Stardate 62646.78 - Summer Cold

Loren and I are fighting off a cold. She had a snotty nose yesterday, and we both have sore throats today. Consequently, we stayed in the apartment all day. Cheryl took this picture as I read Sam and the Firefly (c) 1958 to her in the living room.

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Stardate 62643.00 - Orders from the Benevolent Overlord

I got a first name mention in Jess' latest video...



And check out the new Wingman Community here.

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Stardate 62630.38 - Brooklyn Wedding

It was another weekend, so it was time for another wedding. Cheryl's co-worker Sara and Tom (who were actually married a year ago) had a ceremony on Sunday in Brooklyn. We decided to drive because the F train was not running normally, and traffic was not too bad there and back--it was around a 30 minute drive.

Loren was the only child in attendance, and in hindsight it probably wasn't a great idea to bring Loren to a wedding that started 90 minutes before bedtime on a Sunday evening. In the photo below, we bribe her with fruit to keep her in her seat (it didn't last).


One of the officiants was Tom's brother, and the other was the mother of the bride.


Here the bride and groom stand at the front just as the service starts (and the maid of honor takes the bouquet).


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Stardate 62624.80 - To the Zoo

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday with low humidity so we took a walk over to the Central Park Zoo. Loren, as usual, spent most of the time on the turtles.



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Stardate 62620.04 - Ohio Wedding, Day Four

As we mentioned on Day Three, our Sunday night flight was canceled so we ended up in Ohio for an extra half-day. Thanks to Uncle Chris and Aunt Bev for giving us a room to sleep in Sunday night! Especially since they already had other guests!

We got up early and went to the airport. The flight was about an hour late taking off, which didn't make Loren very happy, but we finally got our seats and this time Daddy sat with Loren and Mommy had the seat in the row ahead. Here Loren is clearly happy to be flying home.


We got home and managed to get Loren to take a nap so that I could get a few hours of work done. Then it was back to work and school on Tuesday!

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Stardate 62617.24 - Ohio Wedding, Day Three

On Sunday we checked out of the hotel and then went to a park for the kids to play before everyone had to leave for the airport (or in Rachel and Steve's case, to drive back home).


The park was on the shores of Grand Lake St. Mary and even had a little beach.


First, Grandma and Grandpop left with Uncle Andy and Aunt Jen. Then Uncle Steve and Aunt Rachel left with Ethan and Ellie to drive back to Arkansas. Then, as we were driving to the gift opening where we were just going to spend a short time before driving to the airport, I got a phone call that went something like this:

"Hello. This is Delta Airlines with an important message. Your flight from Columbus to Laguardia today at 6:30 PM has been canceled. You have been re-booked on the 11:10 AM flight tomorrow, Monday, August 11th." So we decided to see if Cheryl's Uncle Chris and Aunt Bev could put us up for the night, and headed over to the gift opening.

Here is a photo I took from the back yard of the bride's sister's house--Quintessential Ohio.



Here Loren watches the gift opening.


After the gift party we went back to Bev and Chris' and played some cornhole and watched some of the Olympics before hitting the sack.

Ohio Day Four

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Stardate 62614.49 - Ohio Wedding, Day Two

On Saturday we had the morning to kill before the wedding, so we went to a nearby school and used their playground to entertain the kids. Loren actually played for 2 hours (Ellie and Ethan arrived part-way through). Here I demonstrate the proper form to Loren.


Loren really liked the "rocket ship," and she played on it for a very long time.


Uncle Andy and Aunt Jen arrived with Grandpop, Grandma, Uncle Steve, Aunt Rachel, and cousins Ethan and Ellie. There was some type of soccer camp going on in the field by the playground, and you can see some of it in the background.


Here Ellie takes a turn at the spaceship wheel.


And after the playground we went back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding. None of the photos we took in the church turned out, so here are the bride and groom immediately after the wedding. I know he looks short in this photo, but Brian is 6' 4". His bride, Bonnie, is 6' 5".


Here Loren just wakes up from her nap while Daddy supervises. She slept through the entire service!


Afterward we went to the reception. Here Loren poses for the camera at our table.


And here is cousin Ethan.


Uncle Andy and Aunt Jen posed for the camera.


Here cousin Jaclyn poses with cousin Ellie.


And here Cheryl and Loren sample the reception beverages.


After dinner there was a lot of chaotic dancing on the part of me and Loren (and the other kids). We headed back to the hotel by 8:30 PM or so, and were in bed before 10 PM. The next morning, Loren said, "We did the Hokey Pokey!"

Ohio Wedding Day Three.

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Stardate 62611.65 - Ohio Wedding, Day One

We took off work on Friday (8/8) and flew to Ohio in the morning to attend the wedding of Cheryl's cousin Brian. Almost 1 year ago to the day, we flew out there for the wedding of Brian's younger brother, Mark. The wedding was on Saturday, so going out on Friday gave us a chance to visit with Cheryl's family. We drove from Columbus (cheaper airfares) to her Uncle Chris and Aunt Bev's place, where the famous Midwestern game of Cornhole was already set up in the driveway. Loren was more interested in the lawn equipment (a lawnmower is something new to our city kid!) than the game, and she and Ellie enjoyed playing on the "tractor".


They were very upset by the cracks in the seat (cracks older than the two of them put together, according to Uncle Chris), so Loren asked for some tape and proceeded to try and tape over the cracks.


That evening we went out to Sonic for Ellie's birthday party (after a brief detour to check into the hotel and some pool time for Loren), where Uncle Andy let the kids sign his cast.


Everyone jockyed for position to try and capture the signing on film.


Afterwards, Ellie opened her presents with a little help from Ethan and Loren.

Then it was off to Walmart for some juice boxes and milk, and then back to the hotel to hit the sack.

Day Two in Ohio.

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Stardate - The Obama of Film

Jessica Mae Stover,the Barack Obama of Filmmaking!




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Stardate 62589.75 - NJ Trip

After a rough week of multiple presentations for Cheryl (note to self, don't bring stuff home and try to work on it the day before the presentation when you've just installed the latest version of Microsoft Office which is nothing like the previous version and you are under a tremendous amount of pressure!), we decided to go to the beach for Saturday. We got out of the city early Saturday and due to the imminent threat of rain the traffic was light to the beach. We managed to get a good hour under our belts before the thunder and lightning appeared and we packed up and headed back in for lunch. We really knew it was time when the wind suddenly shifted and it was suddenly 10 degrees cooler than it had been.


Loren has come a long way from the times last summer when all she wanted to do was smash sand castles. Now she wants to decorate them (note the feather). After lunch I took a shower and when I came out it was dark and pouring rain with wind so strong the cars were shaking in the parking lot. After about 20 minutes, it cleared up and started to get hot and humid again. Here Loren poses in a new outfit Cheryl's Grandmother purchased for her. Loren loved it!


We then went over to Cheryl's parents' house for dinner and some time in the pool. Loren kept telling Cheryl, "I want to swim by myself! Mommy let go of me!" I guess it is time to get one of those flotation vests for her to use in the pool. She has the hang of what she is supposed to do with her legs and arms, and spent a good 30 minutes running Cheryl and Grandma ragged in the pool! The best quote of the evening, however, was in this exchange between Cheryl and Loren:

Cheryl - "We have to get out of the pool, it is almost time for dinner."
Loren - "I want pizza!"
Cheryl - "We're having chicken burgers, Grandma doesn't have pizza."
Loren - "Get it delivered!"

Yes, Loren is a child of the city.

We spent the night and Cheryl's parents watched Loren so we could go out to a movie. I'll try to post the review later this week (we saw The Dark Knight). After church on Sunday we came back into the city. A college associate of mine (Kim Walter) was in town with her husband and 2 children but they had split up so he and one child could watch the Yankees and she and the other child could explore New York City so we met them for lunch in between their tours of FAO Schwartz and the American Museum of Natural History. We told Loren if she was good we could get ice cream on the way home and of course she wanted the messiest cone possible.


On Friday we leave for Ohio for a wedding, so this week is a short one and we should have a bunch of photos and stories after that trip.

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