 18th) I immediately marked those off on my calendar. I don't think this year's was a super awesome as last year but that would have been difficult to achieve. We still had a blast, saw many of our friends and family and had an all around great time.

It started on Friday night.
Isaac wanted to go the second I picked him up from Penn Pals but I knew we needed to hold off a bit. I did splurge and order some Pizza Hut pizza for us to eat that way we wouldn't be hungry and spend money when we were there. (Side Note: The new Big Italy pizza sucks. The Bigfoot was better. Don't waste your money) I waited until about 6:30 or so and we walked down. It wasn't exactly pumping yet but at least it was still light. We did see a few people we knew, Candy & Bob, Brandi, Walt, Becca so that was cool. I did find out in horror that the cost to ride the crappy rides had gone up considerably. $2 a ticket or $13 for a bracelet to ride everything. The bracelet did not cover both days. I was hesitant to spend that kind of money but I did make a deal with Isaac that since he has been doing good in school and following the rules that I had a 20 dollar bill that was pretty much his to spend as he pleased. I let him know that rides today equal no rides tomorrow and as you would expect he opted for rides now!! Did I mention the rides were crappy? I mean they were serviceable but not that thrilling in any sense of the word. He did ride the swings and the teacups and anything else they would let him on. I was making sure we got our moneys worth. He did freak out on the haunted house as he did back at the WM county fair so that was funny. He was terrified of someone stepping on the thing that activates the screaming noise.
It was starting to get dark and there were people streaming in from the football game going on across the street at the high school but we stuck around to play a few games first. He won a little dolphin stuffed thingy at the fishing pond, a whistle at the 'throw darts at balloons' game and a lollipop at the kids shoot basketball game so that made him feel accomplished I hope. We walked out of there happy and went home to go to bed. We had to get up early the next day!

And continued into Saturday
Although I gave Isaac the choice to sleep later and hurry or get up early and take our time I decided when I opened my eyes at 8:30am that it was time to get things moving. We got up, got dressed and I made some breakfast and we were out of there. We had to walk the whole way to Aunt Dee's to get our seats for the parade. (I found out via RunKeeper that it was exactly 1 mile from our house to Dee's) This year there was no Nicholas or Jed or Zippy but it was still fun. The parade was nice and we remembered to bring a bag to keep the horde of candy that was thrown his way. We chilled at Aunt Dee's for a bit after it was over and then headed down and checked out the classic car cruise that was there as we entered since Isaac loves those mighty machines! We met up with Stephanie and Allie at around 1pm and walked around with them for a while and went to the petting zoo. We saw Mary Jo and her daughter Kim there and then we went up to the Warrior Wonderland (or the 2 playgrounds as we call it). Anne met us there with Sean and Ella so that was nice. We walked back down to the fair and they were as outraged as I was about the ride cost. Luckily for us most of the ride operator's must have not been checking too closely because they let Isaac on with the bracelet from yesterday so that was good. We got some food after a bit and we did find the Walking Tacos that Isaac loves so much so that was also good. We got some ice cream and farted around a bit more having fun until about 4pm. I was sunburned at this point and everyone was casting off for other things they needed to do. Isaac and I walked home and took a much needed rest. Last year we went back for the fireworks but this time we didn't seem to care as much. We did see some of them through the trees from the front porch when it was time but we didn't fell like standing there in the dark getting eaten by bugs so we went back in to whatever we were doing at the time.

All in all a definite fun time that is going to be part of our yearly activities. I'm just kind of hoping to bring a special someone with us next year so I can enjoy it with someone rather than just Isaac.