The Luposello Family Blog

Erin turns 40 & Kara's binky tree

2009-06-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

June first marked a momentous occasion for my sister-in-law, Erin. She turned 40. A lesser woman may have been depressed, but not former class partier Erin. Oh no, she celebrated all month long with friends and family. She arranged for Grammy to watch all the kids one Saturday nite while she, my brother Mike, John & I went out to the bowling alley bar. Yep, the bowling alley! Erin's two friends, Lynda and Nancy met us there for drinks and good bar food. Nancy turned out to be the life of the party. She played pool with John, bought shots for all of us (yikes!) and was a competitive participant in beer pong. Fortunately, she wasn't driving. It was a fun time. I haven't stayed up that late in ages!!

Erin & her wine

Mike, Erin, Lynda & Nancy

The beer pong competitor

June first was also the deadline I had set for Kara to give up her binky. She was never a big pacifier kid, but she (and we) did use it to go to sleep. I did some research and found several suggestions for easing the transition: giving it to a new baby, sewing it into a teddy bear, mailing it off the the binky fairy, etc. Kara's pretty smart - I didn't think she was going to fall for any of these. I did take one suggestion and started snipping away at the tip of the pacifier. This eliminated the suction. Supposively this was going to make the pacifier less appealing. Kara promptly informed me that her binky "was broken" yet she continued to suck away. Alas, the bandaid was going to have to be ripped off swiftly. I had also read somewhere that some kids "plant" their binkies. Aha! John & I wanted a new decorative tree for our backyard, so off we went to Manza farm to select a tree. We came home with a beautiful Kousa Dogwood tree that we told Kara was HER tree. We explained that we would have to plant her binkies for the tree to grow. She was totally on board. She dutifully collected her broken binkies and threw them into the hole. Unbelievable. Then John put the tree on top of them and all hell broke loose. She wailed for a good couple of minutes before I was able to distract her, but then was fine. Now we have a beautiful binky tree in our backyard that's all Kara's!

John & Molly checking out the selection

Kara throwing the binkies in the hole

Kara's binky tree

North Carolina Part 2

2009-05-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

So far I have failed to mention that one of our vacationers was our golden retriever, Molly. Part of what made the Kolman's so appealing was the opportunity to bring Molly with us. We hate leaving our pathetic dog behind! I have to say, she was the best traveler on the way down. Molly loves swimming and being able to bring her to the beach was great. At first Molly had a tough time adjusting to going potty at the beach house. Then one day on the beach Molly found her inspiration, squatted and pooped. Hurray! Has anyone else ever tried pooper scooping on the beach with a shell and driftwood? Yeah, I'm not only Kara's mommy, I'm Molly's mommy, too. From that day on, Molly would only poop on the beach. Great.

One of the things we were most excited about on this particular vacation was a planned trip to the Fort Fisher Aquarium. Thursday morning we set out to take the ferry over to Fort Fisher. The ferry ride itself was worth the trip. The ferry leaves from Southport, down the road from Oak Island, and travels to Fort Fisher in about 30 minutes. You can bring your car, motocycle or just yourself on this ferry. We took the car. It was the first time I've driven onto a ferry and it was pretty cool. In the four years I lived on Staten Island, the ferry never allowed cars, not that I would've driven anyway. FYI: the Staten Island Ferry now allows cars again - it must've just been while I lived there! Anyway, after arriving in Fort Fisher it was a very short drive to the aquarium. John & I were prepared for it to be pretty lame, in all honesty, and once inside we were afraid our fears were realized. It seemed like the aquarium consisted of one large room with local water life. It was enough for Kara just to see some ducks, large boring fish and alligators, but John & I were like - really, that's it? Silly us, that was just the vestibule. Once inside the "real" aquarium, we were not disappointed. There was a display where kids could touch lobsters, crabs and starfish. Adjacent to that was a loggerhead turtle born on the island. Further in was an awesome two story tank with all types of fish, eels and even sharks. On the lower level we found a stingray pool, octopi, and yes... Nemo! Kara had a blast as did John & I. We returned to the ferry with one stuffed Nemo, one stuffed turtle, three official aquarium photos and one pooped two year old. A side note: the weather had finally improved by Thursday.

The view from the ferry

The vestibule of the aquarium

Starfish in the 'touch' tank

The two story fish tank

A yellow seahorse

John & Kara with a horseshoe crab

The rays

We found Nemo!!!

Friday the weather was much nicer finally, at least at the house. We went down to the beach only to be pelted with sand. It was SO windy at the beach, we gave up and returned home. We decided to sit in the backyard around the Kolman's fountain. It was actually fun in a redneck kind of way! That night we went out to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant Brian & Toni introduced us to the last time we were in town. Unfortunately, it being Friday, margaritas were full price :( Oh well!

We took a different approach to the beach Saturday. After spending all week in sweatshirts and jeans on the beach anyway, we decided to go to the beach early and dress warmly. It was great. We walked the entire beach and found the inlet to the canal. The water was calm and deep - perfect for our dog to swim in! Molly was in heaven. After the long walk it was time for lunch. Home we went. We spent another afternoon lounging in the backyard hillbilly style. It was then, after a few beers, we decided to delay our departure originally scheduled for Sunday evening to Monday afternoon.

The kids on the beach

Molly swimming and fishing

A redneck afternoon

Sunday was basically a repeat of Saturday. That morning on the beach, John tried to make Kara a grand sandcastle. I have to give him kudos for effort! Every time he would get a good amount built, Kara would smash the castle. It was pretty funny to watch. I need to take a moment to mention that according to Brian & Toni, their beach has an endless supply of incredible shells. Part of our decision to get to the beach early was to try to find some of these shells. I don't know if we suck at finding shells or if Brian & Toni are extremely persistant seekers, but we struck out big time!

Building sandcastles

Burying Molly in the sand

Sadly, as hard as we tried, Monday came. It was time to pack up and say goodbye - for now. It was a wonderful vacation that we packed a lot into. Mostly it was great to get away from our house for awhile. And the best part of all was being able to bring our dog with us! A big thank you to Brian & Toni. I hope we were good guests!

North Carolina Part 1

2009-04-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

Once again this year, our family traveled to coastal North Carolina for spring break vacation. Usually we rent a beautiful beach front house in Topsail Island, but times being financially tough, we opted to utilize Brian & Toni's Oak Island house. This year was also the first year that we drove straight through without an overnite hotel stay (remember: financially tough times!!) To make the trip as painless as possible for the drivers, we left at Kara's bedtime and drove through the nite. I took the first shift from 6 pm to midnight. John had the tougher shift, midnight untill our destination. We arrived Easter morning at about 6:30 am, just a little too late for the sunrise Easter mass. It was a little rough that first morning, but we made it with a few naps and lots of coffee. After grocery shopping and naps we hit the beach. It was sunny, but windy and chilly. The weather only got worse the next few days.

Day 1: The girls on Oak Island's beach

After checking in with The Weather Channel we decided to head up to Topsail to visit the Kolmans, mom & Uncle George. They drove down the Thursday prior to Easter and ended up in a mansion on the beach after their original house had electrical issues. I wish I had taken more pictures of their house - it was amazing! Kara particularly liked the glass elevator which had murals of ocean life including fish, turtles and a mermaid. I liked the bar!! It had an elevated gas fireplace and his & her bathrooms. Too bad it didn't come with a bartender & stocked bar! John played dealer while we all played blackjack. I did very well, too bas it wasn't for real money! As mentioned, the weather was terrible - cold & drizzly. We forced ourselves outside in sweatshirts and jeans just to say we were outside. Nick & John played basketball, Kara followed Mike & Nick around and Erin & I drank wine under the cover of a gazebo. Erin & Mike treated us to grilled burgers, hotdogs & chicken. After dinner and once Kara was contently sleeping, Mike, Erin, Mackenzie & I hit the hot tub. This hot tub had a cool LCD light that periodically changed color. It was very cool. The next morning we had a casual breakfast then went for a walk on the cold rainy beach. Kara enjoyed dumping sand on Mackenzie's head! Mack's a good sport, but needed a shower. We packed up and reluctantly left the Topsail mansion.

Day 2: Silly Mike

John, the dealer

The mansion's backyard

John & Nick shooting hoops

Drinking buddies under the gazebo

Kara & her Nick

Kara & her Mack

Pink & orange twins

Naked Kara & crazy George

Wednesday the Topsail crew came down to Oak Island. It was their first time visiting Oak Island and Brian & Toni's house. John & I felt like realtors showing everyone around a house that didn't belong to us! Once again we sweatshirted up and forced ourselves outside into the chilly weather. After lunch & Kara's nap we hit the Oak Island beach for some shell seeking. Mike of course found a shark's tooth which is common in Topsail, but not in Oak Island. Following the beach, the Topsailers returned to their beach house and we went out to a nice dinner at a a place called The Dead Pub right on the intercoastal waterway. Kara ate an entire plate of shrimp! Of course she called it chicken and we didn't correct her. Then we headed home for the second half of our week...

Day 3: Drinking buddies on the beach

A walk on the Oak Island beach

Family dinner

Kara turns 2

2009-03-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

Kara celebrated her second birthday on March 7th. This year we kept it low key as opposed to last year's beach party. The theme of her party was again beach related, however. Kara is in love with the ocean and all its critters! John and I have discussed this and we can't decide if she developed this love on her own or if we've brainwashed her. Her crib bedding, that we picked out before she was born, is "Under the Sea". It has fish, whales, turtles, etc. and her room is also filled with these creatures. Kara also loves "Finding Nemo". Again, coincidence or brainwashing? Hmmm...

Anyway, Kara had a wonderful time with all her 'friends'. She's always excited to see her cousins to the point where I get sick of hearing their names (no offense Nick & Mack & Tina). She even enjoyed some pizza & of course chocolate cake. I need to backtrack here. Kara watches "Little Bear" on Noggin just about every day. Well, that little bear LOVES chocolate cake and his mother bear is constantly making chocolate cake. Now Kara asks for chocolate cake every time she watches Little Bear! She must think that everybody eats chocolate cake and cookies every day. Thanks Little Bear!! So Kara needed a chocolate cake for her birthday. I found a great cake that could be decorated like the ocean, complete with sharks, fish and seaweed. It was a lot of fun to make, but it was more fun to see her expression when I unveiled the cake at her party!

THE OCEAN CAKE

Kara opened her gifts with some help from her bigger cousins. She immediately wanted the art easel out of the box and put together. Yeah - right!! (I did it the next day) She was instantly entranced by the fishtank TV and now plays every day with her princess carriage and horse. In fact she asks me to play castle with her all the time. She had a wonderful birthday! We send our thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes.

THE PIZZA PARTY

GIFTS, GIFTS & MORE GIFTS

THE BIRTHDAY WISH

FOUR COUSINS

THE GIRLS

Holidays 2008

2009-01-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since our last post, sorry! This time of year we hibernate and do very few activities. Fortunately, the holiday season came along to give us something to write about. This year was the first year we hosted Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's not about buying presents for people you may or may not even like. I mean do I really need to give the mailgirl a gift?? Whatever. Anyway, Thanksgiving is about eating, drinking & watching football while laying around all day. I love it! What an American holiday. It went well, although I have no proof. I think in the hustle and bustle of preparations and hosting resposibilities, John & I forgot to take pictures. Take my word for it - it was great.

Christmas was split between my sister-in-law and me. Christmas eve was at her house, Christmas at mine. Kara was most excited to spend time with all 3 of her cousins. This was the first year that all of the cousins were together on Christmas Eve. She loved her Elmo day bed which we are not allowed to fold up into the chair it could be. Christmas day, as usual, was pretty mellow. Three i-pod touch zombies joined us for the day. Mike, Nick & Mackenzie all got i-pod touches for Christmas. All three of them showed up at my house with their touches in tow. The three of them spent the afternoon with their heads bowed into those i-pods! More addicting than cocaine, apparently. Kara loved each and every one of her one hundred gifts - just kidding, it only seemed like a hundred! Well, she loved them each for at least 3 minutes before moving on to the next one! I can say that now almost 2 weeks later she still loves her Elmo bed, her Little People playsets, stroller & gingerbread book & men.

Kara & her three cousins, Nick, Mackenzie and Christina

The classic gift, a rocking horse

Kara LOVES cars

She's also an aspiring musician

Dad & Kara enjoying the Elmo daybed

Are you coming to my tea party?

Two of the three i-pod zombies

The 'too-cool' boys on Christmas day

It was a simpler Christmas for us this year, but fabulous nonetheless. Thanks to all for a wonderful season.

New Year's Eve John & I along with Erin & Mike (sister-in-law & brother) went to a wonderful dinner at Limoncello's in Goshen. What a nice treat. The food was great & we all loved the new bar area. A great way to ring in 2009. Let's hope this year brings health, wealth and happiness.

Halloween

2008-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

This year marked Kara's second Halloween. Last year she was an angel (of course!) This year I wanted to make her a little devil (appropriate) but I couldn't find a costume I liked. A coworker of mine suggested making a cow costume out of a sweatsuit and black felt. Genius! Kara loves cows! And the best part, once Halloween was over, I could peel the black felt off and have a new outfit for her. Off to Old Navy I went. I found an adorable velour sweatsuit there and then headed to Michael's for felt. Again success! For once, it was easy. Then I got to make the costume. I have to say it was fun! The hardest part was putting the ears on her hood, I had to sew them (I don't sew). I'm not sure they even look like cow ears, but I did my best.

Our little cow

In Uncle George & Aunt MaryEllen's Kitchen

Running through the grass at Grammy's

Before anyone can celebrate Halloween, there has to be the carving of the pumpkins. Boy was that the most unfun thing I did this season! My pumpkin was like a rock. It took me over an hour to carve your basic jack-o-lantern face. But John had an easier time and he even let Kara help. She, by the way, colored her very own pumpkin with markers.

John & his Helper

Kara, Dad & the Jack-o-lanterns

Pumpkins, Birthday & Traffic

2008-10-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

My oldest brother Mike's birthday is today. It's one of those milestone birthdays that I know I'd rather not divulge. He didn't want to do anything special so instead the family went out to dinner last Saturday night. The following day we traveled down to Sleepy Hollow to see the legendary Headless Horseman at Phillipsburg Manor. It was a big, action packed weekend!

Since Halloween is only a few days away, we decided it would be fun to get pumpkins and carve them before we went to see the Headless Horseman. Friday afternoon John, Kara & I went to pick out some pumpkins. We found a great local farm down the road from the winery (convenient, I know!). Kara was overwhelmed with opportunity! She actually hugged & kissed one of the pumpkins. We came away with three pumpkins & one gourd. After pumpkin picking we hit the winery for happy hour & bocci.

Saturday was the big birthday celebration. While at dinner our crafty aunt & uncle snuck into Mike's house to decorate with all kinds of embarrassing photos and signs. It was funny to look back at the old pictures of Mike's hair. I should do a post just of Mike's hairstyles through the years! Anyway we opened some presents, had cake, watched football & baseball and drank.

Sunday we headed back over to Mike & Erin's to carve pumpkins & see the Headless Horseman. Nick was the only one up for carving pumpkins, the rest of us were too tired (we're all old!) Prior to leaving, I suggested to Mike that he might want to take an alternative route being Sunday afternoon and all. I knew he wouldn't listen to me - I only lived in Westchester for five years, what do I know about Tappan Zee Bridge traffic??? Needless to say the 1 hour drive took 2 hours, but we made it in time. Having gone five years ago, we were excited to be back. Unfortunately we remembered a much better event! It was disappointing. It seemed smaller than the last time we went and there was nothing new added. So we left to go to Dave & Buster's for dinner. We enjoyed a well deserved cold beer at dinner! Nothing like sitting in traffic for 2 hours to work up a good thirst!

Overwhelmed with possibilities!

Hugs & kisses for the pumpkins

Finally, one just her size

The birthday boy

A cake fit for a pimp

Spooky ghosts at Phillipsburg Manor

Scary pumpkinhead pyres

Fruits & Flowers

2008-10-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

October 1st was my & John's fourth anniversary. We have followed the traditional gift protocol for each of our past anniversaries. Paper for the first, cotton for the second, and leather (I'm not kidding) for the third. Guess what the fourth anniversary is... Fruit and flowers. Huh??? Sounds pretty perishable if you ask me. I was not a big fan of this particular anniversary tradition. The modern protocol wasn't any better... appliances! Oh yeah, a new coffee maker. Wait, actually that may have been a good idea.

So what to do for our anniversary of fruit and flowers. Apple picking! I love apple picking and it seemed appropriate. John found that Warwick winery not only had apple picking but pear picking as well. Sold! Off we went for apples and pears.

John & Kara at the onset

Me with the apples

Kara & me sampling the goods

To "pick" pears we needed a long pole with a claw & basket. The pears that were left were very high on the trees

After apple and pear picking we lunched at Charlotte's Tea Room. We sat outside which was great because we were the only ones out on the deck. It served as a giant playpen for Kara

Kara "helping" me add a little sugar

One pooped apple picker!

And just because John always complains that he's never in any pictures, this is John & Kara playing Brandon's drum set

Cows & Bikes

2008-09-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned previously, we live across from cows, directly across from cows. I've never paid them much mind, I grew up living next to and across from cows. When the weather first started to be warm this spring & summer, we would point out the cows to Kara and even take her down to see them. Now, these cows aren't like dogs, they were pretty skittish at first. They did however love Molly. Eventually we got some new friendly cows in the pen across the street and Kara learned the proper technique (hand out, palm up) to make friends.

Kara & her brown cow with Molly, too

John takes care of Kara every Saturday while I work. Well, he started to politely complain that he didn't know what to do to entertain her anymore. He came to me after reading an article in Parenting magazine raving about this new style of bike seat. I was a little hesitant, but thought we'd give it a try. Of course then we had to find a helmet small enough for an 18 month old. Ahhh Amazon - I love ya! Kara was nervous the first time or two, but now she "asks" to go for a ride. The pictures below were taken by me just before the three of us (and Molly) went for a ride.

Getting Kara secured

The bicyclist & dad

Bear Mountain

2008-09-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we decided to go to the Bear Mountain Zoo. I'd really like to go to the Bronx Zoo, so this was kind of a trial run to see how Kara liked it. It went pretty well! She was happiest when we let her walk on her own and she really liked the fish & reptiles, especially the rattlesnake!!

Here we are at the very beginning of our day. Kara's already out of her stroller & on her own!

John took this picture of the Hudson River looking south from the trail we were on

Kara & John checking out some amphibians

Kara & her friend the black bear

More turtles!!

This is a fenced in pond housing ducks, geese & swans. The domestic geese were super aggressive - Kara was scared of them, but she liked the less aggressive Canadian geese

Ahhh... the good life! Kara passed out as we were walking to the car to go home.

All in all it was a very nice time. The zoo was empty at the time we went. We also saw coyotes, porcupines, foxes and lots of birds, but they were all in cages that did't allow good pictures. Most importantly Kara seemed to enjoy the zoo. Look out Bronx Zoo!!

Kara's tractor obsession

2008-08-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

Our family is based in Westtown, New York. Westtown is part of the Minisink school district and is one of the last areas in Orange County with wide open spaces. Everywhere you go in Minisink you see farms. Our road is home to one of the largest dairy farms in the area. In fact our mailbox is directly across the street from some of the dairy farm's cows. We knew it was only a matter of time before Kara was intrigued by the cows. What we didn't expect was how excited she'd be by the tractors that drive down our road ALL DAY! Even more exciting, the tractors sometimes stop to feed the cows (right across the street). Tractor was Kara's first two syllable word. So began her love affair with tractors. Below is one of the many tractors we see driving down our road.

Below is Kara's collection of toy tractors. It started when I found the small metal John Deere tractor in Target on clearance for $2.50. I had to get it! Then since she liked it so much, I returned to Target to purchase the John Deere tractor and farm friends. Each animal makes it's signature sound when you press it down and the farmer sings 'Old MacDonald'. Finally I decided all these farm animals needed a barn, so off we went to Toys R Us for the Little People Farm. Wouldn't you know it - the farm came with a tractor as well.

Seeing how well Kara liked her toy tractors, I looked on Amazon for a fun tractor book. I found a touch-n-feel (you guessed it) John Deere book. Kara gave us one of her "Oh wow"s when she saw it for the first time. Unfortunately it's not much of a storybook. Then, mysteriously, another tractor book arrived. Hmmm... I didn't remember ordering this book. Could this have been one of those purchases made after a few glasses of wine? Oh well, Kara loved it and it was an actual storybook. Hurray! A few days passed and once again a mysterious tractor book showed up in my mailbox. This time I grabbed the packing slip and found the culprit - my aunt, Mary Ellen, who I now secretly think of as the Tractor Fairy! Kara's book collection below:

Finally I must share the piece de resistance: The John Deere ride-on tractor. My mom was watching Kara one afternoon at her house when she took Kara next door to visit. While swinging on the swingset my mom's neighbors have for their grandkids, Kara spotted their ride-on tractor. She was so excited to be able to climb on an actual tractor and push herself around. My mother of course ran out and found a safe tractor just for Kara. I have to say it's pretty funny to see Kara with the tractor only because she likes to pick it up and carry it around like a doll! Ahhh my little farm girl!

Kara's Tractor

Kara riding her tractor

All about Kara

2008-08-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

When I decided to create this blog, my main motivation was the ability to share photos & stories of Kara.
Kara was born March 7th, 2007 at 2:07 pm in room 207 - no lie!! John & I joked that we should've played the lotto that night with the numbers 2, 0 & 7. Almost 18 months later she's changed so much from that day. There isn't enough space on the web for the hundreds if not thousands of pictures we have of her, so here are a few of my recent favorites:

Kara has recently discovered the ability to sit on EVERYTHING. This is a picture of her sitting at the bottom of our staircase in front of the closed baby gate. She's eating Cheerios which she helped herself to out of our pantry. She also carried around the can of V8 in the picture (she doesn't drink V8 - who does?) Lying at her feet waiting for the Cheerios to be dropped is Molly, her BFF.

Speaking of the BFFs... Kara just loves that dog!! Thank God we have a golden retriever. Molly is so patient with Kara. Kara sits on the dog (remember she's learning about her sitting abilities), hugs the dog, pulls on the dog, even takes food out of the dog's mouth. But Molly is not 100% saint, oh no! I think Molly tolerates the abuse for the benefit of Kara's leftovers. Kara finds nothing funnier than feeding Molly from her high chair. That dog just lies and waits for the food to be dropped, thrown or handed to her. I guess it's a mutually benefitting relationship!

Yes, it's a wine cork in her mouth. No, she's not going to choke on it. John was saving wine corks for a mail in rebate in one of our kitchen drawers. Well, Kara discovered them and has since had a fascination with the corks. I guess it's true about the apple not falling far from the tree! I took this picture with the intention of making a funny sign. It was going to be titled:

"We told her to put a cork in it!"

This picture was taken on Father's Day. All John wanted to do was play golf. Well, he settled for mini golf with the girls. She has two clubs because she kept stealing mine. After we were done, we ended up at my brother and sister-in-law's pool eating ribs, swimming and playing bocce. It was one of those unplanned fun days!

There will be a ton more pictures, but this is a start.

Our unexpected summer vacation

2008-08-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Just a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go to North Carolina for a few days. My brother & sister-in-law graciously invited us to stay with them at their house in Oak Island, NC. With John currently being between jobs, it seemed like a great way to get away for a little R&R. The drive was horrific! Not only did we hit the usual traffic on I-95, but we ran into severe thunderstorms from NJ to Virginia. We arrived just after midnight on Oak Island, some 14 hours after we left. We went to the beach every day, except a rainy Wednesday. Kara was in heaven! I think she's part fish (she is a Pisces). When she saw the ocean she said "pool! pool!" John & I were hysterical.
We couldn't get Kara out of the water. At one point she literally lied down in the surf and lapped up the ocean water. I found my first conch shell, ever, as well as other great shells. We weren't quite the shell seekers my brother & sister-in-law were, but we did okay.

Our last night in NC, the adults went out to a great Mexican restaurant with $1.99 margaritas. Mmmm!
Some pictures from our trip.

Summertime catch-up

2008-08-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

Before we move forward, I must take a moment to catch-up on our busy summer. This summer we celebrated two graduations: Scott's high school graduation and John's graduate school graduation. John completed his masters degree in business administration in March from Norwich University. His program was completely online. As the students never actually met, the university required each graduate to attend a week in residence on campus in Northfield, Vermont. So, off John, Kara & I went to Vermont for a week! (the university paid for our hotel accomodations!) We stayed just outside of Montpelier, the smallest capital city in the US. It was beautiful - very green & mountainous (Vermont is known as the green mountain state). All in all it was a very nice week.

John & his MBA Classmates

Scott graduated from Minisink Valley High School on June 27th. He was one of 312 graduates of the class of 2008. We held a graduation party about a month later at Hansen Memorial Park. Scott is planning on attending OCCC in the fall to study computer networking.

The Pre-Graduate

Dad & Grad

Welcome to our blog!

2008-08-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family! After a suggestion from a good friend (Jessica), I've decided to start a family blog where those that care can see pictures and find out what's new with our family. Mostly I was motivated by how quickly Kara (almost 18 months old) is changing. We take so many pictures of her, but hardly ever print them. This seemed like an ideal way to showcase our little darling. Please visit us when you can, it's going to take some time to get this up to date, but I'll do my best (during naptime).