Us at Year's End

(Uh-oh, this isn't good)

It's been a fun-filled, memorable end to this year!

Thoughts on Christmas Eve eve

Years ago, my father-in-law sent us this article from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. As a convert of about 4 years at that time, I had never heard this talk before. I instantly loved it. Beautiful imagery, sincere testimony of our Savior, the visual of extreme humble circumstances in which the Lord of all was born, and rightful emphasis on the true meaning of Christmas and its importance in our lives.

"I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene--even the poverty--of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world. Only when we see that single, sacred, unadorned object of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why 'tis the season to be jolly,' and why the giving of gifts is so appropriate.

"At this focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched—none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness they had seen. Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men from the East...'

"But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that’s how Christmas began. "

The start of Christmastime!

The last two years, we've kicked off the Christmas season (at least on this blog) by posting a photo with this headline. I'm not one to break with tradition in some ways, so here's Year #3. We are already two weeks into:

• Telling our girls about Jesus' birth. Goose loves hearing about the animals, and she makes sure we know that there were "shepeds" and Mary and Joseph present, too!
• Having this great Christmas tree up (hat-tip to my Mom for telling us; a 6-foot, pre-lit one from Walgreen's that was $20 and took less time to assemble than it did just now for me to describe it).
• Putting up three Nativity sets (and so far, two weeks into not missing a piece...yet).
• Becky's annual raiding of area libraries for an around-the-world, calling-all-genres selection of Christmas music.
• Lights on the staircase.
• Lights in the windows.
• Lights on the back porch (which I love seeing as I pull into the driveway each night).

With two weeks to go until Christmas, we're also trying to think of other traditions that we can start as a family. So far, here's what we have:

• Driving around to look at other peoples' lights on their homes.
• "Service, service, service!" (I asked Becky what she wanted to do to make Christmas special this year, and this was her enthusiastic reply).

On that service note, we are scheming to do a "12 Days of Christmas" to someone. If you're reading this, don't worry...it's not you.

We have an elderly neighbor who has two daughters living next-door to him. His wife died soon after we moved into our house in 2006. Oftentimes when we see him outside, he's very kind and friendly. But he always mentions how he misses his wife. When Becky cuts my hair outside, he sees us and tells us it reminds this man of how his wife did that for him. The holidays must be so different and lacking, in a way, for this man, who was married for decades and has a houseful of memories of his wife.

Amid the parties (thanks, Lazars!), music, Christmas movies (which I love watching with our girls), letters from friends in the mail, shopping, and food, it is taking on more meaning for us to make Christmastime a bit more meaningful for someone we know each year.

We hope that our girls will, on a Christmas sometime in the years to come, see that as one of the best gifts possible.

Lucky 7

My baptism was seven years ago tonight! This past Sunday in church, I spoke about how, with the passage of time and, more importantly, a better sense of spiritual prioritization, the "event" of my baptism (details of the who, what, where, etc.) takes on less significance. The why and what next elements become more important.

To me now--on this anniversary--it's more important to think about what I want to make of my life with my faith in and reliance upon the Lord.

I don't have a lot of answers, but I do have some impressions and ideas on how to become a better person, husband, father, and follower of our Savior. This seventh anniversary is a great time to recommit more and reflect much less--to really strive for improvement in some areas of my life.

Hopefully in another seven years, I'll look back on this time and see it as a good turning-point for me and my family. Happy anniversary!

Pre-Thanksgiving

Girls rockin' the house at Enchanted Village.

Takin' a load off after an exhilarating time at Jordan's Furniture's Enchanted Village.

Our Little Pilgrim

We celebrated Thanksgiving in our house for the first time this year. It was a real treat to have family and friends over, and also to not have to travel. We enjoyed hosting the dinner, though it made for a long day of prep. I even came up with a Thanksgiving quiz that we all participated in as we dug in to the feast.

Pre-Thanksgiving, our family also took part in a church Turkey Day celebration and the Enchanted Village at Jordan's Furniture in Avon (on a day I took off, part of which I spent in the temple, slaving away in its kitchen, with a hairnet on).

Quick aside: When I lived in Germany, I had a French dormmate who said she learned in school that all U.S. children dress up as Pilgrims on the last school day before Thanks-giving. She simply couldn't believe my protests to the contrary. Maybe one year we will dress our girls up as Pilgrims.

What's the difference?

Sunday night. Three chores to do: a) clean up after the maelstrom left in the wake of 2 kids under 3 years old; b) dishes from a fine homemade pizza dinner, made by Becky, after 2+ hours of Home Teaching, which was preceeded by a 90-minute elders quorum meeting, which was preceeded by 3 hours of church; and c) do the laundry.

I felt no pangs of "should I be doing this on a Sunday?" while tackling chores a and b. "Keeping the Sabbath day holy" is Mormon-ese for doing--and not doing--a host of things. We always clean up the dishes after we have friends or family over a few Sundays a month. Yet, when it came time to get started on 3 loads of laundry that likely had accumulated in Chez Timbeck4 since, oh, Thursday night, I twice distinctly thought, "The laundry can wait till tomorrow."

Remember that 1990's ad jingle, "Alcoa can't wait...for tomorrow"?! Yeah, well, the reverse.

So, wait the laundry did, until 6 a.m. Monday morning. I'm fine with it. I'm definitely fine following these thoughts (and not making value calls on what you may and may not choose to do on Sundays).

Just, I'm puzzled about what's the difference between it being OK to wash dishes, but not clothes.

A better view

This just happened last week! Mouse is now facing forward in her very own car seat. And she loves it. Goose loves it, too. She reaches across the aisle to hold Amelia's hand.

Us, lately

The little dynamo in the left of this picture began scooting backward down our stairs this morning. She also sneezed with such gusto this morning at the breakfast table that we all nearly lost our appetite and I had to quickly close the Book of Mormon so it would not get defaced by "Ghostbusters"-esque slime.

Meanwhile, the girl of my dreams in the right of this picture is just keeping all of us going and making it all work out. She's launched a sewing club at church. She tutors. She cooks new recipes. She reads for book club (though she's fallen a bit behind, she still has a stack of books on her side of the bed and adds to it). She plays our piano.

As for me, your humble blog author...I'm up at 6 a.m. raking leaves (an activity I enjoy), only to see half a tree-full fall on our lawn 1.5 hours later (again, at breakfast). Haven't read a book in months, and that's fine for now. Working on my family history. And trying to keep y'all a little up-to-date on what's going on with me and my girls.

Dance class

Some friends tipped us off to a nice deal on toddler dance classes in a nearby town. Goose has been going for about 6 weeks now, and she's warming up to it. She has a friend from church in her class, and a few other, older church friends in older classes at the same studio. I took an early lunch last week to catch Our Dear Goose bustin' a move on the dance floor, and it was so fun to see her (and Becky and Mouse, too!) loving this fun activity.

Goose's version of morning scripture time

"And it came to pass, God say 'Go' and they went and nice. Amen!"

That is Goose's daily summation of whatever we read in the Book of Mormon at breakfast time. It's pretty cute and cracks me up. Becky stitched a page-holding ribbon for her own copy of the scriptures, and she loves it.

We have been reading The Book of Mormon at breakfast. It's the "Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families" edition--the one with tons of pictures and footnotes.

It may not be the most productive scripture reading, as Goose pleads that we listen to her music or Amelia rocks her high chair back-and-forth as she physically demands whatever we're eating. But as Elder Bednar said last month in General Conference, it's the consistency that matters more than any one particular attempt to impart the Gospel to children. We're going to run with that and hope that our consistent effort gets us somewhere.

Happy birthday, Bumpa!

My dad had a big birthday milestone on Sunday. Unfortunately, I'm only now getting around to giving him his Timbeck4 tribute in the same way that my Mom got hers two weeks ago. This photo was taken in about 1987. My dad was the coach of my town Little League baseball team, which was sponsored by College Town Mobil (hence the t-shirt).

Looking back, one of my fondest memories of childhood was having involved parents. My mom was able and willing to stay home with my sister and I. And my dad had a great job at a college right in our neighborhood that gave us good family benefits, including: He had (and still has) an incredibly short commute. He walks no more than 5 minutes each day to work! Growing up, that meant that, while he put in long hours and nights and some weekends, my dad could come home for lunch or pick us up from school or be there for all of the sports and school activities that we were involved with.

To me, that settles the debate over "quantity vs. quality" time. You never get that time back, no matter how "quality" it may be. And man, my dad gave us plenty of quantity time. He often took us over to his office on weekends so he could get work done while my sister and I had the run of the entire building--with its vast classrooms, blackboards, printers, pens and pencils, and soda and candy machines!

Other favorite memories:

• My dad stoked an interest in me in foreign languages, current events, and history. From him, I became interested in German...and channeled that into living in Germany for a year during college.


• When I was younger, he whipped up pancakes from scratch on what (looking back) feels like most mornings.


• My dad and I went to dozens of movies over the years, often at the Westgate Mall in Brockton.


• His lullabies to us when we were babies included "Last Train to Clarksville," "Morningtown Ride," and "The City of New Orleans"--all songs about trains, and all songs that I still love today.


• He still loves to remind me that when I was about 5 months old, I kept him awake all night on a weekend night. He had to work the next morning, a Saturday, and as he rocked me all night, he had a mantra in his head that ran, "Someday, it'll be your turn!"

And now, it's awesome to see him and my mom as grandparents. He is "Bumpa" to our girls, and a great dad and father-in-law to us. Happy (belated) birthday, Dad! I love you.

The "saying-hi" run-by

Goose has this new routine at meal-time. I know I should be encouraging her to join us at the table and finish her dinner.

But seeing her chubby little legs scampering across our entire first floor, front to back of our house, like this...it's too funny.

Fall in New England

Just a sample of what we've been up to, in pictures:

Becky's dad even came to visit for a great long weekend!

It's been an awesome Autumn! Here's hoping for a wonderful wintertime in New England...

A great last week...

...then Goose broke a small part of her bedroom door yesterday pulling so hard on it while she was in her second of two time-outs. Ah, welcome back Terrible Two's!

(while our house is 101 years old, this isn't our door...nor does any part of our house look remotely like this).

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Today is my Mom's birthday. Our girls call her Nana. Here she is, above, with her older brother Jerry in South Boston ("Southie"), where she was born and raised.

In the years since this photo was taken, she finished school, got married, became a mom twice, stayed home to raise my sister and I, successfully battled cancer, returned to work, and now, in her golden years, is a grandma several times over!

Here are some of my favorite memories of my Mom, on this special day:

• When I was about 2 and acting up, my Mom spanked me. Once. She started crying and vowed to never spank me again. I think she kept that pledge!


• The night I left for a year of studying abroad in Germany, my Mom found a t-shirt I had been wearing earlier that day. She took it to bed with her that night, as it would be the closest thing she could hold of "me" for several months.


• She was very good at bringing our family to Catholic Mass growing up. We always looked nice on the holy days, and she volunteered a lot of her time and skills to our chapel. For its 25th anniversary in 1990, my Mom led a quilting project in which dozens of families and college students, etc. made an individual quilt, which was then stitched together to form a massive quilt. It hung in the chapel for many years, and you couldn't miss it as you left Mass.


• I can still hear my Mom softly singing "This Old Man" to me at bedtime when I was young.


• She always made Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas special. We loved watching the TV cartoons that aired on these holidays.
  
• My Mom was very devoted to her parents. We spent probably 90% of all of the Sundays of my life until I went to college at my grandparents' house a few towns away, for dinner and games and talks.
• I have always known and felt that she loves me. What more does a child need?
  
• It's a real joy to see her as a grandma now herself! She adores all of her grandkids.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you. We'll see you tomorrow to celebrate.

#570: trial

Last fall, the same week that Amelia was born, I began having sleep issues. Anxiety over a new baby. Anxiety over her health, a new baby in the family, how Caroline would react, how we'd make it financially. Sleep eluded for nights in a row, unless I took an OTC pill. I stopped that after doing fine for a time, but then the sleep disorder returned, more than before, as I let myself get sucked into the maelstrom of coverage over the recession and worries about my job and providing for our growing family.

I am not proud (and am embarrassed) to admit this, but I had to rely on my doctor for help with sleeping. Maybe it's part of being a man and feeling that I need to "fix" everything on my own, so asking for help was an ego killer. But I was tired, and miserable. Becky was a great support to me, but it was wearing on her, too. Selfishness took over, and oftentimes my thoughts were about was how I wasn't getting good rest. This is at the same time Becky was getting up every 2 or 3 hours to feed and tend to Mouse. Man, was I wrong and selfish to focus on me. I hope she can forgive me.

I got blessings, advice, etc. But it was hard to see how I could possibly benefit or learn from this trial of sleep deprivation, or how this would somehow be good for me. We're often told in church that trials are for our learning and growth, and to endure it well.

Now, a year later, after months of good sleep and more positiveness, the sleep disorder has returned. As this isn't the first time, I feel a little more prepared about confronting it. I feel better able to work on it, to get a handle on my mental and physical state so I don't become the selfish, sky-is-falling father and husband of last year at this same exact time.

Maybe this is my trial, after all. Maybe this is the way, right now, that God is trying to show me how to learn to get outside myself, to be more faithful, and to learn to endure adversity better. The kicker is, unlike last year, there is no anxiety that's waking me up. No serious worries. We are thankfully very blessed with health and the basics of life, and two beautiful girls. I have a wife who simply exudes a love of life and optimism. She is awesome!

I am not sure what I am supposed to be learning. I don't know how long it will last, or why it's happening to me (again). But I've got to get outside myself and endure it better. There is too much else that is good in our lives.

Five years ago

Five years ago tonight, the Boston Red Sox finally won a World Series! It was their first after 86 years of frustration and close calls. What an awesome time it was. The memories of those long nights watching the games with Becky (my soon-to-be fiance at the time) and our friends are still fresh in my mind.

Unless you were born and raised, or lived in Boston or New England for any length of time--but especially when the Sox were blowing crucial games or collapsing toward the end of yet another season--you will have no idea and little appreciation of how much this meant to New England and Sox fans nationwide.

On the night the Sox finally won it all, I was sick as a dog. Becky and I watched the game on the TV at my apartment in Somerville, while her roommates and our friends watched it in comfier settings at their house in Medford. I missed the camaraderie that had taken our group through the ups-and-downs of the previous weeks' worth of games, but it was wonderful to have Becky there alongside me to witness this historic event. A raging sore throat had rendered me mute for much of the game, but as the final out played out on live TV, I screamed, "That's it! They did it!"

In the whirlwind of media coverage and elation after the Sox swept the Cardinals this night 5 years ago, I wrote to some friends that the Sox winning was "joy beyond joy." I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried with joy going to bed that night (a 180 from crying myself to sleep after the Sox came within 5 outs of the World Series one year earlier--when friends quickly and quietly left my Arlington apartment after the Sox blew an 8th-inning lead against the Yankees).

Like so many events in life, you look back and are stunned at the quick passage of time. 5 years?
I recall who my close friends were then, where I was living, my interests, the excitement of planning my future with Becky. In fact, the day after the Sox won the World Series, I hopped a train to Salem and bought her engagement ring, reading newspapers' accounts of this amazing win.

So much has changed.

From the 2004 team, Wakefield, Ortiz, Youkilis, and Varitek are the only players who are still with the Red Sox, 5 long years after that historic season. They won another World Series ring in 2007.

I no longer have the time, interest, or luxury of watching the games most times. Our two girls will never know a time when the Sox had such a long drought. Becky may never get my passion for the Sox. More importantly, she will likely never understand how much it meant to me to have her beside me, on the couch, glued to the TV that night. I love thinking about who she and I were, and where we were in life together, as a couple, 5 years ago.

Happy 5th anniversary, Red Sox! Wonderful times, wonderful memories.

Us lately

As we bid adieu to leaves, the Red Sox (until March), and a cheap electric bill (Mr. Furnace has taken up his annual 5+-month-long residence again), it's time to jot down some things our little ones are up to. Becky had an episode of "She's growing up so fast!" earlier this week, so this is our attempt to record these special times:

Goose:

• is a climber! She will climb on almost anything at the playground. At home, she arranges kid chairs and adult chairs in a circle, then will do a trapeeze-like walk along the seats. She even put a big-kid stool on top of her kitchen table--so she could reach a bottle of bubbles on top of our fridge! She has no fear in this regard.
• was disappointed this morning that she couldn't wear her Trunk-or-Treat costume all day today.
• enjoys a series of make-believe stories that Becky and I cooked up. One has a plane that drops pizza from the sky. Another has two boys riding bikes to Nana and Bumpa's (an easy 30+ mile trip!) and Nana gives them water. Also, "Lucy Rides a Hot Air Balloon," "Bobby and the Happy Fish," "Jane Goes on a Walk to the North Pole to See Santa," and another in which a girl travels across the U.S. to see her Utah grandparents! Depending on Goose's tiredness, we tell them in abbreviated form or excruciating detail. She loves these stories.
• lives in a world where it is always 12 o'clock. You name the time of day, and she'll tell you it is 12 o'clock.
• still manhandles Little Mouse most of the time.
• loves watching her "shows": Bert and Ernie, Elmo, Bob the Builder, Rolie Polie Olie, and the most nauseating group I've ever seen (actually, a tie): the Teletubbies and the Wiggles. Why did England and Australia, respectively, curse the world with these two?
• spends a good 10-15 minutes each night running around our front hall, with us chasing her.
• gets put in time-out less right now. Is it a phase?
• insists on letting go of the staircase railing when she reaches the bottom 3 steps.
• taking a dance class (Tiny Dancers) and a music class (Music Makers) with friends.
• stammering on some words, like ones that begin with "s." For example, "So-so-so-so-so-so, I want milk!" Is this a phase?
• so excited whenever I come home from work.
• easily able to get excited over anything. She practically shouted for joy when Becky said, "I have a surprise treat for you," and then handed her an orange, which she loved.
• reads her own, quite accurate version of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" to us.

Mouse:

• is picking up speed crawling, and can also now walk a few steps while just holding onto one of our hands.
• is learning how to put herself down for the night. About 2 weeks ago, she started fighting bedtime, a lot. Now we have a routine that seems to work, but it is hard most nights, and harder in that she sleeps in the same room as Goose and might be keeping her awake.
• saying "booosh" and "brrrrr" for most any word or item she's pointing to.
• points with her index finger of either hand.
• craves being held.
• loves a Spanish book, "En La Playa," with pop-out pictures of an umbrella, etc.
• laughs whenever I pull the cords on my hooded sweatshirt so it covers most of my face.

As for their parents...we're just trying to live in the present and remembering to take the good and the bad one day at a time. Definitely a lot of learning, trial-and-error, and fun times in our place!

1-year olds Party

A few weekends ago, we had a birthday party for Little Mouse and her 1-year old friend, Bridger. Wait...do 1-year-olds have friends? It was a fun idea and Becky pulled it off great with some cute games for our 1-year-olds and other 1-year-old guests who were born around the time that Mouse and Bridger were. Games included:

• Crawling race: Mouse didn't budge from my side, Jackson got off to a fast break but pulled up just a foot from his mother, and Bridger overtook him to win the kick-off event!
  
• "Just Eat It": a competition to see which kid could eat little cups of marshmallows, crackers, and olives the fastest.
  
• "Keep Your Hat On": another timed competition to see which 1-year-old would leave a hat on his/her head the longest. Mouse was out in about 5 seconds.


• "Giggle Giggle Giggle": parents tickling their kids to see who would giggle first.

Jonathan, Timo, and Andrew psyching their kids up for the race.

And finally, the obligatory 1-year-olds eating photo:

Tufts 10K!

Becky and her friend Cheryl ran the Tufts 10K for Women on Columbus Day this year, along with about 8,000 other women. It was an awesome Fall day for a nice, 6.2-mile run in some of the most scenic parts of Boston. This was Becky's second time running the Tufts 10K, which, aside from the Boston Marathon, may just be the most popular and well-attended race each year in Beantown.

Becky did a great job--she finished in about 1 hour, 5 minutes. She's run 3 5K's this year and had not run more than about 4.5 miles in one setting at all. So to go all 6.2 miles is so sweet. Good job, babe!

I brought our girls downtown (Goose loved riding the T) to cheer Becky on. Then, at the finish line, some of our good friends surprised Becky by showing up to cheer her to the end! It was a great day! Maybe she has a half-marathon in her yet, folks! And would she consider running the Boston Marathon again someday?

Stay tuned to find out...

More babies...

Here's a video of Goose's many babies--Baby Bear, Baby Bunny, Baby Doll, Baby Elmo, etc.--who join us all in a row each Monday night for Family Home Evening.

Most times, it takes us just as long to sing a song, have an opening and closing prayer, an FHE activity, and a treat as it does for Our Dear Goose to get each of her babies lined up and sitting down.

Our Little Mouse is 1!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for this adorable Cabbage Patch doll of my own! I love it!

Man, that year went by f-a-s-t! Our Little Mouse turned 1 last Thursday. She is so fun to be around, and she's learning so much. She is babbling all day, sometimes in a minute's-long discourse that no doubt must mean something like, "I can't wait 'til I'm older so I can grab some of my big sister's toys from her!"

What is Mouse up to these days?

• Hating her high chair
• Loving to pull on the long hairs growing at the back of her head
• Asleep by 7:30, awake by 7 a.m.
• Unable or unwilling to find her own binky in the middle of the night
• Giggling more
• Wanting to be held much of the time
• Crawling, and pulling herself up on furniture--including so she can touch the piano keys in our living room
• Sporting 8 teeth--4 on top, 4 on the bottom
• Wishing that vanilla pudding was a staple of every meal

We love you, Little Mouse!

Favorite family in town

We were so awesomely excited to have Becky's cousin Sariah and her husband Dallin (plus their 6-week-old little guy) in town for almost a week! I worry that if we ever lived near each other, we'd get nothing done, ever, because we'd be talking and playing games and eating and getting our pictures taken (Becky!) all the time. But it'd work out, and be great...and I've long wanted to live in Canada.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. It was so much fun to be with our Canadian Cousins. Becky was on cloud 9-squared (whatever that factors out to be...she's the math major) the entire time. I could go on and on, but that'd just make our other family members jealous. So, on to the pictures...

The only time these two weren't smiling was when they slept...even that may be incorrect. They treated us to a Red Sox-Blue Jays game, and we, like true hosts, paid them back by having the Sox lose, 12-0, to Toronto behind Roy Halladay's complete-game shutout.

The girls' night out, where they met up with another good friend, Lija, and her husband. Sariah knew Lija from their Boston College days, and Becky later befriended Lija through the singles ward in Cambridge.

We spent much of the day playing Nertz (Snorf), 500, and Settlers of Catan. Dallin was a super-strategist, Becky and Sariah provided the energy and excitement, and I provided the boorish behavior by bemoaning my bad luck with the hand I was dealt in the game. Baby Mark spent much of the game sound asleep!

Dinner out with Dallin's boss, Timo, who was flanked on his right by another Timo (me). Summer Shack food was so good, and so much!

All good things come to an end, or at least go on hiatus and head across the border (and continent). We need to start planning a vacation out Vancouver way now! What a great time!

Big Dog 5K

As a Northeastern alumna, Becky got notice of their annual "Big Dog" 5K along the Charles River in Boston. She signed up and encouraged some of her friends to do so, as well. We had a good turn-out and lots of fun. It was the perfect day for a run--as the celebratory post-race jump attests! We plan on running it again next year, and getting more friends to join us! Becky ran her best race of the year, too...in 31 minutes. Way to go, Boo!

Brush with celebrity!

Saturday morning, while Becky was running in Northeastern University's "Big Dog 5K," I took our girls to a playground along the Esplanade and the Charles River in Boston. Beautiful morning for a race. Everyone's in good spirits.

At the playground, which is almost deserted, a mother whispers to me, "Look at there, but don't be too obvious." Well, I followed her directions and couldn't believe it! There, in the flesh, was...








...but before we get to the big reveal, let's recount the celebrities Timo has seen/encountered during his life:

• Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter.
• Boston meteorologist Bruce Schwoegler (bonus points: I didn't have to look up how to spell his last name. He was famous on Boston TV when I was growing up. Extra points: I shook his hand and had my picture taken with him).
• pro wrestler Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.
• former Boston Red Sox infielder (and current Red Sox on-air celebrity) Jerry Remy (He was in the parking lot of a stadium after a wrestling match).
• New Mexico governor and U.S. presidential candidate Bill Richardson (in a terminal at Reagan International Airport).
• Danny Ainge and Mike Dowling, from my church.

None of these people make the A-list celebrity bracket. Not by a long shot. However, my brush with celebrity on Saturday instantly rocketed my famous encounters into the stratosphere. It may be difficult to ever top this one.

Because I saw, and I sneakily got a picture of, and talked with none other than Gisele Bundchen! She of the $100M net worth. She who is the most famous model on the planet. She who is married to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Oh yeah, her!

A woman at the playground tipped me off that Gisele was there with Tom Brady's boy. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to actually see Gisele--she was crouching under a jungle gym, or in the shadows, or getting some peace and privacy at one end of the playground. Or her long hair kept a photo-worthy view impossible to catch. For 15 minutes, there was no one else on the playground except me and my girls, the celebrity-hound who told me about Gisele, and Gisele and Jack and a woman I presume to be Tom Brady's mom.

I tried to get a photo of Gisele, but it didn't work. I tried to position Goose so she'd be in a photo frame with Gisele in the background. Then, I strolled over to my stroller--which was next to Mrs. Tom Brady's. As luck would have it, Gisele walked to her stroller. There was no one else within 100 feet, so not saying anything would've been weird. We said a few words--it started off with me telling her that her tiny dog had jumped through the playground fence and was running on the sidewalk. I was nervous to even make eye contact. I was so close, I could have wiped Gisele's nose or shook her hand or something.

And then the lock for the playground door's gate slammed on my fingers. As heaven is my witness, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen actually asked, "Are you alright?"

To which I embarrassingly answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you!" I then mumbled, "Have a good one," and that was that. Of course, my mind has replayed this encounter and tried to think of something wittier to say if I could go back in time.

Something like, "Can I please have 1% of your net worth?" Or, "I love you, Gisele" (that would not have gone over well with her, the cops who would've hauled me off, or with my wife!). But there's nothing I could've said that she (or any celebrity) hasn't heard a million times already by much more obnoxious people.

You know, I'm glad I didn't bother her by asking for a photo or autograph or trying to really have a boring, banal conversation. And other people, who knew it was her, left her alone. Surely, moments of privacy and being as normal a person as possible are hard to come by.

But I wouldn't know. I'm not famous (yet).

Apple picker

Apple picking is a new family favorite. Becky and the girls have gone apple picking twice so far this Autumn, and they're going pumpkin picking this week, too! Goose loves apple picking so much that we have--in an imaginative sense--added it to our nightly bedtime routine.

We play "Magic Rocks," wherein we say, "Magic rocks, magic rocks, turn into a..." and add "airplane" or "frog" or "bunny." But lately, we will say "apple picker." Goose then pretends to climb a ladder or jump in the air to grab imaginary apples off the imaginary trees in her bedroom. Sometimes, Daddy's imaginative basket of apples spills over, or she pretends to reach just a bit higher to grab that elusive massive red delicious apple.

In any event, we have a fun time. Amelia isn't old enough to really participate, though she has enjoyed nibbling on some small apples with her mouthful of 6 teeth and then dropping the apple on the ground.

Swing time!

Enjoying the last lingering days of summer.

Apple picking

Last Friday was the quintessential "Autumn Day in New England": crisp air, blue skies, vests and jackets, apples and pumpkins, being out in a field. I just wish I had taken the day off to go out with Becky and our girls!