at the science museum

Gavin and daddy day

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autumn

This says happiness is family. Awesome.

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The decade since

It has been ten years since 9.11. 

Back to 9.11. 

The ten years after 9.11 have not been the best ten years for my new country. They have been besieged by fear, a little craziness and a lot of money. A. Lot. Of. Money. 

William Goldman wrote these wise words for Vizzini in the Princess Bride: 

"Never get in a land war in Asia." 

Right before he drops dead. 

I think there are a lot of people in America who don't connect the dot from the battle of wits, and the battle's being waged by America. To many people in America, Afghanistan and Iraq aren't in Asia, they're  in the Middle East. I've learned that by quoting Vizzini to blank stares. 

The stated goal of Al Queda was to draw the US into a lengthly battle in the desserts of Asia in an effort to bankrupt the world's only remaining superpower. 

As the wars continue to escalate, America continues to amass a staggering debt. This doesn't mean the terrorists are winning. They aren't. America is a strong country that will find its way. Eventually they will get out of the middle east and begin to spend money at home. It will take time, but on the tenth anniversary of the thing that started it all, real change can't happen fast enough.  

BTW, this last ten years saw me: 

Meet a girl. 

Get married. 

Move to a new country.

Buy a house. 

Get a dog. 

Have some kids. 

  

  

Related articles

• The Battle of Wits (mymostfavoritethings.wordpress.com)
• Screenwriting 101: William Goldman (gointothestory.com)
• Did 'we' Lost the War(s)? (charlog.wordpress.com)
• The Lessons of 9/11 (thedailybeast.com)

The first day of school

I've gone on record as saying that it drives me nuts when people say "you should really enjoy it, time really flies."

Time crawls. Slowly. 

Then one day, it is the first day of school. And not some sort of a pre-school. This is really, really school. With teachers and lunch and recess and all that.

So I made a movie about it. Not because I think time has flown by. More because I think it is worth capturing these moments. I'm still working on it, but this is version #1.

Enjoy.

Likes, Autumn and Gavin

For the record, here are some likes:

Autumn: 
Color = Blue.  (Of note: when asked for favorite color, she actually answered; pink, black, yellow and blue. when pressed, she picked blue. I didn't see that one coming.)

Song =  Firework

Person = "My family", followed by a hug

Food = Long, skinny noodles

Animal = Horse

Gavin: 
Color = blue

Song = Ghostbusters

Food = Pizza n mac n cheese

Person = Ray Parker Jr. (Of note, he doesn't know the guy's name, but when asked for his favorite person he said "guy who sings ghostbusters").

The beach house.

We were so lucky to spend a week at Waverly Beach for the last week of July. We had visitors almost everyday.... Uncle Simon and Turner, Grandpa, Grandad and Nanny and loads of friends including Rachel and Erdene, the whole Testa family, Ms. Janet and six kids, Pam and Jessica and Lucas and Jody. It was great fun and allowed Matt and I to relax and not ponder the worries of the day... we just had fun and enjoyed the days. Here are a few images to reflect our time on Edgemere Street in Fort Erie, Canada.

rainy day activity- playdough making... or some facsimile thereof ?@!!

The boy likes his squirt guns...this pump style gun was great for getting Daddy, Mommy and of course, Autumn.

This next shot is the shot of the week in my humble opinion.
The girl has PAZZAZZ!!!

No wait... this shot is the shot of the week...

No.. .THIS is the shot of the week, seriously.

A Dad gets thirsty battling all day :)

Again with the gun, one did break after day two (thankfully)

The queen city from a different vantage point.

another view of the city.

A boy on the run.

A shaky start for our dog Lucy... but she warmed up to the whole concept of beach running.

Oh Yes we did...on that rainy day.

every good beach house has a good bathtub. These guys spent a ton of time in and out of the tub.

What the heck can I say about this lady?

The ol' self-timer family portraits. If you pay close attention, I always look a little winded in these family images, because I am the one who literally RUNS into the shot.

He loves trucks... he is at that stage where he just plays by himself quite happily.

Random Images, part deux.

ps- keep in mind I have more images of Gavin as Autumn is at school during the week... hopefully this summer I will catch up on capturing her pure loveliness and amazing spirit.

Birthday Girl

She ate at her favorite noodle place.With her favorite mom and dad, brother and grandpa.

Happy Birthday Autumn

As soon as I saw autumn on Father's Day morning, she threw open her hands and wished me a happy father's day. 

Okay, that's not true. She cried at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning, so I went in and snuggled until we both went back to sleep. When she woke me up, she asked if we could go downstairs and have cereal.

Then she threw open the arms and wished me happy father's day.

She's now 5. 

This is the part where I wrote that time has flown by. Where I say, I can't believe my little girl is 5. But honestly, I can't really remember a time when she wasn't part of our lives. Her laughs, he faces, her smiles, even her angry faces.

These are all the things that life is about. When she came downstairs on her birthday, she had the biggest smile on her face. 

Happy Birthday Autumn. Your mom and I think you're an amazing young lady and we have loved every minute of the last 5 years.    

Random images from the past couple months...

 
Autumn loves to swing .

 

Walking at Tift Nature Park

 Face Painting at Turner's birthday party.

 More Playground fun.

 Florida shots, just a couple.

 the animals in our lives- Ms. Lucy Von Juicejuice and introducting Ms. Scarlet.