Happy Thanksgiving

We are spending Thanksgiving weekend on Long Island

with my parents, brothers and some friends.

Until then......

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Glimpse of Faith

This is my niece Faith.

As most of you know my brother and his baby momma are separated - meaning she has left Maryland and is taking up residence in Pennsylvania with her parents. My brother has had limited access to his daughter and my family has not physically seen her since June2008 for her Baptism. We have asked many times for pictures, videos, anything but are very rarely treated to the sights of our niece, daughter, grandchild and cousin.

Luckily I received this glimpse of Faith via a cell phone video last night.

Unfortunately, it is terrible quality, but I will gladly take the image and

look forward to spending some much needed quality time this holiday season with Faith.

Last time we saw Faith she was a self-supported sitter and in the beginning stages of crawling.......now she is walking, starting to talk & has had her first birthday.

We miss sharing these milestones with her.

The last time my folks held both of their grandbabies.....June 2008

The last time we saw our niece and Tripp's cousin.....June 2008

The last time Brian saw his god-daughter....June 2008

Dear Faith, we miss you, love you & hope to see you soon!

Weekend Posse

Recently we had to say good bye to our friend Jack the Dragon. As I mentioned in previous posts, Cedar was having a hard time adjusting and we decided that she has seniority. So, I gave Jack to a local breeder at Pets Plus to be a stud - Go Jack! The nice part about giving him to a breeder who owns a local pet shop is that we can go visit him!

No more Jack :-(

The cage is empty. I will be donating the tank and stand to one of my students for his snake he will be adopting for X-Mas.

Tripp & I were both showing our love for Mickey Mouse!

Tripp quickly got over missing Jack once his friend Penny and her Mommy & Daddy, Sean & Aubrey, came over to play & watch the Giants game!

Rock Stars!

FYI - The Giants won...again! Woot!

After a long day of rockin out with band member Penelope; hanging with his homegirl, Cedar; watching the Giants win again...it was time for bed and a couple of stories with Daddy.

Guy time

This past weekend was a guys weekend for

Tripp, Grandpa & Uncle Brian.

Bob & I were going on an overnight backpacking trip with my Outdoors Club, so we jetted down to LI to drop Tripp off with Grandpa. Where's Grandma? She was in Florida visiting my Grandpa, so Dad & Brian were on their own. They had a blast!

Our son was returned completely spoiled.

Tripp loves fries!

MMMmmm, yummy!

I pitty the fool who tries to touch my fries! Back off Hamburgerler - Rubble Rubble

Just hanging around....

While they were sitting around eating fries, Bob & I were out on the trail.

We hiked 12.5 miles on the AT (Appalachian Trail) in Southern Mass, with a group of high school seniors - Bob & I definately felt our age. We're getting old!

Cedar was also happy to be back out on the trail!

GHS Outdoors Club

Meanwhile, Tripp was having a blast being spoiled by Grandpa & Uncle Brian.

He says Gam-pa (at least that what some of us hear) and he loves hanging with Uncle Brian

They took him to Chuck E Cheese - he loved it!

Tripp went to go pick up Grandma from the airport.

Grandma was so happy to be welcomed home by her little man!

Halloween Part 2

Tripp the Dragon

This was Tripp's original costume - Dragon. As you can see the head was way too big and heavy! The head kept on falling forward onto his face so he couldn't see unless we put it way back on his head (as shown in the picture) but that only lasted for a few moments before it flopped forward again.....something had to be done!

Having a good time playing Godzilla!

Voila! I stayed up late the night before and tested my mommy sewing skills. I separated the head and body and removed the dragon face....

...maybe I should take a class.

Our town, Willimantic, has a safe trick or treat every year.

They close down main street from 4:30 - 6:30 and all of the

shop owners hand out candy.

We took Tripp there to participate in the parade of kids

and get a taste of the Halloween festivities!

Some of the local shop owners getting into the spirit!

Unfortunately, Tripp is scared of adults

dressed up in costumes.....

After dinner we treated Tripp to a Caramel Apple. He loved it so much when we went to Buell's farm I had to buy him a second one for a future special treat -

Halloween was full of treats!

Sharing :-)

Our treats : Pretzels, Play-Doh and Sweets!

Tripp decided that he loves lolli-pops and laffy taffy. In fact he loves them so much that at first he did not want to see them go. He took the candy right out of the kid's buckets after I handed it out! Not to worry, he caught on quick and was soon running to the door with every chime of the bell to hear the chant of "Trick or Treat!" Tripp's job was to hand out the bags of pretzels.

After a caramel apple and some lolli-pops Tripp was wired! So we let him stay up way past his bedtime and enjoy some live streaming video of our favorite band -Widespread Panic's Halloween concert in New Orleans! He loved it!

....and yes, I dressed up for halloween too. Art teachers dress up every year - it's a tradition!