Everyone I know starts their week on Monday, where Saturday and Sunday are considered the end of the week or weekend.  There is another tribe of believers out there, however, that think the week should begin on Sunday and go to Saturday.  I guess, technically, the two days are at the “ends” of the week and could still be considered the weekend.  I don’t know – and really don’t care.  For the purposes of this article, however, the week will start on Sunday.

Yesterday, Sunday, the “first day of the week”, my wife, my son, and I joined our good friends, Brian, Lisa, and their son, Logan, on a trip to North Carolina.

– Wait.  Let me back up.

Saturday night - “Last Week” – Joyce, Daniel, and I attended a Christmas party.  There were lots of kids there and we stayed as long as we thought Daniel could stand it.  His hair was drenched in sweat from running around with all the other kids.  When we got home, he collapsed and went straight to sleep.  Just before leaving for the party, Daniel, informed us of his severely loose tooth.  Though we wiggled and pulled, it was not quite ready to come out.

Sunday morning – yesterday – the first thing that Daniel did was wake up and show us his newly extracted tooth.  Apparently, the tooth only needed a good night sleep before coming out.  So that marks the first Big thing in Daniel’s week.  Daniel lost his first tooth!  He was so proud.  He carried it around in his hand at least five minutes before he surrendered it to the “tooth fairy box”.

Next we got ready for our trip to North Carolina.  This was not just an ordinary trip.  This was a trip to the Polar Express.  We were going to drive three hours to Bryson City to board the famous train.  Daniel and Logan were ecstatic.

The trip went smoothly.  The boys only asked if we were there yet about 5 times each.  Completely tolerable for a 3+ hour drive.  Logan watched Cars, the Movie and Daniel, of course, watched Star Wars Clone Wars.  He watched the movie, then he watched several episodes, then we watched the movie again.

When we arrived, we got our tickets, grabbed a bite to eat and then changed the boys into their pajamas. 

The train ride was great.  Daniel and Logan were very excited about the many activities that went on during the trip.  We were served hot chocolate to the song Hot Chocolate from the movie.  The conductor stopped at every seat and punched each child’s ticket.  He didn’t have the skill of Tom Hanks, so he only punched each ticket with one “very special” hole.  Then we all sang Christmas carols as the trip progressed.  Finally, we reached the destination – The North Pole, where Santa and an elf were waiting to board the train.

The North Pole was a little skimpy, I must admit, but the kids didn’t care.  Santa boarded the train and greeted each kid individually during the return trip.  We rounded out the train ride with more caroling.  Both Daniel and Logan enjoyed the ride thoroughly.  It was a great time.

That marks the second Big item in Daniel’s week.  While today is only Monday, clearly, the week has another big day – Christmas.  But for Daniel, there will be another Big item before Thursday.

Wednesday, Christmas Eve, is also Daniel’s sixth birthday.  So this time of year is always a big deal for Daniel.  He tends to get a lot of presents as no one wants to be “that guy” who gave Daniel one present for both occasions.  In fact, he probably gets too many presents, but it’s his birthday and Christmas – what are you gonna do?

So we will have a small party for Daniel’s birthday on Christmas Eve, before our company (Brian, Lisa, and Logan) arrive for Christmas Eve dinner.  We will have a full blown party for him in January.

He’s a good kid and I love him very much.

Happy week, son.

Today for my birthday, Joyce cooked my favorite meal, Pot Roast.  Daniel got me a card, drew me a picture, and gave me his “I’m 4 years old” ribbon that he wore on his 4th birthday.  Savannah texted me a birthday wish.  And my parents send me a birthday card with some money.

But then I got an unexpected surprise.  My first cousin, Jimmy, got a job in Atlanta and will be moving near me from Florida.  His son and Daniel are the same age and, though they only met at a recent family reunion in New York, they seem to get along well.

I am very excited as I haven’t had a relative live in the same city as me since I was a kid, and never anyone from my Father’s side of the family.

I have wanted Daniel to play baseball for years, but he hasn’t really been that interested, so I didn’t push the issue.  At the family reunion, however, he played baseball with Dominic, who is very good at it. 

When I say Dominic is very good at baseball, I don’t mean he’s good at it for a five year old, I mean he’s very good at it for a seven or eight year old, despite the fact that he’s five.  This kid can switch hit standard sized baseballs pitched overhand.  It is no surprise that Dominic is good at baseball.  His father and his uncle, Michael, both excelled at the game.  Jimmy won a baseball scholarship.

Since playing with Dominic, Daniel has been very interested in baseball.  Now that they will be living in the Atlanta area, not only can they be playmates, but Daniel can learn some baseball from him.

And there you have it.

Joe.

When I arrived home after my Saturday bike ride, I found out that Cartoon Network was promoting the new Clone Troopers TV series at North Point Mall.  “Big Fan” doesn’t exactly describe Daniel.  He will be going as a Clone Trooper for Halloween this year…again.  He was a Clone Trooper last year too.  We were able to play the not-yet-released Clone Trooper game for the Wii.  We got to take a picture in Ben Kenobi robes.  We had great fun.  We spent a good bit of the day at the mall, afterwhich we ate at the Cheesecake Factory.

The next day, we went to Daniel’s Aunt Jenny’s for a family birthday celebration.  Daniel was really excited to see his Grandmother.  They have a strong connection. 

After the party, Daniel and I took our bikes to the Silver Comet Trail.  I am trying to get him out riding with me as often as possible.  He is new to riding a bike and he really likes it.  Though he still has training wheels, he is really getting the hang of riding.  He has one critical bad habit.  He frequently hits the brakes unintentionally while pedaling.  This time out Daniel rode really well.  We rode for four miles!  That’s quite a ride for a five year old beginning bike rider. 

He was exhausted when we got home.  Uncharacteristically, he fell asleep immediately when I put him to bed.  It was a good weekend.

And there you have it.

I am lying here in the guest bedroom of my parent’s home.  My son, Daniel, is asleep next to me, snoring that snore when a child’s sinuses are slightly congested, but not fully clogged.  He isn’t wearing his new Batman pajamas, but his old camouflage ones.  He tends to choose his military referenced clothing when we come here.  I guess being so near Fort Benning reminds him that I was in the Army.

Savannah,  my teenage daughter, is no doubt, exploring Facebook or MySpace.  The chat mechanisms that those sites offer, seem to be more appealing to kids than standard Instant Messaging clients.  One advantage I think the social network site chat windows over regular IMs is that regular IM clients are usually running in the background “in case” someone tries to message you.  On Facebook, for example, you only show online if you are logged into Facebook.  It is a safe assumption, that since you are logged into a social networking site, you are open to socializing, thus receptive to an unannounced message.  It is far more common for someone to be working on the computer and receive a IM message at an inopportune time.

Well, off to sleep.

 

Joe.

Wow…. it has been a long time since I have “spoken”.  I had been good about blogging this year until something just got in the way.  Hell, I don’t even remember what that something was.

So here are some things that have been happening with me:

Though I have been playing guitar since I was a teenager, I never really got any better.  I was satisfied with the skills I had learned and, though I always wanted to get better, I never really had the drive to do what it takes to get there.  Not any more.  I decided about two months ago to pick up the guitar after a long hiatus and to learn the theory of lead guitar.  It has been really enjoyable and led to a purchase of a new guitar…More on that later.

After changing my diet late last year, I managed to lose about 50lbs.  My goal was to lose 70lbs, but I was having trouble getting past my first plateau.  I decided that I needed to begin exercising and regularly.  I joined the company gym and am now working out Monday through Friday including swimming laps daily.  I just started this, so I haven’t had time to see any benefit from a weight loss perspective, but I know it takes patience and persistence to achieve this goal.  I am on my way.

My 20 year class reunion is supposedly this year, though I haven’t heard anything formal about it.  Interestingly enough, I have heard more from the High School that I attended only one year at, then I have from the High School where I graduated.  Hopefully, they can get their act together, because I am looking forward to it.

My wife and I are going on our first vacation as a married couple (excluding our honeymoon).  This is pretty significant since we have been married for 9 years this coming August.  I don’t really know why we have never taken a vacation before now, but I suspect it has to do with schooling, certifications, and a few other impacting events that we have endured throughout our marriage.  We are both really excited about it as is our son.

That’s about it for now, but, hopefully, I will get back on the “blogging horse” and dedicate more time to putting things out there.

And there you have it.