Family Visit

As I mentioned earlier in my previous post, my dad, brother, Rick and nephews, Benjamin and Nicholas arrived Saturday morning for a quick visit. They returned to Syracuse Sunday evening. A few minutes before they arrived, the power came back on. The moment they arrived, Meghan ran upto Uncle Rick and asked him if he could save her "swinging tree" That is our apple tree that had been uprooted in the storm days earlier. Unfortunately, Rick took one look at the tree and gave Meghan the bad news.

We had a nice visit. Saturday, we caught up and visited. On Sunday we took the whole clan to the Brookfield Zoo. What can I say? It was a nice family visit.


Rick and Dad napping after the long trip.


The clan as we entered the zoo. From left to right: Nicholas, Benjamin, Michah, Mathew, and Meghan.

The Storm

The last several days have been absolutely crazy. Last Thursday around 3:15, right around the time Meghan was due home, I looked up and noticed it was pitch black out. I've never seen it that dark during the day before. The wind was howling and the rain was just coming down as if it was being poured out of a big bucket. I've never seen a storm this bad.

I ran upstairs, grabbed Michah, Baloo, a bottle of milk and threw them into our new bedroom closet. I thought it was the safest spot in the house. Then the terror began. Where was Meghan? Where was her bus. What was going on? I went from window to window and didn't see a thing other than rain and more rain. I opened the garage door to see if the bus was coming no bus. The storm kept up. I had to shut the garage door to keep the water out. Then the power went out.

Eventually, the storm subsided. I looked out the front and there were trees down all over the place. I looked in back and saw one of our apple trees was uprooted. It was a mess everywhere. Still no Meghan. The phones were out. I called on my cel phone trying to get through to the school. Nothing. Finally a hour late, I saw a bus on the street behind us. I walked over and found Meghan. The bus was not able to get through due to all of the downed trees and power lines. But that was just the beginning of 3 days without power.

When Sheryl arrived home, she had Mathew who had been at daycare. I was not real worried about him as I knew they would move him to a sheltered location. We got everybody settled then started to clear the mess. I worked with some neighbors to cut the downed trees blocking the street. We also removed some of the dangerous widow makers so they would not fall on any of the kids.

Friday morning, I discovered our neighbors accross the street had power. So I bought 200 feet of cord to power our refrigerator and freezer. By Saturday morning the power was back. Fortunately, I did not have any events this weekend. Just a visit from my Dad, brother, Rick and my nephews, Benjamin and Nicholas. More about that later.

2nd Grade Starts

Wow, hard to believe that another school year has begun. Today marked the first day of 2nd grade for Meghan. It seems like just yesterday that we put her on the bus for the first time and now she seems like an old pro at it.

When the bus arrived, Meghan had a pleasant surprise! It was the bus driver from her kindergarden bus. Jackie really likes the kids and goes out of her way to help them. During rainy weather, she would even pick Meghan up in front of the house. The best thing about Jackie is that she does not assign seats on the bus. So Meghan can sit with her friends.

Well, it is a school night and I've got to get the kids off to bed.

Patricia and John

Saturday was Patricia and John's wedding. Being a Greek Orthodox wedding, it was a little different than I'm used to. Despite the rainy weather, it was a great day. There are just so many great moments from the wedding that the only way you will be able to see them all, is to visit their on-line gallery.



We had originally planned to visit a park for some bridal party photos. But when the rains came, we went to plan B, the Schaumburg Renaissance. I had been waiting for an opportunity to photograph at this great one of a kind location. Now I had my chance.


If it is going to rain, then what a great spot. There will be even more photos available in Patricia and John's on-line gallery.

Houston, We have a Problem!

Oh No! I've just discovered a technical glitch. It seems that posts I thought were being made, have disappearred. I've managed to restore many of the missing entries, but I still have some work to do.

I think I lost about 3 months worth. So far, I've managed to fix about 5 weeks of missing entries, which brings us to mid August. I will have to continue working on this later when I have time. Rest assured, I will catch up and you will not miss a single item of news.

NACE

I've joined NACE. What's NACE you may ask.... it is the National Association of Catering Executives. Now what the heck is a photographer doing by joining a bunch of catering people. Learning and networking. This is an opportunity to meet the catering managers I interact with on wedding days. Unfortunately, at weddings, both the catering executives and I are too busy to really get a chance to talk and exchange ideas. Fortunately, there is NACE.

Each month's meeting is at a different location. This month the meeting was held at Now We're Cooking. Now We're Cooking is a combination commercial, demonstration and intructional kitchen located in one facility. They can cater, you can rent the kitchen or host an event right there. We had an evening where we learned how to make some of the dishes found at a Tapas Bar. As you can see the best part was eating our class project!

Meghan's Party

Meghan had a gymnatics party at Gymkhana. Meghan and 10 of her girl friends spent 2 fun filled hours at the gym. Earlier in the year, Meghan attended a girl scout overnight lock in at Gymkhana and has wanted to have her birthday party there ever since. Last year she missed out on having a party because Michah was born. So this year we decided to go the extra mile for Meghan. I think the girls had the most fun jumping into the "pit"

3 Weeks and Counting!

I never thought I would ever say this... but I can't wait until school starts. The kids have been driving me crazy. Summer camp is over so I have all three kids, all day long. I have to constantly be their entertainment and I can't get anything done. It really is not as bad as I'm making it out to be. I do get to send the boys to daycare three days a week. But as soon as they get home, the kids start.

Meanwhile Michah is getting steadier on his feet and walks more each day. I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he is not getting into anything he is not supposed to. Now that he is upright, there is a whole new world for him to see at his new eye level.

It totally amazes me what can hold Michah's attention for a period of time. It could be the house fly that is just buzzing away. Or perhaps the flower in the garden. There really is something special seeing the world for the first time.

European Crystal Bridal Show

Jennifer Morelli is the winner of our European Crystal Bridal show drawing. We had a lot of fun meeting all next year's brides who have just started planning for their special day!

Emily and Andrew

Yesterday was Emily and Andrew's wedding day. It was a small wedding. It was so small that I've actually had some bridal parties with more people than everybody in attendance at Emily and Andrew's wedding. Despite the small size, about 30 people, it was one of the most romantic weddings I've seen. To me what mad the gathering special were the people. We got to know everybody there and everybody was special to the bridal couple.

I think this is just about everybody except me and Cory.


The reception was at Andrew's Mother's house. Here is the dining room all set for dinner.


We did get away to a little park for a couple of minutes.

Dr. Ted

Dr. Ted is our pediatric dentist. I wish he was my dentist. His office has lots of neat stuff. There is a play room for the kids who are waiting. But I think the best part of the office are the TV's mounted in the ceiling. When the kids are in the dental chairs they can look at a TV on either the wall or above them. There are always a variety of kids shows playing.

Yesterday, both Meghan and Mathew had their checkups. Everything was fine for Mathew. But for poor Meghan it was another story. A quick exam of her mouth showed one of her permanent teeth had erupted yet her baby teeth had not fallen out. An x-ray confirmed that there was another tooth just waiting to emerge. Unless Meghan's two baby teeth were removed, they would cause the adult teeth to come in crooked and daddy to have a huge orthodontics bill.

So out they came. Meghan was a real trooper. A lot of the credit goes to Dr. Ted. He's great at keeping the kids calm and working fast. Before we knew it, the two baby teeth were under Meghan's pillow for the tooth fairy! In the morning, there was $6.00 from the Tooth Fairy. $5 for the first tooth and $1 for the second. What a way to start her birthday.

Not to much later, Meghan got an Enchanted Call from Cinderella with a special birthday greeting. Unfortunately, a little bit later, I had to leave for Emily and Andrew's wedding. I'll try to post some photos from the wedding in the next couple of days.