Happy Thirty-Three to Me

This birthday turned out a bit unusual. Tonight, Megan took her sister to see DAUGHTRY (how annoying is that to spell all-caps?) in concert. But I still had a great day. With my wife absent, I spent this evening with my other best gal. I also received four happy b-day wishes via phone calls (thanks Carl, Mary, Alexander and Kaitlyn) and one a few days earlier via IM (thanks Hue.) After Paige went to bed, I made my own private birthday meal.Ummm... nothing like a grilled sandwich. The melted cheese was decadent.

Megan made up for her absence by throwing me a mini-party last night. Dan came over to share some beers and and ice cream cheesecake. Yes, an ice cream cheesecake! From Cold Stone! Talk about decadent. Later, Megan and Sheri played one of those DVD trivia games with me. This one was about 80's music. We had a blast and I kept them up past their bedtime. They had to rest for DAUGHTRY, you know.

Gifts were great this year.

Active noise-cancelling earphones from Megan.
And I treated myself to a bass guitar and amp.
So it was a fun, non-traditional Birthday celebration. By the time you hit your thirty-third, you take what you can get. And the night's still young. I may head across the street to drink with Dan and Amy.

To be continued...

Summer Update 2007

Like last summer, I spent the beginning of this season alternating between working several nights in a row and taking short trips to the beach. As an extended family, we spent much time together in Ocean City. My sister did a good job of documenting our July 4th trip on her blog (in three posts.) I wanted to add that you could see the rest of the pictures here.

As for work, it got much better. We were understaffed for the last couple of months and that had me working more hours than I wanted. However, in July three full-time physicians joined us (one of which, like me, did night shifts full-time.) As a result, I found myself with a lot more time and flexibility, a good situation for the summer.

Megan's current job is working out well. She just has to work the occasional four hour evening shift. Since my hours are primarily after midnight, it means that there is always one parent available for take care of Paige. As a result, we are much less dependent on outside baby-sitting help. Since I'm around every evening, it has become my job to give Paige her bath, and it's a great bonding activity between the two of us.

This is now our third summer in Dover, and summers here have become a happy routine: no big trips, no major surprises. Southern Delaware shines in the summertime and we are very content just bumming on back porches (ours or our neighbors), grilling every meal and taking trips to the beach. Looks like we've settled in here.

mp3: "Big Spender" by Freeway featuring Jay-Z

Paint Job

This was Megan's long-term project: to paint nearly every room in the house. It was delayed during that month we thought we were going to move. Now that we decided to stay, she restarted the job. She finished four of the rooms downstairs. Those of you who have been here in the last couple of years have already seen the kitchen in green.
If you were here within the last six months you may have also seen the dining room: red above the chair rail with wallpaper below it. Sheri helped with this one.
Recently, Megan painted the back wall of the family room. I helped with this one (by applying and removing tape.)
My personal favorite room was Paige's playroom. Months ago I generated a idea of making it sky blue with clouds. Megan painted it blue on a day I took Paige to the beach. Afterwards, us two parents did the clouds.
Finally, what I looked really nice was the transitions between the rooms. (That sliver of blue in the back is the playroom.)

"Who's House?" "Bill's House!"

Thanks to Meme and Pepe babysitting Paige, Megan and I took an overnight trip to the Norfolk/ Virginia Beach area to visit our pal Guillermo Navarro. He moved there about nine months ago and purchased a very nice house. His yard backed up to water, an inlet that led to the bay. When the tide was high Bill took us on a boat ride, from the dock he built behind his house, past other homes with the similar docks, past larger marinas that housed more impressive yachts, past the big ships of the naval base and into the choppy waters of where the Chesapeake Bay met the Atlantic Ocean. Looking at this satellite map, you could trace our route (the green arrow was pointing to Bill's driveway.)We had a lot of fun on our two day trip. We barhopped downtown Norfolk and spent the afternoons on the beach. One day was on a nearby local beach (also pictured on the map) where we took his dog Max and sat up to our necks in the calm waters of the bay sipping drinks. The other was spent on Virginia Beach which we found more commercialized and generic. Megan and I took a bike ride along the city's extremely long boardwalk and found the same repeating pattern of high-rise hotels, waterfront dining, and tee-shirt shops. Most fun was had at Bill's house, where every meal was grilled and eaten outdoors. Megan also found time to soak in his outdoor hot tub and dig up flowers from his impressively landscaped backyard (courtesy of the home's previous owners.) Me, I liked playing with Max.


mp3: "We're Not Alone" by Dinosaur Jr.