Home Renovations Post I

Easter weekend this year started Ben and Gladys taking Reilly for Friday night. This enabled Beth and I do continue moving around our rooms in preparation for our kitchen remodel. This remodel has actually caused us to switch around several rooms, starting with my home office. Here are a few pics of my home office before the move. It was in what is now our guest bedroom.

We have moved my office into what was our living room. Here are a few pics of this setup, taken with my camera phone, not the best quality.

We have also decided on a countertop design and surface, we're going with granite and are pretty sure we're going with this darker one.

We have also turned what used to be our guest room, aka the Blue Room, into a very nice playroom for Reilly and moved our guest room to my former office location. I'll post pictures of this soon. The center piece of our remodel is the kitchen. I have plenty of before pictures and cannot wait to show you the after pictures, probably will be a few months.

The Life of Reilly in February

Life has been good in North Carolina this February, we've been blessed with EXCELLENT weather, a few days in the 70s, many in the 60s and currently in the 50s. It has been wetter than normal but that's ok, I'll take it. Our old home, cold, complicated Connecticut, got nailed with over 2 feet of snow. For a quick view of just how nice it's been, check out my Daily Goods to see just how many days I've been able to trailrun and mtn bike. NICE!

We took Reilly to his very first Circus, he really enjoyed himself and actually sat through over 2 hours of three ring madness. He is really into animals so it was really neat to watch him react to actual elephants, horses, zebras etc.





Otherwise, this month has included a nice dinner with Gary and Nicki at the Lantern in Chapel Hill, Beth and I's favorite spot, a nice Valentine dinner at our other favorite place Acme in Carrboro, and a nice family gathering to celebrate Emily's 4th bd. Here are few additional pics of the Reister.

Not Living the Life of Reilly in Tampa

This past Thursday we left for an overdue trip to visit my Dad and Carol in Valrico, FL, just outside of Tampa. Reilly had a serious stomach virus Wednesday but by Thursday seemed to be over it so we decided to go for it. Unfortunately I came down with the stomach virus that night, missed most of Friday and Reilly got stung by a couple of bees. It was very nice to visit Dad and Carol and I only wish we could have stayed longer. I especially liked our drive back from dinner Saturday night, let's just say we saw some of Tampa's more colorful residents leaving some sort of pirate parade called the Gasparilla.

Happy New Year, What's Ahead?

It's been too long, we had a very nice Holiday, filled with fun, family and love. Reilly really got into it this year and it was a very nice time for us as a family. This year will find us doing all sorts of fun activities, we actually leave today 1/26 for a long weekend in Tampa, Fl with my dad and Carol. Other events we're planning:

A week long trip (ala Lake Lure 2005) in Cape Cod, we cannot wait

Another week with friends at either the Beach or the Mtns of NC

Harry's graduation in Boone, we are so excited for that weekend, both to see Harry graduate and spend some long overdue time in the High Country

A possible trip to the West Coast, probably Sacramento, San Fran based

Marine Corp Marathon in October (if my damn knee heels)

Until next time!

Reilly, Beth and Tommy

The Holidays are Coming, the Holidays are Coming!

The Life of Reilly Visits Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park Maine October 15 - 22, 2005

Highlights of the trip: Spending a week with Beth, Reilly, Gary, Nicki, Addie and Emmie. Watching Reilly and Addie chase each other all over the house, the house (minus the raging party one night behind us and a crazy dog the last night), going to bed at 10pm every night (yes we're officially parents and also getting old), playing "up Uncle Tommy" with Addie, watching Reilly bond with Gary and Addie, playing with Emmie (except when I made her cry), Beth's enchiladas, Gary's chocolate chip pancakes, sitting and enjoying two cups of coffee everyday, over those cups of coffee Gary and I planning our day's activities, Jordans for breakfast, watching the sunrise over Bar Harbor, Wonderland, running the Mount Desert Island Marathon, watching Dora's Halloween with Addie (just joking)

Saturday October 15, 2005

We're off to Bar Harbor Maine, 6am start, pretty early start for Reilly. Gladys was gracious enough to drive us to the airport and we made it to the airport and thru security with no problems, smooth first flight to Boston. Addie and Reilly both got a bit antsy but notcouldn'te couldn't handle. It's really nice to be able to travel with family. It was raining very hard in Boston, hopped on a small plane for Bangor. Reilly fell asleep on this flight, the beginning of what turned out to be a very nice week of sleep for Reilly. After some initial settling in with the rental van, we were off to Bar Harbor, arrived Saturday to 40 degrees, wind and rain. The house we are staying in was very nice, one block from downtown and right off Cottage St. It was really an ideal location. The town was one of the quaintest towns I have ever seen.































The harbor itself and the surrounding landscape were spectacular (post pic of harbor and sunset), certainly the prettiest I have seen on the East Coast. All in all, it was a very special place to vacation. Sunday was the big day and Gary and I were both very nervous about the marathon. The weather and wind were not helping.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

See separate posting on marathon.



That evening we discovered the popular spot, Geddy's in downtown Bar Harbor, check out the their webcam of the harbor.

Monday, October 17, 200hobblinger hoppling downstairs, we decided to take it easy and drive on Park Loop Rd, this included stops at Sand Beach and Thunder Hole.















Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Tuesday we drove up Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the east coast, we had great views.

Then we went to Jordan Pond, had lunch at Jordan Pond House, popovers were delicious, Beth and Nicki visited the LL Bean Store, Gary and I watched the kids, then took them to Bar Island, at low tide, you can walk there, so we did, it was really neat to be able to take Reilly and Addie out to the island.




Wed, wake up to blueberry and choc chip pancakes, off to Bass Head Lighthouse, Wonderland hike, kids get tired, Gary and I go run on Carriage Trails around Eagle Lake, very beautiful, shopping in Bar Harbor, dinner in town, then ice cream.



Thursday, I got up and made the house French toast and eggs, beth and I walked to get coffee, we all went back to Eagle Lake the let the kids walk around. Got some great pics of Reilly and Addie. Came back for lunch and naps, Gary and I walked around the shore path, then took the kids to the village green area, did some shopping, came back for beth's yummy egg plant parmesan, great day.





Friday,
Went out to Breakfast at a great little place right on cottage street, Jordans, very kid friendly, then headed to Sieur De Mont Springs, did part of the hike up Dodd's Mtn, very beautiful, back home for the kid's naps.

Saturday, after another great breakfast at Jordans and one last walk around town, we head to the airport. Great vacation!

Click here to see all pictures.

http://www.friendsofacadia.org
http://www.acadiamagic.com/acadia-hiking-trails.html
http://www.acadia.national-park.com/hike.htm#hike
http://www.mdimarathon.org/

Off to Bar Harbor

We leave tomorrow for a family trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. We are going with my brother Gary, his wife Nicki and their two little girls Addie and Emmie. Gary and I are running the Mount Desert Island Marathon Sunday. Wish us luck. Check back here for an update on the marathon and also on rundiabetesrun. I'm sure we'll take lots of pictures, I'll be sure to post them here once we get back.

Wrightsville Beach 9-8 to 9-11-05

We left Thursday for our first official beach trip with Reilly since Hilton Head with Don last year. We found a great place to stay at the northern tip, literally, of the beach, Shell Island. They have all suites so we had a separate room, free breakfast and an indoor and outdoor pool, and it was right on the beach.


Friday we woke up to a beautiful day and headed to the beach with Reilly. Beth and I are not huge fans of the sand and no surprise, neither was Reilly. We spent about one hour on the beach and then headed for the pool. We did get some good pics of Reilly however.

Friday night we took it easy and had pizza at a great little place on the main drag in Wrightsville, Vito's, and hit the bed early, I got up early Saturday for my 20 mile run and then headed back to hang out with Reilly at the beach and the pool.










Friday night we saw what might have been THE most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, I really cannot think of a spot where you can see better sunsets than east coast beaches. Of course, I haven't seen sunsets everywhere but I would have to put the sunset we saw Friday at the top. The sunsets from Holly's in Blowing Rock (now called Canyons, (click for webcam, check it out during sunset one night) is also near the top. Of course that may have something to do with carefree summer days in the mountains drinking beers with fraternity brothers. For some reason sunsets seem better over the water and sunrises better over the mountains? I'll never forget our trip to Colorado and waking every single morning to watch the sunrise. Other sunsets that come to mind, almost everyone of them at the beach, British Virgin Islands, Hilton Head, Cape Cod. To me, what makes a sunset great is when you have enough clouds at the horizon, and the colors change and the sunset morphs until dark, and the pictures you take, the lighting is perfect, even photoshop doesn't know what to do with these pics, it typically makes them worse. Check out these pics, some of the best pictures I have ever had the privilege of taking.





Saturday night we had a great dinner at a place called South Beach Grille, it doesn't look like much from the outside but it was actually a very good restaurant, highly recommend.

Sunday we headed home before Ophelia hit, overall a very nice weekend, Bar Harbor is next!

rundiabetesrun

Over a year ago, my brother, Gary, embarked upon a goal that will take him (and now me, at least part of the way) over 20,000 miles. The goal is to run 50 marathons in 50 states while raising money for diabetes research. Why diabetes? Because Gary's wife Nicki has type-I diabetes and my two little nieces are at increased risk for the disease. This is a small gesture on our part to let her know that she is not alone.

In 2004, Gary completed three marathons: Virginia Beach, Dayton, Ohio and Kiawah Island, South Carolina and raised over $2,000 for diabetes research. This year I have officially joined runDiabetesrun.

Our next marathon is October 16th, 2005 on Mount Desert Island in Maine (http://www.mdimarathon.com/). The marathon tag-line is something like 26.2 miles / 26 hills so it should prove to be an extremely challenging course. Along with the challenging course, we have set a very challenging fund raising goal. $4,000 for this single event.

runDiabetesrun has been incorporated as a nonprofit so 100% of all donations go to the proper place – diabetes research. I have mailed most of you details on how to help and you can also donate money online through the rundiabetesrun website, www.rundiabetesrun.org. We would appreciate any donations or assistance. Thanks

My first haircut

We got Reilly's first haircut this past weekend, probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen. We also had his 15 month checkup and he's as "healthy as a horse". We are so fortunate to have such a healthy boy considering how little and premature he was. He is VERY tall, 34 inches tall and in the 90th percentile for height. Looks like he will be taller than his father, and certainly taller than Beth. Here are some recent pics taken 9/1/05

Recent Reilly Boy Pics

Here are some pics of Reilly from the past few weeks, I've also added a few albums to my yahoo! photo album, can be found under links on the right hand side of the blog. Enjoy!