Last week while I was in California, Claire kept asking where Daddy was. Mama kept telling her I was away working, and Claire was confused because she’s use to going to school with me since her day care is on my campus. As soon as I got in the car at the airport she wanted two things. 1) To have permission to go get ice cream and, 2) To give me a hug. (Yes, in that order). Off we went to Baskin Robbin’s, and Claire was so excited to see me that she didn’t stop chattering away. After the excitement slowed, I explained I had to go back to work in two days. I wasn’t about to tell her I had a five day AP Institute in Seattle after being home for two days. So I told her I had to go to work, and she started telling me over and over all weekend "Dadda, don’t go to work! Stay with me." Damn. How do you say No?

…

Of course, he Popa lands in Arizona in two hours, and I bet that by bedtime today (11pm or later because she’ll be so excited to see him since it’s been 6 months) Claire will forget she has a Dadda until maybe I get home, or atleast, after Popa and Babci spoil her silly and leave her with Donna and me in early July to try to straighten her out before school begins again three weeks later.

When Claire was really young, we took her to Disneyland in California with my cousin who works for Disney. It  was a few hours of walking around in the rain, meeting Mickey and high tailing it home. This time we took 13 family members to my grandmother down to my daughter. My uncle’s family was there, as well as my sister and her boyfriend Jonathan. Trying to juggle 13 people was frustrating at times, but we successfully made it!

My father was really happy to have her there with him, and he actually paid for everyone to go. It was nice of him.On Claire’s third birthday she was 40.5" tall and the minimum to ride several of the coasters was 40". I was a little apprehensive with taking her on some things, but she really wanted to go on "Water Mountain" which was really Splash Mountain, but I like what she calls it better. Meghan and Jonathan threw Claire  between them in the second seat and Dad and I were in the front. We all got soaked! It felt so good though because it was so darn sweaty and humid there. No rain this time. Claire loved it all!

Claire and I went on this one roller coaster where I was a little nervous. I held onto her tightly, and she was ok with it by the end. The only roller coaster I rode without her was Space Mountain, which I came to realize was partially because you had to ride alone. Rachael rode it, and I was scared for her, so I could not imagine Claire riding it yet. We got to the park at 9AM and left after 11PM. When Dad said he wanted to get his money’s worth, he sure did! But the double stroller and frequent sitting with Grandma made it a helluva experience for us all. Thanks, Dad.

2008_June_FLA24, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ernie  live in Cocoa just minutes from Cocoa Beach and the Ron Jon shop. Yesterday we spent the day with Little Miss "Beach  Babe!" at the beach. Claire and her cousin Rachael played hard all morning and into the afternoon. They both had their coverups to keep away from the sun all day. At first Claire wanted to do airplanes in the ocean because she  didn’t get the whole idea of surf and salt water, but she quickly learned about them! It wasn’t very deep where we were so the girls could go pretty far out without a problem.

Grandma Adams even came out to swim with everyone. Me, Meghan and my dad took turns playing with Claire, and then both Claire and Rachael both wanted to be buried so that’s what we did. It was hilarious. I was swimming around, and my sunglasses flew off my head. We looked for them for sometime, but nada. Nope. Gone.

We were out there for about four hours before we headed in. The sun sure does wipe us out. I ran by Ron Jon to grab a new pair, and we headed home for naps.

When I got these plane tickets, Donna was really worried about me traveling with Claire alone. She didn’t think I could handle it. In the past, most of the time, we both would travel with her, and yes, it could be difficult sometime. But something was different this time. Donna swears it’s because she prepped Claire so well, and maybe it was. I was really worried about not having a direct flight to Orlando yesterday, but you know what? It worked out well. We flew out of Phoenix, and after playing for a bit quietly in her seat, Claire wanted to watch Dora, which she did quietly for over an hour. Then we got ready to land. I was a little apprehensive because she didn’t sleep yet, and we had a two hour layover. By the time we got to the restaurant in Houston, we were down to 90 minutes. Then I ate and Claire played. We headed to the gate, and Claire stood nicely in line at Starbuck’s with me. She was a little angel. Didn’t run off or anything. Wheeled her bag through the airport and everything.

We made it to our gate in Houston, hung out and called Mama, and then we boarded our plane. By now I could tell how tired she was, and before the plane even took off, Claire was asleep. She slept for about an hour and a half, and when she woke up she wanted food and Dora. So she had a sandwich, and then watched the DVD until it was time to land. So nice. I hope I am not jinxing the flight home.

IMG_2263, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Last week I was in Chicago at a wedding, and my wife shot this outside of Starbuck’s in Hinsdale, IL. I don’t think either of us could even fathom how much I am beginning to look like my father. Part of it is the outfit. Dad always wears a charcoal suit and purple shirt, and I just happened to be wearing the same thing. How uncanny.

We met Julie several years ago after we moved to AZ and really enjoy her company. We knew her through a boyfriend or two before she met Patrick, and the short version is that we were graciously invited to her wedding. Catch was that no kids were allowed (except someone brought one!) and the wedding was in Chicago. We played back and forth with the idea of going, and we finally bought tickets. Julie & Patrick were ecstatic, our friend Kris is from Chicago and offered for us to stay at her parent’s house, but we just needed to find somewhere for Claire.

We started with our former school nurse, Davida, but Davida pointed out it was Mother’s Day and she couldn’t do it. We finally decided we’d ask Adrienne, who is Claire’s regular babysitter, to watch her. She agreed, and Donna wrote up pages upon pages of directions for the babysitter. We left Claire Friday at daycare and Adrienne picked her up to bring her home to our house.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly until about 20 minutes before the ceremony on Saturday, when Adrienne called to tell us that she’d been up all night sick in our bathroom and couldn’t make it much longer. We quickly hung up and looked for Plan B. We had several people on our emergency list, and we typically would call Angelika since her son is a year and a half older than Claire, but Saturday night was Angelika’s graduation party. So Donna called Kacie, her friend from work. Kacie acquiesced and drove over. I also called Angelika who agreed to pick Claire up in the morning, so Kacie could spend the day with her son.

We called Sunday morning and everything was still coming together. When we touched down in Arizona, we hurried over to Angelika’s from the airport to get Claire. Angelika looked exhausted, and we felt bad. But now that it’s all over, we are joking about how Claire wore out three babysitters this weekend while her parents were off galavanting around the country!

Babci Mary Buziak, originally uploaded by nooccar.

Today was Babci’s 90th birthday party where her family and friends all gathered in Horsham, PA. The weather was cool and dry, and all of the great grandchildren ran around having a wonderful time as four generations of family and friends gathered. Afterward she came back to our rooms with us to look at old pictures and hang out for a few more hours. Tomorrow Donna, Claire and I head back to Arizona.

We’d been trying to figure out who to use to buy a new patio roof since we had our old one torn down last fall, and we finally picked the company that we liked that didn’t want our first born to install the thing. We ordered it in February, and FINALLY they were going to install Tuesday. That was cutting it close since we had to leave town Wednesday. Of course Monday night they called and told us they had a situation with the last install and couldn’t come until Wednesday morning.  How do you tell some guy you don’t know that you’re leaving town and won’t be around without worrying about your house the entire time you’re gone? Donna was relatively diplomatic about it, and the guy told her it’d be a quick install. 14′ X 20′ straight off the facie, no problem. By this point we just rolled our eyes and went with it. I was not about to reschedule, since it’d taken 8 weeks to even get this installed and we’d already paid half up front!

Wayne & Gavin showed up and did a helluva job. Donna was home the whole time writing her paper, and by the time I came home and we prepared to leave for the airport, they were mostly done. Pictures and comments when we get back and see the final product.

The plane ride was ok. Claire’s three now, so she gets her own seat (i.e. I get to PAY out the wazoo for a third seat!). At least we didn’t have to carry her the whole time. The first hour Claire and I slept, and Donna wrote. Then Claire flipped out for awhile and kept wanting to kick the man in front of us. We eventually landed in Philly and I apologized to him. He said he works in LA 7 days a week with 3-6 year old kids, and Claire wasn’t a problem. Thank God.

About a year and a half ago, we considered traveling this summer. We wanted to do a "family" trip somewhere in the US. My grandfather passed away pushing two years now, and my grandmother subsequently moved to Florida with my uncle and his family. My aunt and her family lives nearby, so we considered going there. But we also wanted to see our parents. Things didn’t work out quite as we wanted it, and grad school for Donna also threw a wrench into our plans. We then invited her parents out here (my dad would never fly here in the summer heat!). Somewhere along the line my parents suggested they’d meet us in Florida, but with Donna going back to her old job July 1st and grad school, she could not fly. But Claire and I are off, and if we’re not around, then it’s more school work time for her. Sure she will miss Claire if we went to Florida, but I’ve been there before. A week here, 2 weeks there.

Tax season ended this week, so my dad came out of his cave and called his travel agent who’s booking him tickets to Florida for the first week in June. I looked up tickets and came up with $800+!! Donna wasn’t too thrilled until she found tickets less than half that for me and Claire. And I am happy to say tonight we booked two tickets to Florida. We will see my family, and Dad even wants to take Claire and her cousin to Disney for the day. This summer is turning out pretty sweet. Donna goes back to the job she likes, we do some traveling, I see my grandmother who ain’t no spring chicken, Claire sees all of her grandparents, I travel to the AP Conference, and my in-laws fly out for a couple weeks to see us all.

Back home from Los Angeles now, after a relatively exciting weekend. Friday we toured Disney, and we get to hear about movies coming out in several more years. The newest, exciting movie is The Princess and The Frog, which will even introduce a brand new princess, Tiana! I respect that there are things I can be told and things I can’t, but it was cool going to Disney and being able to see the animators and artists drawing a movie coming out in summer 2009.

While walking around Disney, my cousin asked if we wanted to see the wardrobe from The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe,
and we agreed. Donna’s never seen the movie even, but we thought it
would be cool. While in the mini-archives, across from the wardrobe was
the knob from Bedknobs and Broomsticks! I have always loved
this movie, and this was the most exciting thing all day. In the case
next to the knob was an Oscar statue! The closest I will probably ever
come, but the knob was coolest!

Over the last few years, mostly by accident, I’ve been visiting aquariums around the country. I took Claire to Monterey Bay Aquarium with MaryAnn & Donna last March, last April I toured the Denver aquarium, and the year before, while at a conference, I went with colleagues to the Baltimore Aquarium. So this weekend we headed down to Long Beach, CA to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I was pretty excited about this, but when we arrived (after a scrumptious lunch at Bubba Gump!), it looked relatively small. I figured it’d be bigger inside, but it really wasn’t. Claire quickly became a demon child from hell, and I think she threw the longest tantrum in history! We made our way through the aquarium, saw some cool fish, and hung out. It was very cramped and small, but we made it what we could.

Sunday we drove back across the desert to Arizona, and Claire kept asking when we would take her to see Sarah! We told her "next year" and I think hope she understands what that means.