Pluto is now a Dwarf

This is going to mess up the Disney stories for a long time.

August 24, 2006: The International Astronomical Union strips Pluto of its planetary status. The group says a planet must, among other things, have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Because Pluto's orbit overlaps Neptune's, Pluto is out. The celestial body formerly known as the ninth planet will be reclassified as a "dwarf planet."

Murphy's Law

Murphy's law is a popular adage that states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance," or more commonly, "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."

It has been that sort of day for the Rutledge crew today. This morning we found out that the buyers on our house were backing out of the contract, exercising a clause in the contract that if the needed repairs exceed a certain dollar amount then they are entitled to walk. All this over a front porch step that we agreed we would fix. The buyer however hired a foundation repair company to come in and say that the whole porch needs to be jacked back up to the house at a cost of $5,100. Of course it does. Nevermind that this company is financially motivated to produce such an estimate even when a $300 repair would do (which is all that is really required here).

To twist the knife in a bit further, I called another realtor today who had a very interested buyer in our house right before we accepted the offer from the infidel minister and his wife. The realtor told us that her buyer had LOVED our house and had just agreed on an offer for another house last night. She was not going to be able to bring herself to tell her buyer what ended up happening. The one that got away....

So Amy & I are licking our wounds today. We have to figure out a way to get back on our horse. Punch/Counterpunch is our philosophy in life, and it is never more meaningful than the situation we are living through right now. Sorry for the soul-baring here, but emotions are on the sleeves, pantlegs, and all over the face at our house today.

We are bound and determined to sell this house and not lose out on the house that we just found last weekend. I don't know if we'll be able to make it happen, but we're going for it. It may take us a few days to pick ourselves back up, but we will get there. Punch/Counterpunch.

Cheers!

House Hunt Week

What an experience this past week has been for Amy and me. Knowing that our house was sold and that we needed to find another place to live by the end of September, we set out to find our new home this week. Over a span of 10 days, we looked at 40+ houses in person and dozens more online. Our days have run together as have so many of the houses we have seen. During our search we had one lady call 911 on us and another lady drag her reluctant teenagers out to the front porch while we toured their house. At the beginning of the week we were ready to make an offer on a house only to be talked out of it by our realtor because of potential structural problems. By Wednesday Amy and I had rebounded and found another house that we liked. After shaking it off and finding a second house we liked, we prepared to write up an offer. On Thursday morning just before we submitted the offer though we learned that the seller had just accepted an offer from another buyer. By Thursday evening we were back on our horse after finding house #3 that we were prepared to make an offer on. Unfortunately we were crushed again to learn that night that another offer was pending on the house.

Bound and determined, bumped and bruised, Amy and I piled into the car with our realtor and set off on Friday morning to look at 18 houses over the course of six hours. By Friday night we had decided we liked only two -- a four-bedroom house in Cary that was the first house we had seen that day and an unknown house in Apex that just showed up on the computer as we were returning home.

After walking through both houses on Saturday, Amy and I made the decision to go with a six-year old spacious house in a good neighborhood in Apex. It is a house that has really been neglected cosmetically -- all the rooms are painted white, the carpet is blue and worn, and the landscaping leaves much to be desired. Still, it is a house we undoubtedly feel we can grow into and one that will serve us and the boys well over the long haul. So we made the first offer this afternoon, played the counter game a few times this evening, and verbally agreed to a deal tonight. It will be a big commitment for us, just as all houses are for any of us to invest in. But what a relief -- to find something that your gut tells you is right after a long, long search is very gratifying.

So we have sold our house and have now agreed on a price for our new house. We still have some unfinished negotiation to take care of with our buyers and a little thing called moving. Nevertheless there is a feeling of relief in our house tonight.

During the whole process this week, we were truly fortunate to have GJ and Pappy here to take care of the boys while Amy & I jettisoned off to search for the new home. We owe the grandparents a debt of gratitude and then some for all their help this week. It is much easier to look at a crawl space and size up a floor plan of a house without juggling two 16-month olds in your arms. ;-) Amy and I owe our dear friends Chad & Claudia for all their support. We are definitely appreciative of all the calls from friends and family with offers to watch boys, suggestions of MLS listings to see, and simple pick-me-ups as we dealt with the highs and lows of this process.

You only buy a few houses in a lifetime. This was a big ordeal for us. We are glad to have cleared another big hurdle and thrilled to have a good house to raise the boys in. We look forward to having so many of the readers of this blog into our new house very soon.

Although we don't have a signed contract yet, 105 Chilcott Lane should be our next address. Cheers!

Mental Wrestling...

...is the only way I can describe what has been going on in our heads the past four days as we search for a new house. Amy & I have been in 12-15 houses over the past week, sizing up what is available, comparing them to each other and comparing them to our house we are about to leave.

We narrowed the search down to one house in a great neighborhood until we found out some potential problems with it over the weekend. Two buyers had rescinded offers on this house in the past eight months. There were questions about siding, moisture problems, the furnace, the air conditioner, the windows. The sellers claim all the problems have been fixed. Amy and I are reluctant to make the leap into a potential money pit unless everything can be verified that it was fixed.

In the meantime the other houses we looked at did not excite us at all. One house with the nicest deck I've ever seen had damp carpet in the bathroom and no storage space. Another house on a great private wooded lot had stray paint all over the siding from a shoddy touch-up job and wasted space upstairs. And on and on. Amy and I are being incredibly picky, but you have to when you're about to make the biggest financial decision of your life up to this point.

So that's where we are -- in a mental wresting match inside our own heads, playing the pro/con game over and over. It is like being in a Lincoln/Douglas debate when you were in the eighth grade, taking one side of a debate then turning around and having to take the other side immediately afterward. We go both ways on the house. On one hand, the house feels completely right, like a place we could live in for the next twenty years. The inside has been completely redone, the location is one of the best in the Triangle, and the property will continue to appreciate from an investment standpoint. On the other hand, it does not make sense to invest in a house that we know has had moisture problems and has A/C problems unless we are certain they have been or will be fixed.

Luckily GJ and Pappy are in town entertaining the boys. Gus is prancing around the house like a little movie star with his shades and scarves (pictures coming soon). And Owen continues his progress toward walking as he pushes his little truck all over the house. So we are grateful that the grandparents have come to tend to the boys while Amy & I try our best to deal with the stress of finding the right home to raise the boys in.

We'll keep you posted. Cheers!

House Update II

Well, we did it. Amy & I sold our house on our own in six days. What a process that was (and will continue to be for the next six weeks I'm sure). We ended up selling the house to the first couple that placed an offer. But even though the house went to the first bidder Amy & I feel really good about the price we got.

So now we go onto the next set of hurdles -- house inspections, more negotiations, repairs, finding another place to move to by the end of September. Easy, stress-free stuff. ;-) But we are over the first big hurdle. We owe a lot of thank you's to people: Melanie for helping out with the boys while we got the house ready to go on the market, Chad & Claudia for loaning their house to us at a moment's notice, Darrin D for offering up his house for table storage. Not to mention all the phone calls to family & friends for frequent pick-me-up's and advice. We are very grateful, very excited, and a little nervous all at once. What a day!

Cheers!

House Update

A quick update on la situacion de la casa....

Our house went on the market last Thursday. We had one person look at it on Friday and then came back for a second showing on Saturday. We know from the buyer's realtor that the people are interested, but they want to have the side of the house checked for water damage on the hardboard siding before making an offer. Amy & I are hopeful that the discoloration on the siding is nothing more than a poor paint job and direct sunlight pounding away at it for years. We have two painters coming out tomorrow to give us their opinion.

Then this afternoon a man came by with his realtor for his first showing of the house. They called back tonight and wanted a second showing as well. We have yet to hear any feedback from the real estate agent on what that potential buyer thought.

So we have really only had two buyers be interested in the first five days that the house has been on the market. But the fact that both of them came back for second showings is a good sign.

Hats off to Amy for picking up the house, stashing toys, loading up two boys, and still having time to leave a pitcher of ice water for the prospective buyers all in 30 minutes to an hour's time. She is a trooper.

Here is the potential trouble spot. We are just hoping that this is a poor paint job or wax bleed coming through the paint and not water damage. Cross your fingers....

Mimic time

The boys are learning the art of mimicking their goofy dad. I need to work on my horse impression so it doesn't also double as an impression of a constipated person. Cheers!

Dog Days

It's hectic here at the Rutledge house. We're doing all we can to stay cool during these steamy summer days.

The Gus grin.


Gus doing whatever it takes to get Owen out of the chair.


Helpers in the kitchen

Make or Buy

There is not much sleep happening at the Casa de Rutledge this week. Owen & Gus both have colds again and have developed a deep cough that would make a chain smoker blush. The coughs are at their worst at night when the boys lie down to sleep as all the drainage heads down into their chests. So the boys have been waking themselves up frequently at night. And as you can imagine when the boys aren't sleeping, the parents aren't sleeping.

But there is more to our temporary insomnia than just the common cold that frequents our abode. Amy & I have decided to put our house up for sale next week and look for a house with more room. This decision to move did not come lightly as I imagine it doesn't come lightly to anyone who reaches this point. But with the two of us both being detail-oriented and conscientious sometimes to a flaw, let's just say there has been a tremendous amount of hand-wringing and deliberation on this decision.

There are so many variables that go into our decision, a big one being whether or not to finish our basement to give us the extra bedroom & space we need with the two boys. Just like the professors teach in Economics 101, at its core the decision is a simple make or buy decision. Is it cheaper for you to make something yourself or is it cheaper for you to pay someone else to make it for you? My employer IBM faced this decision for years before finally announcing it was selling off the part of the business that made PCs -- ultimately it was more cost effective to buy PCs from Lenovo than it was to continue making them internally. But a house is difficult to think of in purely economic terms. There are emotional connections with a house -- the blood, sweat and tears you put into making your house your home; the first time your kid takes a step; the fun times you have had with family and friends; and on and on. After weighing all the variables -- leaving our neighbors who are like family, resale value, cost of reinvesting in a new house, interest rates, being in a neighborhood with more kids -- we have decided to make the leap.

So next week our house goes on the market. We are taking the weekend to make one final push for some aesthetic improvements. The hard part for us has been holding off from going in to other houses we have found that we really like. The last thing we want is to find a house that we think is perfect and have to make yet another decision about whether to make an offer when we haven't sold our house yet. I don't want to imagine the insomnia that would be living at our house in that situation!

Have a good weekend. Cheers!

Grandparent Fix

The Rutledge crew was treated to a visit from C.E. and Jane, aka Pappy and GJ last week. The grandparents were on a tour of the southeast, visiting Melanie and Roman (and future grandchild) in Charleston then trekking to Raleigh to see Amy, the boys and me. The visit was a bit of work -- hopefully we didn't throw Pappy's back out -- and a lot of play. Amy & I even got a date night out of the house complete with dinner and a play while the grandparents watched the boys. Owen continued to come out of his shell and did fine away from Amy. Gus continued to milk his cheeky grin for all it's worth. A great time was had by all.

Some highlights & pix:

• Dinner at the pizza parlor
• Sand & swings at the kids' park
• Amy's sweet potato nachos
• Late night chats on the patio
• House hunting
• The Last Night of Ballyhoo
• Bath night and GJ's bedtime stories
• Pappy's french toast
• Painting on ladders
• Yuengling & Russian WWII war medals
• Ka-bobs, Bombay, and unwinding with the neighbors

At Kids Together Park, Owen shows Pappy how to properly shovel sand.

Gus leads the way to the swings with GJ.

Grandparents and grandsons peer from a house in the sandbox.

The Rutledges happily enlisted the services of Pappy Van Gogh to help finish the painting in those hard to reach places. Doo-rag sold separately.

We let Pappy relax a bit too amid his home improvement work, including riveting games of 'slap the table' with Owen.

Weigh-in's, Peacekeeping, and a Muzzle

Today was the boys' fifteen month checkup. They are still lagging behind a little bit in some areas since they were young thirty-three weekers at birth. But the doctor was very encouraged by the progress the boys are making. We discovered Owen has a large head as his head circumference is in the 92nd percentile of children his age. This was encouraging for two reasons -- one, it explains why he has a conniption fit when we put shirts on him; and two, it gives us hope that his brain will grow to superhuman size enabling him to evolve into one of his generation's greatest thinkers. Ok, maybe we should stick with the shirt explanation. Young Gus on the other hand is a little taller & weighs more. He is up to 22.5 pounds and 31.5 inches long -- his height is in the 70th percentile (still not sure where he gets this). ;-)

Gus is building up his courage to walk more frequently. He will now take steps on his own if he sees something he wants. We think Owen will follow suit very shortly, especially after he sees his brother moving about with more mobility.

Our latest role as parents is playing Kofi Annan. Granted having two boys the same age Amy & I knew we would have to play peacekeeper; we just didn't know it would start so early. Gus is usually the culprit as he enjoys tackling Owen to the ground, usually when Owen has control of the baby walker. Being the little stinker he is, Gus will then look at us after Owen crashes to the floor knowing the reprimand is coming. He bats his eyes and hugs his brother. It's as if he is saying, "Yeah Mom & Dad, I know I wasn't supposed to take Owen's feet out from under him and I know his head hit the floor pretty hard, but I really do love him." I'd say we're in for 17, 18 years of fun.

Finally, continuing in the aggression vein, Gus has developed a lovely little biting habit. Exhibit A occurred as we sat in the pediatrician's office today. The doctor was examining Owen as Amy held him, and I was letting Gus crawl about the room. Owen was rather fussy as he was being poked and prodded, and Gus decided he wanted some attention. So he proceeded to pull himself up to the chair I was sitting in, opened his mouth, and bit me right in the cojones. Fun times. Exhibit B took place once we returned home. The boys were playing on the kitchen floor as Amy & I cooked dinner. The next thing we hear is Owen belting out a good scream as his face turned beet red. Gus -- with his head pressed against his brother signifying a hug -- looked at us as if he had done nothing wrong. Of course he had locked his jaws down on Owen's wrist as the teethmarks gave Gus away. More fun times.

So as a result we are in the market for a good dog muzzle for our youngest child, Gus Edward Rutledge, age 15 months. Some examples of models are included below. Gus's favorite color is blue.

Cheers!


Owen shows off his tattoo of Gus's incisors



The culprit: May be the last time this young boy is photographed without a muzzle until he's 12.


Available at neopaws.com, $15/each. Any future Rutledge children thank you in advance.

Lazy Tuesday

Let me just say that this little gem is not representative of any Kentucky fans I know. Ok, maybe three or four.

This is so bad, but bad in a hilarious way. Hat tip to my amigo Michael Mankowski for -- ahem-- pointing this out to me and also the delight that Tar Heel fans are getting at this one on the message boards.

Enjoy!

Brooks: A Different Crisis

Just read a great analysis of the Middle East situation from conservative NYT columnist David Brooks. I'll link it here and then return to lighter posts....like baby pictures. ;-) It is a really good read though.

David Brooks

Israel's main enemies in this crisis are not normal parties and governments that act on behalf of their people. They are jihadist organizations that happen to have gained control of territory for bases of operations. Hamas and Hezbollah knew their kidnappings and missile launches would set off retaliation that would hurt Gazans and Lebanese, but they attacked anyway — for the sake of jihad. They answer to a higher authority and dream of genocide in his name.

Politico Friday

With all that is going on in the Middle East today -- continued struggles with sectarian violence in Baghdad, Iran thumbing its nose at the world in its pursuit of nukes, and now Israel fighting with the extremist Hezbollah military wing -- it is clear that the US has no easy choices in this escalating situation. It is tough for me personally to grasp what individual citizens can do. So I'll just exercise my right to have a voice and throw out my small two cents:

I hope for once that the debate that takes place between now & November is centered on the real, substantive issues we face and is not limited to soundbite-style platitudes that artificially paint our choices as more simple than they really are.

Naive and hopelessly optimisic, maybe. But that is my hope nonetheless.

E.J. Dionne has a great column on this today.

That is what the American debate should be about, but those in charge of Republican campaigns this year have another idea. They have hit upon the brilliant strategy of pushing any serious discussion of the failure of American foreign policy past Election Day. For the next 3 1/2 months, they want the choice before the voters to be binary: staying the course and being "tough," or breaking with President Bush's policy and being "soft." There are just two options on the ballot, they say: firmness or "cut and run."

If I were a Republican strategist, I'd probably do the same thing. But Democrats and, yes, the media) risk playing into Republican hands if they fail to force a discussion of the administration's larger failures or let the debate focus narrowly on exactly what date we should set for getting out of Iraq.

Steps and Stands

Gus stepping out lately....




....while Owen evolves into an upright little man.

Help Wanted

We just finished dinner. Would anyone like to come give these kids a bath? Learning to self-feed has been interesting.

World Cup

Sunday was a day for the men at Casa de Rutledge. Amy spent the afternoon out running errands so I babyproofed the downstairs so the boys and I could enjoy the World Cup final. Ok, so maybe the game was more for the boys and an excuse for me to play with Elmo and the toy banjo. Either way, it was a fun game to watch.

It still seems odd to end a championship with penalty kicks like they do in the World Cup. But the game has to end at some point. In the end, Italy won the Cup on PK's 5-3. But the most bizarre incident in the match yesterday -- aside from the revelation that France's coach was an astrology nut who didn't allow Scorpios on the French national team -- was when France's star inexplicably sank his team's chances at victory by being ejected for headbutting an Italian player.

Gus responded to the play by tackling Owen and giving him a zerbert on his belly.

Lord Stanley's Tour

The Stanley Cup began its year-long tour around the Triangle this week. Today it made a stop at GlaxoSmithKline, which is a corporate sponsor of the Hurricanes and where our neighbor Joan works. Joan extended an invite for us to come by and have our picture taken with the Cup , which was our second invitation this week from neighbors to see the Cup at their workplace -- we have some great neighbors! Amy & I being the rabid Hurricanes fans we are were all too happy to oblige.


Joan poses with the Cup.



Amy, Gus, Owen & I shake hands with Lord Stanley.

World Cup

The World Cup is down to the final -- Italy and France on Sunday afternoon. Although I am a lukewarm soccer fan as I detest the player flops and dives, I have become a big World Cup fan. It really is captivating to watch a sport that captures the enthusiasm of an entire country on each side.

The Sports Guy sums up my feelings in this very funny summary, "Why I Love the World Cup."

Cheers!

The whole injury-time thing. I mean, what other sport keeps some arbitrary amount of extra time in an official's back pocket? It's so stupid yet weirdly effective. I'm convinced the guy who came up with that was drunk.

Boys, Paint & Hot Dog Eaters

As I returned to work the day after an extended holiday break, I looked back at what a relaxing weekend at home morphed into. As Amy mentioned in her earlier post we spent a a great deal of quality time with the boys, including morning breaks outside in the blow-up pool to beat the heat.

For a few days I got reacquainted first-hand with Amy's routine on a day-to-day basis. It truly is nonstop. At one point this weekend we both realized at dinner time that neither of us had stopped to take a shower. My hat is off to her as she takes care of the boys with seemingly unlimited patience. Watching the boys develop -- even over a few days -- is always a good experience as they are constantly changing and adapting.

Gus is a people person. A true example of this is how he loves to wear his sunglasses because of the attention they get him. He knows when people are laughing at something he does, and he looks for that reaction. In restaurants, he flirts with ladies as he knows they are gushing over him. From a communication standpoint, he is ready to communicate with people. He has really picked up on sign language -- milk, out, more, sleepy, quiet, dog -- and has begun constructing baby talk sentences that only he understands. He has started to stand up on his own if only for a few seconds before he crashes to his behind. Last night he tried to take his first steps while we were getting ready for bath night. As he does all of these things, he grins at you to gauge the reaction you give him.

Owen is our little introvert. He loves his mom as Amy is his safety net. He always wants her close by, and he feels the most comfortable when she is in the room with him. He is not really interested in people even when they are directly looking at him or speaking to him. Instead, Owen loves animals, lighting up when Tucker, Dutch or Harper enter the room, and staring at objects. He will ignore everything around him to gaze at wind chimes, a ceiling fan chain, or out the window. Where Gus is motivated by the people around him and the reactions that they give him, Owen is motivated from within that little head of his. He has begun to pick up on some sign langauge -- he loves spontaneously pointing to his nose to remind you that he knows what and where it is. More than anything, Owen marches to the beat of his own little drummer completely at his own pace. It is still amazing to me to see how completely different these two boys are from each other, despite being from the same parents and raised in the same environment. It is quite enjoyable to watch.

The rest of our weekend was devoted to paint. As Elaine mentioned to Amy the other day, she thinks we paint more than anyone she knows. We do indeed enjoy color and the self-satisfaction we get from changing the spirit of a room simply with a coat of paint. Our problem -- aside from finding the time to paint since we are usually entertaining two monsters -- is that it takes us several iterations before we settle on a color we like. Our bathroom is color #4. The kitchen took five. We finally decided on gold for our living room after sand, tope, coir, and two light blues. We attack it a quart at a time and go from there. If you are a Lowe's stockholder you undoubtedly have enjoyed the past month. But sell now as the Rutledges don't have any paint projects lined up for the near future.

Aside from infant sunbathing, trips to the home improvement store, and Amy in her paint clothers we did find some time to enjoy the weekend. Our friends Matt and Laura came over for dinner on Monday. Matt has lived in Sweden and frequently travels overseas with his job so he has a unique perspective on how we Americans are perceived in the world. Couple that with the fact that he likes good beer & political discussions and let's just say the Secret Service is put on surveillance alert when the four of us get together.

Finally, Amy & I also found some time this weekend to watch some Fourth of July sporting events, including Wimbledon and some fantastic World Cup soccer matches. The culmination of the sporting events had to be Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest from Coney Island. Kobayashi -- a 160 lb. eating machine from Japan -- won the event for the sixth consecutive year, downing 53 3/4 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

The groan you hear is both my stomach at the thought of eating that much so quickly and the fact that championship hot dog gorging is gaining in popularity as a "sport" in America. Cheers!

How are these people not 400 lbs.?




Living room before (colors #3, #4 & #5)



Living room after

Happy 4th

We hope you all had a relaxing 4th of July. The boys got some much needed play time in their pool. Here are a few pictures from our adventures on the back deck over the last few days. Derek and I have been painting our living room and what has turned out to be all the trim in our downstairs. For those of you that have lived through our painting experiences, this one won't disappoint you. It took 6 colors over a 6 week period to decide on 'Gold 3'.

Little swimmers.


The boys stop to check out the scenic view.


Come on dad... get in the pool with us!


Gus loves getting his feet sprayed.



A Shark!?! Where?!?



You know it's a good time when the feet come out wrinkled!

Friday read

Great read:

Sen. Barack Obama's speech to the Call to Renewal conference about the role of faith in politics and how both progressives and conservatives can each alter their thinking to pursue solutions to common problems faced by people of all walks.

So we all have some work to do here. But I am hopeful that we can bridge the gaps that exist and overcome the prejudices each of us bring to this debate. And I have faith that millions of believing Americans want that to happen. No matter how religious they may or may not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack. They don't want faith used to belittle or to divide. They're tired of hearing folks deliver more screed than sermon. Because in the end, that's not how they think about faith in their own lives.

A safe Independence Day (or as a British co-worker calls it "English Thanksgiving Day") to you all!

What the ....? (cont'd)

What would prompt a person who is nearly a complete vegetarian to delve into a filet during her recent visit back to Kentucky? A person whose body is eating for two is certainly cause for a change in appetite. Congratulations to Melanie and Roman who are expecting their first in January! Owen and Gus will be happy to hear they have a new cousin on the way, and Amy & I are interested to hear about the other cravings that may emerge over the next six months. Uncle Dude, you'll have to chime in when and if you make late night runs to the grocery store for dill pickles and ice cream.

Cheers to you both!

(BTW Mel, you know if the steak is a good one you won't need any steak sauce!!) :-)

Independence Day

Just as Owen is going through a stage of dependence on his mom and dad (especially his mom), Gus continues to be the yin to his brother's yang. Over the past two days he has decided that he would continue to exert his independence and has apparently had enough of being spoonfed. For a while now he has preferred to pick up food to eat with his fingers. But lately he has taken it a step further and decided that he is ready to feed himself completely (and his shirt, and the floor, and the dog, etc.).

Parades

Tuesday was pronounced Hurricanes Day by the mayor of Raleigh. Thirty thousand fans attended a celebration parade and unveiling of the Stanley Cup last night at the RBC Center. Today was the sendoff parade in downtown Raleigh. Several thousand more people played hooky (including yours truly) for a couple of hours to witness the celebration that culminated the festivities for the new champions of hockey.

As we have said before, this was such a great run that was shared collectively by friends, neighbors and total strangers. People wearing hockey jerseys in the halls at work. Cars sporting Canes flags and words of support. A total stranger sees you wearing a Hurricanes shirt in the grocery store and starts up a conversation about the upcoming game. Amy & I were pumped to steal away for a couple of hours downtown to witness the tremendous sendoff that wrapped it all up.

Here were some shots we took from the parade.


Fans line the streets on a warm, muggy, summer day in Raleigh.



Amy and the boys await the show.



This guy has the right idea getting the view from a tree.



Raleigh police sport their new night sticks.



Stormy the Ice Hog. Yes, they are the Hurricanes and their mascot is a pig. We're still figuring this one out. But the kids love him regardless.



Mr. Kristi Yamaguchi proudly hoists the Stanley Cup.



Fan favorite Mike Commodore -- sans bathrobe -- and Glen Wesley. Commodore is auctioning off the right for a lucky Triangle resident to cut his hair. The money goes to the V Foundation for pediatric cancer research -- good guy.



The captain Rod Brind'Amour.



Perhaps the coolest moment of the parade as coach Peter Laviolette, spurred on by cheers from the crowd, stands up in the convertible to hoist and kiss the Stanley Cup. The crowd ate this up as people surrounded his car and gave a raucous roar.



The team is recognized on stage collectively. The fans were recognized and thanked for the support of the team. The Cup was raised one last time as people departed.

GJ in NC

After our visit to Glasgow, the boys' newly retired GranJane made the return trek with us to spend a week in North Carolina. One reason that made it such a good visit was that GJ got to step right in to our daily routine to see how we make it on a daily basis. Of course there was the benefit of spending some quality one-on-one time with the boys as well. She & Amy stayed in the house on a rainy day when Tropical Storm Alberto came through and ventured to the park when the weather was sunny.

Since little Owen is going through an especially selective phase of who he is near, GJ and Gus spent a good deal of time together. Owen was happy as long as his mom was nearby. From helping out with baths, meals, and walks to relaxing on the deck to watching Baby Einstein, The Office and Hurricanes hockey, it was a mighty good week and a good visit.

Cheers to you GJ!


GJ & Gus settle in for some Baby Einstein.


Gus shows his grandmother his preferred method of corn shucking.


Cruising in the living room is mighty fun with your grandmother.


The boys stop for a pose before hitting the sack.

What the ....?

Check back on Friday for more info on this picture...

Stanley Cup Champions

Well, our beloved Carolina Hurricanes pulled it off last night. Lord Stanley's Cup will reside in North Cackalackee for the next year. What an awesome game, series and season by a tremendous down-to-earth team that united the Triangle area like nothing I have ever been a part of. It is truly an exciting time in Raleigh. Way to go Canes!

Cup Stops Here


The team celebrates at center ice.



Team captain Rod Brind'Amour -- a true workhorse -- hoists the Stanley Cup in celebration.

Cam Ward -- the Conn Smythe award winner for playoff most valuable player -- dominated in the series clincher, here stoning Fernando Pasani in game seven after his shorthanded goal upset the Canes in game five.

Game Seven

N&O

Tonight, Carolina doesn't need to come out on fire and get into the physical game the Oilers want to play. The Canes need to come out in control of themselves and the puck. They need to get to the third period -- their period -- skating well, shooting often and ready to send Pisani, Chris Pronger and the troublesome Raffi Torres back to Edmonton with a story, but without the Cup.

The Canes better be ready for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals tonight.

Ric Flair is ready with his "Woooooooowoooooooooo's."

The Rutledges are ready. Anxious, weary, skeptical, and nervous as well but ready nonetheless.

The boys are ready.



Go Canes!