A Zillion Years Ago, We Went on Vacation

OK, so it wasn't a zillion years ago. It was about 3 1/2 months ago. But it feels like it was an eternity ago. I look back at the pictures and I can't believe how it sped by. I'm ready to go back!

Anyway, at long last, here are the pictures from our trip to England and Germany, April 27 - May 2.

Someone let me know if that link doesn't work.

As if any of you wouldn't.

I Did Not Run Away

Although I guess I sort of did. We got home late last night from 3 weeks on the road visiting Eamonn's family in England and Germany. I would have told you before I left, but I'm getting a little freakier about notifying the Internet that our house is sitting empty.

Even though we live in a neighborhood where the houses are as close together as New York City apartments and there haven't been any robberies or even attemted robberies in the nearly 5 years we've lived here. But who wants to tempt fate?

And anyway, if we're Facebook friends, you probably figured out. Because truly, how discreet can I be for 3 weeks?

I did have my iPad with me (best invention ever) and I had intended to post occasional photos to see if you could guess where we were, but then, Sooper Genius that I am, I couldn't figure out how to upload pics from my iPad to the Internet. And clearly, I was too lazy to figure it out.

I will be back later this week with some pictures and info on our trip.

It was fun. Very fun. And long. Very long.

It produced a lot of laundry and miscellaneous stuff that I don't know what to do with or where to put now. I hate that part of coming home from vacation.

I'm going to bed in about 2.5 hours. It's 4:37pm. I hope I make it that long.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Because it's October and I figured I'd better finally write about it.

There were so many pictures to upload--that's why it's taken me so long. Whatever Kodak Gallery has done to its site, I don't like it. Stuff takes forever and putting picture titles on there is totally cumbersome. The problem is that I don't want to switch to a new service because I have so many things archived on their site. So wah wah wah. I'm dealing with it already.

The boys and I were on the road for three weeks and a day in July/August. That was a long time. But it was a great trip. We saw a lot of people, took a lot of pictures, as you'll see, and we were ready to come home at the end. That's the best kind of trip in my book.

I'll link you out to the pictures at the end, but here's a rundown of what we did.

Ohio
We were flying out of Denver so we took the opportunity to drive down the day before our flight and go to the Denver Museum of Natural History and Science. That might not be the actual name, but close enough. It was the second time the boys and I had been there and the first time for Eamonn, so it was fun for them to see it with him. Many of the exhibits are permanent, but they have some good rotating ones. In fact, it always cracks me up when I think about something a friend said once, "There's a good exhibit on natural disasters this month." It just struck me as funny.

We also squeezed in a clinic visit the day we left.

And then we were on our way. The boys love the whole airport/flying/travel process. Me? Not so much. But I do it to get from here to there.

Ohio was hot this year. Ridiculously hot. Last year, the weather was so nice, we often turned off the air conditioning. This year--no way. In fact, the boys frequently walked around saying things like, "Why is the air so heavy? The air makes me sleepy." I felt much the same.

We did have some rain, which was nice. I miss rainstorms here. So we went to see a movie. Something about Cats and Dogs who were spies. I fell asleep.

We saw tons of family and friends, including spending the night at my Grandpa's. They don't have air conditioning. And as much as I wanted to bark at the kids to get outside and play while we were there, I didn't badger them too much because after 8am, it was mostly miserable to be outside. We did help Grandpa fix an electric fence that was down--and I will mention briefly here thay my sweet Grandpa put my hand on a fence THAT WAS STILL LIVE--but I won't hold it against him. For much longer. He also took the boys on a tractor ride which is really their favorite thing. Right after eating homemade ice cream.

We went to the Ohio State Fair again. I think I talked briefly about that when I did a few posts at Mom's. I was hungover. It was a difficult day.

Eamonn arrived. We went to a water park. That was very fun. I sunburned my chest. That wasn't fun.

Virginia
Our trip to Virginia was in two parts: Norfolk for Eamonn's cousin's wedding and Williamsburg for family vacation time.

I really liked Norfolk. It, of course, sits right on the water, which I dig. I like being able to see the ocean or other large bodies of water. The focus was the wedding, which was beautiful and please note I didn't take any pictures for some reason (mostly because the purse I took was too small to hold the camera). We had a great time with Eamonn's cousins, some of whom we hadn't seen in awhile. We did have some time on Saturday morning to visit the USS Wisconsin and the attached museum, which the boys loved.

I went and got a pedicure. Which I loved.

And then we went on to Williamsburg.

Which I totally loved.

I did wonder if Finn would be too young to appreciate it. He wasn't. Both boys had a great time, as did we. There is so much to see there. We did the different locations in chronological order, based on when they were settled/took place:

1. Jamestown--Sunday
2. Williamsburg--Monday, Tuesday (and then I went back and did a walk through Wednesday evening)
3. Yorktown--Wednesday

I read about doing it that way in a book or on a website or something. I don't know if it made any difference to the boys--I think maybe they looked at the whole thing as just a bunch of people dressed in costumes in three different locations.

Whatever. It was fun.

So if you're wondering about taking your kids to Williamsburg--do it. However, don't go in August. In fact, I recommend October through December. The last time I went, it was October 1990 and my friend Karen and I went. We had a great time, but even in October, it was pretty humid. Of course, a hurricane had just rolled through. I laugh looking back at the pictures, some of which are pratically duplicated for our 2010 trip.

The saving grace of our trip was the $10 souvenir mug which you could use for unlimited refills of various and sundry drinks. My kids drank more high fructose corn syrup laden lemonade in the two days we walked around Williamsburg than they have in their entire life.

It was hot, people. Oppressively hot. At one point, after lunch on the second day in Williamsburg, it was so hot I wanted to lie down and scream. But I figured that might be bad for morale, so I didn't. You'll see how sweaty we look when you see the pictures.

A huge, huge highlight of going to Williamsburg was getting to meet blog friends, Beth and Hannah. Beth had been providing me with Williamsburg advice prior to our trip. Her son attends William and Mary and they live about 90 miles away, so they've been to Williamsburg a time or ten. In fact, I believe Beth told me Hannah was "over" Williamsburg, which made me laugh. After four days in the heat in the area, I was over it, too! So Beth and Hannah graciously drove 90 miles to meet us! It was very exciting and we had a great time visiting.

And I'll tell you something else--after weeks of "quality family time"--the boys were so excited to have someone else to talk to. They enjoyed showing off their swimming and diving skills for Hannah. I think they were so relieved to have an audience who appreciated them and wasn't lecturing saying things like, "don't splash me, you're being too loud! Don't run around the pool!" etc. Ah, parenthood.

Anyway, our whole sweaty summer vacation is available for viewing HERE. Kick back, relax and enjoy with an ice cold glass of high fructose corn syrup.

Or hot chocolate now that it's October.

More Camping Yakkity Yak

I love saying yakkity yak.

So I did a jokey post about our camping trip and you can see all of the pictures linked from Tuesday's post, but I wanted to come back and tell give you a few more details, lest you think I don't actually like tent camping. All of that stuff in the first post was definitely true. Of course! We're the Rooneys, people! Whacky stuff just happens to us.

But the camping trip was truly a lot of fun. OK, maybe not the asthma attack, but even the cold temperatures didn't ruin it. I did worry that we'd freeze to death.

That didn't happen though.

And as Ma would say, "All's well that ends well."

Rocky Mountain National Park is a place I'd recommend to anyone who's considering a trip west. You don't have to camp. Does that make it more appealing? As you can see by the pictures, it's incredibly beautiful.

RMNP is about two hours from home. We headed out last Friday right after school. The car was completely stuffed. I was afraid a door was going to burst open and various and sundry things--that might or might not include my underwear--would go flying down the road.

That didn't happen though.

As we were driving, Finn started the "I'm about to get sick" cough. Awesome. The asthma attack he had in the night was minor, but it did scare me, being out there in the middle of nowhere and all. In fact, I was all for hanging out the next day and then driving home to sleep, but I was overruled by everyone and we stayed. I'm glad we did.

As you could see, we had a campstove, but we also wanted to light a fire (to ward off frostbite and scary forest beasts). The park ranger I had talked to a few days prior (come to think of it, I feel he was negligent in not telling me to ignore the Weather.com forecast--I might have to sue) said to bring firewood in case there wasn't any on site. So we had a stove, tons of firewods, waterproof matches, firestarters, AND those butane lighter-y things. I felt surely we would have no problem lighting a fire.

But we did. It was one of those embarassing situations where your campsite is engulfed in smoke demonstrating that you are not having campfire success.

And then the stove malfunctioned. It gave us fits all weekend.

I was getting concerned we'd have to eat one of the kids, but Eamonn proved himself to be master of the fire and got it going. In fact, we cooked over the fire that night because the stove never did get its act together. Eamonn had to completely dismantle it and re-McGyver it back together to get it working.

We stayed on the west side of the park--there are two entrances. There was a big festival in Estes Park, on the east side, and we wanted to steer clear of that. As someone pointed out, there are a lot of dead trees in my pictures. The pine bark beetle has literally decimated the lodgepole pine population in Grand County, where the park is located. It's very sad.

We stayed at the Timber Creek campground and were pleased to find the water was still on there (toilets and a camp sink--no showers). People visiting as of yesterday had to starting using the vault toilets. Not a fan of those.

On Saturday, we drove along the main drag--Fall River Road, I think--took some scenic detours and did some small hikes. Finn was struggling on one of the hikes up to about 12,000 feet, so he and I went back to the car and took a couple of hits of albuterol.

Our second night felt warmer. I had driven into Granby, about 30 miles away, to get some medicine to see if we could unstuff Finn's nose. He definitely had a better night so it was worth it, but as I was heading to Granby, I got a text from Eamonn saying, "You don't have the National Parks Pass!" Declan was actually the one who commented after I left, "How will Mommy get back in without the pass?" Frankly, I probably would have breezed right out of the park and never thought of it until they made me stop upon my return. The ranger at our campground called ahead and cleared the way for me, so it was all good. When I came back through the entrance gate, "I called out, 'I'm the crazy mom who went to buy medicine and forgot the pass!' 'Yeah, yeah, we've heard of you, you're fine!'" they called. It's nice to be noticed.

I saw a moose on the way back to the campsite. I picked up Eamonn and the boys and we went back and stalked it. And watched some woman walk out into the clearing to get a better view. Very dangerous. Moose can be very aggressive, both the males and females. We stayed in the trees.

We got back to our campsite and roasted weenies. And marshmallows of course. And saw the moose that lives right at our campsite. We went to a ranger talk about moose, which was very cool. It did make me more paranoid though when the ranger said she had been charged by a moose during her moose research. So that night,when I had to get up in the middle of the night to take a trip to the bathroom, I kept shining my headlamp (if that's not super nerdy, I don't know what is) around in terror, waiting for a moose to mow me down without ever asking for a muffin (get it?).

Our second night felt warmer to us (again, perhaps it was zipping ourselves into a smaller part of the tent...and then the aftershocks of eating baked beans...and we also drank hot chocolate right before bed.). When I spoke to the ranger the next day and commented that it was much warmer, she gave me a weird look and said, "It was 20 degrees in Grand Lake at 2:30am, so I'm not sure why you think it was warmer." Thank goodness for beans, I guess. I'll never leave home without them again.

Or handwarmers. I slept with handwarmers, toe warmers, and a body warmer. So did the boys. Eamonn tried toe warmers and they apparently malfunctioned. Mine were still hot at noon the next day, which is a crazy long time.

As an interesting aside, it's amazing how many calories your body burns trying to keep itself warm. Shivering is a very good workout.

We slept fully clothed. I wore pajama pants, yoga pants, a short sleeved t-shirt, a fleece hoodie, a fleece jacket and two pairs of wool socks. The boys were similarly dressed. We all slept in hats. I never even took my bra off all weekend--I didn't want to strip down too far. I did change my underwear, just in case you wondered. Because that would be gross. As far as I'm concerned. The boys saw nothing wrong in attempting to wear the same clothes all weekend.

I love how relaxed camping is. Yes, we did a fair amount of siteseeing around the park, but a lot of our time was spent puttering around the camp, and I like that. On Saturday morning, the sun was finally peeking over the top of the mountain, Eamonn and the boys went off to wash dishes, and I sat by the campfire and dozed with my face turned up to the warm sun. It was an extremely pleasant way to spend a morning. No rushing to get to a museum by a certain time, to see something, be somewhere. We were just being and I liked it.

In fact, I spent a lot of time just being grateful for those 0 degree sleeping bags.

Let's Gather 'Round the Campfire and Sing a Campfire Songgggggg!

I can't believe I just used that as a title. Anyone whose kids watch Sponge Bob will recognize it. Good grief.

So finally, this past weekend, everyone was healthy (at the start of the trip) and we got to take our tent on its maiden voyage. Our destination: Rocky Mountain National Park about 2 hours from home.

Here's what I learned on my first tent camping outing since 1990.
-Even if everyone appears healthy when you leave the house, someone will be sick by the time you get to the campground. In this instance--Finn. We were on a dirt road and I heard the telltale pre-virus, pre-asthma cough. Sure enough, he had an asthma attack in the middle of the night. Fortunately, we had his puffer.

-Even if you bring two firelighters, your wood will not light and your stove will malfunction while you watch the temperature plummet past freezing.

-Speaking of watching the temperature plummet past freezing, do not rely on Weather.com when they say temperatures will be in the mid-30s. Call ahead to the campground so the park ranger can tell you the actual overnight temperature will be about 18 degrees. Fahrenheit. That's brisk, people.

-Don't worry about the bears. In this neck of the woods, your worst enemy is a moose. And that moose roaming freely through the campground? Stear clear.

-Driving 30 miles one way to get decongestant so your child can breathe in the night and everyone can sleep isn't really such a big deal. Except when you forget to take the National Parks Pass when you leave the park.

-It's OK to eat three hot dogs while camping. Baked beans on the other hand--not so smart, especially when you zip four people into the smallest part of the tent to try and preserve some small amount of heat.

-Get the zero degree sleeping bags even if you don't think you'll need them. Don't say things to your husband like, "It's not like we'll ever camp when it's colder than 30 degrees!" Clearly, mistakes happen.

-Campfire smoke will always blow in the direction you're sitting.

-There are always spiders in the bathrooms.

-It's OK to stand in front of the hand dryers and warm yourself. Even if people are waiting to dry their hands.

I'm ready to go again. But in a westerly direction this time, where it might be a tad warmer.

Here's a pictorial view of our tent adventure.

A word about the pictures. I am most annoyed with Kodak Gallery. Their new format meant it took me TWO HOURS to add photo captions. And their slideshow is cutting off our heads in some pictures. Nice. Rest assured when I took the pictures originally, I did not decapitate anyone.

Home Sweet Home

We are back. Lots of photos to share. Lots of laundry to be done. Work deadlines call. I'm in the process of all of this and will be back soon with an update on where we've been and photos of what we've been doing. It will be riveting, I swear.

We Interrupt This Summer to Blog

I KNOW. You hate it when I don't post. Some of you even told me this in person when I saw you. I hate it when I don't post, too. I have a computer at my disposal at Mom's so why aren't I posting?

Single parenting hogs my time. I know, wah, from those of you who are single parents. I have a million excuses. We've been on the go. I have to get the kids in bed. I still have to work at night. I want to spend time with my Mom. I may or may not be going out on occasion. I may or may not have been hungover once. Or possibly twice. I may or may not be in a food coma. I may or may not have spent way too much time at fairs and waterparks.

Still about nine days to go.

I may or may not be ready to go home. But then I read that one of those convicts who escaped in Arizona was apprehended about an hour from our house and that freaked me out just a tad. Maybe I'll stay tucked in here in Ohio for just a bit longer.

Here's a little sneak peak at what we've been up to...

We celebrated little Stella's third birthday (Stella is my cousin's daughter and the boys LOVE her)


We drove large pieces of farm machinery with Great Grandpa.


We tried to beat Great Grandpa at checkers. Repeatedly. And failed.


We swam with some of our friends from our old playgroup. We miss them! A LOT!


We went down the Giant Slide at the Ohio State Fair. Some of us screamed like girls.


We milked a cow.


We have eaten ice cream all over town.


We hung out with friends and made s'mores.


We ate sushi with Stella.


We spent ALL DAY, all day I tell you!, with friends at the water park. Some of us forgot to put sunscreen in important places and have a sunburn.

Our pants seem to mysteriously get smaller when we come to Ohio...

Much more to come from our next, undisclosed location...

I Just Had to Make it to the End of July

Right around March each year, I start to panic. Afterall, in March, summer is only about three months away and I'm getting a little nervous. I love summer--the unscheduled-ness of it all, not waking up to an alarm, no real requirements (except hockey--why does there always seem to be hockey regardless of the time of year?!), lots of stay-up-late movie nights. However, I'm not big on the summer heat, which fortunately only lasts for six weeks or so out here. Anyway, I like the concept of summer.

The March Panic arises from the fact that I realize that in three months, the boys will be home full-time. It's not that I don't want them to be at home with me, but it does complicate matters as far as work goes. I lose most of my working time during the day AND they go to bed later.

So when summer is coming, the kids are all like, "YAY! SUMMER!!!!!!" And I'm more like, "oh yay, it's summer." Note the lack of exclamation points and capital letters in my "exclamation."

But I don't want their summer to be all about me working, so I just sort of fumble along during the summer. "Fortunately," Eamonn is still unemployed so that has dramatically helped this year.

At any rate, when school was letting out, I was thinking, "How am I going to make it to the end of July when we go to Ohio?" It seemed like a long space of time to fill and a lot of work had to take place in that time. I had to do my normal weekly work, a few extra jobs for one client, and complete a magazine for another. I was sort of overwhelmed by the thought of it all.

And now, suddenly, it's here. I made it. I kept up with my weekly work, I finished the extra projects, and over the weekend, I turned in the magazine--several days ahead of schedule, pardon me while I pat myself on the back. And breathe a sigh of relief.

Tomorrow we drive to Denver to spend the day and have Finn's bloodwork done before the boys and I fly to Ohio on Thursday.

I admit, I'm excited to see everyone. Yesterday, I talked to my Grandpa on the phone and he sounded so incredibly good. I can't wait to spend time with him. That man always has a story. I'll tell you a funny story about Grandpa. Late this winter, he had a heart attack. OK, that's not the funny part. I'm getting to the funny part. Anyway, after the heart attack, Grandpa went through some type of physical therapy/rehabilitation. One day he was at rehab and someone called up to the exercise room, or wherever he was, and asked if there was a typo because was there really someone in cardiac rehab who was 96? Did they mean he was really 69? The people looking at the paperwork couldn't believe it.

And now he's 97. Madness.

The boys are really excited for Ohio as well. The other day, did I already write about this???, they had some elaborate Lego game set up involving buildings and all of their characters, who were eating at Donato's and Graeter's, our favorite pizza and ice cream haunts in Ohio. Some children look forward to siteseeing, my children look forward to eating. Just like their mother.

Eamonn is remaining behind, all of you Internet stalkers, so don't get any crazy ideas about burgling our house. And remember, he's unemployed so he has all the time in the world to sit here and guard the house with his shotgun.

Stay tuned for pictures of us eating pizza and ice cream until we're sick.

Santa Fe--The Trip in Pictures

Tonight Tara e-mailed me and she said she was sorry our Santa Fe trip was over. We had spent so long talking about it and looking forward to it. And isn't that always the way? For me, the anticipation and planning for a trip is practically the best part--the thinking about what might be.

But I needed to get home. I was tired of eating out.

I can't believe I said that. But it's true. I love schedules and consistency and I needed to stop eating so much chips and salsa.

I'm having trouble dialing it back.

Anyway, this trip was to celebrate my Mom's 70th birthday, which was all the way back in April. When my Dad turned 70, we went to Yellowstone with husbands, kids--the whole kit and kaboodle. We were there in early June '07. I think that was before I was blogging here and was still on CaringBridge. That seems like it was a million years ago.

It snowed in Yellowstone when we were there. And it was a blast. But my Mother is neither a snow-lover nor a camper, so for her trip, we had to be a little more highbrow. Hence, Santa Fe, girls only, a B&B.

It was divine. Very relaxed. Eating, strolling through Santa Fe, shopping, site-seeting. Picnics in the square. English period drama and popcorn at night. Backrubs. Pedicures. Someone making breakfast for us every morning. A breakfast which I did not have to clean up afterwards. That's a vacation right there, people. I estimate I spend a third of my waking hours in the kitchen.

You can see all of the fun HERE.

Now if I could just get my stomach out of vacation mode, I'd be all set.

Mother/Daughters Trip

I'm home from five days in Santa Fe with my Mom and sisters to celebrate Mom's 70th birthday.

Lots of laughing, site-seeing, eating, and viewing of English period drama. More photos to come.

I Heart Andy Williams

With Andy Williams. . .a cardboard version, anyway.

OK, I've left you dangling for a horribly long time. I'm so sorry. Since I last saw you, I have: kept up with (sort of) my regular client work; worked at my mountain job twice; worked four days at the World Cup ski races in Beaver Creek; watched my computer succomb to a virus and go off to someone to fix it; cleaned the house; enjoyed spending time with Eamonn's sister who arrived Monday during a snowstorm in which we received a foot of snow; cut down a Christmas tree (OK, I didn't actually cut it myself--Eamonn did that); decorated the house for Christmas (and the tree); and I don't know what else. I felt like I would never get to blog again. But at last, photos are uploaded and I'm ready to write. I actually have to go get the kids in 15 minutes, so we'll see how much I get written.

Here goes.

So. Andy Williams. I love him more than ever.

The End.

Just kidding.

Here's the long version. . .

The drive from Colorado to Branson is a pretty hefty one and I didn't realize how hefty until we were driving across Kansas for what seemed like three weeks. Did that state grow between now and 2006 when we last came across it? It was really only a day, but it was like being in the Twilight Zone--The State That Never Ends. And let's be honest here--there's not a whole heck of a lot to look at along I-70 in Kansas. Although that windmill farm was pretty cool.

The last time Eamonn and I went to Branson, it was a whirlwind trip. We drove in at dusk, spent the next day there and then left at dawn the following morning, so we didn't see a whole lot. The Branson Effect was lost on me. Not so, this time. Holy cow. There is a lot of stuff there. I think it's what Vegas might be like with a slightly older (and heavier) target market. And, just a word about heavier: you've got to love a state where I am amongst the thinnest people there. No lie. And may I remind you, that's saying something. I felt positively svelte the whole time we were there. I plan to go back every year to boost my self-esteem when I belly up to the all-you-can eat buffets. Which I didn't feel so good about when I saw some kid sneeze on it at breakfast. Suffice it to say, we didn't make any return trips through the breakfast buffet that morning, but it does make you wonder, how often that happens. It makes me wonder at least. Because I'm sick like that.

Branson was, of course, very crowded. We nearly missed our exit twice because we were waving at the Andy Williams billboards along the interstate. The billboards feature the dates of Andy's shows and have the same picture of him in a different sweater on each sign. So Finn was constantly calling out, "Andy in a white sweater!" or "Andy in a red sweater!"

The big excitement of the trip was my Dad flying in from Florida to surprise us. I had been hoping he would come, but he said his work schedule wouldn't allow for it. But then he decided the day prior to when he absolutely needed to leave to get there that he would just go anyway and he was hiding out at our hotel when we arrived. He came into our room while we were unloading the car and I had one of those moments where you know what you're seeing, but your brain doesn't register it so I stood there catching flies while the boys shouted, "Hi, Grandpa!" like it was no surprise to them that Grandpa should just turn up in Branson any old day of the week.

My Mom had planned to meet us all along so we had a fun few days of the boys having both grandparents all to themselves.

We arrived on Wednesday night. The boys went straight to the pool. Eamonn swam with them. I sat in a chair and read Diana Gabaldon's new book and then Twilight. It was to be a recurring theme on the trip (and now that we are home, I can't get a single thing done, including finishing this post because I cannot tear myself away from the Twilight Saga. I've finsihed Twilight and New Moon, started Eclipse, watched Twilight twice and am going to see New Moon. I stayed up until 1 a.m. two nights in a row watching that darn movie and oogling Robert Pattinson like a lovesick teenager. It's depressing to realize I could be his MOTHER. Anyway, perhaps another few reasons about why this post is so long in coming. And why you may not hear from me again until 2010).

That brings us to Thanksgiving Day. What else would you do other than drive go-karts in Branson, Missouri? Another recurring theme.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Andy's Moon River Grill. Excellent food that Andy says is made according to his mother's actual recipes. The hostess was rude, but we'll overlook that.

And then it was off to the show. There is a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of tacky stuff in Branson. Andy's theater is not one of them. It is really lovely and the walls in the lobby are decorated with pictures from his television show. It's fun to see all of the famous people he's worked with over the years.

The show. Ah, the show. So good. I hope I'm still tap dancing when I'm nearly 82. Of course, I don't actually tap dance now, so I'll need to work on that. Andy's Christmas Show is a throwback to his variety television shows and Christmas specials of the 60s and 70s. In addition to him singing some of his classic Christmas songs, he has a group of dancers/singers who join him onstage. And then he also has additional acts, usually dancers and singers, who perform in between his own "sets." This year he had a Russian couple who danced and the woman somehow changed her costume at least six times during the routine. The man would swirl a cape in front of her or sprinkle confetti on her and suddenly her outfit would be completely different. The boys loved that part. There was also a dance routine that looked like a couple dancing together and they would perform these amazing leaps and twirls and acroatic moves. In the end, it turned out that under the costume was one guy bent over, dressed to look like two people dancing. Very fun also. Then Andy performed with these four sisters and they did the Do Re Mi song from Sound of Music. This was when he tap danced with them. Finally, Andy had this guy on who impersonated all of the "old" guys--Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. . .Andy Williams. He was hilariously excellent, especially when he was staggering around the stage like Dean Martin.

Now, for those of you who asked, I didn't get to meet Andy. Apparently my Dad had written to Andy, but so many of his family were visiting, it wasn't possible. So, I am destined to die without meeting Andy Williams. Ah well, I'm still his biggest fan and my Dad told him so in the letter, so at least he knows. If he saw the letter, which may not be the case, but I'm going to pretend it is. It was kind of funny--when my Dad was talking to the people at the theater, they said, "Can she come back next year and meet him?" And I'm thinking probably not because of an incident at the hotel pool one evening. . .

We stayed two nights at a basic (read: cheap) hotel and then for the next two nights, moved to the Lawrence Welk Resort. It had a huge indoor pool with a big, twisty slide that I knew the kids would be so excited about. So on Friday, we moved over there and the kids (and Eamonn) spent hours in the pool. My Mom and I sat and watched, and chit chatted (gossiped), as usual.

One of the features of this indoor waterpark was a giant spigot that you could turn on and off. The water flowed down through this series of platforms and the kids could set up barricades to stop and start the flow of water. Eamonn and the boys were playing with it.

At one point, I heard raised voices and looked over to see a great big guy and his wife standing in front of Eamonn, shouting and poking at his chest with their fingers. Eeek! I dashed over and asked what was going on. The man and woman were flailing their arms around and shouting incoherently, "You can't do that to my kid! I don't know who you think you are!" Blah, blah, blah. What???

So the man walked away and this woman, who had huge fake boobs (yes, I am that petty) and a very bad Jon and Kate Plus 8 haircut, just kept raging at Eamonn. I still wasn't clear about what happened. Finally, Eamonn got a word in: "Are you going to let me explain what happened?" And she replied, "No!" And then kept raging. So I stepped forward and said "Then we're done here." And we turned our backs to her.

Turns out that she had two ill-behaved children who kept turning off the water to the water game the boys were using. Eamonn asked her kids several times to please leave the water on. They refused and at one point, Declan tried to turn the water back on while her kids were holding the wheel. One of the kids ran and told his mother that Declan hit him. The mother jumped up, went over to Finn, who wasn't even involved in all of this, and said, and I quote, "Don't touch my f*ckin' kid."

Declan stepped in front of Finn and said, "He didn't touch him."

Crazy woman: "So you touched my f*ckin' kid?"

Nice.

At that point, Eamonn realized what was happening. So then she confronted Eamonn and was literally having a freak out in the pool.

Now, I may be crazy, but wouldn't it have been more logical, if your child had told you another child hit them, that you would approach the parent, ask what happened and discuss it like rational adults? Not go and verbally assault someone else's kid? But we actually didn't know about the swearing part until the next day when Declan finally told us what she said.

Anyway, it was a little tense in the pool there for awhile because the Swearers apparently told their version of the story to their other friends who had lots of tatoos, long ZZ Top beards or shaved heads, and looked like they were from a motorcycle gang and/or a neo-Nazi group. If I had known about the swearing then, I'm not sure if I would have approached them or not. Just not sure about that. Because that's just not OK in my book.

Fortunately, we didn't see them again for the duration of our stay.

Dad flew home on Saturday, Eamonn took the boys to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Mom and I returned to historic downtown and the Moon River gift shop for one last look.

And, because the Rooneys can't go anywhere without someone getting sick, Finn threw up on Saturday night, which Eamonn then came down with on Sunday night when we were in a hotel on the eastern Colorado plains. Truly, I thought we'd have to remain trapped there for a day or so, but he gamely got in the car and I drove the rest of the way home. It can't have been pleasant, so my hat is off to him for his bravery over the mountain roads. And I'm also grateful he didn't hurl in the car. There's nothing worse than hurling INSIDE the car.

And that drive across the plains that seemed hefty before? Nothing compared to when you've got a stomach virus, I'd imagine.

You can see a pictorial of our Branson adventure HERE.

I'll be back in a few days with more pictures from our Christmas tree chopping adventure and a holiday construction project gracing our foyer. It's what every woman wants for Christmas.

The British Invade Colorado

So now that you've seen a million pictures of my various and sundry friends and family, I offer you a million Colorado scenery pictures. And, I admit, a few more various and sundry family members.

Karen, Neil, Michaela and Dean visited us early July and we all headed en masse to southeast Colorado for a little sightseeing.

We met them in Denver and headed south to Colorado Springs where we went to Garden of the Gods.

It was hot there. Africa hot. But that didn't deter us from scrambling around on rocks and outcroppings of all sorts.

We cooled off with a drive up a mountain and a hike to a waterfall. But it was still pretty hot.

Have I mentioned I hate hot weather?

In Colorado Springs, we also went to the Flying W Ranch, where we chowed down on a chuckwagon supper (that might be the first time I have ever use the word "supper") and then listened to the Flying W Wranglers, the world's second oldest western singing group. Yee haw! I think it might have been a little much for the Brits though--by the end of the show, I was the only one left at the table.

After Colorado Springs we headed up Pike's Peak where we saw rare wildlife, came across some snow, and did some yoga at the summit. Well, Karen and Neil did anyway. And I got it all on film. Or disk. Whatever.

Throw in a trip over the Continental Divide, ice cream in Breckenrige, the Glenwood Caverns, swimming, and a ride on the Vail gondola and you've filled a week's worth of your time in Colorado.

And there's still a million things in this state we haven't seen yet.

Just give me some time.

At any rate, here's a glimpse of the British Invasion of Colorado.

Back on the Job

Tap, tap, tap. Anyone still out there? Man, I needed a break. And obviously, I took it.

We're back in Colorado after 2 1/2 weeks in Ohio, which was very fun. But I did notice that my Mom had developed a nervous tic in her eye by the end of the trip.

As I was looking back at our pictures, which I'll post a link to here in a sec, I realized that this trip was mostly about seeing people as opposed to going places. It was a very different trip from last year when the boys and I went a few days early to Ohio, but then Eamonn joined us and we went to Niagara Falls and Eamon and Nicole's wedding. That was a vacation trip. This turned out to be more of a visiting trip. Not that we didn't have fun--we definitely did--but you'll see in the pictures that it's all about the people!

According to the boys, the Ohio State Fair was definitely a highlight of their trip. I was all excited about it, too, until I was actually there and having to try to appease two boys who are separating in terms of their levels of interest on things. Finn is still happy to do the kiddie rides. Declan is more interested in trying more of the "big kid" stuff. Frankly, even if Finn did want to do bigger rides, he's not tall enough for most of them. So there was a lot of compromising going on at the fair this year and they were both good sports. In years past, Eamonn and I would divide and conquer, which is good, because I don't really relish going on too many rides that I know have been assembled on site in a matter of hours. My Dad was with us for a few trips down the Giant Slide. I am happy to announce that I did not "scream like a girl," as I have been accused of doing in the past.

I will now be entering a detox program for people who have consumed too much Donatos Pizza and Graeter's Ice Cream. I lost count of how much Graeter's I ate. Donatos--twice. Sushi. First Watch (my poached eggs on my caps were a little overdone, which made me sad, but oh well, the conversation was second to none). Ice cream at the fair. Homemade ice cream at Grandpa's. Numerous bowls of popcorn with Mom while watching Midsomer Murders at night.

Number of workouts while in Ohio? One walk. I did go horseback riding, but the horse did most of the work.

My fat pants are snug. It's a little alarming.

One of my big goals on this trip was to record my Grandpa talking and telling some of his infamous stories. I remember my Dad tape recording my Great Grandparents when I was about Finn's age and I wanted to do the same with my Grandpa, who I think, as I've talked about before, is pretty much the greatest person in the world. I mean, who is 96, still buys rental properties as investments, and does all of the necessary clean up himself? I need to take a lesson from that.

Anyway, over the years, there are a few things I've realized when generations pass on. First, their stories mostly go with them. Yes, there are the timeless tales that get passed down, but the details and nuances that the original storyteller adds go missing. And also, I just miss hearing their voices--their funny laughs, their dry delivery, their little sayings. I miss that. And, belive it or not, I come from a very funny line of people. My Great Grandpa Moffitt, who lived into his 90s and died when I was a freshman in college, was a character like you wouldn't believe.

So blah, blah, blah, the bottom line is that I wanted to record Grandpa and some of his stories before it was too late. Not that he's unhealthy or anything, but whether you're 96 or 26, I'm infamous for procrastinating and then regretting not doing stuff like this and I didn't want to miss my chance. And if I get to record Grandpa until he's 106 now, I'll feel very, very lucky.

I did buy a new camcorder to get all this done and the boys and I had fun experimenting with it and then recording Grandpa. I did discover that the microphone on it is so sensitive that it picked up all of my jabbering relations in the background. And kids, including my own, seemed to like to stand right in front of me while filming. I needed one of those "on air" lights. Or a dart gun.

Anyway, the camera is totally cool and I love it. It's a Panasonic, 60 GB hard drive, 75x optical zoom and a battery life of about 2 hours, which dramatically beats the 3.3 minutes we were getting on our old camera. The fact that it's about the size of my hand is a bonus. I haven't downloaded any footage yet. But I'm lazy that way. I'll probably get to that right before my next trip to Ohio. Also, I need to backup my laptop's hard drive first because I have some concerns about its, um, behavior lately.

So, now that you've held on through all of that rambling, you can check out the pictures HERE. And just a note about the captions on the picture, when I was particulary verbose (which happens a lot, as you know), you'll see the caption end in . . .Just hold your cursor arrow over the caption and you'll be able to see the whole thing. Because I wouldn't want you to miss any of my electrifying wit.

In a photographic bonus, I'll be back soon with pictures from Karen and Neil's visit in July. I realized I never posted them! Now those will be some serious scenery shots.

Unplugged

I just went 48 hours without accessing a computer. It was really weird.

The amazing people at Make-A-Wish called a few weeks ago and wanted to say thank you to us for the radio interviews we did for their radio-thon back in December. Although doing the radio interviews had meant pulling the kids out of school for an additional two days, we didn't mind. It was for a good cause. And believe me, the kids didn't care they were missing two more days of school. How scholarly of them.

Anyway, Make-A-Wish called and said they'd like to send us to the Ritz Carlton. . .at Bachelor Gulch for two nights. A donor, who I've actually had the opportunity to interact with while we were working out the details of our stay, wasn't able to use their timeshare and she had read about how you can donate nights to Make-A-Wish. Which is what she did. Very cool.

Hilariously, Bachelor Gulch is about 20 minutes from our house. We've been there before to ski, but have never stayed there. The kids were off school on Friday, so Thursday after school, off we went to check in at the Ritz. May I just say that the Ritz really knows how to spoil people. The skiing was terrible--it just hasn't been the greatest snow year around here--but who cares? We were too busy hanging out around the fire pit roasting marshmellows, sitting in the hot tub, watching movies, and just marveling at what it's like to be a tourist in our own town. It's pretty fun to see life here as others do when they come to visit.

As an added bonus, my sister Erin and her family came from Utah and stayed in our house while we were at the Ritz. While I did clean the toilets before they got here, their accomodations were slightly less posh than ours. Fortunately they came up and joined us for a day of skiing and marshmellow roasting.

I don't know why, but marshmellows seem to taste better at the Ritz.

Reality check: I need to catch up on 48 hours of e-mail.

NYC at Last!

Finally, our trip to NYC!

You can see the grown up pictorial of our trip HERE.

Declan's view of the trip is HERE.

And Finn's view of the trip is HERE.

Here's a rundown of what we did:

Monday, December 8
-Drove to Denver in a driving snowstorm.

Tuesday, December 9
-Went to KOOL 105 FM and taped a segment for the Make-A-Wish Colorado radiothon that was scheduled to air on Monday, December 15.
-Visited our Denver clinic to say hi and Merry Christmas to everyone. Finn's little buddy Joshua happened to be there that day getting his chemo and IGG!

Wednesday, December 10
-A limo picked us up at the hotel in Denver at 5:30am. The boys didn't know that we were going to the airport via limo, so it was a fun surprise.
-Our flight ended up being delayed because of heavy rains in NYC (nice), so we landed about 45 minutes late.
-Yet another limo picked us up at LaGuardia, and George, the driver, graciously detoured us to McDonalds so we could get something to eat since they starve you these days on planes.
-After a lunch stop, George took us on the "scenic" route and drove down the east side of Central Park on 5th Avenue on our way to the Plaza Hotel.
-It was pouring rain.
-We got to the Plaza and Mickey, who works outside, met our limo and whipped open the door with a flourish, welcoming the boys to the Plaza Hotel and showing them both where Kevin (Macauley Culkin) pulled up when he arrived at the hotel. We were ushered in with pomp and circumstance--the manager came out to greet the boys (and us) and were all very nice.
-Eddie, a bellman who was there when Home Alone 2 was filmed there, escorted us to our room. He was so great our whole stay, paying special attention to the boys and showing them around.
-When you stay at the Plaza, you have a butler. Isn't that hilarious? So even though there was a plate of cookies and candy and milk for the boys and a cheese and fruit plate for us, our butler also brought us complimentary drinks. I think I had water. Crazy, I know.
-We headed out to find some dinner. In the pouring rain. Ended up getting slices of pizza because places right around the hotel didn't look too kid friendly (read: expensive).
-We did a lot of walking. The boys did a lot of complaining. I immediately missed the BOB stroller, which we had sold via Craig's List and the woman picked it up from us when we were in Denver the day before. Come back, BOB, I miss you!
-When we came back from dinner, Finn complained that he didn't feel too well. . .
-We all piled into bed and watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. What else would we watch? I think I fell asleep before the boys did because I woke up later and had to turn off the TV, which was a struggle because it's this high tech panel system that the boys had already worked out, but I hadn't.
-Around midnight, Finn woke up screaming and crying and clutching his left ear. After trying to soothe him for about 45 minutes, I woke Eamonn up and told him we needed to get Finn to a doctor. I called the front desk where I was informed that a doctor could come directly to the hotel. . .for a minimum charge of $800. Hmmm, what are our other options? Urgent care about 30 blocks away--which Eamonn pointed out is only about a mile and a half away, but it seemed like much further. The good news is that when you're traveling through NYC at 1am, there isn't much traffic so your cab fare is pretty reasonable.
-Three hours and a double ear infection later, we were back at the Plaza. We all laid back down at about 4am.

Thursday, December 11
-We all slept in.
-Instead of going out and exploring in the morning, per our original plan, we stayed at the hotel to maximize our time at the Plaza!
-Eddie gave us a behind the scenes tour of the Plaza that is closed to the public because it is now private residences. Finn enjoyed sliding across the floor to the elevator like Kevin.
-At noon another limo picked us up and took us to John's (I think) pizzeria where we picked up a cheese pizza and ate in the limo. . .just like Kevin. Unfortunately, Finn was still a little under the weather and didn't enjoy any pizza.
-We drove to FAO Schwarz, which is ironically across the street from the Plaza so we just went in a big circle in the limo (which took an hour because of NYC traffic!).
-Finn rallied while we explored FAO Schwarz which was, of course, crazy crowded.
-Our driver on this day, Carlos, was waiting for us when we came out, and took us to our new hotel, the Doubletree. Can I tell you how cool it is to have a driver waiting for you on the street? I could get used to this!
-Originally we were supposed to go to the Empire State Building, but we figured Finn's head might explode on the elevators, so Make-A-Wish rescheduled that visit.
-It was pouring rain.
-So instead, we went to Macy's and ate chicken soup, which thrilled Finn to no end, mailed letters to Santa to take part in the Macy's donation to Make-A-Wish for every letter put in their Santa mailbox, and then we went to Santaland. I remember going to Santaland on the 6th floor of Lazarus in downtown Columbus growing up. This was reminiscent of those days! I loved it! So did the boys. Declan sat on Santa's lap. Finn did not.
-Then we went outside, in the pouring rain, and looked at the Macy's windows, which were my favorite of all we saw.
-There was a huge line of people to get a cab, so we took a pedi-cab back to the hotel. That guy worked hard for his fare with four of us piled in there. At least NYC is relatively flat.

Friday, December 12
-Up and out early to the Today Show. Eamonn left at 5:45am to secure a spot, but called by 6am to tell us that we needed to get there ASAP to be sure we got in. I had to rush everyone out of bed and we took off. Then there was the wrong turn I wrote about in the earlier post. Sigh. Such a great way to start the day. Combine that with being hugged by a giant mouse and Finn was none to happy. Declan was all about getting on TV though.
-After the Today Show, we went back to the hotel and gorged on the breakfast buffet.
-The rain had cleared away and the skies were beautiful at last. We went to Central Park and took a carriage ride. Finn wondered if he could ride in the trunk-like thing at the back like Kevin. We said no.
-After our carriage ride, we enjoyed several hours walking around Central Park. The boys played in the park and we walked to the Dakota Building and Strawberry Fields.
-We all went into Tavern on the Green to go to the bathroom. Eamonn and I both took boxes of matches so we could say we'd been there.
-We ate lunch at a hot dog stand. Disappointing. The hot dogs have shrunk!
-We were due at Rockefeller Center to go ice skating at 2:30pm. We got there a little early so we went for hot chocolate at a deli on a side street. Coming out of the deli is when we had our James Gandolfini Encounter.
-Skating at Rockefeller Center. It's fun to say we did it, but it's chaos! Thanks to Make-A-Wish, we didn't have to wait in the huge lines outside, but you go down to this room smaller than our basement that's full of a zillion people trying to rent skates, return skates, and put their stuff in the bag check area. I'm sure a million fire laws were being broken in there. But once we got through that melee, being out on the ice itself was fun. The big tree is right over the rink and everything is decorated, so it's a great atmosphere.
-Friday night we met my cousin, Michael, and his wife, Kim, for dinner. We went to a local Irish pub and the boys behaved in a manner that I feel certain will cause Kim and Mike to not have children.

Saturday, December 13
-Ate breakfast at the hotel again. Each day our server was so nice and would give us extra Doubletree chocolate chip cookies for the boys to take with them as a snack for the day (as if they needed more sugar).
-We were scheduled to be at the Statue of Liberty at 10am. Again, big crowds, but because of Make-A-Wish, we didn't have to wait in any lines! Someone met us at the ticket booth and escorted us straight inside. Security there is tighter than to fly on an airplane--seriously. We had to take off our belts, barettes (me, not Eamonn), and not just coats, but any sweaters, etc., as well.
-Jeremiah (Eamonn's cousin) and his friend, Christie, were also in NYC that weekend, so we had planned to meet up at the Statue of Liberty. We were on the ferry ahead of them.
-If you have plans to go to the Statue of Liberty, you can no longer actually go up inside it (since 9/11). You can get there early and get special tickets into the base of the monument, which is a good museum. You can then walk up to the top of the base (sounds weird, I know) and have a great view.
-I wish I'd taken a video of the boys when they saw Jeremiah. They screamed his name, ran and jumped all over him, and then he picked them both up at the same time and swung them around. Too cute. But I need to work on my quick draw to get my camera out fast enough to capture these Kodak moments.
-From the Statue of Liberty we took the subway to the Empire State Building. Again, star treatment. This was Finn's favorite part of the wish! Eamonn and Finn stayed out on the observation until after the sun went down. They're both "warm" people. Declan and I, with our reptilian tendencies, got cold and had to come inside to watch the sunset.
-We then took the subway on up to Washington Heights to visit with Eamonn's cousins, Mary, Kaitlyn (Mary's daughter), Gerry, Gerry's wife, Mary Jane, and Aunt May. We had a great evening with them and it was fun to see the inside of a New York apartment. Mary drove us back. I don't know how someone drives up in that traffic, but they grew up doing it!

Sunday, December 14
-Our last day! Finn was distressed it was time to go home.
-We took another walk to Central Park and rode the carousel. Then we walked to see Balto's statue and roamed past the zoo.
-Mary had told us about a model train display in a building near our hotel, and so we went to see that. It was amazing and Finn was in hog heaven.
-Another limo picked us up at 2:30pm and it was back to the airport for an uneventful flight back to Denver.
-We landed during snowy weather and yet another limo took us back to the hotel. We got to bed at about 11pm.
-It was hard to sleep without all those taxi horns. Kidding. I don't know how people in NYC sleep at all. I guess you just get used to it. Oh yes, I'm a small town girl at heart.
-We called into the radio station and did a post-trip interview LIVE, which meant Finn didn't get to talk. Apparently they are familiar with the adage: don't work with children or animals--because really, I have no idea what he might have said.
-By 1pm we were home.

And thus ends the trip of a lifetime for us all!

I waited for a limo to pick me up and take me to the grocery store that afternoon, but no one showed. What a letdown.

I swear pictures are coming . . .

My goal is to get the NYC pictures finished tomorrow and more info about our trip. I spent most of this week trying to figure out how in the world we could have possibly amassed that much laundry by being away just one week, finally getting and decorating the Christmas tree and baking some cookies. We took so long to get a tree this year that I started to wonder if we should bother getting one at all. Between working this week, school parties. . .and yes, I admit it, a few powder days at Beaver Creek I'm running a little behind. I hate being behind at Christmas.

Tomorrow is another day!

Home Again, Home Again Jiggety Jig

My cousin Laura said my Aunt Jane used to say that every time they drove into the garage after returning home, even from the grocery story, and it drove her (Laura) nuts, so I giggle every time that phrase pops into my head.

We're home after an amazing trip. Much to write about, many pictures to show, but much work to do first. I took the boys' cameras in to be put on CDs so I can post "their views" of NYC, which should be hilarious.

Back wtih more, hopefully soon.

The Rooneys Take Manhattan

Yea! Out and about in NYC today--no health problems to speak of. Unless you count that unfortunate incident skating at Rockefeller Center when Finn was playing with the glass doors and got his hand shut in it. Fortunately not broken. I don't think I can take another trip to the doctor's office here. I'm not sure our insurance can either.

Up and out early this morning to the Today Show. Eamonn left the hotel at 5:45am to secure a place along the barriers. I anticipated a more leisurely arrival at 7am. Then Eamonn called and said I had to be there by 6:30am instead. It always goes so well when I have to rush the kids in the morning. We actually made great time getting ready and would have arrived at 6:30am on the dot when security started letting people in. That is, we made good time until, despite Eamonn's careful directions, I turned the wrong way on 48th and walked 3 blocks in the wrong direction, which technically isn't a big deal when you're a big person, but when you're dragging two little people along with you at 6:20am, it's slightly more problematic. So we arrived at the Plaza area slightly frazzled and sweaty, but the boys were fortunately in good spirits. . .until we made them stand out in the cold for 2 1/2 hours.

According to my mother, we did appear on screen twice for a grand total of .6 milliseconds. We wanted to wait around a little longer to see a segment that was supposed to be shot in front of where we were standing, but the boys were in meltdown mode at that point, which I guess is understandable given that we'd dragged them out before dawn and not eaten breakfast.

Small World Encounter #1--the people standing next to us at the Today Show were from a town 15 minutes away from where we live in Colorado.

Small World Encounter #2--We were walking through Central Park and offered to take a family's photo and then they offered to ours. Turns out they're English (Eamonn is English). They asked Eamonn where he lived now: Colorado, of course. They are headed to Colorado on Monday. Really? Where? Beaver Creek. The resort where I work this year at the Children's Ski School, about 20 minutes from our house and where they will be taking ski lessons this week.

Notes. Matt Lauer is pretty short. Al Roker is very friendly, but also short. Matthew Broderick--short and adorable. Finn does not like people dressed up as characters. Like Despereaux, the mouse who was constantly on the Plaza today, causing Finn to spend much of the time crouched at our feet behind the banner. He did accept all of the free Despereaux swag though. Hypocrite.

Finally, I have had a famous person sighting that is verified by Eamonn. In the past I've seen famous people, but Eamonn says if he doesn't see them, too, it's an unverified sighting--like the time I saw Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson walking down the road in Malibu. I maintain to this day it was them. Totally. I mean, how to you mis-identify someone who looks like Chris Robinson?

So this afternoon we were walking out of a deli after having some hot chocolate and cookies and waiting for our skating time at Rockefeller Center, James Gandolofini drove by in a black SUV. Total eye contact. I kept staring at him and thinking, "I feel like I know this guy." Stare, stare, stare. Not in mean way, just dopey and quizzical, which is how I look most of the time anyway. So suddenly Eamonn calls out, "Hey, James!" Like he's friends or something, but I pointed out that his friends probably call him Jim. Anyway, James/Jim gave us a little wave and ultra cool smile. We started to tell the boys about it, but they were yelling "Elmo!" which I thought was strange because I didn't recall James Gandolfini ever playing a character called Elmo. But then when James' SUV moved, I could see someone dressed as Elmo across the street. Finn had no intention of going near Elmo, but apparently just wanted us to know Elmo was in the vicinity.

A long, good day. Is it bedtime yet?

Home Alone 3: Sick in New York

No, I'm totally not kidding. Finn's Make A Wish trip has not gotten off to a very auspicous start. First, late leaving Denver and late into NYC because of rainstorms. . .read, a very bumpy flight which caused me to exclaim a few things I shouldn't have in front of my children. Oops.

I'll write more later about our stay at the Plaza because they were so wonderful there, but I only have 3 minutes on this Dick Turpin of a business center computer which I'm having to pay for. What the?

Anyway, Finn wasn't feeling too well last evening and finally woke in the night with ear pain. After a time of unconsolable crying, we all loaded into a cab sometime after 1am and went to an urgent care in Manhattan where we discovered he has a double ear infection. Three hours and two trips to a 24 hour pharmacy later, we were able to get back to bed at about 4am.

Needless to say, Finn wasn't up to much today, but we did get a little behind the scenes tour of the Plaza to see where "Kevin" was Home Alone in New York. At noon a limo picked us up and took us for pizza. . .except that Finn didn't feel well enough to eat it in the limo. Then we went to FAO Schwarz where he did perk up for awhile.

Then back to the hotel for nap. We had to call and skip our scheduled visit to the Empire State building because we didn't think his ears could handle the trip to the top. So MAW staff have graciously arranged for us to try again on Saturday afternoon.

After Finn napped, we went to Macy's where we found chicken soup! Happy day. Finn actually ate for the first time in about 24 hours. He seems much more cheerful now. After visiting Santaland (which was amazing) and sitting on Santa's lap (Declan, not Finn), we looked at the Macy's windows. . .in the driving rain. And then took a pedi-cab back to our hotel. . .in the driving rain. We're a bit soggy.

So our plan is still to head to the Today Show tomorrow morning, BUT we may go towards the later part of the show instead of the earliest part because we're not sure what Finn's state of health will be first thing in the morning. So set your TiVo (I don't even own TiVO so I have no idea what this even means) and hopefully we'll be on their with our sign at some point!

Must run now. Time is ticking on the meter and I have to go put on some dry underwear.

Waiting to Take a Bite Out of the Big Apple

Mother Nature has an ironic sense of humor. We've had a warm, dry fall in our neck of Colorado. As in, no snow at our elevation. The resorts? Plenty, and I'm grateful for that. The economy could use it. But while we've had a few dustings at our house, that's about it. I guess we did wake up to a few inches in the days after Thanksgiving, and I got all excited that this was IT for the year--no more looking at brown grass until March. But no. It warmed right back up again and the snow was gone. Until yesterday afternoon when it was time for us to get ready to drive to Denver. Typical. If we're driving to Denver to go on a trip, it will snow heavily. Even if it's June.

Fear not. We made it in fine style, despite the nearly whiteout conditions at certain points.

Our hotel is really nice--the boys have declared it The Best Hotel Ever. Wait 'til they get a load of the Plaza, I say. Make A Wish had a backpack waiting for Finn that was loaded with goodies like cars, gummy worms, disposable cameras, flashlight and an iPod shuffle. Good grief. We're going to be spoiled rotten by the end of this. Finn graciously shared his items with Declan. I love it when they get along for 2.2 seconds. It does my heart good.

This morning we went to a Denver radio station to tape the interview for Monday. If you go to and scroll down, you'll see the promotional info on the fundraiser, which features a picture of none other than the Mighty Finn. You can listen to the program live on the Web from 6 - 9am MST on 12/15. I can only imagine how my voice will sound on the radio. It's all about me, you know. Not about the money Make A Wish might raise, which I hope is a lot because this is the first time they've ever done this and they've probably wiped out their coffers sending us to stay at the Plaza for a night. Anyway, if you don't have 3 hours of your life to spend at your computer Monday morning, they're supposed to send me an MP3 version of the interview which I can allegedly post on my blog. Allegedly. I have no idea how I would do that given my past history with trying to upload videos. We'll see. Or hear, as it were.

We also had a chance to visit the clinic today and by coincidence, Finn's buddy Joshua was there today. Top that off with lunch at McDonalds and a swim in the pool and I think we're already ready for bed. Seriously. We're heading out to join the geriatric set of Denver for an early bird dinner at 5pm so we can go to bed at 7pm. The boys don't know it, but a limo is picking us up at 5:30am tomorrow to take us to the airport and then the adventure begins.

Eamonn just called me from the hotel room, because you know how it is in this day and age of technology, he can't actually come down to the business center of the hotel in person, to tell me that Jeremiah will be in NYC this weekend, too, so hopefully we'll get a chance to see him.

AND, in other exciting news, I just keep rambling on, don't I?, Eamon (Eamonn's cousin) and his wife Nicole have been staying with us for the past few days, and they have decided to relocate to the valley! Over the course of about 24 hours they found a place to live and got Nicole a job as a ski instructor. They'll be back in the valley with all of their stuff in just one week. Ah yes, remember those days of being young and childless and you can do things like move across the country at the drop of a hat and then get up the next day and go to work without even batting an eye? Actually, I'm not sure I was ever capable of doing something like that. But, we're crazy excited to have them living so close to us (Even though they'll probably never have children now after spending so much time with the boys, sorry Theresa).

AND, our friends Lisa, Brian and Aidan arrive back in CO from the UK for a visit next week after we get home.

Many exciting things going on.

Must run. Early bird calls.