Back to nature

Last weekend I took Evan and Simon camping. It was their first real camping trip. We when to Falls Lake which was about 25 minutes from our house. We picked out a site and set up camp. After setting up our tent and unpacking everything, we went down to the lake. We walked around for a while, checking out the beach and fishing piers. Unfortunately with the drought, the water level was pretty low. We tried some fishing in the afternoon but it was pretty hot. In the evening we cooked dinner over the campfire and had smores for dessert. The boys thought this was cool!
During the night it cooled off and when we woke up in the morning it felt wonderful. The boys were begging to go fishing again so after breakfast we went to the fishing pier to try again. We did not catch anything but we still had fun. We had a great time but I will not do it during the summer. It has to be during the spring or fall because it was too hot during the day. Click here for more pictures.

Technorati Tags: camping, fishing, North Carolina, family

Something more positive to watch

This past Friday my kids watched the premier of High School Musical 2. They already knew the songs because my wife had bought the Soundtrack CD beforehand and my kids repeatedly listened to it anytime they got in the car. I have to say that it did not disappoint. It is nice to see that you don't need to have all the sex, violence and bad language to have a successful movie. While there is more to the romance between Troy and Gabriella, it still is just an enjoyable movie that entertains. One of the positive things that I see coming out of this story is the relationship between Troy and his dad, especially when Troy is conflicted with all that is happening to him and tells his dad that he doesn't even know who he (Troy) is anymore. the response from Troy's dad shows the confidence of a father that has done all he can to raise his son right and now tells him that he believes that Troy will make the right decision.

Click here, for a more indepth review.

Technorati Tags: movies, High School Musical 2, Disney, family

Tiger is back

After work today I turned on teh TV. I watched with my oldest son as Tiger Woods stormed through the PGA Championship. We watched him drain 3 birdie putts in a row. I was hoping he would set a new record for the lowest round in major history and groaned as the ball rolled in and out of the cup on the 18th hole. But still he is up by 2 after 2 rounds and is looking strong. Tiger is back and just watch, if he holds the lead tomorrow, he will win this major and move one step closer to Nicholas's record 18 majors. Tiger looked good last weekend but today was something really special.

Technorati Tags: Tiger Woods, golf, PGA Championship, sports

Here come the Yanks

This evening I watched as the Yankees started a key series of games against some very good teams and they did not dissapoint. Much has been said about the Yankees recent run because it was against sub 500 clubs but now they are facing the top teams in the AL. Cleveland is the first victim for this Yankee ball club with the score being 6-1. It is only a matter of time before the Yankees take possession of the lead in the Wild Card and then they will overtake Boston for the Division. Yes Boston fans, start worrying because you can hear the footsteps getting closer and while it sounded like a good idea, Eric Gagne has not worked out so well, 3 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs and opponents are batting .400. and Curt Schilling is not going to help you either.

As I am writing this, Boston has lost to the Orioles which means that the Yanks are only 5 games back. Also Detroit has lost and if the score holds Seattle will lose which will put the Yankees at a tie for the Wild Card.

Technorati Tags: Yankees, sports, Baseball, Red Sox

Stories by my children

In an effort to keep our children's minds from wasting away during the summer, my wife convinced my 2 sons to make up stories. She told them that if they did, she would put them on her website so that they could be seen by everyone. I told them that I would put something on my blog too. They even created illustrations for their stories.

Technorati Tags: stories, children, family

Barry does it, can we go back to normal life now?

Barry Bonds finally hits home run number 756. I am in some ways relieved that it is over. Maybe now we can get back to more positive things. This has been the worst nightmare for baseball as a sport: a player breaking one of the biggest records in baseball and instead of the talk being about how incredible this is, the talk is instead about steroids and a Commissioner that has failed to do anything. While Barry Bonds has not actually tested positive for steroids, in the court of public opinion, he is guilty. So even though he now holds the record, there will always be an asterisk next to that record in people's minds. In my opinion, it doesn't matter in the long run. He will hold the record for the next 6 or 7 years and then A-Rod will break it. My thinking is, give Barry his day and then move on. It is time to focus on the more positive things going on in baseball like Glavine's 300th career win and A-Rods 500th career home run.

Technorati Tags: Barry Bonds, Baseball, home run, sports

It ain't over yet!

If you haven't noticed, the Yankees have been trimming away the lead that Boston has in the division. After tonight's game, the Yanks are only 6 and a half games behind Boston for the division and 4 and a half games behind the Indians for the wild card. The pitching has gotten better but it is the bats that are making all the noise. In the current 6 game win streak the Yanks have outscored their opponents 70 to 19.
I have to admit that when they were trailing 13 games behind Boston that it did not look good but I still hoped that they could turn it around since there were plenty of games left in the season. Now I think that they will catch Boston and win the division.

Technorati Tags: Baseball, sports, Yankees, Boston

Are Hybrid cars better?

I have been following the reports on the hybrid cars and what kind of fuel efficiency they can provide. So far I have been disappointed in what I see. When it will take 8 or 9 years to make up the difference in the cost of getting a hybrid over a traditional engine, it really will not make much sense to most consumers. If you are like me, you don't have that kind of extra money to put up front and can't wait that long to recoup the cost. Now if you could start seeing savings in a year or 2 tops, I think that it would definitely make a difference.I read an article today that validated what I have been saying to my friends for some time, that today's cars are less efficient then they were 15 years ago.

According to a report put out Tuesday by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), although 88 percent of Americans agree that "auto manufacturers should be required to make more fuel efficient vehicles," the number of car models getting at least 30 mpg dropped from 61 in 1998 to 46 in 2007

My wife and I had a 1996 Honda Civic that was a manual transmission and we regularly would get 35 to 40 mpg with combined city and highway driving. On a trip to Cooperstown, NY we even got 50 mpg. You couldn't even dream about a regular car getting that kind of gas mileage now. What has happened that made the engines in today's car worse than they were 12 years ago? Now this article does talk about more promising technology to increase the efficiency of hybrid cars but at a cost that could reach $40,000, who can afford it? Why are car makers more concerned with how much quicker they can make the car go from 0 to 60 than making a car go 60 mpg? It seems the industry is telling the consumer what they want instead of giving the consumer what they want. Something needs to change now.

Technorati Tags: hybrid cars, technology, fuel efficiency

A night of laughs

Last night our church had a special valentines night. The comedy theater Death by Chocolate was at our church and it was great. What could be more fun than all kinds of chocolate and comedy, all of those calories get burnt off as you laugh. This comedy theater is performed by Scott Davis and Justin Fennell and they are funny. It is wonderful to see that good comedy can be clean and have a Christian message. I couldn't stop laughing and my sides were starting to hurt at the end. If they are coming to a church in your area, go see them!

Technorati Tags: comedy, Death by Chocolate, religion, Justin Fennell, Scott Davis

Searches about space

I have always been interested in the space program and my 2 sons are so excited about space that they suprize me with what they have learned about space. I was reading a quick article on how searches exploded on the astronauts involved in the news right now. It is sad that it takes something bad like this for people to become interested in space. That is why I enjoy my sons excitement and desire to learn more about space. They always talk about being the first brothers on the moon or Mars. And if you want to find out what an "astronaut diaper" is, ask one of my sons and they will tell you.

Technorati Tags: astronaut, space, NASA, astronaut diapers

Breaking News

I had a good laugh tonight watching the news. When I lived in New York, if there was breaking news it was normally about some tragedy like a fire or shooting. But tonight it was good news, at least if you are a UNC fan. The breaking news in North Carolina is UNC beating Duke in basketball 79 to 73. I guess it is a tragedy if you are a Duke fan but when the worst breaking news is the score of a basketball game, things are pretty good.

Go Tar Heels!

Technorati Tags: basketball, sports, Duke, UNC

Drive the ball like Tiger

A friend of mine sent me this vid on YouTube. It is a great Nike ad.

Technorati Tags: golf, sports, Tiger Woods, Nike, YouTube

Celeste's 1st Birthday

Yesterday Celeste turned 1 year old. It is amazing how fast time flies.

One thing that never changes is how much fun babies have with their first cake.

And that parents love to take pictures of the mess.

Technorati Tags: Celeste, family, birthday

Too much growth

We moved to Wake Forest last year for many reasons. One of them being that the school system in Wake County is one of the best in the country. However, this could quickly change with the growth that is projected for the next few years. It is expected that there will be about 7000 new students next year and that trend will continue over the next few years. And the big fight is over how to provide education for the influx. We voted for a school bond to raise money to build more schools however there was a fallout between the Wake County commissioners and the Board of Education about converting schools to year round programs. Now we hear about a new bond proposal on top of the one that was just voted on. It is very confusing to follow all of this.
My concern with year-round schools is that if you have more than 1 child, they could be on separate tracks which means that the times that one child is on vacation, another may still be in school. This would mean that you could never take your whole family on vacation without pulling 1 child out of school. We have 4 children with 3 of them in school this coming Fall. Right now they are on the traditional school year which we like.
What I don't understand is the only way that there can be this much of an increase in the population is if new housing is created for these people. Why can't the county limit the building permits to slow the amount of growth so that there is more time to build schools to accommodate the additional families moving to the area. It seems pretty simple to me. If anything, by slowing the pace of building down, it will drive the real estate higher based on simple supply and demand economics.

Technorati Tags: Wake County, education, public schools, school bonds, year-round schools

Seven in a row

I am not suprized at the outcome of the Buick Invitational. Tiger Woods continues to show why he is the best. You could hardly expect that a couple of rookies could handle the pressure of beating off a hungry Tiger. It is a simple case of experience making all of the difference. Andrew Buckle held his ground for a while but Tiger kept coming. Charles Howell III put up the final fight with a late surge of 3 birdies in a row but it was not enough. Woods birdied the 17th hole to solidify the win. It is going to take much more than a 2 stroke lead in the final round to beat Woods.

Technorati Tags: golf, sports, Tiger Woods, Buick Invitational

Tiger on the prowl

Guess who is 2 strokes off the lead going into Sunday? As usual Tiger is in position to charge in the final round. In the meantime Brandt Snedeker has given up sole possession of first and now shares it with Andres Buckle. There are 12 players within 3 strokes of the lead which means it is going to be a great Sunday to watch and see who really wants to win. The players to watch are Charlie Wi, Mark Calcavecchia and of course Tiger. 2 rookies hold the lead but going into the last day knowing that Tiger is right there can be unsettling. Lucky for them, Tiger is not in the final threesome.

Technorati Tags: golf, sports, Tiger Woods, Buick Invitational, Brandt Snedeker

Buick Day 2

While I was correct about Brandt Snedeker not breaking 70 in the second round, not to mention the fact that the top 3 scores from round 1 did not break 70 today, I was wrong about Tiger. It looked like he could not get it all together at the same time. He would take a great tee shot and then take and hit his next shot into a bunker. It was an up and down day. Tiger is still only 7 shots off but this was the day that he could have surged to the top of the leaderboard. With 25 players within 7 strokes of the leader going into the weekend, it is going to be real interesting to watch. Don't count out Tiger yet but tomorrow he has to put on a huge surge if the streak is going to stay alive.

Technorati Tags: golf, sports, Tiger Woods, Buick Invitational, Brandt Snedeker

Who is Brandt Snedeker?

I didn't get a chance during the day to catch updates on the opening round of the Buick Invitational. I had to say I was suprized to see Brandt Snedeker at the top of the leaderboard with a 61. However, I wasn't suprized to see Tiger Woods with a 66 which is a solid first round especially after the time off that he had. There are 3 more rounds of golf to be played and it will be fun to watch how quickly the leaderboard is going to change. It will be a miracle if Snedeker breaks 70 for his second round. Going into the weekend Tiger will be poised to strike and my guess is that he will shoot a 65 tomorrow and ready to start to pull ahead of everyone.

Technorati Tags: golf, sports, Tiger Woods, Buick Invitational, Brandt Snedeker

Idol notions

As another season of American Idol starts, I find myself watching the initial auditions and I sit wondering what is going through each person's mind. I have a good ear for music and I need to cover my ears at times because it hurts so much. I definitely know that some of them do it just to have their 2 seconds in the spotlight, but then there are those that actually believe that he/she can sing and when Simon tells them that he/she was the worst he has ever heard, goes into a rant about how he doesn't know anything. This is the most entertaining part of American Idol. And many of these people are the ones that you see skipping school or work to try out, knowing that they may be fired the next day. I watched today as this one girl had to call her father to tell him that she lied to him about going to school the past 2 days and that she is going to Hollywood!
As the weeks go on, I will pick my favorites and see what happens. There are some good voices and some possible diamonds in the rough.

Technorati Tags: American Idol, music, entertainment, TV

Goodbye Bill!

I have to say that I am not overly suprized that Bill Parcells is leaving the Cowboys. It was a rough year and it was looking pretty good heading into the playoffs only to have it slip away. Tony Romo lifted the struggling offense with his ability to scramble. Unfortunately, his mistake in handling the ball on the field goal attempt cost them the game. Normally starting QBs don't handle those duties and maybe they should start thinking about having someone else handle it when the backup QB needs to start the games.
The big issue is getting someone to replace Parcells that can handle Jerry Jones and can keep him from messing things up. It takes strong personalities to be able to handle Jones, just like it takes a strong personality to handle George Steinbrenner. Both owners have a way of going off the track to get big names that end up clashing with the team rather than being a part of the team.

Technorati Tags: NFL, sports, football, Dallas Cowboys, Bill Parcells

Don't tell me how to parent!

I agree that there is no reason to spank a baby but the idea of making it illegal to spank a child under 3 is ridiculous. California's no-spank bill is wrong in so many ways. As a parent of 4 children I know full well that spanking infants and babies will not do anything because they cannot understand why. But I do not like the idea of government coming in and telling me how I can discipline my child. This bill right now is limiting the age range up to 3 years old but this could be just the beginning. What will be next? Where do you draw the line? How do you define a spanking? What if I just pat my child's bottom and someone reports it because they think that I am spanking my child? Assembywoman Sally Lieber is using the following rational for this bill:

"I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child 3 years old or younger,'' Lieber said. "Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old or a newborn?"

My question on this is: are we talking about spanking or beating up a child? They are 2 very different things. I was spanked when I was little but it was never a beating. Child abuse is wrong but this is not the way to try and stop it. You may not agree on the idea of spanking children and I can respect that, but that does not mean that you can impose your idea of how I should discipline my child.
Another question is how are you going to enforce this? How are you going to handle all of the false reports and the trauma that it inflicts on innocent families? The only people that are going to benefit from this are the lawyers that are going to be handling the lawsuits that arise from this.

Technorati Tags: Politics, government, California, family, parenting

So much for the first Amendment!

I was listening to the radio when I heard about legislation that is going to the Senate that is really disturbing. It is the GrassrootsLobbying Bills (H.R. 4682 and S.1). The American Center for Law & Justice has this to say about this legislation:

By greatly expanding the scope of lobbying regulation, the grassroots lobbying bills (H.R. 4682 and S.1) would affect many churches, pastors, denominations, public interest organizations, law firms, radio and TV personalities, civic organizations, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, the media, and private individuals that voluntarily choose to pay for any medium to distribute their message to the general public.

This bill would impose registration and reporting requirements on churches who fall into the category of a "grassroots lobbying firm". This doesn't sound like separation of church and state to me! Click here to see a summary or the full analysis of the bill.

Technorati Tags: freedom of speech, 1st Amendment, congress, ACLJ, Bills, Politics

Pathetic

Coming from NY, you had to have real amounts of snow in order to have a snow day. You were more likely to get delayed openings instead of closings. Now we are in North Carolina where they do not know what to do with snow. On 1/18 we received less than an inch of snow and the schools were closed. Just before I went to bed, I was watching the news and they reported that there will be delayed openings for the morning because they are forcasting freezing temperatures that could make the roadways slick. I can't believe it!!!

Technorati Tags: snow, weather, North Carolina, Wake County, schools

Finally snow!

My kids have been upset this winter because there was no snow. Moving from New York down to North Carolina did not help our chances of seeing any snow but there was still a chance. Unfortunately for them, we have been having unusually warm weather this winter so the temperatures have not been cold enough for snow. On monday our high temperature was 75 degrees but we were getting a cold front coming through. This morning the snow finally came and while it is less than an inch on the ground, the schools are closed and my kids are happy and had just enough snow to make a snowman.

Technorati Tags: snow, weather, North Carolina, family

More tips for Disney

If you are staying in a hotel outside of Disney, I have some other tips that may help you.

1. Eat as many meals outside of the parks as possible. You will pay 2 to 3 times the amount for a meal in the park.


2. Bring with snacks to eat while you are there like granola bars, fruit snacks, goldfish, and other food items that will not go bad and do not need refridgeration. It will save you money and time.


3. If you have small children, rent a stroller and I would suggest getting the double stroller because even if you have 1 child, the other seat can be used to hold any bags you have with you. Since we had 3 children that could ride or walk, we had them switching but at times none of them wanted to ride so we put our bags in it instead.


4. Get bright colored bandanas and tie them to your belongings and your children (It will make them stand out and is much easier to spot). We did it with all our children, bags and stroller and did not lose anything. Notice the bright orange bandanas on the children and stroller in the photo.



5. Start taking you children for walks to get them and you used to the amount of walking you will do.


6. Bring with a good pair of sneakers for the walking. You will put more mileage on them than you would normally do in several months. It may require going out and buying new ones.


7. Be prepared for getting your bags searched. They check all bags when you enter the parks which causes the lines outside to build quickly. You can make it go quicker if you have your bags opened by the time you get to the checkers.

Hopefully these tips will help you enjoy your time in the parks and make things a little easier.

Technorati Tags: Disney World, vacations, Florida, travel tips

Tips for going to Disney

After spending 8 days at Disney, I have some tips that would make your time more productive and enjoyable. The first thing is that you need to start planning your trip way before going. We decided to stay in one of the resorts instead of getting a hotel outside of Disney. It was definitely the right move for us and there are a lot of benefits of staying in a Disney resort. The parks have extended hours for those that stay in the Disney resorts which means that on certain days one of the parks is open later but only for those people in the resorts, less crowds and more fun. This is one of the reasons to plan early. You can find out the extended hours schedule and plan your days to coordinate with the parks that have extended hours.
Another benefit of staying in the resorts are the shuttle buses that will take you anywhere in Disney. You may have to wait for a bus but you do not have to deal with the parking. We stayed in the All-Star Music resort and it was great for our kids. There are so many different resorts to choose from that it would not be hard to find one that suits your style. What was nice for us was that our resort had family suites which had 2 rooms with 2 bathrooms and a little kitchen with a microwave and refridgerator. If you stay in a Disney resort, you can buy the meal plan. I would definitely suggest this because it will save you hundreds of dollars. The meal plan gives you 1 sit down meal, 1 counter service meal and a snack. To handle the other meal we brought some basic food items like cereal, granola bars, milk, juice and used that for breakfast. The resorts also have a food court so you could buy something there.
Another tip is to do some research: buy or take out books on traveling to Disney because they will give you advice on what times of the year are the best times to go and information on the different rides. We went in the beginning of December and it was great. A little cool at times but most days we had short sleeve shirts and once or twice we wore shorts. The important thing was that it was not crowded!

Technorati Tags: Disney World, vacations, Florida, travel tips

Discovering Disney

At the beginning of December, I took my family on a trip to Disney World. It was an early Christmas present. It had been 19 years since the last time I had been to Disney World and it has changed a lot since then. It was an adventure going because we have four children, Evan 8, Simon 6, Abby 4 and Celeste 10 months. So thought that we were crazy taking a 10 month old with us but it is not fair leaving one member of the family out. Watching her excitement over some of the most simple things made it more enjoyable. I will probably write more blogs about some tips for going and must see attractions but right now I wanted to share each one of our top picks.
Evan's top pick was Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster because of the speed. Simon and Abby both picked the Tower of Terror which they couldn't stop talking about when they got home. Even though Celeste cannot talk, her reactions told us which ride was her favorite, It's A Small World. My wife, Kim, picked Expedition Everest. I had a really hard time picking my favorite between Expedition Everest and Aerosmith's Rockin' Rollercoaster but I would have to go along with Evan. Going zero to 60 in 2.8 seconds was intense and that was just the beginning of the ride which took you on all kinds of loops and turns. But my favorite moment on the trip was watching the reaction on Celeste's face as we rode on the It's A Small World ride. She was pointing and reaching and bouncing to the music and it brought back memories of when I was little and going on this ride. They made some changes but it still holds the same magic. We ended up riding on it 5 or 6 times all together while we were there. It is not a cheap trip but when you see the smile on your child's face, it makes it all worth it.

Technorati Tags: Disney World, vacations, Florida