Our Christmas Letter

It's that time of year again, where we glance at the calendar and realize that there are only a few days left until we flip the final page and bid farewell to 2010! This year seemed to fly by faster than before, and it seems like only a few weeks ago that I sat down and wrote our 2009 Christmas Letter! Perhaps there is some truth to the adage, "Time flies when you're having fun!"?

2010 was another good year for the McCarthy's and we have experienced the Lord's blessings throughout the year.

For Liesel, it was a special year. It was the first year since leaving South Africa in 2006, that we got to spend quality time with everyone in her immediate family. In March, we drove down to Charleston, South Carolina for a family vacation. There, we met up with Norman and Gabi who had just wrapped up their trip to their USA-partner churches. Rachel, not wanting to be left out, also flew into Charleston International Airport to join us for a memorable week on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean! Although we did not experience any beach weather (since it was still officially winter in the USA), we had a beautiful, relaxing, and memorable time together. Highlights included many walks on the beach, Norman (Opa) showing Nathan how to fish, and Nathan's favorite excursion, a trip to Patriot's Point to explore the Aircraft Carrier Museum.

In October, Norman and Gabi were heading out to the USA again, and this time they co-ordinated everything with Liesel, in order to give Nathan the biggest surprise for his birthday! During the weeks leading up to Nathan's sixth birthday, we were all sworn to secrecy, as Liesel and Gabi sorted out the logistics. Then, the day before the actual birthday, I took Nathan to one of his soccer matches, and in the meantime, Liesel fetched her folks from the airport. After the game, Nathan and I headed home, and as he walked into the house, he saw his grandparent's sitting there waiting for him! For the first time in my life, I saw Nathan speechless for five to ten minutes, as he tried to wrap his mind around his surprise! Norman and Gabi spent about two weeks with us, during which we took a trip to the glorious Niagara Falls!
Shortly after their visit, Liesel heard from Craig, that he and Marne would love to come and spend Thanksgiving with us!! So Liesel headed back out to the airport about a week before Thanksgiving to pick up her brother and his pregnant wife! We had a fantastic time with them, and Nathan developed a deep bond with them and even his unborn cousins!

Not only was it a year of reuniting with immediate family members, but we also had the privilege of spending time with two sets of Liesel's uncles, aunts and cousins in Wisconsin during the summer. We left Cleveland heading west past Lake Michigan, then turned north to Green Bay on an eleven hour road trip to the Edgar's house. The Staley family also joined us at the Edgar house, and we all had so much fun spending a couple of days together in the one house. Nathan loved every minute hanging out with his older "cousins". It was sad to leave after such a brief stay, but we have fond memories that we will cherish for years to come!

2010 held a significant milestone for Nathan too. It was the year that he started attending Kindergarten! Liesel and I remember that day in late August, when a big yellow school bus came around the corner and stopped at our house, opening its door for Nathan to embark on a brand new adventure! We managed to hold back the tears, and that was mostly attributed to Nathan's overwhelming excitement for a) riding the school bus, and b) starting "big school"! It soothes the parents' heart, knowing that their child loves school, and that all his enthusiasm outweighs any fears he may have! He started playing Little League Baseball in the Summer, and Soccer in the Fall - which he thoroughly enjoys! Being six years old, Nathan has started helping out a little around the house. He also has such a deep love for his brother, and is always looking out for him, entertaining him just being the best brother that Josh could ever ask for!

Joshua turned two in November, and we were so blessed to have Craig and Marne here to share the birthday with us. He is becoming more active and adventurous, and Liesel and I love seeing his personality in everything that he does. One of the things that Liesel and I treasure is when Josh says goodnight to us, he will walk up to us, and give us a hug and a kiss, before heading to his room! I think he shares the same deep-rooted love for family, as Nathan does. He also has a fondness for animals, music and learning and seems to be following closely in Nathan's footsteps..... Before Josh turned two, he could count to ten and recite (and recognize) all the letters of the alphabet! Liesel will definitely have her hands full trying to find creative ways to keep these boys' minds stimulated!

As for my year, 2010 was a good one too! I am still loving my job, working closely with Google! This year I have flown out to San Francisco three times, and to New York City once. Each time, Liesel has been awesome at running the household, and looking after the kids while I was away! During the Spring and Summer seasons, I played beach volleyball one night a week, in a feeble attempt to add exercise to my lifestyle. We have a great four-person team consisting of two guys and two girls, and each season we seem to play better. In fact, we won the Summer Intermediate Co-Ed volleyball league in Cleveland!

Now, as we look forward to what God has in store for us in 2011, we thank Him for answered prayers, wonderful memories, and His hand of protection over us in 2010. We also thank Him for the gift of Jesus, who was born on Earth over 2000 years ago, so that mankind's relationship with God could be restored!

May 2011 be a year filled with God's blessings for you and your family. We thank God for each one of you, and pray that we will be reunited soon rather than later!

With love

Grant, Liesel, Nathan and Joshua

A Partially White Christmas?!?

As snow covers about 60% of my yard, and Christmas now only 6 days away, I am optimistically hoping that the McCarthy family will experience their first ever White Christmas in Cleveland! The weather forecast shows that the maximum temperature between now and Christmas, is only 30 (-1C) - so I know that the snow won't melt away. There are also indications of a few snow showers during the week, but will that be enough to cover the exposed grass before Saturday? I guess we will have to wait and see....

ON the subject of weather, many of you have seen this lighthouse on the news, but I bet you didn't know that it was only about 20 miles (30km) from my house!


The Christmas season is in full swing in the McCarthy household. Nathan is officially out of school until 2011. On Friday, Liesel and I headed over to friends for a Christmas party, while the boys stayed at home with their babysitter. We had a good time at our friends, playing some fun games, having some good food, and enjoying each others company.

Saturday was more laid back than normal. Our primary goal was to avoid any place that had a cash register on the last Saturday before Christmas. Nathan and I did go to the library that afternoon, for his first ever, Brick Builders Club. The library invites children between the ages of 6 and 13 to come and build some Lego. Nathan had a great time and built some Lego Castle creations! At the end of the hour, the librarian takes a photo of the kids' creations before they head home. He will definitely be registering for the next Brick Builder's Club.

That evening, after putting Josh to bed, Liesel, Nathan and I sat down in front of the TV and watched the South African classic, The Gods Must Be Crazy. So many memories came rushing back, and it was still as funny as ever! Nothing better than laughter and a good dose of South African accents before bedtime. We still have The Gods Must Be Crazy II to watch :)

On Sunday, I took the boys to Church, to give Liesel an opportunity to do things like wrap Christmas gifts and other chores that can't be done with a two year old tornado in the house....

Speaking of Christmas gifts, Google has also been in the Christmas spirit this week, and generously sent me a prototype of their brand new Chrome OS notebook to keep, and use as I please! It's is basically a smaller, lightweight computer, loaded with Google's ultra fast web-based operating system. Even Liesel seems impressed, and has finally given up her Yahoo email address, in favor of a brand new Gmail address, specially created to help me test out this notebook.
(This blog was typed on the Google Cr-48)

The weather outside is frightful......

As I type this blog, we are under a Winter Weather Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service. Earlier this evening, Nathan took part in our church's Children's Christmas Concert. He took to the stage with all the other K through 4th graders and sang his little heart out. It was wonderful, and we were especially proud watching Nathan singing at the top of his voice and doing all the actions enthusiastically! The only downside to the evening was driving to and from church in the major snow storm of the season. Only 3 more month's of this :)


Going back in time, Saturday was a great day weather-wise. The temperature was in the lower 40s (6C). How is that great, I hear you ask. It's great because it's the first time in about eight days that the mercury visited the above freezing side of the thermometer! On Saturday morning, I was invited to a Men's breakfast at our church, which turned out to be quite enjoyable. The company as well as the food was really good, and I even had two helpings of the casserole and the hash browns!

That afternoon, Nathan, the social butterfly of the McCarthy's, had his first of two birthday parties this weekend. After dropping him off, I headed over to a friend's house to pick-up a fish tank and about 10 exotic fish that they had offered us. It took us over an hour to figure out how to transport the fish, and then catch them in the fish tank and transfer them to a large bucket for the drive home. At home, after giving the tank a quick cleaning, we returned the fish to their tank, connected all the devices, and set the aquarium in it's new home, Nathan's bedroom. He absolutely loves the fish and spends much time staring at the H20 habitat.

Saturday evening was my company's annual Christmas party. So while our boys were being cared for by their favorite babysitter, my beautiful wife and I headed to the restaurant. The food was excellent, and it is always fun meeting our colleagues spouses.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The signs of Christmas are all around! And no, I am not referring to the myriad of commercials selling the latest trendy gifts!

It all started on Thursday, when the first significant snowfall of the season arrived. Significant is a relative term, and in early December, it means that the ground was covered with a layer of snow. That snow has mostly melted, already - but it's the thought that counts. "Significant" in January or February would mean probably at least 1 foot (30cm) of snow......

The second sign of Christmas, was some unexpected gifts arriving at my front door. On Thursday, Google sent me the Logitech Revue, which is the easiest way to turn your regular TV into a Google TV! It's a small set-top box that connects to your cable box and to your TV, as well as the Internet. Now I am able to browse websites, update my Facebook status, tweet, and check email, all while lying on my couch watching TV! I love things that make me even lazier than before!

Another unexpected package arrived from South Africa. This package, sent from my mom, was filled with my favorite South African chocolate. These packages are loved by everyone in the family, as there is usually something for everyone! (But I do consume the bulk of it .....)

The third sign was the holiday lights at the Carlisle Reservation Metro Park. The McCarthy family bundled up warmly for the outing on Saturday night, because most of it was outdoors and the temperature was below freezing! The reservation had a number of different displays of Christmas lights, each done by a separate group (such as the Boy Scouts) or a business. These displays lined a relatively long pathway that wrapped around the reservation. After the chilly walk, we headed indoors for some very welcome hot chocolate. Once we had warmed up, we headed up a hill to board the reservation's train. This little train takes it's 20 odd passengers on another path in the reservation that is lit up with tunnels of light, and with various characters dressed in their full Christmas regalia lining the route. What made this even more special that the snow was coming down during our wait in line, and on our train ride, giving us the perfect setting for the festive season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays, as it reminds us to take some time and give thanks to our God for all that He has done for us over the past year. Today's blog is just the tip of the iceberg of items that the McCarthy's are so thankful for.

1. We are thankful that Liesel's brother Craig, and his pregnant wife could spend 8 days with us. We had a wonderful time together, and were sad to see them leave!

2. I am so thankful to Liesel, who has chosen to stay at home and raise Nathan and Joshua. If anybody knows Nathan and Josh, you cannot deny what a wonderful job Liesel has done with our two boys!

3. I am also thankful for my two sons, who are beautiful and bring so much joy to Liesel and me! I love seeing their totally different personalities develop and their interactions with one another. Here is a perfect example of Josh's personality... He is the only 2 year old I know that voluntarily climbs INTO his crib....


4. We give thanks for our house which keeps us warm as the temperatures start their dismal decline to freezing and below. It affords us the privilege to host guests for weeks at a time.

5. We are also very thankful for technology which allows us to have face to face video conversations with our family in South Africa, Botswana, Germany and the United Kingdom.

6. I am thankful for the Christmas season, where we can focus on our Savior's birth and the precious gift that He has given us! This Saturday, as our family fun night, Liesel, Nathan and myself set up and decorated our Christmas tree. Hopefully the rest of the house's lights are put out tomorrow, so that the McCarthy family can contribute to the Christmas feeling in the neighborhood!

7. We are thankful for friends, who love and support us in so many different ways. Life in North East Ohio would be very lonely without you! For instance, my friend Jim took me to the Cleveland Browns football game this afternoon. The game was lackluster, sitting in the stands was flipping freezing, but the company was great!

Happy 2nd Birthday Josh!

A friend of mine coined the phrase, "It's going to be the Fall of Festivities!" The McCarthy family has definitely adopted this, as it seems like there is something for us to celebrate every week. This weekend we had three reasons to celebrate!

Celebration #1
Liesel's brother and his wife arrived on Friday and will be staying with us through Thanksgiving, returning to England on Saturday! Nathan, of course, loves having his uncle and aunt around and is bonding with his unborn twin cousins already. Marne (his aunt) has been letting him feel the twins kicking. I think that there will be a special relationship between Nathan and his new cousins, once they are brought into the world!

Celebration #2
The timing was perfect. The day after Craig and Marne arrived, our local shopping center was having the official lighting of their Christmas lights. At 6:30pm, we bundled everyone into Liesel's 7-seater car, and headed to the shopping center. Parking there was definitely a challenge. After driving to the top of the the second parking garage, with no parkings in sight, Nathan and Liesel said a prayer, and as we came around the next corner, a car pulled out in front of us, giving us a premium parking spot! The crowds had gathered around the 30ft tall Christmas tree, and Nathan got the best seat in the house, when his 6'7" uncle lifted him on top of his shoulders! Shortly after arriving there, Santa arrived on the main stage and the countdown to the lighting began. As the lights came on, an impressive fireworks show followed, illuminating the crisp night air! It was magical! Before heading home, Craig bought us each a hot chocolate which was perfect to warm us up, as we admired the lights on the trees, and strung out above the streets.

See the local news clip covering the event below:


Celebration #3
On Sunday, November 21, our little Josh turned 2 years old! We are very blessed to again have family here to celebrate the birthday of one of our sons. After waking up, Josh was showered with a number of gifts, which both he, and Nathan, loved. One of his favorite presents was the collection of wild animals that his Gogo and Opa (grandparents) gave him. He was fascinated with the lions, tigers, giraffes, crocodiles, zebras, hippos and rhinos, and even took some of them to bed for his afternoon nap. Later that day, while everyone went for a walk around the neighborhood in this lovely spell of Fall weather with temperatures in the mid 60's (16C), I took the opportunity to put up the Christmas lights on the roof. Apparently most homeowners in Cleveland had the same idea, as we all know that the next time we see these kind of temperatures will be May 2011!
For dinner, Liesel cooked a delicious roast, and for dessert we brought out Josh's Elmo birthday cake! Happy Birthday Josh! Thanks for the past two years and we look forward to many more wonderful years with you!

It's better to give than receive!

Sigh! A week of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s (upper teens C) has bade us farewell! We were blessed with a number of days that were way above average for this time of year, and of course we made the most of them! Unfortunately, the weather reports for this week are indicating that we will be back in line with the averages expected for mid-November.

On Friday night, we invited some good friends over for dinner. The food, as usual, was delicious (made by Liesel), and the fellowship was sweet. After dinner, Nathan introduced Ron to his Lego Star Wars game on the Wii, which soon had them totally engrossed in their light saber waving mission. After Nathan and Joshua had gone to bed, we hauled out the card game, Phase 10. By 10:30, we had laughed so much and had so much fun, that we had only played up to Phase 8! It was then that we finally quit the game, and declared Ron the winner!

Saturday was a quieter day with Nathan going to a birthday party, Liesel heading to some shops, and I cleaned out the garage with my handy leaf-blower! The evening continued the relaxed theme, as Liesel and I caught up on some of our favorite TV shows.

Sunday was noticeably cooler. Liesel had her Nursery duty routine and I took the boys to the early service. That evening, after a delicious roast for dinner, we sat down with Nathan and talked to him about our Christmas donation plans. Earlier in the week, Liesel received a catalog from World Vision with various ways to support less fortunate people. What we like about the idea, is that our donations can bring direct relief to needy families, mostly in Africa. The catalog shows you how you can buy livestock, fish, seeds, trees, water purifiers, school books, sports equipment, medicines and even mosquito nets! After telling Nathan our plans, he asked Liesel to read some of the stories that accompanied some of the pictures. After hearing how these gifts will impact others lives, we asked him what items we should purchase for these people. He gave it a lot of thought and chose the water purification fund, some medications, fruit trees and mosquito nets! We were so proud of the thought that Nathan put into this decision! We pray that this may plant the seed of giving in Nathan's heart as he grows up.

An evening with the Choir

It seems that Mother Nature, didn't want us to take warm Fall days for granted, so she issued a few threats! Friday night into Saturday had potential to throw a huge white blanket over our neighborhoods. Watching the news on Friday night, they showed how a couple of inches of snow had already fallen in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, so I was prepared to get my snow shovel down on Saturday morning. But thankfully (to Liesel and myself, not so for Nathan), the clouds laden with snow did not venture across to the western side of Cleveland!

Saturday was another productive day for us. Liesel was up at 6am as she had offered to drop some good friends of ours at the airport at 7am. Unfortunately, the boys didn't take the opportunity to sleep in, and we were all awake at 6:20am, which in many religions is considered a sin....

Once Liesel got back and we were all dressed - we headed to a local home improvement store. Liesel wanted to buy some bulbs to plant before the Winter arrives, and I needed some stuff to patch a few holes in our walls that were left behind by Hurricane Joshua. Once home, I got down to the business of patching, sanding, and repainting, while Liesel cleaned the house.

That evening, Liesel and I were invited to our friends. They were hosting a house concert. Two members of a well known Christian band, the Choir, were performing "unplugged" in our friend's living room. Liesel couldn't join me, as our regular babysitter was unavailable, so I went solo. To be honest, I didn't really want to go, but now I am so glad I did. The concert was amazing, and these guys are so talented! The other attribute that I loved about the evening, is that these guys were so down to earth, talking to us about their music, and giving us insight to their lives. Also, we were able to speak to them one on one, around some delicious food and got to know them better. Their music was absolutely fantastic, especially that it was just an acoustic guitar and some drums, music in it's most basic form! I now know what I will be spending some of my iTunes gift cards on!


Then came Sunday, and we all theoretically got an extra hour's sleep since Daylight Savings Time came to an end and we all had to turn our clocks back one hour. Amazingly, we were all ready on time for Church, and we headed to the early service. That afternoon, Nathan and I watched TV while Liesel and Josh had some shut eye. Once they were up, Liesel and Nathan headed outside to plant the bulbs that we purchased the day before. Josh and I soon followed, although Josh refused to don any footwear and went running around outside barefoot, through puddles and mud in 50 degree (10C) weather. The sun was shining and it was a good time to be outside, although I would recommend wearing shoes.....

Soon it was time for Liesel to prepare dinner, so the boys and I stayed outside a bit longer while I tried my Leaf blower/vacuum on the thousands of leaves that are scattered all over the yard. Shortly thereafter, we were treated to a delicious beef stew. Great food for the Fall!

Happy Halloween, and good bye October!

When I woke up this morning, Nathan greeted me with "Happy Halloween Dad! Did you know that tomorrow is Josh's birthday month?" WHAT?!?!? What happened to the first 5/6th's of the year? It seems like 2011 is headed our way at an unrelenting pace!

On Friday morning, Nathan and I drove his grandparents to the airport, as their two week visit has drawn to a close. There were a few tears and long, heartfelt hugs after climbing out the car to say our farewells. After they disappeared into the airport, Nathan and I headed to my office. I think being in my office, a new environment for Nathan, was a great distraction for him. Liesel and Josh arrived about 20 minutes later, and then they all left together, to get on with their regular Friday activities.

Saturday was a highly productive day for Liesel and myself. It started off with a family photo shoot at 9am! Nathan was a superstar and Josh was, um, Josh... After getting home, I took down the broken blinds from Josh's room and replaced them with the blinds from our guest room. I then installed some spare blinds in the guest bedroom to replace the ones that I moved to Josh's room. I also took this opportunity to cabinet door that Josh had previously broken. A little later Nathan and I headed down to JC Penney to sort out an issue that we had when buying pots from them recently. And that was all before lunch time! After lunch and Josh's nap, I fired up the lawnmower (hopefully for one of the last times) and mowed the yard. Liesel's day was just as productive, and by the time 8:00pm came around, the boys were bathed and in bed, and Liesel and I were exhausted!

On Sunday morning we headed to Church. It was good to see some friends we hadn't seen in a few weeks! Once we got home we had lunch and then shortly afterward, Liesel took Nathan in his Skeleton Halloween Costume to meet up with some friends at the local shopping mall to go trick or treating amongst the stores. The stores handed out candy and some discounts to the children. Josh and I stayed at home where it was a cosy, and controlled 67F (19C) and played together around the house during this time. Once Liesel and Nathan returned from the outing, there was only enough time for a quick dinner, before Nathan had to don his bony suit and go trick or treating around our neighborhood with a good classmate of his, who lives around the corner. Both Nathan and Troy had the same skeleton suits, and Liesel soon returned with an overflowing bucket of candy, which she left behind and took another empty bucket for Nathan to continue with his candy collecting capers! Liesel accompanied Nathan (for the first time) and got to know Troy's parents fairly well. It seemed they had a lot to chat about and Liesel was even introduced to many other neighbors by her new friends who had been living in the neighborhood since 2003! After the 90 minutes that were allocated by the city for trick or treating had passed, Liesel and Nathan had returned to the warm comfort of our house, after walking around in cold temperatures of lower 40's (6C). Josh had been eying Nathan's bounty and soon was carefully sorting through the loot and picking out his favorites! And thus endeth October! Now prepare for the onslaught of Christmas Carols and Christmas trees and decorations!

The Falls in Fall!

Having spent an action packed week with Norman and Gabi, we kept the upbeat tempo going and headed to Niagara Falls for a whirlwind tour of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. We left just after 8am on Saturday, arrived at 12:30pm. While Liesel put Josh down for his nap in the hotel room, I led Norman, Gabi and Nath to their first look at the Falls. We also donned our blue ponchos and took a ride upon the Maid of the Mist, which took us within meters of the cascading waters! Afterward, we made our way up a staircase that is adjacent to the American Falls. This adventure, left us soaked, with the blue ponchos offering very little protection! After wringing out our jacket sleeves and socks, we headed to the top of the falls, for some photographic opportunities above the saturating mist. Then to add to some more moisture to our already dripping attire, it started to rain! So we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

On Sunday, the clouds had passed, and it promised to be a better day. Liesel and Josh went to the aquarium, a far safer option to having him run around the raging rivers. Norman, Gabi, Nathan and I headed back to the Falls for a Cave of the Winds tour, which takes you to the base of one of the falls, and then you get to walk up along some decks that are literally built above the tumultuous waters that are cascading down the rocks. We all made it to the Hurricane Deck, a platform positioned under a part of the falls. There is nothing like being pelted with globs !of water bigger than bricks, and are thrown from a few stories above you. It was cool! Literally and metaphorically!

Enjoy the photos!

Nathan's Birthday Surprise!

So you've been waiting 8 whole days for Nathan's Big Birthday Surprise??

On Saturday, just before Nathan and I headed for his last soccer match of the season, Liesel took Josh and headed to the "shops". She actually headed straight to the airport to pick her parents! They have some business with a few churches at the end of October, so they took the opportunity to come out a couple of weeks earlier, which put them in Cleveland, the day before Nathan's sixth birthday! So after Nathan's soccer game, we drove home, and came inside as we usually do. He was curious whether the parcel his grandparents had promised for birthday, had arrived. As he walked towards the kitchen, his Oupa and Gogo were sitting in the dining room waiting for him - so their parcel had arrived safely!

He was literally speechless, and didn't say a single word for at least 5 minutes, and only responded to questions by nodding his head. He had a huge grin plastered on his face the entire time. He spent a lot of the time hugging his grandparents, probably proving to himself that they were really there!

And then the crazy weekend schedule kicked into high gear!

Going back to Friday, the day of Nathan's birthday party.... I left work early, to help Liesel with the Birthday party logistics. It was being hosted at Chuck E Cheese, a party venue for children. There are plenty of arcade games to keep the children entertained, and all the guests of the party received a bunch of free tokens to use on the games. They also serve pizza, and cold drinks for the kids, and Nathan is treated like royalty for a couple of hours. The Chuck E Cheese mascot (a giant mouse) came to our table and crowned Nathan with a special inflatable crown, and gave him a Birthday Star medallion. He loved his party, and told us that it was the best party ever! We also loved it, in that there was no mess in our house to clean up afterwards, and Chuck and his helpers had to clean up after us! By the way, Liesel did a stellar job, creating a volcano cake for Nathan, complete with lava!




Now back to the crazy schedule on Saturday. That afternoon, we all headed out to an apple orchard for an afternoon of apple picking. It was a beautiful fall day, and we all had a great time, Nathan was climbing trees to get to the apples at the top, and we all enjoyed the tractor ride into and back out of the orchards!



Sunday morning was Nathan's actual birthday. When he woke up, his first activity for the day was to open up his presents. He was thoroughly spoiled. Next was a pancake breakfast followed by Church. Straight after church, we went to Moe's for lunch. That afternoon, I stayed at home to mow the lawn, but the rest of the clan headed to the pumpkin farm and corn mazes to round off Nathan's birthday.

Update coming soon!

I know you are all dying to find out what the surprise was, but unfortunately I have been in a meeting from 8 to 11:30pm, so I have had not yet had a chance to publish a blog! I will do so as soon as possible. Please accept my apologies!

Beautiful weekend

North East Ohio continues to dish up surprises. After the cold, wet days from last weekend, the weather we've been having since Wednesday has been near perfect! Bright sunny days with the temperatures in the 70s (mid 20's C). So it's a no brainer that we need to take full advantage of these beautiful Autumn days!

Liesel, Josh and Nathan's weekend began right after school on Friday, when Liesel picked up Nathan from school and headed to a local farm for hayrides, corn mazes and pumpkin picking!


When I got home from work there was just enough time to mow the front yard, before jumping into a shower and then heading off to our friends for dinner and games. We all had a great evening, with delicious food and much laughter. Even Liesel stayed awake way past her bedtime!

Saturday, another glorious day, was our most productive day of the weekend. In the morning, Liesel got to clean her car a bit, and then applied a coating of weatherproof stain to the boys' swing set. I finished the mowing of the front and back yards, tidied the garage, moved our pool equipment indoors and washed my car with a little help from Nath. That evening, Liesel and I decided to reward our hard work, and headed out for a little bit of shopping and then some delectable dessert at Starbucks! We had arranged a babysitter to be with the boys, while we spent some quality time together.

Sunday was a little quieter. Nathan was still catching up on his sleep from Friday, so we let him sleep in until after 9am. Liesel, however, was on Nursery duty at the church, so she left well before 9am and only got home after 12pm. While at home, Nathan had a long chat with his Aunt Rachel in South Africa and were excitedly discussing his birthday next week. Then, just before lunch time, I took the boys to the Westlake playground to enjoy the outdoors. We spent half an hour there before heading back home for lunch. Later that afternoon, Liesel applied the final coat of stain to the swing set. When she was done, we headed to some dear friends for dinner. The food and fellowship were great, and Nath loved playing the piano and watching VeggieTales, while Josh chased their cat around.

Another great way to finish the weekend!

Next week Sunday is Nathan's 6th birthday! We are so excited because we have one HUGE surprise lined up for him! You will need to read the blog next week to find out what the big secret is!!!

T.I.C

In the 2006 movie "Blood Diamond", Leonardo DiCaprio plays a South African mercenary and coins the phrase, "T.I.A" which stands for "This is Africa". This phrase was used every time something happened that could only be attributed to the fact that they were in Africa.

The weather in Cleveland over the past week has led me to coin the phrase, "T.I.C" or "This is Cleveland". For example, last week we had record high temperatures for Autumn of 90 degrees (32C). So we had our air conditioner running to keep our house comfortably cool. One week later, this blog is being typed up with the central heating running! The temperatures dropped significantly with persistent rain all weekend long! The mercury struggled to make it into the 50s (lower teens C) today. T.I.C!

On Friday, before the temperatures plummeted and the rain set in, I strapped the bikes to the back of my car and we set off for a family bike ride in Westlake. We only managed one lap before the sun started heading south of the horizon.

Because it rained all day Saturday, we spent the day indoors, and that means a lot of playing in the basement. That evening, two of Nathan's best friends, Sarah and Faith, came over for a sleep over. The three of them had a great time together. It seemed that even Josh was jealous of their fun, and just wanted to be included in their happy group! Things finally settled down after 10pm with a bit of adult intervention, and soon all the children were asleep.

On Sunday, the two girls, Josh and Liesel were up at 7am. I arose around 7:45am to see a family of deer saunter across our back yard! We all sat down to breakfast and got our Sunday clothes on for church. At church, we had Christian Contemporary artist Scott Krippayne lead worship, which was great. The rest of the day was typical for a lazy, rainy autumn day. After dinner, once the boys had bathed, some good friends came over for a time of fellowship and to watch the Amazing Race together. Great end to a chilly weekend!

Happy Birthday Mom!

It is my mom's birthday today! She is a very young 70 year old! There are not many people in the world today that can say they were invited by the Queen of England to a Garden tea party. My mother can say that she was one of those special few who were invited and attended the tea party Buckingham Palace! It comes as no surprise then that the theme for her 70th Birthday party was a Royal Tea Party, which everybody seemed to enjoy back home at my sister's house in South Africa! My family and I made a guest appearance on my sister's laptop - when they played some pre-recorded video clips to the party-goers. So we were there in spirit and in a digital format.



As for the American McCarthy's - the weekend was pretty average. After returning from a whirlwind trip that saw me spend 18 hours in California, and 12 hours of flying, I had the boys to myself on Friday night, as Liesel set up her "stall" at the Avon Kiddies Resale. On Saturday, Liesel spent the morning selling some unused toys and clothes from the boys' wardrobe. Nathan, Josh and myself spent the morning at home playing in the basement, watching some videos and having fun. That afternoon, we went with Nathan to his soccer match. Liesel chaperoned Josh in the playground while I yelled instructions and encouragement to Nathan from the sidelines. Straight after the game, the family piled into our cars and headed to Moe's for my choice of Family Fun Night! When we got home after a delicious dinner, there was just enough daylight left for me to cut my lawn!

On Sunday - went to Church and bible study in the evening. Pretty average.

On a final note, I found out that there is a Brazilian named Daniel, who follows my blog. It has even been helping him learn English! So if there are other people reading this that I don't know about, I would love you to leave a comment so I can know who else in the world reads my blog!!! Thank you!

All I want for Christmas is my .....

This is what happens when I go away on a business trip for a week! On Tuesday, I get a photo sent to my phone of Nathan missing his one front tooth! He was so proud of it, and I was sad to have not been there in person. But wait - there's more! Upon my arrival back in Cleveland, Nathan greets me with a huge, gappy smile! But I notice, that the gap is larger than the photo I saw, and after a closer inspection find that his second front tooth came out that morning! So the tooth fairy had to make two visits to our house in one week!

As you know, I had spent the week at Google for some training. As usual, Google treated us well, and I enjoyed the classes, and not to mention their cafeteria!
When I arrived home on Saturday, we decided to spend the rest of the day at home as a family. I even took advantage of the afternoon nap-time, as I had only had about 7 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours!! That evening, I grilled some shrimp for dinner. Afterward, it was Family Fun Night and this time it was a games night!

It's good to be back with family!

The end of Summer

On Saturday, our greatest summer companion, the pool, was finally taken down. A decision like this is never taken lightly, as a friend of ours remarked that when we take down our pool, it means the summer is officially over. So after studying the 10 day weather forecast and assessing the falling leaves, we decided it was time to pack up our friend, and store it safely till next summer! This was no easy task! It took the better part of the day to drain it, even with my "MacGyver-like" idea of connecting the outlet pipe to the filter, which in turn provided a bit if pressure for my sprinkler. By the time we got most of the water was out, the heavens opened up!! Luckily it was soon time for dinner, so I could dry myself up a bit. Following our meal, it was Nathan's family fun night choice, and he chose to go out for frozen yogurts - which turned out to be delicious, and healthy!

Then came Sunday - which had me sitting down in an airplane seat for 5 hours straight, while flying to California. As soon as I had my rental car, I drove down to Fisherman's Wharf and spent the next 5 hours on my feet, exploring the area, and walking up and down the cell-blocks of Alcatraz prison! It was the first time that I had been to Alcatraz, and it was a great experience! Look at the photos below to get an idea of what life was like on the rock!

Labor Day weekend

On Monday, Americans celebrate Labor Day, which is the unofficial end of summer :( But that doesn't mean the end of the fun! In fact, these past 4 days have been filled with fantastic activities! These included a Cleveland Browns football game on Thursday night, a night of good food and games with friends on Friday, catching the Blue Angels performance at the Cleveland Air Show with Nathan, before heading to a Lake Erie Crushers Baseball game on Saturday evening! Today we went with our friends to Beulah Beach in Vermilion, on Lake Erie, for a picnic/cookout. Jim made a fire and cooked hot dogs and s'mores(roasted marshmellow, with melted chocolate between two Graham Crackers) for our families, while the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful weather, kicking soccer balls and throwing a frisbee! Great times! In lieu of all the weekend action, I have decided to show pictures and videos, as these capture our weekend far better than my literary descriptions could!













As I mentioned upfront - tomorrow is a public holiday, and I should be heading out onto Lake Erie for my first ever fishing trip! Hopefully I will get some pictures of the one that did NOT get away!