100325 - sNOw!?!?

100325 -UP and WHAT IS THIS??? SNOW? NO WAY!  I am SO DONE WITH SNOW!!!!  Worked fast, ate fast, went to Scouts with D.  He actually planned out a trip we are going to take on Spring Break next week to Hocking Hills.  Home and trying to relax.

100324 - Up worked all day.  Nice day outside and the family playing some catch in the backyard.  It turned ugly when G took ownership of J's baseball glove and refused to return it... So after dinner we headed to the stores.  First stop the glasses store AGAIN...  today D dropped his glasses and the arms broke off the damn things...  UGH!!!! then to Meijer for a new baseball glove for J, a new baseball tee for G and new bases for D.  I stayed up way too late watching movies.

100323 + Clashing

100323 + All up in the am, D had a tooth ache...  Worked a full day day and then time for a bit of sword fighting with G.  It ended as usaul: Grant learning several new words he shouldn't and my knuckles red and bleeding...
L ran D to the dentist to see about his 'toothach' and he came home with a plastic bag containing one of his molars partially eaten away by a GINORMOUS cavity...
We played some Pass Pigs, had some ice cream, got hair cuts and then 'All boys to bed'.  I stayed up watching LOST, doing some work and then watching basketball.




100322 - Back at the desk for a full day.  Brian to rental and 'collecting' for me...  D&I ran to the bank and then to the camera place get DVDs we are having made from old videos.  We had dinner, took the old PC from the playroom apart while we watched the old movies on the DVDs. 'All boys to bed' and L has the house to herself as I head out to meet the Bible Bangers.

100321 - All up and L&D to church so D could acolyte.  Andre, JG&I headed out to Best buy and a sports store.  We beat L&D home and J&G, two very tired boys, fell asleep.  Andre and I enjoyed the spring day and put together the baseball throw back contraption I got for D.  We had a late lunch and ran to pick D up from a b-day party, where he mangled his glasses...  So we stopped at the glasses store on the way home... In the afternoon my buddy Chris came over and we watched the Buckeyes on the big screen.  We had Andre all dressed up in OSU garb so other than his accent he wouldn't stick out much ;-)  We then had to deliver Andre to the airport for his long journey home.  The boys already miss him.
We then headed to Reynoldsburg to pick up a netPC for the playroom and swing by subway for dinner.  Bath and bed for the boys and I got the new PC working and set up.  To bed early tonight.

100320 - Taste of USa

100320 - Woke up early by the natives wanting to see me after a long week away.  I was not the only thing they wanted to see...  Andre is with me to 'experience' us in the USA...  Oh and he got his fill...  Breakfast with the natives and then everyone up and out to the Pinewood Derby.
D had an exceptional race day!  He came in 2nd in his den!  His best year yet and we stayed for the finals.


More of Americana coming right up....  We hit the gas station to fill up our HUGE American gas guzzling SUV, get some tobacco and headed to the highway.  One last stop for lunch...  none other than... WHITE CASTLE for the unsuspecting Netherlander.  He LIKED IT!



We had a very pleasant drive up to the Farm and as we pulled in the driveway were greeted by two wild mustangs (Dusty & Nibbles) running wild in the front yard...  It was quite a welcoming committee.  We got out of the car, got our barn clothes and boots on and went down to help catch the wild horses and build them a new pen.  Andre was put to work straight away, no time for formalities on the Farm ;-)  After that experience he received a tour of barns and some history lessons.

We wanted to show Andre the Falls before it got dark so we took him up to the Camp and walked him back hundreds of years through time.  Told him the legends, showed him the faces on the rock walls, the bent trees at Hoppy's grave and searched for Indians in the pine forest.




On the way back to the Farm we stopped at Dulce's sugar shack and explained the art of making maple syrup and Grant even got to do the zip line!  Back to the Farm house for visit to the spring house, Farm house (including the attic) and all of the great things that come along with it.  See us American do have some history...  We finished the Farm visit off with some Chinese food from Chinatown and good conversation until the boys started falling asleep.  We got them loaded up and headed back home.  On the way I drove him through downtown Columbus, past the theaters, state house and pawn shops.
We had loads of good conversation you can't have everyday when working through the stuff we normally deal with...  We ended the night laughing and coughing incredibly hard with the Blue Collar comedy tour.

100319 - Flying Home

100319 - Really fast morning at work. We actually got accomplished everything we expected. Then said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. Cindy & Josh headed to Houston and Andre and I headed to Atlanta.
Once in atlanta and happily seated in a TGI Friday's drinking American Coca Cola, I checked in with L: J had soccer practice and D had trial runs for the pinewood derby. L says his car is FAST...
Andre and I then got on the jet to Columbus. We got home about midnight and the house was quiet so we decided to get some rest ourselves. L was up a bit not feeling well :-o.

100318 - D had baseball tryouts and was in the draft. L said he did really well.
This is a house I want to buy in Mexico City.

100317 - Working Crew

100317 - Up and in to the plant early again. Things were a BIT stressful today. A LOT of hard work was done... This is the main crew I work with here. A nice group of folks, makes days like today tollerable: Guido, Andre, Julio, Cindy, Josh, & Jaap. Here we are waiting outside of the secure site for our van. We waited out here for 45 minutes making jokes about kidnapping and the other horrible things that might happen :-o. It did give me time to call L & GpaW and have other conversations that were not work related. We then had a miserable long and bumpy ride to the hotel. More work, and hopefully some sleep...
Back at home, J had soccer practice.

100315 - Adventure

100315 - Up and met the team for breakfast.  We then headed to the lounge to get some stuff done.  After a couple hours of staring at our screens we decided that we should at least get some fresh air.  So they team forced me out of the hotel and on foot, in down town Mexico City...  :-o
Today is a holiday in Mexico and not many people stirring about.  We tried to find a place for lunch, but not much success and ended up in a 'Tony Romas'.  I know, not very adventurous or exciting of a place to eat when in Mexico City, but the best we could come up with....
After lunch we walked back, past the hotel, looking for a monument we have seen for years now but have never gone to.  In fact if you look close in the previous post you can see the top of this monument just to the right of Andre's head.  Well we found it with not much trouble.  We think it is a ware memorial...  I took my picture and back to the office in the sky for a bit more work.
Tonight we have agreed to walk to a restaurant we found today for dinner.  I will let you know how it goes...

100314 - Office in the sky

100314 - Up for breakfast and then to or makeshift office in the hotel lounge for a long 13 hour day. We broke the day up with games of 'Pass the Pig'. The team gave me strange looks at the introduction of this game, but soon feel in love with it. We got a ton of stuff done, so tomorrow should be a pretty nice calm day.

Location:Paseo de La Reforma,Miguel Hidalgo,Mexico

100313 - Clear Skies

100312 - Up and got stuff packed. Had a good morning at home. After lunch L& the boys took me to the airport. Said goodbye (always hard!), and off I go.

Met up with Cindy & Josh in Houston and them Andre in Mexico City. We arrived safety and got a bite to eat, all exhausted from traveling. We will regroup in the morning.

100312 + Bubbles Ready

100312 + Up  and working, getting everything finished up on all fronts before the trip this weekend.  I heard lots of laughing outside my window today and found LJ&G blowing bubble out front, thinking that Spring was here.
After work I loaded the family up and they sat in the car while I got a quick hair cut.  We dropped off some letters and then hit target for some last minute supplies.  We had a nice dinner at Steak & Shake and then Lori realized she was hot... now she has a fever...
Home got Lori medicated and I stayed up with the boys watching 'Pale Rider' & 'Kelly's Heros".  D&G stayed up way past their bed times with me, but J fell asleep not long into the first movie.  While we watched the movie D helped me decide which iPad and accessories to order :-D.
"All boys to bed" and off to get some rest myself.

100311 - My Knight in Shining Armor

100311 - Up, feeling a bit better today.  I did the usual work all day, run out have dinner then off to Scouts with D.  We had a game night at scouts and everyone played various games.  The Den leader and I faced off in Cribbage, pretty cool.  After Scouts D & I hit Caribou Coffee.  Now let me give you a little insight to this next section...  I am, with a group of other dads in the area doing this 'Raising a Modern Day Knight'.  Our assignment this week was to interview our sons and see how we are doing as dads...
So here we go...
D got hot chocolate, I got coffee and we found a comfy place to sit.  I explain the Raising a Modern Day Knight things to him and he looks interested, it si quite cool.  I asked him how I was doing and he squirmed around a bit and said 'Your doing ok'.  He then burns his mouth horribly bad with the hot chocolate, I get him some ice water.
I then ask him what it is I do best.  Without much thinking he says 'Do stuff and Build stuff with us.  I love it when I get to do stuff with you and you take the time to be with me.'  OK so we are making progress, he is opening up.. Maybe I am doing ok!
Then I ask, what can I do better????  Not much lag in the response here either  :-o  He said 'You swear too much and work to much.  I want you to become a teacher so you can have the entire summers off and be with us more.'  Well I tried to blame the swearing on his mother, but he wasn't buying that....  But the teaching thing didn't sound like such a bad idea....
We had quiet a long conversation about many other things; what things were like when I was a boy, what we think cars will be like in the future...  all sorts of stuff.  And then we talked about Jack.  About jack being sick a lot and how careful we have to be and especially how scared both him and his friend were only days ago at the Sugar Camp when Jack nearly choked to death...  It was a hard discussion for us.  But a good one.
One last question before we had to leave...
What is the one thing you would change about me if you could?
D responded without any hesitation at all, 'I would give you your eye back'.
In everything we talked about, this hit me the hardest.  Fighting back the emotions, it was time to go....

What a good young Knight I already have!

100309 - Cars Out

100310 - Fever Broke!

100309 - Up and sick, but  worked all day.  This project will not fail...
In the evening after dinner, all medicated, L&D to baseball practice.  I stayed home with J&G and got the electric cars out of the shed, lifting them over all the other junk that has been piled in there over the winter.  The had a blast driving over the remains of the igloo and chasing each other all over the yard.  L&D home, everyone cleaned up and to bed.  Feeling a bit better and with too much to do I stayed up, watched LOST, and worked till 1am.

100308 - Zippppp

100308 - Up and worked all day.  Didn't feel the greatest all day and sore everywhere...  Then I thought I should check my temperature...  Sure enough I have a fever of  101.
I did muster up the strength after dinner to go outside and see the zip line the boys had built in the backyard.  I like them creating things, especially together.  It was very cool, and after I tightened it up a bit for them they had a couple of good runs.
L had a meeting at church tonight, so I got the boys cleaned up early and we watched a bit of TV.  When L got home I medicated myself and headed to bed.  I can not be sick...