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.

In true DeCarlo fashion we purchased season tickets to something we had never been to nor heard about.  This time it was to Fernbank Museum of Natural History.  It is usually a coin flip.  If we go to this thing more than once, we will save money by getting the season tickets, but if we hate it…well we just overpaid for the single visit.

This was one of those “on the fence” scenarios.  We didn’t LOVE it, but we didn’t HATE it either.  I suppose I will take Daniel and/or Savannah and see it again, but the most impressive things there took about 10 minutes to wear off.

I was hoping the facility would be too large to cover in one visit.  That way a second visit was almost required, but that was not the case.

This place was definitely worth a single visit, but I am not so sure that a season pass should be in order.  If they rotate their exhibits often enough, then that may change my opinion.  Time will tell.

It’s January and it is snowing in Georgia.  For a SECOND time this year!

It snowed earlier in the week at night.  Daniel and I got out and threw snowballs at each other.  Daniel had never seen snow before and he loved it.  Unfortunately for that day, the snow only lasted for about 20 minutes until it gave way to light hail and eventually sleet followed by rain.

Yesterday was a big difference.  It snowed for hours.  It was daylight and Daniel and I had the opportunity to play in it until the cold and wetness became unbearable (at least for us southerners).  We lasted a solid hour-and-a-half before I called it quits.

Daniel definitely loves snow, but what five-year-old wouldn’t?