The second wind is on its way....

Halfway through the semester and I am exhausted but I am hopeful for a second wind that will come about soon.

I am learning a lot at Big Brothers Big Sisters with my field placement and I am having some fun too. Our school programs started this week and I am looking forward to the start of one next Tuesday that I have been a part of through all the steps.

Many children in this world are without mentors or good role models. This is especially true when it comes to male role models. Men in our society do not really step up to help out society as mentors and role models. Of course there are many exceptions to this but it seems women care more about being mentors and role models based on the statistics I have seen. BBBS is always looking for "more" men to step up and become Bigs to mentor young men and women.

Even though I am exhausted I am able to rely on a few things that are driving me to the finish which is closer now than it was when I left the house this morning at 5:30. First, being an example to Nadia is extremely important to me. Quitting never enters my mind as a serious thought because I want Nadia to view her father as a man who got a late start but completed everything he said he would. I want her to see a man who slept a bit long but still chased his dream when he woke up. I want her to see or at least hear about her father's resilience.

I am doing what I am doing because I have a desire to really have a positive affect on society. I want to help people change their lives for the better. Of course there is no way I could do this without the support of Tash and her family. We are lucky in that we have family to watch Nadia each day we are working and I am going to school. With Tash working full time now we are lucky to have who we have in our lives.

One of the programs I work at with BBBS is at Monmouth Medical Center where Nadia was for the first two months of her life. The program kicked off on Wednesday and I was not overwhelmed but I certainly felt a wave of good emotions when I was there. While waiting in the lobby I saw one of Nadia main nurses who cared for her a lot. It was great to see her and show her some updated pictures.

At Nadia's 1st birthday party we had a lot of fun. We joked a lot and never dipped into any morose issues. I am happy that we were able to share our joy with some of our family members. Some were not able to make it but they were missed and I am sure we will see almost everyone very soon.

Home again....

We arrived home to much fan fare (for Nadia) on Monday night. We split our trip from Georgia in half by staying overnight in Roanoke, VA and it is likely we will be visiting there once again with hopes of exploring the city a bit. On our way home we visited the Shenandoah Caverns  as well and they were amazing. Spires, bacon, water, minerals, and crystals all come together in one place to form amazing caves.

We stayed in Western NC for 5 days visiting a trout farm, Hot Springs, downtown Hendersonville, Asheville, The Grove Park Inn, and stopped to show Nadia her first water fall at Looking Glass Falls. We also had the best pizza available in Asheville thanks to Thom.

After our NC visit we headed down to D&Ks down in Georgia. On our way to our their home we stopped at the Cabbage Patch General Hospital. Yes, a place which seems to be where Cabbage Patch dolls are born. It was slightly creepy but very neat and Nadia chose her first Cabbage Patch doll by chewing on its head.

We had a blast once we made it to LaGrange with a Friday night pub visit for Dennis and me and then a visit to a southern party the next day with oysters (fried & raw shucked by me), fried shrimp, fried tilapia, stuffed mushrooms, ribs, pork, swedish meatballs, spicy lasagna, mac and cheese, mash potatoes..... and much more. It was good grub for sure.

Sunday morning was our last day in Georgia and we were treated to biscuits, gravy, and eggs by our friends Dennis and Kerrie.

And now back to the grind.... School starts next week along with my field class at Big Brother Big Sister in Asbury Park. I am nervous and excited but I am certain that I will work hard and that will guarantee my success.

4 weeks of summer left....

Well, it has been a great summer break for me thus far. We took Nadia to the beach twice now and Tash's grandmother also joined us on our visit to IBSP last week. I am hoping we get to the beach again soon as IBSP is a great beach to go to and it is also cheap.

We visited Luna Parc back in June as well and now we are left with 4 weeks till the end of summer. Of course, we also had over 60 of our friends and family members over for a successful picnic in July.

I have landed my field work program at Big Brother Big Sister in Asbury Park. I will be working from 12-7 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. My work is allowing me to shift my schedule around so for that I am super grateful. I will be trained and eventually have my own caseload at BBBS. I will mainly be working with children in after school programs. Although this is not my area of interest I am looking forward to it. So when September rolls around it will be family, school, work, internship, gym, and eating. I will sleep in December.

We also have a vacation scheduled for about 8 days or so and we will be traveling south. First we will be visiting our friends in Georgia for a few days and then back to western NC for 5 or 6 days. It will be Nadia's first trip south and our first vacation in two years. We are certainly looking forward to getting away.

RANT ALERT
Lastly, we joined WOW this week in order to exercise on a regular basis. Back to the gym... Of course every time we go to a gym to sign up they always figure out a way to irritate me. One time they handed us a $300.00 check to cover their member fee... to me that was just stupid because only an idiot would feel they are saving the $300. I know they do this to everyone but I of course take it as a personal attack on my intelligence.

The man at WOW took all our information: credit cards, DLs, emails, phone numbers and said over and over $5 per week no contract. After he filled out all the paperwork and we were there for 30 minutes he mumbled.... Oh yeah... each year you have to pay an annual maintenance fee of $50... and of course I get upset because of how he waited till the last minute to mention this. It was not about the $50 as $300 per year for a gym is pretty cheap but I cannot stand car dealership sales practices (I tolerate them at car dealers)  and they make me livid when I encounter them. Of course, Tash is there to talk me down after I called the fee a deal breaker and some other things that I will not write here. I should also mention on our first day there was found that over 10 of the treadmills are "waiting for parts." To which I stated.... "So much for the maintenance fee."
END RANT

Ok, on to Nadia. She is doing great. She is trying to crawl every day and she loves various types of vegetables and fruits. She also has learned how to do a neck bridge when she is attempting to move. I did not know wrestling practice passed through one's genes.

Nadia is growing and catching up each day. She has a hearing test coming up. She is alert and is very active with various verbal noises. She will be uttering her first words soon I suppose.

This weekend we will be relaxing and doing some work at the house.

Bye for now.

Family picnic.... 1 week away....

Hmmm.... no time to post or just too lazy. Probably both.

I am wrapping up a summer course at RU on Chronic Illness and Disability over the next week. And.... I received confirmation today that BBBS.org has offered me a fieldwork position for the next semester. I am very excited about this next step in my life.

So.... I have to write a paper by Friday and study for a final exam over the weekend.... and then it is 7 weeks off with a vacation during August to the South.

More importantly, our middle of the week family picnic is next Wednesday. We are excited to see people we have not seen in a while. Friends will be stopping by all the way from Georgia..... and family is already here from Moscow... OK she did not come for the party but she came to see Nadenka as are all the people coming to the party.

If you did not receive the invite... then call me... if you do not have my cell phone then email me.... if you do not have my email then... call or email someone who does. Food, booze, horseshoes, and plenty of things for kids to do like till the fields and water the crops....

This feeling thing.... and Frenchtown.

After this week I will have school two nights a week from 6-10:30 pm for six weeks. I will then be officially ahead of my degree program. I hope to do the same for the winter program and again next summer.

I like school but it makes me miss being with Tash and Nadia.

Nothing makes me realize that more then this past weekend as Tash and I did some farm work and then got away to Frenchtown, NJ for some lunch and shopping. Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love author) has a new cookbook out and Tash went and got a copy signed for a friend. Frenchtown is a beautiful little city on the coast of the Delaware River. There are many towns like this along the western part of NJ. We walked, shopped, and had some lunch. We will definitely be making our way back there one day.

Another place we think might be a good place to visit is Stockton, NJ as we passed through there on our way to Frenchtown. Next weekend we will be visiting Lambertville to find an antique piece of furniture for our bedroom.

I hope this feeling never goes away but each day I leave home for somewhere I cannot wait to get back home to Tash and Nadia. I love spending time with them and days like yesterday make life so easy.

Life is good and easy.

F#$%!

Alright, so I decided to make a conscious effort to eliminate cursing from my vocabulary. I know..... I know.....

However, I have become a bit embarrassed by it lately, especially because I never even hear the curses coming out of my mouth. I am a person who controls a lot of things and cursing is just not one of them, yet.

So, I did some research (yes it exists) and two days ago I wrote about things that make me curse, why I think I swear so much, and a list of reasons on why I want to stop cursing. The one thing this exercise has done is make me aware of the curses.

I cursed two times yesterday at work within two sentences and twice today. Today was a bit funnier as I was speaking to our receiving person and I said, "This person does this all the f$%^^$g time, f!#k I cursed."

The main reason I would prefer not to curse is that I would rather have Nadia hear them elsewhere so I can speak with her about them in a way that she respects me.

I have begun to realize my language is going to become more and more important in my career as I move on. I need to be more articulate and at least appear to be more intelligent. Dropping out cuss words will certainly help with both.

I even asked Tash to gently remind me if she hears me curse. She asked how should I do that? I said gently because I really have no idea why the thing I read said should ask for gentle reminders. I guess it is to avoid discouragement.

Yeah, I am that weird.

Dry.....

Obtaining an MSW requires a lot of reading.... I mean ALLLLLLOOOOOOTTTTT of reading. One of the cool things this semester was we received a list of 30 or so novels and we had to evaluate the person in the novel.

I picked Dry by Augusten Burroughs for a few reasons. One the shortest articles with my midterm paper were related to alcoholism and two his book was published by a customer of mine.

The book was excellent and I highly recommend it for any one who likes to read or someone you know who may be dealing with alcoholism in one way or another.

Conditioning of the young ones....

I have not been posting as much due to school, work, and truck repairs. I have a huge paper due next Tuesday and then four more case studies and one group research project due by the first week of May as well.

Nadia is doing really well. Her feedings are increasing and she is going to the doctor this week for her six month checkup. She is almost turning over completely and she is now communicating in many other ways besides crying with oohs, agoos, and loud screeches here and there.

We have Tash's brother's birthday dinner on Saturday and my godson Leo's birthday party on Sunday afternoon in Kinnelon, NJ. A beautiful area in Northern NJ.

Tash is busy with work and school and taking care of Nadia when she is not at work although she still works from home when Nadia cooperates.

Lastly, because I must fight social issues as a social worker.... Recently I was at a Babies R Us and I noticed something and when I passed it a second time I questioned whether society is conditioning children on the roles they are supposed to fulfill in life. I know everyone will say they tell their children they can be whatever they want but children follow the norms of society and Babies R Us is telling your child when their role in life is.

I know many people will think it is no big deal but children base their actions on what they see and not always what they are told. Case in point, when parents smoke in many cases their children smoke even though their parents tell them it is wrong and they should not do it.

Off my moral high horse I step on Equal Pay Day as women in America are currently paid an average of .77 for every dollar a man earns for the same work.

Laughing and the upcoming weekend.....

Well.... this weekend begins a stretch of party weekends with one off weekend over the next five weeks.

Nadia has started what I would call a sustained laugh. She is now laughing several times a day and her first known laugh was with both Tash and I in the room together so that was cool. See our instagram page for updated pictures as she is growing fast and becoming very heavy.

Nadia will be attending a celebration of family birthdays on Sunday as we will head to UJK on Sunday in celebration of UJ's and Jen's birthdays. We are very excited for our venture as it will be Nadia's first trip away from home besides a ride to the train station or some type of doctor visit. I need to buy some type of travelling bed which I will do tonight.

As for me personally, this week I had a pretty rough exam but I am sure I did well on it because I was prepared. I will begin fieldwork in the fall and I found out this week that I will have to make some changes and choices come September. I am confidently concerned about it. I think that is the best way to describe my mind right now as I know I am making the right decision but it will require some serious dedication and determination. Who is better than me for taking stubbornness and making it work in a positive manner?

Tomorrow I will be finishing up the replacement of bearings and brake rotors in my truck. Tash and I were deep in PA when a squeaky bearing finally gave way prompting us to drive home very slowly from PA. What I did not tell Tash was that we had no brakes for the last hour of the trip. When I would push the brake, the rotor would move because the bearing was not holding it in place. Right now my truck is sitting on tree stumps with the front wheels off and the brakes and hub have been completely removed. The hub with the bearing issue was also bad but I found one on Ebay so that part is arriving today. Once I have that part I will attach the lug bolts and the new rotor and then I need to go to a mechanic tomorrow so they can press the bearing races into the hubs.

We made it home safe with the broken truck and planted 37 fruit trees on the farm the next day. So, three years from now we can eat tons of fruit and talk about “the trip.”

I am looking forward to wrapping that up quickly tomorrow as I have a 1:00pm haircut in the highlands.

Speak to you all soon!

Saturday morning with dad...

Mom is working today so I am all alone with Daddy. Pretty soon my dad is leaving for the garbage dump to take our trash to the dump. Baba Lena will take care of me while dad is gone. 

Dad is on Spring Break this week so he does not have any homework to do but he probably could work on his final paper for psychopathology.

I have to eat more when dad is feeding me because he thinks there is something wrong with him when he feeds me and I just do not feel like eating.

Anyway,  on some weight news I have crossed the 9 pound threshold and I continue to grow at a monumental pace. I am healthy as could be and I am sleeping well at night.

I have been experiencing some drool and bubbles and I keep hearing my mom and dad speaking about these things called teeth. I am not sure what they are yet but I will update you as soon as I find out.

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Nikki are coming to visit again this weekend and I am really excited. Uncle Kevin held me and I found it very easy to fall asleep. I think they are going to drop off some cookies and then go out to lunch with my mom and dad.

One last thing I wanted to update you on is that my dad has been leaving his Macbook next to me when he leaves the room and it also stays on for a bit. I figured I would mess around with it and I think I have pretty much mastered blogging. Now, if I can just figure out how to setup an email for myself.....

Uncle Sonny...

On this day last year as many of you know we lost one of the center pieces of our family. He was a man who was always concerned about everyone else. He was always happy when his jokes made others laugh and he was always heartfelt during reminiscing about others we lost. He lived a full life and he worked hard to help support everyone in his life. He was a family man!

Evidence of his greatest enjoyment can be seen with the various pictures of him holding his grandchildren as they push at his face. He really enjoyed and loved his family and I know I can speak for our family when I say we enjoyed him and we were lucky to have a man of his stature and compassion in our lives.

Women and bottles...

As a father of a girl I must admit that I cringed and became infuriated about a recent news incident. When I heard a certain famous person call a women a slut and state she should post videos of her sex acts online for all to see because she believes birth control should be part of a healthcare plan I became upset. As a student of social work and one who has a daughter I guess these types of things should upset me. In America we all chip in for things we might not believe in. For example war, many people are against but they are forced to pay for it.

Anyway, I do not want to get too political here but it is a shame that a man can degrade a women through the press in such a manner. It seems some believe women are less equal than men in today's society and the truth is they are less equal but they should not be. Do not fear as I am on a mission to fix this.

On to more pleasant thoughts.....

As Nadia keeps growing I keep washing bottles. A bottle washing master as I would like to think. I wash 9 bottles in less than 20 minutes and that includes the various devices that the bottles consists of as well. Tash asked me the other day how I wash the bottles so fast. I think it is because I do it more often and I do not really wash them but rather just rinse them with hot water. Do not tell her my secret please.

Nadia is beginning to utter sounds other than crying when we talk to her. Tash hears most of it but Nadia lets me in on the conversation when I am home once in a while. One of the things that makes me happy to is how she follows me around the room with her eyes as Tash is holding her. I go up to her to say things and when I walk away and turn around her eyes are zeroed in on me no matter where I go.

It is amazing to watch her grow and think that almost 5 months ago she was less than 1/4 of what she weighs now. Of course that seems like no big deal but as most of you know quadrupling in size when beginning at 1 lb 10 ounces is a huge difference. Last week she weighed in at 8 lbs 1 ounces.

Nadia will be 5 months old on March 9th.

The weekend past...

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Nikki stopped by this weekend and you can see some pictures in our Instagram feed to the right.

We also went out to The Alps again and I must say they change the menu constantly and the food is excellent every time thus far. If you come to visit we will certainly take you there for lunch or dinner.

After a three day weekend it is back to the grind as I have class tonight and tomorrow with a midterm tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to a Starbucks and observed everyone in the place for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Human beings are amazing creatures and it was a lot of fun to see the quirks that many of us have. I will be writing a short 10 page paper for my midterm in my Psychopathology class and this observation was part of the project.

After my observation Tash and I had a nice lunch at home and we then took the baby for a walk on the farm. Walks on the farm always help Nadia fall asleep.

I am also taking a 2 hour lunch tomorrow from work to watch a presentation from two of my SW colleagues as they release their research results about the changing landscape in aging social work. I will be receiving a Certificate in Aging Social Work along with my MSW so this will be relevant to my field of study.

We are actually thinking about a family party to introduce Nadia sometime in the late Spring or Summer season. We have not set anything in stone yet but my in laws certainly have the property for such a party. We have not gone over the details with them yet either but we were thinking of it being a family picnic type deal…. Anyway we are slowly thinking about this as there is plenty of space to host almost 100 people for sure…. TBC….

New blog face....

As you can see my blog has been edited and it looks great.... Tash wanted to add a video and some other things.... and then she changed my header to am image which shows the meaning of the blog as well.

We are looking forward to seeing Kevin and Nikki this weekend and of course the Bud Shootout tomorrow night as well.

I have a midterm next week and I need to study people in a public setting for two hours this weekend as well. So.... if you are in public you might see me with a pad and pen. Please do no disturb me... j/k

The Alps..... and everything else...

Sadly, Baba Nina has returned to Moscow although we are very happy she will be returning after some medical procedures. She left Saturday and we missed her before she left.

It has been hectic to say the least with all the reading I have done and will be doing this semester. I am actually starting field work in the fall as Rutgers' requires it to graduate. I will learn the field from within and I know that is a valuable tool.

Ok, so what has Nadezhda been up? Well, as you can see from the pictures she is growing. She is not eating as much as I think she should but I assume the doctors will be happy with what she is eating as Tash is not concerned. She is starting to communicate in ways others then crying…. Something tells me her first word is going to be Rumination…. On the weekends when I run the show in Tash’s absence I read Nadia a heavy dose of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders. She stares at me while I read out loud and it is entertaining to me that her first word might just come from the DSM.

Although her first word might be Lady Gaga, Tash can explain that to you as I am now saying it to her as well.

So, I am not sure if any of you know this but Uncle Sonny is buried on the road we live on as there is a military cemetery down the street from us. This makes it very convenient for anyone visiting his site to come visit with us. Aunt Margie and Aletia stopped by a few weeks ago and we had a great time. We took them to a German Restaurant in Allentown called the Alps. Of course Aunt Margie insisted we get some booze even though it was noon so I relented and purchased some beer and wine.

After dining with Aunt Margie and Aletia we then went to Kevin’s 40th b-day party and had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. We certainly had a lot of laughs and Kevin’s sister in law made a really neat cake which exhibited a quad on a mountain of sugar infused dirt and grass.

Kevin and Nikki are actually visiting this week so Tash, Nadia, and I are definitely looking forward to that. We will also be taking them to the Alps for some lunch.

As for me personally I am getting some dental work done and receiving a 3 tooth bridge/crown. When I was 18 I had a tooth removed on the left side of my mouth and for the last 17 years I have avoided chewing on that side of my mouth. Well in three weeks that will end as the crown/bridge will be done. However, yesterday I had the two teeth where the bridge will sit grinded down.

The dentist put two temporary teeth on those teeth and one fell off two times. I went back this morning and the dentist set me up with a temporary brown instead of the plastic mold they used. It is holding well and I must say I am excited about that. I am also pumped because I have no pain in the teeth as it was noted that if I do a root canal would be necessary. I do not care about the pain in mouth of a root canal but rather the pain in my wallet. Dental is not getting any cheaper and I am not sure how anyone can afford this work.

Anyway, that is all for now because I won’t post this for another week if I delay it any longer. Speak to you soon.

40

Well... I am always reminded of how old I am when my brother's b-day comes up. I still feel like I am young and I will be running the Spartan race with my men's team in July to prove it to myself.

Kevin is 40 today which makes me 35.67 years old or there abouts anyway. As I approach 40 my one goal is to have my MSW done before May 5th, 2016. I am right on track for that.

I think the end of point and shoot cameras is near as the new iPhone pictures are pretty nice and in some cases better than what I have seen from some cameras. Check out Tash's library as it updates as she takes pictures.... or at least I think it does.

http://instagrid.me/ngcreations

Also, we Skyped with Uncle John and Karel last night and it was awesome. It is much easier to show the baby than it is to describe her.

If any of you want to Skype with us look Tash up and give us an electronic signal moving at thousands of miles per second.

14

This one is for Kim and Lenny (and others of course)! I tweeted this picture but forgot to put it on said blog.

Thank you both again for this strategically important gift!

Daddy's Home and Softball

I made a decision this week to scale down softball and play 3 games from April to August in order to become eligible for the playoffs. Thinking back, I played slow pitch softball for 7 years and fast pitch now for 10.

The reasons are many but I cannot afford to give up one day per week as it would be a round trip of about 6 hours with a game each Sunday.

Several reasons for this include being a new father but if that was the only issue I could possibly make it work. School is a major factor and I will need to begin volunteering a bit so I can add to my social work experience which is currently at zero besides classroom work.

If you ever think about getting your masters I hope you enjoy reading. Yesterday I read the codes for mental health issues and there are about 20 pages or so in the DSM which is the manual for clinicians who diagnose mental health issues. This type of reading reminded me of when I read parts of the Old Testament. Son of John, Son of Luke, Son of Bill, Son etc... pages upon pages. The coding was 292.11 Major Depress Disorder with Delusions 292.12 Major Depressive Disorder with Hallucinations 292.12 etc... Painful but I made it through.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my first two classes of the semester and I was reading every day to try and catch up for class tonight. Mission not accomplished. I have a few readings for tonight's class which I will be briefly looking over but I did finish all my readings for my research class tomorrow.

The picture to the right and above is Nadia showing her tough side as she said something about a knuckle sandwich to me. Speaking of Nadia, I must speak about how I love coming home and hearing Tash say to Nadia "Daddy's Home." Also, I currently have my crying under control when it comes to Nadia. As a proud father and husband I believe I was in tears the last half of December almost every chance I got as they were certainly the happiest times of my life. I am so proud of how my wife and daughter battled through their issues as it showed how they, the human body, and our minds are tremendous forces.

Lastly, as I learn more and more about social work I see injustice all around and in most cases I do actually keep my mouth shut outside the classroom. However, with a daughter who will one day likely choose to have career one thing irks me and I am not going to stand for it.

This quote below is just not acceptable to me. Why we as Americans are OK with this is something I do not understand. Same job, same duties, same stress, but 3/4s of the pay. Not acceptable to me and my new SW colleagues.

"According to General Accountability Office (GAO) Report GAO-04-35, the weekly earnings of full-time working women were about three-fourths of men's during 2001."
http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/womenspay.htm

Drinking binge....

Where have I been... well I have been on a massive drinking binge for the last two weeks.

As the New Year rang we were at the dinner table and Tash was holding Nadia in her arms. I looked over gave Tash a kiss and looked at Nadia and cried. I am not exactly sure why but I think it was just a huge sense of relief to see my wife and daughter standing and celebrating the New Year after all they both overcame.

School starts up again for me next week on the 17th and I am looking forward to hitting the books again at RU for my second semester.

Over Christmas I learned something that upset me greatly and those who think they know the story are missing 99% of the story. I held my tongue and it is probably why I have not posted in the last few weeks as each time I went to it wound up very negative. I will continue to keep my trap shut on the issue as it really does not matter.

It reminds me of conservative and liberal issues. A conservative cannot say one thing that would convince a liberal they are telling the truth and the opposite is also the same.

Anyway back to real life and less drama. Nadia is growing by leaps and it is fun to watch her grow. I think she is even beginning to mimic things we do as I stuck my tongue out at her and she responded by doing the same. She did this several times and Tash saw it but she clammed up when we went to show others. Privately, I was holding her alone last night and she did it again.

This Sunday I was able to spend the entire day with Nadia as Tash had to work. I loved every moment as I was able to feed her twice and watch football while doing it. Nadia is a baby but she is also a machine. She is a machine that eats, poops, farts, and squeaks. I assume we are all like when we are babies but I do not remember. I also became very excited as there was a D500 commercial during the game and I look forward to that.

To say I need a haircut would be a huge understatement as I am struggling to control my hair. Of course my hair has not seen a brush since well I am not sure I ever used a brush but I did use a comb when I was a child. Thursday night is the big showdown for my haircut. I am not sure when I had my haircut last but I do know it was when Nadia was in the hospital.

I look forward to the end of this flu season so we can start traveling with Nadia. Right now we are keeping her confined to the home except for some nature walks.

I have scheduled two weeks vacation for August and the plan is a road trip. The biggie of all road trips as my cousin is getting married in Portland. Not Maine mind you but OR! I am looking forward to driving across the country and right now the plan is to bring Nadia with us.

I really hope she comes as I would love to take her to the top of the Arch in St Louis. The place has some meaning to me as my mother and I went to the top of the Arch by ourselves as others chose not to for some reason. My father was a roofer so I know it was not an issue of heights.

This blog will certainly be a log of our trip as I hope to show this to Nadia one day. I am thinking I should print the blog now and then as a backup.

Until the next post where I hopefully am able to stop drinking.....