Bank of America 500

Randy came to Raleigh last week-end to accompany me to the race at Lowes Motor Speedway.  He flew in late Friday night and stayed until early Monday morning.  We left home at 10am on Saturday morning and got there around 1pm.  Found a parking spot fairly quickly and started perusing the team haulers.  Got to see David Gilliland signing autographs and bought some stuff for Sue and the girls.

Piker arrived shortly after 4 and joined us for a few cocktails.  Then we made our way into the track around 5:30 and got to see driver intros.  Couldn’t have had better seats.  About 100 yards from the start/finish line about half way up right next to the exit ramp.  What was even better was that the men’s room was right there too.  Too good to be true… J

The race was very exciting.  What amazed me most was how fast they went into turn 1.  Seemed like they dived in there so fast that they would end up in the wall every time.  My favorite driver, Jimmy Johnson, led pretty much the entire first half of the race but got shuffled into the pack when they decided to take 4 tires and many of the other drivers only took 2.  Then Jimmy spun out trying to make his way back to the front and suffered minor rear-end damage.  He managed to get back to 7^th before having a vapor lock issue on a restart with 5 laps to go.  Ended up 14^th (I think) and lost a lot of ground to the race winner, Jeff Gordon.

We planned to spend the night at the track but Piker missed his shuttle (we convinced him to hang with us for a while after the race so it’s definitely our fault) so we drove to his house at 2am and crashed there.  Felt bad leaving so early in the morning but I wanted Randy to have some time with the girls.  We made it home by 12:30 and Erin LOVED her hat.  Helped a lot since M&M’s sponsors the #38 car.  So she’s #38 and I’m #48…

All in all it was a great trip and I’m so happy to have made it.  I really  hope to make it to some races next year – we’ll just have to wait and see.  Here are some pics from the week-end (http://picasaweb.google.com/djhunt77/Randy_Visit).

Emerald Isle vacation

Last week we were on vacation in Emerald Isle, NC.  This was our fourth year at the same condo.  The weather was great and the girls had a blast.  We go to go fishing (caught one bluefish and gave it to the local fishing next to us), fly Erin’s kite, spend some time in the pool, went to the aquarium, and of course spent lots of time on the beach.  The weather was great with one exception – the morning I had to pack the truck.  Ugh.  The girls had a hard time sleeping at the condo, particularly Caitlin.  Her eczema seems to be getting now that we’ve been home for a few days.  Molly had a great time too – at least 3 walks per day.  Our neighbor Gary watched Dozer while we were gone.  Dozer has been very happy to see us as he is constantly meowing at us.  He only did one bad thing – he knocked over a picture frame on the mantel.  Definitely could have been a lot worse.  The hose bib on the shed decided to spring a leak so I’m fixing that today.  That area of the yard was soaked so not sure how long it was leaking.

Naturally we took some digital pictures (http://picasaweb.google.com/djhunt77/Emerald_Isle_Sep_07) and shot some video.  Hopefully I’ll have time to scan Sue’s hard copy prints and update the web album.  I started to move our home movies to DVD – it’s quite time consuming so no idea when the library will be “up to date”.

Tomorrow I return to work.  Hopefully no surprises are waiting for me – we’ve had a lot of turmoil recently with the new executive leadership.  I’m not expecting anything since the reorg is over and my team has just started working on our next set of projects.  We’ll see…

Update

I found out the other day that Randy is coming for the week-end of 10/13 to see the family and go to the race in Charlotte.  Can’t wait!  He’s never been down so it’ll be good to show him around.

Spent a lot of time working on the lawn.  Killed the Bermuda grass, mowed it short, dethatched, and raked up all the thatch.  Hope we have better luck this time – we seem to get killed with lawn disease every year…

Went through a major reorg at work today.  Thankfully I am still reporting to Zemp, but we lost a lot of our team.  Apparently we will be pulling from a resource pool so have my fingers crossed there.

Getting ready for our beach trip next week.  Can’t wait to get the girls out on the sand.  Hopefully Caitlin will be able to enjoy it some this year.

We’ve almost completed the switch of home and auto insurance companies to Met Life.  Our current carrier has consistently jacked our rates every year so it’s time to switch.

Glad to see the Yankees lost today.  That puts the sox up by 2 with 6 games left.  Time will tell … trying not to get my hopes up.

Exhaustion

What a week-end!

Saturday we spent most of the day at Moore Square enjoying Bug Fest.  Had lunch at Tir Na Nog.  Quite an experience.

Sunday I worked all day on the yard mowing, thatching, and raking.  I also replaced some soil near the driveway where grass just will not grow.  Scott’s is coming tomorrow to aerate and slit seed.  Hopefully we can turn our lawn around so we’re not the worst on the street…

Sunday night I watched the Nascar race on the DVR.  Nice to see someone enjoy their first win (Clint Bowyer).  Also watched the Sox lose to the Yankees 4-3.  Big Papi had his chance in the 9^th with the bases loaded with two outs, but he IS human after all.  Hopefully the Sox can increase their 4.5 game lead on the Yankees so the division title doesn’t get too close.

The girls were very good this week-end.  Erin particularly since lately she’s been challenging us every step of the way.  Had a good time tooling around with her and Caitlin on the lawn mower chasing Molly.

Daily Recap

Woke up before everyone this morning and left for work.  Spent day 2 of 3 in training.  Most of the material didn’t impact me so it was a struggle to pay attention.  Tomorrow should be much better (wishful thinking?).

Sue had pilates class tonight so I had the girls.  Thankfully Sue had dinner made and ready when I got home from work.  Clean-up is always fun with Erin constantly invading Caitlin’s personal space.  Erin was in a much better mood tonight and we took Molly for an enjoyable walk to visit the horses.  Tubby time went well and Sue came home around 8pm to help put the girls to bed.

The Red Sox were idle tonight and the Yankees lost 2-1 to the Blue Jays, so the Sox lead crept up to 5.5 games.  They have a 3 game series starting tomorrow night at Fenway – can’t wait!!

Daily Recap

I spent the work day in class learning a new application.  This is the first of three days.  Today was mostly review of stuff I already learned on my own; hopefully the next two days will be more educational.

 

When I got home things were typical.  Erin was well on her way to becoming irritable.  After dinner we went for a walk and Erin decided to protest because we chose to end the walk early as it was getting late.  Tubby time wasn’t much fun with her being in that mood.  At least Caitlin has learned to tune her out cause she was just as happy as ever.

 

Now the girls are asleep and I’m solidifying our October beach vacation plans.  We’re doing the same trip to Emerald Isle that we have done for the past 3 years.  We get a great deal on a condo on the beach with access to a community pool so we can’t go wrong.  I know Molly looks forward to it for sure.  I still need to find someone to take care of Dozer while we are away.

 

The Sox are down 4-3 in the 6^th inning to Tampa Bay.  They have a 5.0 game lead on the Yankees but it could be easily cut to 4.0 by the end of the night with the Yankees already up on the Blue Jays 4-0, also in the 6^th inning.  Hopefully the Sox can hold on and win the division.

Daily News

Sue had a doctor appointment today so I had the girls. I dropped Erin off at preschool and then took Caitlin to story time at the library. She had a blast. I ran into the wife of a teammate and found out her husband isn't able to go to the race with me on Oct 13. Bummer...

Went to work at lunch time. Had meetings with my teammates who were in Dallas all afternoon.

Took Molly and Caitlin for a walk after dinner while Sue and Erin played tennis. Came home and played with the girls on the swing set. They really liked it when I flash in front of them when they are at the top of their back swing. Caitlin's laugh is precious!

Now the girls are in bed and I'm catching up on the Red Sox. Youkilis just hit a bases loaded triple to put the Sox up 12-9; let's hope the Sox can pull it out since the Yanks are winning big over the Blue Jays.

Recovery

It’s been a few days since the accident and today my lower back started aching.  I popped a Vicodin when I got home and WOO-HOO, no more pain!  I sure hope nothing else shows up.  I haven’t heard the status of the truck.  The adjuster won’t be looking at it until Thursday.  Hard to believe we’ve been in 5 accidents since we moved to NC in 2001…

Accident

Today I was rear-ended by an 18 yo male while on my way to the store coming home from work.  Thankfully I was travelling alone.  I was stopped behind a car waiting to make a left turn, and after I was hit I ended up hitting the car in front of me.  Initially I went home but decided to go to urgent care as my back was starting to stiffen and throb.  The doc said I have significant bruising in my middle back, so he put me on pain and anti-spasm meds.  I am definitely fine but the truck is not.  They probably won’t total it, unfortunately.  The damage is pretty bad but I think the value of the truck will cause them to fix it instead.  Can you believe this is our FIFTH accident since moving to NC?!

A very special thanks goes to our neighbors Anthony Young (happened to drive by while we were waiting for the police to arrive and eventually brought me and my belongings home since the truck was undriveable) and Joe O’Keefe (took me to urgent care so that we wouldn’t have to drag the girls out so late in the night).  We are so fortunate to have neighbors we can count on!!

Now I have to get a rental and hope they total the truck…

Playdate for Erin; yard work; garden update

Today we went to the Falls Dam with Zabrina and Ali and ran into the Shaws while we were there. The girls really seemed to enjoy themselves and the picnic.

When we got home Sue and I did some yard work while the girls rested. Feels good to get all the things we bought at Broadwell’s Nursery in the ground. Only 1-2 yards of mulch left to spread, though I think we need about 5 more to complete the back yard.

Then I weeded the garden and planted the marigolds and tomato plants. Unfortunately the cauliflower and broccoli aren’t doing very well (only 6 plants germinated). The carrots are starting to gain some momentum so I’m not as nervous as I was a week ago. The peas seem to be doing very well but I’m trying not to get too excited because last year the plants looked great but didn’t bear any fruit. The romaine and mesclun lettuce should be ready in 1-2 weeks – can’t wait for fresh salad!

Caitlin's first beach trip

Today we took a day trip to Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, NC. The 5 hours in the car went well and we got to spend about 3 hours on the beach. Erin loved the frigid water (the water is still cold in April...) and was upset we didn't go to the condo afterwards (she didn't understand the concept of a "day" trip, though I think she does now! :)

Erin Driving?

This morning as I was getting ready to go to work Erin came downstairs crying, asking me not to leave.  I told her that I had to go to work and that she one day would be able to go to work.  She immediately responded by asking if she would be able to drive, and I said she would.  Then she said "Daddy, will you teach me how to drive".  And here I didn't think I'd have to worry about things like this with a three year old!

Visitors From Jersey

Back in February we were fortunate that the Kay’s stopped by for a visit on their way to Florida. It is always great to have visitors and the Kay’s were no exception for sure. We did some sight-seeing through some of the local neighborhoods and took a stroll through the Duke Gardens. We certainly look forward to their next visit, whenever that may be.

Caitlin says "da-da" and Erin behaves for 15 stairs

Yesterday baby Caitlin said "da-da", or something similar, for the first time. She's been saying "ma-ma" now for a couple weeks, so it was nice to hear "da-da" come out of her mouth. The past few weeks have been tough as she's been getting up a lot at night. We thought it might be teething but when Sue took her to see the doctor we found out that it's not that. She is starting to support herself much better so she'll probably be standing in a month or so.

Erin has been pushing the limits lately. She prides herself on being a "good girl" yet finds it difficult to do what we ask her too. Tonight on the way upstairs to take her bath I told her that she has to be a good example since she's a big sister, so she behaved until we got to the top of the stairs. Oh well...