06/02/09 | Adventures with Riley and Spencer
Riley is signed up for ballet classes that begin in two weeks. Caryn took her yesterday to buy her first ever ballet outfit and shoes. She was so proud (beaming from ear to ear) to run downstairs and show me when I returned home from work last night. She danced all around the porch and showed off her moves. She could not be more excited to begin classes.
05/26/09 | Adventures with Riley and Spencer
I have carried a single photo in my wallet ever since my grandmother gave it to me years ago. It’s a photo of my parents and I from one of those boardwalk photo booths. I’m not sure why, but it is one of my most coveted possessions. Makes me happy to look at it.
There is an old black and white photo booth nestled in an arcade in Rehoboth beach that Caryn and I make a point to visit each year. Hoping to continue the tradition until our over-sized family can no longer fit into the cramped space.
05/20/09 | House & Home
For those of you keeping track of my nightstand project, I’m happy to report that it is finished. What started a few months ago as 4 boards of dimensional cherry lumber is now in final form on my side of the bed. It turned out beautifully. The finishing technique I used really brings the wood grain to life.
Here are some photos of the nightstand:
05/18/09 | Scrapbooks
I took Friday off to reconnect with my buddies on the Bay. Jeff, my college roommate and fishing captain, took Andy (another college roommate of ours) and our friend Karl out for an incredible day of fishing for striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay. Despite all of the recent rain, we got a nice break in the weather which made for glassy water, low wind and perfect conditions for fishing. It took me the better part of the day to actually hook into a fish (which didn’t go unnoticed by the smart-ass crew). I missed more fish than I landed, but the laughter continued all day long. I mistakenly brought a banana aboard, which is a mariner no-no, and it wasn’t until I quickly ate and digested it that I was able to land my first of the day.
Karl (the greenhorn) took us to the cleaners with his animated series of tangles and mishaps, and somehow caught more fish than all of us combined. The best story of the day is when he tangled Andy’s line and while they both sat and picked at the knot unsuccessfully, a big striper hooked itself and took off in a hurry sending the entire boat into a frenzied chaos. Rods dropped, beers spilled, the laughter roared, and the fish was eventually landed and Karl and Andy both took a half point for score board.
Words can’t describe how great it was to spend the day with my boys catching up over cheep American beer, PB&Js, and the sound of line being stripped off the reels.
Here are a few photos from the day.
05/04/09 | House & Home
Just wanted to post a few photos for those of you following my cherry nightstand project. I was finally able to get back into the woodshop this weekend to make some progress. It was time to “get my glue on” and permanently marry these pieces together. The table started to take on a shape that resembled an actual table. It was nice to see all of the hard work pay off. I still need to cut and assemble some boards for the table top, but I’m beyond most of the difficult steps.
Parts and Pieces: I laid out all of my pieces and checked to make sure all of the mortise and tenons still fit snug.
Gluing the Front and Back Faces: Instead of trying to glue all of the pieces at once, I decided to glue the front and back faces separately. In the photo below, you can see that I used some handy right angle braces to make sure everything was square.
Final Glue-up: After the two faces were dry, I glued and assembled the entire nightstand and added some web clamps to make sure everything stayed together while it dried.
Next Steps: The last step for assembly is to cut some boards to make up the table top. This will consist of 4 boards, edge-glued together and trimmed and routed for a clean finish. After that, I can move on to final stain/finish. I’ve been doing some research on how best to finish cherry. There are a ton of techniques out there, so I have plenty of choices. Thanks for following along with me as I cut my teeth on woodworking basics.
05/04/09 | House & Home
Just before Easter (ironically) I noticed a baby cottontail rabbit hopping around our backyard eating dandelions. I quickly called Riley and Spencer over to the window to see. There are very few animals cuter than a baby bunny. I told Riley that it was the Easter Bunny and that he was doing his rounds in the neighborhood to see which little boys and girls were being good and listening to their mommy and daddy.
It turns out that our little friend “Hopper” has taken up permanent residence in our wood pile. Each night at sunset, Hopper comes out into the yard to pick through my vast selection of weeds and leaves behind delectable treats for Aldo the next morning. Riley, of course, wants to run into the backyard in hopes of holding and petting him, but I’m putting money on it that he’ll never be fooled into letting a kid within 20 yards of him.
I took some photos of him through our back window last night. He’s about the size of a can of soda and growing more each week. He’s also doing a great job on the weeds. We tried to leave him carrots on a plate, but he left them for Aldo to devour. He is truly a great pet. No walks, no messes in the house, hours of entertainment watching him hop around, and he’s carrying his weight in yard work.
04/16/09 | Scrapbooks
We had a really fun Easter. Aunt Jill and Uncle David as well as Grumps and Nanna came over. We even got a surprise visit from cousin Blake. The kids had a blast. Far too much sugar, but all in all it was a great day. Riley and Caryn dyed easter eggs and I hid plastic eggs in the backyard, filled with jelly beans. Riley found them all and was no less ecstatic for the last as she was the first. Spencer even found on hidden in a bush. Good boy Spence.
Here are a few photos from the day.
04/15/09 | Site Update
I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know about Spencer’s first words! He is often referred to as our little caveman b/c he will just grunt and point, but he has some actual words these days! As they say on American Idol, “he made it his own”
1) Banana: A nana
2) Up: Up (job well done on this word!)
3) Hi: Hi (again, he rocks it)
4) Plane: Ane
I think that pretty much tops it out for now. I am hoping he can kick out a solid Mama or Dada by late April. Bottom line, this kid is adorable with all 4 of his words 
04/13/09 | Quote of the Day
Mamma: I love you Riley
Riley: I love you too Mamma
Mamma: How much?
Riley: Um…Big as stars and the sun and the chemicals that sprayed
Mamma: That is pretty big
Riley: Ya. It is.
03/31/09 | Adventures with Riley and Spencer
On Saturday morning, we were driving through the neighborhood and saw a bunch of people walking around in rain boots holding bags of trash. Through the grey drizzle, I could see a small sign that read “Stream Clean-up Today.” I asked Riley if she wanted to help the people clean up the garbage that was in the creek and help make a clean home for the fish, frogs and birds. She asked if she could wear her boots and splash in the water. It was a win-win situation. So, we drove home to “suit-up” for our big yucky garbage adventure.
After about 2 hours of slugging through the creek and mud, we filled two big bags full of broken glass, coffee cups, beer cans, plastic bags, tennis balls, and lots of discarded artifacts of modern society. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. She got to jump in the puddles, flip over logs to find worms, and throw rocks into the creek. I gave her the special assignment of being my glass-finder. She pointed out all of the broken bottles along the way and we put them into our overflowing bags.
Aside from the fact that we were doing our part to clean up one of the Potomac’s watersheds, it was a great opportunity to spend some quality time with Riley outdoors in nature and hopefully I planted the “don’t litter” bug into her head.
Here are a few before and after photos of our adventure.
