Sun, Fun and the Persuit of a FREAKING AIRPLANE!

I am in recovery. It's been 3 days since we returned from our vacation in Mexico and I am just not quite 'there' yet. Now, we had this thing setup perfectly....fly out of Cancun at 1pm Sunday and land in Philly around 6pm local time. We should clear customs and walk in the house by around 8pm Sunday, leaving some time to unwind, put the kids to bed and get ready for the return to work in the coming week. Sounds like a plan?

Did you know that the Cancun airport is like a big warehouse with a few doors on it? Much like airports here in the states, it is under construction. There are 7 snack bar /restaurants, 3 news shops, 5 duty free shops, 11 bathrooms (with 25 total stalls), 16 of the lightbulbs are OUT in the ceiling and 196 tiles missing from one of the concourse walkways. I know this because I counted. I had THAT MUCH TIME.

We got to the glorious Cancun airport on time for our 1pm flight. By 11:30am we were running around waiting for the announcement to board our plane to Philly. It was the four of us along with Deb's sister Melissa's family (husband Brian and 3 kids), and Deb's parents. 6 adults and 5 kids.

1:00pm - the announcement. There will be a slight delay due to a mechanical problem with the plane (coming in from Orlando). OK, no big deal - there are delays all the time. More running around.

2:00pm - scratching our heads...another announcement...our plane has not yet left Orlando. It would be at least 3 hours until we board our flight home. THREE HOURS! OK...break out the carry-ons and take the toys out for the kids.

Hmmm...now our gate is being used for OTHER flights...it's approaching 4pm...UPDATE PLEASE!!!

OK - people we are going to give you $15 for food in the airport restaurant. That's great considering we were walking back to our seats having just ate at BURGER KING.

More toys. A little complaining from the kiddies. Manageable but annoying as hell.

6:00pm...Announcement...the flight will be ARRIVING in Mexico by NINE and we should be taking off for Philly by 10pm.

Gulp. Panic. The 6 adults and 5 kids I mentioned earlier? Nope. Now it's 11 kids. Crying and complaining and yelling at eachother. We were a sitcom. I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to walk out from the missing tiles and announce that we had been Punk'd.

THANK GOODNESS - a nice little girl from our flight pulls out a portable DVD player. Ahhhh....BLISS. That took up a few hours. I wanted to hug her mother but she was butt ugly.

10:00pm...announcement..."The plane is here!"...applause...I saw Herve Velechez saying to Ricardo Montalban, "De PLANE...De PLANE!!!" I didn't care at that point, I just wanted to get the hell off of Fantasy Island.

So right as we are about to board..."Daddy - I have to go POTTY." No you don't. Hold it in for 4 hours.

We touched down in Philly around 2:30am. Our limo drove through a snowstorm and we walked in to our house just after 4am.

I decided that from that day forward I would wish a different fate on ALL my enemies. No longer would I wish their testicles be boiled. No longer would I dream that their nipples be connected to an Amtrak train travelling at 100 MPH. Nope. No more. From now on, I wish on my worst enemies that they travel through customs with 4 kids under the age of 5 at 3:00 in the morning in a snowstorm in -142 degree weather with no jacket. Now THAT is SUFFERING!

It's taken until now to recover. The kids are still a little behind but we will be OK. We survived.

Mexico was FANTASTIC, however. The weather was wonderful, the Carribean was perfect and the shopping was great. Amy's wedding was romantic and beautiful and I got some great pics and video. It was a great vacation until that last day.

I will post some pics up at the Goodies Site in the next few days.

Congrats to Aaron and Robin Greenberg who had their second baby yesterday!

Until next time...

WE LOVE ROCK N ROLL!!!

Elijah is really getting into music now. I am LOVING IT. He likes all the kids music like the Wiggles and the theme songs from the Disney movies and shows. However, he has also taken a liking to popular music and I am taking pride in fueling that interest every day in the car.

At first, he took an unusual liking to the classic Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody. He kept asking for it and learned ALL the words...Including the entire "scaramoush" part! It's VERY funny watching him sing it and I got it on video tape so I can have it forever. Anyway - we continued to listen and learn Queen songs and now he knows Radio Ga Ga, Bicycle Race, We Will Rock You and a few others. I quickly noticed that he has a musical ear like me....I love that. Music comes on the radio and he concentrates on it. A great example of this was yesterday. We were in the car and I put on 102.9 WMGK because they have Breakfast With the Beatles on every weekday morning. The song Hello, Goodbye came on and Elijah asked me to turn off the radio and turn on HIS music. I asked to wait a minute and listen to the song and he was quiet the rest of the time just listening. This morning in the car, he asked to hear "the Hello Goodbye song." DIRECT HIT!! He he. So...we listened to Breakfast With the Beatles again and started learning other songs like Two of Us and When I'm 64. I told Elijah that the Beatles were rock and roll and he gave me the Billy Idol sneer and shouted, "YEAH - and we like ROCK N ROLL!" He he. I taught him that face.

We are leaving for MEXICO on Sunday morning! A week in the sun culminates the following weekend with the wedding of Amy and Brett (Amy is Deb's sister for those not in the know). They are getting married on the beach and the best part is I am in the wedding and don't need to buy shoes!! I am going barefoot! This is SO Pam Anderson/Tommy Lee!! Maybe we will have to fight off the paparazzi too! Anyway - hopefully the Pam Anderson/Tommy Lee comparison ENDS with the ceremony and the happy couple does NOT take a video camera around with them afterwards. Ahem....

The house is coming along fine. Still a lot of clutter but its getting better every day. We are having the kitchen remodeled and are interviewing several companies for the job. We hope to have a new kitchen by March!!

That's the update for now. Some peeps are getting mad because I am not posting house pics. I don't understand it, but I am just not motivated to take pics of the house...strange but true. Maybe the urge will hit me soon. I am DEFINITELY taking before and after shots of the kitchen though.

Hope all is well with you!!! More after Mexico!!! Cheers!

2004

Happy New Year everyone!! 2004 has begun. I cannot belive it. Where did 2003 go? Where did 2002 and 2001 go, for that matter? Time continues to fly by and that only means we are having fun. As the final ticks of 2003 were happening, Deb said to me, "new house, new daughter, new job for me, new promotion at your job - pretty good year!" Damn. That IS a pretty good year..but then again - we've had a bunch of those in a row. We are on a roll.

I have not written in a few weeks...here's the update...

We moved as scheduled on the 15th and it was smooth sailing. Unpacking has continued since then and as of now, we are 90% moved in! Only the upstairs office remains packed. That is the project for this weekend. It's awesome!!

The big New Year's Bash was a huge success and they keep getting bigger and bigger!! We had well over 50 people in the house this time and there were a dozen kids running around and most of them made it to midnight! We had a great time with the Newleywed Game again and nearly broke up more marriages. I'm telling you - that game is BRUTAL - especially to those who can't laugh about certain things....

Anyway - on the 1st we had some old friends over and it was one of the best days I have had in years. Sandy was my best friend in high school and lives in Kentucky now with Judy and their three beautiful kids. They were visiting for the week and were at my house along with Gary and Nina and the girls and the Weinbergs came in later on. It was a phenominal day playing football in the new backyard and talking about old times....too deep and too much to talk about here but suffice to say - it was an amazing day. I have great friends.

Elijah's birthday party is FINALLY happening Sunday at the Aquarium. It got snowed out in December so we moved it. I still cannot believe he is 4 years old. He is so funny sometimes with things he says - STILL makes me laugh 3-4 times a day. Sometimes he falls down or trips on something and he jumps back up and says, "I'm OK Dad. It's OK. I'm fine." I love him. Hannah is wonderful too. She started sitting on her own without support last week and she LOVES it. She's moving a lot and is close to crawling already. Don't know if we are ready for that yet but its coming!

I really need to write more often. I've been reading the Deuce Daily's from a year ago and am amazed by how much information is forever archived because of that "diary". I don't want to forget things (which I often do) and this forum is perfect for my memoirs. So anyway - just thought I would say that in hopes I will stick to it.

So what's new with you?