Kaleb Day 1000

Today we celebrated Kaleb's 1000th day. I know it isn't traditional, but it seemed like a cool thing to celebrate. We got him a present and he got to blow out a candle too. I don't know what to celebrate next 1500 or 2000 days, I just added 2000 to my calendar, August 9, 2012. Can't wait.

Kaleb Day 1000

Pepe's Tractor/Hay Ride/Veteran's Day/Stone Zoo

Early November

Kaleb's Third Halloween

Finally on the third Halloween Kaleb started to get excited and wanted to keep going to more and more houses. Apparently there was a very low turnout in the neighborhood so each house gave him at least two pieces. Needless to say he did pretty well and is now bouncing off the walls.

Here are the pics.

Halloween

More Autumn Photos

Kaleb Day 974

Kaleb Day 974

Fire Safety at AFD

Fire Safety Event

Autumn Harvest Party

Uploaded photos from this year's Autumn Harvest Party.

Autumn Harvest Party

Weekend in the Mountains

Here are some photos I took over the past weekend on our trip to Sunday River, the Mount Washington Auto Road and also Glen Ellis Falls.

Weekend in the Mountains

Sailing in Connecticut

Sailing in CT

Random September Photos

September So Far

Kaleb and Max Picking Peaches

Peach Picking with Max

Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill went through the Gulf of Maine over the weekend and made waves. We first went to Salisbury Center about an hour before high tide and the waves washed up over the beach and down the street. We then went to the line and could barely find any beach because the waves were reaching up to the dunes. Of course I disobeyed the whole closed beach thing and went swimming in the water for about two hours. It was crazy and I was tossed around a bit, but never felt like I was in danger. Here are photos:

Hurricane Bill

Summer Rain

Beach with Britt

Old Orchard Beach Photos

Old Orchard Beach

Last Day of Vacation

For an encore to our vacation we went to Plymouth and visited Mark and Kate at Long Pond. It was the perfect end to a great vacation. Kaleb LOVED being on the pond and wasted no time marching right into the water. Mark helped him catch his first fish and also took us out for a boat ride. Good times. Now we are back home, unpacked and finally just resting on the couch.

Here are the photos:

Cape Cod Vacation 5

Cape Cod Vacation

We went with a little change of pace this summer for vacation and are on Cape Cod in Chatham. We rented a house with Cara, Jeff and Maddox (see photos). Growing up on the North Shore meant I wasn't ever really exposed to Cape Cod, since well we have pretty good beaches up there and Maine is just about 20 minutes away. Also being a North Shore person also meant I considered most South Shore people to be crazy, btw this hasn't changed, but it was probably also a factor in my avoidance of Cape Cod. A couple years ago we came down for a weekend and had a great time and so I was game for an entire week. Well I have to say the place is growing on me, mostly due to the knowledge of all things Cape Cod provided by Cara and Jeff. I think my two favorite things are he variety of beaches we have gone to and also how close everything is to each other. We have been on super sandy beaches, flats that stretched for miles, beaches in harbors and on the open ocean. All have had their own unique twist, making it an adventure every time. Of course Kaleb likes that they all have sand and has become obsessed with going to the beach and playing with his tractors, trucks and machines.

I have also managed to do some other projects I can't find time for at home. I finally added lyrics to a song I have been writing, it isn't close to being finished, but at least the ball is rolling. I also spent more time than I should writing an application for the iPhone, but it did come from a necessity so I don't feel too bad about it. I have also imported some video and uploaded photos as per usual. Now we have just over 26 hours until we have to vacate and I can say I am not even close to being ready to come home.

Here are some photos I have taken so far.

Cape Code Vacation 3

Cape Cod Vacation 2

Cape Cod Vacation

Chill Weekend

We had a chill weekend and spent Sunday afternoon at Maudslay for a nice lunch picnic and then went to Salisbury beach in the evening. It was my first time in the water this year and it was wonderful.

Maudslay Picnic

Whale Watch

Here are photos from our whale watch

Whale Watch

The Craziness Ends?

Well it has been a crazy few weeks for me at work. Since we need to (or used to) keep track of our hours I know that I worked about 205 hours in the last 19 days. Crazy, comes out to over 10 hours each day. Needless to say I am pretty tired, but looking forward to taking it easy this weekend.

Beach with Nonna

Tall Ships

We went to the tall ships and I took these photos

Tall Ships

The Sun Returns

After several weeks of cloudy and rainy weather the sun returned in style this past weekend. We took advantage of it or as much as we could since I did a lot of working. We went to the beach one day, went to Odiorne Point, went swimming at my mom's house, had ice cream at a new place in Newburyport and other things I am sure I forgot.

Here are some photos:

The Sun Returns

Summer Starts

It has been a really rainy June so far, but thankfully on thursday the sun came out for the first time in weeks. We celebrated by going strawberry picking at Cider Hill Farm. Today it was nice and warm at our house so we went to the beach, but once we were there it was really cloudy. It helped cut down on traffic and also kept the beach uncrowded. Afterwards we came home where it was sunny and then went to see a performance of The Velveteen Rabbit at Maudslay. Kaleb was good for the first act, but was loud and ran across the field for the second act.

Here are photos I took:

Summer Finally Arrives

Hotel Pool and Tractor Photos

Post Wedding

Kelly's Wedding

Drove down to Quakertown Pennsylvania for Jen's cousin, Kelly's wedding. Don't know if we actually spoke with any quakers or not.

Here are some photos I took.

Kelly's Wedding

A Weekend with a Col

I got a cold at some point on Friday I guess and have been relatively miserable all weekend. I have the whole runny nose, cough, chest congestion, blah blah. On top of that Jennifer came down with some sort of stomach issue and has been feeling nauseous all day. We are quite the bunch over in Merrimac.

We were able to get out a couple times this weekend including Lilli's birthday (see photos below). It was Dora themed and even had a stroy line like the show, Kaleb had a great time. Kaleb and I also got to go out to Skip's tonight for dinner. Jennifer stayed home so it was just the boys and it was awesome. He behaved so well and stayed in his seat the entire time and ate a ton of food. Aftrewards we picked up some ice cream at Hodgies. The whole time we were both singing the chorus to the new Dave Matthews Band song and making up different lyrics. One of those days that makes all the sleepless nights and tantrums of parenthood worth it.

Lilli's Birthday

DMB Fenway Park & A Kaleb First

Dave Matthews Band was back at Fenway Park for the first time since our honeymoon and this time we were able to go to both shows. The first night Jennifer and I went to Tapeo for a quick bite of tapas and then met up with the BoCaNO crew outside the show. It was a great show and they played a bunch of new songs, a couple of those were for the first time.

The next night was another great show, we started the night by having dinner with Andy and Nicole at Parish Cafe, as always it was phenomenal. The show was again really great, although the setlist and slightly lower amount of energy made it rank behind Friday. We also made a special occasion of the weekend and stayed at a hotel. It was a really big deal because it was the first time Kaleb spend the night with somebody else since we brought him home from the hospital. He stayed with Nonna and Pop Pop. Of course he slept the entire night and didn't wake up until 6:15, later than he ever slept for us.

On Sunday Kaleb got a chance to drive a backhoe, a very exciting event for anybody.

Riebe Beach Trip

Kaleb Drives a Backhoe

My Hippopotamus

Here is a video of Kaleb at dinner the other night making a silly voice and saying hippopotamus. He is a silly kiddo

Memorial Day Weekend

It was a great Memorial Day weekend, the weather was pretty good and we got a lot of stuff done in the yard. Trip to Boston, Newburyport and various other places along the way.

Memorial Day

Kelley's Wedding and the Secret Driveway

My step-sister Kelley was married a couple of weeks ago and here are some photos

Kelley's Wedding

We also were doing some work around the yard last weekend and found a driveway hidden under our walkway and side yard garden. It was only a few inches below the surface so we decided to uncover it, first the top soil, then the rocks and then the tar. It was time consuming, but in the end the side yard looks about ten times better.

Around The House

Cut Down That Tree

Upon moving into our house back in the summer of 2007 we had considered cutting down this enormous pine tree which sits right next to the driveway. However after having a discussion with the neighbors it seemed best if we just left it up. Fast forward to the nasty ice storm of 2008. Huge limbs of the tree came down and busted up the smaller trees beneath it. All night long we lived in fear of a limb coming right into our bedroom. Once the storm cleared the yard was anything but clear. It was at that point we decided it was time to take the tree down.

Finally today after getting the yard surveyed to verify it was our tree, we had it cut down. Since it was an enormous tree it took four guys over five hours to take it down, but I am happy to say it is down. The yard is now so much brighter, I am really looking forward to a sunny day to see how bright it will really get. My favorite part is how you can actually see our house from the top of the street.

Down with the Pine Tree

Two More Rounds of Photos

Here are two new albus. The first album is from our three days in Charleston, including the trip to Fort Sumter. The second album is from Wrightsville Beach and a little excursion to Wilmington.

April Vacation II

April Vacation III

April Vacation

We have started our trek down to South Carolina. On the way we spent a night in Connecticut and are now in Rocky Mount, NC. Yesterday on our way here we stopped in Washington DC and took these photos

April Vacation I

Kaleb was a trooper and despite being in the car for about 10 hours he handled it relatively well. Part of this was helped along by the new portable DVD player we bought last week. Despite our reservations about Kaleb watching so much television, it seems to be a necessary evil for these long trips.

Today we will be driving the rest of the way to Charleston, which is about four and a half hours away from here. Then we get to settle in for a couple of days.

Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/keegsands

First Day at the Theatre

We ponied up a bunch of money and paid for three seats to the Thomas & Friends Live Show at the Citi Performing Arts Center formerly known the Wang Center. It was Kaleb's first time at the theatre and it went very well. He didn't seem to follow everything that went on, but at the same time he didn't once request to go home. We were both very proud of him.

He has been such a big boy lately, from the constant talking to the running around and stubborness. Yesterday we left him at Brendan's house and one of the first things he asked upon getting there was, "Where are the kitties?" This is weird because it had been nearly a year since he was last at his apartment. Sometimes his memory really freaks me out.

Time to watch The Office.

Keeg

Loads of Photos

Playground-Thomas Live-Easter Eve

Big Boy Bed

Easter Eggs

Sunny Spring Day

March Miscellany

Big Night for the Little Man

After learning a couple days ago that Kaleb could lift his leg up over the crib rail we decided to move him towards the direction of a big boy bed. So tonight we took his mattress out of his crib and put it on the floor. He was pretty overwhlmed by the newness, but went right to sleep. Now we need to see what happens when he wakes up in the middle of the night. His door is shut so we aren't to worried about him leaving the room, my guess is that he will stay right in bed until we come check on him.

Two Kaleb Moments

We woke up this morning and Kaleb asked for the iPhone. Now he has been using the iPhone in some capacity for at least six months now. He started by using some fun kid apps that played animal sounds, and then figured out how to slide and unlock. This morning he put together the following actions: Hit home button, slid to unlock, swiped to the third home screen, tapped the new "Wheels on the Bus" app, tapped the bunny to make it jump, dragged the hat up to reveal the bunny, hit the next screen arrow and swiped the bus to make it go, navigated to the wipers screen and swiped back and forth to make the wipers clean the window of rain. Its amazing how easy to use a computer device can be when it only requires a couple simple touch gestures.

The other moment was during my shower. Usually in the morning Kaleb randomly wanders around the upstairs unattended while I take a shower, Jennifer says I am brave, perhaps I am just over-confident in Kaleb. Most days he stays in the bathroom and other days I holler for him and eventually clamor around dripping wet and in just a towel to find him quietly playing away in a different room. There are the occasional freak outs like when he was standing on top of the headboard of the guest bedroom bed looking out the window. Today was one of the days he stayed in the bathroom. I heard him playing with toys and the next thing I know there is a magnetic fishing rod sticking through the shower curtain with a starfish hanging off it. Two minutes later and the rod sticks through again with a crab. Crazy kid. Then he insisted on splashing in the puddle left over from my shower.

March Photos

Pepe's House

March Miscellany

Photo Time (Skiing, Boston and a Junior Firefighter)

Windy Day at Sunday River

Afternoon in Boston

Junior Firefighter

Long Awaited Photos

Kaleb's Real Birthday

Random February Photos

Recent Photos

Super Bowl

Brunch in North Reading