Christmas Lights 2008

Here is Super Roy surverying the work of his Super-Power (Christmas Lighting). When we asked the boys what their favorite part of his trip to Tally was Garrett responded with, "I liked when Pop-Pop helped me put up Christmas lights". Clearly Garrett is a very accomplished house lighter at 5 years old.



This was a big change for Amy. She opted for a red ribbon with lights as opposed to a garland.

I know I know

I am an awful blogger lately. I have been too caught up with Facebook to try to keep up with both. I have so much to say and post it is mind blowing. I will do my best over the next several days to post some of the 763 pictures I took at Disney. I will also attempt to put into words what happened the final hour of our visit. It was so wonderful that I feel I would just mess it up with words. The collage above is just a taste of what happened in that "Magic Hour". Gavin's smile in the largest image should give you some idea as to how it went.

Labor Day at Unka Bills

Clone Wars Preview Part 2

Although the boys have never seen Star Wars they love the characters. I have promised them when each of them turns 7 we will watch Episode 4 together like me and my dad did when I was 7. Gavin was beside himself with joy at the sight of Boba Fett. You can tell by these pics his joy is genuine.

Clone Wars Preview Part 1

Attack of the Clones

Build your own Clone Army. Available at Target for only $9.99

IKEA Rules

We spent 4 hours in IKEA last week. It was so awesome that we almost decided to stay. We even ate in the IKEA cafe for dinner. We bought a few things but the real excitement was with the toy organizer. We added 2 of them to the play area and weeded out some stuff. Made a huge difference in the boys' area.

Popsicle

The boys took a quick break from the motorcycles to enjoy the new swing and a fudgesicle. Don't ask me why Gavin is wearing a winter sweater in 100 degree heat. I don't have a good explanation.

Sea World

Today we made our first trip to Sea World. The boys' endurance was surprisingly good considering we arrived at 9 and left at 5. We managed to fit in all the stuff we needed to. We even got the passes for the rest of 2008 so we can visit again during our September Disney trip.

Here are a few observations from our visit:
1. Not many english speaking people visit theme parks
2. The boys LOVE roller coasters
3. Sea World is not inexpensive
4. Grant wants a baby Killer Whale for our bath tub
5. Grant wants a manatee to sleep in his bed
6. Gavin is fearless
7. Garrett shocked me with his love for scary rides
8. Gavin will sleep under any circumstance
9. Stingrays alone would have satisfied Garrett
10. It is possible for it to rain all day/everyday for an entire week in the sunshine state
11. Shamu is magical
12. The sharks are smaller now than they appeared when I was in 4th grade
13. Penguins pooping is a lot fun to watch and tell other visitors about
14. Walruses have "big booties"
15. Amy is a sucker for fake documentaries about Shamu
16. Beluga whales can swim backwards
17. It is hard to push 2 empty strollers thru a crowd of Brazillian kids
18. Cargo shorts are a MUST
19. According to Amy I have a mystical tie to manatees
20. It is possible to survive a day without LEGOs

Favorite parts-- After nearly everything we do we always ask the boys what their favorite part was. Here is the response I got just 30 seconds ago.
Garrett-Petting the stingrays
Gavin-The Shamu Express roller coaster
Grant-"My favorite part...WALRUS"

Hangin' at the blues club

Me and my dad are at Dave's CC watching Rev. Billy C. Wirtz. The set is about to start in a minute or so. This will mark about 12 years since me, Tripp and Presto were out here with a bunch of people. Hasn't changed much.
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I miss my family

I was not made for traveling. Too many cute people at home.
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Luke Loves Japanese

The boys took a few Star Wars guys to the Japanese Steakhouse tonight. Luke Skywalker was especially enonamored with the fire show. The Death Star Officer got festive with the umbrella and fishing net on his back.

Chopsticks

David treated us to Osaka tonight to celebrate the coming of #4. The boys did a great job eating their food with chopsticks. They are so cultured.

Ode To My Daddy

Today is Father's Day. It was hard to imagine being a father when I was a kid. Now that I am a Father of 3 almost 4 it is still clear as mud. Am I doing it right? Will my boys look back fondly on my choices or think I am loony? I am guessing it will be a mixture of both.

I heard someone say this week that guys don't ever wake up on Mother's Day and ponder their Mother's imperfections. Girls might but guys don't. Instead guys use Father's day for that kind of reflection. We wonder why they weren't more loving, expressive, sincere and gentle like our Moms.

The fact of the matter is Dad's are Dad's. They are not Mom's nor do we need them to be. Father's serve a very different purpose. My Dad and I are very different but very much the same. While I toil away at my own business having never worked for anyone other than myself in my professional career, he has been with the same company for 35 years. On the other hand I inherited the same dry sarcasm that has invaded both our lives. That same sarcasm has probably cost both of us our fair share of enjoyable moments together.

While we can all find things about our Dad's we will never want to duplicate there are some nuggets we all need to cherish. I wanted to take a moment to recall some memories and lessons I learned from my Dad. Not the normal stuff like how to ride a bike, shoot a gun, box out, hit a 3 iron or general toughness but some more obscure stuff.

• My Dad's dad is a bit of an embellish-er. When he tells a story everything in it is bigger and badder than anyone else has ever experienced. Growing up and hearing the stories then again thru my Dad's filter has given me the heart of a skeptic. I can pick out BS from 73 miles away. LESSON: LET YOUR YES BE YES AND YOUR NO BE NO. DON'T ADD TO THE STORY

• I had at least 2 sacks, I know I recovered 2 fumbles, I nearly scored a touchdown on defense but the ball rolled between my legs. I was flying all over the field. It was maybe by greatest achievement on a football field. After the game I was carrying my muddy, sweaty self to the locker room. My Dad was standing by a fence with Mr. Mercelliot. I was excited about the game I had played and even more excited about the trip to Christy's Pizzaria with all my teammates. I asked my Dad if I could go and he said "maybe". I responded with "c'mon, I played a great game!". My Dad spoke a phrase I have never forgotten. "Don't ever say you played a great game. That is for your coaches and teammates to decide." I know my Dad will never remember saying that but I never forgot it. It has served me all my life. If you have to tell someone you are something then chances are you probably aren't. LESSON: ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

• He taught me how to shake a man's hand with conviction and look him in the eye the entire time. Not to hand someone a "dead fish" and look at the ground. Nor do you try to break someones hand, that only screams that you trying to make up for some other deficiency. Shake firmly and confidently.

• He taught me that every one's favorite subject is themselves. When speaking to a client you concern yourself with their history, not your own. If they want to know about you I am sure they will ask.

• I remember being in Tennessee as a second grader and living in, what I considered to be, a huge home. It had a large deck and a massive hallway that was perfect to race cars down. My dad was probably 23 years old and we owned a home. My mom drove a Pinto but we OWNED our home. It took me until I was 27 to own my first home and even then I had no family. My parents have never in their lives owned a new car or anything remotely close. We never took elaborate family vacations. We never bought designer clothes. We didn't eat out much. We didn't have new furniture but the places we put the used furniture was always owned. LESSON: OWN A HOME AND DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CRAP.

• Growing up in frigid Tennessee my Dad found it novel that you could actually play golf on Christmas Day in Florida. He would take me and some neighborhood kids to play golf nearly every year around Christmas. I think that is so he could call family and say "Yeah I know it's 15 up there. It's 75 here and we played golf today." It wasn't just Christmas that we played golf. It was nearly every day off he had when I was a kid. We played Bonaventure on US1 where my game matured and my wedge play blossomed. I think I was better with my short game from 9-13 then I ever became after that. It's that love for golf that he instilled that got me on the radio on Saturday mornings to talk golf. That radio show came in handy at the 1996 FSU Alumni Gathering where I used that show to invited the Lady Seminoles to appear just so I could meet a girl. I met a different one (the one who ate milkshakes every day and killed birds with her bare hands) and married her. It's also that love of golf that is the source of my Father's day gift. Amy is not buying me a tie or some other useless trinket. She is allowing me 7 uninterrupted hours of US Open coverage in gorgeous HD from 3 to 10.

• One day, when I was probably 11ish, I came home from school to find my Dad at there. This was quite bizarre because he was never home on a weekday. He asked me the question every child longs to hear -- "Do you want to play a video game?" Up until that point I don't think I had ever played a video game with my Dad. I was pumped. I raced into the living room to set up the Atari 2600 only to find the most glorious sight my young eyes had ever seen. A shiny new, just released for the 2600, copy of PAC-MAN. Words can't describe what that moment felt like. No other kids were going to have it. No other Dad's would go buy it. I can't remember if he played or just watched me play that day but it was certainly something I never forgot.

• I have a sincere love for classic rock that was born thru WDIZ Sunday Morning Classics. They played from 8-12 every Sunday and I remember always wanting noon to come quickly so they could get back to regularly scheduled Van Halen. It wasn't till later that I realized that I loved Creme, The WHO, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac and so on. No good music has been made past 1994 and the music of the 70's only makes today's music SUCK that much harder in comparison.

• Lastly ( I could write forever but it's almost 4AM), when I got my Senior yearbook I was excited to see how many times my studly 3 Year Letterman-self appeared in those black and white pages. I had a girl who sat next to me in History say "I like what your parents wrote in the yearbook" as she chuckled. Oh crap, what did they do to me!! I raced to the back of the book to see what kind of horrific humiliation I was in for. Next to the 600 entries of "GOOD LUCK" -- "WE LOVE YOU" -- "CONGRATS" -- "WE KNEW YOU COULD DO IT" was my Dad's parting shot of my high school career. Standing out like a sore thumb was not the normal well-wishing. It was a life lesson. A little nugget he used to throw around now made public for all my classmates to live by as well. It simply said -- Brian, Life is time and time is life. What you do with your time is what you do with your life. We are confident you have the tools to make the right decisions. Love Dad, Mom and Jason It is very true and certainly something to live by.

I hope I have taken my tools and built a life pleasing to my Father. More importantly I hope that my efforts as a Father and husband are pleasing to Amy and the boys. I hope the things I am doing with my time are going to bear fruit in the form of a good and happy life for my entire family. Either way, it will be a long time before I hear how I did from my boys.

Sometimes the tools are heavy. Sometimes the tools need to be sharpened and tweaked. Sometimes the tools wear me out. In any case, I am glad to have my set.

Thank you Dad for my tools. Happy Father's Day. I love you.

Yep It's True!

We are pregnant with #4. We couldn't be more excited. We are beyond blessed to have so many wonderful little boys. Garrett and Gavin have already started naming her. Grant told me today that if it's a little boy he wants to name him "DOT VADAH". We are praying very hard for that girl.

Pizza Men's Fruit

Pizza Men -- Part 3

Garrett chose pepperoni and cheese. My fav.

Pizza Men -- Part 2

Grant chose cheese only...lot and lots of cheese.

Pizza Men Part 1

Tonight all the boys made their own pizza. Gavid poured on the mushrooms and a pile of the whole milk fancy mozzarella. They were delicious and the boys tore them up.

Gavin -- A Man's Man

Gavin is our boy who shows the most manly features. The way he walks and plays and does nearly everything. This is a good example of Gavin's individuality and overall coolness. While the other boys are asleep just a few feet away in the comfy bed, Gavin is sprawled on the recliner. It's good to be king!

Grant's Cool Presents

Amy picked out the very best card ever. It was a Darth Vader card that, when opened, played the Imperial March. Or as Grant's calls it, "The Dot Vader Song".

Amy captured it all on the Flip Video. It will be a few weekes before I can get video posted.
Mum is on the spot to make sure he shows his cool new Darth Vader to the camera.

We Heart Star Wars

We all wore Star Wars masks for our little private birthday party. I am embarrassed for my family that we had to resort to Clone Troopers and the young Obi-Wan. If we could have stuck to Episodes IV thru VI we would have. My apologies.

The Coolest Yoda Cake Ever

Birthday For G3 At Zoinks

Yesterday was Grant's 3rd birthday. We celebrated by going to Zoinks then to La Hacienda with Mum and Papooow. Garrett and I went to Target to pick out a small gift for him. I slowly pushed Garrett thru the kids areas and let him be soley responsible for picking his stuff. Here is what Garrett picked:
1. The brown Yoda shirt you see him wearing
2. Super cool Batman PJs
3. Big Green Incredible Hulk T-shirt
4. Darth Vader Action Figure
He did a very good job. He was also very vocal about why he picked each item. Each choice was very well thought out. It was a lot of fun to hear him talk about how much Grant would love this or that and why.

The Many Faces of Gavin

It started off innocently enough for Gavin. He was the ultra-cool dude with his hands in the pockets of his "horse shorts" and his shirt untucked. Unfortunately he quickly became the sulking, brooding, bad kid who scowled at his parents on the front row and refused to sing one word during the hour long program. I was hard for me to resist the temptation to go drag him off the stage and explain to him the finer points of manners. The problem we figured out later was that he was up before 6AM and was about to fall asleep during the entire program. Nonetheless, I feel it's important to blog this to give him a reminder of how not to act.

Jason Priestly?

FSU Baseball

It doesn't matter that this day included a Seminole's win or Buster Posey playing all 9 positions on the field, striking out the only 2 batters he faced and hitting a GRAND SLAM. This day was all about the peanuts.

Girl Band

We took the boys too see these girls play tonight. They were AWESOME.


Cripple Creek from David Fusselman on Vimeo.

Hello Rachel

Dear Rachel in Brooklyn,
Please email me!
Peace, Love and Red Sox,
Brian

Free Comic Book Day

Today we hit free comic book day. The boys were amazed at the sight of a Storm Trooper. Since we were in the comic spirit we took the boys to the mall to see the full size HULK on display at the theater. Check out Gavin's perfect form. A special thanks for Mr. Jeff for helping with the day and facilitating extra special Storm pics.

New Shirts

Now we don't have to even have to guess which G is which when their backs are turned.

Mommy's Birthday

Girls' Night Out

From top left:
Lori Halligan, Kerri Pearce (pregnant with her 3rd), Lisa Hermann, Brittney Harlacher, Nicole French, Sheri Koyles
bottom left:
Joyce Brienen, Me, Lindi Coker (pregnant with her 2nd)

On Wednesday night, my sweet girlfriends surprised me and took me out to Friday's for my 31st birthday. They showered me with gifts too. We had a fun time. I am really surrounded by such awesome friends. The nine of us left all 20 children at home...2 more are in the womb.

Vote

First Day of Summer?

It must be summer in Tally because the pool made it's appearance today.

Pressure Washing the Children

The boys discovered that Papaaaoow's pressure washer turns into a fine mist at about 6 feet. They got misted by Papaooow for a good 20 minutes.

Prego Padme

Oh what fun the boys will have with this!

Historic Night In A Galaxy Close To Home

Tonight was kinda historic. The passion of my childhood has been passed along in it's new form. This marks the first ever Star Wars figures we have bought the boys. The set was picked because it had 5, yes 5, StormTroopers (ShockTroopers). The boys are drawn to StormTroopers just as I was back in 1977. I remember wishing I had 100 of them to march in formation and be directed by Lord Vader. Along with the StormTroopers they packaged a PREGNANT Padme. Nothing screams fun for a little boy quite like a pregnant Senator who is carrying the spawn of the nasty leader of the Dark Side.

Below you will see my personal collection from 1977-79. I have been saving them for 30 years thinking I would eBay them someday. No amount of cash could buy the feeling it gave me to watch Gavin, for the first time in his life, become speechless. He couldn't summon the words to describe how excited he was to see these men. Both Garrett and Gavin struggled for words for nearly 10 minutes (that is 16 months in toddler time).

You enthusiasts you will notice the collection is complete from the Episode IV. I even have all the GUNS, but I am not giving those to them for a long while. Notice too that the Jawa still has his robe, Yoda still has his snake and robe and all capes are still intact (Darth, Obi-Wan and the Tusken Raider). I hope they continue to care for them the way I did. Wishful thinking I am afraid.