A very quick blog posting today..
Skylar had her first Dance Recital earlier this week. They didn’t let us bring videocameras into the auditorium, so I took a vid with my cell phone.. Apologies in advance for the 30 seconds of “dark” time.. I guess I hit the record button too early…
Skylar is the 3rd one from the right (the tall one)..
and here’s a pic that I love from last weekend.. Sky running on the beach..
I’ll post some more pics in a bit.. Have a great Memorial Day!
-pete
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I took Skylar into the public bathroom yesterday while we were at the airport. She always asks if she can use the urinal, but I consistently say “no”…
So we go into one of the stalls so she can go pee. The plane had just arrived, so the bathroom was pretty full.
The guy in the stall to the left of us starts to.. well.. “toot”… a LOT…
Skylar then says (pretty loudly) “You need say ‘Excuse me’… Daddy, he didn’t say ‘excuse me’……“
I hear some snickering outside the stall by the sinks… Oh boy, sometimes being overly polite isn’t very polite, eh?
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So, for Gina’s Birthday, we went on a quick cruise down in the Caribbean. Here are some pics!
My girls on the transport boat…
Planning out the sandcastles…
Skylar’s new thing is to stick her tongue out when she sees a camera.
Here she is sticking both her foot and tongue out…
Climbing trees
She was really excited to get dressed up for Gina’s b-day dinner…
And sang and twirled for the people on the 12th deck…
In the Bahamas, Sky got some braids..
And tried to eat a shark…
The Atlantis resort was pretty awesome..
Have a great week everyone!
-pete
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Here’s a quick conversation I had with Skylar the other day..
“Daddy, can I have more Goose Poop?”
“Haha.. Sure, but it’s called Couscous“..(me)
“Can I have more Goose Poop?” (Skylar)
“Couscous” (me)
“Goose Poop” (Skylar)
“Okay, goose poop” (me)
(whispering) “Daddy, you said ‘poop’.. it’s called Cous-cous” (Skylar)… with a snicker..
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Congrats to my dad.. I’m not allowed to say how old he is, but it’s the square root of 6561 if you want to figure it out.
Prior to my dad’s birthday, he retired from his job. Here’s the writeup on his retirement from the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
One item the write-up doesn’t talk about was that my dad closed the festivities by singing for the entire audience!
Dad, I’m very proud of you. What a great career..
His next career is singing and painting.. 
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Here are some random pics.
Sky-sky hugging herself
Sky making a ginger bread house with her Aunt Toshi and Uncle Brian
My Family really likes to torture my poor dog..
Taking a nap on the floor with my Skylar
Skylar playing with Aunt Joan and Uncle Bob
Nori and Sai, 2 of my (much much much) older brothers.. 
Sky eating with her cousin Andrew
Sky and her cousin Annie working on a project.. (Sky was following Annie around everywhere)
All the cousins (Tony/Annie/Skylar/Andrew) huddled around an iPad
And I mentioned earlier in the post that my dad is now retired. He’s planning on practicing singing a lot more. However, I bet he does a lot of painting.
Here are some of the paintings he’s done over the years.
And my favorite. He painted my mom about 15 years ago. The best part is he painted a HUGE diamond ring on mom’s finger…
Have a great week!
-pete
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The other day, Skylar and I went to the track and ran.. It was the coolest thing ever.. She kind of runs like a Muppet, but it was really fun to see her get all jazzed up about getting into the “starting blocks”, and all out sprinting.. as a reward for a fun morning, I took Skylar to the local hardware store (Sky looooves shopping.. any kind of shopping).
She was in a social mood, so she was talking to lots of people…. which I thought was really cute… until she saw the cashier, who was placed in the middle part of the store..
Skylar goes up to the cashier (a tall skinny teenage kid) and says “Why your face all polka dots?” (he had pretty bad acne).
The kid pseudo-chuckled as I apologized and tried to shoo Sky down the closest aisle.
I say to Skylar, “That’s a very mean thing to say Skylar.. and it’s not polite“
She looks pensive and then says “Pleeze, ‘cuse me... But why your face all red polka dots?“.. this time a little louder.. Apparently, it’s polite now because she said “please” and “excuse me”. *sigh*
…and of course, it gets even worse a few minutes later.
We are looking at this mini coy-pond that is inside the store, and an elderly lady hobbles up to Skylar.. She gets really close to Skylar (which Skylar didn’t like), patted her on the head, and said something along the lines of “You are so pretty, dear.. Do you like fish?”
Skylar then pulls away from the lady and makes a “Hmmmph” sound.. I apologize to the short/old lady and I explain how Skylar is shy sometimes. Skylar then says, “I’m not shy, she smells like Fenway (my dog)”
I was horrified, and we got out of the store pretty quickly after that.
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Some random pics..
Sky at her dance class..
Vid of Skylar at her gymnastics class..
Skylar “helping” with the leaves.. I think this is how Mommy got a sore back…
Fenway snoozing in front of the stove during Thanksgiving..
Sky’s first haircut (Gina has given her trims before. This is the first time at a salon).
And I’m not sure how to explain this video.. Sky loves talking about bathroom stuff. Here’s just 1 example..
Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!
-pete
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Skylar has this really gaudy purple sparkly toy cell phone. She likes to “chat” on it quite often when we are driving somewhere, or when we are getting ready to go somewhere.
The other day we were driving to school. As we get out of the car and start collecting our stuff (eg, lunchbox, windbreaker, etc), she says, “Daddy! Wait!”
She then proceeds to climb back into the car. I’m wondering what is going on. She then reaches over to the center-console thingie next to her kid’s seat and grabs the ugly-purple flip-phone.
She opens it, pretends to dial, and after a few moments she says… “Okay, I’m here. I come in. I see you in a couple minutes, okay? I am wearing a very pretty dress today.. Yes.. Bye”
Of course, I find this incredibly cute.. I then say to Skylar, “Hey Sky-sky, who were you talking to?”
She looks at me somewhat incredulously and responds, “Dad-dy…. nobody… (if she knew how to roll her eyes, she would have done it at this point)… this is a pretend phone“…
And then she tosses her phone back into the car, closes the door and skips to the school front-door..
What a little ham…
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Here’s a pic of Skylar and I down in Newport, RI.
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A couple of Vids
1). After we posted a video of Fenway’s trick a month or two ago, I figured we should give Kormi some equal time. Here’s a clip of the evil-cat doing some tricks for Gina.
2). And Skylar has been getting really good with her letters lately. She doesn’t know how to spell much yet (basically just her name and a few other select words), so she often just strings together a bunch of random letters and then asks what word she just made. You know that Infinite Monkey Theorem? It states something along the lines of; Given enough time, a hypothetical chimpanzee typing at random would, as part of its output, eventually produce one of Shakespeare’s plays.
This video isn’t quite proof to that theorem, but you will get the generally idea..
Have a great week!
-pete
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This morning, Gina, Skylar, and I spent a few hours on the couch watching people honor the memory of the victims and heroes from 10 years ago. The TV coverage was really well done, but I had the sense that Skylar wasn’t retaining/understanding any of it (I was wrong).. Anyways, fast forward to the end of the day (after a great day of BBQing with good friends, riding bikes, the playground, coloring, etc), Gina was tucking Skylar into bed after I read her a couple of books.
I was sitting outside in the hallway eavesdropping a bit, since I was really interested in the conversation.
I missed the first part of the conversation, but the remainder went something like this…
Skylar: Mommy, why did that man fly da plane into houses (buildings)?
Mommy: Skylar, those were really bad men. There are some bad people out there.. Not everyone is good
Skylar: Running inside the classroom is bad. Running is only for outside.
Mommy: Yes, that is bad. But that doesn’t make you a bad person. These people were bad people.
Skylar: Mommy, were you scared?
Mommy: Yes (Gina was across the street from the Pentagon on 911)
Skylar: Did the building fall on you mommy?
Mommy: No, I was far enough away
Skylar: But other people did get falled-on and died?
Mommy: Yes…
Skylar: A lot of people died Mommy…
Mommy: …Yes…
Skylar: …That person on TV (from the morning’s coverage), her mommy and daddy died?
Mommy: Yes.. Skylar that was a long time ago, that’s not going to happen anymore. There are a lot of people to make sure that never happens again
but this is the part of the conversation that I remember the most..
Skylar: Mommy, why did they do that?……. Why?
Mommy:.. [silence.. no response from Mommy]..
Skylar: I love you Mommy…
Mommy: I love you too Skylar.. (kiss)
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I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that last question for Skylar..
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Switching gears.. here’s a vid of Skylar rolling down a small hill in our front lawn..
And here’s a quick vid of Fenway begging for some attention..
Hope you all had a great weekend, and talk to you soon.
-pete
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Hey guys, it’s been forever since I’ve made a posting on the blog.. A lot of folks have been asking me how the strike-coverage went during August.. It was pretty nuts, and probably not very good stories to post on Skylar’s blog…. so I’ll save those stories for when we have a few beers..
One quick story before we get to the pics..
On Saturday morning, I was in the family room with Skylar drinking my coffee.
Skylar says, “Daddy, why don’t you come sit on da couch and watch your show.. You watch baseball, okay?”
This kind of caught me off guard, but I thought this was a really nice gesture from little Sky-sky. Of course, there isn’t any baseball on in the morning, but I figured I would take the chance to watch ESPN Sportscenter to watch some prior night’s highlights. So, I turn on the tv to ESPN.. However, it was on a pretty racy commercial where there was a half naked woman and man together (not sure what the commercial was for)…
Skylar then says to me “Daddy, this isn’t your show….. I think dis is Mommy’s show” … hmmm, I don’t think I’m going to let Gina watch her Soap Operas anymore when Skylar is close-by..
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Onto the pics! I stole all of these off of Gina’s phone, as we haven’t used the camera in a looong time.
Here is Skylar waking up at Gina’s aunt/uncle’s place in Stephentown…..
Fenway looking confused in Gina’s office..
Skylar, Michael, Ben, and Steven watching fireworks at the end of Yankee Homecoming..
Skylar went to Storyland with a bunch of her buddies a couple weekends ago.. They had an awesome time.. Here’s a pic of Skylar driving Mommy around..
Skylar “armoring” up for her bike ride in Newburyport..
Skylar and her cousin Annie, at Grandma/Grandpa’s house..
Michael, Skylar, and Ben at Franklin Park..
Skylar has been taking Fenway for “walks” lately.. Here’s a vid where Gina couldn’t keep up with them..
Here’s a vid of some of the guys at Storyland..
Talk to you soon!
-pete
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Skylar seems to be turning into a teenager..
Here’s a typical conversation with her at dinner two nights ago..
“Hey Skylar, how was school today?”
“I dunno”
“Did you learn about any kind of animals today?”
“I dunno”
“What did mommy make you for lunch?”
“I dunno”
“Did you play outside with your friends?”
“I dunno”
“Skylar, I’m going to keep asking you questions until you tell me something about your day today..”
“I took a nap, and blah, blah, blah.. then I come home”
Wow.. *sigh* I thought this wasn’t supposed to happen until high school?
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The weather has been amazing up here in New England lately, so Skylar has spent a lot of time with Fenway running around, going for walks, etc.. Fenway is part Labrador, so she loves playing fetch.. Skylar loves to play the game as well, but doesn’t really understand the premise verywell. Here’s a vid clip to illustrate…
On Saturday, Skylar/Gina/I spent the afternoon at Jenness Beach in New Hampshire (by Rye Beach).. Good times.
On Sunday, Terry/Christa/Ben came over to hang out. Here’s a cool vid of the kids using the slide.. Do I earn “redneck” (yellowneck?) status for jerry-rigging this up?
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
-pete
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Hey Guys,
Sorry it’s been so long since the last blog posting.. I’m going to blame it on the heatwave…
So, back when Skylar was around 1 years old or so, we used to call her “Boo-boo”, because she was basically one giant-walking band-aid.. At school, she was always getting bumps, bruises, scratches.. However, she’s had a really good run where she reversed the trend.. at least up until recently..
Unfortunately, about 3 weeks ago, she had a horrible stretch where we got 3 phone calls from the school in 5 days where she got stitches (6 of them) on her forehead from running full speed into a shelf, a skid on the pavement scraping up her elbows/knees and her side, and pretty big cut on her chin when she fell over running..
Here’s a vid from several weeks ago a few days after her “slump”.
Here’s a pic from about a month (?) ago where she had a play-date with her buddy Aoife.. Here they are working on an art project…
Skylar got a new car about a month ago.. She calls it “Skylar’s Outtie” (Audi)
A few weeks ago, the heatwave started and Avery’s parents had a lot of the kids over.. Here’s a pic of Kris and her daughter Leah, Jeana w/ Maddie, and Mark/Steve-o in the pool.. and a Pabst Blue Ribbon..
Skylar is getting good at jumping in the pool.. here’s a pic of me looking nervously on…
The best jumper of Skylar’s class is definitely Michael though.. Here’s a pic of his superman leap to his daddy Mike..
Not sure what was going on here, but I think it probably was a choo-choo train-thing..
Skylar, Owen, Steve-o, Avery, Michael, Leah, and Maddie..
Refueling…
I have a bunch of lake-house pics too, so I’ll get that on the blog soon.
Talk to ya soon!
-pete
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Skylar is a 3 year-old girl… and one thing that seems to be common with girls her age is they like to be a little “bossy” sometimes… and as long as she’s not too nuts about it, Gina and I usually let it go..
She definitely likes to be able to “set the rules”, “be in charge”, or “be the enforcer” every now and then. We figure that she sees us in that role most of the time (onto her, that is), so she likes to try it out as well. This includes:
The other day, she was sitting on the potty and yelling the following (pretty loudly)… “Poopies, I told you to come out. Do you hear me? Poopies, it’s time to come out. If you don’t listen to me, you are going to get a timeout…… I’m going to count to 5, and if you don’t come out, I’m going to give you a timeout……. 1… 2…3…4…5… Okay, go to timeout!”
Now I thought this was hilarious.. although I admit that I was a bit worried, as Skylar’s timeout-place is the guest room.. I was half-expecting to walk into the guest room later in the day and see a poopie sitting there..
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We have been really bad about taking pics lately..
Here are a couple things to share though:
Here’s a pic of a bunch of her classmates, Michael, Steven, and Julia (and Steven’s little sis, Michael’s little sis, and Julia’s little sisters)
And the weather has been AMAZING lately.. Skylar has been playing outside a lot lately, and is getting pretty good at her bike-riding. Yesterday, she finally got the hang of using the brake (that took awhile to learn!)
In the vid, we are biking past Jane’s house, so she starts talking about her..
Have a great week! -pete
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