First Day of School 2011

Well, another summer has come and gone, and today was the first day of another school year. Hollywood Abby started her sophomore year of high school this year, while Hollywood Andrew started 7th grade (sort of a sophomore of junior high). As tradition would have it, Mom was on hand to take lots of pictures including the one shown here.

For a walk down memory lane, here are a few links to first day of school in recent years:

• 2010
  
• 2009
  
• 2008
  

Summer Vacation - Part 7 (the end)

This is our final summer vacation post for 2011. To finish off our vacation we toured a couple new minor league baseball parks: the Tri-City ValleyCats (Troy, NY) and Auburn Doubledays (Auburn, NY) home parks. We also walked around the quaint little Finger Lakes town of Skaneateles. To finish off our vacation, we spent some time with the McEuens again in Painted Post, NY.

Summer Vacation - Part 6

Continuing on with the highlights from our recent summer vacation, the following highlight reel is from our final evening and day in Lake Placid, NY which included swimming at the Crown Plaza Resort Boathouse Club and a hike down a short path to see the High Falls Gorge (this latter activity was a paid hike and a bit of a ripoff - but interesting nonetheless).

Searson Celtic Band

One item I forgot to mention as part of our Lake Placid, NY activities was a free concert in the park by Celtic lady rockers Searson. We had never heard this band before, but we all enjoyed it. Yes, you'd think we'd have our fill of Irish music; but still, they were really good. Here is a brief clip of their performance.

Summer Vacation - Part 5

Continuing on with the highlights from our recent summer vacation, on July 27, while Andrew was at his CanAm Hockey camp in Lake Placid, NY, dad, mom and Abby went hiking in the Adirondack Mountains again. This time we hiked the Balanced Rocks off Pitchoff Mountain. This hike turned out to be one of my favorite hikes yet because the payoff at the end was absolutely stunning with large, bald-faced rocks overlooking scenic valleys and lakes.

In Kneed Of Surgery Again

In the winter of 1987, this Hollywood Dad blew out his knee downhill skiing in northern Michigan. Although the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was damaged, I proceeded to have arthroscopic surgery on that knee twice over the next couple years and rehabbed it back into shape on my own. Eventually, in 1999, I had reconstructive surgery to repair the ACL using a piece of my patella tendon. Well, after 12 more years of wear-and-tear, the ACL is still good, but I incurred some slight meniscus and cartilage damage. That was all fixed yesterday with my third arthroscopic surgery. All seems to have gone well and I am now on the mends.

Welcome, Rico

Yesterday the Hollywood Four became the Hollywood Four-and-a-half when Andrew brought home his adopted new child from our local Petco store. As part of Andrew's birthday present he was finally allowed to adopt a pet - a gerbil. Once his new gerbil was all setup in his new habitat, Andrew decided on his name ... Rico. Welcome to the family little lion-man, Rico.