Happy Birthday Leia!

This is one of those days where I don't like living so far away from my family who all live in Massachusetts. Today is my sister Leia's 29th birthday. I thought about her a lot today and thought that it sucks that I will not be able to celebrate with her and enjoy the day with my family. I was at work today and Leia and I missed each other when I called her and then when she called me. It would be nice if I could see my family whenever I wanted to :( Well, I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Leia!! I love you, I think of you often, and I miss you very much. I can't wait to see you in November. ~09/26/2009

Not so fast..

On Thursday we brought Gracie in to the doctor to have her cast taken off - finally.. and the doctor said that she was still about a week and a half to two weeks away. Grace was a little bummed out and so were we. I was looking forward to taking her swimming again. Swimming is one of her favorite things to do and when we tell her that once the cast comes off that we will go swimming she gets the biggest smile on her face. She has been walking quite a bit on her cast so it started to wear a little on the bottom so the doctor had to reinforce it with some more cast. She is going to be so happy when this thing finally comes off. She is really excited to be able to play outside and go back to the YMCA and do her classes again. When she broke her foot she was going to a gymnastics class, a swimming class and a general play time class at the Y a few days out of the week. We have been trying to keep her as active as we could for the past 6 weeks or so since she broke her leg but there is only so much we can do. We are just happy that she will be recovered by the time we go on our vacation to Massachusetts in November. I will put up pictures when she is finally out of the cast and all better. ~09/26/09

Football & The Fair

So the week started off great! On Monday the NFL football season started off with one of the best games I have ever seen! The New England Patriots kicked off their season with a 4th quarter comeback win against the Buffalo Bills in Tom Brady's first game back since blowing out his knee in the opener last season. We had Peter and Nicole over to watch the game with us. We also had our friends Dusty and Shirley over too. It was GREAT to see those guys again, it has been a long time since we hung out and I enjoyed their company. I fired up the grill and grilled up some cheeseburgers and steaks, there was potato salad, pasta salad, chips & dip, drinks.. It was a good time. On Thursday Nicolette took Grace to the Puyallup Fair. I was unable to go because I as at work. They went with Anna, Candi and Anna's mom Kiera. Grace had a great time. She rode on a bunch of rides and saw a bunch of animals. I was looking at the pictures and I just love the look on Gracie's face, you can just see how much fun she is having and how much she is enjoying herself. I wish that I could have been there with her. '

I got an email from my Mom telling me that her and my Dad are most likely going to be moving to Florida. This was a nice surprise because I thought that they were going to end up in North Carolina. I am more than ok with a move to Florida!! I'm ready to hit the beaches when I go to visit instead of freezing my tail off in Massachusetts each time I go out there. Besides, I think it will be cool to take Gracie to Disney World and things like that when we go on vacation. We are all pretty excited about that and hope that everything works out so that they can make that move. Today Grace got another package in the mail from Nana and Papa. It was pretty cool - my Dad got her this mini skeleton to put together so Grace can see how the body works and what happens when a bone is broken. There are little booklets that come with it to help teach her about the human body. She is so excited about putting the skeleton together so that we can break his body as she puts it.. Pretty funny! There was (of course) a monkey toy, a monkey book and some coloring books in there too. But that is ok because Grace LOVES monkeys and she can never get enough.. She is our little monkey!

~09/19/09

Travis Barker of Blink 182 Drum Solo at Endfest 18 at the White River Amphitheatre

This is the Travis Barker drum solo. He is so awesome!

The week that was!

What an amazing week! Well, at least it was for me.. I would have to say that the best day of my week was on Thursday, September 10th. Peter, Nicole and I went to a BLINK 182 concert! Yes, Blink 182.. you heard correctly! My favorite band who has been broken up for the past 4 or 5 years or so have gotten back together and was putting on a reunion tour. It was great! Travis Barker did this drum solo that just blew everyone away, he is by far the best drummer alive! This was my 4th Blink 182 show and Peter's 2nd. The last time Peter and I went to a show together was in 2002. It was nice to go out to the show again with him and Nicole. Another highlight of the week was that the NFL season has officially started and with the start of the NFL season is the start of the Fantasy Football season! My team Beantown Beatdown is looking to come back and reclaim my League Championship trophy that Ian so kindly stole from me last year.. oh I'm sorry, I meant that Ian's AUTO DRAFT team stole from me.. It should be fun this year. And finally, my bowling league ended with us taking 2nd place. We are starting a new season this week though and are looking to come out on top. We took Grace to Pike's Place Market in Seattle earlier in the week too. We had a good time even though it was a little wet outside. It made it a little difficult because of her cast but we just bundled it up and tried to stay indoors as much as we could. She was asking if we could go see the water for a few days before so we decided to take her out. It was nice. We went with Peter, Nicole, Desiree and Annette. It would have been better if the weather would have cooperated a little bit so we could have gone on eh ferry, I think Gracie would have liked that. But, we had a good time anyways.. Any day that we get to be together is a good day! Like I said -- an eventful and awesome week! Grace's leg is continuing to improve. She is starting to get more comfortable walking on her cast. She is still a bit nervous about it but she's doing much better. She only has about 2 more weeks or so until the cast comes off. She is so ready to go play and go swimming again. She is really excited for the cast to come off. I'll update when that happens. Bye for now.
~09/13/09

Engaged!

Today Nicolette's brother Peter called me and told me that he and his girlfriend Nicole have gotten engaged! I am so happy for the two of them. They have been dating for a few years now and have decided to tie the knot. I was thrilled when Peter asked me to be his best man at his wedding. That is such an honor and I am very happy that he thought of me to have such a part in his wedding. Peter was like 5 years old when I met him and over the years that I have gotten to know him he has been like a little brother to me and this really means a lot to me. I am very much looking forward to seeing them start this whole new life together as they prepare for their wedding and then not too long down the road when their little one (who is on the way) is born. Well, congratulations to you both!!

A new cast

Today Grace had her cast removed and had a new one put on. The one that was removed went up her entire leg so she could not bend her leg. We got new x-rays today and her bone is healing nicely. Her new cast goes from her foot to right below her knee and she will be able to walk on it once she feels comfortable enough to try. She is still a bit nervous about putting any weight on it. You can see the pictures of the old full leg cast and the new one that only goes half way up her shin. The bear that you see next to her is a gift that Nana and Papa got for her, if you notice he has a broken leg too.. Grace loves to sit with him because they help make each other feel better. Only 3 more weeks and she will be out of the cast! I'm glad that she will be fully healed by the time we go to Massachusetts in November. I want her to be able to go for walks with Nana and to be able to play on the swings with Papa. While we were at the doctor's office today, she didn't want to have her cast removed, I think she feels more secure with it on and thinks it will hurt again if we take it off. I told her that we were going to take this cast off and put on a new one to help make her leg get better faster and she said no, I'm healing in this one! It was so funny.. Then the doctor came in and she said that she wanted him to leave because he was a stranger and she doesn't know him. She is so funny. ~09/03/09

Recent events

In the last few months there have been so many things happening, I will mention a few of them.. ~On May 4th, 2009 Nicolette's father, Richard suffered a hemmorhagic stroke and has been in a coma ever since. This has been difficult for all of us. The not knowing if he is going to recover or not has been the hardest part. We all just continue to pray and hope that he can wake up and start to recover soon. His wife Annette has been by his side every day since it happened and we are all very happy that she can be there for him. We will continue to update his status.
~ On August 13th, 2009 Gracie broke her left leg while playing at the YMCA. She was playing in the foam pit and a little boy jumped in and landed on her leg causing a spiral fracture of her tibia (shin bone) When it happened it was extremely painful for her for the first week or so but now she seems to be doing a lot better. She has a purple cast on her leg that starts on her foot and goes up to her upper thigh. The doctor is expecting a full recovery with no lingering effects or future problems. Grace will be in a cast for the next 2 -3 weeks or so.
~ Last week I found out that Eric and Mary are expecting a new baby!! They are a few months pregnant and I couldn't be happier for them. I know that they will make awesome parents. It is just too bad that they live in Florida and not closer to all of us..
~ Adding to Eric and Mary being pregnant, I just found out 2 days ago that Peter and Nicole are also pregnant! I can't believe all that is happening with the babies!! Congratulations to Peter & Nicole and Eric & Mary! We are very happy and excited for you guys!
~ My brother Glen and Jessica had a daughter named Avery on April 11th and I will be meeting her in November when I fly home for a visit. I can't wait for that! (I'm also looking forward to hitting the bowling lanes with Glen for the first time in a LONG time) We are OF COURSE very excited to see my sister Leia who insists on teasing me with her pictures every time she goes to Fenway to see a Red Sox game and my mom and dad who we miss very much!
~ My brother Sean and Lissha just had another baby too. Her name is Riley. I'm sure that Sean, Lissha and Morgan are excited to have another member of the family. I was honored and thrilled when Sean and Lissha asked me to be Riley's Godfather. It meant a lot to me that they would think of me for that. I am very excited about going to Massachusetts in November to meet my new neices.
Those are just some of the biggest things that have happened in the past few months. We will update and write as often as we can. ~09/01/09

Justin, Nicolette & Grace Family Blog

Well, I guess we will jump on the Family Blog bandwagon. After talking with John I realized that it is a great way to keep in touch a little better with family who is not close enough to see on a regular basis. Also, there is so much going on right now that it is an excellent way to write it all down and have the memories available to us later. We are going to do our best to write something in here as often as we can. I like John's idea of having his blogs turned into a memory book at the end of the year so that is another reason for us to put some of our life events down here, so I guess we will consider this passage the "forward" of our first Family Blog book. What will be written throughout this blog is the events and memories that Justin, Nicolette and our beautiful daughter Grace have and want to keep and share. ~09/01/09