Barry’s Daily Web News

Bachelorhood

I’m temporarily in bachelorhood this month, as Cortney, Sean, and Ethan are staying in Florida for the next four weeks.

I changed my evening routine right away. Normally, I would come home from work, try to spend time with Sean and Ethan, and then have a nice family dinner. More than often though, I would just crash on the couch until dinner.

This evening, I started off with some exercise while listening to some music, then had a nice dip in the pool afterwards. It’s too bad the pool was dirty; the quick swim ended up turning into a major clean up effort. At least I was able to turn on the outside stereo speakers to listen to my music while cleaning the pool. I did not have to worry about disturbing anyone with the music.

The parts I have ordered for a new computer arrive today, and I will likely begin assembly tonight. I hope to provide more information as it gets built.

The child seat saga is finally over with. After yet one more call, the seat finally arrived today, only a few hours later than what was promised earlier in the day. I can’t tell you how unhappy I have been with this situation, but at least we now have closure.

I’m Back

I flew back to Phoenix late this evening, leaving Cortney and the kids in Florida. It’s too late to write much more.

Back With the Kids

We relaxed in the hotel room last night, then slept in late, followed by a big breakfast. We stopped by the Disney Marketplace for some light shopping. I was a bit disappointed with the Lego store. On the web, they advertised a big wall of pick your own brick. They really did not have that many brick types, as many of the bins held the same bricks. At least I did not spend much money. Cortney did pick up some items at the Disney store.

The drive back was uneventful, and it was good to see Sean and Ethan again. Ethan had a little bit of a fever yesterday and today, but when we arrived, he looked like he was feeling ok, and he still had plenty of energy.

Still no car seat. I called the 800 number and they promised to deliver it tonight, but based on their past performance, I would be suprised if they pulled that off. Continental Airlines really does not have their act together.

Islands of Adventure

I was going to post last night, but I refused to pay the extra ten dollars to get internet access in the hotel room. Cortney and I had a great time at the Islands of Adventure theme park.

We left early in the morning, stopped for breakfast, but still managed to make it to the park by 9:30 AM. Our hotel room key worked as an express pass, so we were able to bypass the lines all day long.

We had great fun on the rollercoasters and rides at the park. We pretty much went on as many times as our stomachs would allow. It was also good to spend the time together without the kids.

We were a bit worried about the weather, but it wasn’t too hot, and we did not get any rain until early evening, after we decided we had had enough. I would recommend the Islands of Adventure park, and would also recommend staying at one of the hotels there, just to get the express access.

Luggage, But No Car Seat

Sean and Ethan are having fun at their grandparent’s house. Cortney’s Aunt Cindy had picked up some toy construction trucks to play with, and Sean and Ethan quickly spotted them in the back patio. I thought it was real funny when Sean and Ethan grabbed the toys, and then asked “Where are the rocks?” (Sean and Ethan are used to desert landscaping, not grass and tropical plants).

We decided to not wait for the delivery of our luggage, so we went and picked them up at the airport. We picked up the three suitcases, but still no car seat. We are very annoyed that this is the second time they failed to deliver everything, but at least we can use the loaner car seat they gave us.

Cortney’s parents treated us to a Teppanyaki-style dinner this evening. Sean and Ethan were a bit frightened by the noise and the fire, but I think Sean was impressed overall.

We finished the evening with a little birthday celebration. Tomorrow is my actual birthday, but Cortney and I will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning for an overnight stay in Orlando as a small get-away trip.

A Rough Trip

We had to make a connecting flight to make it to Florida. The first flight went well. I sat between Sean and Ethan. Somehow, I managed to keep them entertained during the flight.

Things started to go bad on our connecting flight. Our gate was swapped at the last minute, and for no reason I could figure out, the plane was a half hour late leaving.

The worst was when we realized we did not have our checked in luggage. In fact, none of the passengers with connecting flights had their luggage, so we had to wait in a long line just to find out we would not get our luggage until tomorrow afternoon. I am not happy with Continental Airlines

Packing Night

I had a nice swim in the pool with Sean and Ethan, but the rest of the night was spent getting ready for our trip to Florida. It’s been awhile since we have flown together as a family, and packing for two kids and two adults is not easy.

Pool Night

I took Sean and Ethan into the pool, the first time in a while that we have been in together. The water temperature wasn’t too bad, but it was a breezy evening, so we where cold when we got out.

Ethan has lost his fear of the water. I would stand in the middle of the pool, and he would jump off the side of the pool towards me. After he reached me, I would then push him towards the steps, so he could reach them with only a little bit of swimming. He kept doing this over and over.

Sean had a blast with the floats and all of the pool toys. His swimming ability just gets better and better. He can now retrieve objects off the bottom of the pool at a depth of four feet.

We warmed up in the shower after leaving the pool, and had a relaxing evening afterwards.

Colors Night at the Library

Tonight’s theme for story time at the library was colors. Ironically, we had just stopped into Staples to buy some multi-colored index cards and colored ink cartridges for the printer.

Sean and Ethan both shared trains at the train table with the other kids, and I told them I was proud of them for that. Sean had a case of the sillies with some of the other kids during story time. I’m glad the librarian telling the stories went along with the laughing rather than get upset. Ethan spent the entire story time sitting in my lap. We even had fun looking at the fish tank in the lobby of the library on the way out.

A Getting Things Done Class

I had an all day class today on getting things done. I have learned never to expect much from corporate provided training, but this class was really good. From what I learned today, I have already reorganized my Outlook setup at home, and I am looking forward to doing the same at work tomorrow. While Cortney is in Florida with the kids, I plan on redoing my home filing system as well.

Sean has an ear infection, and he has to take both ear drops and oral anti-biotic. Cortney said he dozed off for part of the day, but later was feeling well enough to misbehave.

Ethan is now comfortable with doing number 1 on the toilet. I can’t wait until we are done with diapers, so I am excited about this. We will have to work with him a bit more on number 2 though.

A Big Yard Work Day

Today was the monthly loose trash day, so it meant a big yard work day as well. I did not have to do much heavy work, but almost everything in the yard was overgrown and had to be trimmed. That meant lots of trimming and lots of clean up. I ended up with two piles of brush and two bags of leaf trash on the street.

I ended up overdoing it in the yard today. Too much sun and too much exertion did me in. I can barely lift my arms. At least the yard looks nice.

Sean has been tired and run down himself the last two days. He has been complaining about his ear, so we think he might have an ear infection. Cortney will try to get him into the doctor tomorrow.

Cortney’s iPod

Cortney finally received her portable music device, a 6Gb iPod mini. She has been talking about getting one since last christmas, and she finally Decided which one to get, and we ordered it off of amazon.com last week.

I helped her get it set up. It certainly appears easy to use. The only downside I see is that iTunes, which manages the songs for the iPod, converts all of the mp3’s to aac format. This isn’t much of a problem for Cortney, since she doesn’t use her computer to manage her music, but it would be a problem for me. We have started her elecronic music collection, and have barely made a dent in the 6Gb capacity of the mini.

Sean took a rare nap this afternoon. He fell asleep on the sofa in front of the television, and ended up sleeping for several hours. He is paying for it now, as he is having trouble getting to sleep.

A Tiring Day

I was surprised to see Sean and Ethan tired when I came home from work. Cortney must have worn them out during the day. On the way over to Burger King, Ethan even fell asleep in the car. I could tell Sean was tired too. Sean and Ethan did get some exercise, but they did not play as long as they normally do, and we left early.

Sean is getting excited about our trip to Florida. I have been helping him count down the days; just one week left.

Ethan Watches Sean at the Gym

I have felt guilty at leaving Ethan home while I take Sean to his gym class, so today, I decided to take Ethan too. Ethan wanted to know what Sean was doing a few times, but other than that, he was more interested in the train book and toy trains I brought to keep Ethan occupied. At least Ethan was well behaved. Sean was on good behavior too. They were both fairly tired when we came home, so I had no problem putting them to bed as well.

I did not mind the extra trouble of watching Ethan, and it should be good practice for when we have to fly Sean and Ethan to Florida.

Sean Goes to the Dentist

I took Sean for his dental cleaning and checkup this morning. Sean was very good at allowing his teeth to be cleaned. He gagged on the x-ray cards, but he can hardly help that. We did get a referral to an orthodontist. Sean’s upper jaw is the same size as his lower jaw, so he will need the upper jaw widened to fit over the lower one. The dentist told me that this is a fairly common procedure.

Sean told both the hygienist and the dentist that he was going to Florida. He also told them that Ethan needs to go to the dentist when he turns three. I was fascinated with his conversation with the other adults.