All over the place

Last Monday I left for Glasgow, Scotland on business. It was great seeing all my co-workers. I work with them everyday and yet we rarely see each other in person. They are one hugely talented, fun and crazy group of Scots!

Four days, much work and a few pints later...it was time to hop back on the plane for Boston.

We flew from Glasgow to Philadelphia. When we arrived our connecting flight to Boston was cancelled due to thunderstorms. So we battled the system and managed to get a late flight into Manchester, New Hampshire. David's wife Cathy picked us up at midnight (yay!) and Bob met us halfway at some exit off of 93. As we made the swap from one car to the next in a dark parking lot if felt like we were making a drug deal or something.

The next morning I unpacked and packed and we loaded up the car and drove 6 hours to Binghamton, New York. Why? Well it's time for the annual campout with our college buddies. We've been meeting once a year for over 20 years - not to be missed if we can help it!

Two nights, much fun, wild silliness and more than a few beers (and WAY too much food) later...it was time to hop in the car and drive to Rochester.

By way of Ithaca...which is gorgeous and gorges, of course.

Here we plan to help out Mom and Pops since Mom just got sprung from the hospital. She's spent pretty much every day of June in the hospital. We're hoping to help smooth out the transition a bit.

And go to Schaller's, of course.

Now here I sit at Mombo's desk catching up on the blog. Amazingly I'm not jet-lagged and I'm feeling pretty good.

Last day of school

You remember the last day of school...pack up your desk, apple for the teacher, sign yearbooks...

Well, Drew's 5th grade class had a great open house on the second to the last day of school. They showed a slide show of the whole year - really cool. Amazing how much the teachers do with the kids. Teachers are special people. We toured all the kids work for the year and had a party.

So when it came around to the last day of school, it was pretty much a formality. So that was the rationalization. That's why Bob felt it was OK to celebrate the last day of school Celtics style.

He took Drew to school early, gathered all his stuff from the teachers, said thanks and then he and Drew hopped in the car. They cruised to the T and went into Boston for the Celitcs victory parade.

Hey, we missed all the Red Sox and Patriots victory parades...and regret it - so why pass up yet another Boston victory? You just don't know how long the streak will be.




Halfway through the parade Drew said, "Hey Dad, does this mean we're Celtics fans from now on?"

Yeah, it's safe to say they are Celtics Boyz now!

Celtics are back

We moved to Boston in 1982. Back then the Celtics ruled basketball.

1986 they won the championship. Bob, Dan and Pops went to a game together back then and saw Bird in action. I wish I had seen that.



Now it's time to go back to the future. Tonight is Game 5 against the Lakers for the Championship. That's like Boston being in the World Series against the Yankees.

We don't even watch that much basketball. But I'm totally taken with this team. Pierce. Garnett. Rondo. Allen. House. Posey.

So don't hate us because we have a great baseball team and a great football team and a great soccer team and now a great basketball team (never mind those Bruins). GO CELTICS!

Great Dads

Great Dads...
Come from great Dads...

Egyptian Jimmy

Forget Lawrence of Arabia. Here's Jim of Erie, PA. On a camel. At the pyramids. How cool is that?

Jimmy is an engineer and works for General Electric. His job has taken him to lots of interesting places - Italy, Egypt, England, Vancouver - all over. He makes marine engines. He also can pick up pyramids with one hand. What a guy.

Dances with Wolves

Dances with Wolves came out in 1990 and swept the Oscars in '91. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 7 including Best Picture, Best Director (Kevin Costner), Best Editing, Best Cinematography. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.

One of the Oscars went to John Barry for a brilliant original score. We own the soundtrack. In fact, Drew, who loves to listen to music as he falls asleep, chose that soundtrack as one of his favorites. It's amazing.

Today we watched the first two hours of the movie with the boys for the first time. The arc of the story is perfect - an award-winning screenplay. And the characters - all of them - are so well defined, so human and so real. It brings history to life and really shows the devastation brought by war and ignorance. Needless to say, it's already made a big impression on the kids.

Watching movies together is one of our favorite things to do as a family. Each summer we make a list. One summer we did a James Bond film festival and watched them all in order. This year Dances with Wolves is on the list. So we've already kicked off our summer film series.

The movie is shot in Badlands National Park in South Dakota, which also happens to be at the top of our list for our summer vacation.

We hope to fly out to Rapid City and visit the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and then head over to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons. Road trip!

Cousins

We had fun hanging out with the Dan Welch's a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day in Marblehead. While Dan, Julie Bob and I took a walk up by the lighthouse...


Cousins Mike, Matt, Dylan, Drew and Mike's girlfriend Jane went to the beach and are rumored to have jumped in the freeeezing water to kick off the summer.

Now we begin

And before it really begins with McCain, let's take a moment to think of how far we have come as a country.

David Cooooookkkkk

Best moments of the finale.

Bistro Bob

Bob is between jobs right now. It's great.

Our yard looks great thanks to his lawn farming. He tosses the ball around to Drew most days. He was able to take a trip back to Rochester and help out Mom and Pops.

Because I work at home, we usually take walks before we start our day and take the time to enjoy the flowers. The cars sit in the driveway for days at a time.

And we get to enjoy Bob's famous Bistro cooking.

This night it was Filet Mignon topped with pesto and goat cheese, roasted asparagus and onions, fresh tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and oil topped with goat cheese. And a nice glass of Côtes du Rhône. Mmmmmm.

With WeeWorld really starting to gain momentum, I'm busier than ever. So this is soooo great for me. Especially after surviving the last three years when Bob was running a startup and commuting between San Francisco and New York. He was away too much and it was hard on all of us - especially him.

So the break is necessary for him. I've been there too - a failed startup. It's a definite case of post-traumatic stress syndrome. You need the down time to get your balance back. So we're very mindful about taking this time. And we're enjoying it.

Alas, though, Bob is being presented with some really interesting new opportunities. So this will all change. But, man, we're loving it while it's here.