Finally...

After almost three years of pleading and plotting and pestering, Grandma and Grandpa Darling made it back out from Wyoming. We know it is a big trip and we really appreciated them coming out.

We hung out at the Lilac Festival. We at amazing Italian Food at Mr. Dominics. We all got tipsy on great wine at Rooney's (Dylan had a sugar high). We cruised the Public Market and ate breakfast empanadas. Mostly we just hung out and played games and had fun. I haven't seen Dylan so excited in a long time. Mother's Day was super special with four grandparents and our amazing friends Ruth, Jeremy, Elsa and Henry.

Bird Banding

We have a really great friend, Dave, who researches bird migration in this part of the country. Part of the research requires banding birds so that they can be tracked. So Carol and Dylan took this morning out to go visit Dave at his banding station out by RIT. Apparently, there weren't so many birds. They usually have THOUSANDS, but apparently they can sense four year old boys in the area, so they only saw THREE.

I think that the trip was a cool learning experience (from what Carol tells me). All I heard about from Dylan was that he got his boot so stuck in the mud that when he took a step his foot came out of the boot and landed in the mud, getting his sock all muddy. He was very unhappy about this and I doubt will go bird-banding again...

Easter 2009

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks here and getting it together for the Easter holiday really seemed like an afterthought. Neither Carol or I had Good Friday off and I think that added to the mix. We were all really out of it on Saturday but managed to pull it all together. Sunday morning was magnificent. The weather was crisp and sunny. I remembered back to Easter mornings spent in Longmont, Colorado. We would hunt for eggs in the park across the street and for some reason I remember there being a whole bunch of hot air balloons. It just had that same festive feel this morning. Dylan woke up to a whole bunch of goodies and a note from the Easter Bunny; letting him know that his efforts at being a good helper have been noticed. The Easter Egg hunt ensued!

By 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning, I was completely sugared out. By 10:00, we were on the road to Niagara Falls, New York for a Easter luncheon/dinner with the Aunts and extended family. We drove the Lake trail along Lake Ontario. It is an amazing rural drive through some gorgeous hamlets, huge apple orchards, and fantastic views of the lake. We saw deer, wild turkeys and pheasants in the fields and along side the roads each way. Today, we could even see the Toronto skyline on the other side of the lake.

We had a great visit, as always, in Niagara Falls and got to hear some great family history stories of the Marchettis. We ate WAY too much and really got to relax. Our trip back was just as beautiful and I am glad that we got a chance to escape for a day over Easter.

Bowl-a-thon

I am on the Board of a great local charity and today they had a Bowl-a-thon fundraiser. I figured that this could be a great time to get the family together for a nice bowling outing. It was Dylan's first time to the alley and the "event" atmosphere made it that much more exciting. Dylan was as excited about the free pizza and soda as he was the actual bowling.

We had two lanes and had them put the bumpers up. That way, Pete and Dylan could enjoy rolling the ball down and not always being in the gutters. It was at times painful to watch as they would often throw the ball straight down into the lane, "CRASH!" The strange part was that the boys would throw it down and then just walk away. It was tough to get them to watch the ball roll all the way down to the pins to see how many got knocked over. Granted, the time from release to impact could often be measured by sun dial. They did things I have never seen done with the ball. Dylan hit both bumpers multiple times in one throw. Pete nestled the ball in between two pins without knocking them over. Dylan managed to throw the ball clear into the adjacent lane - even with the bumpers. A couple of times, I had to walk out and get the ball. I kept looking around waiting for someone to give us a hard time!

Anyway, we had a great time and Grandma Kate and Grandpa Bill schooled us big-time both games. The event was fantastic and we all went home with some cool new water-bottles. I think I might wait awhile before we take another trip to the lanes, though. I am sure the lane manager will appreciate it.

Trip to Buffalo, NY

This week was spring break for RIT and so I took a few days off to hang out with my family. We decided we needed to get away for a day. Ruth and Jeremy are always talking about Buffalo and so we thought we'd check it out. I have never really been there and I have always been very intrigued. We started our adventure at the Buffalo Zoo which is part of a large park in Buffalo. It was really cool. They have great animals including some amazing bears, elephants and giraffes. I really loved seeing a 1-month old giraffe hanging out with his mama. Dylan loved the bighorn sheep. Here's some great pics of the zoo:

After the zoo, we headed over to the world famous Anchor Bar. If you don't know the Anchor Bar, the you probably know what they are famous for - inventing the Buffalo Wing. I fashion myself a foodie. I have eaten chicken wings all across America. These were ridiculously good. Easily the best I have ever eaten. Even the blue cheese and the fries were unbelievable. Dylan and I had a great time picking out souvenir t-shirts.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Buffalo Museum of Science. They have a really eclectic mix of things there, but we had a good time making sail boats and looking at a wide variety of stuffed animals including this really great triceratops.

After the Museum, we checked into the Hampton Inn downtown Buffalo. What a great hotel! These guys quickly became our best friends as our stay there was fantastic. I reserved there because I wanted a place with an indoor pool - little did I know we'd have one in our room! Dylan spent the rest of the day swimming in the Jacuzzi tub. As if that wasn't enough, the hotel also had one of the nicest swimming facilities I have seen in a hotel. The pool water was 82 degrees and the spa was 102. We all had a great time swimming. Dylan was probably even more excited about his "transformer" bed - from a couch to a bed and back again! We spent the whole rest of the evening making forts.

We had a nice rest, breakfast and a swim and started home. We made a pit stop at the Broadway Market in Buffalo to see if we could find some cool ethnic foods. We ended up with a big jar of horseradish, some pierogies, and some great pastries for the road.

Skating Lessons

Last year we tried swimming lessons and it didn't last. He didn't want to get into the water. After a couple of lessons, we just stopped going. This year, we decided to try out ice skating lessons. His buddy, Jack, was doing it too. But, as it was with the swimming lessons, the skating is not going well. If Dylan can't pick something up right away, he gets very frustrated and gives up. He's VERY uncomfortable being out of his element.

This is all VERY tough for me. I know that I was no different. I don't think I ever finished anything as a kid. Confidence wasn't a strong suit of mine. How do you build that in a kid? I am not really doing a great job helping...I get more frustrated at him than he does himself. It just kills me to hear, "I can't do it." I just know how much even saying something like that robs him of his power.

Honestly, he's doing a great job on the skates. It is hard! He just won't try. One thing I know...we're not going to stop skating lessons until he can skate circles around me.

Valentine's Day

It was destiny. Elsa called us up looking for her valentine. The rest was, as they say, history. The love bubbled over a whipped cream and chocolate syrup covered hot cocoa at "Lovin' Cup".

Great Helper

Those who know me at all know that I have a little volunteering bug. I was at an event last weekend to honor Dr. MLK and heard about a little project to paint one of the rec rooms at our Public School #6. For a little spot about the MLK Day event check out this link. So I got Dylan and Carol together to go paint with a bunch from RIT and our good friend and Team Coordinator, Lindy.

Look at this guy! Dylan was a real pro and did a great job with both brush and roller. I don't know if I was more proud that he did a good job, or that he kept at it for almost two hours with the whole group. We all had a great time and the room looks great.

Sledding Bliss

Rochester had a record snowfall for the month of December. When it came down, it really dumped. We finally got some good powder for sledding on the Marchetti hill on New Years Eve. Elsa joined us for exactly three runs down the hill and then she and Carol went in for Hot Cocoa. Dylan and I stayed out for quite awhile in what I can only explain as "perfect conditions." Toward the end of our time Dylan and I would race down the hill and wipe out then just lay there taking in the great day for five to ten minutes at a time. It was serene. It was restorative. And it was fun.

Christmas 2008

I honestly can't ever remember feeling like Christmas was just too much. But this year, it was. The build-up really began Thanksgiving weekend; we unveiled the fish tank and it's been a gift and party-fest for almost four weeks straight since. I can really understand the difficulty with having a birthday so close to Christmas. It can be so hard just to fit the Christmas holiday in there, then you throw in a birthday on top...yikes! So, our strategy this year was to spread it out as much as possible. We had separate birthday parties with school, friends, and family. The sight of cake makes me cringe...

Please don't misunderstand, it was probably the most exciting holiday season I have ever experienced. Dylan informed us early on that Santa has more lists that just the traditional "Naughty or Nice". We rotated between being on the "Dancing List", the "Giggle" or "Tickle" lists. Mom and Dad were often on the "Kissing" or "Hugging" list.

Christmas eve was fantastic and we played up the whole day starting with homemade waffles in the morning, Church at five, and a great party in the evening at the Clement's house. Dylan and Pete were like a pair of twins buzzing around in their best duds. It was the first time in history that Dylan went straight to bed when we got home - and didn't want a story or a drink of water or a snack or to be snuggled...

Dylan woke Christmas morning and had a horribly pitiful look and tone, "Mom, why didn't Santa come to our house?" Apparently, he thought that Santa would leave all of his presents in his room. He was very disappointed to awaken to a room without presents! We all ran downstairs to find a huge stack for the whole family including a really nice silver sled. "Dad, he must have read the letter that we left for him!"

What ensued was a festival of unwrapping that was almost epic in scope and breadth taking over our entire house in a pile of corrugated, tissue, fancy papers and ribbon. I was too busy opening my new toaster from Santa to keep up with the cleaning (Breville from Williams Sonoma!)

We spent the rest of the morning building the largest train-track ever with the new risers and cars that he got from his "far-away Grandma and Grandpa". Carol and I even received a very nicely done framed photo that he had apparently made in school. It was very sweet. Here's a few shots of the morning:

We hope your holiday was as fun and beautiful as ours.

P.S. As of yet, we have yet to use the sled as all of the snow melted away!