Happy Mother's Day

The other day Susan gave me a quick glimpse into the multifaceted nature of being a mom when she said "a mom is someone who can be tugged, bugged, and hugged all at the same time." For most men, who struggle to do one thing at a time, this level of multitasking is difficult to understand.

With that in mind, I would like to thank all of the mothers in our family for the wonderful things that you do. We appreciate your patience; marvel at how you instinctively know what a child needs; and appreciate your ability to look after everyone's well being -- usually before your own.

Thank you Mom for not laughing too hard before you spanked Monica and I for playing darts inside the house with rocks from the driveway. Thank you Marisue for always helping us make our house a home. Barbara, thank you for all those meals you cook for 25 at the cottage - a tough job to be sure.

Thank you Lizzy, Monica, Lisa and Liz for being great mothers. Thank you to Evangeline for bringing little Skylar into the world and being such a great mother. We love you all.

In commemoration of this day and one very special mom, Hannah and I put together the following video:



We love you Susan.

Gastric Bypass Surgery

My father had gastric bypass surgery Wednesday, April 20th. A growing number of patients, and doctors, have found it to be an almost a miracle cure for type 2 diabetes. Many patients are able to stop insulin treatments before they leave the hospital.

My Dad has struggled with type two diabetes for almost 25 years. Weight loss, a low sugar diet and exercise have helped him effectively manage the disease that has significantly affected his life. This surgery offered a chance to beat diabetes.

The path to gastric bypass surgery was filled with a number of roadblocks, including recommendations from doctors, meetings with a nutritionist, psychologist and test after test. We are proud of the determination that he has shown to throughout the process.

The surgery itself went off without a hitch. There were a few minor post operation snafus that pushed his release into the next week. He is now recovering at home and quite happy to be out of the hospital. I have made a point of pestering the snot out of him with daily requests for updates.

As of today “my body is regulating blood sugar on its own after 20 years or so of medical control,” says my Dad. He's still not out of the woods yet, but his blood sugar levels are expected to continue falling. He'll see the bariatric doctors again next week to review where he is and discuss any necessary adjustments.

We're excited for him and wanted to share the news with friends and family. If you would like more information about the surgery or any of those roadblocks leading up to the surgery, please visit his blog at: http://surgicalpathtoslim.blogspot.com/

MIT Ballroom Competition

Okay, it's been forever and a day since I last posted to this blog. In most cases, I've communicated through Facebook and Email. That said, I felt like the blog was the best place to share a few videos of Hannah and her partner Saira dancing at the MIT Ballroom competition.

This is one of the larger competitions with oodles of talent. Unfortunately, they didn't place. They did make it to the quarter finals several times. Susan and I were wiped out. We had to get out of bed at 4 a.m., leave the house with a group of kids by 5 a.m., and arrive by 7:00 a.m. I do not think we returned until well after 8 p.m. Yikes.

Here's the Swing video. I think they were disqualified for the hand slapping. Hannah could tell you for sure.



Here's the Rumba video. I apologize for the quality. I filmed them on my Droid.

Quebec Trip, July 2010

We'll we kind of got away from updating our little blog over the past few months. Looking through photos on the computer this morning, I realized what a cool time we had in Quebec this year.

Each July for the past four years, we have loaded up the car and driven to Quebec city for the Festival D'Ete (Summer Fest). With lots of things to do, cultural attractions, and most importantly tons of live music, the two week festival is a great time. A $50 pass gets one into any outdoor venue for the length of the festival.

We typically stay for a few days and time our visits around bands that we want to see. This year, we saw Rush and The Black Eyed Peas. We also took the opportunity to walk around the old city, eat at a few really cool places (Bistro Sous Le Fort) and visit the fort that once protected the city. Interesting note: Quebec City is the only walled city in North America.

Check out the photo album below.

More about Skylar

Okay, most everyone has seen the photos on Facebook. Still it seems like I should take a second to put some photos of Skylar up here on the blog. Sky's been a good girl in her first week. The kids, I mean the parents, have not gotten a whole lot of sleep. Watching them wander around with drawn faces and red eyes does bring back a few memories.

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Evangeline and Skylar

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Evangeline, Hannah and Skylar

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Erick and Skylar - Love how she has her hands to her face..."oh my"

Skylar Says Hi

Ok, I know we're just proud grandparents, but this is the cutest. She actually says 'hi. Click here to watch

Baby Skylar!!!!!

We would like to welcome the newest member of our family, our granddaughter Skylar! She was 6lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches long. She has a full head of hair and is extremely alert. She was born on November 1, 2010 at 9:27pm. We are so excited to finally meet her. Erick and Evangeline are doing well and are happy parents. She is absolutely beautiful.

click here to watch the movie