Kaleb Day 1000

Today we celebrated Kaleb’s 1000th day. I know it isn’t traditional, but it seemed like a cool thing to celebrate. We got him a present and he got to blow out a candle too. I don’t know what to celebrate next 1500 or 2000 days, I just added 2000 to my calendar, August 9, 2012. Can’t wait.

Kaleb Day 1000

Kaleb's Third Halloween

Finally on the third Halloween Kaleb started to get excited and wanted to keep going to more and more houses. Apparently there was a very low turnout in the neighborhood so each house gave him at least two pieces. Needless to say he did pretty well and is now bouncing off the walls.

Here are the pics.

Halloween

Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill went through the Gulf of Maine over the weekend and made waves. We first went to Salisbury Center about an hour before high tide and the waves washed up over the beach and down the street. We then went to the line and could barely find any beach because the waves were reaching up to the dunes. Of course I disobeyed the whole closed beach thing and went swimming in the water for about two hours. It was crazy and I was tossed around a bit, but never felt like I was in danger. Here are photos:

Hurricane Bill


Summer Rain


Beach with Britt

Last Day of Vacation

For an encore to our vacation we went to Plymouth and visited Mark and Kate at Long Pond. It was the perfect end to a great vacation. Kaleb LOVED being on the pond and wasted no time marching right into the water. Mark helped him catch his first fish and also took us out for a boat ride. Good times. Now we are back home, unpacked and finally just resting on the couch.

Here are the photos:

Cape Cod Vacation 5

Cape Cod Vacation

We went with a little change of pace this summer for vacation and are on Cape Cod in Chatham. We rented a house with Cara, Jeff and Maddox (see photos). Growing up on the North Shore meant I wasn’t ever really exposed to Cape Cod, since well we have pretty good beaches up there and Maine is just about 20 minutes away. Also being a North Shore person also meant I considered most South Shore people to be crazy, btw this hasn’t changed, but it was probably also a factor in my avoidance of Cape Cod. A couple years ago we came down for a weekend and had a great time and so I was game for an entire week. Well I have to say the place is growing on me, mostly due to the knowledge of all things Cape Cod provided by Cara and Jeff. I think my two favorite things are he variety of beaches we have gone to and also how close everything is to each other. We have been on super sandy beaches, flats that stretched for miles, beaches in harbors and on the open ocean. All have had their own unique twist, making it an adventure every time. Of course Kaleb likes that they all have sand and has become obsessed with going to the beach and playing with his tractors, trucks and machines.

I have also managed to do some other projects I can’t find time for at home. I finally added lyrics to a song I have been writing, it isn’t close to being finished, but at least the ball is rolling. I also spent more time than I should writing an application for the iPhone, but it did come from a necessity so I don’t feel too bad about it. I have also imported some video and uploaded photos as per usual. Now we have just over 26 hours until we have to vacate and I can say I am not even close to being ready to come home.

Here are some photos I have taken so far.

Cape Code Vacation 3


Cape Cod Vacation 2


Cape Cod Vacation

The Craziness Ends?

Well it has been a crazy few weeks for me at work. Since we need to (or used to) keep track of our hours I know that I worked about 205 hours in the last 19 days. Crazy, comes out to over 10 hours each day. Needless to say I am pretty tired, but looking forward to taking it easy this weekend.


Beach with Nonna

The Sun Returns

After several weeks of cloudy and rainy weather the sun returned in style this past weekend. We took advantage of it or as much as we could since I did a lot of working. We went to the beach one day, went to Odiorne Point, went swimming at my mom’s house, had ice cream at a new place in Newburyport and other things I am sure I forgot.

Here are some photos:

The Sun Returns

Summer Starts

It has been a really rainy June so far, but thankfully on thursday the sun came out for the first time in weeks. We celebrated by going strawberry picking at Cider Hill Farm. Today it was nice and warm at our house so we went to the beach, but once we were there it was really cloudy. It helped cut down on traffic and also kept the beach uncrowded. Afterwards we came home where it was sunny and then went to see a performance of The Velveteen Rabbit at Maudslay. Kaleb was good for the first act, but was loud and ran across the field for the second act.

Here are photos I took:

Summer Finally Arrives

A Weekend with a Col

I got a cold at some point on Friday I guess and have been relatively miserable all weekend. I have the whole runny nose, cough, chest congestion, blah blah. On top of that Jennifer came down with some sort of stomach issue and has been feeling nauseous all day. We are quite the bunch over in Merrimac.

We were able to get out a couple times this weekend including Lilli’s birthday (see photos below). It was Dora themed and even had a stroy line like the show, Kaleb had a great time. Kaleb and I also got to go out to Skip’s tonight for dinner. Jennifer stayed home so it was just the boys and it was awesome. He behaved so well and stayed in his seat the entire time and ate a ton of food. Aftrewards we picked up some ice cream at Hodgies. The whole time we were both singing the chorus to the new Dave Matthews Band song and making up different lyrics. One of those days that makes all the sleepless nights and tantrums of parenthood worth it.

Lilli's Birthday

DMB Fenway Park & A Kaleb First

Dave Matthews Band was back at Fenway Park for the first time since our honeymoon and this time we were able to go to both shows. The first night Jennifer and I went to Tapeo for a quick bite of tapas and then met up with the BoCaNO crew outside the show. It was a great show and they played a bunch of new songs, a couple of those were for the first time.

The next night was another great show, we started the night by having dinner with Andy and Nicole at Parish Cafe, as always it was phenomenal. The show was again really great, although the setlist and slightly lower amount of energy made it rank behind Friday. We also made a special occasion of the weekend and stayed at a hotel. It was a really big deal because it was the first time Kaleb spend the night with somebody else since we brought him home from the hospital. He stayed with Nonna and Pop Pop. Of course he slept the entire night and didn’t wake up until 6:15, later than he ever slept for us.

On Sunday Kaleb got a chance to drive a backhoe, a very exciting event for anybody.

Riebe Beach Trip


Kaleb Drives a Backhoe

Kelley's Wedding and the Secret Driveway

My step-sister Kelley was married a couple of weeks ago and here are some photos

Kelley's Wedding


We also were doing some work around the yard last weekend and found a driveway hidden under our walkway and side yard garden. It was only a few inches below the surface so we decided to uncover it, first the top soil, then the rocks and then the tar. It was time consuming, but in the end the side yard looks about ten times better.
Around The House

Cut Down That Tree

Upon moving into our house back in the summer of 2007 we had considered cutting down this enormous pine tree which sits right next to the driveway. However after having a discussion with the neighbors it seemed best if we just left it up. Fast forward to the nasty ice storm of 2008. Huge limbs of the tree came down and busted up the smaller trees beneath it. All night long we lived in fear of a limb coming right into our bedroom. Once the storm cleared the yard was anything but clear. It was at that point we decided it was time to take the tree down.

Finally today after getting the yard surveyed to verify it was our tree, we had it cut down. Since it was an enormous tree it took four guys over five hours to take it down, but I am happy to say it is down. The yard is now so much brighter, I am really looking forward to a sunny day to see how bright it will really get. My favorite part is how you can actually see our house from the top of the street.

Down with the Pine Tree