Whipped Cream for Breakfast

Breakfast at our hotel in Hadley, Massachusetts, near the UMass-Amherst campus, during our mini-vacation. Our kids loved the different cereals, the apple and orange juice, and the waffles. But mostly, having mountains of whipped cream on their waffles was the biggest hit at breakfast time. 

This is the best shot I got of all four of our kids. Moose looks miffed about something, while it appears that I intruded on Mouse's leisurely reading of The Daily Hampshire Gazette. We certainly created amusement for the other people eating breakfast near us, too. The teams of college athletes and random other hotel guests liked catching glances of the cacophony of noises and the whirlwind of energy as we got our food, took our seats, and danced around the table, stalling finishing their meals like they stall going to sleep!

Mouse's First Post!

My neighbors ...

are kind

are sweet

are funny

are loving

give us Fruit Snacks

play with us

Love,

Amelia

At the Dentist's

Moose recently went to our family dentist, and little brother Grouse joined him back-stage for a bit. He got to tour the fun office, see the flat-screen TV's (no such perk in the adults' rooms at this dentist's place!), and get an idea of what is in store for him in about 6 months.

This is Grouse's classic head-tilt pose, demonstrated many times when we say "cheese."

Our Mighty Moose, all smiles after his check-up.

This Car

Our kids raved about this bright, multi-colored Volkswagen Beetle parked outside the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art when we visited. In fact, I think their dilly-dallying in front of it made us late to sign up for some activity at the Museum that they also would have loved: a therapy dog visited the Museum at the same time we were there. We didn't breathe a word of this to our kids, of course. We're not that stupid! 

Of course, the big questions our kids asked us: 

"Can we drive it?"
"Can we bring it home?"
"Can we paint our van to look like this car?"

Antonio's Pizza, Amherst

Our kids had February school vacation recently, and I took a few days off from work for a mini-vacation. We didn't leave the state, but we did leave home -- and that's an achievement for a family of 6 in my book! I went to college at UMass-Amherst and hadn't been back to the campus since the fall of 2007, when Becky and I visited for a beautiful fall afternoon with Goose, who was then just over 6 months old.

With four kids in tow, it wasn't quite the trip down memory lane that I had expected. There would be no slow waltzes through the book stores I loved, no meandering walks in the Holyoke Range, no long and leisurely and direction-less driving around the upper Pioneer Valley. Our faith, which I didn't even know about when I was in college, teaches a health code that prohibits booze, so I wouldn't belly up to my favorite bars for a beer or two.

Our kids were great sports, though, for the little bit of time we did spend visiting my old haunts. One of them, indeed our very first stop once arriving in Amherst, was Antonio's pizza. Oh sure, I bet it was really hard convincing kids to make a pit-stop at a pizza joint! 
Antonio's is usually jam-packed, both because the pizza varieties are astounding and it's great pizza and the "restaurant" is about the size of a mailbox. We had to rig two tables together to accommodate our tribe.

Most everyone settled for cheese or pepperoni, but I got a neopolitan and Becky got a slice of salad pizza. I don't know how the crust stayed strong enough to hold all of the veggies. I think in the photo above, Our Baby Grouse is turned away from the camera to longingly look back at Antonio's for more pizza! 

I hit Antonio's probably every weekend or every other weekend my first semester of college, especially late at night. Nowadays, I don't willingly see any hour beyond 10:3o p.m., but back in college, that hour would have seen me and my friends just leaving the dorm for a second dinner of pizza at Antonio's! 

This was a great visit to start our 3-day vacation in the Amherst area. We didn't go back for seconds like I kind of thought we would, but we'll be back in the fall! 

Behind This Smirk

Mister Moose, the kid so devoted to being four-and-a-half. He'll always remind anyone of his very specific age, when they ask -- and even when they don't. Behind that smirk is a brain full of mischief, the occasional "where did that come from?!" tantrum, and a love of learning about my own boyhood. 

Moose needs to meet my childhood best friend Gerard soon. I have told Moose numerous stories over the last year, at his request, about my growing-up years. Even if Gerard was not central to -- or even involved with -- the particulars of the story I am telling Moose on a given occasion, Moose will invariably ask, "What did Gerard do?" "What did Gerard say?" "Where was Gerard?" I am sure that Gerard will live up to the pedestal that Moose has put him on, once they meet each other. 

Moose loves anything Star Wars. He wants to see Episode VII. It warms my heart when I hear him actually call it "Episode VII." Tonight at bedtime, Moose and I tossed a small basketball back-and-forth to each other. I told him it reminded me of the countless long tosses with a baseball that my Dad and I had when I was growing up. My Dad would often sing-song call-out, "N-i-c-e catch! N-i-c-e throw!" to me as we lobbed the ball between us. It is awesome to see how much my own son likes learning about my childhood.

Becky placed Moose in front of a bright orange-painted poster, above, at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. Orange is his favorite color. In our home, we fly different current and historical world flags. I'd like to find an orange flag and fly it for Moose on his birthday and at other times of the year. 

He'd get a kick out of it.  

The Blues

We are back from a 3-day, 2-night mini-vacation to my college stomping grounds at UMass- Amherst. It was a great trip for us during February school vacation week. Our hotel had a pool, and I think our kids would have been content to swim in it all day long, then go out to eat and return to our hotel room to watch Animal Planet's Treehouse Masters at night. We don't have cable TV in our home (11 years and running without it!), so they especially loved the luxury of flipping channels on the remote.

And next to me, above, is the one who  advocated for this trip, who planned for it, who made it happen, who talked me off the ledge when the potential for 2 nights of major interrupted sleep loomed before us (this trip was the first time that all 6 of us have slept in the same room). No, not Baby Grouse! Becky, of course. 

We have put a lot of miles on our marriage: each year since we were married in 2005 has brought about at least one massive lifestyle change, from buying a home to welcoming a baby to remodeling our kitchen to me almost dying of a blood clot, to raising four kids in an 1,800-sq. ft., 105-year-old house. It's "been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise," to quote a Queen song, and yet she has made so many of the miles traveled worth it, even if we only value the roads we've traveled when we look at them in our rear-view mirror.

So, sure we have had blue days. Blue weeks, even. But with Becky at the helm and at my side, the sky of life oftentimes looks stunningly, clear, bright blue thanks to her outlook and sacrifice. 

Our Littlest Helper

Sometimes I feel that Our Baby Grouse is trying so hard to play catch-up with his three older siblings, racing against the clock and his body's abilities. That makes sense. Over the last few weeks, I have seen Grouse be able to hold his own attention-wise and ability-wise with his big brother, his doting sisters, and their friends, at least for a bit. He toddles after them, "talks" with them, and responds well to them trying to engage in play with him. 

This is a big difference from this fall, and it's great to see. His sisters have always been good in terms of playing with Grouse, holding him, etc., but his big brother Moose appeared to have the attitude that his baby brother was too small, too young, too prone to wanton destroy things, so Moose didn't really engage with him. But that's changed with time, and it is fun to see our boys playing together.

Grouse seems to think he is big enough to push this Costco shopping cart. And that he is strong enough to go outside in mid-December without a winter jacket on! He loathes winter gloves, hats, and jackets. Maybe being in -2 degree temps yesterday morning as our Blue Bomber mini-van warmed up to take us to church will have changed his attitude! 

Striving for a New Me

Here is yours truly with my far better (and much better-looking) half in mid-December. I know our friends' annual Christmas party invitation went out to couples, but I sneaked in a guest with Becky: my barrel stomach. That is all 184 pounds of me. If a picture can motivate someone to change their dreadful health habits, this photo did it for me.

I'm no longer 184 pounds. I'm down to 178 over the last two months. It hasn't been as easy to slim down and get in better shape as it has been before. My knees and muscles need extra stretching and foam rolling prior to running, but running I am. And it feels awesome! Well, most of the time. Seriously, I know I will bawl when my knees are strong enough again to allow me to train three or four times a week, running a 5K each time like I did in 2013.  

For a guy who loves to run and whose running routines were the primary cause of significant weigh loss at a few intervals over the last decade, this is a huge step in the right direction. Running was what led me to lose about 20 pounds in 2013. I was in the best shape of my adult life. Then, I fell off my bike, broke my collarbone, and suffered a blood clot in the late summer of 2013, derailing my exercise program for the rest of the year. 

2014? We had a newborn. 'Nuff said. I could have taken time for self-improvement, but I was juggling work, life, and a host of other priorities. Simply put, I chose not to make time for exercise, and I regret that.

2015? The new year started off great, but my knees gave out in late January. Physical therapy helped, but a new direction at work meant a lot more demands on my time. It was a very hard year, with a blistering pace that has since returned to normal, but I ate my stress and exhaustion for most of the year. 

2016? I am trying to eat less. I have been to our work gym about 20 times since early January, and the results are there. My clothes fit better, and in some cases are too loose. I am also semi-addicted to the weight room at my work. It's a lot of fun to try out different weights equipment and see the results in my biceps, triceps, pecs, etc. I've got a personal trainer who is energetic and focused on increasing my all-around mobility first. He's given me about a dozen exercises I can use at home for 15 minutes at a time, which is what I need. The mix of stretching, running, and weights gives my body a more well-rounded routine, instead of my past cycles of primarily just running; this blend also keeps me engaged in my workouts and interested in mixing things up more, which is a plus. 

It feels great to be under 180 pounds, but my goals are:

1) to get to 162 again. 
2) to find an exercise and eating regimen that is sustainable, enjoyable, works for my lifestyle, adjusts for age (i.e., needing to shift to lesser-impact exercises in time) and helps to keep the weight off. 

I want to look like this again, above. This was me in 2008. I may not fully get there, but I am going to try my hardest, and that barrel stomach is on its way out. 

Rotar the Car

At Christmastime, I took Mister Moo on a "Daddy-Digger" Date to a plaster-painting store nearby. Our "Daddy-Digger" Date is his sisters' term for our outings, a linguistic counter- balance to the "Daddy-Daughter" Dates I have with Mouse and Goose. 

This was Moose's first time at the store, and he was quite interested in the many plaster items on display. Of course, he gravitated first to the biggest, most expensive ones, like the Spider-Man or Darth Vader plaster casts. Decked out in his red snow pants and red T-shirt, Moose finally settled on a race car. He and I then spent about an hour first applying the primer and then his selected colors. The race car's paint-job was a funny mish-mash of blue, green, pink, orange, black, brown...you name it. 

The kicker? Moose wanted to paint a name on the sides of his race car. He asked me how to spell Rotar, so I helped him with that. Rotar is the last name of a family in our church. I immediately took a picture of Moose's finished product, proudly displaying the Rotar name, and texted it to the Rotar family.   

Beauty

Lovely girl, you're the beauty in my world

A dozen years ago, we were friends through church. You were seriously considering moving back home, clear across the country. I remember feeling sorry to hear that, and hoping that you would change your mind. We became better friends. You did change your mind. And here we are now, a house and four kids and a mini-van (ha!) and a lot of miles under our belt as a couple and as a family. I would not have wanted to take the journey of these last 12 years without you. It would not have been as fun or enjoyable or loving with anyone else. 

Thank you for changing your mind! Thank you for who you are!