Paint a Pot

Our neighbor's daughter celebrated her birthday party at Paint a Pot. Nora & Hanna were invited and given the choice of choosing an unpainted ceramic figure to decorate. Nora choose a snake and Hanna picked a gremlin.

High School Musical 2 Party

Nora & Hanna joined the 17 million viewers of High School Musical 2 by throwing a party for their friends. They played the High School Musical DVD game Nora had previously received for her birthday. Everyone watched the movie and had snacks.

Loft Buildin'

Kristi has been wanting to build a loft in our garage for storage. She architected her vision and with the help of our two neighbors, Mark and Vince, put it up in about 3.5 hours. As most of you know I am not the handyman one would expect and I serve as "neck down" support for Kristi's projects.

1st Day of School

This year Nora is in 5th grade and Hanna is in 3rd. We recently reached our one year anniversary of living in Raleigh. The kids have really adapted well and are looking forward to their second year of school here. This year they begin a "year round" program. The program is designed to accommodate more kids since the schools here are growing so fast. Basically, you sign up for one of four tracks - each having different start dates. They are in school for nine weeks then off for three and the cycle continues to repeat.

Raleigh Anniversary

It was one year ago we moved to Raleigh. Even though time flies, it has been a busy year with all of the changes. We really like our new life here and feel like we have settled in. We certainly miss our friends and family back home and welcome visitors anytime you plan to head east.

Hanna's 8th Birthday

Hanna invited her friends over from the neighborhood to celebrate her birthday. They spent the afternoon playing on the slip & slide, squirt gunning, making bubbles, drawing on the driveway with chalk and throwing water balloons. Everyone had pizza for lunch then birthday cake. Last, everyone took a turn at the pink pinata. The timing was perfect because a major storm came through that confined the adults to our garage until it passed. Check out the pictures of the sky just before the storm broke.

Big Boss

Today I visited the Big Boss Brewing Company in Raleigh, NC. There was a tour of the brewery and a free sampling of their beers. I tried their IPA (Indian Pale Ale) and Nut Brown. This was my first brewery tour and it was very cool. The two guys from Big Boss that conducted the tour certainly have the coolest jobs of anyone I know. Big Boss is currently only available in the Triangle. They have a tap room on the top floor of their brewery that is the ultimate man cave. It has a dedicated dart room, pool table, ping pong table and cold tap beer.