Quick turnaround ...

This won't be a very "normal" week for the Wildwood DeVries. Cyndie got back late yesterday afternoon, pooped after a long and action filled weekend. We hit the library, walked a bit on the lake path, and called it an early night. Today, I'm in at the Waukesha office, doing some prep work for my trip at the end of the week. Timmy has soccer this afternoon. Then Emma goes to school in the afternoon on Wednesday and Thursday because she has her school musical those days. I'll be flying out to Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon, returning in the evening on Friday. So basically, Cyndie and I are doing a quick trade, all spread over a fairly busy week. Add on top of that that we have Emma's birthday party a week from Saturday (and a bunch of carnival type games to make before then) and it'll be a busy couple of weeks. At least the weather is great!

Because you care ...

I know that you have all be aching for me to devote more blog-space to the Royals, so for your reading enjoyment, a quick summary of their season to date.

They are playing about as they were expected to. They are several games under .500, in a division, the American League Central, which has no team really establishing itself as dominant. Their hitting is wildly inconsistent. The bright point on the offensive side of things is that, for the most part, their young, and (hopefully improving) players are having good years. The pitching is, for the most part, a bright spot. Zack Grienke is looking like a legitimate ace. Brian Bannister, while hit pretty hard the last couple of times out, is strong. Gil Meche had an outstanding outing last time out and appears to have put his early season struggles behind him. Rookie Luke Hocheaver has made three starts and looks ready for the majors. The bullpen is outstanding, especially now that Hideo Nomo has been dropped from the club. Closer Joakim Soria is 8 for 8 in saves and has yet to allow a run. The opportunity for the Royals to have a strong season is there if they grab it. I think the next month will be pivotal in determining if this is yet another "growing" year with disappointing results, or if, perhaps, the Royals will turn things around and actually contend late into the summer.

Go Blue, go Royals!

It's Monday and it's beautiful!

It's gorgeous outside today. It's warm, the sky is blue with some nice clouds. I think that the kids and I will spend some time outside when quiet time is over. We had the bounce house out for the first time at lunchtime ... I think it needs a bit of work in the anti-mildew department. Cyndie should be home about 4:30 or 5.* After an early dinner, we'll probably go to the library, and then maybe take a walk from there toward Covenant Harbor on the lake trail. We keep meaning to get out there, and tonight would be a great night to do so.

*A strange, and somewhat incomprehensible, note came home from school with Emma. It would appear that Cyndie left her cell phone at the rental car counter, and that they must have called the school. At least, that's what I deduced from the strange note. I guess we'll find out when Cyndie returns home!

Emma is very excited about her upcoming play (actually musical). I believe that it is a K - 2 play. Tomorrow, they are rehearsing and it is a dress rehearsal. Emma is very excited to see the older kids in their costumes.

The end of a full weekend ...

Well, it's 8:30 and I'm pooped ... I think I'll hit the sack real soon! We had a fun and full weekend. The weather was great today. We started off with church, then the Casparis came up for lunch. The kids did okay together ... mostly it was Emma being rather mean to Timmy (not wanting to let him play with her and Sarah) and Timmy way over reacting to everything. I think he was pretty tired when they left in the early afternoon ... for the second straight day, he took a nap, which is pretty unusual for Tim. After nap and an episode of Scooby Doo, we went Woodin'. Albert is definitely the world champion Wooder as his low and mostly sleek physique allow for him to squeeze through a lot of tiny little cracks between bushes and trees. He's rather humorous to watch trying to climb over things though! After that we played baseball in the yard for a bit, and then headed to McDonald's for dinner after which we walked across the street to Culver's for ice cream. We still had a bit of time after that before bedtime so we stopped at one of the elementary schools in town to play on the playground for a bit. The only downer to the day was that the kids got some lame American Idol toy in their happy meals. Check this out ...

They both got the first one and played it the whole way home (until I put the kabash on that). So annoying ... I don't think that they were even in tune with eachother, so that made if even worse!!!

Progress? Kind of ...

Well, Cyndie is off and the kids and I are on our own. Yesterday afternoon we went down to the cousin's house in Crystal Lake to hang out a bit. A good time was had by all. A couple of nuggets ...

• Amy, I, and the five kids went out for a bit of a walk/ride. We were out for about 5 minutes (barely enough time to get the littler kids on their tricycles and out on the bike path) when a huge barrage of wind and rain came. Luckily, I had brought a big golf umbrella with. All seven of us managed to stand under the umbrella, protected, for the most part, from the rain. I rained like that for about five minutes. We were so crowded under the umbrella that we couldn't even walk the 100 feet or so to the house. I think each of us came in with one part of their body soaked, but we prevented major drenchage.
• Timmy made a bit of progress on the pooping front (hence the title of this blog entry). He pooped in his pants four times in the 6 or so hours that we were at Dave and Amy's (big frown). However, after each time, I had him sit on the toilet and try to push "the rest of the poop" out. Progress was made in that he actually did comply with that. So far today, we've had one dirty diaper (with a little bit of poop in the potty afterward), which is better than yesterday! Hopefully we're progressing in the right direction!

That's the story from Wildwood Drive for today.

Bach'n it

That's bach'n as in bachelor, not bach'n as in Johan Sebastian.


Well, Cyndie got on the road okay this morning a little before eight. Her flight out of Ohare was sometime around 11:30 or so. The kids and I are doing just fine after 45 minutes! The plan is to pick Emma up at school after school gets out at noon, and then we'll head down to Sarah, Benny, and Kristi's for the afternoon and dinner. The kids are excited and the back of the Suburban is loaded with bikes, roller blades, and scooters ... now hopefully the weather* cooperates.

*As I was walking Albert this morning, it was the first morning that it really felt like summer. At 7:45, it was already very warm and there was a lot of humidity in the air. It was nice after a week or so of pretty cold weather.

The forecast for today is for high winds and possible heavy thunderstorms, including some hail. So we'll see what happens! If worse comes to worse, Dave and Amy have a big basement!

No, for your viewing pleasure, a fairly recent photo of the new niece, Sally Jane*:


*I'm reminded that I'm not really sure what Laura and Gow are actually calling the girl ... is she going to go by Sally, Sally Jane, Hey You? If you are a parent to the kid, or if you have inside knowledge of the situation, please feel free to chime in.

So that's today's story.

Nearing week end

Well, we had a beautiful midday after a pretty cool last week, but now the sky is gray and I'm guessing we'll get a bit of rain before the day and night are through.

Cyndie is getting the last minute things done before her trip tomorrow. She'll leave around 8 am. Then she'll cram seeing a bunch of different friends, going to Fred's niece's wedding, going to Grandma J's 100th birthday party, and seeing both her mom and dad into two and a half days!

On the home front, the kids and I are looking forward to a trip down to Caspari's tomorrow afternoon, and then a little shindig here at the house on Saturday for the church worship team members (and families).

Emma is getting excited for her musical (coming up next week) and has been singing a bunch of the songs around the house.