Decade Day

Nolan joined the Double Digits Club today. Where the heck have the last 10 years gone?

In the blink of an eye, this little baby we brought into the world is now a 10-year-old kid about to go into the fifth grade. In another of those blinks will he really be 20 and in college? Hard to fathom!

As is often the case with our kids, the celebration was stretched out over a few days. It started back on July 4 with our first trip to the new Yankee Stadium. The tickets were actually a Christmas gift from Kris’ folks, but we decided to time our trip close to his birthday and bought him an extra souvenir while we were there.

Last night we took him out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice. He picked Red Robin.

Tonight we had dinner with my mom and his cousin Louis. Nolan requested a Boston cream pie for his cake.

I think he had a good day today. When he was going to bed he asked how much older I was. When I told him I had 28 years on him Nolan remarked that he had a lot to do before he reached that age -- middle school, high school, college, finding a job. I advised him to just take life one day at a time.

That’s how we’ve done things so far. Day 1 of the next decade starts tomorrow.

I want my baby back ribs

Nolan's assignment in class was to write a persuasive argument. Here's what he came up with...

Ribs Not Turkey

By: NOLAN ROONEY

If you like turkey, this should be a bad story for you. If you like ribs, this should be a perfect story for you

First of all, ribs can have barbecue sauce (BBQ) and turkey doesn’t. Everything is good with barbecue sauce. That’s my first reason why you should have ribs not turkey.

Ribs are from pigs and pigs have really good food. So, try eating more pig not turkey, ok? If you check, pigs have more meat than turkey. Everyone loves meat. That’s my second reason why you should have ribs not turkey.

Ribs really taste good, and it’s even my favorite food. The secret is barbecue sauce (Explained in second paragraph). Another way to make them taste good is to cook them on the grill. That’s my third reason to have ribs not turkey.

A lot of people love turkey because it is traditional and healthy, but ribs are better.

Kris e-mailed this to me when he came home from school and I laughed out loud.

When I got home I told him he made a very good case...but we're still having turkey.

Derby Day

Another Pinewood Derby has come and gone.

I'm super proud of Nolan's performance this year. For starters, this was his most detailed design so far. Also, each year he does more and more of the work himself. He did a lot of the cutting and sanding on his own this year -- and I think it came out great.

The maximum weight for a Pinewood Derby car is 5 oz. With some tinkering -- and bit of luck -- we were abble to get it to be exactly 5 oz. That, combined with some other design tricks we had up our sleeve, had us hoping for a strong finish.

He won three of the six heats his car raced in. But in the end he placed eighth overall (out of 25 cars). He was hoping to be closer to the top, but still I was very impressed he made it into the top 10.

The scouts also get to vote on which cars they like in various categories. He had his heart set on winning the "Most Scout-Like" award. Unfortunately, he placed a close second in the voting.

So he was pretty disappointed in not coming home with a big trophy for speed or design. But Kris and I were still very proud. He seems to be over it today and is already talking about next year's race!

Big air

Nolan gets a kick out watching skateboarders and other extreme sports. So it's no surprise I caught him watching the X Games last night on ESPN.

I sat down with him and we watched some guys doing BMX stunts.

Then this morning while at the Y I caught some skateboarding highlights and knew he'd love to see it. So tonight we found these highlights of the "mega ramp," which he thought was "wicked cool."

Although it's fun to watch, there is no question these guys must be a little crazy.

Change of plans

Remember that plan to go to Six Flags New England? Yeah, well, that didn't work out so much.

We got up this morning and checked the weather for Agawam, Mass. and realized it was supposed to raining there all day. So we shifted gears and went to the Great Escape instead, despite the fact we've already been there three or four times this summer.

But you know what? We had the best time! Every time we go we still find new things to do. Each trip is a new experience. These season passes we have are the best deal ever. (Thanks again Mom & Dad Chase!)

We brought Nolan's friend Evan with us and spent the first half of the day in the water park. We had a blast on the Mega Wedgie and the Tornado. Then while everyone else went off to the Lumberjack Splash Wave Pool, I slipped off on my own to tackle the Comet.

After a break for lunch we hit some more rides and worked in a stop a McDonald's for dinner on the way home. It was our longest day at the Great Escape yet and there are still some more rides we still haven't done. There's always a next time...

When we got home, there was one more package waiting for Nolan at the door (thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Bonnie). And that brought Nolan's birthday weekend to a conclusion.

Birthday and baseball

I think Nolan really enjoyed his eighth birthday yesterday. We kept things fairly low-key this year. He didn't have a big party.

When he woke up, the day began with the special breakfast he picked out for his birthday -- Chocolate Honey Combs. Then we let him dive into presents.

Later in the morning we took him shopping to blow some of his money on a game for his DS. Counting that, he got two new DS games. So since it was his birthday we caved and let him have extra video game time.

We spent time outdoors too, with a couple of rounds of catch out in the front yard.

His friend Dan came over for pizza and cake. Then we all went to see a Tri-City ValleyCats game. We all rooted for the ValleyCats -- even though they were playing the Staten Island Yankees. The Cats lost to the Yankees 4-3.

But we all had a good time anyway. For Kris and Thomas, it was their first trip to a game at the Joe. Thomas got to stay up way past his bedtime. As for Nolan, he got his birthday announced on the scoreboard and was invited to join a group of kids singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" down on the field during the 7th Inning Stretch (see more photos on the Rooney Train).

Afterward Dan came home with us for a sleepover.

Tomorrow we're taking another of Nolan's friends with us to Six Flags New England for the day. We'll give you an upate later on how that goes.

Season finale

Another baseball season is in the books. These shots were from Nolan's last game on Saturday. I love the look on his face as he gets ready for a ground ball coming toward him.

Angels in the Outfield

Nolan (and his whole team for that matter) played one of his best games tonight.

He made two outs at the plate as catcher in the first inning, one at first base in the third and he assisted with an out at second base while playing right field in the fourth inning.

Batting he went four for four, with a double (the most you're allowed in Single A) and three singles. It was his first ever double. When Kris congratulated him, he made sure to point out to her that it was his first "career" double.

Here's the crazy thing. When I arrived at the game (I was running late unfortunately) I noticed there was a C-130 circling overhead. Every time I see one of the ski birds from the Stratton Air National Guard Base I can't help but think of dad. So I smiled and thought to myself that it's going to be a good game.

And it was a great game -- with that C-130 up above for what seemed like most of it. A part of me can't help but think that meant Nolan's pop was looking down on him.

Ebert, Roeper & Nolan

Nolan thought "Speed Racer" was the best movie EVER! As promised, here's his brief review...

What a week

I had a crazy-busy week last week, but it was all well worth it.

It started with attending a pizza party to mark the end of Nolan’s basketball clinic. The coach called each kid up one-by-one and presented them with a T-shirt. Nolan really enjoyed it the clinic and looked pretty pleased to shake the coach’s hand and accept his shirt.

I didn’t mention before that he won a foul shot contest a few weeks ago when he sank seven out of 15 shots – more than any other second grader. He’s got another trophy on his shelf now to show for his efforts.

I was up late most nights last week editing Cub Scout videos. The first was for a report on the Cub Scouts that Nolan had to give in class (see below). I think he recruited some new members in the process. The second was the end-of-the-year video for the Pack that was shown at Sunday’s Blue & Gold Dinner (Nolan was awarded his Wolf badge and officially became a Bear).

You can read more about basketball and the Blue & Gold and see some photos on the Rooney Train.

The Blue & Gold was on Sunday. But on Saturday, I attended a dinner in Albany for alumni of the communication department at SUNY Plattsburgh (see photo above). It was great to see old friends and some old professors – although I was the sole representative of the Class of 1994. We had a good time and I hope this becomes an annual event. I've uploaded more photos from the dinner to Facebook.

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

As much as I've been carrying on about "Indiana Jones," "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight," the movie Nolan is really anxious to see is "Speed Racer."

He's never seen the old cartoon and knew next to nothing about the show. But once he saw the trailer, he was hooked. He thought it looked like his "Hot Wheels" video game brought to life (and I admit, it's on my want-to-see list too).

This past week there was a book fair at his school and he was quite excited to buy a "Speed Racer" book.

So far I've resisted the temptation to tell him who Racer X is. Why spoil the surprise? He'll enjoy discovering that on his own.

Bummer

I was supposed to bring Nolan and his friend Danny to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight at the Times Union Center. Mother Nature had other ideas.

We had such a great time seeing the Globetrotters last year. Nolan was really excited to see them again.

Kris started bringing the kids out to meet me at work, but called from the road to say how bad the driving was thanks to the snow storm we were in the middle of. She wound up turning around and heading back home.

Nolan was very disappointed (I was too). But we're going to try to come up something else cool to do with Danny.

Say cheese

Last weekend our church had a pancake breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus. We forgot our camera, but our friend Tina was kind enough to snap this and pass it on.

This picture of Nolan cracks me up because that teeth-gritting smile reminds me so much of my dad. Lately, whenever Nolan poses for a photo, this is how his smile comes out. It’s the exact smile my dad had in every driver’s license or photo ID he ever had.

Obviously, some sort of weird smile gene has been passed down.

A Night With Frog and Toad

Nolan has been waiting for today for a while now. Right now, he and Kris are at Proctor’s to see a production of “A Year with Frog and Toad.”

Nolan loves Frog and Toad. When he was a baby a friend of Kris' family gave us “The Frog and Toad Treasury,” which includes three of the Frog and Toad books. It sat on a shelf for several years until he got into first grade last year and his reading really took off. He picked it up one day and could not put it down. It was the first book he ever read on his own and really, truly loved.

Since then he’s been an avid reader and has read lots and lots of books. But I believe he’ll always have a special place for Frog and Toad.

So when we heard this Broadway version of Frog and Toad was coming to town, we knew he’d love it. He’s been excited ever since Kris surprised him with the tickets last week.

I’m anxious to get his review of the show.



By the way, Arnold Lobel, the man who wrote and illustrated the Frog and Toad books in the 1970s was from Schenectady!

UPDATE: Nolan loved the show! Kris says he laughed through the whole thing and it sounds like all of his favorite parts from the books were in there. I'm really glad he got to go.

First down

I took Nolan to see his first football game tonight at the high school. Colonie clobbered Niskayuna. It was 34-0 when we left in the third quarter.

But he still had a good time. It was all very exciting for him. And it helped that he bumped into a few classmates and that a local car dealership was handing out free mini footballs.

Also, Time Warner Cable was carrying the game live. So Kris got to see us on TV during one of the crowd shots.

I should also add that it was a little strange seeing all of the people wearing shorts and T-shirts to a nighttime football game in October. But I'm not complaining!

Go have fun...or else!

As PLANET3RRY points out, Nolan's note to his mom sounds very familiar...

From 6/21/90


From 6/22/90

The summer blahs

We’re just over a week into summer vacation and so far Kris has managed to keep the kids pretty busy. They’re taking swim lessons this week, visited a farmers’ market today and have had a few other outings here and there.

However, there is always some down time, like this afternoon. With Thomas in his room for his afternoon quiet time and nothing else planned, Kris insisted that Nolan go outside to play.

But he didn’t want to. He probably wanted to A) bury his nose in a book, B) play video games or C) mope around and complain that there was nothing to do despite the fact his mom had given several good ideas.

Sometimes Kris has been known to pretty much force the kids to go out and play for their own good, and that’s what she did today. She brought Nolan outside with her.

But then he announced he needed something and disappeared back into the house. A short time later he returned and said, “Mom, there’s note on the stairs,” -- as if to say “Wow, where did that come from?”

Kris went to see this note, and this is what it said:

Dear Mom, I do not like going outside. Love, Nolan

Needless to say, we thought that was pretty funny. The note is now hanging on the bulletin board and will probably wind up in a scrapbook.

As for Nolan…he still had to play outside.

Summer kick off

Kris and the kids celebrated the end of school and kicked off summer the other day with a trip to Hoffman's Playland with the Brownells.

As Kris mentioned before, Thomas' pre-school class and the first grade at Nolan's school put on some end of the year concerts in the last couple of weeks.

Nolan's class also recently went on a field trip to the State Museum.

In addition all of that, we had Father's Day last weekend (which was very nice). The next day there was a Father's Day picnic at Nolan's school that included a kickball game for all of the dad's and kids.

Prior to Father's Day, on Saturday, I took the kids and a friend of Thomas' to see "Shrek the Third" (I was disappointed -- it's easily the weakest of the three movies -- but the kids liked it).

And of course, as I mentioned before, we had our last few baseball games.

Anyway, here are some photos of the Hoffman's Playland trip.

'Put me in, coach'

It's been far too long since the last time I posted anything. Sorry, one and all.

We've had a lot going one with various end of the school year activities. Both boys are done with school for the year and the baseball season is over.

Hopefully, I can get back into the swing of things with regular updates on our lives and other meaningless meanderings. I'll get the ball rolling with some highlights from Nolan's baseball season...

Take me out to the ballgame

Nolan's team played another baseball game last night.

It's really great to see how far these kids have come in a couple of years. They're starting to pay more attention to the game and are getting a much better feel for how to field the ball. It's fun to watch!

Here is a shot of Nolan in action taken by one of the other dads at last weekend's game...