Vacation Education

No it's not what you think, I am not going to educate you on how to have a vacation, Sorry you will need to figure that out on your own. This post is about an educational activity we partook in on my vacation this week.
I have a Unit in the CT State Capitol Building and every time I work there I think to myself that we need to go as a family and take a tour. Earlier this week the thought popped into my brain and I went on line and found that there is a free tour every hour so we figured the price was right for the weekly budget!

Capitol Building

We arrived at the Capitol Building and took the walkway which connects the Capitol Building to the Legislative Building underground by passing below Interstate 84. The tour started in the Legislative Building and we were given tidbits of information about the building and the goings on that take place with the government at the facility. We then made our way back to the Capitol Building getting information on the displays along the way. The tour continued throughout the Capitol from the first floor up to the 4th floor. While there the Lt. Governor arrived and we were able to peek in on the offices of several other state officials. While on site we were able to find the desk's of our Area Representative, Penny Bacchiochi and our State Senator, Tony Guglielmo. Unfortunately due to the time of year there were no active sessions but if we needed to I know how to get in touch with both of them in person as they are always active in our town.

Legislative Building

The Capitol Building holds lots of state memorabilia from items made out of the Charter Oak Tree, State flags carried into battle and much, much more. Our tour guide gave us lots of information both verbally and pamphlets with which we could expand our knowledge. When the tour was over we were given free range of both buildings and were able to find displays that were tucked away in the basement. It was a great experience and we are planning on taking a family field trip when the government is in active session so we can watch them in action and who knows, maybe we will come up with something to purpose into law to make our State and Town a better place.

 Ornate doors of the Legislative Building

 WWII Defenders of Freedom

 How do you vote? Yea or Nay

 Chair Made from the Charter Oak Tree

 Inside view of the Gold Capitol Dome

 Replica Liberty Bell

 The Genius of CT

 In Peaceful times the Eagle's head points towards the Olive Branch

In War times it would be facing the arrows

 Amazing architecture and one of the 2 water fountains for watering the horses

 Hidden in the basement - we found them while admiring the painted state seal above.

 Metal of Honor

Memorial to our residents who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan

 These are closeups of the panels in the Legislative Building doors. They are hand crafted from multiple types of wood and they all had significance to the state of CT. These are only a few there were many more.

 View of the Capitol from the Legislative Building

 Floor of the Legislative Building

 13" Mortar used to protect our coastline

 Thomas Hooker the founder of Hartford and the Charter Oak Tree

4th of July at the Speedbowl

Tonight we decided to drive to the local short track on the CT shoreline for some racing and fireworks at the Waterford Speedbowl. Wednesday nights only cost $8.00 for adults and kids 14 years of age and under are free. It may not be the fanciest of facilities but it's always fun and the racing is quite entertaining.

The evening started out with the Bandolero races which may not be the fastest vehicles you've ever seen but the fact that the kids driving them would normally be more apt to play with matchbox cars at their age makes it impressive.

The next race was the Super-X cars which are always exciting because the drivers are racing them like its the last lap from start to finish and they tend to "lean" on each other a lot, especially in the corners.

During the race we looked over and noticed that Kid Rock was in attendance. I don't think it was really him but this guy looked enough like him that people were asking to pose with him for pictures.

The next race was the Legend Cars which are one of my favorites - they are Fast, Loud and every lap is action packed as can be seen in the following video - this was the first lap of 20!

After the Legend Cars they did the "Wacky Race" which was an 8 lap race during which the drivers all had to make a pit stop in the center of the in-field, get out of their cars and eat 2 hot dogs. On the first lap all but 1 of the drivers came in for the stop. The #9 car stayed out and made several laps before coming in for his processed meat snack. Much to our surprise he chowed his hot dogs and headed back to his car before the other drivers and ended up winning with laps to spare.

The last race of the night was Alex's favorites which are the X-Cars. These are front wheel drive vehicles that you see on the road day in and day out. This race was run under the lights and we were surrounded by the family of the eventual winner who fought his way from mid pack and took the lead with good ol' hard fashioned racing.

After all the races were over there was a great fireworks display which was launched from the pit's just to the right of us. It was truly a great evening out with my family enjoying a common interest. My only regret is that I didn't get video of the woman singing "God Bless America" during the pre-race ceremonies, She had an amazing voice and did a great job singing it.

Doing Hard Things

"Do Hard Things" is the title of a book we are reading with the kids. As anyone who has been to my property knows digging a hole here is hard, VERY Hard. So as proof of me and Rebecca doing hard things, here is a picture (just for you Luke) of my new privacy fence which required digging 5 holes. Trust me when I say mining here is no where near as easy as it is for Alex and Noah in Mine Craft!

Life's a Beach

This morning we got up bright and early and drove to our favorite beach for body boarding - East Matunuck

It was a beautiful day and not only did we enjoy the sunshine, the waves, and the sounds and smells of the ocean, we were also lucky enough to observe 3 osprey's in the morning. The other nice change was the lack of people - usually the beach fills up early and on more than one occasion we have had to make alternative plans after being turned away. Today though was a quiet day which made it that much more enjoyable.

We enjoyed the height of the tide and watched it go all the way out and it was well on it's way back in when we finally packed up and headed home. Hopefully we will take in another of our favorite ocean destinations on Thursday which will include some fishing, snorkeling and low tide in the swamp marsh observing fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs and much, much more - just like when I was a kid!.

Much needed relaxation...

Today was the first day of vacation for me this year. I stayed in bed till 8:00 this morning and after breakfast went out to run errands with my lovely wife and do some window shopping. This afternoon I prepped all my ingredients for dinner. We enjoyed Steak marinated in my homemade chunky teriyaki sauce. Our sides were fresh corn kernels in toasted butter, green beans with portabella mushrooms and watermelon cubes with fresh mint. After dinner I went out and finished installing my stockade privacy fence at the end of the driveway which was the only manual labor I expect will take place this week.

The rest of the week will be occupied with trips to the ocean to partake in some body boarding with the family, celebrating the 4^th of July with family as well as celebrating Rebecca’s Birthday! We are also planning on taking in a guided tour of the State Capitol Building for some educational fun. I am hoping to update you with pictures each day as we have some other fun adventures planned too which will include go-carts, some fishing and maybe a little mini-golf! As for now I am off to take my son "night-crawling" just like I use to do with my dad growing up.

5,115 Days and Counting

It's amazing to reflect on the changes in the past 5,115 days or the past 122,736 hours or the past 7,364,160 minutes or better yet the past 441,849,600 seconds. I am proud to say that in that time period my baby girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. 

The past 14 years have sure gone by in a hurry. I am sitting here recalling memories of Rebecca's pregnancy and the sign I made announcing Ariel's birth. Our first days after bringing her home and how our St. Bernard (Goliath) instantly became her guardian. I remember our first daddy/daughter fishing trip and more recently watching her harvest her very first deer.

Ariel,


     Throughout the past 14 years I have always been proud to call you my daughter (even with blue, then green, and soon to be purple hair!) I love you just as much today as I did the first time I held you in my arms and while we have both grown up and don't always see eye-2-eye on things I am glad that we have the great relationship we do and that you share my sick sense of humor. I love teasing you but I also love running errands together and you holding my hand like you did when you were a little girl.

I have watched you grow up before my eyes, I look at you and wonder how it happened so fast and how I became the old   parent to a teenager! I am glad we have made some great memories together in you short lifetime and I look forward to making many more as I continue to watch you grow up into a woman.


Some of your smiles throughout the years...

2 weeks of vacation or summer time fun for years to come?

Yes, that is the question.

We had been planning on a two week family vacation to Florida to visit all the parks next year. Anyone that knows me personally knows how much I dislike Florida, California or anywhere with similar temperatures and weather patterns so from the beginning I have been less than thrilled with this plan. This trip wasn't about making me happy though, it was for the kids. I grew up listening to all my friends talk about how much fun they had going to Disney and it wasn't until after I turned 18 that I got to experience it myself and I wanted to give my kids their own childhood Disney memories.

Summers here in the woods are lonely for the kids, there are no other kids within a couple miles to play with and despite having a great brother/sister friendship playing in the woods just isn't as much fun as when you have friends with you. Alex is very close with his cousin's Noah and Lily but they recently moved to PA so once the school year was over it was back to entertaining himself between play dates with random friends.

I often tell my kids "when I was your age I would do ______ during the summer for fun" and during one of these chats I started to realize how different it was for me growing up. I lived in a neighborhood with lots of kids, my best friends were within a 5 minute walk from my house and when we weren't playing sports, riding our bikes, skateboarding or fishing together at the local fishing holes we were keeping cool in one of the many pools within our circle of friends. It was after this conversation the I had an idea, not just any idea though, this one was hopefully going to get me out of going to Florida, cost half as much and give the kids great summer fun every year till they move out and start a family of their own!

What is this wonderful idea you might ask...A Swimming Pool!

I know, I know, ever since we moved out here I have declared time and time again that I would never own a pool unless it was able to be set up and taken down in less than 30 minutes. I have turned down multiple free pools but that was in the past, this is the present.

As I always do I discussed my "idea" with Rebecca to see if she thought it was worth presenting to the family or not. She was very surprised and wondered if I was running a temperature or feeling delirious, why else would I desire a pool unless there was something seriously wrong with me? I convinced her that I was not sick and quite serious about this and with her in agreement I would next give my proposal to the kids.

Several nights later I sat the kids down and presented them with the following question, "Would you rather spent 2 weeks in Florida making childhood memories or would you rather have a swimming pool to enjoy every year all summer long?" Without any hesitation they both shouted "We want a Pool!" I guess after spending a couple weeks in the Arizona desert last year they prefer to avoid warm climates too, Hurray!

Rebecca and I began shopping around for a full package deal and a short time later we had purchased a pool. It took a couple weeks before they came out to install it which happened last weekend. We filled the pool and stabilized the chemical levels during the week and thanks to my Uncle Richard we started landscaping the area around it. My next project will be putting up the privacy fence but I'm in no rush to try digging holes for the posts in our property that's for sure!

In Memory of Moo

The past 2week has been full of strife and emotion to say the least. I have been having some unexpected health issues which has weighed heavy on not only me but the entire family. Thankfully the Dr's have finally started to deal with the cause of the pain and tomorrow will be another round of blood work. During this time we noticed one of our Bunnies was having what appeared to be small seizures but she seemed normal otherwise. The other day when we were doing the daily animal chores we noticed that she had a slight tilt to her head and suspected that she must of had a stroke. Despite her appearance she was still a sweet little bunny who loved getting her daily attention which usually includes a yogurt treat and some petromalt.

Unfortunately she took a turn for a worse early this morning and sadly today we were forced to say goodbye to our sweet little "Moo-Moo" Miley. I've learned that goodbyes will always hurt, pictures never replace having been there, memories, good or bad, will bring tears and words can never replace feelings. Thankfully we have photo's, some great video's and all our memories to help us cope as time goes on.

I tend to be an emotional person and I have found that I have a very soft spot in my heart for my pets. There is truly a difference in animals that we raise for food and those that we raise as pets - I know this as truth as I have never shed a tear over an animal that was destined for my plate but as I am quite sad as I am typing this while I recall the enjoyment Miley provided me, my family, and all the people who visited our home the past couple years.

It will be strange only having one bunny but I'm sure with a little effort Alex can get Sadie to play "Bunnie Battles" with him the way Miley did. It seems like only yesterday I was posting about the day we got them in a tongue-in-cheek Post!

She was a very playful bunny and despite it looking like torture she actually enjoyed her toys and the constant challenges posed to her by Alex in his self proclaimed "Bunnie Battles" I will miss her waking me in the morning with the sound of her playing with her carrot bells.