You have always heard the phrase, “They grow up so quickly” . Well after this dream I made a deal with Dylan that she is not allowed to grow any older than 5 years old; that if she could go back to 4, that would be even better still! I mean,

SHE STARTS KINDERGARTEN IN THE FALL! 

Slow down!

My part of the deal, that Dylan made me swear to, was I was not allowed to grow any older than 91.

Really!  That was what I was to do for her.

Judging by the way this ol’ body is throwing all these old-age kinks on me, I told her THAT was no problem!

My dream?

I dreamed my little Dylan, my Ariel, my princess wanted to get married!

Gasp!!!

Daddy, I want to get married. You don’t mind do you?

Normally, at this part of the nightmare I wake myself up, just too scared to think of the outcomes.

But after I saw a few pictures from her wedding I wanted to see how it all played out.

She looked beautiful as she walked down the stairs to her wedding!

Too cute actually for Daddy!

Her wedding was a big ceremony in a majestic cathedral!

Next came the reception.

…a point I both dread and look forward to with equal passion!

…Daddy’s last dance with his daughter…

May I have this dance?

I told her she better hold on.

That I dip sudden. I dip low. And I dip fast.

She just beamed her happy grin.

I held on and tried to make my,

er,

OUR last dance last as long as possible

Not wanting to see that moment come to its inevitable conclusion

I decided to wake myself up!

Phew!

Only a dream!

A sign, or symbol, that my little girl won’t stay little forever.

That I need to hold on and cherish all the prior years, as well as ages 5, 6, 7 and so on.

I thought, use this dream as a reminder she won’t be my little girl forever.

…that she has to grow up sometime.

Hmmm?

I wonder what else I should prepare myself for?

]]> http://ourlifein3d.com/2013/06/18/3901/feed/ 4 ourlifein3d Daddy, I want to get married. You don't mind do you? DSC_0204 May I have this dance? DSC_0207 DSC_0218 DSC_0064 http://ourlifein3d.com/2013/06/16/fathers-day-2013/ http://ourlifein3d.com/2013/06/16/fathers-day-2013/#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:21:48 +0000 Our Life In 3D http://ourlifein3d.com/?p=3876 ]]> Here’s a summary of Father’s Day at our house.

I spent the afternoon doing what I really love to do.

But it wasn’t all fun and games.

First, we had to wait as dear old Dad locked the keys in the car as we loaded up…

But we made it.

I got to do one of my favorite things…

Playing Daddy in the ocean with my girls.

Dylan’s not afraid. Her love for water has no boundaries!

She’s fearless and it does Dad’s heart good to hear her come up just laughing and giggling like she was being tickled.

I threw her and caught her. I helped her jump the big waves.

Pretended to let the big waves sweep her away.

And then just let her be herself as I tried to catch some waves before the tide turned.

 It was a beautiful day. Did you see these blue skies?  The water was actually warmer than the air temperature and that is saying something in South Carolina! I caught a few wave rides. I hated to come out.

Mommy and Skylar had their own quality time!

OK, maybe I stayed in the water a bit too long.

In the end, these girl’s could just walk all over me with these feet!

PS: speaking a ‘love for water knows no boundaries‘ Heather and Reto we are taking the girls to Ocean City, NJ in late July. If its not too late for one or both of you to join us bring Lillya and Laylani and we can all swim in the ocean and ride some rides!  Dangge! Bis spöter…

While fairly invasive upfront, and by that I mean ‘in the beginning’, the actual procedure is quite in the ‘land-down-under’, the end result should be full use of my prostate for years to come. It doesn’t have to be removed. The cancer will die. I’ll be able to use this mysterious gland for a good long time it appears.

In fact, the doctor said the slow growing cancer doesn’t even need treated at all, at its current size, although he didn’t recommend that option.

We joked. We discussed the procedure and he gave me some more literature to read. The meeting went pretty well in the end.

My attitude has done a 180 since that one week in mid-May. While I still see my moods going from scared to nervous, relieved, hopeful and ambitious, I still remember that one week when my prospects were not so bright.

My doctor had told me I had about a 25% chance of having cancer after my blood tests. Then BOOM! I have cancer after the biopsies. I was set up with CAT scans, DOG scans and Bone scans to see how far the cancer had spread. This was new to me. It HAD to be a mistake. The C word? And I was scared for one dark week. It didn’t matter that it was the bargain-basement type of cancer. I had cancer cells in my body!

I looked at my girls I wanted to see grow up all that week. They were placed in our hands to take care of. How could this be?

I promised two very special birth families WE, a mommy and a daddy, would raise these girls to the best of our ability.  I felt like I had let them down that week.

What about my wife? She does everything she can for these girls and there is still not enough time in the day for her. You mothers know what I mean. The thought of leaving her alone to struggle more was tearful.

And my parents, to outlive their son?

And so I walked out of that dark Cancer ward into the sunshine of the parking lot. I had a bit more bounce in my step than when I walked in. I didn’t even have to schedule the procedure until September! While not cured, this out patient ‘procedure’ can kill this dreaded cancer.

I hopped in my car. Turned the ignition on and headed for the exit.

Some people believe in coincidences and some people believe in miracles. I am beginning to lean more towards miracles.

As I headed towards the exit this song came on:

Click play and join me in my car as I drove home…

I knew this song from a few years past. I remembered it and knew how it went. Some of you who know the intro to the song may know where I am going with this.

The phrase I remembered came to me “Its not my time” instantly.

Followed by the words, “This could be the end of me. And everything I know.”

And as I drove away listening to more of the words I celebrated by turning the song up as loud as I could stand it.

And it’s not my time I’m not going
There’s a fear in me
And it’s not showing
This could be the end of me
And everything I know

But its not my time.

And I thought about the smiling faces of my two little girls.

Did you see Shake, shake, shake like a big wet dog?

Have you read any DYLANism’s?

I’ll be around to enjoy these things, and more, for a good long time I thought. And I am only moderately embarrassed to tell you I came to a stoplight and cried.

And I thought ‘what are the chances’?

What are the chances I hear this song at this time? A song I haven’t heard in years. A hard rock song from 4 years ago being played on an 80’s radio station. A song starting just as I turn on my car, after I kidded around with the nurses in the Cancer center, said good bye to my wife in the parking lot, and fumbled with my keys. The timing was spot on. What are the chances?

The man that sits beside me in church calls these things miracles. God did this for me. It doesn’t matter why.

Some may not believe this. It doesn’t matter. I’m not here to preach. It felt like a joyful, insanely happy (explicative) miracle. I’m going to live a long (explicative) time! It was the perfect (explicative) song at a great time.

“My friend this life we live
It’s not what we have
It’s what we believe in”

If you believe in miracles, or just want to,  play this song. Then hop in the front seat of the car with me as I relive the day. I promise I won’t sing!

Much…

IT’S NOT MY TIME

Looking back at the beginning of this
And how life was
Just you and me and loving all of our friends
Living life like an ocean
Now the current’s only pulling me down
It’s getting harder to breathe
It won’t be too long and I’ll be going under
Can you save me from this

‘Cause it’s not my time
I’m not going
There’s a fear in me
And it’s not showing
This could be the end of me
And everything I know
Ooo but I won’t go

I look ahead to all the plans that we made
And the dreams that we had
I’m in a world that tries to take ‘em away
Oh but I’m taking ‘em back
Cause all this time I’ve just been too blind to understand
What should matter to me
My friend this life we live
It’s not what we have
It’s what we believe in

And it’s not my time I’m not going
There’s a fear in me
And it’s not showing
This could be the end of me
And everything I know

But it’s not my time
I’m not going
There’s a will in me
And now I know that
This could be the end of me
And everything I know
Ooo but I won’t go
I won’t go

There might be more than you believe
There might be more than you and me
There might be more than you can see

But it’s not my time
I’m not going
There’s a fear in me
And it’s not showing
This could be the end of me
And everything I know

But it’s not my time
I’m not going
There’s a will in me
And now it’s gonna show
This could be the end of me
And everything I know

There might be more than you believe
There might be more than you and me
There might be more than you can see

But I won’t go
Oh no I won’t go down
Yeah

Reblogged from Journalist on the run:

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Last Sunday, a day in which we experienced the most beautiful weather Ireland has seen in years, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Skellig Michael, an island located in the Atlantic Ocean, just 11 km off the West Coast of Ireland.

Skellig Michael, while not known to a lot of people (thankfully - that's what makes it a hidden gem!), is in fact a…

Read more… 268 more words

Bye-bye Andrea!

The famous Aunt Sue checked into our B&B on Friday. She comes down with her vacation already planned out. So it was good news to her Andrea didn’t get in her way.  In fact, in typical carpei diem fashion she had our girls in bathing suits before I ever got out of bed on Saturday morning. And so in a blink…and a shower and a breakfast we were off…

It was a nice day again, a bit breezy as the dry backside of Andrea kept pushing her northward. The girls found their favorite tidal pool again, which was fine with dad as I just wanted to make up for the the 0-60 morning they put us through. And after a brief tumble in the waves I grabbed my hat and my shades and tried to become invisible and part of the chair.

I frequently talk about some of the incredible things that come out of Dylan’s mouth, both funny and perceptive in the DYLANism’s.  Skylar, in her own way, is getting her own version of SKYLARism’s too. These are super cute things that come out of her mouth, and more so, the cute way she says them.

I can’t recapture in print the innocent tone of some of these but early SKYLARism‘s include:

• “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy“ which has morphed into her favorite tasting food simply becoming,
• “Deee-wish-ous!“. Again, these seem to be her unique ideas and so adorable as the way a happy Skylar says them. But where did she get them from in the first place?

Now, somewhere, somehow, from somebody, she learned to “shake, shake, shake, like a big wet dog” when she gets out of the water to dry off.

Huh? Too cute, but where did this come from?

She reminds me what our past greyhound would do when he got out of laying in the tidal pools

Even though he had a super short coat you didn’t want to be around as he shook off surf and sand together.

But what Skylar does is sooo much cuter than Cloud. 

Take a look…..but be ready, she’s fast…

That’s her version of drying off coming out of the surf!

...and then going back in again!

See any similarity?

She’s no stranger to sand…

The boy behind Cloudy liked to imitate him too…

Now before you start sending hate mail to me for me comparing the super cute little Skylar to a greyhound I am not doing that at all.  I would never do that! We love our 2nd miracle child so much and these sayings just add to the adoration, although there are certain parallels.  She is way too precious to be even in the same sentence with an animal.

I’m just saying…..

…and where does she get these things?

We made it out to the beach by 10:30 Saturday morning. We do this to beat the crowds, traffic and get the girls off the beach in time for some naps. It was a perfect day; perfect temps, perfect winds, perfect tides.

We go out to a beach called Isle Of Palms. It is more of a residential beach (summer homes) than a touristy one (hotels and condos). The beaches then are unprotected by the lack of use of stone jetties. Accordingly, the beaches kind of reshape themselves about every full moon.

Sand bars head off the beach and parallel to it as as well. These parallel sand bars turn into warm tidal pools when the tide goes out. They are the perfect place for youngongs to play that are otherwise intimated by the ocean’s waves.

They are warm and safe. They can explore and jump and kick safely.

Here’s a brief look at the girls making do in their Atlantic backyard…

And so that’s where our two girls spent the majority of their morning. Since it was our first time back to the ocean since last September, Dylan digressed a bit in her love of the ocean. We played in the waves a little but it only took a couple of knock downs from the waves and mouth fulls of water to have her come in.

But we had a great day.

It reminded me of all the things I missed over the winter, the beach combing, riding the waves, the therapeutic sound of the sea. So I wanted to see of mommy wanted to head back out on Sunday too. (hint, hint)

Kicking back in our lounge chairs, watching the girls make their own fun in the tidal pools couldn’t help but remind me of one of my favorite beach songs. And so I will leave you with that and a few more pictures of summer to start your week. Cheers!

I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe

I used to rule my world from a pay phone
Ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
Oh I got too much stuff
I can’t explain the likes of me

But there’s this one particular harbor
So far but yet so near

Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

But then I think about the good times
Down in the Caribbean sunshine

In my younger days I was so bad

Laughin’ about all the fun we’ve had

I’ve seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go ’round..

Lakes below the mountain
Flow into the sea

Like oils applied to canvas
Oh how they permeate through me

But there’s this one particular harbor
Sheltered from the wind

Where the children play

on the shore each day
And all are safe within

A most mysterious calling harbor
So far but yet so near

Where I can see the day

when my hair’s so gray
And I finally disappear

But Not Yet…

Have a great weekend everyone! Make it the best week yet!

(Thanks to Jimmy Buffett for that One great Particular Harbor)

I got the reports back from my tests last week.

What tests you ask? 

I had to do a CAT Scan and a Bone Scan last week to see if my cancer spread to my lymph nodes or bones.  I was at an all-time low last week (as an old friend used to say). The fact that I had to do these tests in the first place was depressing. I am too fit, too young, have too many darling young ladies looking to me for answers to have cancer. How can this be?

And the doctor wants to see where else it went? I wasn’t supposed to have any cancer in the first place! I wasn’t prepared for good news; it’s not how these last months have gone.

So I walked into my doctor’s appointment yesterday prepared to see what else they found. My wife and I were both very nervous, with the uneasiness about our futures. The doctor finally walked into our waiting room and announces, “I have some good news!” 

What?

You made a mistake?

I’m cured?”  

Well, the news wasn’t that good. The doctor said the cancer had not spread to any other part of my body. He said, what he found was that I have arthritis in my big toe (no surprise) as well as some in the swell of my back. That was news to me but, honestly, if you would see me get out of bed some mornings it would be no surprise. I just associated it to old age.

But in the end, the good news was a BIG relief. I sighed a heavy sigh. No other cancer cells anywhere. I can have it all removed.  I felt like I had a new lease on life; lots of great, great feelings.

Now I feel like I am walking on sunshine, just like Katrina! Que the video for my actual mood…..

So my doctor laid out some options for me. Options! I now have options!

I can have surgery or one of two forms of radiation. The end result is the same but the side effects will vary. You would do me a favor and NOT look up side effects to these procedures. Trust me, they are humbling. But I do have the options. This situation can be cured. I have breath in my lungs at the end of this. And I STILL I do still get to see the smiles on my 3 girls  and provide for them for years to come. And I would take that over a few side effects lasting a month or two any day, any week.

So it was a bit of good news Tuesday. It felt like a burden lifted from my shoulders. I was happy when I left the this Doctor’s office for the first time, ever! Let’s do this I thought !

You know you feel kinda naked, lying on those x-ray tables, figuratively. I thought these images will show ALL my nasty little secrets. What else will they find? Ulcers? Blood Clots? Other Tumors?

You know what? The reports told me my 50+ year old body is mostly “unremarkable”. Unremarkable! That’s what the reports said. A mere mortal after all.

For grins, here is a listing of some of my naked secrets revealed by my two high priced body scans; such an invasion of my ultimate privacy…

• “Lung bases are clear” Thank you Lung Association!
• my “gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, and adreanal glands are unremarkable“
• “bladder is normal” Phew, I was worried about that based on all my ‘supplemements’. I wonder if ‘normal’ is better or worse than ‘unremarkable’?
• “bowel dilation….there is no free fluid or free gas” …despite what my wife will tell you..
• “the (my) prostate seminal vesicles are grossly unremarkable.” What’s up with that? That’s the way it reads. It sounds like a ‘whole lot of nothing’ concerning my prostate….grossly unremarkable  The doctor says it is sick and wants it for his collection.
• “Focal increase uptake in the right foot around the (big toe) …degenerative osteoarthritis or inflammatory arthritis such as gout.” Gout?! WTH? Gout?
• what about my 70 year old shoulders….” a mild uptake in shoulders over some sumpthing sumpthing joints, a frequent degenerative pattern. This is symmetric.”Degenerative? That’s it for these worn out joints? Degenerative?
• and the best one of all, “No areas are suspicious for metastatic disease related to the patient’s prostate cancer.” Translation, these degenerative old bones don’t show any sign of cancer. Yeah!!

So it appears I am unremarkable! Good news in the medical imaging field I suppose. It’s still a bit of a bubble-burster when all my life I have striven to be a little extra-ordinary.

As far as thoughts and prayers go, I have one thought…

a BIG

You want more good news? 

Have you been outside recently? It’s practically summer! We’re making plans to go to the beach this weekend!

Anyone who has kids knows the summer solstice is practically upon us as the kids are waking up earlier and going to bed later and later each night. So break out the flip flops and come mingle your toes with some sand this weekend with us. Its Summer time! Let’s work on some tan lines!

More good news? 

I was paying bills last night and I looked out my window. Here is my 5 year old daughter trying to wrestle her 7 year old male neighbor to the ground. He was just standing there. It was Dylan that kept on falling off of him to the ground. It looked silly.

I just stared out the window for a minute or two. It was endearing to watch as our first miracle child is getting older, turning into a playful and wonderful little girl. PLUS, I know how hard she can body-slam! Trust me! I felt I had to watch out for the little boy. He was wearing glasses!

But here in our new address she has kids her age on both side of us, and many more riding their bikes down our street. Our girls can have so many friends here in our new location. Schoolmates…. in the ‘burbs. It does my heart good to think of the possibilities.

That is……for 5 or 6 more years…. until this 7 year old boy turns into a teenager…. just 2 years older than Dylan.

Hey!

Wait!

Someone find me a realtor!

I wanted to send a shout out to fellow blogger, Susan Lindau (Susan’s Wild Ride) who is undergoing surgery to remove cancer in her one breast on Friday. Susan is the one who frequently offer ‘blogger mixers’ where fellow bloggers can mix and mingle and meet new friends.She’s a lot of fun, always upbeat and takes you on her wild ride of life.

If you are inclined to pray for other people please remember Susan in your thoughts today. While there are cures available now its never easy when dealing with cancer; an emotional Wild Ride.

Susan is heading into her procedure fully optimistic, with grand plans after its all over. You can’t keep this woman down!

So good luck Susan! I hope to be Susan Strong when my time comes too.

Then, at breakfast, we had these D-lish cinnamon buns with the cream cheese topping; not the low fat on these babies but the real sugary icing.

Skylar loved ‘em. Dylan loved ‘em and Mommy cleaned her plate. Really! Her plate was shiny after she was done.

So I couldn’t resist the giraffe analogy and how Mommy likes to get her food using her tongue. I said, “See? Look how shiny Mom’s plate is! And look at mine…I use my fingers. Mommy uses her tongue” And then I demonstrated for the girls.

The girls all had a good laugh. Mommy laughed the hardest. It was a good way to start what looks like a beautiful Sunday here in the Lowcountry.

And the stories reminded my of another beautiful day, the day last Christmas when Dylan and Skylar got to feed momma and baby giraffe at the zoo and got a first hand look at those amazing tongues (that mommy appears to possess)

So if you want some nice warm feeling this lazy Sunday, here’s a look at Dylan and Skylar feeding the giraffes last Christmas.

Have the best, lip-smackin’ Memorial Day weekend ever!

Reblogged from Leanne Shirtliffe ~ Ironic Mom:

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Don't Lick the Minivan officially launches on Wednesday, May 22 so it's a busy week.

MEDIA: Tuesday, I'm on Calgary Breakfast Television at 7:12 AM and then on Alberta Noon's call-in show on CBC Radio from 12:30-1:00 PM (unless the rumour about Edmonton's mayor retiring pushes me out of that latter slot). Both segments are live which means you have the opportunity to watch/listen to me mess up in real time!

Read more… 153 more words

One of my favorite writers and funniest lady I know, Leeanne Shirtliffe (Ironic Mom)

has a book being published this week, "Don't Lick The MiniVan" and Other Things I Never Thought I'd Say To My Kids".

How many out there have some children, raise your hands.

Now those of you with hands in the air, how many of those kids can be the cutest thngs you've ever seen? Keep your hands up.

And how many of you with your hands still in the air have kids that have done, or said some things that have you scratchin' your heads thinking these kids can't possibly be prodigy of mine! If so, take a look at Leeanne's book. She's a fun read (I hope I can say that about her) and maybe, just maybe, she can remind you of some of your own stories with your own Minivan Lickers!

Have fun! If you are looking for a fun (ny) read this weekend, or this summer, check the Ironic Mom out and her book. She also does blogs for NickMom and others. She gets around! She's funny and she knows how to use it!

..and have the BEST Memorial Day ever...

PS: I already have my copy!! Luv it!!

I joked right away, “oh that’s some Big Beer from Texas. Laura Hayes said she was going to send some in a comment just after I posted about buying and selling our house. “

You know what? I called it!

One of my original followers and long-time friend of the family, Laura Hayes has a heart the size of Texas. She sent up 6 beers that were made in Texas. Plus a bottle of (Texas) ‘Rangers Home Run Red’ wine, only available for sale in Texas. Home Run red wine, eh? I gave my wife a wink and hoped I could score a Home Run some night this week.

If I can give a shout out here, Laura is actually the mother to our very first nanny, Jessica Hayes. Jessica came on at a very special time in our lives.  Not only was she a great nanny but she was an great amateur photographer and filled both ours and her mother’s house up with adorable pics of our very first child, Dylan.

Laura took our miracle daughter to heart. This lady sent gifts to Dylan in the mail, including some great educational books and learning materials for our daughter. And you may know the results of these investments!

Laura quickly became part of the wonderful list of  ‘grandmothers’ to Dylan. We had a grandmother type name for her. Dylan would try to pronounce Laura but it came out, ““wa wa” . And the name stuck. Ms. Laura became Grandma Wa-Wa.

We had the honor of meeting this nice lady one time in a visit that was too short. But we thought it would be one of many more. Her daughter, Jessica, has moved back home to Texas to continue her photography and go back to school I believe.

Jessica, was awesome in her own right. She was great with Dylan and completely relieved us as parents as to how good a teacher and role model a nanny could be.

However, what I really remember and truly miss, and unfairly to Jess, was her ability to make her professional looking videos for us. FLIP video is such a drop off compared to the magic an creativity Jessica possesses…

Here is a sample of Jessica’s work (in case any of you would like to hire her)

A video summarizing Dylan’s first year:

A video showing Dylan’s 2nd birthday and the present of a new baby sister, Skylar:

Or get your tan oil and and your favorite boat drink and travel with us on  our getaway to someplace warm on Valentines trip:

Ms. Laura sent a cordial letter with her intoxicating package that stated she also sent us something from Target. I felt bad, as we have never received any gift from her for Target. What should I tell her?

And then I opened the days mail and there was a gift card that would just about cover….ah…

Well, I better hold off. I don’t know if I wanna tell the misses about this yet…its that nice!

Thank you so much Laura for your kindness and generosity! We love you!

I will soon be playing “Paradise By the Dashboard Light” upstairs this week!

Other good news, my parents are still in town this weekend and opted to get us a new patio table and umbrella for our anniversary…which isn’t until September. Thank Mom and Dad! Make sure you use it while you are here!

The weather is warmer and we are planning trips to the beach in the weekends to come. Come with us if you are in the area! We would love to have you with us! And our summer vacation is right around the corner. Hello summer!

See? I told you I would try to do better the next post?

To be fair, the prostate results didn’t go as hoped for this afternoon. I have a few more tests to see if the cancer spread anywhere else and then they may have to remove it. So I guess its imperative I ’round the bases this week’! As another blog friend Susie said in her Wild Ride, just more obstacles and U-turns. So with a deep breath I say, “Let’s do this!” Life is short! Opps….sorry… bad saying….Howabout “Its better to burn out than it is to rust”.

That doesn’t really fit either. Oh well, I’ll figure that saying out. Anyone else have one that fits? Does anyone want to hear some poor prostate jokes with little to moderate bad taste?

No, I have these girls to live for and that’s more than enough for me, looking forward. More than enough….

I wish things would work like they are supposed to work. Now this could be anything, from a car to the Internet to a service to an airplane. If it is supposed to work one way or do just one thing you count or rely on, it needs to do its function.

Yes, cars get old and wear out and don’t perform. Things like that are expected. It may be disappointing sometimes but it doesn’t set me off.

Going to a restaurant, for instance, and being placed on a wait when you can see plenty of open tables is what I am talking about. If I was asked to wait and the place was full it is understandable. But when you see open tables and you are hungry? Restaurants aren’t supposed to work like that.

Or movers that show up late with out the agreed upon number of staff, or vehicles. Or lawyers getting paid to do their jobs but missing some  very important details. Or an airplane ride that says it will have a plane ready for you at a certain time, at a certain terminal, with a seat for you, only to find out this isn’t your plane at all and you have to scurry through half the airport to find the plane that is meant for you, only to find its not leaving for several hours, making you miss your connecting flight so you can’t kiss your girls that you missed the lat two days good night that same night. Yea stuff like that really sets me off.

And so it was Friday night; birthday eve. I raced through the streets of Philly, stuck in traffic, fracturing more than a few traffic laws, relying on a GPS that knew more of where I was than I did, going though all that stress to make my flight home to see my girls before they go to bed.

I made it with moments to spare.

US Air, ya gotta love them! I swore I would never fly US Air again because they did this very same thing to me and my family the last time we flew them…at this very airport.

I make my flight, against the odds (a demise of my own actions this time). We get called on board only for the grapevine to pass around, “this isn’t our plane. this isn’t our plane. did you hear, this isn’t our plane”

The flight attendants call us back out to the gate and say its not our plane (who’s plane is it then? It looks like our plane! It could be our plane. Why can’t this be our plane?) They tell us our plane is resting down at terminal A10, the International terminal.

Like the Liberty Bell, the US Air service out of Philadelphia needs fixed

Now I want t stop here for a sec. If this sounds vaguely familiar well this is the exact same ordeal my family went through on our last family vacation to Jamaica this past September..with American Airlines, who we also swore we would never use again.

So like a herd of angry buffalo we stampede against the flow to this new terminal; new plane.  The illustrious US Air staff was prepared telling us  this plane just arrived and it would need to be cleaned first.

Oh, it just arrived on a flight from Athens Greece!

OK clean it up. How long can that take, even with that long flight?

Oh, and I notice my cell phone is dying so I have to switch it off to save some power.

Then they tell us the plane will need some maintenance issues addressed before we take flight so our plane will be ready in 90 minutes. (!)

And that 90 minutes along with the time of the flight just made me miss my connecting flight for the second half of my journey home. Now what?

By the grace of God, the man standing behind me in this now unfortunate line in front of the US Air terminal was from Charleston too. He was on the phone to his travel agent it sounded like. I showed him my ticket going to Charleston and held up the peace sign, asking him if he could find TWO seats to Charleston.

I heard him say the next connecting flight was already filled up. Several long minutes later he smiled and said they found a direct flight to Charleston leaving Philly at 9:00pm. He handed me his phone and I gave my details to the agent.

Phew! Crisis averted! But I was not going to hug my girls tonight before they went to bed. And made to suffer dinner in a foreign place with huge prices for inferior food (finding out 30 hours later just how poor a quality this food was).

I spent just about the whole amount of a birthday check in a ‘Bistro and Wine’ bar directly beside my new gate to freedom. I wasn’t going to miss this one no matter how many chardonnays I had! I found a delightful ‘Menage a Trios’  that I never tried before. Ordered a 3 course meal at the bar, trying to pass the next 3 hours with the bartender without being asked to leave.

Time passed and boarded this tiny plane and slept all the way home uneventfully. I turned my cell back on and found a text from mommy asking me to be sure to give Dylan a hug when I got home; she asked Mommy to tell me that. I was more than happy to oblige! This morning she sat on my lap the entire service during church. It was pretty cool.

All dressed up for when Daddy gets home

And so I didn’t begin my birthday waking up in some strange hotel room wondering how and what flight to catch to get home, which is what was running through my head some 4 hours before.

OK, some good news!

Our construction team says the leak in our house turns out to be the supply line feeding water to the wash machine. So they don’t need to tear out the brand new virgin shower and tub after all! And that will be fixed sooner than later! ( Hurray!!)

My parents drove into town last night. We have two b-day cakes and a tub of homemade banana pudding, a gift from my wife while I was away (my favorite).

So much for the 2 pounds I lost this week riding my bike to work! Ahh, it’ll come off again. I got some small puny weights for my b-day in which I can rehab my shoulders from at home, instead of waiting for the day in the gym.  So life is good.

Now if you can wish me luck as we review the results of my prostate biopsies on Tuesday. My reservoir for handling bad news is about drained.

A perfect transition into the saving theme of last year’s birthday drama….

Sorry, again, for this parade on depressing news. I will try to do better next time!

The good news is we have great neighbors all around us. This neighborhood is filled with kids! Dylan’s new best friend is Deidra, a nice 10 year old girl that lies beside us. They are already planning a sleep over on Friday! We still have to install some lights in these rooms…. 

I have to take a moment and point out my friends at Palmetto Movers. This is the company I arranged to move our possessions from one house to the next; keeping them in a truck over night while the houses went through closing.

Not only did they get  started 2 hours late, with 2 employees instead of the scheduled three (one of the two was hung over), they also forgot to bring a truck with them! (!!!) 

The two employees showed up at my house about an hour late then decided to go to the U-Haul center for a moving truck. They drove there in their car and returned with the truck and trailer. Only thing was one of them forgot to drive the car back that took them there, leaving the two without transportation for their ride home. It appears I paid for them to go to that U-Haul depot as they were on the clock. I guess it was a good thing I was only paying for two; to do a one person job that should have been done ahead of time, instead of all three.

I had to keep pumping them full with Mountain Dews and Protein Bars so they could get the job done in a timely manner. They were paid by the hour after all. I tried to set the pace as I became the (missing) third man to pack up our things on the truck. If I slowed down, they slowed down I noticed.

The next day the unloading got put off as it appears the paralegal for the buyer of our home forgot to put in the closing statement where our loan was being paid off by the sale of the house. Yes, 30 minutes before we are to go to close to buy our new house, my mortgage guy says the previous sale of our home was invalid due to this error. A new HUD statement needed to be drawn up and signed by both parties in order to transfer any type of funds in the sale. 

Well, it’s a good thing we were living in our car at the time! We made it to that attorney and signed the forms and made it to the attorney’s office for our new home purchase on time at 2:00pm. The trouble was the buyer of our old home had to work until 4:00pm and could not sign the statement any earlier. 

So we sat on the curb at our new house, our trusty movers by our side, waiting for the word we were allowed to move in. Tick, tick, tick. Finally at 5:00pm we got word “the closing was going to the banks.” It was over. We should be able to move in…. 

And that’s what we did. We didn’t have keys to the house but I did know the combination to the garage door opener. So, pumped full of Mountain Dew, my trusty team kicked it into gear. We had minimal damage, scratches or breakage moving in. I ordered some pizzas as we were getting close.

Our Realtor finally called and asked how we were doing. She’s says, “Oh no, the money didn’t transfer yet. Your house hasn’t cleared the closing yet.” 

“You are kidding, right?”

We went ahead and started filling the house up with our belongings, the entire time waiting for a “Yay” or “Nay” on the move in, wondering if or when the police might show up. We kept going after all, these trusted movers were on the clock! They did OK. They only broke a leg or  two on some chairs and sofas and scratched some end tables and washing machine. I bought them a pizza at the end of the move. Then the head mover handed me a bill for $90.00 more than what we agreed upon….since we got done so late and they couldn’t return the truck that day.  Never mind they showed up 2 hours late the day before, they were a man short day 1, broke some stuff, and I fed and hydrated the them. I was so tired I wrote the check and tried to put the whole experience behind me insted of arguing the point at the end of the day. I just wanted to be done at this point.

Between them and the certain Paralegal it made me wonder how some people survive in the business word. Such mistakes or errors in customer service would not last that long in my company; or that of my wife’s. 

Breaking news….before I get too nasty on some people the blows here keep coming. 

If you have a garage you most certainly have to step ‘up’ into your house when you enter your house. This suggests your house sits on a cement slab. Well last week I noticed water seeping out between the top of the cement slab and beneath the floor of the house. Think about that for a second. There is water coming, sitting somewhere beneath our floor and on top of the cement slab it sits on. …in a brand new house!

Can we catch a break?

So the builder’s plumber comes out. He gives me some lame excuse why. Meanwhile the water keeps seeping out. Another higher-up builder comes. He says the water is coming from a shower drain. The problem is we have never used this specific shower.

So they are going to tear out the back wall / sheet rock in my garage to dry the area and try to find the source of the water. AND…open up a hole in our laundry room and probably tear up the marble floors in the master bathroom …and said shower and more than likely the scallop shaped tub..in order to find and fix this drain. 

Should I get a lawyer? My past experience of selling a house says termites like to chow down on wet wood. Should I get the termite people out there? 

Last month I tried to take these setbacks in stride. After all we were selling our clunker and buying a new one. Now, I’m afraid, I feel like I am becoming not such a nice guy. And I am sorry for sounding like such a whiner here  (continuing)). I think I need  a little more break until things improve.

PS..we found another great nanny (in a long line of great nannies) to take care of the our little gems while we are at work. And today Dylan is taking a tour of her new school that she starts next fall. I turn 29 on Saturday…and my parents are travelling down to visit (to spoil the grandkids not really for my birthday)…after I travel up to there section of PA on a business trip this week. And life goes on…

And then I read my friend Mei and life doesn’t seem so bad:

http://meirozavian.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/the-intersection/#comment-6098

Thanks for dropping by everyone! Have the best week yet….

We have 3 things to complete yet and we are scheduled to go to the attornies on Monday!

Monday!

It’ll  get done. I’ve lost alot of sleep.

Went way over in my cell phone voice minutes.

When my kids see me, they run and hide!

And then yesterday the mortgage guy drops his bombshell on me. 

 I just want to ship my pants, lol…..

…and ship everythig else in my house!

But I have bored you good people enough with this project.

We may just get this done yet!

Hold tight….

Have a great weekend everyone!

I will see you next in our new zip code!

I hope…

(que the music for our current mood)

..clap along if you want….

There, you got it…

(sigh)

It turns out the bank this time, the BANK (!) wants us to install either electric eyes to go with our automatic garage doors or install updated garage doors with an electric eye so no mishaps with slow moving children, sleeping dogs, unreplaceable Ming dynasty vases or anything else of value or liability linger beneath the vengeful garage doors when they transcend from the open position.

This is insane!

We installed said doors about 10 years ago when we replaced the wooden, out of date, slightly rotting garage doors with the house WE bought. OUR bank never said anything about safety or the looming potential for robotic garage doors to reek havoc on a home owners policy.

Our realtor thinks this is silly. Their realtor thinks this is silly. The buyer doesn’t want anything to change! But the BANK thinks we need these updated, state of the art ‘garage doors’. Garage doors! ..in order to float the money to this new home buyer.

Were the last 10 years in the housing industry really this bad??

So we are forced to disconnect and dismantle said garage door opener before we close…in SIX DAYS!

Meanwhile, the previous house inspector is coming out on Wednesday to check to see if the repairs we did are adequate. Never mind I said they were done. Paid a little more than $2000 for the repairs. It doesn’t matter that we gave them a letter from a licensed contractor Vouching for the work. Crazy!

So I am inviting my contractor to come out at the same time and stand up to him. My guy is bigger and meaner looking than any ol’ inspector. I pity the fool!

NO, actually just cross your fingers for me that every goes Ok… and we don’t have to shell out any more money. He couldn’t care less about the nature of our garage doors.

So on we go….

“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am…stuck in this riddle with you.”

I got home and my girls both tell me my favorite show is on TV. Coming through the door, and curious, with high expectations I asked, “Oh yea? What is this?“

They both scream out “Football!“

“Yea?”

Only to walk in the living room and find its some college baseball. (sigh) Not even close.

But here is the thing, the game was on…are you ready…channel 1679. Yes, well into the 1600′s in channels.  Who needs 1600 channels? Please list your jokes at the bottom of the page about this.

Well I have been telling you about a few of my favorite kids and their birthdays over these past few weeks. I finally got around to viewing some pictures from all the various events this past month. So I wanted to share some of them here. I hope you enjoy them. And thanks for dropping by…

The b-day month started with seeing their cousins, which they haven’t seen in 2 years, at the O.G. They were a little shy at first…

Both of their cousins are dancers in high school. Here they are teaching D. how to stretch the right way

They taught our girls some dance moves…

They taught them some gymnastic moves

I think everyone had a great time

It looks like somebody’s birthday ~ but who’s this time?

Playing dress up in her new dress~ this is Ariel at her marriage to Prince Eric

Future Charlie’s Angel

She’s growing up WAAAAY to fast!

The famous Princess Castle. How many Princesses do you see?

Looking for an Easter basket after the Princesses had an Easter blow-out party

The girls racing at the beginning of their Easter Egg hunt

Somebody needs a bigger Easter basket.

She just couldn’t wait until the end of the hunt

Dylan! Where did all that Easter candy go?

Its where Easter Eggs come from!

Playing Air Hockey with Grandma @ Chucky Cheese

…trying to scare  Chucky Cheese

Skylar had a birthday too…

Playing Peek-a-boo

Better than Easter candy AND lip gloss!

Wrong opening there Skylar ~ Happy Birthday-month girls!!

and….

To the best of my knowledge our home has then been cleared to sell and we are on our way to…..

Home Sweet Home

The girls couldn’t be Happier!

Skylar got to run around in her new room already

But Mom and Dad may even be more excited!

and here is the Big reason why…

Our oldest daughter starts school this fall

Below is the school rating system  of the town we just left and the new area we just moved into (Hanahan)

Big Difference in the school systems!

Although it seems we now need a FULL-TIME Nanny at our new location?

Anybody intereseted?