Happy Birthday Brittnii

This weekend, Peggy and I went to New York to surprise my niece on her sweet 16^th birthday. Brittnii, her parents and Paige (friend) arrived at their room with a bit of a surprise. Okay, that was the way it was suppose to happen.

Actually, we get to the Westin Hotel in New York Time Square to find our rooms not ready. This was not surprising because checkout was at noon and we arrived at 9:30am. We had pre-arranged a meeting with the assistant to the hotel manager to get into Brittnii’s room (an adjoining room) to decorate. Well, as we arrived, the hotel wanted to give us a different room that would be ready. We explained that we were there for a surprise and my brother and family will be in the adjoining room. Okay, brother and family had no idea we were going to be there and this plan was brilliant.

As Paul Harvey would say, “Now for the rest of the story…” We finally meet with the assistant hotel manager and finalize the plan. We agree that I would go and retrieve our stored luggage that contains the decorations and we would meet upstairs. Just as I am standing by the desk waiting for my luggage, I look out the window to discover my brother and family stepping out of a cab. I explain to the bellhop that they are to take the luggage to the 8^th floor and take it to the Executive Club Lounge and took off running in hopes they would not see me. I explain the situation to the assistant manager and we scurry off to our hiding place.

Apparently, the room was still not ready for us to do the decorations so we wait and wait and wait… Eventually, we get into our room and the adjoining room. We were told the room would appear as not ready until we were finished.

Our room was huge. The assistant Manager out did herself with this room. We walk into the adjoining room to find it to be significantly smaller. Peggy and I felt a bit guilty about the size of their room, they had four people, and we were just two. However, out room had a king size bed while their room had the two beds. We shrugged our shoulders and proceeded to decorate their room.

Once finished, we “texted” Brittnii to discover they left the Hotel to do some site seeing. We eventually broke down and called my brother to find out they were at the statue of Liberty and actually gotten a different room! So, we had to let him in on everything but with strict instructions that he was not to tell the rest of his family.

When we all arrived back at the hotel, we knocked on their door (the OTHER ROOM) and SURPRISE! We explained everything at that point and decided to go to the “Pre-arranged” room for the festivities. Jill (the mom) arranged for a cake to be delivered and for whatever reason, a bottle of Champaign. (That may have been for her… actually, I believe that was a gift from the Hotel)

We open gifts and eat some cake and all was good with the world. I think the greatest gift she received from her Aunt Peggy was the CD of Jon Bon Jovi. Okay, not really but it came from Aunt Peggy and so, although she may never listen to it, liked it anyway.

I have so much more to discuss but I will just have to say, that is all I have for this morning…

Have a productive day and I will continue this saga later.

Pictures of Chris and Cameron Playing in April09

He just got up from a nap... or he discovered electricity

Isn't he ADORABLE!

Engineering in the making. He wants to see how it is made.

Grand Slam. Look at his expression.

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Hope You Had a Happy Easter

Good morning everyone.

Just wanted to drop a quick note this morning.

What a weekend. The weather was not bad. We had a lot of sunshine and actually had the time to get some yard work done. On Saturday, Peggy and I had a lot of help outside with the boys. We had Christopher and Cameron both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning, we took Cameron and Christopher to the Columbus Zoo. This was the first time Cameron (1 yr) had been there and seemed to be quite amazed at the big animals. As you can tell, we had them wrapped up nice and warm and Cameron did real well in the wagon. We did not stay but an hour and a half but that was all Cameron could take for his first time.

I will post more pictures and let you know where you can see the our adventure at a later date.

Once we got back to the house, the boys took their naps and afterwards we went outside to play. This is where Christopher helped me get all his toys out of storage and set them up for him and Cameron to play on.

While we were out there, Peggy took 54 pictures and some of them will be posted at a later date. Suffice to say, the boys had a lot of fun with Papaw. This picture shows Cameron riding down a roller coaster like ride. He had such a good time.

P. S. You can alway click on any picture to see the full resolution image.

Polls.whatiz.com

Okay, I have notice a few links to polls.whatiz.com. Now, that was way before Whatiz came into existence... at least in my realm. So, with that said, take a moment and answer the question on the right and hit [Submit] at the bottom of the poll. I am also experimenting with the poll results. I know the answers are going to be subjective but, I'm just looking for data.

So, enjoy

On a side note, IT IS SNOWING AGAIN!!!!! Sorry, for the rant. :<(

Okay, it's not really spring yet...

Can you believe. The last couple days has been nice and in the 60's and 70's and now we are expecting snow today and tomorrow. This is just simply not right in so many ways!

Oh well, it is what it is...

Got this in an Email...

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a

well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the
well needed to be covered up anyway;
it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried
horribly Then, to everyone's amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his
back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel
dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and
happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of
our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out
of the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive..

Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.

Live simply and appreciate what you have.

Give more.

Expect less

NOW ............

Enough of that crap . The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When you do something wrong, and try to cover
your butt (donkey... get it?), it always comes back to bite you.

Letter - February 26, 1934

The following letter was written 1934. This letter was written four days after my Dad was born.

Click on the individual images to see the full resolution picture.