Memorial Day Weekend

 

 

.....or, at least, one day of it, since last week it rained Monday THROUGH the following Sunday. But then, on Monday, we awoke to a gloriously bright day. And this is coming from someone who hates the sun. And summer. And warmth. And most things, actually....

 

 

We had a last minute kind of bbq thrown together.....Amanda and Emily had been talking about getting together, so she had asked the Edwards family to come by for a cookout type of thing. I smoked some sausages and we had some great salad....but, more importantly, we got to "Christen" the new picnic table Callum and I went to go pick up in the trailer #Callumsdream in Albion.....we put it in the back in a nice little cove-area place....

 

...and then, for dessert, we had brownies, which Emily made, and, of course, we had s'mores. We are getting to be good friends with a family down the street--the Carltons. Beth is like the assistant director at the technical center (vocational program) in Waterville, and Andy is the asst. principal at another high school nearby....they have two lovely little girls, and, now that Callum is friends with them and likes to ride his bike by their house all day long, we took advantage of the opportunity to see them on their porch and invited them over for smores as well. It ended up being a great time for all, as you can see from the pics.....

ALSO, this was historic because this was the first time Maira had ever roasted a marshmallow. She is so freakin cute I cant even stand it. You should have seen this child...I wish I took a video.....

.....a great kickoff to (hopefully) a great summer! Notice, also, how Callum has adorned the firepit....

Earlier that morning, we had taken a ride up to Pittsfield for a trip to Reny's, and Callum, in dire need of a new pair of 'rainboots,' was successful at finding 'fireman ones.' Also, notice his shirt emblazoned with lightning....he loves ALL things lightning now, since Lightning McQueen from CARS is his idol. And he wanted to get his pic taken with Abby eating smores.....

And is there anything more summertime/American than little kids riding bikes in driveways? This beckons me back to my childhood summer days, when my sister, me, the Shaws, the Goods, and the Gryniuks used to ride our bikes all day long....every day.....in driveways. Watching 'the next generation,' I have to admit, made me pause a little and notice....I got 'veclempt.' haha....

They had a BLAST, and they all took turns sharing scooters, bikes, etc. Callum was the 'policeman,' and he kept pulling over the girls on their bikes and scooters and physically 'writing' them out tickets....it was hilarious. And Emily, the oldest Carlton girl, has this pink scooter with an iPod docking station in it....Callum had A BLAST scootering around to....eh-hem....Justin Beiber, the soundtrack to The Lorax, and, somehow, Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady." #appropriate #jokesonjokes

A super duper day....here's to many more in the summer of 13

Happy Birthday Sally Piles

I also could have called this post "we need a new camera," because our camera sucks. Oh well....fuzzy pics...

So my wonderful Sally Piles turned 34 this past weekend, and the kids and I had a few surprises up our sleeve....

First of all, we got her a REAL bone china hand painted teacup. I know the Goldsmiths are only 34 years old, but we are really 89. And British. This is a reallllly nice cup that Callum picked out all by himself because of the pretty handpainted roses. No pic sorry. Come over and see it for yourself....

I asked the kids what they would want to MAKE mommy for her special birthday dinner....Callum initially said he wanted to MAKE her McDonalds. After I explained that you dont MAKE McDo (nalds, both he and Maira agreed that they wanted to make mommy (big shocker) fried shrimp and french fries. So that is what we had. And then we surprised mommy by having Lin and Gorge come over to join us for dinner! The cake, of course, was a surprise from Hillman's, because I DO NOT bake. Baking is for losers. llz.

I had tried to set up a surprise visit from Andrea and Michael....but they were busy and couldnt get up for a weekend visit. Hopefully we will see them soon. But I dont think they like coming here. Jk, even. But I did send Amanda down to Portland to have a wonderful day with ANdrea--they went to the art (and fart) museum, and then out to lunch at Demillo's, a Portland restaurant RIGHT on the water because it is on a boat! I hope she had a good time!

Then on Sunday, we were treated to brunch at the SN8TR for our birthdays. I got prime rib, even.

I hope Amanda had a great birthday.

The end.

Making the shrimp.....

 Singing the song.....

Calm before the storm....again

It seems as though I write one of these posts each and every year, but that is because each and every year I go through the same thing. A very very busy time of year. Here is what I have going on in this 'perfect storm' of Jaredness:

1. Teaching six classes of senior English (101 of them, btw, just turned in their term papers)
2. Being their senior class advisor (coordinating logistics of the catered banquet, graduation, thousands of dollars of cash, discipline crap, et al)
3. English Dept Chair (trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole with trying to make next year's schedule as they keep cutting teachers.....we are down, for example, basically a whole English teacher next year, and our classes keep getting bigger and bigger...which is bad news for everyone
4. Being elected class speaker (but I am writing a song as my speech instead....for the ninth year in a row!)
5. Chairing our church's Board For Missions and attending meetings and discussions on what to do with roughly 6K of money and how to distribute it best to help those in need....
6. Physical Therapy 3 times per week---still----as I continue to rehab my shoulder. I am, supposedly, nearing full range of motion...but it still hurts like a bugger....and I am still pretty weak...but it is getting better each and every day!
7. Tee Ball baby!!!! Heck Yeah
8. Trying to still be some sort of husband and father, because that is really what matters most. Corny but totally true. Life is a huge balancing act right now.....

So I am sorry if I dont call as much/have time to hang out (like anyone wants to hang out with me)/or appear to be in the best mood lately. So myeah.

On our about fifth straight day of rain....does anyone else but me notice how this same exact pattern has happened for the last three years now? Maybe it differs by a week or so, but each year at the end of May or so, we get a good week and a half or two of RAIN.

Oh, number nine would be stacking next year's firewood.

So this post is not meant to complain at all....on the contrary! I just want to look back in a few years and see what I was dealing with when!

Okay. It is #thursdaynighttakeout so I have to get g'ing

A visit from the Werths!

Hi all.

This all happened about two weeks ago now, and I am just getting around to documenting it! But Craig and Liz, our dear friends from UNH, paid us a visit on their way back from Mount Desert Island, where they were taking a quick weekend holiday before Craig's next 'tour' began in the Netherlands (Craig, for those who dont know, is a very well known singer/songwriter).). H

In the story of how Amanda and Jared became 'The Goldsmiths,' Craig is definitely the Oscar winner for 'best supporting actor.' He is one of the most formitive personalities in our lives, and, although we dont get to 'physically' see him a lot, when we do it is like we 'just left off' five minutes ago...
Amanda and I basically met  because of Craig; he hired us both to be tutor counselors at the Center For Academic Resources where we mentored other college students, etc.

Craig's been kicking butt with is music lately; he toured for about 4 years with Juno award winning performer David Francey, and now Craig is off doing his own thing, touring all over the place. He just put out a new album--a collaboration with his friend Guy--and it is called "Ten Miles Out" (called such in honor of the writer's conferences he attends on Star Island, one of the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth NH).

More than anything, we just LOVED having Craig and Liz get to see our kids. Craig had met Callum before, but not Maira. Both kids just adored Craig and Liz, and they especially loved the 'magnet tricks' Craig did. Furthermore, Craig has a small cadre of 'go to tricks' that he does with kids, one of them involving 'pulling' a rock out of the kid's ear....Amanda got a neat video of this that we will post on youtube soon. Stay tuned....

Two peas in a pod here, as Callum and Craig ham it up for the camera. Craig and Liz initially told us they were just 'passing through' on their way back to Newmarket NH...but, lucky for us, they took us up on our dinner invitation, so we got a good visit!

Craig and 'special lady.'

There were some other pictures, but the flash wasnt working, and they look like junk. Also, like I said, Amanda took some good videos that we will post later.

Craig was kind enough to give us a copy of TEN MILES OUT, and the album is just marvelous!! Deep, haunting, refreshing, and smart are adjectives I use to describe the writing on the album. "EZ Cash" is, currently, Callum and Maira's favorite song in the whole entire world....we listen to it....welll...a LOT. Check it out for yourself, as Craig plays it live on WSCA, a Portsmouth NH community radio station. The name of the show is called "Stay Tuned," and it is hosted by a great guy and proponent of the arts named Dave Henderson. He used to head up the Kennebunk Coffeehouse, a fantastic venue for live music where we saw the likes of Richie Havens and John Gorka (in addition to Craig Werth!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEWOa-QqCXs

Tim and Eleni II

 

 

Tim and Eleni had a traditional Greek band at their wedding, which was absolutely amazing (the 'band' and 'the wedding' #danglingmodifier #Englishteacherproblems). The singer, Sony Simos, agreed to pose with us at the end of the night. Tim had to assuage him in Greek that we were in fact not mocking him but, on the contrary, were huge fans! This guy has endurance like an American rock star, as most of these 'traditional ' Greek songs were about 20 minutes long. At any rate, the guy was amazing and people were throwing money at him all night. Just fantastic. 

 

 

One I didnt post yesterday: Tim and Eleni walking into the reception--the reception hall was called Cafe Escogrill (sp) and it was in Burlington! A very classy and good looking couple! They are gonna have really attractive Grabies for sure!

More of the Greek band... there was Sony on vocals, a drummer, keyboarder, bouzouki player, and a clarinet player. Normally I hate the clarinet...but this guy stole the show. Tim and Eleni also had a great fist song--You belong to me by Lenny Kravitz

The. Founding. Fathers. The first time we have all been together since October, when I fell down the stairs and poisoned my shoulder. Jawn deserves a lot of credit for continuing to make the trip out here--kid flies out a couple of times per year from Nevada...the other two idiots and myself really should return the favor sometime....

One of the most amazing traditions for us non-Greeks to watch was the 'showering of money' that transpired all. night. long. When Tim and Eleni had their first dance, Georgio, Tim's dad, came out and placed a few singles on Tim and Eleni's shoulders. This opened up the floodgates, as then person after person came out of the woodwork showering (and in many cases flat out THROWING) singles at Tim and Eleni. Zambonis had to be deployed a few times during the wedding to sweep all the money off the floor....haha....this is what the scene looked like at the end of the night, after things had been swept up half a dozen times already......it is very embarrassing to say that the only 'American' tradition we have is the freakin Chicken Dance....

Click on the link below to hear the first 'traditional' song Tim and Eleni danced too: This is a traditional Greek wedding song, and Sony Simos and his band blew the version in this video out of the water!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO8t-m_ncog

Tim and Eleni I

annnnnnd we are back....after having no internet at home for a week or so.....so much blogging to do.

We have been looking forward to Tim and Eleni's wedding for over a year....the weekend was so pumped up ahead of time, there was no way it could disappoint--and it did not.

I am conflicted as to if I should be my usual smartassed self and be all silly and goofy....orrrrrrrrrrrr if I should be sentimental for once....haha. I think I will go for the latter.

I am just so so blessed to have three solid, upright, loving and compassionate men call my best friends. Jezsin, Efth, and Jawn are truly like brothers, and getting to spend time with them is such a rich treat. I know I say this all the time, but it is true. Add in getting to bring AMANDA down for the fun...and getting Jenn in as well (we missed you Del!), and there was a whole other dynamic added. No kids either! Truly an unprecedented weekend!

The only black spot on the whole weekend was first Amanda--and then me--being sick. Amanda was throwing up all day on Friday...and then we drove to Jay's Friday night. On Saturday, I felt like death for most of the day. I felt 'okay' for the wedding....but definitely could not live up to the expectations laid before me to 'work the room' as I usually do....HAHA.

So many high points--pizza/wings/4 minutes of the Bruins on Friday....going to Savers with John and the wives on Saturday in search of cufflinks....pillaging Burlington Coat Factory and leaving with socks, bowties, almost a fedora, and other stuff...being carted around all weekend in Jawn Senior's posh Cadillac (with Klauss!)....watching my SaturdayMorningProphesy come to fruition as we all sat on Jay's deck and talked while Jay puttered around his yard with a stick because I have ADD and he doesnt #screwyouEfth....and, of course, a truly truly magnificent wedding of two magnificent people!

The amazing thing about these first two photos is that a) they were taken with our wives sitting 4 feet away at 10:30 in the morning and b) not one drop of alcohol was consumed to inspire us to do this. In the words of my former intern Kelsey, "I do what I do."

 
kind of like a really really 'wrong' Iwo Jima....

The inside of St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Lexington--the service was divinely beautiful. 95% of it was in Greek. Beautiful traditions like the exchanging and wearing of the crowns....most everything was in 'threes' to honor the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.....beautiful frescoes adorning the inside of the sancutaryakas.

True to form for what we know of Tim, he 'boycotted' conventionality and ditched the limo for a Porsche 911 (?) convertible. High Class. Smooth. Awesome. The new Kotsiopolous family left the church with the top down and drove over to the hall. I have a feeling Tim stopped at Buffalo Wyld Wyngs first though....

The stunning Mr and Mrs Jezsin Ponticelli. It was great for me (AND AMANDA!!) to get to spend time with Janive! We had a great time and Janive and Sally really enjoyed their time. Thanks for your kind hospitality Jenn!!

Missing Del for sure....but I know we are soulmates Del and we will meet together under a grapefuit moon.... I've got some good looking buddies huh? And Amanda looked STUNNING. Wowza, I kept saying. I think it was the lipstick. Haha. And the new shoes she picked up while shoppin with Jenn in the "Woon."

So many more pictures and things about which to blog. See ya soon

Killim's Tea Buoll

 

 

 

Callum started tee ball last week--he is on the BLUE JAYS and he is number 5 #shadesofNomar. He has practices each Tuesday and 'games' each Thursday. There are four teams: The Jays, the Rays, the Rockies and the Red Sox. He LOVES it and we are so proud of him!!!

 

With his lucky Phillies hat.....

 

They practice at the Alfond Center in Waterville (right beside the great North Street Playground. Actually, if you blow this picture up, you can see Thayer Hospital (where Killim and Mara were bornded) in the byackground.....

But here is Callum listening very carefully to directions the coach gave the team before they did 'ground ball drills'

....going through ground ball drills....assuming the position needed to field the ground balls the coaches threw at the kids...Callum, as you can see, took the "crouch down to field the ball" directions a little too much to heart.....haha

We really love this picture because it shows just how much Callum pays attention to directions; Callum does a really really good job at respecting people in authority over him--in school, in Sunday school, in t-ball, and more! Surpring as it might be to believe (because Callum is a such a quiet and sensitive kid), he brings a lot of intensity, focus, and aggression to tball...I know that might sound crazy, but it is true!

Does YOUR t-ball field have two waterslides next door to it? Ha Ha....

...chasing after grounders or  popups or something....as I cheer him on!

More fireparty stuff and such as and such and such

 

 



Another gorgeous day in Maine....it has been unusually dry, actually...no rain for a long time (about a week) and very very mild temps in the 70s! After this miserably cold (which I LOOOOOVE) winter, it is actually nice--even for me--to have some warm weather. I rode my bike to school today for the first time since the fall...I am 'cleared' to ride my bike now. I can also do 5 pushups at a time...and I even did 3 pullups yesterday!! Still doing PT three times per week....and I need it. One of those days is usually a VERY deep tissue massage on the trigger points of my lats and other back muscles, which have calcified on top from disuse (is that a word?) The massage feels very crunchy. Seriously.

 

Since I started PT about a month ago, I have gained about 40 degrees in my range of motion up and down AND abduction. I am very close to full range of motion actually. Still in some pain though! But making progress each and every day! Lifting dumbells...doing stretches....and working hard!

 

Callum had his first ever tball game tonight! He loves it loves it loves it, and I will post more on that tomorrow...I will include some pics of this!!

 

Here are just a few more pics of Jackson's firetruck party....

 

The firetruck parked in the driveway.....

Fireman Brandon also brought some legit fireman gear that Callum was dying to try! I think he needs to eat more protein and gain 5 or 6 more pounds before he fits into this though....

Going for a ride with mommy! He would have NEVER done this even a MONTH ago!! A huge step for him!!

And here is Ms Maira and her best friend Kim as THEY prepare, in their jumpseats, for a great ride in the firetruck! The guy actually took them on about a 15 minute ride! Pretty cool. I did NOT go on a ride. I just didnt see any enjoyment to be had in this situation. At all. Loud. Metal. No thanks. I spent enough time with the SEALS in small metal places. All set.

OH MY GOSH!!! LET'S SPRAY A HOSE!!!!! YES!!!! File this under the #thingsthatseemedcoolerbeforeyoudidthem heading. The kids knew they would get to spray the fireman hose...each kid got to stand, for about two minutes, and hold the hose. FiremanBrandon just sat there and watched kids spray water. I think he hates his life....hahaha. And, now, Uncle Anthony has a huge mud bowl in his yard and he is hosting lollapalooza next week!

But one of the best parts of the weekend was just seeing family I dont often get to see....here I am hanging out with Bob, Hank, Babs, and Joanne, in a rare moment where the four werent talking about health insurance....