Myra Turns 4

Wow! My Little Bear turned four. So hard to believe! She has grown so much lately, and now even rides a two wheeler! How time flies!

NHL All Star Weekend!

Myra's Fourth Birthday and NHL All Star Weekend in Raleigh. Can life get any better?

The Breeding Funk In Our House

Yes, we all had a touch (or more) of the crud this weekend. Thank GOODNESS for the three day weekend--we needed it to recuperate. After my migraine on Friday a week ago, Kerry contracted the flu this week. Of course that took a lot out of her, so more on me. Then Lucy got sick, negative for flu, but could be a false negative, tamiflu anyway. So of course, I figured two more migraines this week would be super fun. And this weekend, with them recouping, Myra decided to start getting stuff. I see a sinus infection in her future.
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We need to get cured for the busy couple weeks. Next week the girls go to Saturday school, followed my Myra's birthday party at Monkey Joe's. The week after my folks come down, NHL All Star Fest, and the NHL All Star 5k. Hopefully I will be ready for that. Did a 3 and 4 miler this weekend, so we'll see. Finally got toe socks so I can run in the Vibrams in the cold.

First Snow of 2011

The first snow and my thoughts, not the last one. What a crazy winter! After not getting the snow overnight, in the middle of the afternoon it began snowing like crazy yesterday. Even covered the ground a little. Now tomorrow another snow/ice storm. We'll see...

A Long Week...

Well, the good news, the girls and I made it through the first long week back after Christmas. The bad news, as you can see in the picture, I stayed home sick with a terrible migraine on Friday. Been getting them lately, and not quite sure if I blame the weather, stress, or just life. Myra was very cute though, she brought in her dog, Snots, to let me sleep with while they went to school. Now, let's see if we all can make it through this week!

A Hockeeeeeey Night in Pittsburgh!

So I said first of two trips to Pittsburgh. The second, just my dad and I made--I got us tickets to the Pens game in the new Consol Energy Center. Definitely a great evening! Got to ride the Pittsburgh T, subway, for the first time. My dad liked that as well!

Got to see our picture on the Mario Mosaic

Got a great Primanti Bros' sandwich

Oh, and a great Pens win over Atlanta!

Christmas, 2010 Part III

Yeah, Uncle Chuck should've had a girl or two as well!

Then we had two days in Pittsburgh. The first involved the whole family going down to Granny's, meeting Aunt Cheryl's new 'man,' and more present swapping!

Oh, and of course, lots of time playing with Lucy and Myra's idol--Madison! More Winter Classic for Chris!

Christmas, 2010 Part II

Of course, even with the 10"+ in Raleigh, we got to play in the snow at PapPap's! The girls got good use out of their new boots, making snow angels and sledding with PapPap. Pretty cold though! Kerry and I went for a run, and boy, does the wind blow up there!

We got to see all the New Florence relatives as well. I wondered, with Grandma's passing this year, and then the selling of the house, what my dad and his brother and sister would do. Well, they all came out to my folks for dinner and present swapping. It was nice. Girls got some more of the Painted Horses, as well as two of my Grandma's rings. Pretty special! Oh, and I won $25 on a ticket!!! Go me!!

Christmas, 2010

So we started the day in Raleigh. Santa treated us all pretty generously, the girls getting a variety of things, including a bunch of Barbie furniture, a cake Play-Doh maker, and some fashion tracing plates. After some time to play with our gifts, we packed up the car and headed to Pennsylvania where Santa found us again.

I snagged some great Winter Classic merchandise and a Penguins 3rd jersey. Girls got a variety of things including walkie talkies and a new Hess truck (with Jet)! Fun! Some Pens jammies for Kerry--I guess another present for me!

Jen and Cole came over and we gave him a GREAT gift! A Cole Hurricanes shirt! His latest since getting one when he was much younger. The girls had a great time playing with Cole. They all got robots (although Lucy's broke), and they just played with them all over the place. We also got him one of those Hexbugs (just had to see how they worked!), and they had all of them going out in the kitchen!

Christmas Eve, 2010

Cookies are out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

Time to ring the bells for Santa!

Christmas at Hidden Lake

Due to the coming snowstorm in Raleigh for Christmas, we decided to change our travel plans. Originally, we planned to go to HL Christmas Day, then travel to PA the day after Christmas. A forecasted Nor'easter changed that. At first, the local forecasters thought it would be pretty bad. They quickly eased off on that, but then each day, starting about 3 days before Christmas, they changed from a dusting, to 1-3", to 2-4", to 3-6", to 4-8".

We knew it was definitely time to change plans. We went to Hidden Lake for Christmas Eve, and then headed to PA after opening presents Christmas Day. Gave me lots of opportunities for free Sheetz Cupoccinos (had two). We did get to see the Hidden Lake folks, opened presents, and enjoyed some Ping Pong. Fun times!

Happy New Year!

What a great winter vacation! Now we get ready to go back to work and school tomorrow, but we had a great time, and lots of great things coming up in 2011

Christmas Eve!

Hard to believe, but here we are once again. We planned to go to our church today, then to Kerry's folks tomorrow, followed by my folks on Sunday. Mother Nature decided otherwise. With a possible winter storm coming to Raleigh (White Christmas!!!!), we decided we'll visit K's folks today and head to PA tomorrow. Lots of free Sheetz capuccino enroute!

It Was a Hockeeeee Night In Raleigh...

Went to the Canes game last night with a friend I used to work with at the State. Did some frigid tailgating--quite windy, but the warm Bojangles chicken kept me semi-warm. Game was pretty good, except for a terrible call--they called Cole for a boarding 5 minute major. And then Montreal scored twice, winning. Grrrr...Now we have the All Star Game coming, and then Rod Brind'Amour night where they will retire #17!

Got My Car!

Yesterday I traded in the Focus for a 2010 Kia Forte. Love it already, although Kerry and I both struggled with the different shift pattern. Will be on to report more later, but if you use the NC State Employee's Credit Union--you HAVE to take advantage of their car buying program. EASY PEASY!

Still Snowing in Raleigh...

Been mostly rain today, but as you can see by my EVO, it is beginning to turn back to snow. School cancelled tomorrow. New car delayed until Saturday...

Merry Cyber-mas...

Yup, that's the tree at work. We decided we had all those software cds we did nothing with, so let's put them on our tree!

Not Too Bad...

But enough to keep us out of school and keep me from having my new car delivered. Yes, finally found my Kia Forte. A silver 2010 LX. I went through the State Employee's Credit Union--what a treat. You give them what you want, they find it, negotiate, present you with the offer, and bring it TO YOU! Wow. What customer service. Look for pics this weekend!

You Know What This Means...

This was Capital Blvd two days ago in anticipation of this morning's snow and ice.

Magic Kingdom, Day 4

Ok, so today there really were Magic Early Hours. We got in at 8, or at least into Fantasyland. We did Dumbo again (and Froze!), Tea Cups, Cinderella's Carousel, and Winnie the Pooh. It was definitely pretty cool that morning. We moved down to do another turn on It's a Small World, then we wanted to head to my favorite thing, the Haunted Mansion. Very neat.

We went back and hit some things we did not, like Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse. Twice. Then we tried to hit a bunch more things we had not, like Tomorrowland Speedway, another ride on Space Mountain for me, and just some hanging out, some pics in front of the Castle.

And then it was time to head back to the hotel to catch the bus back to the airport. We definitely did everything we wanted. We stopped for some food at the airport, looked through the Disney, Universal (where you can buy HP wands!), and Sea World stores, then went to our gate. We all sacked out on the floor, waiting for our DELAYED plane. Finally got on and got home with a plane full of girls soccer players. Fun. Myra fell asleep on me on the way home, and we got right on our shuttle to our car.

A FUN trip. Lucy asked when we would go again, and Kerry gave the best response ever, 'The next time you're here will be with your family.' Great! While definitely enjoying ourselves, we are not meant for the Disney thing. We did it once, had fun, but I do not think any of us could do it annually like many do. We did it, check it off, and let's move on...