For over three years now, I’ve been razzed and quizzed about Disney Princesses. To my credit, I now know most of them, though occasionally I mix up a couple names. I won’t lie, I’m pretty proud of the fact that I do know most of them and that I can have a “princess” conversation with Ella. Today, however, a new wrench was thrown into the works – in the form of My Little Pony.
Sam and I are not sure where she came to know about My Little Pony. It may have been something that she watched at Nana’s house. The conversation stemmed from a juice that Sam bought her at the store today. It was one of those bottles with the character heads on the top of it. She asked Sam what the character was, and Sam told her she wasn’t sure.
As the conversation continued, it became very clear that she knew many of the characters by name. Sam grabbed her phone and looked up My Little Pony Characters and started saying the names. The more names Sam threw out, the more I chuckled. There was Pinkie Pie, Cozy Glow, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Jack, just to name a few. When my wife said, “Scootaloo,” I laughed out loud at how ridiculous these names were. By the way, we soon found out the character on her bottle was Rainbow Dash.
So Ella is a fan of this My Little Pony. The new challenge for me will be knowing them all. How many are there? I had no idea. It can’t be that many, right? WRONG! I looked it up! According to a site called “The My Little Pony Trading Post,” it depends on if you want to count all the various series, versions, and re-issues. From what I gathered, there are somewhere between 300-1500 different My Little Ponies.
God help me try to remember the names of those things!!!
Every now and then, I have to blog a story just so I won’t forget it. This is one of those times.
We have one of those inflatable pools for the kids. You know the ones I’m talking about? They kind of look like this:
Ours is a bit bigger than the one above. We only fill it half way, but the kids just love it.
Over the weekend, I was out weed whacking the yard before mowing. It was already pretty hot outside. The kids were outside, too and decided to just jump in. Sam was outside with them and just let them play in there with their clothes on. The issue was that Ella was still in a Pull up and Andrew was in a diaper. Well, you know what those diapers do when they get wet!
At some point both the Pull Up and the diaper had absorbed about all the water they could. Sam had the kids take off their clothes and they wound back in the pool naked. As I passed the pool on my way back out to the backyard I said, “Don’t poop in the pool,” and continued the yard work.
It wasn’t long and Sam called to me. “Come here! Andrew wants to show you something.” As I came around the garage, I saw Andrew standing on the driveway. It took me a minute to realize that my son is smarter than I thought. He didn’t poop in the pool. Instead, he chose to poop on the driveway.
Many readers know I work in Sleep Medicine. Every year there is a sleep conference in Detroit that we try to go to to earn our Continuing Education Units to keep our registry. That conference was last week.
Sam and I drove down to Detroit early Thursday afternoon. (The kids got a sleepover at Nana’s house.) The conference took place at one of the casinos. When we checked in, they asked if we wanted an upper or lower floor (we chose upper) and whether we wanted a city or river view (we chose river). It was a nice view!
After speakers were done on the first night, Sam and I went to a small mixer where guests could have a drink together. We hung out with a couple of my coworkers and folks who graduated from the same sleep program. They had raffles while we were there and Sam won a Tim Hortons gift card. My coworker won a $100 Amazon card.
We went up to our room and we were exhausted, but hungry. We decided to order room service ($$$$$). She ordered nachos and I got a burger. When it arrived, it was apparent that we should have just shared the nachos because it was HUGE!!
After the conference on Friday, we had hoped to go out to a nice dinner. Because room service was SO expensive, we decided to get something on the way home. After getting the kids from Nana’s, we ordered pizza and brought it home.
Just a side note: As parents, you can’t wait to get a night or two alone and away from the kids. Of course, when you do, you can’t stop thinking about them and are overjoyed when you see them again!
Clubs
My son, Dimitri, turned 16 on Sunday. I told him I wanted to take him out golfing. It’s something he and I have never done together and I knew it would be a good time for us to connect and chat. We decided to go Saturday morning, and the weather was perfect.
I haven’t been on a course in at least 3-4 years. I knew I was gonna really golf badly. He hasn’t been out in at least a year, since leaving the golf club at school. Thank goodness it was a slow day in the course.
I hate when you’ve always got someone waiting for you to tee off or shoot. I realize it’s part of the game, but I always feel rushed and often just want to hit so we can go. Dimitri and I were far from professionals out there, so it did take us a bit longer than usual. We finally let the twosome behind us play through.
He is like me in that he has his favorite clubs. He rarely uses his driver, but he can crush a ball with his 5 wood. I have a 7 wood that I used to hit well, but topped it every time Saturday. I had a few good drives, just enough to keep me coming back.
We bent the rules a little bit, and had plenty of mulligans (redos), and impost probably a dozen balls in the woods and water. Despite all of that, it was a great time together. He, naturally, beat me by two strokes. I can’t wait to do it again.
Croup
Sam called me while I was out golfing and said that both kids sounded sick. Both had low grade fevers and a cough. By the time I got home, Ella was sounding better after taking some allergy meds. Andrew’s fever was gone but still had a cough and that raspy voice.
Sam wondered if we should take him to urgent care or ER. Everyone we talked to said wait to see how he was in the morning.
That night at bedtime he cried a lot. He wound up in our bed. He woke us up with a nasty cough and wheezing about 3am. He fell right back to sleep, but it was enough to freak us out a bit.
At 6am he woke up sounding worse, so we rushed him to ER. Nana met us there and brought Ella back to her house. We planned to be there a while and Sam packed loads of snacks just in case.
They got us right back and he was seen almost immediately. We weren’t sure what to expect because we were there right at shift change. However, once we were in our room, the nurse came in, followed by the doc. Once the examination was done, she told us it was croup and she gave him a steroid and told us he should be back to normal in a couple days.
How fast were they? Well, we had finished with the nurse and the doctor AND the meds were administered all before the registration gal came to our room! We actually had to wait to get registered before we could leave! Total ER time – about 70 minutes.
Ella decided she wanted to have a sleepover again at Nana’s, so when Sam left for work last night it was just me and Andrew. He really improved throughout the day. Before bed, we stood on the porch and watched the thunderstorm together.
Andrew is still sleeping and Ella should be home later today. The house should return to it’s normal chaotic state shortly after her arrival.
Yesterday was the first day of summer and my family is certainly ready for it! We got an early start a few weeks ago with our day trip to the beach in Caseville, MI. At home, we’ve got the big sprinkler that looks like a fire hydrant and a blow up pool in the yard for the kids.
This week, my wife bought the kids a rollercoaster for the back yard. Ok, it is hardly a roller coaster, but the kids do love it. There is a unicorn that they sit on and it slides down a track. They love it!
It’s the perfect size for Andrew and by the look on her face in the next photo, Ella loves it too!
Once they get to the end, they take the unicorn back up and do it again. It’s fun to watch them!
Pass the sunscreen – these two are ready for a lot of summer sunshine!
Now, as far as the new kitty is concerned …. it looks like he’s packed his bags and is read to go somewhere ….
I found out at 3:40am that Mowgli, the new kitten, has quite a loud “meow!” I tried to go back to sleep, but for some reason, I was not able to. So I put on a pot of coffee and grabbed my book.
Sam got home from work and had the kids meet her out at the car, where she had my gift. They kids got me a #1 Dad shirt and a Super Dad baseball hat.
Ella had asked Sam to make sure I had a cake for Father’s Day. So she picked it up on her way home. When they handed it to her, there was no writing on it. She reminded the clerk that it was supposed to say “Happy Father’s Day” on it. The clerk, who obviously has NEVER written on a cake before, took it back and wrote on it.
Sam saw it, and before she could say anything the clerk said thank you and walked away. Sam took it to the register. The cashier looked at it and asked “Uh, did the bakery write that?!” Sam assured the cashier that they did, to which she said, “…and …. Are you SURE you still want it?!”
“Yes. Yes, I do,” Sam replied.
She must have known it would make my day. I laughed for like 30 minutes. I mean, look at it! Ella or Andrew could have written better! It’s almost like it was a joke – the mixture of upper and lower case letters, “Father” instead of “Father’s,” it is hilarious!! Let me say before moving on that the cake was delicious!
The rest of the day was pretty low key. I put Andrew down for his nap and Ella and I sat on the couch and (no surprise) I actually fell asleep as we watched TV.
I woke up startled and a bit freaked out because I was supposed to start dinner. Luckily, I finished up lasagna just in time for Sam to be able to take some to work.
My oldest son, Dante’, called Saturday to tell me he was working on Father’s Day, and wanted to know if we could get together Monday. We planned to meet at a park and have a pizza picnic.
I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it was to spend time with all four of my kids. It was a joy to see Dante’and Dimitri running with Andrew and Ella! They played tag, went down the slides together and we all got to take a walk together.
Watching them all interact made my heart burst with love. It was like they saw each other all the time. They ran, sang and laughed together and it was the highlight of the weekend.
So many little moments made me smile: My 21 and 16 year old sons going down the slide made me chuckle. (I even went down once!).
Dante’ holding Andrew so that he could slide on the “zip line” thingy.
Ella running up to Dimitri and holding his hand as we walked.
Beaming with pride as I watched all four walking in front of me.
The last time they were all together was at Christmas time. I took advantage of having them together so I could get pictures.
I even bugged a lady to get one of me with all of them.
Knowing we were past nap time, we wrapped up our time together. Ella and Andrew both napped in the car on the way home and I just drove around so they could snooze.
It was a day of wonderful memories. It was also a day that reminded me just how lucky I am to be their dad (A loveable one, according to Ella and Andrew’s card…).
Thank you, Dante’, Dimitri, Ella and Andrew for making your dad feel so special! I love you guys more than you will ever know!!
On the old Soupy Sales show, one of the easiest way to set up a joke was to have someone come banging on his door. One of my favorite lines (that no one else finds funny) goes like this:
(Door Knocking)
(Soupy opens the door) “Yes?”
(Man at door) “Well, I guess you don’t like cats!”
(Soupy) “I don’t like cats? That’d ridiculous! Dizzy Gillespie is a good friend of mine!”
I wasn’t always a cat person. My brother and I always had dogs growing up. When I moved to Ludington in 1991, I was living alone and someone suggested I get a kitten to keep me company. From that moment on, it seems I have always had a cat around the house.
When I was living in Flint, there were stray cats galore in our neighborhood. Each neighbor had a different name for the same cat. Ralphie for us, was Boots for our next door neighbor, or Stanley for our neighbor across the street.
Larry was my cat from Ludington. My dad disliked cats, so when I moved home, he went to stay with my brother. Over the years there was Callie, Frankie, Tigger, Moe, and Lorenzo (who still lives with my older sons.)
Maizey has lived with us for about 3 or 4 years. Originally, she was supposed to be my wife’s cat, but I think she stays by me more. When I go to bed, she jumps up and wants me to pet her. She will often jump up on my lap on mornings I get up before the kids. I will have a cup of coffee next to me, a book or my phone, and Maizey purring away.
So why all this talk about felines? Recently, Sam said she felt like Maizey needed a friend. She felt like she was lonely. She said that she doesn’t really come out as much as she used to. I reminded her that it was probably because Ella and Andrew tend to chase her around or try to grab her tail!
So for a little over a month now, Sam will occasionally show me pictures of kittens that Facebook friends are selling or giving away. I did not think that she was serious about getting Maizey a friend, but I was obviously wrong. Today, we welcomed a new kitty to the house.
Say hello to Mowgli! Sam wanted to name him Bear, because she says he reminded her of a bear. When Sam asked Ella what we should name him – Mowgli came out of nowhere. I can’t tell you the last time she watched Jungle Book, listened to the story or read the book, so I don’t know what made her think of it. She seems pretty sure that Mowgli was the name – so it is. I suggested to Sam that maybe Bear could be his middle name!
My wife and I had just started dating and she told me she bought me a shirt. She swore that I would “love it.” When it arrived, she immediately made me put it on.
My first thought was that I was never going to wear it! I eventually caved and began wearing it around the house. For whatever it is worth, I still have it and it is a very comfy shirt. I don’t wear it in public, but I do wear it. Many times I have to fight my wife for it, as she loves to wear it, too. It has seen better days, and my wife probably needs to buy me a new one.
If I didn’t tell you already, my wife loves the Golden Girls. I wasn’t a huge fan, but watched an episode or two and always felt like Sophia was just like my Italian grandma!
This week, she sends me a text with a photo asking if we could go to a show. It’s a Golden Girls show. I don’t know anything about it, except it is coming close to us a couple times.
My wife and I don’t get date nights too often, so I got us tickets. I looked her in the eye today and said, “So if going to this Golden Girls show doesn’t prove that I love you ….” Before I could get any further she interrupted me and said, “Hey! I went to that stupid Three Stooges Festival with you, remember?!”
When Sam and I got married, a friend gave us two hand towels like the ones pictured above. Ours said, “Mr. Right” and “Mrs. Always Right!” In the years that we’ve been together, the only time Sam and I have ever “matched” was when we bought a ridiculous pair of Christmas pajamas!
After that, we tried to “match” for family pictures, but even then, it was usually just matching colors. It wasn’t like we have ever bought the same shirts or anything like that!
That all stopped I suppose when Sam went shoe shopping. There is a Hey Dude’s place near us and she kept talking about wanting a pair. She found some she liked and said I should get some. They look like what some people call “boat shoes” to me. Every time I have ever tried a pair of those style shoes, they would give me blisters, so I didn’t even want to try them. She talked me into to trying a pair and they were very comfortable.
We joked about having matching shoes and how we were slowly becoming “that” couple. Well, I can tell you that as of today, we ARE “that” couple. Let me explain.
Remember yesterday that I mentioned that we bought a new car? She had been looking at a Chevy Equinox for herself in the future. For me, we were looking at a Chevy Trax. In a nutshell, we sat in one that was sold. Then one became available and we drove it, loved it and bought it. On the way home with it Sam commented that she liked it.
Well, the guy from the car dealer called Sam yesterday. We hadn’t planned on doing anything for her for a couple months. He asked, “How set are you on an Equinox?” She said she really wasn’t set on anything. He asked how I liked my Trax, and she told him that we both liked it. He then informed her that the orange Trax we were only able to sit in was suddenly available.
It took just a couple hours to work out a deal and now, even though the colors are different, we have matching cars!
Sam’s has a few more bells and whistles than mine, but that’s ok. She deserves to ride like a queen!
No, I wasn’t on the Price is Right. No, I didn’t win a new car. However, here is a story of how everything kind of fell into place.
The Hyundai (The Goose Mobile) I have been driving was closing in on 200,000 miles. It was almost time to get new tires and put brakes on again. So, Sam and I had been talking about looking at cars that would get good gas mileage because of how far I drive to work.
We made an appointment to go to the dealer to see a friend of hers to just run numbers and look at cars. We also wanted to get the Goose Mobile appraised. We had a vehicle or two in mind that we knew did good on gas and would probably get us into a lower car payment.
We had been looking at Chevy Malibu’s or the Chevy Trax. Sam’s friend, Mark, told us that there was a Trax we could look at, but it was already sold. We wanted to see just how much room was in it, trunk space, back seat space, etc… I was surprised at how much room was in it, especially since it doesn’t really look that big.
Sam was also interested in the Chevy Equinox. Once Andrew is sitting facing the front in his car seat, Sam would like to get into one of those. There was a Demo on the lot, which was priced right, but the color was, what Sam called, “Baby Poop Brown.” HA!
As we were getting ready to look at some other cars, someone yelled to Mark that a Trax, which was supposed to be sold, was suddenly available. So he grabbed the keys and let me take it for a spin.
I really wanted to dislike it, but I didn’t! I really was impressed with it. I offered Sam a chance to drive it, but she said she didn’t need to. She said it handled well, which it does. When we got back from the test drive, they told us our appraisal on the Hyundai and gave us the rough estimate of the new car payment. It was significantly lower than what we are paying now, and Sam said to write it up.
We had hoped to get it financed through the credit union that we already have out van loan through, but they wanted a crap ton of money down. That kind of ticked me off a bit. We already have a loan through you, and have never missed a payment. Why would you not want to help out one of your members?! Oh well. Their loss.
When I called the insurance company to switch the insurance, they asked me what year the car was and both Sam and I were surprised that it was a 2024 model! I think we both assumed that it was a 22 or 23.
It was obvious that we hadn’t planned on buying a vehicle while we were there. I had the huge double stroller still in the car from our trip to the zoo and I hadn’t really cleaned the car out at all. Luckily, the stroller fit in the back with the car seats and the rest of the stuff I had to take out of the Hyundai.
It was one of those things where everything lined up and fell into place. As a bonus, I ran into my friend Christine, who does all the marketing for the dealership. She and I met 10+ years ago when the dealer hosted their first classic car show. My other friend, Mark, was there working in the finance department. He went on the air with me when we were promoting that first car show and it was great to see him.
The way they worked everything for us, they have customers for life! I had to work tonight, so I cannot thank them enough for all they did to make things happen in a hurry today.
Tuesday was my wife’s birthday. She wanted to take the kids to the Detroit Zoo. It was the perfect day! The temperatures were in the mid-70’s and the sun was shining. We got to see all the animals that we hoped to see and the kids (and us) had a blast!
You may remember that Sam’s favorite animals are penguins. When we were married in Florida, we paid extra to actually see, and hold a penguin. She was especially excited to go to the zoo because the new penguin exhibit was now open. It didn’t disappoint.
They were really active Tuesday. There is a part of the exhibit where you can actually watch them swim around you. It was a very cool thing. The kids loved it.
Sam wanted to get something “penguin” for herself for her birthday. She was thinking of a stuffed penguin or maybe a t-shirt. We planned on stopping back there on the way out (the penguin exhibit has its own gift shop).
I got to see my favorite animal as well – the otters. They were also active and swimming around where we could see them. I could be wrong but before we even went inside, Andrew showed me that he liked otters, too!
We got to see the zebras, giraffes, rhinos, and monkeys. As a matter of fact, the line of the day came from Ella when she saw this one:
She said, and I quote, “That monkey’s butt is really red, mommy! He needs some diaper cream on that!”
The reptile house is always neat because the alligators are in there with a lot of other animals, but it is always hot as blazes! The kids really loved that this huge turtle was swimming in front of them!
After being there for some time, Ella said she was ready to go home. We started our way back to the penguin exhibit to get Sam her birthday prize. Now let me tell you something about my wife. It is never about her. She is the most unselfish person I have ever met. As we were walking back to the exhibit, Ella said she wanted to have her face painted. Without thinking twice, she said she didn’t need to get anything and got Ella her face painted.
She wanted to be a butterfly and the look on her face when she finally saw the finished product was one of the best moments of the day.
My dad lives close by, so we stopped to say hello. Sam’s car was in the shop getting new tires put on, so we couldn’t stay long. The kids were happy to see my dad and he was equally happy to see them (even though we woke him up from a nap). Naturally, they had to go and bang on the keyboard in his music room.
We got the the tire place just in time and picked up her car. Once we were home, we finally got to grab dinner and sing happy birthday to Sam. She loves red velvet cake, so Ella, Andrew and I baked one for her! It came out better than I could have imagined. Bonus – no egg shells fell in the batter!
By the end of the day, Sam was exhausted. You see, she worked the night before and we literally left for the zoo after she got home. Even though it was her birthday, it was more of a day for the kids and it was an amazing time for all of us!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 