Growing up, and indeed to this very day, one of my favorite movies of all time is The Princess Bride. Sometime in the last few weeks I introduced Kylie to this movie, and lately, after coming home from school, she has been asking to watch it. This in itself has made Daddy very happy, and I have been more than willing to comply and put it in the DVD player. In fact, it is playing, and she is sitting watching it, as I type this. So what’s the big deal then? Why has Kylie sitting watching a movie prompted me to write a post? Because she is quoting it as she is watching it! While this is no where near the first movie she has done this with, it is the first time she has done it with one of Daddy’s favorite movies! Needless to say Daddy is very happy and proud of her for this. I love being able to share the things that I enjoy with my daughter! I hope we get to share many things as she grows and have many happy memories!
Monthly Archives: May 2009
That’s a little better
Just had my weekly Weight Watchers weigh in, and I am happier with this weeks results than I am with lasts. This time around I am down 1.8 pounds for the week. This now brings my total loss to 3.4 pounds. I know that really isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit brings me closer to my overall goal of weight loss. While I haven’t set a hard goal I have thought that losing 50 pounds would be nice. I know this is going to take a long time and so I am going to be patient. In addition my current Weight Watchers goal is 10% of my starting weight, or 29 pounds. So I am clearly on a good start to reaching that goal. Hopefully next week will be another good weigh in, all in all I am still happy with my progress!
Oh how the time flies
Today, being my first day back home in almost a week, was also the first time I got to see Kylie. I had gotten her a few new shirts from my trips and had also brought her home a few gifts from Nana. Kylie liked them very much and wanted to call Nana so she could thank here. When she first called Nana she wasn’t home, so Kylie left a message on Nana’s answering machine. Luckily enough Nan got home in time to call Kylie back before she went to bed and Kylie was more than happy to talk with Nana and thank her for her new outfit and her new nightlight that Nana made (this one in the form of a Wishing Well with an on/off switch, as the Lighthouse one she previously made and Kylie had been using at Daddy’s house, did not have a switch) During the conversation Kylie said “Nana, you’re my best Nana ever.” This made Nana so happy that it brought tears to her eyes. When Kylie was all done talking with Nan she thanked her again for the new outfit and night light, told Nana “I love you whole bunches forever” and said good-bye. It was at this time that we were all a little shocked to realize that Kylie had just had a 25 minute phone conversation with her Nana!
Back from NY and PA
Melissa and I just got back from our trip to NY, and we both agree that not taking tomorrow off from work was a mistake. We are both very tired from a very busy few days. For me, I have been traveling for the past week and am pretty worn out from it all.
On 5/17 I left to go to Philadelphia again for another DR test for work. The test went fine and I even had the opportunity to catch up with an old college friend, Jess, whom I hadn’t seen in just about 10 years! That was really cool and we are looking forward to keeping better in touch now that we have gotten back in touch. We had a lot of catching up to do. It’s amazing how much happens in 10 years. I returned from Philadelphia on Wednesday 5/20 and had to start packing in preparation for Melissa and I leaving early Thursday morning to go out to NY.
We left a little later on 5/21 then we wanted to, but that is because we were up later packing than we had expected. Mainly because we had to do laundry because of my Philadelphia trip in addition to the normal packing steps. The ride was nice, especially for Melissa as she had never been further east than Sandusky, OH. Knowing this I opted to take the scenic route out through lower NY and came in through the mountains. The scenery on that route is a lot prettier and more exciting than the way we came home, which is straight out the thruway.
While out there I ended up having to rebuild Mom’s hard drive as it crashed shortly before I arrived. I guess that is better than failing after I left though. This made for a couple of very long nights for me, as I needed to make certain I got this fixed before I left. Also while out there I tried to show Melissa around as much as possible and spend time with family, we even got to go see Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation at the old Hi-Way Drive In where I used to work for a few summers.
On Saturday the 23rd, though, we spent the day in celebration with an old friend of mine, Stefan, at his wedding. This is actually the reason that I went out to NY to begin with, as he and his now wife Kate, gave me the honor of being their wedding photographer. Over the course of this one very busy day I took over 1300 pictures! That is by far a personal record. This makes the third wedding that I have taken pictures out. I am starting to think I should make a side business out of this.
Along the picture taking note, we also stopped by a couple of cemetaries and walked around them and took some pictures. This is something of a hobby of mine. I find the old large headstones to be remarkable and beautiful, and the detail that goes into some of the newer monuments are simply amazing. Hopefully it wont take me too long to get these pictures processed and into the gallery (who am I kidding? It will take a while).
On Sunday night we went up to my brother’s camp site and spent a very nice time with the family up there. Melissa was kind enough to take many pictures of me with my family, which I am very thankful for as I often end up staying behind the camera and not getting in the pictures. (I will do my best to get these off the camera and up on the site also, as I know I have a number of pictures that they family wants.) It was a very fun night, and if I lived closer I know I would spend a lot of time up there as I find it very peaceful and relaxing to be at camp sites and out in nature in general.
Today we left bright and early and drove back home via the thruway, as I mentioned earlier. Melissa agrees with me that the scenic route out was much better and she is very happy I took her that way so she could see the mountains and such. Hopefully the next I go out not only will it be for an actual vacation but it will be a little slower paced and I will be able to bring Kylie. As I am sure she would like to go out there again, and I know for a certainty that everyone out there would love for her to come out.
Kylie’s first time camping
Last night Kylie had her first camping experience. Her, Mommy and Mimi spent the night camping in a tent in the backyard. Mommy said they all had a great time, and here is the recap of the events from Mommy:
Last night Kylie helped us put the tent up; she was holding the poles for us as we slid them into the slots and making sure the tent was being opened fully. After we set the tent up, we had to let it air out, so we went inside to get our things ready. Kylie helped gather up her blanket and pillow and she was able to take 2 stuffed animals out with her and she decided to chose 2 dogs. She then helped me use the vacuum to inflate the air mattress. I also brought down her mattress so there would be enough room for Kylie, Mimi and I. We took them all out to the tent where Kylie kept saying “This is going to be awesome!” I asked her what else we should bring with us, and she said “books and popcorn,” so that is what we got. We also made some Kool-Aid and brought out the book “Going on a Bear Hunt” and had popcorn. We also brought out a flashlight to help us read the book and to find our way back to the house at night if we needed to. Kylie was in charge of the flashlight which she thought was cool. After we ate the popcorn, drank our juice, and read our book, we used the flashlight to get us inside to use the bathroom. Kylie kept saying, “I’m not scared.” She thought it was cool that it was so dark out (about 9:30 now). We looked at the stars when we came back out, and made a wish on one, saying “star light, star bright” and Kylie thought that was really cool too. After that we went back into the tent to go to sleep, and Kylie fell asleep pretty quickly. I think it was because she was so excited. In the morning, she was happy because we saw that there was a mommy bird feeding her babies in a nest on Mimi’s balcony. Since there was something new, the tent became old news and the birds became the focus of the morning. After discussing the birds for a little while it was time to pack up camp, Kylie helped us take down the tent and said to me “Mommy, I can’t wait to be in the tent again. It was SOOOO cooooooool!”
It sounds like Kylie had a very fun time on her first camping experience. Hopefully she will be able to have many more throughout the years and that will help help her develop a lfe long love of the outdoors.
Not such a good weigh in
Well I guess I didn’t do so well while I was in Philadelphia the begining of this week, as I just got weighed in and it turns out that I have gained 1.2 pounds. Though my group leader says this may be due to the fact that I just got off the plane. Apparently when you fly your body retains water and this could be part of the reason that I have gained some weight. I tried to watch what I ate while I was in Philadelphia, but it was difficult due to eating out for every meal. Tomorrow we leave for New York, so I will try to do good and stay on track while I am out there as well. On the positive side though, I am still in the negative for weight lost as a whole as I am down a total of 1.6 pounds so far.
“Mommy, my boobs aren’t growing.”
Today Tiffany got a a little surprise in the form of a question from a curious and very perceptive three year old. Here is the story and comments she sent to me:
This morning Kylie was with me in the bathroom while I was getting ready for the day. I had just put on some deodorant and Kylie said she wanted deodorant just like me. Kylie hadn’t put her shirt on yet, so I said ok, but only to put on a little. After Kylie had put some on she wanted to go look in the mirror in my room. She looked for a few minutes and when she came back she said, “Mommy, my boobs aren’t growing.” I was in shock for a few minutes, not having expected this from her at all. When I eventually got over the initial shock of her statement I said, “Why do you need boobs?” and she said, “Cause that’s what girls have.” While this is very perceptive and shows a certain level of understanding I wasn’t really sure how to respond as I was still slightly surprised. So I said “Well, sweetie, you’re just a little girl, so you only have little boobs. When you turn 12 you will get some.” To which her reply was, “OK.”
Holy cow!! I didn’t think I would be having that kind of conversation with Kylie for a few more years yet. At least she is still at that literal stage, and just wanted to know since she noticed that that is what girls have. At least it’s not the sex talk yet.
Wow! I sure am glad that Mommy got to handle that question. With any luck, she will be with Mommy when the sex talk comes up too! 🙂
One Week Down
Today was my first weigh in for my Weight Watchers plan, as I have been on the plan for 1 week today, and I have to admit I was a little nervous. I have been doing my best to follow the plan and to be faithful to it because I really want to lose weight. I have not been able to be as active as I was hoping to be, but I have tracked what I am eating and been staying on track points wise. Though I have been having issues eating enough food to fulfill all my points. Even with all that I am glad to say that I have had some positive results and I have lost 2.8 pounds! I am not expecting these kinds of results each week, but it does give me some reasurance that this is working. Now I just need to keep it up. My plan is to continue tracking what I am eating and to try be more active.
Fairy Door Hunt
A while ago Melissa came home from work with a piece of paper talking about Fairy Doors and how they are scattered around Ann Arbor. We had talked about it being a good way for us to do some more adventuring around Ann Arbor, something we have wanted to do for a while but never have the time, and then forgot about it. Last night Melissa found this piece of paper again and found there was a link on the paper to Urban Fairies. We checked it out and decided that today, after she got done with work, we would go on a hunt. It was rather interesting and we got to adventure around Ann Arbor and visit stores we otherwise would not. We had a very yummy iced Chai Tea at Sweetwaters Cafe, and I would like to go back there one day. We took a lot of pictures of the doors we found as well. Though we did not get to see the one located inside the Ann Arbor Google office because they were closed, it was still a very nice and fun day.
Holy Crap we’re every where!
Today I was sighning up for a service on the CVS website when i was presented with a typical terms of use agrement. What wasn’t typical for me to see, was the Thomson Health Care (which actually should be update to read Thomson Reuters Healthcare) agreement. We really are every where in the health care field!
I have highlighted the area in question in a red rectangle. Click the image for a larger view.