Kristen's Birthday!

Today, we celebrated Kristen's 8th birthday. Well, that celebration started early Friday on her actual birthday, with the removal of her car seat. A kid has to be 8 years or 80 pounds in New Jersey until they can ditch a car seat, so Friday was Kristen's day!

She got congratulated all throughout the school day, and then I picked her up at my mother-in-law's, since Sandy was busy with Annual Craft Fair stuff at the Fairgrounds.




We went to see Bolt in the Sparta Theater - great movie, not-so-great theater, but hey, they enjoyed it.

Kristen got a passworded journal today at her party, from her Aunt and Uncle and cousin in Prague. This thing promised to be pretty secure, and I'll be darned.... let the videos speak for themselves...

Kristen opened it up with the password....


Then Freddy tried to break in!



When Kristen got back in, the "journal lady" told her there were previous intruder attempts.



Pretty cool! Kristen says "Thanks to Aunt Laura!"

Farewell Granny

On November 4th, two bad things happened.

Granny MacKenzie (my mother's mother, aka MB) passed away after a short stint in the hospital. She was 88 years old, and was the 66 year wife of Robert W. MacKenzie, a WWII veteran and just an all around classy gentleman. We love both of them very much, and were very privileged to be in both their presences for a long time. Grandpa will carry on, and showed some of that class last night around old friends, family, and our children, his great-grandchildren.

Granny was destined for a nursing home after what we thought would be a few days in the hospital due to some fluid buildup in her lungs. My mother and aunt made a few trips there to be by the bed, but I don't believe she ever regained consciousness after a few mini strokes, and died peacefully.

Granny was a (as my sister writes) spunky part of the family. She never thought twice about speaking her mind, and we always appreciated that. Her extreme taste for shrimp and cocktail sauce seems to have been passed to Kristen, and I'm sure Kristen will never forget many plates of shrimp the pair devoured together in record times. Freddy and Grandpa are still arm wrestling everytime they meet, much like I have for years with both :)

Granny, you'll be missed! We'll keep Grandpa company as much as possible.



Oh, and the other bad thing ? Barack HUSSEIN Obama was elected President of the United States. Already there's signs that his massive ideas for "Change" aren't going to happen... After all, Jesse Jackson needs his moment, too, doesn't he ? *smirk*

Freddy's Hair OOps

The barber got a little anxious... Freddy calls it "Stupid"!

I like it...

Hey, Gimme Some!

We've been stricter on feeding the cats lately, since Shadow's come down with Diabetes.

Elsie (White) and Buffy (gray/White) have become quite the pigs when they get their turn at the food bowl.

Watch as Buffy demands her turn...there's a little growl along with it that you can't quite hear.

Candice WHO?!

Regarding Sarah Palin's speech from last week:

"Murphy Brown" star Candice Bergen: "I heard her speech and it's scary," she said.

Now, I ask you... when was the last time ANYOne cared what CANDICE BERGEN had to say about ANYthing ?

You want to see scary - I saw the Murphy Brown show once....

Vice Presidency

Wow. Just watched Sarah Palin's VP nomination acceptance speech.

I love the line, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.".

Or, how about this one? "My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery."

Lots more in there that makes me believe I witnessed history here.

I look forward to the VP debate, now. I'm sure John McCain does, too...

Life in Lake Hopatcong

Welcome to Lake Hopatcong.

I'll try to be a regular blogger, but what can you ask of a guy that works too much ?

There's a lot going on, so stay tuned...