Preparing for Christmas.

This is Brenna's first Christmas where she really knows what's going on. She knows that Santa is going to bring toys, only if she is good. She knows about Frosty, Rudolph and the Grinch. Well, this past weekend we took her to get her picture with Santa.




She actually told Santa that she wanted baby dolls for Christmas. This was news to her parents.




We also took her to pick out the Christmas tree. She didn't really enjoy decorating the tree though. She was more interested in keeping the ornaments she liked in a pile on the ground. She also managed to break a couple of ornaments.



Last weekend Brenna went with her mommy and her Aunt Maureen to the Holiday Light show in Philadelphia. Brenna enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving Dinner.

I can sum it up in one word...DISASTER. All the photos I took from Thanksgiving dinner have been confiscated by the P.D. as evidence. The crime...Impersonating a cook. There is one picture I do have that I can share with you:


I have been frequenting a website that might interest some of you. Digg.com.
It has links to the days interesting article and videos. You will find some interesting stuff there. I am going to leave you with some funny videos:

http://collegehumor.com/video:1726949

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1717965/context/search:who+wants+to+suck

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1713910

Enjoy.

Halloween.

In front of our townhouse prior to going to Chico's:

We took Brenna out Trick or Treating in Chico's neighborhood. Our townhouse complex is still being constructed and it's pretty tricky with all the construction equipment and lack of lighting. So here are some pictures of Brenna aka Snow White from Halloween.





At the end of the night, Brenna didn't want to get out of her costume. We finally convinced her.

Till next post.

Disney World

Brenna's first trip to Disney World.
Heather, Brenna and myself were in Walt Disney World from 10/25 through 10/30. It was a great time. Heather and I had so much fun just watching Brenna's eyes light up.




I was there attending a Continuing Medical Education (CME) course on Endocrinology. I have to do at least 50 credits per year to maintain my medical license. My job allows me up to $3000 per year to attain these credits. The hotel, flight and course will be reimbursed to me :). As for the course, it wasn't very relevant to an ER doctor. So, I pretty much just signed in and left each day.

We stayed at the Disney Boardwalk Inn, which is located between EPCOT and MGM Studios. We didn't realize that MGM was so close until the 2nd to last day. Both parks are walkable from the hotel. The other parks we visited we the Magic Kingdom (our favorite) and the Animal Kingdom. Disney has an extensive transportation system that includes buses, monorails and ferry boats. I hadn't been to Disney in 14 years, and quite honestly didn't remember a thing. Heather has been there about a half dozen times and was an excellent tour guide.

We went to EPCOT the most since it was only about a half mile walk from our hotel. It has two sections: the scientific part and the international part. (These titles are dubbed by moi) The scientific section has the famous big silver ball you always see on TV. It houses a ride (the most popular attraction in all of Disney) called Spaceship Earth. It is basically a very slow roller coaster-esque ride that take you through the evolution of human communication.

I loved walking around the international section. The International Food and Wine Festival was there. I sampled food and drink from several of the stands. Heather was not so daring.
The Magic Kingdom was Heather and Brenna's favorite spot. That's where Cinderella's castle is located. Brenna had dinner at the castle.She also went on the Merry-Go-Round...about 6 times.



Brenna also got to meet her favorite movie stars: Alladin, Jasmine and the Genie.



The Animal Kingdom is the newest park. We waited in the longest line of the trip to go on the Safari adventure. Very well worth the wait. We also saw the Simba show. It was here that Brenna was selected from the audience to go up on the stage and and dance with the actors. Surprisingly, she didn't even give it a second thought. She just marched right up to the stage with the girl from the show. I was impressed with her bravery.



In MGM, we watched the Indiana Jones show. I did remember this from 14 years ago. Brenna hated it. we almost had to leave early because she was throwing a fit. It was here that I broke off from the girls to go on the Tower of Terror. You'll have to click this link and watch the video. I cannot do the ride justice with my vocabulary.

We came back the day before Halloween. Brenna was shot.

Next post will be about Halloween. Sorry for the publishing delay.

Brenna's First Music Class.

This past Friday, Heather and I took Brenna to a music class for toddlers. I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever. I have always wanted to play an instrument. So, I will. Vicariously. I hope Brenna will be able to play an instrument at an elementary level in the least. **NOTE** She will not be participating in Band at school.

Anyway getting back the music class. The concept/idea was great, but I hadn't actually thought about what the class would entail. We show up to this place called Gymboree in a strip mall. The parking lot is loaded with high end SUVs. There is one MILF after another, all armed with 2 year old rugrats. Apparently, this is where the Lancaster Socialites spend their work week hours while Daddy is off at work.

So, we sit down in this small room in the back of the place. I am the ONLY dad there. The class is ONE hour long. The teacher is this frumpy, too happy not to be faking it, woman in her late 30's. Well, she starts her singing. Everything she wanted the children to do was sung, not spoken. Putting things back, This is the way we clean up, clean up, clean up...

I wasn't sure how much I could take. Then came parental participation. She wanted the parents to get up and sing and dance along with the kids. It takes about 8 beers for me to do this and at 10:20AM that wasn't going to happen. This is where I exited.

Heather reports that Brenna did have a good time. She was laughing, singing and following all the commands of the teacher. Brenna does enjoy music. Her favorite song, which she calls "Me Song", is Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back. We usually have to scan all the radio stations whenever we are in the car for "Me Song". I don't think we are going to sign her up for more classes there. I think we are going to look into dance lessons or gymnastics.

We are off to Disney World on Wednesday. Next entry will be about a week away and probably be about our trip.

Pumpkin Picking.

This past weekend, Brenna and Heather went pumpkin picking. Daddy, unfortunately, had to work. Here are some pictures from the patch.


When Daddy got home from work, it was time to play with Brenna. Brenna looks cool in her shades, even though their purpose is limited at nighttime.

Till next post.

New Townhouse.

I've been offline for about 1 week secondary to move and no internet service. Anyway, we moved into a new townhouse on Monday. This was the first time we used a moving company. It was money well spent. I have to recommend the movers because they did a fantastic job: O'Neill Moving Company Located in King of Prussia, PA. Their phone number is 610-337-2069 if anybody needs them.


The new place is much more roomier than our previous apartment. Also, we now have our furniture out here in Lancaster which makes it seem much more like home.


This is our dining room:



This is the family room:


If anybody needs my home address, email me. Our phone number remains the same.

That's about all for this week.

Annie Bailey's

This past Saturday night Heather and I went out in Lancaster city. We dropped Brenna off at grandma's so we could have a date night. We started off and went to a movie, Invincible. We liked the movie. We hadn't been to movie in probably 3 years or so. It's also rare that we even rent a movie. Anyhow, I was a little apprehensive because I find Mark Wahlberg to be annoying in movies. Surprisingly though, he did not fake a South Philly accent. It was a good story, though quite embellished. We don't know if non-Philly viewers will enjoy it as much as we did. Here is a review of the movie if you're interested.

After the movie, I wanted to go get a beer at Annie Bailey's Irish Pub. We got there after a very difficult parallel parking job by myself. I got a pint of Guinness and Heather got a Kaliber (it's a nonalcoholic beer), she's 5 months pregnant. We sat as close as we could to the band playing Irish music. We hit about 10 bars in Chicago back in April in search of Irish music without success. Here we move to Lancaster and stumble upon it the first night we go out. We (mostly me) really enjoy listening to Irish music in the bar setting. I can not bear to listen to it otherwise. We had gone to Ireland in 2001 and it was there that we were first exposed to Irish music. Then again in Las Vegas for my buddy Jamie's wedding at the Nine Fine Irishmen.



Back to Annie Bailey's. I've included a picture from their website so you can see what it looks like inside. I didn't have my camera. After the band finished up at about 10pm, we moved over to the bar to watch the second half of the Notre Dame-Michigan State game. It was ugly. Brady Quinn was not on. By the end of the third quarter, ND was down at least 3 TD's. We decided to leave and call it a night. When we got home, I thought I would check out the final score just for shits 'n' giggles. To my surprise, ND had just gone ahead in the game with under 2 minutes left to play. I kind of wished we had stayed at the bar, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Our Apartment.

When we first moved to Lancaster we were looking for temporary housing. So we came across this month-to-month lease on this apartment. We thought we could tough it out until our house in NJ sells. Here we are almost 7 months after our house went on the market and we are still stuck in this apartment. So here are some pictures of the place:

This is the kitchen, it's miserable:


This is the family room with my girls on the couch reading:


This is the master bedroom, notice we have no furniture:


Here is Brenna's room. She doesn't sleep much in her bed because she tends to wander out of it. Thus, most nights we stick her in the crib.


All this luxury is coming to an end on October 8th. We will be moving into a 1 year commitment of a three bedroom townhouse. All of our furniture will follow. Looking forward to the new place.

Welcome to our Blog!

Hello.

We are starting this blog to keep in touch with everybody who we do not see on a daily basis any more. As many of you know, Heather, Brenna and I picked up from New Jersey and moved to Lititz, PA which is in Lancaster county, PA. The reason for the move was that I took a job at Lancaster General Hospital in the Emergency Room. (I am trained in and can only practice Emergency Medicine.) We had realized that we were not Jersey people. We didn't really like living in NJ. There were many irritating things about NJ. You can't pump your own gas. You can't make left turns. These little daily annoyances add up over two years. Anyhow, we are now back in PA and adjusting quite nicely to PA Dutch Country.

So, the purpose of this blog will be to keep you updated on our lives. There will be pictures to see and passages to read. I think you'll find it entertaining, as I'll try to keep it funny also. It will also serve as a medium for you to see Brenna grow up on a day to day basis. (I hope this will help avoid those "You're getting so big!" comments relatives always have in store for children they haven't seen in a while.)

Lastly, I invite you to make comments, ask questions and most of all check it once a week or so. To make a comment you'll have to click on the link under each post the looks like comments. (I don't know how to underline, but use your imagination.) You can make the comment available to just us or to all readers of the blog.

Enjoy.