Christmas Eve in Williamsburg

We spent Christmas Eve this year in Colonial Williamsburg. It's a great place to go with carol singing, a large Christmas tree, and everyone in the festive Christmas spirit. But what makes it truly special is the fire. The torches. The giant bonfire in the middle of the street. There are also a number of cannons around the main square that they fire off to either announce the Christmas or the Red Coats are coming. As strange as it sounds, both were correct. A fife and drum band (in red coats) began to march on the square just after the cannons.

There's just something so Christmasy about a lot of fire on Christmas Eve. If, for not other reason, it manages to keep Frankenstein from ruining the party.

Winter Wonderland!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Not only is the Samuel Adams Winter Classics pack back on store shelves, but Christmas is coming. We here at the Gruetzmacher household have been feverishly preparing for the arrival of Santa Claus, and Kasia is getting more and more excited every day.

The lights are up and the tree is trimmed. At least I think the tree is trimmed... I mean, it's decorated. Is that what "trimmed" means? Well, just in case, I also cut all the excess fat off it, so it's lean, mean, and green. And to top it all off, we went and saw Santa Claus last weekend.

This year, Kasia did better with Santa than I expected, though not as well as I would have hoped. While we were at home, she was all excited about wanting to see Santa. While we were waiting in line, she was adamant that she did not want to see Santa. And while we were seeing Santa, she was mixed on her feelings. It's very much a love/hate relationship at this age. She loves the fact he brings her lots of toys, but hates the fact he has a big white beard. Kasia is not a big fan of facial hair, unless it's someone she knows really well. But in the end, she did sit on Santa's lap, though she did need to have us by her side to keep her from running. We were able to get a picture, which is more than I can say about last year and our attempt to get a picture with Santa. So I really can't complain about anything.

The funny thing is that we took her to see Santa at the Bass Pro shop, which was unbelievably amazing. They were decked out for Christmas and had one of the most amazing Christmas set-ups for kids that I've ever seen. There was coloring, and race cars the kids could play with. Plus the kids could take a trip to the rifle range and practice their target shooting. I just find it amusing that the store which has been voted the most Christmas friendly store in America, is probably also the most unfriendly store toward reindeer. Rudolf and Dasher must have been quaking in their jingle-bells when they enter that store and see rows and rows of hunting camouflage, rifles, deer stands, and high powered crossbows. Is that the pitter patter of reindeer hooves on the roof? Or is it the sound of a guy in an orange cap and a 12-gauge shotgun with a taste for reindeer? At the Bass Pro shops, you just never know.

But we got the picture with Santa. That's all that matters.

To The Aquarium!

I love the aquarium. I love the aquarium in Manteo because it's big enough to have all the fish you'd want to see without being too big that it takes forever to see everything. I also love that it's small enough that it's never really crowded, especially during the off season when the population of the Outer Banks drops to about twelve people.

So for half an hour, there were a total of six people in the entire place... and then the high schoolers came. There must have been 200 of them, and they descended on that place like a pack of locusts. We kept trying to beat them off, or smoke them out, but they just kept coming. Eventually, Kasia and I just cowered in the corner, covering ourselves to stay safe and waited it out. Then, just as quickly as they came, the teenagers soon left and all was once again quiet. The staff were so relieved, that they soon started showering Kasia with little free toys for her to play with to thank her for being quiet, and not being a teenager.

Kasia is still a big fan of watching fish and always seems to have a really good time when we visit the aquarium. This time around, her favorite thing was watching the river otters swim and fight with each other. Afterwards, she would act out just how the river otters fought by shouting, "This is my place to sit! You move! You go for a swim!" and then push the otter in the water. It's cute.

Nor'easters Are a Pain

Not too long ago we had a little thing called a Nor'easter come through here. Now, being from the Chicago area, I'm not too used to what these storms can do or what they're about. I was here for the hurricane in 2003, but that one didn't effect me very much. This recent nor'easter however proved to be a real monster for us and dropped so much rain that we ended up with our own swimming pool (and to think Kara wants to pay someone to put a pool in for us... silly girl).

The rains really started on thursday, and were coming down all day. Kara was out of town on a business trip, and so when I woke up friday morning, I was amazed at how much water was out on the ground. I even took a few pictures. Little did I know, that all that water was nothing compared to what followed.

A few hours later, all our drainage ditches were full, and the water was creeping toward the house. Our backyard was so saturated that the entire lawn looked like a giant puddle. A little while after that, the yard was just water. In the front of the house, the water had come up to our house and in to our garage. I fought gallantly for over an hour trying to stem the rising waters, but being a nor'easter virgin, I was a little lost on what to do (fyi, if this ever happens again, I have the gameplan down and things will go a lot smoother than last time).

The water started climbing in the garage. Fortunately, I was able to move anything of value up out of the way, so nothing important got ruined. Then the water kept climbing up the side of the house. It spilled up on to our front porch and started approaching the door. If you looked out the back, it was just a giant lake. Kasia's plastic picnic table had up and floated away, and I was forced to rush out and get it. The water in our yard came up to my knee. Against the house it rose about eight inches. And the scare thing was that it was still raining.

Fortunately, the rain didn't last much longer, and the water never got close to coming in our house. Our garage got quite a bit of water, but nothing important was ruined. Unfortunately, some of my neighbors were not so lucky as some of their houses sit just a little lower to the ground than ours and suffered quite a bit of water damage.

For us, it was kind of a blessing, because it forced us to clean out our garage, and it was neater and more organized afterwards than it has been in years. Though, this is a blessing that I hope I never get again.

Word Up!

Attention to all you parents of youngin's out there. I know that todays TV for children is dominated by channels like Noggin and Nick Jr, but if you have not watched Word Girl on PBS, then you're missing out. This show is perhaps THE greatest cartoon ever made for kids. Why? Because in the end, I don't think it's made for kids. It's made for the parents who watch cartoons with their kids. It's hilarious. I mean, it's milk out of your nose hilarious. I highly recommend you check it out.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween, Kasia decided that she was going to go as a "Cute Witch." I think that every little girl in her life time has to dress up as both Raggedy Anne as well as a witch for Halloween. Luckily for Kasia, she has checked off both those boxes on her "things to do" list.

Kasia was extremely excited about Halloween this year and really got in to everything that hadto do with Halloween. She wanted it all. She wanted the pumpkins carved, though she didn'twant to have to smell them. And she really wanted to go Trick-or-Treating, but she didn't want to have to actually say the words.Kasia was skipping and excited to get to the house to get some candy, but then as soon as she sawsomebody standing there, she froze. In a voice that was barely above a whisper she would say, "trick or treat." And then after she got her candy, she would the say again in that whisper voice, "Thankyou." As we were walking back down the driveways to go to the next house, she would then findher voice and shout, "THAT WAS FUN! LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!" By the time we'd get to the nexthouse though, she was back to her whisper.

When we got home, she dumped her treasures out onto the floor and began to count them. She refuses to eat any of her candy, but she pulls it out and then puts it back in her bucket. Of course,she has no problems with eating the leftover candy that we have lying around the house. I thinkthat maybe we scared her a little too much by telling her that she'll get sick if she eats too much candy because now whenever we suggest she has a piece she just says, "No, I don't want to getsick."

For more pictures, click on the Recent Photos slideshow and enjoy the little video. If you can't tell from the video, Kasia had a problem with wanting to wear her witch hat. She insisted on waitinguntil Aunt Sandy showed up before putting it on. To her credit though, she did put it on when Sandy arrived, only for us to take it off her again a little later because the thing kept falling off.

Climbing the Currituck Lighthouse

One of the great sites in Currituck County is the Currituck Lighthouse in Corolla. The other week, they had a festival for the local residents and we were able to climb the lighthouse for free. So I took the plunge and climbed the 220 steps to the top. It's quite a feat for a guy who has problems with heights, but it was well worth it.

Kara and Kasia decided to stay at the bottom and wait for me. Actually, we decided that we didn't want to go up with Kasia because we knew that inevitably we'd get half-way up and she'd want us to carry her the rest of the way. And since Kara has already climbed the lighthouse, it just made sense for them to stay at the bottom.

This is what Kara and Kasia look like from atop the Currituck Lighthouse. That's them in the very center sitting in the shade of the tree.

Pumpkin Carving

For the very first time, we decided to carve a pumpkin for Halloween this year. I actually haven't carved a pumpkin since I was a kid, so it has been a really long time since I've done this. The one thing I always remembered about doing this when I was a kid was that when you're scooping out the insides of the pumpkin, it stinks. It's bad. I actually think that was the reason why it has been so long since I've done this.

So it was no surprise to me when we started scooping out the pumpkin, Kasia didn't enjoy the smell much either.

In fact, she hated it. She covered her nose, ran out of the room, and gave up on the pumpkin. Eventually she would return, but with a mask over her face to keep the smell out.

Something else that I remember about doing this from my younger days was that I used to have this special knife for carving pumpkins that was safe for kids to use. It was called the Pumpkin Kutter, and it made carving a pumpkin as easy as slicing butter. Well, this time I didn't have the Kutter and had to rely on regular knife. It was possibly one of the worst experiences I've ever had. The next day I went online and promptly ordered three new Pumpkin Kutters so that next year I will not be caught unprepared.

Chilly

Like most of the country, we're having a bit of a cold streak in our weather. On tuesday morning, we woke up to discover that it was 28 degrees outside. That is just a tad chilly for this time of the year. The car (as you can see) was completely covered in ice. For the first time in a long time, I had to warm up the car and blast the heat just to thaw the thing out.

The strange thing is that by noon, the temperature was in the upper 60's. Kasia and I went to the park and didn't even need jackets. In fact, we were a little warm just by wearing pants instead of shorts. How does one dress for days like these? It's winter in the morning and summer just a few hours later. I think this is exactly why they invent those pants where the bottoms unzip to transform them into shorts. Genius.

Worst. Slice. Ever!

Well, it finally happened. After living on the golf course for over two years, somebody finally broke a window with a golf ball. I always said that because of where our house lies on the the golf course, you'd either have to have the worst slice ever to hit our house, or you'd have to do it intentionally. Now, I'm going to be optimistic and hope that it wasn't intentional. Of course, it did happen in the middle of the night while the golf course was closed. But then, that only makes it seem more like an accident. I mean, if you're out there playing some night golf, it's got to be hard to see where the hole is.

The upside is that the cracked window actually looks really cool. And, the best part is that, according to legend, if you stand in a specific spot in the kitchen at a specific time of day, the sun will shoot in through the hole in the window, which then points to the exact location of the Well of the Souls. So that's kind of cool. As it turns out, the Ark of the Covenant is actually buried under my kitchen floor. That would explain a lot of things (like the reason the finger of God is always pointing to my refrigerator).

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! That's right. I had a birthday (a week ago) and for those who don't know, I'm now 32. Sweet Lord. When you say it out loud (or write it) it makes me feel so old. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was freaking out over who to ask to my junior prom?

I had a great birthday this year. Since Kara had to go in to work, Kasia and I decided to go on down to Kittyhawk and play on the beach. Then we went out for lunch at Mama Kwans, which is a tiki bar and grill that I've really wanted to go to (mainly because they have a billboard for the place just outside my neighborhood). It was excellent, and Kasia even enjoyed eating there.

Then Kara came home and brought Uno's Chicago style pizza with her. We feasted on pizza and beer. We opened presents, and we had a huge hot fudge brownie with ice cream dessert.

It was an absolutely terrific day. It was so good, that I didn't even mind turning 32.

First Ferry Trip

One of the things we have always talked about doing but never have was to take the ferry over to Knotts Island.  Well, last Saturday, the weather was absolutely perfect and so we drove on down to the dock and hopped on the ferry.   This was Kasia’s first time on a ferry boat, and my first time on a ferry boat where you could drive you car on (I’ve only taken passenger ferries before).  So it was a big day for all of us… except Kara.  This ain’t her first rodeo.

So with the wind at our backs, and seagulls flying high over head, we shipped out for 45 minutes of fun.  It really was just a nice cruise across the sound and on to Knotts Island.  Kasia was a little scared at first and didn’t want to stand on the ferry, but after a few minutes, she got used to it.  She had a great time watching the birds fly after us and the water speed by.  In fact, later she would comment on the whole event by saying “I was on the ferry.  I was scared for one minute but then I wasn’t scared.” 

Now, once you’re on Knotts Island, there isn’t really a whole lot to do.  Every summer they have a peach festival, but this weekend there wasn’t anything going on.  So we stopped by the two wineries on the island as well as the “general store.” 

At least I guess you could call it the general store.  It was really just a run down shack that sold a bunch of old things, but it had some character… and some characters working there.  It’s a must see if you ever happen to be on Knott’s Island.

Kasia’s Second Trip to the Dentist

 

Just after her third birthday we took Kasia in for her very first dentist visit.  To say it lightly, it didn’t go so well.  She screamed and cried throughout most of the visit.  After spending thirty minutes trying to calm her down, the best we could get her to do was to open her mouth so that the dentist could see that she actually had teeth.  Baby steps.

It’s now six months later, and we went in for the second visit.  What a difference six months make.

For days I had been prepping Kasia for her second trip to the dentist.  We talked about it quite a bit, and even played “dentist” quite a bit and everything was great.  She was excited to go.  If she behaved, she could get a toy as a prize.  He was looking forward to that toy.  It was going to be great.

Then we got their, and things started going south.  She saw that room, the chair, and the instruments, and suddenly she was clutching Cuddle Pup, refusing to go in.   The hygienist, who had gone through this with us six months ago, decided to give us some time to work it out ourselves.  So I talked to Kasia and eventually talked her in to sitting down in the chair and relaxing. 

When the hygienist came back in, Kasia was much better.  I sat right next to her as Kasia got her teeth cleaned, polished, and painted.  Then, somehow, Kasia was even ok with getting her teeth flossed. 

The dentist then came in and check everything out.  In short, her teeth are very healthy, and all is well.  Oh, and for those dying to know what toy she got, it was a the Wonder Pets Flyboat.  Because no house is complete unless it’s filled with the Wonder Pets.

We Have Baby Lions

Once again, the Norfolk zoo is full of baby lions. This time there is four times the fun as our lions parents had quadruplets, which apparently is unusual for lions. Personally, I love it when the zoo has baby lions, because unlike their parents, the cubs never sleep. They are awake all the time, and when they're awake, mom is awake. It's the only time you actually get to see lions awake at the zoo. It's a pretty cool thing.

Speaking of which, does anybody else find it odd that lions are called the kind of the jungle, and yet they don't live in the jungle? Meanwhile tigers, who are the true tough guys, and who do live in the jungle, get no respect. The animal world is just so not fair.

What's That Lump?

The other day, I came upstairs to check on Kasia only to discover her missing. I looked everywhere, and she was nowhere to be found. However, I did find a rather unusual lump in her rug. Well, you put two and two together, and you get the idea.

She crawled under her rug, and then fell asleep. How crazy is that? I mean, I know that I enjoy taking a quick power nap while lying on the rug, but under the rug? Now that's just ridiculous.

Kasia the Fishing Girl

Many of you may not know this, but Kasia comes from a family with strong ties to the sea. Obviously, I was a naval officer for longer than I can remember. Kasia's Poppy is an avid fisherman. Her mom used to go fishing quite a bit, and her father used to fish all the time too... when he was nine. And now Kasia has picked up on the tradition, and she can now fish.

Admittedly, she didn't catch anything. Of course, we had no bait, and we were standing in water that was only six inches deep, but we had no bites. Well, she did get a jelly fish caught on the hook, but no swordfish or tiger sharks or anything cool like that. You'd figure though that the big trophy fish would hang out in the six inch waters. Maybe we'd have better luck if fish decided to purposely beach themselves at an alarming rate.

Peanut Butter Hands

Normally Kasia freaks out whenever she gets anything on her hands. She's to the point now that when she's playing with her sidewalk chalk, she has to wash her hands every ten seconds because she has chalk on them. I mean, isn't that kind of the point of playing with chalk?

So you can imagine my surprise the other day when Kasia came in to the kitchen to show me her hands, and they were COVERED in peanut butter. I guess she was kneading it or something, but it was everywhere. She got it on her face, her hands, her fingers... everywhere. But surprisingly, she didn't get it on her clothes or on anything else. Crazy.

I have to admit, that this is one of those moments were my initial thoughts were not "Awwww, this is so cute, let's take a picture." No. It was, "Come on? Really? Now I have to spend the next ten minutes cleaning this up. Great." But I figured, what the heck. Take a picture and one day I'll see the humor in it. And it worked. Now when I look at the pictures of peanut butter Kasia, I laugh. If only more things in life were that easy to get over.

Kara’s Trip from Hell

Kara flew home from New York on Friday, but not without a lot of hassle.  It was supposed to be an easy flight, with Kara being back and in her home by 8:00pm.

The problems started with the limo that took her to the airport.  It was scheduled to pick her up too late and so by the time it got her to the airport, it was too late for her to check in to her flight.

So she had to go across the street and wait in line to talk with an agent to reschedule.  For three hours she stood in a line waiting to talk to somebody, anybody, to figure out how to get home.  THREE HOURS!  There was some flight to Minnesota which was described as “hellish” and “a nightmare” because the passengers had to wait in their plane on the runway for nine hours.  Phooey!  That’s luxury compared to what Kara had to go through.  At least on a plane, you’re sitting down.  Your luggage is taken care of.  You’re not getting your heels run over by the guy with the oversized bag standing behind you.  Luxury.

When Kara finally did get a chance to talk with someone, they said she could either fly out the next day at one, or fly in to Richmond that night and get in by midnight.  So, rather than spending the night at the airport, she chose to go to Richmond.

And Kasia and I packed our things up, and made the journey to Richmond International to pick up her and Linda at midnight.  I thought that I was going to fall asleep well before getting there, but as the night wore on, I got more and more awake. 

Then when I got to the airport to pick them up, it turns out that the airline sent their luggage to Norfolk.  And since it was so late, we’d have to wait until the next day to get it. 

We finally got home at around two in the morning, or just a little later.  It was a long day.  When I was younger, before Kasia, I used to stay out until two in the morning all the time and it never phased me.  Now, if I stay up past midnight I feel like I’m pushing the boundaries.

I must say though that it is wonderful to have Kara home again.  The house is so lonely without her.

Truly, My Worst Nightmare

It’s on in full force now.  That period in her life that I’ve been fearing ever since… well, since well before I had a child, is here now.  And I’m terrified.

Kasia is in the stage where everything becomes “Why?”  “That’s a monkey,” I say.  “Why?” she asks.  Everything is why, why, why?!  I’m going to eat lunch.  Why?  We have to put our shoes on.  Why?  Is there anything I can say that won’t get the response “why?”  Of course there is.

“Because I said so.”

Just a Day at the Beach

Kara had to go out of town for the whole week on a business trip up to New York.  While she was away, Kasia and I (well, mainly me) decided that it would be fun to go on down to Salvo and spend the night.  So after talking to Karlie, we decided to do just that.

We don’t get together with the Philips family as often as we should, but when the girls all get together they always seem to have a great time.  Oh sure, there’s the occasional fight and every once in awhile someone gets punched in the face, but why should a little physical violence come between friends?  

I’m always a little worried when we stay someplace new, because Kasia usually has a hard time sleeping.  Fortunately, she went down pretty well after a long day of playing, no nap, and three or four stories.  She probably would have slept in too had it not been for the fact that she spent all night dreaming about all the toys just waiting to be played with downstairs. 

We had some rain in the morning that threatened our day at the beach, but fortunately the sun broke through and we had a lovely time playing in the sand.  Kasia actually surprised me by going down and playing in the water.  Not even Kylie would spend time in the water.  Then when the wind picked up and started shooting sand at us, Kasia took refuge under her towel (as seen in the picture above).  I wasn’t as smart and just sat there getting hit by bits of sand.

I Broke the House

The faucet on the outside of our house (the sillcock for those of you in the know) has been leaking all summer long every time we try to turn it on.  When it’s off, it’s fine.  Turn it on, and our garage starts to flood.  So I thought I would give my handyman skills a workout and see if I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. 

I grabbed my pipe wrench and went to work.  I had the whole thing taken apart with the exception of this one last piece.  I have a twist, and it turned right off.  Unfortunately the reason it twisted right off is because, not knowing my own strength, I actually twisted the pipe and broke it off.  Crap.  The bad news was that there was no direct water cut off for this faucet, so in order to turn the water off, I had to shut off water to the entire house.  So now I had to fix the thing as fast as possible, or go without having running water.  I had no idea where to start, but thankfully my father-in-law was at home “cleaning out the garage” (that’s what he calls it when he’s putzing around but wants to make it sound like he’s working)

Jeff came down and gave me some guidance and helped my replace the piping in the house, after cutting out a chunk of the wall.  Unfortunately the next morning, discovered that it was still leaking a little.  So I went up to our local Taylor’s Do-It Center where you get the absolute best service I have ever seen in any store.  There’s always some old guy who knows how to do everything, and he’s just waiting to answer your question.  I describe to the guy want happened, and what we did to fix it.  He pointed out to me that we skipped a step along the way and that I’d have to do it all again without skipping that step.  When I got home, I tried it and it worked.  Everything is up and working just fine now.

So I broke the house, but fortunately with the help of a couple of wizened men, I was able to fix it again.  Now if only I could fix the giant hole I cut in my wall, I’d be doing just fine.

On a related note, I’m actually writing a new book called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Home Repair” which is written by me, The Complete Idiot.”For Idiots, by Idiots” is my motto.

Posing for Pictures in Wisconsin

I remember as a kid that each time we left my grandparents’ house, we’d always have to pose for a few pictures before we left.  So we always had pictures of all of us together. 

It seems like since digital cameras have taken over, and you can taken hundreds of pictures for nothing, those posed pictures just don’t happen as much.  At least they don’t happen as much in my family.  So this last time we were up in Wisconsin, I made it a point to get everyone together and pose for pictures.  But I went all out.  I did it like the Japanese at Disney World, which means you get every possible combination of people in the photo as possible (Dad with Goofy, then Mom with Goofy, then each kid separate, then all the kids, then just the girls, then Dad and the girls… I swear, it was like a whole roll of film from just one family). 

In the end, I now have a bunch of pictures that I had been wanting for a long time.  I even got a picture of my dad with his brother.  I think the last picture I have of the two of them together, Dad still had hair.  It was that long ago.  

Father-Son Bonding

Dad and I spent a lot of time bonding while we were in Chicago.  We sat on the deck and did some reading together.  We talked about serious life issues over an adult beverage.  We even got the baseball gloves out and played a little catch.  “Go long Dad!  Great catch.”  But most importantly, we played a little Super Jock Super Toe together. 

Super Toe is the game that my parents got my brother for Christmas sometime in the early 80’s.  While putting it together, my dad decided to test it out.  He then proceeded to test it out for the next several hours, and kept testing it until it broke.  So to help him relive the good ole’ days, I got him his very own Super Toe for Christmas this year with the understanding that if he practices, we’d play.  And practice he did.

Dad’s skills have really improved over the years, and he was able to beat me in the tournament.  Though, I think he and Kasia were conspiring against me because every time it was my turn to kick, Kasia would rush over and try to swipe the ball away as I was about to kick it.  This made me rush nearly all of my shots.  Then when it was Dad’s turn, she mysteriously became really well behaved.  Funny.

I was able to come back in the end and at least win the “longest kick” competition. 

Go West Young Man

One of the things we did while in Chicago was go to a Wild West park.  Here we could do things like pan for gold.  Lasso a cow.  Throw a tomahawk.  And ride in a covered wagon.  Look at this picture of us heading west, just like in Little House on the Prairie.  Kasia is confidently guiding the horses while I’m pointing the way.  Kara meanwhile seems confused as to what the future holds for us.

Actually she’s confused because she doesn’t know what I’m point at.  I guess she failed to realize that I was posing for a picture, and the whole time she’s going “What?  What are you looking at?”  I thought it made for a great photo though. 

By the way, I also found out that my mother is pretty good with a sling shot and a bow and arrow.  I never would have guessed it from looking at her, but she showed us all up.  Now if only she could cook or sew like Caroline Ingalls. 

A Natural Gamer

While at Pat’s house, we decided to head down in to the basement and play for awhile on his old pinball machine.  Much of my high school career was spent in this basement on that pinball machine.  Watching the thing light up and tell me I had “multi-ball” was one of the best feelings ever. 

So we played a couple of times.  I beat Pat one game.  He beat me in another.  And then Kasia had her turn.  I kid you not when I say that she schooled us both.  I think the highest score I had was 14 million.  Pat’s high score was 16 million.  Kasia managed to score over 21 million in one game. 

I mean, just look at her face while she’s playing.  Look at the focus.  Look at the determination.  Look at the way she’s just randomly pushing buttons while things light up.  She’s a natural.  If she could play pool as well as she plays pinball, we’d have one hell of a hustler on our hands.

Baby Xander

One of the main reasons we went to Chicago was to visit Pat, Stacy and Baby Xander.  Kasia has been talking about going to see Baby Xander for weeks (and to her, it’s never just Xander.  It’s always Baby Xander).  Well, when we all finally got together, Kasia was in heaven.  She loves babies.  She loves baby dolls, but more than that, she loves real babies.  So when she got to hold little Xander… sorry, I mean Baby Xander, she was loving it.  She gave him the little Tigger rattle that she had picked out for him, and was all about showing him how it worked. 

She’s going to make a great babysitter one day.  And then the money will really start to flow in. Cha-Ching!

A Drive to Chicago

The gods must be crazy, because for some reason, Kara, Kasia, and I decided that it was time to take a really long drive… a really, really long drive.  And since we’re going to be driving for a really long time, we may as well go and visit the clan up in Chicago.  Pat and Stacy just had little Baby Xander, and since we hadn’t seen him yet, it seemed like the logical place to go.

This time though, we learned from the mistakes in our past.  First, we decided not to drive straight through.  While the 16 hour drive is possible to do all at once, what usually ends up happening is that we get to my parents’ house in the middle of the night.  Then Kara and I want to crash and go to sleep, but Kasia (who has been sleeping in the car the entire trip) is wired and wants to play.  So if we stop half way there, we avoid all the pains it causes.  Also, to keep her awake during the trip, Kasia’s wonderful Ama and Bupa got her a DVD player for the car so that she could watch movies and DVDs during the drive.  This worked like a charm, and she hardly slept at all during the trip.

Some observations about the drive.  First, Washington D.C. has the worst traffic ever imagined on this planet.  Who would actually want to live in such a place?  Now at least I know why all politicians are crazy.  It’s because they probably sit in that idiotic traffic every day.  All total, it put up three hours behind on our first day.  Whereas we should have made it somewhere near Indiana on day one, we barely made it to Pittsburg.

Another observation is that I think the reason the traffic is so horrible in D.C. is because everyone is texting on their cell phones while driving.  Now, I kind of expect this when I see some girl in her early 20’s driving in her VW Beetle, but I get really disappointed when some dude in a Ford pick up, or some lady my mom’s age, is too busy texting on their phones that they fail to realize traffic is moving again.  All total, we counted less than ten people in all of D.C. who were not on their cell phones.  I actually made Kara grab her phone and text something just so that we would fit in.

Also, I noticed that the Pennsylvania Turnpike (which is one of the most famous of the turnpikes) is a horrible road that is overpriced and always under construction.  I also noticed that every time Kara drives, it immediately starts to rain/snow/hail, or the rapture begins.  Because of this, I think it’s best if maybe I just drive from now on.

And lastly, I noticed that there are far too few gas stations on the Ohio turnpike.  This led us to almost run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.  It was on day two of our drive, and after all the traffic we encountered on day one, we were so thankful to have nothing but open road ahead of us.  We were making great time and Kasia was just about to fall asleep in the back.  We had just over a quarter tank of gas left (about 120 miles worth) as we passed a gas station.  The sign said it was the last one in Ohio.  Not a problem, we thought.  We’re making great time, we’ve got plenty of gas, we’ll just fill up at the next one.  Well, we kept driving, and driving.  I kept looking at the gas gauge getting lower and lower.  Kara kept saying that I was worrying for nothing.  Then the light popped up saying that we were low on gas.  No problem.  The next gas plaza was in 24 miles… and according to our trip computer, we had 32 miles of gas left.  Then we hit the toll plaza and came to dead stop.  Eventually we crawled out of there, and saw a gas station next to a Burger King.  Awesome!  Sadly, it was closed. 

The gas plaza was now 12 miles away.  We had 15 miles worth of gas left.  We were in the middle of nowhere.  I mean, if there was a farmhouse a mile away, we were lucky.  But we kept limping along.  Finally, after a lot of sweating (because we had to turn the AC off) we rolled up to the gas pump.  They were charging 50 cents a gallon more than the last gas station (total gouging) but we made it.  With three miles left, we made it. 

I have since decided that Ohio and their turnpike both stink.  I will avoid them as much as I can in the future.

Oh, and we did eventually make it to Chicago.  We suffered through Chicago traffic, but it was not nearly as bad as Washington D.C.

She's Ready for Hell's Angels

For the longest time, Kasia struggled with being able to work the pedals on a tricycle.  Then, one evening (May 8th to be exact) she finally got it.  Everything finally came together and she was cruising around on her three wheeled bike like a pro.  Granted, she wasn't very good at steering and kept hitting things, but she had it down.

So we decided that maybe it was time we upgraded her to a real bike.  It took her a few days to figure out that you can't pedal backwards to go backwards on this bike.  She eventually figured out that her two choices were forward and stopped.  And now that she's got that, she is all over the place on her new bike.  Her steering is still somewhat shaky, and she feels the need to always ride in the very center of the street.  

Next year we're going to upgrade her again to a Harley.   Or maybe I'll upgrade myself to the Harley and Kasia can just watch from the sidecar. 

Kasia's New Game

Kasia has a truly unique talent.  She can spot a school bus, anywhere at anytime. She can spot a "baby school bus" (aka The Short Bus) a mile away, doing 70mph, on a different street.  Her abilities to spot a bus are so good that we've turned it into a game.  While we're driving in the car, the first person who sees a school bus has to shout "SCHOOL BUS" and whoever does it first, wins.  

When we first started playing, every time Kasia would spot one first, we would always say, "Oh  no, you got me."  Soon, Kasia started to inform us that she "got us."  She no longer says just "SCHOOL BUS" anymore, but "SCHOOL BUS!  GOT YOU!"  But when you hear her say it, she doesn't pause between the words. So it comes out "SCHOOLBUSGOTYOU!"  

And while Kara and I try to compete with her at this game, it's just not a contest.  Unless we know where the buses are parked, Kasia will lay waste to us, hands down.  It's amazing. 

Confusion at the Gruetzmacher's

There is a lot of confusion around our house today concerning food categories.  It all started last night when I read an interesting bit of trivia.  Apparently a raspberry is not really a berry.  And neither is a strawberry, but that technically a tomato is a berry.  Huh?

I mean, I knew a tomato was a fruit, despite the urge to say it's a vegetable, but a  strawberry isn't a berry?  Not only that, but banana's and grapes actually are berries.  

It only got weirder from there.  After trying to figure out why the strawberry isn't a berry, we discovered that bell peppers are actually fruits.  So are squash and cucumbers.  I always thought these things were vegetables.  

The world has gone completely topsy turvy for me where up is down and left is right.  Just too weird.

Bye Bye Birdies

The era has finally ended.  Kasia's all time favorite Children's Play Area is soon to be no more.  After being members for a year and a half, we're having to say goodbye to Birdie's because they're shutting their doors forever.  

There were three different segments to Birdie's.  There was an indoor mini golf course.  There was the children's play area.  And there was a rental side for renting the giant inflatable play slides and such.  They've decided to let their lease on the building expire and focus all their attention on to the rental side.  According to their flyer, "this doesn't mean Birdie's is closing, but that it will be bigger and better than ever."  I fail to see the logic in that seeing as how they're eliminating two-thirds of their business, including the one that I actually use, and downscaling their operation.  

So it's time to say bye, bye to Birdie's.  Kasia had many, many hours of fun there.  She met Santa Claus there.  She went on her first Easter egg hunt there.  It's a sad and rainy day.

Best Friends

Kasia had a great time the other day as her "best friend" Gabby came over to play in her pool.  Gabby's mom was putting together a swingset for her, so since she watched Kasia while I was putting the Sky Fort together (see previous post), I was more than happy to watch Gabby.  To be honest, there's no need for watching really.  She and Kasia just play together so amazingly well that it's just plain awesome.  

ICE CREAM MAN!!!

Kasia loves ice cream.  She also loves the fact that there is a man who will drive through our neighborhood and sell it to her.  

Here is a quick video of her after she got her bubble gum popsicle.  I just missed the moment when she ran out the door shouting "STOP!  STOP ICE CREAM MAN!!"  But this captures her enthusiasm pretty well.

Congratulations Pat and Stacy

Congratulations to Pat and Stacy Lewis who are the proud new parents of Alexander Gregory Lewis.  Little Xander was born on May 28 at 6:13pm, and for awhile there it looked like he was never coming out.  He's very happy and healthy at 21" and 8lb 14oz.  Mom is doing great and recovering nicely.  Dad is still a little strange, but he's still my best friend (aside from Kara... naturally).  

Congratulations guys.  Now the real fun comes when you leave the hospital.  We can't wait to see all y'all at the end of June.

The Sky Fort

For her birthday this year, Kasia received a new swing set.  But not just any swing set.  She was given the behemoth juggernaut known as the Sky Fort.  This fully loaded play-set includes, two swings, a glider, a slide, monkey bars, a rock climbing wall, a clubhouse, and a crow's nest.  According to the instructions in the box it would take "two skilled men twenty hours to complete."  Wow.  Twenty hours?!  And where was I going to find two skilled me to put this thing together?  For weeks this thing sat in our pieces in the garage while I searched high and low for the aforementioned "skilled men."  Alas, I could not  find them and so it was decided that we'd have to put this thing together ourselves.  

We started on a friday morning with Kenny and Jeff coming over to help in the assembly.  For awhile there is was real slow going, as we stared at these boards trying to figure out what to do.  Then once we realized that not all of the holes are pre-drilled for us, and that we would actually have to drill some ourselves, things started to pick.  

Kenny takes a break from his "supervisor" role to help out

Jeff becomes the first casualty.  He got bit by a drill (get it?  Drill?  Bit?  Just a little drill humor for you)

By the end of the first day, after over eight hours of work, the thing looked like we had hardly even started.  The pile of wood still laying in the garage was still piled to the ceiling.  Those two skilled guys would probably be halfway done by now, but all we had was a picnic table surrounded by more wood.

By the way, during the morning as we were building this thing, Kasia was playing over at her friend Gabby's house.  This was when she discovered the joy of pancakes.

We started at it again bright and early on Saturday morning.  Saturday was a little more difficult because that wind North Carolina is famous for was in high gear.  Screws, nails, and boards were constantly flying out of our hands as the wind whipped down on us.  But we persevered, and made a lot of progress.  By the end of day two, it actually looked like we were getting somewhere.  Kasia finally had a little clubhouse that she could play in, if she could get up to it.

Sky Fort, end of day two

After the second day, Jeff decided that he'd rather go on a vacation with his friend to Kentucky and drink bourbon and beer all week instead of finishing the Sky Fort for his granddaughter.  That's fine.  I'm cool with that.  I'll keep working on the thing myself.  

After another day of work and hard labor, Kasia soon had a ladder in the back to climb to her clubhouse.  She also had a slide to get down.  And she had a rock climbing wall for another way to get to up to the clubhouse.

Another day later, and she soon had the  monkey bars to climb on.  If I could do this thing all over again, I would conveniently forget to put the monkey bars up and just leave a big empty space where they belong.  Kasia is currently too small to really use the monkey bars, but she is big enough to climb up the rungs and grab the first bar.  After she does that, it is usually followed up with "HELP! HELP!" and then someone has to go help her cross.  

By the following weekend, Jeff came back and we were able to finish the thing despite an on again/ off again rain storm that was designed solely to irritate us.  

From the crow's next, Kasia is able to spot approaching pirates from up to two yards away.  She has also been known to stand up there and laugh as golfers completely mess up their tee shot.  "It's a par 3!!!" You can hear her shout.  "Even I can hit the green from here!!"*

Kasia keeps the clubhouse neat and tidy

Now Kasia has a wonderland that is also called the Sky Fort.  She spends hours swinging and playing in her clubhouse.  We spend hours pushing her in her swing.  In the end, she loves it, we love it, and it was well worth the effort.  

* she doesn't really say this... she only thinks it.

Thank God for Best Friends

Take a look at this picture.  This is Kasia eating a pancake.  For over two years I've been trying to get her to eat a pancake, and I have failed miserably.  Now Kasia says with conviction that she "LOVES PANCAKES!"  So what happened?  Gabby.

Kasia has a new best friend.  Gabby.  Gabby moved in two houses down from us, and she and Kasia get along as though they've been best friends their whole lives.  One morning, Kasia went over to Gabby's house to play and Gabby was eating pancakes.  Kasia then said she wanted a pancake too.  Much to my surprise, she actually started eating it.  Now at home, she'll eat pancakes too.  Of course, we have to have them just like how she had them at Gabby's house.  That means the pancakes have to have chocolate chips in them, and she needs to have a glass of milk in a cup with a straw.  Whatever.  So long as she's eating them, I'll make them anyway she wants.  I'm just happy to say she now eats pancakes.  

Thanks Gabby.

Exhausted!

After a long and tiring day of playing outside in the sun, Kasia finally ran out of energy while taking her bath.  In fact, she ran out of it so quickly that she was actually falling asleep in the bathtub.  Now this could be a dangerous situation.  We should probably sit her up before she hurts herself.   But first, I need to take a quick picture.  She just looked so cute.

The Kids' Fest in Manteo!

With spring in full swing, and the weather getting warmer, it's time we started doing more things outdoors. Cupcakes and all are fun, but then so is playing in the sun. And here, when you think about sun, you thing the Outer Banks. And when I think the Outer Banks, I think of three other girls whose name start with K: Karlie, Kylie, and Kinzlie (or Kinzlie and Kylie... I'm not picking favorites, and I'm not sure who is older). Fortunately I got a call from Karlie and she told me that Manteo was having their annual Kids' Fest. We should all go together. Well, the weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and so we got ready just a little earlier than normal and got out the door and headed on down to Manteo.

The entire trip down, Kasia sat in the back and asked one question over and over. "Where is Kylie and Kinzlie?" Again, and again she asked this question. For an hour and a half. "In their car," I would tell her. That was not good enough, so again she'd ask "Where is Kylie and Kinzlie?" With their mom? Eating breakfast? I don't know. Finally, I just told her that they were on their way to the park where we would all play together. She seemed quite content with this answer, so I let it lie with that.

The Kids' Fest was awesome, especially if you were a toddler. They had a whole bunch of different play areas where the kids could just go wild. They had an area full of the giant foam building blocks. An area with nothing but bubbles and bubble blowing stuff. An area for sidewalk chalk. There was a firetruck the kids could sit in. The Coast Guard had one fo their boats there that the kids could climb in. And there was a stage with live music playing the entire time. It was a lot fun.

When Kylie and Kinzlie (plus Karlie) arrived, the three girls took off and had a blast. They spent most of their time at the stage, dancing and chasing each other around.

Kasia and Kinzlie also spent much of their time at the stage, completely fascinated with the African musicians. I have to admit that they were a really good band, but Kasia and Kinzlie were in complete awe of them.

The one big problem I was having with Kasia all day was with getting on the Coast Guard boat. She wouldn't go on unless I could go on, and I wasn't going on. Kinzlie and Kylie went on and had a lot of fun, but Kasia just wouldn't do it. So we left, danced at the stage, and then Kasia told me she wanted to try the boat again. And again, she didn't go on. So we went and played some more, and then just before we left, she said she wanted to try one more time. This time she did it. In fact, not only did she get on, she didn't want to get off. Karlie and the girls were leaving, and Kasia said her goodbyes from the bow of the boat.

She would then end up sitting in the driver's seat for about fifteen minutes while I stood outside saying again, and again, "Ok Kasia, now it's time to go. Come on." I was afraid she was going to flip some switch and somehow set the boat's self destruct mechanism. She does the same thing in our van, and sits behind the wheel and flips levers and pushes buttons while pretending to drive. So I've got a feeling that when the Coast Guard puts this boat back in the water and powers it up, they're going to suffer through the same things I do after she's been playing in the car. The hazard lights will be on, the left turn signal will be blinking, and the windshield wipers will be on high.