Dylan Mackenzie and Alex at Great Wolf Lodge

Camps and More

Dylan finished his first football camp, and makcenzie completed her first soccer camp. Both of them had a blast. Dorbrook park has excellent camps for little ones- I highly recommend it. Well we had our very first family vacation for 3 days at Great Wolfe Lodge in the Poconos. It was great for the kids. imagine 4000 square foot of water and more. Lots of water slides all indoors. the weather did not matter. They were on the slides from 830am until 8pm. They had a blast, and can't wait to go back. Going there with 3 young children is a purely selfless act mind you. There is no rest for adults, you are constantly watching the kids.. The looks on their face were priceless though. Watching Alex climb up to go on the water slide over and over again was quite a sight. It was awesome. We will go back again in the next 6 months and then atleast once a year! 2 nights and 3 days are more than enough though. I say-- Book your trip now and enjoy their little faces, it is awesome!

Father's Day

Well I thought I would take the time to wish my husband a very happy fathers day. he deserves all of the praise given to fathers on this day. Since he lost his own father just 1 week ago from today it is a difficult day for him. John is one of the greatest fathers to his children. Right now I will ask them personally why they love their dad.
Dylan-I love daddy because he lets me play NHL 2000 on the sony playstation. I love him because he lets me hug and kiss him, and he likes to watch baseball with me, and then I likewhen he is going to take me to buffalo and toronto to see a minor league baseball game.

Mackenzie- I love daddy because he lets me watch TV with him and gives me hugs and kisses and I love daddy so much.

Alex- He takes care of me everyday and shares his cheese sandwiches, and buffalo wing pretzels.

So these are just some of the reasons why they love him so much! according to them

Grandpa Jack

Jack passed away on Sunday. It has been an extremely tough week. Jack was a great father and grandfather to my children. Some of my fond memories of Jack:
1. Every fathers day the boys take their dad to Monmouth Park. It has been a tradition since I have known John. Well in 1998 as we are about to enter, Jack was very happy to go as usual and as I walked in he introduced me as one of his kids too. He literally said to the person taking the tickets that we were all his. He made me feel part of the family right from the start.
2. When I was on bedrest with Dylan, he came to the hospital each morning with a large coffee from dunkin donuts and 2 eggs on a bagel from manhatten bagel( because he knew I liked manhatten bagel)- I kinda felt a little bad that he had to sit outside for the delivery of dylan thinking back.
3. When I was on bedrest with Alex, he came over everyday to bring me food, and every friday we snuck out and went to Perkins.
4. mackenzie always would eat his toast, and he never cared
5. he took dylan to allaire state park to watch the car races
6. Three weeks ago he fixed our sink, as a matter of fact, he fixed almost everything that ever needed to be fixed.
7. He was a great dad to the boys, whenever they needed anything he would drop whatever he was doing to help.
8. I was honored to walk him down the aisle at Mike and Marla's wedding.
9, He came over every afternoon from November until April, to sit at our house while Alex slept, so John could pick up mackenzie and not mess with Alex's schedule.
10. When I was in jail, he was here at 6am the three mornings to help john out.

I am so upset that he had to leave this earth, and my husband is now without parents. My children will barely remember their grandpa as they get older. I am most upset that I did not get to say good bye. You see jack was unconscious when I went to the hospital, and although I think he knew we were there, I can't be sure. So jack if you are looking down at us( which I am sure you are)- know that the kids and I love you and you are sorely missed.

What do I tell them?

Well today has been a horrible day. Besides the normal car breaking down stuff, we have just found out that Jack( John's dad) is not going to be around much longer. It kills me to even write this because I love them man. He has been with the kids almost every day since John has been home and they are not going to understand this, shit Neither does John. There ahs been alot going on with Jack the last 2-3 weeks and we all just attributed it to the Parkinsons, well it is not, it looks as though he has some form of aggressive leukemia, and only has weeks left. yes you heard me correctly. This is hard stuff. John and his Brothers have been at the hospital all day today, and have all been sobbing. Marla and I have been hanging out all night discussing how we are going to keep everything together. Frankly, I do not know what to do. Jack is completely aware of what is going on, and is very scared. So the boys are upset and scared too. See John's mother died suddelny with a history of depression etc, so her passing was not as hard to atke. But Jack is full of life and is always happy, life just isn't fair. YOu know what i am thinking, How do I tell the kids? they love him.... and I just do not know

Bad Mommy!

Well today, I had a half a day at work and then spent some time with my sister in law Elana and my nephew jake. jake and Alex are the same age. Well when I put Alex in for a nap, I told Elana my little secret. yes-- I will give him a bottle and not a cup. I do not put him to bed often, maybe once a week at most. Alex is a daddy's boy, so whats the harm in spoiling him. I know exactly what she thought.... (Because I have thought this before when relatives and friends say ohh its okay, just this one time.. who needs a schedule etc.) Tomorrow when john puts him to bed, he is going to pitch a bitch and John wont know why. he wont understand why Alex is begging for the bottle, he will think that Alex is just giving him a hard time... I know I should tell him, but I am not and I wont! I will sneak the bottle out of the crib before John sees it. It's bad enough that John is his favorite, so am I a bad mommy for bribing him??