Life in the USA

All work and no play....

2012-02-05T23:44:00.003-05:00

After putting in a 65 hour work week, the weekend wasn't much different! I started off the week in a very chilly Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was buried beneath at least 6 inches of snow! After a successful all day workshop with a customer, I got home around 9:30pm on Monday night. Tuesday was crazy, which was followed by 2 full days of meetings in our headquarters that was attended by a number of Googlers. Prior to their arrival, my company's owner revealed a brand new games room for us to make use of in our breaks! This room includes table-tennis, a pool table, shuffle board, a bowling lane, arcade games, a professional golf simulator, basketball hoops game, a motorbike game, air hockey and more!

Not too shabby! The rest of the work week was still hectic, and did not present me with any opportunities to visit our new games room :(
When the weekend finally arrived, there was not too much time to just lie back and relax! Liesel and I went out to dinner on Friday night, but after a quick meal, I dragged her around to about 4 different stores in search of a new TV for us. Unfortunately, there was nothing that I saw that met my needs. On Saturday, Nathan and I did a bit of shopping, and then again took up the search for that elusive TV. That TV did not present itself, but we did stop and enjoy a delicious frozen yogurt together! That evening, Nathan decided that we needed to go eat out at Applebee's for his Family Fun Night.

Sunday was another stunning and unusually warm February day with temperatures flirting with the lower 40's (6C). We went to church and were treated to another professional production of Kidstuf. This is held once a month for the children, and it contains a number of skits centering around the month's virtue, which currently is honor. The productions are always well rehearsed, well presented, and include a full set, a variety of props, sing worship songs, and some special time set aside for the "family huddle" when parents sit with their children to discuss the skits and answer some preset questions about the virtue, We are really enjoying our new church, and the importance they place on the children's ministries!
Finally, the day ended with the most watched television event in the USA, the Superbowl! Naturally Nathan and I were glued to the TV, and Liesel brought our dinner to us in the living room! Later on, Liesel made some homemade doughnuts and also delivered them to the living room for us to enjoy! What a great way to end the weekend!!

No news is good news

2012-01-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry, but there will be no blog today, due to my crazy work schedule. I am currently in Grand Rapids, MI for an all day customer meeting on Monday. Unfortunately my overwhelming workload takes precedence over a personal blog!
Don't worry, you didn't miss much this weekend!
Hopefully I'll have a more comprehensive blog for you next week!

Successful weekend!

2012-01-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

The past 72 hours that made up the weekend consisted of new explorations, new experiences and some successes, especially for Josh. It all started on Friday, when Liesel took the boys to the brand new Cleveland Aquarium, which was opening on Saturday. As a family pass holder, we were invited to a special preview day, one day before the public are allowed access to the venue! This worked out perfectly for Liesel and the boys, since Nathan's school had been given the Friday off! So while I worked, the explored this new underwater realm! They spent most of the morning there, examining hermit crabs, gazing at seahorses and starfish, carefully observing sharks, and wandering through glass tunnels, with sting rays lazily cruising overhead and alongside you simultaneously! That was a really fun, and SUCCESSFUL outing for Liesel and the boys!

We had another snowstorm deliver another 3 inches of white powder over the greater Cleveland area on Friday night. Since Nathan and I had so much fun sledding last weekend, we had to hit the slopes again. This time we took Josh with us, so he could share in the fun. When we arrived we were the only ones at the sledding hill which was ideal. I pulled Josh up to the top in the sled, and then had Nathan sit behind him for the first sled run of the day. He seemed to enjoy the acceleration down the slope, but then the sled made a sharp turn which ejected both boys into the soft, icy snow! With a face covered in snow, Josh indicated that he would prefer spending the remainder of the day in the playground, rather than zooming down slopes! So reluctantly I escorted him to the playground while Nathan continued enjoying the sledding. Fortunately, Nathan's neighborhood friend was also there and the two of them teamed up and had a blast!

On Sunday, the temperature warmed up a bit to around 40F/5C, and the snow started to slowly fade away again. Before the snow disappeared completely, Josh really wanted to make a snowman! So the three boys put our winter gear on and headed outside to accomplish Josh's mission. We quickly piled up snow as tall as Josh, and got to work on shaping the snowman. We found stones for eyes, got a carrot for the nose, and a twig for a smile! We added a couple of sticks for arms, and we were done! All that was left was posing for a few photos, snow angels and a snowball fight! Josh loved his first SUCCESSFUL snowman and snowball fight!

Over the last few weeks, Liesel has been very patiently potty-training Josh. After a bumpy start, he soon started getting the hang of it, especially with number ones! Number two's were much more of a challenge for him, but this weekend something clicked for him! He has started informing us of his desires to go and with a little bit of help in the bathroom, he has been getting the job done! I actually think that he is enjoying himself a little too much now. In the day's that he wore a diaper, he usually had one of two "number twos" a day. Now with this new found freedom, he has sat down, AND delivered SUCCESSFULLY no less than 10 times in about 2 hours! I have since instructed Liesel to cut all fiber from his diet!!!

Alternative workouts

2012-01-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

This week, I only managed to put in 3 workouts at work. Before you think that my New Years resolutions are dissolving like a snowball in the desert, let me justify my actions. On Wednesday, I left work at 1pm because I was feeing fluey, so I headed home and hit the bed. Then on Friday, I chose to work from home, and what a wise decision that was! On Thursday night, the biggest snowfall of the season began making its presence felt, leaving the roads on Friday morning a white mess! And the snow did not stop until Sunday morning. So while I spent the day at home on Friday, I did still find some ways to exercise. First bit of exercise, was to head outside at lunch time to clear the driveway with the snow-thrower and snow shovel. My second calorie burning activity was to take on Nathan in a friendly game of baseball football after dinner!

Saturday's workouts included a second driveway and sidewalk clearing. Not only is it a workout that gets the heart pumping, but your lower back also gets in on the action when lifting the wet snow with the shovel! This was done before 8am, since I was expecting someone to come and install a new Internet service for me. My existing Internet provider pushed their price up by $20 after being with them for one year. So I found an offer from their competitor who actually gives me 50% faster internet for 40% cheaper! Not a bad deal! While my new internet line was being installed, Liesel took Josh shopping and to the library. As soon as the cable guy had finished up his work, Nathan and I packed some sleds into my car and headed for the slopes for our first sledding of the season! Of course, sledding is another great way to burn calories, by walking up a snowy hill after an exhilarating downhill run, over and over again!

On Saturday night, Liesel and I headed out on a much needed date night. We had a peaceful dinner at our favorite Mexican place, before bargain hunting at some of her favorite stores that were having sales! It felt good just to browse the stores without a little voice asking you if you're finished yet!

Snow continued falling throughout Saturday night, so Nathan and I had another snow-clearing chore waiting for us before church on Sunday morning! We had a great church service, but before heading home we had to stop and pick up a new game rental for us. The game, Just Dance 3, is so much fun. The object is to imitate the dancer on the screen. The Wii console judges the movement of the remote control in your hand, and determines how accurate you are, and scores you accordingly! This was my final workout of the weekend, and trust me, this was most probably the most intense! Nathan and I danced together, and sometimes he won and sometimes I won, but that didn't matter, because we were sweating AND having fun!! I leave you all with a video of Nathan dancing :)

From Jan 16, 2012

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-08T23:02:00.001-05:00

Usually, I do not subscribe to the idea that the start of a new year should be your motivation to commit to a bunch of good intentions! However, this year is different. Near the end of 2011, I had a number of reality checks, including, a blood test showing high cholesterol, and of course, my father's passing to glory. These things have made me stop and re-evaluate my lifestyle, and I came to the realization that I need to start looking after myself a whole lot better than I have been!

So my first resolution is to lose some weight. Any person over the age of thirty, knows this is much easier said than done. My plan of attack is to start eating healthier, which Liesel is helping me with! Thus far, I have successfully cut out fizzy drinks from my diet, and have not had a carbonated bubble pass my lips in over a week! Secondly, I have been trying to work out a little each day at work. In fact, this week I have run 1 mile on a treadmill, rowed two miles on the rower, and traversed more than 3.75 miles on the elliptical machine! On top of that, I have been to our local gym twice, which equates to 6 workouts this past week!

Managing my diet better as well as increasing my daily exercise should hopefully be enough to help me realize my first resolution, and also contribute to my second resolution of lowering my cholesterol significantly!
I need to ensure that I maintain this momentum, and not slacking off because I don't feel like working out! This is the hard part, and one of the reasons I am sharing this with you all. By sharing it, I am making myself accountable to you, which should be an added motivation.

Something else I have started working on this weekend, although it's not a resolution, but actually part of Liesel's and my Christmas gift to each other. We are having our own, Extreme Makeover: Master Bedroom Edition! We have already got new bedding, and last week I installed new Roman blinds on our windows. This week we got some paint samples and painted three different shades on the walls. The tough part now is to choose which color is best. One of the best parts about this, is that we will not be using a cent of our money to buy the paint and paint brushes! It's one of the benefits of having a credit card that has rewards, so my credit card company is footing most of the costs of our bedroom makeover!

On Monday, most of us will be faced with our first full week of work. Don't let the craziness of everyday life distract you! Try to remain focused on achieving your goals, and stay motivated, as the long term benefits always outweigh the short term discomfort!

Hoping for a better 2012!!

2012-01-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

The last week of 2011 was an unusually busy week for the McCarthy's. Even though Nathan was on his Winter break, we had signed him up for a Junior Robotics course from Monday to Friday. In this class, each child had access to their own laptop, and a Lego robotics kit. He absolutely loved building the various Lego models, and then constructing a simple program on the laptop to tell the model exactly what he wants it to do. On the first day, he made a soccer goalkeeper that moved left and right in front of a goal post. Then if you rolled a ball at the goalkeeper and it passed him and went through the goal post, you would see the score on the computer automatically increase by one point! Not bad for a first grader!

While Nathan was learning valuable new skills, I waas back at work from Tuesday to Thursday. We were very fortunate to be given a bonus day off last week, so I took Friday off to make it an extra long weekend for us! Friday, however, wasn't too relaxing, as Liesel and I had an agenda! After dropping Nathan off at Tech Camp, we went down to our local Social Security office to change the status of our Social Security Number from Permanent Residents to Citizens! This took about an hour, which Josh didn't enjoy too much. Once that was sorted out, we tried applying for our US passports at two different post offices, but they were not properly equipped to handle these applications. FInally, the third post office could do it, and it was a reasonably painless exercise. Also, one of the things we love about the USA is that we should have our brand new passports mailed to us within 4- 6 weeks! This processing speed is something a former South African is not really accustomed to!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, my sister and her husband attended my father's memorial service on Friday morning. I was unable to be there, due to my lack of a passport, but my sister read out something on my behalf. She said it was a really good service, and she is sure my father would have approved!

As for the New Year's weekend, it was a pretty low key affair in our household. On Saturday morning, I attended an exercise class, while Liesel stayed at home with the boys. We spent the rest of the day at home, and I watched the New Year in on TV. For New Year's Day, Liesel spoiled us by making us Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. She added some sparklers to the boys' rolls to start of 2012 with some fireworks!

After breakfast, we got ready for out first Church service of 2012. Since we wanted to do something different for the first day of the year, after church we went to a restaurant that had a huge gaming center attached. So after a delicious lunch, we spent an hour playing different games with the boys! This was their highlight of the day!

As I sign off this week's blog, I want to leave you with my sister's words that she wrote to honor my dad. They are powerful, meaningful and really make you stop and think! Take these words with you as you navigate through 2012!

In honour of my dad

How do you measure the success of a life? When I look back at my dad’s life I realize

he was a very successful man.

He was a good father and made many happy memories with us.
He has 2 children who both know and serve God.
He enjoyed a healthy life and was physically active to the end.
He knew God from a young age and had a new revelation of God’s love for him in the
last 3 months.

While growing up family was so important to my dad, he would phone every day
once we were home from school to find out how our day had been. He loved and lived
for the family holidays at the beach (to Ronel’s dismay he still liked going back to the
same place every year that he’s been going to since the 1980’s)

In these past few months God has shown His goodness and grace to us.
After my dad’s operation to remove a brain tumour he phoned me and shared with
me how he had had a personal, new revelation of how much God loves him. God
had reminded him of the story of the woman with the issue of blood and how she had
touched the hem of Y’shua’s garment and been healed. My dad felt God saying to him
that He had felt my dad touch the hem of His garment and I believe that that promise
resulted in my dad making a miraculous recovery from death’s door a month ago and
that God granted my dad a gift of extra time.

In that time my brother was able to come out from the USA and we spent quality time
with my dad. We were able to express complete forgiveness to dad and he was able
to say he was sorry for things in the past. I know that the power of forgiveness and
repentance is so powerful and am sure that through that God extended dad’s time. I
also see God’s graciousness in allowing my brother and I to be able to phone my dad
on Saturday and to speak and pray with my dad while Ronel held the phone to his ear
and to know that he heard everything we said to him.
We were able to say goodbye to him, to thank him for being a good dad and to remind
him that God had answered his prayer for healing, that God had felt him touch the
hem of His garment and that the greatest healing of all had taken place – a complete
spiritual and emotional healing in dad’s life and in our family. I prayed with him that
God’s timing is perfect, for His will to be done and in that we have complete peace.

If my dad could come back and share a moment with us again I believe he would give
testimony to 3 things:
1. That life is brief – only a minute ago you were a child, you spent a twinkling
of an eye as an adult and then life was over.
2. That family and relationships outweigh all other things in life. That any hurt
or unforgiveness or bitterness is not worth holding onto. That no man stands
alone, that he is who he is because of others and by God’s grace. My dad was
a husband and a father because of the relationship he had with my mom and
because of her love and support of him for 29 years. He was close to Ronel for
14 years and discovered new things in life with her. He was a brother to his
sister Jen and shared a special bond with her. He treasured the relationships he
had with each of you here today, whether on the tennis court or at church or
from his complex.
3. That eternity is a reality. The minute your breathing stops eternity begins and

it is too late to wait until that moment to determine where you will spend it.
I know my dad will spend eternity with the Father. I know we will meet again.
I know my dad would urge his loved ones to search for truth, to realize that
God’s heart is for us and not against us and to walk with the Father WHO
orders our footsteps out of love.

The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away; blessed be the Name of the
LORD.

Michael McCarthy 1940 - 2011

2011-12-25T23:17:00.004-05:00

"...The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21b)
This evening, the Lord called my dad to be with him after battling cancer for a while. We praise God for a number of things tonight:
Firstly for the time He gave me with my dad a month ago in South Africa.
Secondly, that I could say goodbye to him yesterday.
Thirdly, that we believe he died peacefully in his sleep, around 12:30am SA time .
And finally that I will be reunited with him in heaven one day!

The McCarthy Christmas Letter for 2011

2011-12-18T23:31:00.001-05:00

The 2011 McCarthy Christmas Letter

The roller-coaster ride that was the year 2011 is thankfully pulling in to the station after a rather turbulent year for the McCarthy family. 2011 had it’s shares of impressive peaks, daunting dips and even the occasional barrel roll that left us slightly disoriented.

As we started out on our ride, the roller-coaster climbed to a memorable highlight for Nathan. In February, the AWANA program at the church held their annual Pinewood Derby. It was the first year Nathan entered, and we put a lot of effort in designing and shaping his block of wood to resemble a “speed bus”. The effort paid off as Nathan won the prize for the fastest car in his age group. Needless to say, both Nathan and I were ecstatic!
The victory was soon followed by another peak in the roller-coaster track, which was having Norman and Gabi come and spend some time with us in Cleveland! We always love spending time with family, but our boys savor every second with their beloved grandparents.

But what goes up, must come down, and in roller-coaster terms, we were about to experience a double dip! In April, during his teams first soccer game of the season, Nathan broke his pinkie finger while playing goalie in near freezing temperatures! Liesel took Nathan to the Emergency Room for X-rays, and then to the Orthopedic doctors to get a full hand cast for his right hand. Being right-handed, this obviously impacted his schoolwork, and he taught himself to write with his left hand. The cast also impacted his ability to play, and it was only 10 days later, when he couldn't hold onto a pole in the playground, causing him to fall onto a wooden platform and breaking his leg! Liesel had to make the ER and Orthopedic doctor trip again, and the net result was a full leg cast and a wheelchair for our six year old. His leg remained in a cast for more than eight weeks. This proved to be a very taxing period for Liesel, since Nathan had to be carried everywhere, to and from the car, the bathroom, up and down the stairs, and into and out of bed every day! The only good thing to come from the situation was the use of the disabled parking at the stores!

Fortunately his cast came off right after the school year ended, at the start of the summer vacation! We were determined to make the most of these days, especially since Nathan had been confined to a wheel chair for so long! To make the vacation extra special, we were privileged to have my mom fly out from South Africa to spend a couple of weeks with us. Our roller-coaster was climbing again!
Liesel had booked a holiday house for us at Surfside Beach, South Carolina. The house was situated inside a “golf cart community” which meant we had our own golf cart at our disposal. This golf cart took us on our daily trip to the beach, the tennis courts, the indoor and outdoor pools as well as the playground! We all thoroughly enjoyed our week at the beach with the unbelievably warm Atlantic Ocean, the swimming pools, the tennis and of course the helicopter ride over Myrtle Beach! Unfortunately, our week in paradise was soon over, and we headed back to Cleveland. My mom had another week with us, and we continued celebrating the summer back home. She had a wonderful time with us and getting to know Nathan and Josh more intimately! But as the saying goes: “All good things must come to an end” and my mom was soon winging her way back to South Africa, sans luggage - but that’s another story!

Summer wasn’t over yet, and Liesel’s Uncle Terence and Aunt Max invited our family to join their family at their annual summer retreat in the North Woods of Wisconsin. The Edgar family had rented out a beautiful log lodge for the family that was on the shores of Lake Chippewa. So the McCarthys flew up to Green Bay, and together with the Edgars, headed northwards to this piece of heaven on Earth. It was here where Nathan caught his first fish ever with the help of Uncle Terence and Liesel’s younger cousins. Liesel and Nathan also experienced their first tube ride behind a speed boat! We were so spoilt by the Edgars and were so very grateful to be a part of their family vacation!

After the vacation, we came back home and had to get Nathan ready for school! He enjoyed Kindergarten, but he absolutely loves first grade!! His teacher has identified Nathan as one of her top performers and has been pushing him “above and beyond” what is expected of the average first grader.
Joshua has had a rather uneventful year, besides keeping his parents on their toes! He continues growing quickly (still in the 97th percentile for weight and height), and his vocabulary is increasing exponentially! He has such a deep love of animals, which prompted us to buy a membership to the Cleveland Zoo. This allowed us to visit one of Josh’s favorite places as often as we like, and I know Liesel took full advantage of that this year. Besides his love for animals, Josh has a special love for his big brother. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Nathan must be the most flattered brother this side of the equator!

It was late September when gravity decided to take over and cause our roller-coaster to take a nose-dive and hurtle back toward the ground. This was when my father was travelling on business, when he felt dizzy and lost co-ordination on one side of his body. The doctors ran their tests and determined that he had two brain tumors. He had surgery to remove the larger tumor and further testing revealed that the tumor was a result of the melanoma that he had on his face that had metastasized. His doctor’s prognosis was not very encouraging and an unexpected reality check for us. After my dad’s surgery, and weeks in rehab, he was discharged and after a few conversations with him, he was extremely positive, and things seemed to looking up. Then a few weeks later, my father became dizzy in his apartment, fell over and hit his head. He was rushed to hospital by ambulance, and in an email from his doctor, she encouraged me to fly out to visit him as soon as possible. I bought a ticket that week and three days later I had touched down in Cape Town. I spent a week with my dad, and saw him in a very frail state. In what can only be described as a miraculous turnaround, he regained his strength, and the doctors who didn’t think he was going to make it through the weekend, said he was strong enough to be discharged on a few days later! I was happy to leave Cape Town knowing that my dad was on the road to recovery. Before leaving South Africa, I spent a couple of days with my mom and sister in Johannesburg. This gave me the opportunity to spend some time with some of my good friends, as well as an afternoon with a handful of cousins!
Our roller-coaster ride was still far from over, and had some disorienting turns in store for us. A dear friend of mine here in the USA was involved in an horrendous head-on collision while on his way to pick up his children from school on a Tuesday afternoon. He suffered massive head trauma and was rushed to hospital where they had to remove part of his skull to allow his brain to swell. He has been in a coma since November 22, and to date, has not shown any indication of intentional movement. This breaks our hearts as we are close to him and his family. He has a wife, an 11 year old daughter and 7 year old son, who is one of Nathan’s best friends. While we are praying for my friend’s recovery, we are reminded how fragile life can be, and we should never take it for granted. Please join us in praying for a Christmas miracle for the Muth family.
Finally, with the roller-coaster station in sight, Liesel and I have one last highlight to share with everyone. This past Friday, December 16, we attended our United States Naturalization Ceremony, where we officially became US Citizens! After living in the USA for five years, we applied for citizenship. This process consisted of being fingerprinted, photographed, and quizzed on US History and Civics, before being approved by the US Customs and Immigration Service. Upon approval, we were invited to the US District Courthouse of Cleveland, where the ceremony would take place. Dear friends of ours accompanied us, and took photographs for us! We are extremely honored, and humbled to finally having the privilege of calling this great country, our home!

As the roller-coaster slows down, we reflect back on 2011 with joy, gratitude and some sadness. However, it is comforting to know that it is God who is the designer and architect of Life, and none of the depressing declines, terrifying twists or gut-wrenching loops catch Him off guard. He has been on the ride before us and knows every twist and turn better than we know ourselves! He will standing on the platform, waiting for us as the ride comes to an end.
It is with that knowledge that we put 2011 behind us, and climb aboard 2012, buckle up and get ready for the adventures that the new year will bring us!

Back to the Brrrrr

2011-12-11T21:31:00.001-05:00

Last week around this time, I was at the OR Tambo International Airport awaiting my midnight flight to Amsterdam. My whirlwind trip to South Africa had come to an end and I was making my way back to my family in a much colder place. To put it into perspective, I had enjoyed temperatures of 90F (32C) in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. In my first week back in Cleveland, I was welcomed back with our first measurable snow fall, morning temperatures of 23 (-5C), and a day where the mercury couldn't muster the courage to rise above the freezing mark!

But I don't mind weathering these temperature variations if it means being back with my family!

My time in South Africa, although short, was quality time!
Update on my father:
When I last posted a blog, my father was still in the hospital, and was getting stronger each day. The next day (Monday), the physical therapist paid him a visit, and soon had him walking around. The doctors also resumed his radiation therapy. On Tuesday, the physical therapist had my dad walking up and down stairs. His doctors were so impressed with his recovery that he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday! This meant that I was able to spend a day and a half with him at his home, and not in the hospital ward that I had come to know pretty well!
Today, he is still building his strength and working on getting fit! He is happy to be home and doesn't want to see the inside of a hospital anytime soon!

After spending a week in Cape Town, I flew up to Johannesburg for a few days. The time was short but productive. I spent quality time with my mom, sister and her family, hung out with some good friends, had a great afternoon with cousins, and went to Church on Sunday morning with my mom!

During my stay in South Africa, I enjoyed a delicious bounty of foods. These included Steak Pie, Chicken Pie, Pastrami Sub, Biltong sandwiches, Sweet & Sour Chicken Pizza, Choc Chip Yogurt, Nandos Lemon and Herb Chicken Burger, Grilled Snoek and Chips, Milo, Milo cereal, Boerewors roll, Custard slice, Creme Caramel, Chocolate Pudding, koeksusters, and a lot of South African chocolates! Needless to say, I didn't lose any weight on this trip!

Being back with my family in Ohio is wonderful! This weekend we shared some great times together, from eating frozen yogurt even though the temperature is below freezing, looking at our local shopping center's Christmas lights, and enjoying an unplanned Polar Express story-time at Barnes & Noble!

On Saturday night, Liesel and I had a fantastic date night with some of our dear friends, and dined at one of our favorite Italian restaurants! Finally, we wrapped up the weekend with an awesome Sunday service at Bay Presbyterian, followed by some outdoor football on the frozen lawn in the front yard with Nathan and Josh!

Where in the world is Grant McCarthy?

2011-11-27T16:24:00.001-05:00

A week ago I was sitting in Cleveland, writing a blog and preparing for a short work week due to our Thanksgiving holiday! Little did I know that my world was about to be thrown upside down with two life-changing events taking place within 48 hours of each other!

The first disturbing news I received was that my dad had fallen in his apartment and had hit his his head. He apparently had a seizure caused by a brain tumor, which caused him to fall. He was rushed back to hospital by ambulance, where he still is today recovering. After that news, I emailed his doctor, and she recommended I come and see him in South Africa as soon as possible, as his type of cancer is known for its rapidly spread throughout the body and to other organs. This news left me feeling numb inside, as nobody ever wants to think of a loved one in a finite sense! Also, when I spoke to my dad the previous week, he told me was doing fine and not to come out to South Africa to visit him. We even started making plans to come out for a family vacation in February! Now everything had changed! So on Tuesday morning, I went ahead and bought myself a ticket to Cape Town, leaving that Thursday, our Thanksgiving day!

Then, a few hours later that day, we found out that one of my best friends was involved in a terrible head-on collision that afternoon, while on his way to pick up his children after school! He had suffered severe head injuries and was rushed to the Cleveland's most advanced Trauma Center at Metro Health Hospital. My friend, Jim, needs a miracle, as he is still lying in a non-induced coma. His brain has swelled so much that the surgeons had to remove a part of his skull to allow the brain space to swell. To date there has been no response from Jim, making these times very trying for his wife and his two children (age 11 and 7)! Please join us in asking God for a miracle of healing.

So with all this upsetting news, Liesel and I were in no mood for a holiday set aside to give thanks! Later on, upon some reflection, Liesel made this powerful statement: After this past week, I was not really in the mood to celebrate Thanksgiving. This afternoon I realised I needed to change my attitude as I have SO much to be thankful for: - I am thankful for the beautiful weather today so the boys & I could go have fun at a playground & for a walk this afternoon; for my boys who know when mom needs an extra hug; for local friends who are more like family who dropped off a delicious Thanksgiving meal; for my family & friends; for all the offers of help while Grant is out the country; for all the prayers going out for our friend, Jim and Grant's dad all over the world; being part of God's family. For those of you blessed enough to be with family today, go give them a hug because I am reminded anew how your life can change in an instant.

I was also reminded that it is only by God's grace that we have our health and our life, and we must NEVER take that for granted. Liesel again reminded me how important it was to go and visit my dad, so I can see him in person and tell him the things I needed to, because Jim's wife never got that chance! With that in mind, I boarded a plane to to Cape Town via Amsterdam on Thursday evening. I landed in South Africa, after being in transit for 29 hours!! My sister (who had flown in from Johannesburg that morning) and dad's girlfriend met me at the airport and then took me straight to the hospital to see my dad, even though it was approximately midnight. In his room, he woke up when we walked in and he managed to look up at me and smile. He was not really able to talk, but made groans and could squeeze my hand. He even managed to whisper "Hi champ" to me, which made me very emotional. I did not enjoy seeing him in that state, yet I as happy to be able to be there with him. When we went back the next day, we were so happy to see him sitting up and talking in full sentences again! Even though his voice was hoarse, we were able to understand him so much better. My facebook posts best summarize the past two days spent with my dad:
Saturday: We went to visit my dad this morning and he is doing a lot better. He was able to talk to us and even make jokes! He also ate some of his lunch and was sipping juice regularly. We praise God for the good day he's having! He is still very emotional when we talk about certain things. Thanks for all your prayers, they are working! Please also pray for his girlfriend, so that she might come to personally know Jesus through this situation. On a another positive note, I had a Nando's Chicken burger for lunch and am now enjoying a Cadbury's caramel-filled chocolate!
Sunday: We praise God again, as He continues to strengthen my dad. Today he spoke more, told more jokes, shared more stories and even made a few phone calls (including one to my aunt, where in response to one of her questions, he told her that I had put on some weight, while I was sitting in the chair next to him!!!) His doctors are also impressed with his progress and will most probably begin another round of radiation treatment tomorrow to help shrink the brain tumors!

As you can see he is making remarkable progress, and we can only attribute it to God answering our prayers. Thank you for all your prayers and support during this time!!!

Next week Sunday, there will be no blog, as I will be making my way back to the USA via Amsterdam again. Please pray that I make my flight back to Cleveland as it's a pretty tight connection once I land in Washington DC. I also have to make it through passport control and customs upon landing at Washington Dulles, which makes it a little stressful for me :(

After this somewhat depressing blog, here are some photos of my sister and I in Cape Town!

Celebrations and a sickness :(

2011-11-20T23:10:00.001-05:00

This week, Liesel and I celebrated 10 years of a happy marriage! There was definitely a lot more "for better"s than "for worse"s. We celebrated the occasion by going to a fancy restaurant. Liesel had the Salmon stuffed with Crab Meat, and I had the lobster tail and filet mignon combination. Both entrees were delicious! We followed that up with Creme Brulee for dessert, but we both thought that Liesel's homemade Creme Brulee beat this one hands down. Other than that, the evening was very enjoyable!

Another reason to celebrate, is Josh's third birthday tomorrow (Monday). This meant that the Cake Decorating team of Liesel and Grant was back in action, designing and decorating the cake for a little animal lover. Liesel again, baked the cake, I cut it into shape, Liesel frosted it and I applied the finishing touches. All this resulted in a very cute crocodile birthday cake.

Included in Josh's pre-birthday celebrations, was a trip to the zoo. Unfortunately his brother and mom couldn't join us, since Nathan has been hit with another bout of Strep Throat, his fourth in three months! So while Liesel and Nathan were picking up anti-biotics, Josh and I enjoyed the Rain Forest at the Cleveland Zoo. The Rainforest is one of the most popular exhibits at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. It is contained in a large two story building with over 2 acres (8,100 m2) of floor space, making it one of the largest tropical indoor environments in the world. The Rainforest boasts more than 6,000 plants and over 600 animals from the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas (from Wikipedia). During our visit, Josh led me through both levels of the huge exhibit, pausing occasionally to look at monkeys, fish, turtles, otters, snakes, crocodiles and porcupines. He had so much fun, he insisted on doing it all a second time!

The Good, The Bad and the Chilly

2011-11-13T22:26:00.001-05:00

When we woke up on Friday morning and found a dusting of snow covering the roof, and parts of the garden, we were reminded that Winter is just around the corner! Fortunately, Saturday's temperatures climbed back into the 60s (16C+) which allowed us to spend some time outdoors!

I have made a list of some of the good things from the weekend, along with some of the bad.

GOOD	BAD
Doing some Christmas shopping with the family on Saturday morning	Having Nathan see one of his Christmas gifts, ruining the surprise
Enjoying the outdoors and raking up the leaves in the front yard	Having a strong wind during the night that undid most of our hard work
finding Rooibos tea and vuvuzelas being sold in local stores!
A much needed date night with my wife
Being invited to go watch the Cleveland Brown play football on Sunday morning	Watching the Browns lose in the last 2 minutes by missing a regulation kick
Having Nathan's and Josh's friends come over to play after dinner on Sunday evening	The meltdown Josh had when they were picked up at 8pm

Sleepless in San Francisco (and Cleveland)

2011-11-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

Monday night was Halloween, and my two boys collected enough candy to feed a village!

On Tuesday afternoon, I boarded an airplane bound for San Francisco. I was attending a two-day course at Google,, Unfortunately, forty-eight hours is not enough for my body to acclimatize to the three hour time zone difference. Each night I would fall asleep around midnight (3am EST) and wake up 4 hours later. But other than the reduced sleep, my two day California trip was really good. Google fed us well, and the hotel we stayed at served up a magnificent multi-course breakfast, which included cereals, french toast, bacon, egg, sausages, fresh fruit, yogurt, cheeses and pastries!! On Thursday after the course, my colleague and I decided to kill some time by watching a movie, before making our way back to the airport for our midnight flight back. We watched the British comedy, Johnny English : Reborn, which was quite amusing, and quite silly at times. But it sure was better than sitting in San Francisco's rush hour traffic! After the movie, we had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, and then drove the rental car back to the airport. Our flight was packed, and I was "lucky" enough to have a woman who had a severe cold sit next to me. She is also didn't seem to want to sleep on the flight (like everyone else) and kept her overhead reading light on for the majority of the 4 hour flight to Houston. Then to top it off, the two tattoo-covered women sitting behind me, decided to crack jokes, and their cackling woke me (and everyone with earshot) up at around 4am. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper.... This flight was scheduled to land at 6am, and we had to catch the connecting flight to Cleveland at 6:45am. Much to my dismay, our flight landed 15 minutes late, and being at the back of the plane meant that it would take at least 15 minutes for me to get into the terminal. As soon as I got into the terminal, I started racing to the next flight, and my blood pressure was raised when I heard the announcement over the PA "Will passenger McCarthy please go immediately to gate E12 as this is the final boarding call!" To make a long story short, my colleague and I made it onto the Cleveland flight, and this was probably the best flight out the four we had during this trip. We finally landed in Cleveland just after 10am on Friday. When I got home I was physically exhausted, and that afternoon, I went for a three hour afternoon nap!While I was on the West Coast, Liesel and Josh were also "sleepless" back home. The reason for this was our new roof was installed from Monday to Wednesday. This meant that when it was time for Josh's afternoon nap, there would be some form of noise directly above his room, be it removing the old shingles, installing the ice-guard or nailing down the new shingles! The good news is that our house now has a brand new roof, although the weather has been so good, the roof hasn't had a chance to be tested by rain yet.

Fall in full force!

2011-10-30T21:54:00.002-05:00

Above, are some photos from one of the Cleveland Metroparks within walking distance from our office. As you can see, the fall colors are putting on a spectacular display. We have also had a lot of beautiful days and a few rainy days. The latter will hopefully no longer be too much of a concern for us, as, weather-permitting, our roof will be replaced on Monday! So far, the weather forecast looks favorable.....

As for the weekend, we were blessed with two sunny days. Even though the morning temperatures are close to freezing, the sunshine brings up the the temperatures to the 50's (10C). On Saturday morning, we dropped Liesel's car off for an oil change, and then Liesel and Nathan spent some quality time together at the library, and a new neighborhood ice cream store, where you select your ice-cream (from 16 flavors), and your toppings. Toppings include: all kinds of sauces, chocolate chips, nuts, brownies, cookies and the list goes on and on. Once your frozen creation is done, you go and pay for it by its weight!

On Sunday, we had a lazy start to the day, before getting ready for Church at 10:45. The afternoon included finishing the mowing that I started on Saturday, watching football and playing Mario Bros Super Slugger Baseball with Nath. Liesel prepared a delicious roast chicken for dinner, which we finished off with her signature dessert, Creme Brulee, while watching "The Amazing Race" who were racing through Africa! It was strange how similar Malawi looked to South Africa!

Rain, rain go away!

2011-10-23T22:01:00.002-05:00

Since last week's blog, each week day consisted of flood watches, and the occasional flood warning from National Weather Service due to the consistent precipitation that settled over North East Ohio. Unfortunately, this weather also took advantage of the leak in Nathan's bedroom, and we literally had water rolling down the inside of the bedroom wall and pooling under the carpet. This prompted Liesel to temporarily move Nathan to our guest bedroom, as we wait for the dampness to disappear! We are also desperate for the roofers to come and replace the roof for us, so we can get his wall repaired, and then ultimately, move him back to his room. But as the rain falls, the roofer's existing work orders are put on hold, meaning longer waits for those customers further down on their list :(

So, you can imagine how happy we were to see the bright yellow orb in the sky on Saturday and Sunday! In fact we celebrated the sunshine by relaxing and taking the weekend in our stride. On Saturday morning, we dropped off my car for a complimentary service, and then headed to some toy shops to look at potential gifts for the boys. That afternoon, was really laid back with playing baseball on the Wii, and football in the front yard. Some parts were still heavily water logged and sometimes it seemed like we were playing in a rice paddy! For family fun night, we played Twister, which Nathan loved, and his parents not so much... It reminded us that we are not nearly as flexible as we thought we were. It seemed like each spin of the wheel was accompanied by an extra groan as we struggled to move our limbs to the designated color on the mat...

Sunday was even more relaxed than the day before, as Nathan and Josh seemed to have a runny nose. So we decided to keep them home and skip church for a change. Some activities included more Wii, videos, chats with family, playing with Lego and reading books. Later on we all headed outdoors for a bit, and did the one chore that signals the eminent arrival of winter. It was time to pack away the summer furniture and equipment on the patio and store it in the garage during the harsher winter months. We could still have some fun out of it as the boys found some scooters that they hadn't used in a while, and zigzagged between the cars on the driveway.

All in all it was a wonderfully sunny, and relaxing weekend for the McCarthy's!

Nathan's Weekend of Birthday Celebrations!

2011-10-16T20:31:00.001-05:00

On Monday, our oldest son turns seven years old! Turning seven is a big deal in our household, and we don't just celebrate it on one day. Here, we celebrate the whole weekend! Nathan was fortunate enough to have the day off school on Friday (as did most school children in Ohio), so that was a great start to his birthday weekend!

On Saturday, Liesel and I made and decorated his Space Shuttle Birthday Cake! Liesel made the cake, I cut out the shape, then Liesel covered it in a thick, smooth layer of frosting, and then I added the finishing touches, such as windows, tail, writing "Nathan" and finishing the trim. Have a look at his cake below, and see what great teamwork can accomplish (even if I do say so myself):

That afternoon I took Nathan and a couple of his friends bowling, where they had oodles of fun bowling with ultra-violet lights, glow in the dark balls and laser shows!

After two games, we all headed back to our house to "ignite" the space shuttle, sing happy birthday, and play a new game on the Wii that one of Nathan's gave him! Nathan has since spent many, many hours playing this new game!

On Sunday afternoon, we had our close friends over for another "party" for Nathan. While Nathan and his friends ran around the house, Jim and I watched football and the two ladies chatted! It was a great time together. We enjoyed pizza, brownies and another pumpkin-flavored birthday cake! Once the football was over, and another happy birthday song dedicated to Nath, our friends headed home. Liesel and I decided it was time to bring out his remaining birthday presents. The reason we gave them to him the night before was that I am taking Nathan out for a pancake breakfast before school on Monday, so there won't be time to sit around opening presents once we wake up! And on Monday evening, he will be going out for dinner too! Four full days to celebrate one's birthday is really special, and we know Nath loved every minute! So Happy Birthday Nath! Mom and dad are so very proud of you and we look forward to many, many more birthday's together!

Heavenly week of weather!

2011-10-09T23:31:00.000-05:00

In what seems to be the polar opposite of last weekend's wet, and wintry weather, we have been graced with a string warm, sunny days! Temperatures topped out at 80 degrees (27C), and the boys were running around shirtless again. This weekend's goal was to take things easy and take advantage of the beautiful weather., and I think that we easily achieved that goal!

On Saturday morning, Liesel left the house at 6:20am because she was selling a bunch of clothes and toys that the boys had outgrown at the local Kid's Re-Sale event, which opened to the public at 7am. This left me in charge of the boys for the morning, so my first order of business was to whip up a batch of cinnamon and choc chip pancakes for breakfast. Afterwards, we got dressed, cleaned up and headed to the gym. I had an intense workout class, and 36 hours later each muscle group that was worked, is still letting me exactly how hard they worked!!! Chest, biceps, abs and hamstrings have all made themselves known...
After gym, the boys headed to Lowes, a home improvement store, to buy a flag pole for Nathan's wind sock. I had this idea to attach the pole to his jungle gym, so the windsock could easily catch passing breezes. So after we got home, I got out the saw, drill, and spray paint and got working on the new addition to his gym. Here is the end result, and do take note of the weather!

That afternoon I had the "privilege" of mowing my lawn, and although that it had been 5 days since the last rainfall, parts of the yard were still muddy! Even still, that didn't stop Nathan and I from throwing a football around in the evening after supper!

On Sunday, I took the boys shopping again, and then went to a playground to soak up this weather! The afternoon saw me in front of my computer due to some customer issues, but I made sure to take some time outs for some outdoor play. So all in all, a laid back weekend.

A touch of winter.

2011-10-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

While last weekend came with temperatures in the mid 70's (25C), this weekend gave us a glimpse of Winter. With the continuous rainfall, temperatures struggled to rise above 50F (10C)!

So with the gloomy weather outside, we thought a cardio and weight workout at the gym would warm us up on Saturday morning. Liesel and I worked up a sweat while the boys entertained themselves in the child care of our local gym.
Since we were mostly house-bound this weekend, I did something unusual and took on the role of baker on Saturday afternoon. My creation: chocolate fudge, made from condensed milk and chocolate chips! It turned out pretty well in my biased opinion. But don't just take my word for it, ask any of the three independent judges: Liesel, Josh or Nathan. That evening as the sun set and the temperatures started dropping, it was the perfect time to get a fire going in the fireplace, the first of this cooler season.
The next morning, the temperature in the house was the coldest it had been since last winter, which prompted us to turn the heat on, another first of the season :( Hopefully this will be a temporary measure as the forecast calls for warmer weather in the coming week.
With this cooler weather, Nathan picked up another bout of Strep Throat. Liesel took him to a pharmacy on Sunday morning, to confirm our diagnosis and to pick up another round of anti-biotics for the poor boy. Josh and I headed to the Grace Baptist Church, where I got to hear a great sermon on parenting. That afternoon I took advantage of the dry hours, and managed to get the front yard mowed, before the heavens opened up again. So once again we were confined to the inside of the house, as we rode out the remaining weekend hours. However, there were a few moments that Liesel spotted when the sun put on a spectacular display as it bade the weekend farewell.

Finally, I wanted to share an update on my father's condition. He underwent surgery on Saturday morning in Cape Town to remove the brain tumor. The surgery was successful, and he was kept sedated for at least 24 hours after the surgery. When they woke him up today, he seemed to be doing well and very much his old self again, laughing and making jokes with the nurses. He feels fine and is not in any pain, and all is well. He will still be in ICU for a few days to be monitored during his recovery. Praise the Lord! Thanks again for all your prayers!

Flights, Fall and some Pro Football

2011-09-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

One of the reasons I love my job, is that I get to go to some wonderful new places. On Wednesday, I boarded a flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia! This was my first trip to Canada, and although I only spent 20 hours in the neighboring country, I had a really good time in this beautiful city. After finishing up with the customer on Thursday, I had a couple hours to explore the Halifax waterfront, before catching my flight back to the USA. Below are some of the photos I took...

On Saturday, our family headed out on our annual Apple Picking excursion. Last year, we took Liesel's parents with us, and it was nearer the end of the season. At that time, most of the best apples had been picked and a few trees had some prize apples hidden in the upper branches. However, this Saturday was still very early in the season, and most trees had so many apples that their branches were hanging on the ground! Nathan and Josh had a great time, picking, sampling and throwing some apples! The highlight for Josh was visiting the farm animals, which included a couple of donkeys, goats, turkeys, pigs and rabbits!

On Sunday, a friend invited me to the Cleveland Browns football game! While Liesel and the boys headed to church, I was on my way to the Browns Stadium on the Lake Erie shore. The game was very tense as the home team was down 10-16 with a minute left in the game. The Browns took a slight gamble, which worked out for them and they managed to score the winning touchdown with 43 seconds left on the clock, making the final score-line 17-16! Very close indeed, but Cleveland are known for these close games.....
When I got home that evening, Nathan and I headed outside to play our variation of football in the front yard. The weather was absolutely stunning for a late September day, with temperatures in the mid 70s (25C). Great way to end off the weekend :)

Finally, I wanted to share an update on my father:
This Thursday, instead of operating on him, they life-flighted him back to his home-city of Cape Town. His doctors reviewed his condition and do not feel it is necessary to operate at this time, and that surgery should only be the last resort. He underwent more tests and was awaiting the results when I spoke to him on Saturday. We are still praying for a miracle and that medication will be able to eradicate the tumor. Please keep on praying with us. Thank you.

Fall Football Fever!

2011-09-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

Before I share about our weekend's adventures, I would like to ask you to say a prayer for my father. He has been admitted into Intensive Care on Saturday because they discovered at least one brain tumor. Since he has been using blood thinning medication, they could not operate immediately. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday, and we would really appreciate it if you would lift him up in prayer at this time.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

As i pulled up our driveway after work on Friday evening, Nathan ran up to me and said, "Dad, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure," I replied, not quite knowing what to expect.
"Can you please take me to the Avon Eagles football game tonight?"
The Avon Eagles is the name of the Avon High School football team. It's a tradition here to go and support your local high school sports teams, and Friday nights are usually set aside for the football games.
So we ate our supper that Liesel had prepared at a faster rate than usual, in order to get to the stadium by the 7pm kickoff. This was the first time Nathan and I went to a high school football game! We were amazed by the local support. As we were driving there, our car came to a standstill about half a mile before the school, as hundreds of people were making their way to the same game! While we were stuck in the traffic, we saw a number of people of all ages, wearing the Eagle's colors of purple and gold, walk past us on the way to the school! As we got closer to the school, we saw that police had the traffic situation under control, as they directed the cars into the school grounds. We eventually got to park the car and made our way to the stadium. Once again we were in awe to see all the support the Avon Eagles had! Children from Kindergarten all the way through to 12th graders, parents, grandparents, and many other Avon residents packed the stands, in their purple and gold shirts, caps, scarves, blankets, jackets and even socks! The school also put on a show with their cheerleaders, and marching band that entertained us during the half time break. In fact the visiting team's marching band also took part in the entertainment, and all in all, we had a great time. It also helped that Avon won 35 - 7 that night, which added to the already high spirits!

On Saturday, we went to the Cleveland Metro Park Zoo with our good friends the Bosley's. It was a beautiful Fall morning, with temperatures around 65 (18C), which meant that the animals weren't lethargic, like they were in the summertime. We took our red wagon to pull the boys around should they need a break from walking. Unfortunately, they both were not willing to walk up the steep incline to the aquatic/wild cats/primates area of the zoo! So it was up to me to get these two boys to the top. All I can say is, I think I have discovered an additional grueling exercise that future SEAL or Green Beret teams should be subjected to, in order to test their strength, endurance and mental attitude in one go!

Sunday was another beautiful Fall day, with blue skies and mild temperatures. Liesel took Nath and Josh to church, while I stayed at home to wait for an insurance assessor. Back in August we had a very strong storm with high winds and hail that damaged a number of roofs in the area. The assessor arrived and after a thorough inspection agreed that our roof was also damaged and should be replaced. We are quite happy about that, since the estimate for a new roof is around $11 000, but we are only on the hook for $500 as per our insurance policy.
In the afternoon, Nath, Josh and I played our version of football (which is actually pretty exhausting). Later on that evening, after dinner we rounded the weekend off with a bicycle ride around the neighborhood!

Autumn on its way!

2011-09-11T23:21:00.000-05:00

Last weekend could easily be described as tropical, with the unusual heat and humidity prevailing. So when Monday's temperatures only topped out in the mid sixties (upper teens in Celsius), we knew that it was Labor Day, the unofficial end of Summer in the USA! The sun only really showed itself this afternoon for a few hours, before the heavens opened again, to soak to the already water-logged grass and garden beds.This weekend was a very low key one, with us spending the majority of the time at home. The highlight of the day was Nathan's Lego Building Club at the local public library. While I sat down with my laptop and reviewed some material for work, Nathan was letting his creative juices flow, and within an hour, had built a space shuttle from scratch with no plans or pictures for reference!

That night Liesel and were planning to have a date night. The babysitter was arranged and we were just finishing up with dinner, when Nathan announced that he wasn't feeling well, and even felt like throwing up! So we canceled the babysitter, just 15 minutes before she was due to come, and Liesel, trusting her maternal instincts took Nathan to the only medical facility open at 7pm on a Saturday night to get tested for Strep throat. The reason we wanted to do that on Saturday, was so that if the test came back positive (which it did!), we could have Nathan on a course of anti-biotics for at least 24 hours before going to school on Monday! So yet again Liesel's instinct's were spot on, and now we have some strong anti-biotics working its way through Nath's body, which means he will not have to forfeit a day of school!Since Nathan was still considered "contagious" on SUnday morning - we skipped church. Instead Nath spent the day in his pajamas. Liesel took Josh with her to the store early on Sunday morning, so that he wasn't confined to the home all day. A little later, I took him with me to pick up some photos, and then headed to the Bay Village Science and Nature Center. This is one of his favorite places after the zoo, since it houses many different kinds of animals from Boa Constrictors to a Bald Eagle, from tiny scorpions to white-tailed deer. We spent over an hour running from animal to animal, and pausing only to play with puppets and puzzles. At lunch time, I convinced Josh that it was time to go home. Since the sun was shining, I decided to drive back along the lake front, and enjoy the view of the sun and the water.

From 9/11/11

When we got home, Liesel and Nath were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks in the living room, so we decided to have a picnic lunch on the living room floor. Afterward, Liesel and Josh went upstairs for a nap, and Nath and I watched the Browns football game. Nothing like a laid back Sunday afternoon! After the boys were in bed, Liesel and I managed to salvage something from the date night that never was, and we watched The King's Speech together! Great movie!!! Great end to the weekend! Goodnight!

Global warming rears its head!

2011-09-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

As I stepped out of my air-conditioned office building on Friday evening, I was hit simultaneously by a wall of heat and humidity. My car's instrument panel confirmed this unusual meteorological condition for September, reading 96 degrees (36C) in the shade! It's on days like these that you are thankful that your car and house are equipped with air conditioning! When I got home, the family climbed into the car and we headed out to our local Costco (South African equivalent = Makro) for dinner for the first time ever! The amazing part of this dinner was the price. For a total of $7, we had two huge slices of pizza, one large hot dog and three large (and bottomless) cold-drinks! Not too shabby!On Saturday morning, Liesel and Josh headed off to the gym. I didn't join them, since the temperature was due to hit the upper 90's again, and I wanted to get the yard mowed before the temperature rose too high. Even at 9am, I had drops of sweat rolling off the tip of my nose! This would have been the perfect day for jumping into our pool, but unfortunately, the water in the pool had past its "sell by" date. No one had made use of the pool in weeks, so my other task on Saturday was to start emptying the pool! The boys and I had loads of fun expelling the water in various ways. That evening, for my family fun night, we went to Crocker Park for an ice-cream dessert. We also used this opportunity to get some grocery shopping done. While Liesel pushed a cart up and down the aisles, I was pushing my boys on swings! It's always useful when there is a playground around the corner from a shopping store, so that Liesel can do her shopping unhindered, and we don't get to hear the groans and moans from the boys (me included :P)On a considerably cooler Sunday, we had a slow start in the morning. Once we were all dressed, we headed to a couple of stores before going to Church. This was our second visit to this church, and as we went inside and headed to the Children's wing to drop the boys off. We were quickly informed that there is no childcare or Sunday School this Sunday, since the church service was especially for kids, and aptly called Kidstuf! Nathan and Josh weren't too keen on this idea, and honestly, neither were his parents. But as we went into the church, we were greeted by some young people in costume. The stage had been transformed into a number of different sets for the various stories presented. We started off with some upbeat singing, which really got Josh going. Then, various actors came on and performed high quality skits, using all kinds of props, and even incorporating the projectors! The execution was flawless, and I commented to Liesel that this was like a mini-Broadway for kids! The amount of work that went into today's production must have been substantial. We were really surprised to find out that every first Sunday of the month in a Kidstuf service, and this has been going on for the last 4.5 years! We were very impressed, and loved the message that it brought, catering especially for kids of all ages! The rest of the day was very laid back, as spotty rain showers kept us indoors most of the time. Thankfully, tomorrow is Labor Day here, and I get another day to spend with my family! Labor Day is also known as the unofficial end of Summer, and for at least the last two years, Labor Day's temperatures have been considerably cooler than the previous days (as if Mother Nature knew exactly what day it was). Tomorrows maximum temp is forecast to be 68 (20C) and wet. At leas I won't be missing my pool any more....

Happy Birthday, dear Liesel!

2011-08-28T22:36:00.001-05:00

Today (Monday), we celebrate my beautiful wife's birthday! I am so blessed to have been a part of her last 10 birthday's, and I pray that this year is her best yet! Happy birthday Liesel! Looking forward to celebrating many, many more together.

This time last week, I was blogging from a luxuriously appointed wooden lodge on the shores of Lake Manitowish! We had a fantastic time there with the Edgar family. In fact, we changed our plans and extended our stay by one more day. That extra day meant more tubing (Nathan's second time!), more tennis, more swimming and more relaxing! It was hard to pull ourselves away from that beautiful Eden, but we reluctantly drove back to Green Bay where the McCarthy's boarded the planes and made our way back home to Cleveland. Take a look at the slideshow at the end of this blog to get a taste of this beautiful resort!

Nathan was all ready to start First Grade on Thursday, until he complained of a sore throat on Wednesday. Liesel listened to her maternal instincts and took him to be tested for Strep throat, which came back positive. This news devastated Nathan, since he was so looking forward to going back to school. Fortunately, after taking anti-biotics for 24 hours, his throat returned to normal, and at 7:45am on Friday morning, he excitedly climbed into the big yellow school bus.
To celebrate Nathan's first day of First Grade, we went to eat at Moe's on Friday night.
On Saturday morning, Liesel and I took our bodies to another exercise class at our gym. Later that night (and all day Sunday), we began to feel exactly which muscle groups were worked out during the 50 minute class.
Sunday morning, we tried another local church, Grace Baptist, which Liesel and I really enjoyed. Unfortunately there is no children's ministry during the month of August, so Nathan had to spend the entire time with us in the sanctuary. We are eager to return next week, so that Nathan can get a feel for their Sunday School classes. After nap time, the family took a drive to the Westlake Recreation Center, where Liesel and Nathan went to hit a few tennis balls, while I burned off calories following Josh around the three playgrounds. It was a fun afternoon, and weekend, all round.

Just another day in paradise.....

2011-08-21T22:58:00.004-05:00

Tonight's sunset over the lake

This vacation is also special because of the number of first's that we experienced! On Thursday, it was the FIRST time that Nathan and I traveled separately to Liesel and Josh. Nath and I were flying from Pittsburgh, PA to Green Bay, WI with a stopover in Detroit, MI, while Liesel and josh flew directly from Cleveland to Green Bay. This was also Josh's FIRST time in an airplane, and he did so well!

Early on Saturday day, Nathan went with Uncle Terence and his "cousins" on a fishing expedition on the rented boat. With a little coaching, he caught his FIRST and SECOND fishes!

That afternoon, all twelve of us boarded the rented pontoon boat and headed across Lake Manitowish. Once we found a good spot, we threw two large tubes into the water and most of us had a turn to go tubing! Nathan and I went on the one tube together, and had an exhilarating ride! Of course, this was Nathan's FIRST tubing experience! Even though he fell off right at the very end - he did so well, and we were very proud of him! Not to be out done by her six year old son, Liesel also joined in the fun, and she too, had a fantastic time on her FIRST tube ride!

Some of the other activities we've been enjoying include: tennis, volleyball, kayaking, relaxing around the fireplace by the pool, and just relaxing on the deck and taking in the stunning scenery!

This week's blog come to you from the Northwoods of Wisconsin, at the stunningly beautiful Chippewa Lodge overlooking the magnificent Lake Manitowish! Our family was blessed to be able to join Liesel's uncle, aunt and cousins on the final summer vacation before the start of a new school year. We are staying in this luxuriously furnished, 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom wooden lodge that comfortably sleeps 11. The lodge is right on the water's edge of the lake, and one can hear the waves tapping gently against the concrete foundations.

So far, we have had an awesome time here, relaxing and renewing family bonds! The good news is that we still have another 1.5 days left in paradise, before we make our way back to Green Bay to board our flights back home!

Wish you were all here with us!!!!

Kayaking around the lake

Snuggling on the boat

Nathan's catching fish

Our lodge

Nathan's first tube ride

Liesel's first tubing experience

Rainy end to relaxing weekend

2011-08-14T23:03:00.001-05:00

This week's heading sums up the weekend very well. Liesel was not feeling 100% so we declined the weekly muscle torture offered by our gym. Instead, I took the boys shopping while Liesel relaxed at home. A while later we returned home, but before going inside, Nathan asked to play some baseball outside. He got his bat out while I put on my baseball glove. Nathan's eye-hand co-ordination has improved greatly, and with his new confidence, it only took about 3 pitches before he blasted the ball back at my head! The ball traveled so fast I didn't even have time to raise my glove, but instead took evasive action to prevent serious injury!! For those who thought it was just a lucky shot, a few balls later and he sent another ball into my chest! Thankfully, it was only a tennis ball and not an actual baseball, which is similar in size and weight to a cricket ball!

That afternoon, I took Nathan to the local library to take part in the Lego Brick Builder's club again! He ha not been to one for several months due to his various broken bones, so he was excited to return to the club. He let his imagination run wild, while I relaxed in the library and caught up on the latest news on my Google tablet!

The sun was shining brightly the entire day, which meant that when it came time for me to mow the lawn, it was still uncomfortably hot! Beads of sweat rolled down my face and off my nose as I carried out my weekly home-owner's chore. Fortunately we have the pool for me to seek some relief from the summer heat. This time I had both boys in the pool with me, as we had cut their hair a little earlier and the pool provided them with a way to get rid of those itchy follicles!

Waking up on Sunday, we were greeted with the pitter patter of raindrops. The rain stopped for a while as we headed out to the store before Church. We tried another new church today, and afterward we can honestly say that we can strike this one off our list. It was a smaller church, slightly disorganized in the childcare department. After dropping off the Josh in his childcare, we went into the church sanctuary. Fortunately because of the slightly cooler weather from the rain, I was wearing my khaki work pants and a golf shirt (I usually wear jeans or even shorts), because it seemed like everyone else had dressed up for the occasion. I even felt under-dressed when I saw teenage boys in front of me with waist coats, and most men had jackets and ties! The service seemed to drag on, and it didn't help that the senior's pastor's sermon ran over 15 minutes late! So we only got out of there after 12:30pm! The boys were starving, since they usually get lunch between 11:30 and 12 :(

Because of the rain, we spent the rest of the day indoors. The boy's previous babysitter stopped by to show us her 6 month old son! It was a sweet "reunion" and Nathan and Josh just loved little Hayden! After their visit, Liesel caught up on some ATP tennis action, while the boys and I sang VeggieTales worship songs at the tops of our voices! Overall, it was a fun, yet relaxing Sunday!

As for this coming work week, I will only be working for 3 days, before we all fly up to Green Bay for our last getaway of the summer! This be Josh's first ever flight, and Nathan's first flight in about 4 years! They are both so excited and can't wait for Thursday!!

Surprise downpours and dinner dates!

2011-08-07T23:15:00.001-05:00

Another awesome summer-time weekend draws to a close. It was a great weekend for me, with a few surprises thrown in for fun! Saturday morning started off with Liesel and I voluntarily heading back to the place that inflicts pain to our under-utilized muscles. After dropping the boys off in the gym's child-care, we headed upstairs for the workout class. The instructor was very creative and found ways to increase resistance to some mundane exercises, and let's just say, that it worked! Today, Liesel and I are both experiencing severe stiffness in certain muscle groups, that solicit grimaces and wincing every time we stand up, sit down or cross our legs.....
After the gym, we headed to a few stores with the boys before heading home for the afternoon. Later that afternoon, in the upper 80 degree (30C +) heat, I took out my mower to cut the grass before our friends arrived later that evening for dinner. After getting through about 75% of the task, I heard thunder starting to rumble in the distant. Then, a few minutes later, the heavens opened and unleashed a torrent over our house. I was determined not to stop, as the end was in sight for me. So I pushed on through the heavy raindrops and became soaked in the process. It was actually refreshing, since five minutes earlier, perspiration was dripping off my face in the heat!

That evening, we had some friends come over for a pre-birthday dinner with us. I grilled some lamb and salmon and Liesel made the salads and desserts! We all had a great time together, enjoying the delicious food, and company! It was a wonderful time with friends, and even Nathan and Joshua loved hanging out with their friends too!

On Sunday, we headed to another church in the morning. After a great sermon, we stopped at the local mall to go price some cell phones, and give Josh a chance to play in the child area. Afterward, it was lunch time, so we headed back home. That afternoon Nathan, Josh and I played in the pool for a while. Around 5 o' clock, Liesel stuck her head out and said we need to get out since the babysitter is arriving in half an hour... BABYSITTER?? This was news to me! So I came inside and got dressed, only to be told, that I needed to dress up a little nicer... The babysitter showed up on schedule, and then Liesel drove me over to one of my favorite restaurants, the Melting Pot! It was a wonderful surprise! The food was fantastic! We started off with a cheese fondue, where I dipped bread into the cheddar and garlic sauce, while Liesel enjoyed the fresh vegetables. Then for the main course we had shrimp, sirloin, chicken and tuna, which we cooked ourselves in the red wine broth. Finally the dessert came out witha chocolate fondue pot containing both white and milk chocolate. They even put a candle into a slice of cheesecake for me! The dessert tray included pound cake, cheesecake, brownies, marshmallows, rice crispie treats, strawberries and bananas. Decadent, but oh so good! It was a wonderful end to a great weekend! Thanks Liesel!!!

The dessert platter!

The white/milk chocolate fondue!

Family firsts

2011-07-31T22:14:00.000-05:00

As the last week of July rambled by us, the boys of the McCarthy family had some first time experiences! For Nathan, it was the start of of his first physical therapy since breaking his leg. Liesel and I were very surprised with his orthopedic doctor did not mention anything about him needing any physical therapy after being in a cast for 8 weeks. In these weeks post-cast, we noticed that Nathan had a strange limp, and even with some coaching from his parents, it never improved. So Liesel took him to his pediatrician, and she agreed with us and referred him for some physical therapy. On Monday, Nath went for his first session, and the therapist immediately noticed that his right hamstring was much tighter than the left. One of the measurements she took was the angle between the upper and lower leg. The average is 10 degrees, but Nathan's right leg measured 58 degrees. She worked with him during the session and he really enjoyed. She also gave him exercises to do at home twice a day, that should help his leg.
Nathan also started with one on one swimming lessons this week. He had two lessons and his confidence level since last year has improved 200%. He is loving the water and is very keen to learn the correct technique to use in the pool! So on Saturday afternoon, while Liesel and Josh napped, Nath and I headed to our gym's wimming pool so he could show me what he has been learning. We had a great time together in the pool as he showed me the different floats, some new strokes, and his new found confidence in jumping into the pool!

Josh's first is a lot more daunting to parents as he takes his first strides towards becoming potty-trained! He has shown some great enthusiasm after successfully using the potty. Liesel has been quite creative in thinking of various awards to offer him after "going" successfully. One of his rewards was a trip to our local library, one of his favorite places. We went there on Saturday morning, and gave him plenty of free time to enjoy himself in the play area, picking out DVDs and playing on the computer! This also gave Liesel some time to browse and get a batch of new book and DVDs for the boys to enjoy during the week. Josh is progressing pretty well, with more successes than accidents at the moment :) Hopefully, the accidents will become few and further apart! Ah, what a wonderful thought it would be to finally have him diaper-independent!!!

Nath enjoying the "store" at the library!

Now, it's time for my first...........
Unlike Nathan and Josh's experiences, mine is not in any way encouraging, flattering or positive. In my case, I believe (for the first time ever) that I have fractured a bone! Luckily it's not a heavily utilized bone such as the tibia, fibula or any other significant bone. The bone in question in my fourth toe on my left foot! I also do not have a glamorous story related to this fracture. I wish I could say if was a sporting injury, or a car rode over my foot, but I can't. You see, we have this gate at the entrance to our living room (which my mom should know very well now), which protects our valuable electronics and games from our own Hurricane Josh. Well, at lunch time, I needed to get something out of the living room, and this gate that I have navigated flawlessly hundred's of times before, stood it's ground as my foot swung over it. Somehow, I miscalculated the height of the gate for the first time in history, and my three small toes had a direct impact with the corner of the gate and the wall. Since then, the small and middle toes have returned to normal, but toe #4 is badly swollen and is excruciating painful to the touch! Even now, hours later, as I type this with the toes strapped, the pain is significant! I am really hoping that by strapping it securely, I will be able to get through my beach volleyball games tomorrow without too much agony :-O!!

Thunderstorms & workout torture

2011-07-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

After a week with extremely high temperatures that reached into the lower 100's (39C+), I did not mind being woken up early on Saturday morning by thunder and lightning! That morning, we had two decent downpours before I got up at 7:30am! The rain (at least temporarily) brought the temperatures down to a more comfortable level. Once everybody was up and ready, we headed to our gym for our regular Saturday morning workout. We arrived in time for a workout class, one that we haven't taken for a while. The good news is, I survived the class. The bad news is that I now have several muscle groups that are very unhappy with me....

After the workout class, we stopped at a nursery on the way home. It was actually a fun family outing, walking up and down the various "lanes", with Josh shouting, "Wow! Look at the flowers! They're beautiful!"
By that afternoon, the sun was shining again, and with all the moisture around, it was extremely humid. Thankfully, the pool is available to us to escape the heat and humidity. All four of us spent time in the water, seeking some relief from yet another scorching summer's day. I later fired up the grill and we had our dinner outside on the patio. During the meal we noticed the clouds building up on the horizon again. As soon as everyone had finished we moved inside, and not more than five minutes later, thunderstorm number four made its presence known!

Sunday morning was a typical one with us attending a church service in the morning. When we got home around lunch time, I mowed the lawn for the first time since my mother left! Having a pool in the back garden to jump into afterwards, made the experience much more tolerable! A little later, we went for a family bike ride around the neighborhood, and afterwards, the boys headed straight to the pool again. Liesel had arranged a babysitter who arrived right after the boys had their dinner, allowing us to go on one of our rare date nights! We headed to Crocker Park and had a delicious dinner at one of the restaurants. Afterward, we browsed through a local bookstore that was closing down. Liesel could have spent all night there, but since we wre paying the babysitter by the hour, I almost had to forcefully drag her from the store! Overall, it was another great summer weekend in Ohio!

Summer is alive and well!

2011-07-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

Before I share about our weekend, I want to give you an update of the world's unluckiest air passenger!
As you know, my mother left us on Monday morning to start her 44 hour trek back to South Africa. She left Cleveland without any hassles on her first flight to Columbus. However, the flight she was supposed to board from Columbus to Washington DC did not arrive on time, due to severe thunderstorms in the Chicago area, it's origin. The gate agents recommended that my mom catch another two flights to guarantee her arrival in Washington DC, so reluctantly, my mother flew into New York City, and then finally into Washington DC! Unfortunately, her suitcase did not make it to Washington DC in time for her transatlantic flight!!! So she boarded the flight to London, knowing that her suitcase was lost in the USA. To make a long story short, her suitcase was found and finally delivered to her home in South Africa on Friday, but a gift she bought my sister in the USA, was missing :( Moral of the story: Don't go overseas with my mother :)

As for the McCarthy family, we spent a lot of times outdoors and in the pool this weekend. With temperatures in the 90s (33C+). We did the healthy thing first thing on Saturday morning, and went to the gym for a workout. The rest of the day we spent at home. That afternoon we all lent a hand in washing our cars, then jumped in the pool again, before I got out to grill some hamburgers for dinner!

On Sunday morning, we tried out a different church, which the boys seemed to enjoy. I enjoyed the worship and the two girls on the worship team had stunning voices. Later that afternoon, the boys headed to the pool again before dinner. After dinner, we had planned out family fun event for the weekend, which was going on a bicycle ride with our good friends, the Bosley's. We headed to the Westlake Recreation center and did a couple of laps around the facility. Afterward we stopped at an ice cream store and enjoyed a few bowl's of ice cream together! It was such a stunning evening as we sat outside enjoying our frozen treats, with the temperature still above 85 (30C) at 9pm!

And that was another weekend where we were blessed with stunning summer weather! Tomorrow evening I will be playing in the finals of our 4-person sand volleyball league, and the temperature again is expected to be above 90 degrees (33C+)!!! Bring it on!

All good things must come to an end :(

2011-07-10T23:28:00.001-05:00

The time has come, and unfortunately for us, it's time for my mom to return to wintry South Africa. The 19 days we spent together just flew by, which is the universal indicator that we were having fun! Having arrived back from the Surfside adventure last Sunday, we spent this week hanging out at some our favorite local spots.
Monday: we spent the day at home and hitting a few clothing stores for some great Fourth of July sales.
Tuesday: we headed to Lake Erie's Huntington Beach where we waded in the fresh waters of the lake and the boys enjoyed playing in the sand.

Wednesday: The day Nathan got his gran to ride on her first roller coaster ever! We went to Memphis Park, an amusement park that caters mostly for children 5 and under. However they do have the oldest steel roller-coaster in North America, which is in fact, a very tame roller-coaster, but it is still classified as a roller-coaster!

Thursday: Spent the morning at the Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo. This is Josh's absolute favorite place in the world!

Friday: Playing in the water at the pop jets at Crocker Park. Nathan, Josh, and even "Granny Mom" enjoyed running through the sprays and jets and getting wet! That evening, the adults returned for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Saturday: Picnic at Bradley Nature Park, which included catching some fish for Nathan's fish tank!
Sunday: Spent the morning at a playground close to Lake Erie in Lakewood. The afternoon, my mom took Nathan (and me) to watch Cars 2 at the local theater.
And in what seems like a blink of an eye, her vacation is over and life has to return to normal in the McCarthy household. Thanks for coming to vacation with us mom - we had all had a blast!

Heaven is... a golf cart community!

2011-07-04T23:28:00.000-05:00

Apologies for the lack of recent blog posts, but we have just returned from an epic vacation in South Carolina with my mom! Liesel had booked us into a holiday house, that was literally 500 ft (150m) from the beach. It was also situated in Oceanside Village, which happens to be a golf cart community. So, waiting for us at the holiday house, was our very golf cart to use for the duration of our stay there! It seated 5 (3 facing forward, 2 backward). You have no idea how little electric vehicle made our vacation so much more enjoyable!! For example, in the morning, we would load beach chairs, an umbrella, boogie board, life vests, beach bag and more onto this cart, and then drive it out of the community, across the road and straight to reserved parking for golf carts, that is right up against the beach! So we would only have to carry these beach accessories for about 100ft (30m), from the golf cart parking to the perfect spot on the beach! After spending time in the waves, the sand and the sunshine - we would reload the golf cart and head back to the community, and head straight to the warm outdoor pool! Again, there is reserved golf cart parking right next to the pool gate! Once we had our fair share of fresh water, we would head back to the house for Lunch. The golf cart also transported us to the playground, the indoor pool, and the tennis courts! Life was so easy in Oceanside Village!

There were so many fun things that we did, that instead of boring you with pages of descriptions, I will list a few of our highlights.

Feeding the ducks
Extreme adventure golf
Impromptu donut stops
Helicopter rides!!!
Boogie boarding
Indoor swimming pool
Free ice cream
Eating fudge
Fishing
Sandcastles

Finally, take a look at the slide show below for a better idea of what we got up to over the last week!

The unluckiest airline passenger's blog

2011-06-23T08:32:00.001-05:00

I thought that I would feature a guest blog today. Since my mom is (finally) with us, I think this is the ideal opportunity for her to share some of her experiences and tell us why she is the unluckiest air traveler!

The memoirs of Cynthia McCarthy:

Hi All

I have arrived at last to a wonderful welcome from Grant, Liesel and boys. Grant says last night when he heard that the flight had been cancelled, and told Nathan - Nathan cried himself to sleep. Let me tell you a bit about yesterday's journey.

Kate dropped me off at the bus terminus yesterday morning at 7.00 am with a large suitcase and a small suitcase and a large laptop type bag. I travelled to Heathrow by bus, which takes you to terminal 1 and I needed to get to terminal 5, which is miles away. I lugged the cases off the bus and went into the terminal where I had to ask the way. I was told there was a free train service to terminal five, down flights of escalators. Fortunately I looked helpless and a man helped me. I arrived at terminal five and lugged all the cases up to the passport control area. Luckily I got through without too much trouble at least got rid of one suitcase. I waited for 2 hours then went to the departure gate - one had to go underground again to board a train to take us there - the train was not working so we were led through the emergency exits for this long walk, me pulling my hand luggage which weighed about as much as my big suitcase, and still had my big bag, over my shoulder. We must have walked about a Km before we had to go up steps, this time no escalator. I stood and looked helpless until someone offer to carry my case up the steps. I had a nice flight which lasted 7 1/2 hours.

I arrived at Washington DC and had to collect my luggage and rebook myself into the United flight to Cleveland. One has to walk miles, go through customs again and had to take my jacket off as well as my shoes,and stand against a panel with my arms stretched up, luckily no cases were opened. After a 4 hour wait we were told that our plane had a mechanical problem and that we were delayed one hour. Then the ramp was closed because there was lightening in the area. After another half hour we boarded the plane but the pilot said he could not take off as there was a huge backlog because of weather and said that we should disembark and go and sit in the terminal building - now there was not steps available so after 10 minutes he said to sit down again and we were taking off shortly. We took off, flew through the clouds when the pilot said he had to land again as a flock of birds had flown into the plane - so this time they found stairs and we got off. This was about 9pm Washington time. After a while an announcement was made that our flight had been cancelled and that we should go to Customer Services to arrange accommodation for the night. I started to panic, what do I do now??? Well I was taken by shuttle to Holiday Inn, which was very nice, and went to sleep at 11.45 pm and woke up 4 hours later - I could not sleep even though I had been awake now for 23 hours!!! A flight was booked for me this morning from Reagan airport, now I had to get there. Fortunately I was given a voucher for a taxi as it was a drive of just over an hour. Grant and Nathan were waiting for me, 24 hours after I was supposed to arrive. Well now I am here at last, but unfortunately my big suitcase with all my clothes is still flying around the Washington skies. I have been wearing the same top and slacks now for 3 days - hopefully it will arrive tomorrow.

That is the saga of my trip from London to Cleveland.

No more for tonight - another episode tomorrow. This has been typed from my new laptop that Grant gave me!!!!

love to all

I've got the fever!

2011-06-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

Even though it is the NBA Finals Game 6 tonight, with my team in the lead in the fourth quarter, it is not basketball fever that I am referring to. Unfortunately, at this time of the year, after a few good rainfalls, and warm sunny days, I am at the mercy of the various forms of pollen that are unleashed into the atmosphere! Of course, working in the garden and mowing the yard does not help either. So by the end of the day, I was a stuffed up, red eyed wreck :( The allergy medication also seemed to be waving the white flag against the onslaught of pollen, as they had no effect on me!

Let's recap my demise on Saturday:
While Liesel washed all the windows, I trimmed another two bushes - STRIKE ONE.
Shortly afterwards, I took out my blower and started clearing out the dust, leaves and dirt from the garage. A huge cloud of white dust emanated from the garage..... I followed this with blasting the garage floor with water, hoping to wash the inset dust and dirt away. STRIKE TWO.
Later that evening, after bathing the boys, I stepped outside again to cut the lawn. STRIKE THREE!

Sunday's weather was completely different from the hot, humid Saturday. We woke up to a chilly, overcast day. Liesel had nursery duty at church, so she left a couple of minutes before the boys. After church, we came home and chatted to the family in South Africa. My mother flies out to London on Monday night, spending a week in England, before winging her way to us for our summer vacation!
After a nap that afternoon, Liesel took Nath to the shops with her, and he returned with a solar powered model bi-plane! The remainder of the afternoon was spent figuring out how to assemble this plane! And that was the weekend, and then we pick up my mom at the airport! That means our summer vacation to South Carolina is less than 2 weeks away! Can't wait for the salt water of the Atlantic to clear my sinuses of this Ohio pollen!!!

Work(out), work, work

2011-06-05T17:38:00.001-05:00

The title pretty much sums up the weekend in a nutshell! It started on Saturday morning, when I decided to try out the 8:30am Bootcamp class at our gym. It was too early to take the boys with me and Liesel had other plans (carpet cleaning), so I left in a hurry and made it to the class just as it started. After 10 minutes into the class, I was praying for the instructor to stop! My body is not accustomed to this continuous cardio onslaught... But I forced myself to stay and complete the remaining 40 minutes! Needless to say, I barely walked upright out of that class, but I had accomplished my mission, burn as many calories as possible in 50 minutes.
When I got home later that morning, I found Liesel in the middle of her intense cleaning regiment. Nathan asked me to build a Lego police station for him, and I never turn down an opportunity to play with Legos! A while later, Liesel was done with the indoor carpets, so she headed outside to clean her car's carpets! So I took the boys outside with me and I started trimming the bushes around the porch. Nath helped a little by placing the cuttings into a cart for me, while Josh caused havoc, jumping on the branches, and unpacking the cart that Nath was filling.
That afternoon, Liesel went grocery shopping while Josh napped, and I took the opportunity to do some touchups on some interior walls that had been begging for attention for a number of months! When Liesel got home, it was almost dinnertime. I fired up the grill to barbecue some delcious ribs, the kind where the meat just falls off the bone! Hmmmmmmmmm

After church on Sunday morning, I brought the ladder inside to hang up some more pictures on the staircase wall. Liesel had prepared a delicious roast chicken for lunch, which went down so well! In my opinion, she makes the best roast chicken this side of the equator :-) Later that afternoon, I hauled out the mower and gave the front and back yard a mow. It has been beautfifully hot over the weekend with the mercury reaching 95(35C) yesterday and a slightly milder 87 (30C) today. Needless to say, we have had the air-conditioning turned on for the past 48 hours.

So I have covered work(out) and work so far, which leaves me with the final work item. Right now I am typing this blog about 20 000 feet above Pennsylvania, on my way to a customer. We need to be onsite at 8am, so we are flying in the night before. I then fly back to Cleveland around the same time tomorrow. So that was the weekend! Only two more weekends until my mother arrives :-)

Before I sign off, I want to give you an update on Nathan's leg. He has had his last cast cut off about 2 weeks ago and was given an air boot to walk around in. Liesel and I noticed that he seemed to struggle walking, so we asked him about it and he said he still felt pain in his leg. So Liesel took him back to the Doctor, who took another X-ray and zoomed into the area of the break. He discovered that there was still a fracture there, which is most likely the cause of his pain. To prevent it from getting worse, the doctor decided to put Nathan's leg into another cast! This one will stay on for another 2 weeks when they will reassess the situation. Please pray for Nath and that his leg will be completely healed during these two weeks, as we go on vacation in 3 weeks to the coast, and it would be awful to have to be there with a cast! On a brighter note, Nath has now had a leg cast in each of the primary colors!!!

Back to our roots!

2011-05-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the USA, which is also often considered to be the "unofficial" start of Summer! I am going to exercise my rights as a US resident, and post an abbreviated blog in lieu of the holiday! But I will leave you with a 50+ photo slideshow of what we did today!

This morning, we all piled into Liesel's car just before 9am to head out to the African Safari Park in Port Clinton, OH, just an hour away! It was a beautiful drive and we were one of the first people to arrive at the Park. The Park should be renamed to the African and American Safari Park, since we saw Giraffe, Zebra, Kudu, Gemsbok, Duiker, and Springbok, but the majority of the animals were from North and South America, such as Reindeer, Bison, Alpacas and Llamas!
The park has 2 parts to it, a drive-through reserve filled with "tame" herbivores, and then a walk around section that has a host of other animals, pony and camel rides, pig races, and some educational shows! We started with the drive-through part, and were handed a container of feed at the gate to feed the collection of reindeer, alpacas, llamas, bison and giraffe! So driving cautiously through the park, Liesel bravely held the container of feed out the window to feed the creatures, when all of a sudden the car was surrounds by these hungry herbivores, each one trying to get his/her share of the feed. Reindeer were kicking one another, and one decided he preferred the rubber beading around the car door than the feed in the container! Liesel was soon overwhelmed by this herd of huge hungry heads by her window, and in their aggression, caused her to drop the container. It was the perfect distraction, and we managed to maneuver our way out of the unrest! The next section of the reserve contained mainly younger deer, who were not able to get their heads into any windows! Finally, we could wind down our windows in the 80 degree (27C) weather, and Josh started relaxing, without having huge nostrils breathing against his window! Enjoy the show!

Post-Apocalypse gratefulness

2011-05-22T22:48:00.001-05:00

In lieu of being "left behind"; I thought it would be highly appropiate to use this "borrowed" time to reflect on several things the McCarthy household is eternally grateful for. So instead of the standard blog, I present you with my list......

We are grateful for (in no particular order):

Liesel, who dedicates all her time to raise our wonderful two sons. Besides that, she also takes cares of our nutritional needs, and keeps our home running smoothly!
The summer weather that we have been longing for since October.
Air-conditioning for #2 above.
Volleyball leagues (indoor and sand)
The huge variety of ice cream flavors (especially because of #2)
The Samsung Galaxy Tab that Google gave me. This blog is being typed on it!
That my mom is coming to visit us for the Summer vacation!
That our 3 month old nephew and niece in the UK are doing well
Nathan's leg cast is being removed tomorrow
High speed Internet
Being able to work from home for 3 weeks which really helped us save on gas (petrol) bills!
Friends
Skype
Our first official summer vacation at the beach in less than 5 weeks!!! (see #7)
Spending time outdoors (again, related to #2)
Going for family bike rides
Fishing
Liesel's home made Creme Brulee
Apple computers
eBay (and worry-free, reliable shipping)
That we found imported Aero chocolates at our local grocery store!

There you have it! Twenty things we enjoy and are looking forward to :-) I leave you with some photos of the boys enjoying #5 outside today!

Rain, rain, go away!

2011-05-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

After spending most of the week in San Francisco for work, I returned home in the midst of a thunderstorm. The rain gave us a break on Friday, but then returned and set up camp for the remainder of the weekend (and according to the meteorologists, most of the coming week too!) Fortunately I got my lawn mowed on Friday, after we the boys were put into bed. Friday was the McCarthy family fun night, and I took the family to our favorite frozen yoghurt store, Spoon Me. We each had a delicious frozen treat, which was very welcome in the hot and humid evening!

Saturday started off with some sunshine. Liesel headed off to breakfast with a friend, and I stayed at home with the boys, enjoying a very lazy morning. When Liesel got home later that morning, and she got to work in the kitchen making delicious homemade doughnuts! There was also a bit of sunshine left for us to work in the back yard. While Liesel pulled weeds, I cut down some annoying tree branches, before we joined forces and covered one of the beds with mulch, as the rain started falling. Meanwhile, since Liesel had loosened the soil of the one bed, Josh was enjoying his new favorite past-time, Earthworm Hunting. The rain didn't dampen his spirits, and after the excitement of hunting, he still wanted to swing in the rain....

We woke up to a dreary Sunday, filled with more rain showers. We headed to church as usual, and caught up with a few friends. We spent the rest of the day indoors and got to speak to some family on Skype. It's always wonderful seeing our little 3 month old nephew and niece doing so well in the UK. Later that evening, I got the opportunity to go and play guitar with some former worship team members, and had a great time playing, singing and laughing together!

Below is a slide show of some photo's I took in San Francisco earlier that week.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T23:27:00.000-05:00

The day of the year where we celebrate our mothers, has already come and gone for 2011! It seems like such a short sliver of time to show love and appreciation to the ladies who have dedicated their lives to care for us. Well, the McCarthy family made the most of the day, and gave Liesel a special day. We (I) started on Saturday morning, by working in the yard. Besides mowing the front and back yards, I added some fresh mulch to Liesel's rose garden (after she weeded it).

I also edged 3 garden beds, added mulch to our largest tree, and turned the compost heap. By the end of the day I was exhausted! So after a refreshing shower, we took mom to Moe's for dinner! The food was great and even Josh was relatively well behaved. Afterward we made a quick stop at the store to pick up some groceries for the week. Outside the store we ran into some good friends of ours, and it was fun catching up in the parking lot. Once inside, Nathan spotted a school friend, and the two of them spent some time catching up (since Nathan hasn't been to class since breaking his leg 4 weeks ago). So the shopping trip ended up being an enjoyable social networking exercise! Later that evening, once Josh was down to sleep, we had our family fun night, which was a game of Monopoly. I obviously need a lot more practice (and luck?) since my 6 year old son managed to bankrupt me!!

Then Mother's Day rolled in, and I gave Liesel instructions that she must not get out of bed until I tell her to :) So I got Josh in the morning when he woke up, and that also gave me the opportunity to start on Liesel's breakfast which consisted of a cheese omelette, slice of toast and a hot cup of coffee! Then with Nathan and Josh, we served breakfast in bed along with some gifts and cards, all of which she loved! Mission accomplished!
Once everyone had breakfast, we headed to church, where Nathan and his class mates had prepared a couple of songs for all the moms in the congregation. On Sunday evening, the weather was perfect for having our first dinner on the patio this season. Liesel prepared a delicious shrimp entree. There is nothing better than enjoying the food and company outside in the fresh air. After dinner we headed to a playground to let Josh get rid of some of his excess energy. While I chaperoned Josh, Liesel and Nathan had a leisurely walk around the Westlake Recreation Center. It was a great finish to a great weekend!

Scientific Saturday, Sovereign Sunday

2011-05-01T22:34:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago, before there were broken fingers and broken legs, we promised Nathan that we would take him to Lake Erie Science Center to watch an IMAX movie about tornadoes. Since the Science Center isn't really designed around hyper-inquisitive two year olds, it was decided that I would take Nathan and Josh would stay at home with Liesel. So Nathan and I pulled up to the Center just after opening time! We had a wonderful time moving around the exhibits and in particular, enjoying the new NASA Glenn Research Visitor Center. Nathan and I had fun trying to land the space shuttle in the simulator, making vortexes, flying blimps and examining an Apollo module (and so much more)! Shortly afterwards, we made our way up to the IMAX theater and sat down to watch this larger than life movie about this weather phenomenon called Tornadoes! Both Nathan and I thoroughly enjoyed the show! Afterward, we were pretty hungry and headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Then after one making one more round past the exhibits, we headed back home that afternoon.

That evening, we had friends over for dinner. We had a great time together, Liesel (as always) provided an exquisite meal! We wrapped up the evening with a board game, which Liesel (as always :P) won!

Sunday started off like most Sundays, with the McCarthy family heading to Church in the morning. Sunday afternoon's itinerary was slightly different. Liesel was invited to her friends house, to watch the ENTIRE Royal Wedding! So the McCarthy boys were left to fare for themselves for a good solid 5 hour period! We had a blast, talking to family on Skype, and then watching Monsters Inc on DVD together. Liesel had a great time at her friend's too, enjoying scones, tea and other British specialties. SO all in all, a great weekend and with no visits to the ER or dentist necessary!!!

The Art of Opening a Easter Egg

2011-04-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

He is risen!

2011-04-24T22:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter! Isn't it wonderful knowing that our Savior has conquered death and that He reigns victoriously forevermore? And that same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us today!

Nathan's Health Update:
Thankfully, Nathan is no longer experiencing pain in his leg. He also has become a very experienced wheel chair maneuverer. This week we picked up a disabled placard for our car, allowing us to park legally in the disabled parking bays. Liesel got to use it for the first time on Saturday morning when she took Nathan out for a pancake breakfast, and then a quick visit to the library. Being able to park right outside the door, with extra space allowing her to fully open the car door to get Nathan out and into his wheelchair, makes all the difference!
So while they were consuming calories, Josh and I headed to the gym to burn some calories! I had a great workout in the swimming pool, my first gym workout in about six weeks!!

Liesel's Health Update:
Liesel discovered a whole new level and definition of pain on Sunday and Monday. She had a sleepless night on Sunday, so I started calling the dentist's emergency phone number from about 8:30am. When they returned my calls, they told me to bring Liesel in as soon as they opened at 10am. I drove her there as her pain was so excruciating, she couldn't concentrate. The dentist examined her and told her she needed a root canal immediately. Unfortunately, since it was one of her rear molars, she would have to see a specialist to perform the procedure. The only specialist available to take her immediately was on the East side of Cleveland, but at this point, distance was not an issue - so we got back in the car and drove 35 minutes to the doctor. To make a long story short, the East-side doctor managed to take her pain away and perform the root canal that she needed. He prescribed her some strong pain-killers and a course of antibiotics to fight the pain and infection. I am happy to report that her tooth is no longer bothering her and her life has mostly returned to normal (considering we still have a child with a broken leg...) In fact we had some friends over for dinner and games on Saturday night. It was the perfect Spring evening with temperatures in the 70s (lower 20's C). I grilled some swordfish for us, while Liesel prepared the rest of the food! It felt so good to entertain again and enjoy the company of our friends!

On Sunday, we were woke up to the gentle patter of rain. This was a problem, since the Easter bunny had hidden a bunch of Easter eggs in the front and back yards of our house. Normally, rain wouldn't hold the children back from going outdoors to find their next chocolate fix, but Nathan's leg cast is not allowed to get wet at all. Finally we saw a break in the rain, and we all headed outdoors in our pajamas. I put Nathan in his red wagon, and he directed me toward any eggs that he spotted. So even with his disability, Nathan gathered a decent bunch of eggs. Josh enjoyed the hunt too, but instead of placing eggs in the basket, he stopped to enjoy them on the spot!

One last update: In less than two month's, my mother will be spending just under 3 weeks with us! Her flights are confirmed, and we are looking forward to the Summer vacation with her!

When it rains, it pours.....

2011-04-17T23:00:00.001-05:00

For once, I am not actually referring to the Cleveland weather. As I describe the events from Thursday onwards, you will understand exactly what I mean. In fact, let me change that slightly, and rephrase it as "when it rains, it is a deluge in the McCarthy household!

Let's start by giving an update on Nathan.
After having his cast on his hand for 10 days, Liesel thought she would take the boys to a playground on one of the lovely Spring mornings. On the way to the playground, Nathan casually mentioned that he was going to try slide down the pole. Upon hearing that, Liesel promptly said, "No!" as his right hand was still in the cast and he wouldn't be able to hold his entire weight with just his left hand. However, boys will be boys, and he thought he knew better than his mother, and that the law of gravity didn't apply to him. So while Liesel was following Josh around the playground she heard a thud, followed by a bloodcurdling scream from Nathan. When she found him at the bottom of the pole he told her he had a sharp pain in his lower leg. So we rushed him to the ER for a more thorough examination and the X-rays confirmed, that he had in fact broken his tibia. So has been to the ER twice in 10 days and has had two casts made for two different appendages in the same period! On the bright side, the Orthopedic Doctor removed his hand cast, and saved us another visit to their offices.

Having a broken leg is not all that it is cracked up to be. Nathan has his leg in a full leg cast, and is not allowed to put any pressure on the broken leg at all. This means that he is confined to a wheel chair for at least the next 3 weeks! This restriction is going to affect a number of areas of our lives. For example, he won't be able to attend school (his class is on an upper level). He needs either Liesel or myself to carry him to the bathroom every time nature calls. Liesel cannot do her grocery shopping with the two boys. Nathan cannot go to any child-care facility, be it at the Church or the gym. So in a nutshell, all of our lives are significantly impacted for the next few weeks. All I can say is, "Kids - don't try this at home, or in the playground!"

On Friday night, we did go out to our friends' house for dinner, where we all had a great time. Nathan's friends were taking turns riding in his wheelchair. While the children were paying attention to Nathan and his new blue cast, the adults had a great time together, and it was a perfect de-stresser for Liesel and myself! The remainder of the weekend was spent at home.

Just as we were getting into a groove with Nathan's temporary disability, Liesel started experiencing an excruciating tooth ache. Her dentist had been concerned about this particular tooth for a while, but it had never bothered Liesel until Saturday night! The pain was so severe, it made her feel nauseous, and on Sunday, she spent the majority of the day in bed with a heated beanbag placed on her jaw. The pain is so intense that it even prevents her from falling asleep. We pray that the dentist can see her tomorrow, and do something that will take the pain away!

The McCarthy family would really appreciate your prayers at this time, especially for Nathan and Liesel!

WAITING....

2011-04-10T22:26:00.001-05:00

Quick update on Nathan:
We waited until Monday before taking him to the ER for x-rays. The doctor confirmed what we feared, that he broken his pinkie finger. That afternoon he saw an orthopedic doctor, who made a cast that covered most of his right hand! This cast has impacted his daily life. Besides giving up piano lessons and soccer, he has taught himself to write with his left hand. Fortunately, being in Kindergarten means that neat handwriting is not required :)

This weekend, a new Lego store, the first in Cleveland, opened on the eastern side of Cleveland. Liesel and I thought that this would be the perfect treat for Nathan, to reward him for being so brave throughout his entire broken finger ordeal. So we left the house on Saturday morning with enough time to get us there before opening time. Apparently, thousands of other North East Ohioans had the same idea, and when we walked inside the mall, we were ushered to the back of one of 3 separate lines! The way it was set up, once you reach the front of line #3, you are ushered to the back of line #2. Then when you reach the front of line #2, you can then join the back of the final line, which eventually let you into the Lego store! Long story short: Nath and I stood in line for about 2.5 hours to get the privilege of entering the store. Josh, understandably, didn't have the patience to stand in queues - so Liesel and him went to another store in the area that we have been wanting to go to. Once they returned, they saw that Nath and I were still stuck in a line, so Liesel graciously entertained Josh (no small feat in itself) while they waited for us.

150 minutes later, we were finally invited into the store. It was a fantastic store with an amazing selection of Lego sets. Our favorite part of the store was the Lego Digital Box. This piece of technology is a display with a camera pointing outwards. As you walk up to the screen, you can see yourself in the display. Now if you are carrying a Lego box and you hold it in front of the camera, that's when the magic happens! The Digital Box automatically renders a 3D image of whatever set was inside the box. But then it also animated the mini figures and had everything playing out a mini-storyline, in 3D, in front of our eyes! Very impressive!

That evening, after a morning focused around Nathan, it was time for Liesel and myself to go on a date! We headed out to a new favorite Italian restaurant. Ironically, even though we were there before 6pm, it was crazy busy, and we were told we would need to wait 30 - 40 minutes!! From my morning's experience, I learned patience, and we were prepared to wait yet again! Fortunately for us, we waited less than 10 minutes and we were soon enjoying some great Italian food!

On Sunday, we all experienced something that last happened on October 10, 2010. That event was temperatures above 80 degrees (27C)! It was an unusually warm day for us, considering that just 10 days ago we had a snow storm that left 1.5 inches of snow on the ground! So we took advantage of the day and spent a good deal of time outdoors! Now if only this weather could stick around a bit longer......

Pinkies and Purchases

2011-04-03T21:20:00.000-05:00

Just when we thought that Winter had released her vice-like grip over us, we received another wake up call on Wednesday afternoon! Snow started falling thick, fast and continuously. When we woke up on Thursday morning, we had a fresh 1.5 inch layer of snow covering EVERYTHING! Although it was beautiful to behold, it seemed to have delayed the arrival of Spring. Fortunately for us, the temperature never dropped below freezing and by Thursday afternoon, with temperatures around 50F(10C), the bulk of the snow had melted! Phew... come on Spring!!!

On Saturday, it was Nathan's first soccer match of the year. He was very excited to get out onto the field again, despite the 40 degree (5C) temperatures! During the third quarter, he was the designated goalkeeper. He was doing great until the opposing team made a rush at the goals and as Nath reached down to get the ball, someone's foot missed the ball and kicked Nathan's pinky finger. I watched from the side lines, and he was extremely brave. He carried on playing the remainder of the quarter, not showing any sign of trauma. After the quarter, I went over to the team's bench and checked on Nath. It was obvious that he was in a lot of pain, so I took him home. The pain seemed to get worse, and we strapped the finger up as soon as we could. This seemed to offer some temporary relief. However, when we unwrapped the finger today to check, the pain was substantial again :( So it looks like Nath will be paying another visit to the Doctor on Monday morning.

On Sunday, Liesel had planned a visit to her favorite store, IKEA, with another girl friend. SO she left the house before 8am to make the 2.5 hour drive to the heavenly home store. That meant the it was a BOYS ONLY day in the McCarthy household! At 9am we headed to church, and afterward returned home for some play time outside, and some wrestling inside! We also got to speak to all of my family today, which is always an added bonus! After some Sunday naps, and some Sunday snacks, my beautiful wife returned home later that afternoon after a good day out! And we were once again, one happy family!

What weekends are all about...

2011-03-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

After a crazy March, with my work load increasing exponentially and deadlines demanding to be met - I really needed a stress-free weekend to recover. Thankfully, this weekend is exactly what I had hoped for. We kicked off our weekend on Friday evening, when Liesel and I watched a pretty decent DVD, Morning Glory. On Saturday morning, Liesel headed off to the gym and the shops, while I spent some quality time with the boys at home. Nathan is currently going showing a lot of interest in the Space Shuttle, so I decided to convert his Lego passenger plane into a space shuttle. Later that afternoon, I took Nathan to the library's Brick Builder Club where he used his imagination to create some other Lego creations.

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday evening which everyone enjoyed!
On Sunday, in keeping with the weekend's rule of "no rushing", we headed to our church's second service. The rest of the day was just as laid back, taking everything at a leisurely pace. That evening, my friends had invited some of our former worship team to their house to play some music together. It was great to jam with my friends again, and a great way to wrap up the weekend! Now I am ready for Monday!

Spring has sprung! Perfect time to go skiing!

2011-03-20T22:55:00.000-05:00

This week's highlight for me is a no-brainer! After working some crazy hours this month, play time was long overdue! After-all, I didn't want to become known as a dull boy! Fortunately, in January this year, a former colleague (Brian) and I had set aside Thursday, March 17 as the day we would make a trip to Peek 'n Peak Ski Resort in New York. This trip has been in the works for at least four years, but this was the first year that we could actually put the plan in action!

So, on Thursday I picked Brian up and we drove two hours east to the Ski Resort. Once we arrived at the resort, the temperature was in the upper 50's to lower 60's (15C), but the snow depth on the runs was still at least 14 inches deep! The resort was also very quiet, mainly because it is so late in the season, as well as being in the middle of a work week, which was ideal for a beginner like myself! Soon I had my rented ski's attached to my boots and Brian and I were making our way to the first ski lift in the learning area. Brian had the patience of a saint as he helped me with the skiing basics! A little while later, with my confidence slightly higher, we made our way to the top the mountain to find some more runs to tackle. At one point during the morning, we made a wrong turn and headed down a snowboarding trick run, complete with ramps, rails and even a school bus half buried in the snow! It was very challenging for me, but fortunately I had a fail safe way of stopping, which involved me assuming the spread eagle position and sliding down the snow on my stomach! It wasn't pretty, wasn't always voluntary, but it was effective! My goal for the day was to be able to complete a run witout falling down, which I accomplished on the second last run. By this time, my muscles were aching and I was running out of steam. We decided on one trip up to the top of the hill. Halfway down, we had to go down a more difficult run in order to get back to the lodge. This didn't seem to phase me as it was my best run of the day, and the perfect way to wrap up a great day of skiing!

As for the weekend, a few tears were shed on Saturday morning as Nathan and Liesel took her parents back to the airport. We had a great time together, but as the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end". That afternoon, the library was the perfect place to help take Nathan's mind off of his grandparent's recent departure. It was the Brick Builders club, which he always loves. Later on, we went on our first family stroll around the neighborhood since autumn!

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and that afternoon, I brought my ladder inside in order to hang up some family portraits. Liesel had the great idea to fill up the large blank wall on our stairwell with some happy family memories from the years past! I must say that I think I did a pretty good job!

I will be leveling the frames and affixing them to the wall :)

Welcome Back!

2011-03-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

This weekend was 300 times better than the last one! This time around, all of us were healthy, and I could spend some quality time with my family!

On Friday morning, we woke to to find everything hidden under a foot of snow, as old man winter paid us a surprise visit.

Luckily the snow subsided by lunch time and it did not affect any of the evening flights to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. So Liesel and Nathan headed out to the airport to welcome back her parents! When the came back, we had two very excited boys, and two travel-weary grandparents in our house again.

On Saturday morning, the ladies left early to go to a childrens resale, where they picked up a number of bargains, both for our boys, and Zach and Luka, our month-old nephew and niece. In the meantime, the boys went outside and after throwing snowballs and snow-bombs, we started making a couple of snowmen! During the making of these snowmen, I managed to find a live stream of the World Cup Cricket match between India and South Africa. It was great to be able to South Africa pull off a dramatic victory in the last over!!!

That evening, we headed out to Moe's for dinner, which we followed up with a family fun night back at home. It was Nathan's choice, and we played the board game, "Ticket to Ride".

Liesel had nursery duty on Sunday at the church, so she left early. The rest of the clan and I decided to go to the second service, considering that Nathan only woke up around 9am! We spent the rest of the day indoors, considering it was around 40 degrees (5C) and very slushy outside. That evening, our dear friends, the Bosley's, joined us for dinner and we had a wonderful time with them as usual! Great weekend!

The Perfect Storm ....

2011-03-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

Weather-people know about it, and there are books and movies about the Perfect Storm. Simply put, it is when a confluence of weather conditions combine to form an extraordinarily powerful and dangerous storm.

Over last five days, the storm clouds started gathering, gaining power until it unleashed it's fury over the McCarthy household this weekend. And for once, I am not talking about Cleveland's weather.

On Thursday, one of my company's bigger customers was preparing to migrate their legacy data with a go live on Monday. A colleague who was working with the customer during the various dry runs and testing happened to be in Malaysia the entire week, and I became the new "go to" guy for the migrations..... That meant ensuring the 100 hour migration kept running smoothly, and sorting out any issues that arise as quickly as possible, so that the project is not delayed in any way. That also means a lack of sleep, 16 hour workdays, project checkpoint phone calls at all hours, and not being able to leave the house for 3 days straight.....

The second storm started brewing on Saturday, when Liesel woke up feeling terrible. her body was aching and she was throwing up all day. So I told her to stay in bed, while I entertained the boys and kept them from burning down the house, all on 4 hours of sleep!

On Sunday day, Liesel woke up feeling a lot better than 24 hours earlier! However, shortly after Josh drank his morning milk, he started throwing up. This continued throughout the morning and into the afternoon :( During the day, we changed his clothes about 4 times, washed the covers of our couch, and had to change his bedding!

So, as with all storms, they eventually pass. The project was deemed to be a success, and the powers that be appreciated my contributions. Liesel is feeling a lot better (although not yet 100%) and Josh has not thrown up since 1pm.

That was my weekend.....

The agony and the ecstasy!

2011-02-27T22:58:00.000-05:00

Is there ever such a thing as a good pain? Liesel argues that there is.... muscle siffness! However, pain is pain, and right now, all the major muscle groups in my body have united and taken a firm stance against me. It all started on Saturday morning when Liesel and I went to our first exercise class together in about 4 weeks. As expected, my limits were challenged, but I managed to endure the 50 minutes of muscular torture. Today, however, my stomach, shoulders, chest and hamstrings are continually reminding me how out of shape I am! It's amazing how we take these muscles for granted in our daily activities, until they are filled with lactic acid! So, if it is a good pain, I will stop whining, and soldier on... (until I get up from this chair).

Before inflicting that pain on myself, we had a great evening with friends who came over the night before. Liesel made a delicious meal (again) and then while the kids played and watched Monster's Inc, the adult's played some card games together. We all had so much fun that they only left around 11pm, keeping Nathan (and Liesel) up way past their bedtime, although neither of them complained :P

Last weekend's theme circled around Liesel and myself as we attended the 1.5 day marriage seminar. This weekend, it was definitely a father - son weekend, with Nathan and I spending some beautiful quality time together! After lunch on Saturday, I took Nath to the local library, for his regular date at the Brick Builder's Club, where he gets to spend an hour with Lego bricks to come up with anything his imagination dreams up! He had a great time there, and soon we headed back home to do some final preparations on his "Speed Bus".

This bus is his (our) first entry in our church's annual pinewood derby championships. He was so excited to be entering the competition with some of his good friends. So did the last minute touch ups and lubricated the wheels and axles with the graphite powder - and soon we were off to the championships! The bus weighed in at 4.9 oz (there is a 5oz maximum weight), and then placed with the other cars in his category. In the initial time trials, we were very happy with the performance, and his vehicle clocked a scale speed of 104mph (166km/h)! The competition was in a round robin format - so his car would race against all other cars in his age group. Out of the total of seven heats, the speed bus took first place every time!!! The judges then added up the scores from the various heats and found the final four to race for the trophy. I believe I was far more anxious than Nathan as the cars raced down the track for the final time. Nathan's red bus took first place by about a car's length and we were overjoyed (again, me more than Nathan...) So for our first ever entry into this type of competition, it was such an exhilarating feeling walking out with a first place trophy! Nathan was ecstatic, as not only did he get a first, but his friends received a third place in the open category and his class mate received a prize for one of the best looking cars.

Oh - how sweet the taste of victory!!

On Sunday morning, Nathan and I went to IHOP to celebrate his previous night's victory together over a pancake breakfast. We had a great time together, and once we had finsihed up - we headed to church, to meet up with Mom and Josh.

As the saying goes - all good thing's must come to an end, and after all the excitement from the last two days, Nathan was complaining of nausea today, a sure sign of a strep throat infection :( Josh has also been battling to shake a persistent cough and runny nose, so it seems the boys will be paying a visit to the pediatrician tomorrow :(

Weird weather.....

2011-02-20T23:49:00.000-05:00

This week saw another fascinating change in the local weather patterns. On Tuesday through Thursday, our temperature were in the mid 50s (+/- 13C)! For the middle of February in North East Ohio, this is unheard of. To put it into perspective:
On Monday we had about 12 - 18 inches of snow on the ground, more on the sides of the driveway! By Friday, all the snow in our front and back yards, had vanished! As I type this blog on Sunday night, it had snowed most of the afternoon, and the temperature is hovering at the freezing mark. That's Cleveland for you!

Nothing terribly exciting happened this weekend as Liesel and I attended a marriage seminar hosted by our church on Friday evening and all day Saturday. On Sunday morning, Liesel and Nath went for a breakfast date, to IHOP (International House of Pancakes). They had a great time together and Nathan especially loved the food. When they returned, I took Nathan shopping for some aquarium supplies and some special graphite powder for his Pinewood Derby car. By the time we got home it was lunch time, and then nap time for Liesel and Josh - and Nathan and I watched Disney's Wall-E.

That evening, Liesel went to the church for a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Ladies Spa night! She thoroughly enjoyed herself. She had a facial, rejuvenated her hands by dipping them in paraffin wax, did her nails and relaxed in a candle-lit room filled with soothing symphonies! It was wonderful to see the church spoil the hard-working moms like that!!!

The Big Thaw

2011-02-14T07:24:00.000-05:00

Yet again, our notorious North Eastern Ohio weather has something up its sleeves! On Thursday morning, we saw the mercury hit the -3 degree (-20C) mark as Liesel was driving to the gym. As she commented on Facebook, "... My water bottle froze while walking from my car into the gym...." But our weather is known for some amazing feats and this weekend's antics adds another to the list. From -3F to 48F (-20C to +9C) in less than 48 hours is simply profound. So this weekend we were experiencing a heatwave in Cleveland. These "warmer" temperatures are expected to hang around for a few days, which is very welcome. Of course, a Clevelander's definition of warm is very different to a South African's!

This Friday was our family fun night, and Liesel, Nath and I had some good laughs playing Phase 10 together.

On Saturday morning, the McCarthy family headed to the gym again. Liesel and I burned off some calories on the treadmills and bikes, while the boys had a great time playing in the child care area. Later that afternoon, Nathan and I headed to his friend's grandfather's house. It was time to choose a design for his pinewood derby car and cut shape out from the block of wood provided in the car. The goal is to have the fastest car at our church's annual Grand Prix, and his friend's grandfather has plenty of experience producing winning cars. We met up with the friend, and chose the design - a speedy bus! I cut out the shape using the jigsaw and then Nath helped out with the sanding. We also had to add some lead weight to it to bring it up to the allowable maximum of 5 ounces.

We had great fun turning a block of wood into an aerodynamic bus! We left around 4pm as I had to get Nathan home to bath and have dinner, as some friends were coming over for a games evening. Liesel, Tammy, Ron and myself had a great evening playing different card games, eating delicious food and wiping the tears away caused by our laughter!

On Sunday morning, Liesel was first to leave to take up her position in the church's nursery. The boys followed shortly afterwards. When we got home a bit later, Liesel's brother Craig called us and had a nice chat with Nathan! A little bit later, Luka, the bigger twin, woke up, so Craig brought this tiny precious child to the camera for us all to see! She was so beautiful and yet looked so fragile. Craig also gave us the good news that Luka's brother (who is still in high care at the hospital) is finally putting on some weight, much to our relief!

That afternoon, Liesel and Nath had a date and went to watch the movie, Gnomeo and Juliet together. When they returned, Nath and I painted his bus a bright red color, and are slowly getting it ready for the big race on February 26!

Here is the sunset that we we blessed with tonight - a beautiful ending to a great weekend!

I'll take that weekend...on the rocks!

2011-02-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a real scorcher..... relatively speaking, of course! Both days saw temperatures climb above freezing for a few hours! We also got another couple of inches of snow to add to the growing base layer on Saturday afternoon to restore the balance again. Here is a photo of Nathan's "kiddie" table. Only a corner of the table is exposed and the two attached benches are buried well below the surface!

It was also a weekend of celebrations! On Sunday, it was the NFL Superbowl and Nathan's and my team, the Green Bay Packers were victorious. But that paled into insignificance when compared to our other reason to celebrate. Liesel's brother's wife, Marne, gave birth to the twins she was carrying for just short of 36 weeks. The little girl, Luka, weighed in at 2.2kg, while her brother, Zac only weighed 1.7kg. The good news is that Zac is breathing by himself, and Luka is already breastfeeding! We praise the Lord for the safe arrival of our niece and nephew! Our God is a God of miracles!

Saturday morning saw Liesel and Nathan going to the gym. I stayed at home with Josh, and just over an hour later, I heard the familiar sound of plastic grating against concrete. When I looked out the window, I saw Liesel and Nathan chipping away at the one inch thick layer of ice that had bonded to our driveway earlier this week. I decided to offer my assistance, but the snow shovel wasn't cutting it (literally). My trusty, four-pronged garden fork seemed to fare much better with the stubborn ice. Ninety minutes later and all the ice was removed from the driveway surface!

That afternoon - Nathan and I hit the slopes of our local sledding hill, and spent ninety minutes living out Newton's Law of Gravity. We had some great fun sliding on the icy layer. Nathan did graze his cheek after one wipeout had his face meeting the snow/ice rather rapidly :( But he soldiered on and we had some great rides!

Let's not forget about Family Fun Night, which we had on Friday evening. It was Nathan's choice and he chose to play Monopoly. He obviously chose that game for a reason because when the game ended, he was rolling in the cash - making him the winner!

Underneath the Radar

2011-01-30T23:21:00.000-05:00

It was another low key weekend for the McCarthy's as Liesel and I are still fighting off the last few germs that are refusing to give up without a fight. We are much better than last weekend, and were able to go out to our friends for dinner on Friday evening. The Talmage's had prepared some delicious salmon for us, which melted in our mouths. The highlight for me was the decadent dessert, consisting of home-made brownies, with Chocolate Chip Ice-cream and as much hot fudge sauce that your heart desired!! We all had a great time together, and Nath loved playing with Sarah and Faith, while Josh followed their pet Labrador around most of the evening. The adults played a board game after dinner, and it was the men versus the ladies. I am happy to announce that the men were claimed victory in both games - a perfect ending to a great evening :)

Saturday was very laid back. Gym was still out of the question (as it would go against the Dr's instruction of ensuring we "get plenty of rest"), so we spent the morning lazing around the house. After lunch, Liesel took Nath to the library for another Brick Builder's Club. I stayed at home and caught up on some movies I had previously recorded, while Josh napped.
Later that afternoon, Liesel and I got dressed up to go out for a second night in a row (which is as rare as a total eclipse of the sun). We arranged a babysitter for the boys, and headed to a restaurant called the Pub. It's is a wonderful place that is based on a English pub, and offers the same food that you would typically only find in England. We met up with Liesel's friend and her husband for a wonderful evening out! The food was absolutely incredible!! The calamari starter was cooked to perfection, and the main course of fish and chips was just as good!!

On Sunday, the boys all headed to Church, while Liesel stayed at home to get some much needed rest. Once we returned, I was fortunate enough to speak to my family on Skype. Liesel headed out to a baby shower after lunch, and the rest of the afternoon was devoted to playing on the Wii with Nathan, while Josh napped. Nathan and I also had a fun chat with Liesel's brother in England. You've got to love SKype and how it makes living abroad so much easier!

Quarantined!

2011-01-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

This was a first for the McCarthy family. Liesel, Joshua and myself were each diagnosed with a virus this past week. In fact, all four of us had an appointment with a doctor within 48 hours. It started on Tuesday, when Nath was diagnosed with Strep. Fortunately for him, he was prescribed some antibiotics and he was back to his normal happy self 24 hours later. Liesel, Josh and I went to the doctors on Thursday. We all tested negative for Strep, so the doc's best conclusion for our symptoms, it must be a virus.....

So needless to say, with 75% of the McCarthy family feeling under the weather, we spent most of the weekend in the comfort of our warm house. This was a great idea considering this was the coldest weekend recorded so far this season. When we woke up on Saturday morning, the temperature outside was a frigid 5 degrees (-15C) and we found ice on the inside of our windows!! Nathan and I did venture outside at 2pm (when the air had warmed up to a balmy 17 degrees/-8C). Every few weeks, we sign Nathan up for the Brick Builders Club at our local library, where children 6 - 13 years of age get an hour to play with a huge selection of Lego. He loves this time and uses his imagination to come up with some remarkable models!

That evening, we still had our regular family fun night. My choice was to play the board game, Ticket To Ride. Liesel suggested that we make a fire in the fireplace and play on the carpet in front of the flickering flames!

We decided to skip church on Sunday morning, and again spent the day indoors, although Liesel did brave the weather for a quick grocery shopping trip for a few essential items. Throughout the day, Hurricane Josh struck multiple times. The first wave hit when he discovered that the cushions on the couch are removable, and soon the couch was stripped bare, and had become his new "boat"! The second wave hit shortly afterwards, when a bowl of popcorn that he was snacking on was directly in the path of the storm. Once the storm had passed, the playroom was covered in a layer of what Nathan called "snow". The strength of the hurricane became evident when Josh toppled his wooden activity table and the proceeded to push around the house! The fourth and final wave hit when our backs were turned for no more than 10 seconds. Josh had found the family size box of tissues, and managed to liberate them one by one, all over the play room floor! On the bright side, we survived the weekend and Hurricane Josh's destruction. After a bit of cleanup, everything was back in its place, the boys were put to bed and Liesel and I could finally rest our "virus-ridden" bodies ;-)

Just another Winter weekend :-)

2011-01-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

Another Sunday night rolls by and that means another week closer to Spring! We had some heavier snow earlier on in the week, but it tapered off in time for the weekend. This was good for us, as the snow didn't hamper any of our weekend excursions.

Our first excursion took us to our friends house for dinner on Friday night. We all had a great time chatting and playing games, and headed home at 10pm with two sleepy boys in the back of the car.

On Saturday morning, Liesel left the house before 9am to go shopping with a girlfriend. The boys and I left the house right after 9 to head to the gym, for my second class of muscle group torture. That afternoon I spoke to my mom and sister on Skype*, and my sister and I had a good, long "catch-up" chat! That evening was family fun night, and Liesel had secured the recent animated hit, "Despicable Me", from the library for us! Nathan and I really enjoyed the movie, although we stopped it halfway due to some members of the audience having heavy eyelids. (Nathan and I finished watching it on Sunday night, while Liesel was more intrigued with the Australian Open.)

We headed to Providence Church on Sunday morning. That afternoon, Liesel had her "catch-up" Skype* call with her brother in England. The rest of the afternoon was a low key affair, except for an impromptu visit to our local grocery store by yours truly to get some desperately needed groceries. So there you have it - another weekend round up!

* I am not paid by Skype for any promotional material contained in my blog (although I think I should be :P). If anybody knows of a way to earn additional cash from large corporates, please let me know :)

Winter workouts

2011-01-09T23:22:00.000-05:00

Winter has finally made its presence felt here in North East Ohio! Up until now, our winter has been very mild, and snowfalls have been scarce. Our temperatures were actually in the upper 50's (mid teens C) over the New Year weekend, which turned all of the snow that was left on the ground into it's liquid form - giving us unobstructed views of our green lawns! But less than one week later, Mother Nature came to restore her reputation and snow has fallen steadily from Thursday night until Saturday afternoon - covering the earth with her frigid winter coat! In fact, my snow thrower was even required to clear our driveway for the first time this season on Friday morning.

On Saturday morning, it was all hands on deck at 8am as we tried getting everyone ready to head out to the gym. Our New Year's INTENTIONS (not resolutions - Liesel's wording) was to join a gym and workout as regularly as possible, and Saturday mornings were set aside to go together as family. The reason we were rushing, is that Liesel and I wanted to make the 9:30am class, Power Sculpt, which we did! It was our first fitness class in years, and we were definitely put through our paces. The fifty minute session touched most of our major muscle groups, and got our heart rates up! In fact, a few hours later, our muscles started protesting and by the next day, we knew exactly which muscles received attention during the class.

As we drove home from the gym, the snow was coming down rapidly, which gave us an idea. Once we had finished lunch - we dressed the boys in their snow suits and hit the slopes with our sleds for the first time this season. Nathan had an absolute blast, and Josh enjoyed the thrill of the downhill ride. He did not enjoy the snow blowing into his face, and the trek back up the hill! If he is anything like Nathan, he will soon grow to love the snow and will not be able to get enough the frozen powder!

That was our second workout that day! The rest of the afternoon was a lot more relaxed, as Liesel and Josh had afternoon naps, and I went to the stores to exchange some items. To close off the day, it was Nathan's choice of family fun night, and he chose to play some board games.

Sunday's weather was absolutely beautiful. Despite it being 9 degrees outside (-12C), we had blue skies and the sun reflecting off the freshly fallen snow! Liesel was on duty in the church's nursery so I went in to the main service alone. Afterward, I picked up Nathan and we went shopping for a DS game, with the money that he had been saving up, as well as the allowance he had earned the day before! We found the Mario Bros game he was looking for and needless to say, we did not see much of him the rest of the day :P Sunday afternoon was even more laid back than Saturday - with no-one opting to leave the warm confines of the house.
Later that evening, after a delicious roast chicken dinner, and once the boys were put to bed, Liesel and I put our sore legs up and watched the comedy/action movie "Killers". It was a great way to end off a great weekend! Now only if my muscles would stop aching........

Packing away 2010 and running into 2011

2011-01-02T22:54:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to wish you more laughter, greater joy, and total satisfaction in this New Year, 2011! 2010 now seems like a blur as routine kicks in and we hurtle headfirst into 2011.

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year together as a family. I was fortunate enough to be able to take time off and spend the last week and a half at home with the family. Not only did I have some great quality time with the Liesel and the boys, but I was also able to knock a number of items off the "Honey-Do" list. Some of these items included:

Liesel driving 3 hours (one way) to one of her favorite stores to purchase a new couch for the playroom
Setting up the above couch in the playroom, and moving existing couch to the basement
Replacing the broken pop up drain stopper in the children's bath tub
Signed up for a family membership at the new gym
Bought AND installed a whole house humidifier to get some much needed moisture back into the home (this took me 2 days to complete, and included me cutting holes into the ductwork :-o)
Took my car in for its service

As for family time, we took the boys to the Lake Erie Science and Nature Center. Josh, especially loves it there because of all the different animals they have to look at. Nathan loves it too, but mostly because of the planetarium that is attached to the center!

We also toured our new gym together and got Nathan's approval of the Child Care facility before signing up!! Speaking of physical activities, we paid our first visit to the gym as a family on Saturday January 1st to kick off 2011!
On the subject of physical activities, Nathan, Josh, myself and even Liesel, spent many hours in our basement playing Tag, Hide and Go Seek, Soccer, and Basketball! We also spent quality time playing board games with Nathan - usually while Josh slept ;-)

So all-in-all - the holiday season was a memorable and productive one for the McCarthy family! We are lloking forward to a happier and healthier year ahead!

Our Christmas Letter

2010-12-24T14:48:00.003-05:00

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?!?

2010-12-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

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......

2010-12-12T20:58:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-12-05T22:05:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-11-28T21:18:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-11-21T21:26:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-11-14T21:23:00.002-05:00

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

2010-11-07T19:22:00.006-05:00

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!

2010-10-31T21:05:00.005-05:00

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!

2010-10-24T21:13:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-10-18T20:56:00.007-05:00

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!

2010-10-17T22:04:00.001-05:00

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

2010-10-10T21:18:00.003-05:00

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

2010-10-03T20:37:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-09-26T21:50:00.004-05:00

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 .....

2010-09-19T21:33:00.003-05:00

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

2010-09-13T00:02:00.004-05:00

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

2010-09-05T21:24:00.006-05:00

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!

Birthday at the beach!

2010-08-29T20:26:00.002-05:00

The signs of Fall are everywhere. Trees are changing color, the sun is setting earlier, and rising later, and the temperatures have dropped to very comfortable levels. We have shut off our air conditioner, and been falling asleep with our windows open. Hearing the sounds of the night and feeling the ever-so-slight breeze is the best way to be ushered into your dreamland! That was until this weekend, when a heatwave hit the area! A touch of summer arrived just in time for Liesel's birthday! And we took advantage of this warm weather as we celebrated my wife's birthday weekend!

On Friday evening, for my family fun night idea, we headed for a glorious bike ride around the beautiful Westlake Recreation Center grounds.

Saturday morning was Liesel and Nathan's library date. After lunch, Nathan and I headed to his soccer team's photo shoot which was followed by their second soccer match. I was appointed their unofficial assistant coach, and viewed the game from my vantage point behind their goals! They played well together in the oppressive heat, and pulled off their second win! Nathan is really enjoying his soccer!
That evening, we had our babysitter come over, so Liesel and I could go out and enjoy a birthday meal at a local upmarket restaurant. The food was good, but it was their Creme Brulee dessert that was the perfect way to end a great evening!

I was up at 6:15 on Sunday, which is now getting darker and darker. The reason for my early rising was to get Josh and let Liesel sleep in a bit later on her birthday, as well as to get ready for Church - as it was my rotation on the worship team schedule. The worship set was awesome, and I loved being a part of it. For the first time ever, the preacher commented on how great the worship team was, which prompted the congregation to break out in to applause and cheers! It was weird to receive that type of recognition, but appreciated :) It is humbling to be part of the team that helps prepares the congregations' hearts for worship.

Since I was at church from 7:30 to 12:00pm, Liesel chose to postpone the gift opening until after lunch. She got some wonderful gifts from family and of course, Nathan, Josh and myself! To round off the birthday weekend, we headed 40 minutes west to a town called Vermilion on the shores of Lake Erie. We spent some time on the beach, playing in the sand, and cooling off from the 91 degree (33C) heat in the warm waters of the lake. At dinner time, we drove to a park, spread out a blanket in the shade of a tree, and had a relaxing picnic on the banks of the Lake Erie. After the boys had their share of food, we headed over to a playground where they could swing and slide to their hearts content! Great weekend!

A taste of South Africa

2010-08-22T21:02:00.003-05:00

Our plan was to have a South African-themed Saturday evening with friends, to celebrate both Liesel's and my birthdays. Liesel spent a number of hours making koeksisters and Milk Tart, which are delicious, traditional South African desserts.

We had planned to "braai" (barbecue) the meat, but unfortunately I ran out of Propane gas, so Liesel grilled the steaks and chicken kebabs in her oven.

The food (as usual) was outstanding, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! Afterward, we moved the party to the living room, where we finally got to watch Invictus for the first time! We all enjoyed the movie, until our friends had to leave 20 minutes before the end to go pick up their daughter from a birthday party. But overall, it was a evening of great fun, great food and a great film!

Earlier that day, Nathan played in his first soccer game for his U6 team! This was the first time the team had come together (no previous practices) and they performed pretty well! Fortunately, Nathan's team included a boy from his T-ball league, who appears to be a highly skilled sportsman! In T-ball, he was the only boy that could hit the ball into the outfield without a bounce, and apparently he is just as gifted on the soccer field. This young prodigy scored each and every goal for Nathan's team. I lost count of the total number of goals, but I would predict he scored at least 8 goals to the 4 goals that their opponents managed to salvage. Needless to say, Nathan loved playing soccer for the first time, especially the 10 minutes he played goalkeeper!

Friday evening was our family fun night, and Liesel's choice was to watch the DVD Hachi, It is a story about a loyal dog that would meet his master every day after work at the train station. Once the master died, this dog continued going to the train station every day, at the same time. After the movie ended, Liesel and I were wiping the tears from our eyes, when Nathan pipes up, "Can we get it out of the library again? It was so funny!!"

On Sunday, we headed to Church in the morning, and in the afternoon we got together with our bible study group at a local park! It was a good time of fellowship, getting to know each other better. Nathan and Josh loved it there, as Josh explored the nearby playground and enjoyed the huge slides. Meanwhile Nath played with the other children and made some new friends. It was a good way to round off the weekend!

Rollercoaster Rides, Bike Rides, Rhythm and lots of running

2010-08-15T21:21:00.005-05:00

It has been another weekend in a toaster oven! At 8:30pm tonight, the temperature outside was still 90 degrees (32C)!

On Saturday, Liesel and I took the boys back to the Memphis Kiddie Park. It has been a year since we last visited this theme park that caters mainly for young children. Last time, Josh was only able to ride the train, with his grandmother. This time, however, we tried him on a few other rides. Did he enjoy it?? I guess we will never know with his expressionless face!! My youngest will make a great poker player one day. Nathan, on the other hand, had a great time and went on most of the rides. His favorite was still the rollercoaster, which he went on once with Liesel, and another time with me! A little more than an hour later, we had run out of tickets and made our way back home.

Later that evening, Nathan's family fun choice was to go for a bike ride, and then have some of our favorite ice cream at Mitchell's. Because it was drizzling when we left the house, we decided to stop to get ice cream first. Imagine our disappointment, when we found out that they recently changed their frozen yogurt recipes, which now all include eggs! Since Josh has an egg allergy, he always used to enjoy their chocolate frozen yogurt, but now that is no longer an option. So we left the shop dejected, and went on to our bike ride. Once home, we raided the freezer and had our share of ice cream, and Josh could enjoy some egg-free Chocolate Ice Cream!

On Sunday morning, I was honored to be part of the worship team and enjoyed serving with the other talented musicians. That afternoon, I headed down to the fields in Bay Village, for my weekly Ultimate Frisbee game. I think it was the hottest that I have ever played in, and had a continual flow of perspiration streaming off my head. Despite the oppressive heat, it was still good, especially since I get to utilize some of my volleyball skills in the various games! While I was sweating it out, Liesel also had her fair share of exercise, as she pushed Josh around the block in his little car, and then played Lifeguard as the she and the two boys cooled down in the pool! You have got to love the Summertime!

The blog from experience

2010-08-08T21:59:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned last week, I celebrated my birthday today, so am now much wiser :P It was a good weekend with wonderful weather!

On Friday evening, it was Nathan's chance to choose setermine the activity for family fun night. After a few suggestions from his mom, he decided on going to Crocker Park to play in the water jets, since it was close to 90F/33C. Unfortunately when we got there, we saw that a platform had been constructed above it, from which a band was blasting their ballads. We walked around a bit before spending some time in Barnes & Noble for Nathan and Josh to play on the train set.

On Saturday, Liesel and Nathan went on a quest to find my birthday gifts, leaving Josh and I to play. We played inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, and there was no wearing this little guy down. He even pushed his toy lawnmower half way around our block! Liesel and Nathan arrived home in time for lunch and the it was finally nap time :) After Josh woke from his nap, Nathan Josh and I spent some time in the pool and played some more outside. It was then dinner time for the boys because we were having friends over a bit later for a "grown ups" dinner. The Bosley's arrived shortly afterward, and I fired up my grill. Soon we had an elaborate spread of food to dine on! After we put the boys to bed, Liesel pulled out the dessert. It has become my favorite dessert of all time, ad it's decadent! It consists of a choc chip cookie dough base, then a layer of choc chip cookie dough ice cream. This is topped with Cookie Crisp cereal (miniature Choc chip cookies) and finally covered with a hot fudge chocolate sauce! This kept us going strong during a good game of Scrabble, that yours truly won! We had a great time eating, talking and plenty of laughing!

On Sunday morning, I came downstairs and Nathan treated me to his special rendition of Happy Birthday. It was then time for gifts, and I was thoroughly spoiled by family and extended family. The Bosley's had given me an Official size and weight Frisbee, for my new competitive sport, Ultimate Frisbee. My family gave me some clothing for work and a beautiful new backpack for my computer. My mom had sent me some delicious South African chocolates that had unfortunately met with the AMerican summer heat, but that will not stop their consumption. I also received some iTunes gift cards, a golf shirt for work and money from Liesel's side of the family. I was really blessed.

This afternoon, I headed down to Bay Village to get my weekly fix of Ultimate Frisbee. We played a couple of games, and we lost one and won the other! It's a great workout, and the challenge is to keep up with the teenagers and college kids that make up the majority of the players! It was great to have Liesel and the boys come and cheer me on again. They are my inspiration, and I can proudly say that I represented the thirty-somethings age group well!

Productive weekend: Pruning, Painting, Game-playing, Pool-play and a pulmonary workout.

2010-08-01T21:14:00.002-05:00

It was a weekend that served up much sweat, but also had a good serving of fun!
Saturday saw Liesel and myself in the garden. I trimmed our bushes in the front yard, while she cut back the lavender and rose bushes and removed the dead stalks from the day-lilies. Josh kept us on our toes as we discovered that he can climb up the playset in the backyard, unaided! Add that to his other recent accomplishments, such as our bar-height dining room chairs, and the office chair at the computer! This helps keep Liesel and myself on our toes, not to mention getting the occasional grey hair....

That evening, our friends, the Muth's, came over for dinner. We threw some hamburgers on the grill, while the children played in the pool! It was a beautiful evening, so it was decided to eat outdoors. After dessert, the adults moved indoors to the cooler air-conditioned environment,and broke out the games. The Muth's taught us two new games, which we thoroughly enjoyed until around 10pm, when the kids needed to be put to bed.

On Sunday, morning, Liesel and I were the volunteer Sunday school teachers for Nathan's class again, so we were at church slightly earlier than normal. Being summer vacation time, we only had Nathan and four other children in the class, which makes it a lot easier for us. Afterward, we headed home for lunch and a compulsory nap for all. Later that afternoon, I headed to our church's Ultimate Frisbee game, for 90 mins of heart pumping action. It's a great way to get a much needed work out, although my feet always take a beating. It seems my calouses are getting calouses, but it's a small price to pay. Liesel was getting her own workout at the same time, as she had both boys in the pool with her for close to an hour.
By the time I got home, it was dinner time, and afterwards I heard the pool calling my name. The boys joined me for round 2 in the pool

I really enjoyed the exercise this weekend, as I try desparately to cling to my youth. Sadly, this is my last blog as a 35 year old!!! Until next week.............................

Photos from our Green Bay trip!

2010-07-27T12:27:00.001-05:00

twenty one and a half hours of driving: totally worth it!

2010-07-26T21:55:00.002-05:00

I think I must have set some sort of record for most hours spent in traffic over three successive days! Last Wednesday, a colleague and I flew in to LaGuardia airport in New York airport and endured the infamous New York City traffic jams which took us about two and a half hours to travel 26 miles to the hotel!! On Thursday afternoon, we left our client at 3:30pm, and suffered the same fate.... arriving back at the airport just before 6pm! Good thing our flight was scheduled for 7pm! Unfortunately, the inconveniences didn't end there, as our connection from Philadelphia to Cleveland was delayed by an hour and a half, and instead of arriving at 11pm, our plane landed in Cleveland at midnight. By the time I got home, it was after 12:30am and I knew I had to wake up again in a few hours to embark on our drive up to Green Bay!

So on Friday morning we left at 7:45am and headed westwards toward Chicago, and then north to our destination. After about 6 hours of driving, we finally saw the skyline of Chicago, which got me all excited! Unbeknown to me, we would be getting plenty of close up views of Chicago's skyscrapers when we got stuck in their painful traffic jam which lasted a minimum of 90 minutes, of stop start driving on their highways :(
To make a long story short, it took us eleven and a half long hours until we pulled up in the Edgar's driveway! It was wonderful having the family come out and greet us! Nathan bonded instantly with the Edgar children, and I think that some lifelong bonds have been formed between him, JP, Liam and Clair! Together they had some great adventures and made many memories together. On Saturday, the McCarthy's spent the morning with the Edgar's at Heritage Hill, a State Park filled with history from Belgian settlers. Later that evening, after dinner, some of us went to go and kick a rugby ball (something I haven't done since High School days) at the local high school! This was a great way to work off the calories from the delicious meals that we were given! Once we returned to their home, Liesel's other aunt's family were picked up at the airport and the reunion was sweet! The house was filled with 15 relatives, each enjoying the company of the others!

On Sunday, we first headed to the Edgar's church, which was enjoyable. Then it was home for lunch, and later, off to Lake Michigan! The Edgars have a 3-person kayak, which we took out on to the beautiful blue lake. Nathan, myself and Uncle Terence went for a paddle down the coast line and back, and this was the highlight of my (and Nath's) weekend! The rest of our time at the lake was spent in the water, throwing a frisbee, or hitting a volleyball! Even Nathan got to try out some of his newly acquired swimming skills! Unfortunately all good things had to come to an end, and we had to return for dinner and our last night in Green Bay. Nathan was very emotional as we bade farewell on Monday morning, and started our long drive home. On the upside, I avoided Chicago completely, and the traffic flowed well for the majority of the trip! That, combined with Nathan's improved bladder control, cut our trip down by one and three quarter hours, arriving back home after only 9 hours and 45 minutes!!

Photos will be posted shortly!!!!

The heat is on! (part IV??)

2010-07-18T21:11:00.004-05:00

It's been another hot and crazy weekend in North East Ohio! Weekends are usually the time to relax and recharge, but not so in the McCarthy household.... Here is a summary of the weekend itinerary:

Saturday July 17 2010

08:00am to 08:30am Breakfast
09:00am to 10:50am Assembling Nathan's new desk that was purchased on Friday evening
10:50am to 12:45pm T-Ball (Nathan made another 2 runs and got 4 hits for his team!)

12:45pm to 01:15pm Lunch
01:15pm to 02:30pm Playing in the pool (part I - with only Nathan and myself while Liesel and Josh napped)
03:00pm to 04:00pm Bicycle ride in the French Creek Reserve

04:30pm to 05:30pm Playtime
05:30pm to 06:15pm Dinner (Delicious homemade pizza)
06:30pm to 07:30pm Playing in the pool (part II - this time with the entire family. Joshua wore arm-bands, and was gaining loads of confidence. We let him walk/run around the 2 foot deep pool by himself! Even with a couple of face-plants into the water, he loved being in the water with his brother!)
07:30pm to 08:00pm Bath time
08:00pm to 08:30pm Boys put to bed
08:30pm to 09:30pm Liesel and myself caught up on some TV that we had recorded earlier

Sunday July 18 2010

06:30am Alarm goes off for church
07:15am I actually roll-out of bed, shave, brush my teeth, get dressed and race to church for the 07:30am Prayer Meeting before worship practice!!
07:33am to 12:15pm Arrive at church in time for the prayer meeting and worship practice, and two church services
12:15pm to 12:45pm Lunch
01:00pm to 02:30pm Web-site design for work while the family napped
02:30pm to 03:00pm Had a good "catch-up" chat with my sister on Skype (I also chatted to my mom earlier in the day)
03:15pm to 05:15pm Had a great time with a friend and his son, who came over to play in the pool and throw a Frisbee. Nathan earned a bump and a bruise under his right eye for his efforts :(
05:15pm to 05:45pm Delicious grilled pork chops for dinner!
06:00pm to 06:30pm Bicycle ride around the neighborhood
06:30pm to 07:30pm Play time!
07:30pm to 08:00pm Bath time and bed time for Joshua
08:00pm to 09:30pm Family Fun night which consisted of watching the animated movie Planet 51! Nathan loved it, but don't ask me why, because I fell asleep!
10:00pm to 11:15pm This blog!

Usually my days at work are a lot quieter than my weekends, but this week is going to be the exception. With numerous deadlines looming, and a flight to New York City for 1.5 days, it's going to be even crazier than the weekend! Oh yes, next weekend the blog will be delayed by a couple of days as we will be traveling 10 hours north west to spend some time with family in Green Bay!

So how far off is my retirement???

All aboard the Lodi Train!

2010-07-11T20:45:00.002-05:00

Another hot week has passed, with only Friday offering us a slight reprieve from the constant 90+ (32C+) heat that been basting Northern Ohio for the past 3 weeks. Thankfully, our pool provides us the perfect escape from the incessant high temperatures. Unfortunately, our pool's pump packed up on Thursday, so I spent a lot of time ensuring that the combination of chemicals will keep the water clear and algae-free until the replacement pump arrives later this week.

On Saturday, we hit the local Walmart for a few gardening supplies. Once home, I liberally applied some sunscreen, donned my cap and sunglasses and headed outdoors to fire up the lawnmower for the first time in two weeks. This was one of the first times that I could reward myself by submerging my overheated torso in our pool, which was sublime! So while Liesel and the boys napped inside, I was lounging on a few strategically placed noodles, in the refreshing 2 foot deep waters of the pool!

After the nap, Liesel wanted to head south to our nearest outlet mall to find some bargains. The incentive for the boys was that they had a new train that took its passengers for a 15 minute ride around and through the mall! After a 45 minute drive we arrived, as they were loading passengers onto the train. Liesel bade me and the boys farewell, as we embarked on train ride. This gave Liesel approximately 15 minutes to hit a few shops without any baggage or distractions. By the time we returned, she had not been able to find anything worthy of spending money on. So we all followed in tow as she and I hit a few more stores, with the same result. It was now getting close to dinner time, and Nathan wanted another ride on the train before we went home. So after buying some dinner, it was Liesel, Nathan and Josh's turn to ride the train! After they left, I took the opportunity to pack the stroller in the car and move the car closer to the train station, to make the transition from coach to car as quick and easy as possible!

On Sunday, Liesel had nursery duty, and left the supervision of the boys in my capable hands :P I got the boys to Church on time and afterward we headed to a public swimming pool to sign Nathan up for some more swimming lessons. Afterward, we headed home for lunch. Later that afternoon, Nathan and I enjoyed the pool again. I also fired up the grill and grilled some steak for dinner, which we ate outside in the beautiful summer evening air! Liesel again produced a delicious homemade frozen chocolate dessert! After dinner, I strapped the bikes to my car and we headed to Westlake for a post dinner cycle! Have I mentioned how I love summers in Cleveland??

The heat is STILL on - and it's getting hotter!

2010-07-05T20:45:00.004-05:00

Wow! This past weekend has been crazy busy, but also incredibly fun! Add 95 degree (35C) weather into the mix and you get some great summer days and long summer nights filled with exciting activities!

We kicked off the long weekend on Friday night when Nathan and I went to our local baseball stadium to watch Avon's baseball team in action. Nathan's Father's Day gift to me was a couple of tickets to the Lake Erie Crushers' baseball game. The tickets were only 3 rows from the field, so had some great views of the pitchers warm ups! Nathan was so well behaved for the 3 hour duration of the game, and we were rewarded with a phenomenal fireworks show at the end! During the show Nathan exclaimed, "This is the best night ever!!!!" :)

On Saturday, we were due to go on a bike ride with the some people form the church, but we had to cancel since Josh was running a low grade fever, and Nathan and I only got home around 11:30pm the night before, so we let Nathan sleep in a bit. Nathan and I had another outing planned for the afternoon, and while Liesel and Josh had their nap, we headed to the movies to watch Toy Story 3D. This was a great, feel good, family movie that we throughly enjoyed and we would definitely recommend going to see it! After the movie, we meandered through a carnival that had come into town for the Fourth of July weekend! It was at this carnival that I introduced Nathan to his first taste of cotton candy (aka candy floss)! He absolutely loved it! He obviously inherited the sweet tooth gene from his father!

The Fourth of July: Liesel and I were Nathan's Sunday School class teachers for the first service. There were only five boys there, and it worked out really well. Even the finger painting craft went off smoothly without any incidents or accidents! The weather was hot, and Nathan, Liesel and I all had some fun in the pool. Nathan's confidence improved significantly in the aqua and sub-aqua realms after I introduced him to my eye goggles! He is enjoying the pool and his newfound ability to explore the "depths"!
Liesel prepared a delicious roast chicken, and homemade French Silk Chocolate Pie for dinner! Soon after dinner, Nathan and I headed to some friends house, which is close to the Avon Baseball Stadium, the venue of the City of Avon's Fourth of July fireworks display. We had a great time of fellowship on my friends deck, and one friend took Nathan under his wing, and taught him how to catch fireflies, as well as his unique "techniques" in getting the flies to glow for longer...... This kept Nathan entertained until after 10pm when the fireworks display finally got underway.

Today, we had the day off and we definitely made the most of it! In the morning, we strapped the bikes to my car and headed to our friends house. They introduced us to a beautiful local park that had a great bicycle trail. Considering that today was the hottest of the weekend so far, the fact that the trail was mostly through the woods, under a thick canopy of leaves, made it even more pleasurable! After two circuits, we stopped and let the boys play on a playground and then sat down under a pavilion to enjoy a picnic lunch together! The morning tired Josh out and he fell asleep on the way home! It was definitely an action packed, fun and hot weekend, that we all thoroughly enjoyed!

The heat is on

2010-06-27T21:15:00.005-05:00

Eish! With South Africa and USA now out of the World Cup tournament, Nathan and I will have to find a new team to support! Here is Nathan sporting the South African team's soccer shirt, sent to him by my mom a few days before the World Cup kicked off!

Summer has definitely staked her claim here Cleveland over the past few days. Today the temperature outside our house was 95 (35C) in the shade! The high humidity has teamed up with the high temperatures to make the heat even more uncomfortable! It was this tag team combination that convinced me to skip the Ultimate Frisbee game today :( But there were plenty of other highlights today. This morning, I was part of the worship team at church. I really enjoyed our set and serving today! Later on this afternoon, our good friends, (and Nathan's best friends) came over for dinner. They pulled up to our house during a torrential afternoon thunderstorm. This storm actually downed a number of trees in the area, some of which were uprooted and others split in half. After it had passed, I fired up my trusty grill and threw on some tender steaks for dinner. We all had a great time with the Talmage family. It was a great way to wind up the weekend! Here is a photo of the sunset after the storm.

Saturday was just as toasty. Nathan and I headed to a T-Ball game first thing in the morning. Nathan's hitting had improved dramatically since the last time he played, but it wasn't enough to secure the win for his team. But he said he had fun, and that's all that really matters!

When we got home, Liesel and Nathan went out to a number of garage sales, while Josh and I stayed at home in the cool house. Later that afternoon, I had to succumb to the neighborhood peer pressure and mow the grass. While I was cutting the grass, Liesel had both boys in the pool with her. Josh seemed to be a bit more relaxed in the water with Liesel, but soon wanted terra firma under his little feet again. When I had finished mowing, I jumped into the pool and was joined by Nathan.

Going back one more day, Friday evening was set aside for Family Fun Night. Once Josh was put to sleep, the rest of the family gathered around the TV to watch "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". It was a great family movie, with Nathan giggling throughout the movie.

So all in all, another great, and hot weekend here in Cleveland. The best part is that we are only at the start of summer, and hopefully can reap many more hot weekends ahead!

The Father's Day Workout Weekend!

2010-06-20T21:40:00.004-05:00

Even though my muscles are cursing me, and are plotting their revenge, my weekend was one of the best I've had in a long time! It all started on Friday night, as Liesel had arranged a babysitter for the boys, and we headed to a restaurant for dinner. We chose to sit outside on the patio. It was a beautiful evening, with blue skies and not a breath of wind! The patio was situated on the side of the restaurant, far from the sidewalk. It was a great place to enjoy the Asian meal out in the open and fresh air.

On Saturday morning, our family headed out to one of the Lorain County Metro Parks with our 3 bikes attached to the car. Once we arrived at our trail, ensured everyone was wearing their helmet, we headed out on a 6 mile (10km) bicycle ride! It was a good ride, along the Black River, even though at one point, Nathan gave us a scare. As we were approaching an enclosed bridge, that had a steepish downhill with multiple SLOW warning signs, Nathan sped past me, looking out of control. I had visions of him being carted away in an ambulance, and I just yelled at him get his feet back on the pedals! After two near collisions on either side of the enclosed bridge, he somehow managed to regain control of his bike and brought it to a stop without incident. I think his guardian angels had worked overtime that day! That aside, it was a pleasurable bike ride, and helped me burn a few hundred calories, as I had Josh perched in his seat above my rear wheel!

That afternoon, the sun baked down, heating up our pool's water. Nathan spent the entire afternoon in the pool, watching his mother weed the garden! I was in the air conditioned house, waiting patiently for Josh to wake up from his nap! That was tough :P After dinner, we all jumped in the car and headed to Crocker Park for ice cream! It was Liesel's family fun night, and she had received a gift card from the church for helping out at the Vacation Bible School this past week for the Coldstone Creamery (ice cream shop)! Josh loved his chocolate ice cream, and Nathan took a liking to my Chocolate Devotion ice cream, which included choc chips, hot fudge sauce, and brownie batter! Once we had our fair share of calories, we headed to the water park, where kids could play between the fountains on a hot summer's eve. Nathan had an absolute blast, but Josh preferred exploring Crocker Park, showing no interest in the waterworks!

The day was not yet over for Nathan and myself, as when we got back home, we set up the tent in the back yard, lay down enough cushioning to keep us comfortable, and after watching out for fire flies, fell asleep in the warm summer night air! Of course, there are no curtains or any insulation, so I was awakened with the loud singing of a medley of songbirds, and the bright skies at 5:45am. It was definitely the earliest I woke up on Father's Day ever!

Nathan and Liesel each gave me a precious card, and Liesel served up some chocolate croissants for breakfast! Then it was off to church, where the children from VBS blessed us with a number of their songs! Nathan and his good friend Josh, found themselves in the best position, front and center, and gave us an unforgettable show! They were the talk of the church afterwards. See for yourself in the videos at end of the blog! Comments are welcome!

That afternoon, after a much needed nap, I joined some of the teenagers and some friends (in my age group) from our church for a couple of games of Ultimate Frisbee! This was by far the most strenuous workout my body has been put through in a long time. Liesel, Nathan and Josh even came down to see me suffering! However, Nathan's cheering me on, gave me a much needed energy boost, which was awesome! At the end of 90 mins, both teams had each won a game but my body was waving it's white flag, begging me to call it a day! I did just that and headed home with the family. To finish off Father's Day, Liesel gave me some lamb to grill, and we had a divine dinner outside! Great way to finish a great weekend!

Friends, Fishing, Frying (in the sun) and Food

2010-06-13T21:04:00.009-05:00

.....and that was only Sunday!!! Our Sunday was really awesome, the kind that may receive the elusive "legendary" status! It all started after our Sunday morning church service, when Nathan and I jumped into our friend's minivan, and headed home with them. Liesel took Josh home with her, gave him an early lunch and put him down for an uninterrupted afternoon nap.

Meanwhile, Jim and I headed to Walmart to get a few supplies for lunch, and for fishing. Who knew that one can buy live worms at the superstore?? You learn something new everyday! We returned to their house and had a delicious lunch, before smearing the children with sun tan lotion and heading out to some of their favorite fishing holes. During the afternoon, Jim showed me the finer details of being a fisherman, and I learned how to set up the line with the hook, sinker and floater. I was also shown the less elegant side of fishing, the baiting of the hook! I was amazed at how Jim's nine-year old daughter, effortlessly and without any squirming, professionally placed the live worms onto the hooks!

We spent the afternoon casting the lines into the ponds, reeling them in and re-baiting the hooks. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting, but Jim did manage to catch a small fish, which he showed to Nathan, before tossing it back. Nevertheless, we had a great time fishing and learning! When we arrived back at their place, we saw that Liesel and Josh had arrived. The boys went back to playing on the Wii, while the adults relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. Char served a delicious dinner, followed by an ice-cream sandwich dessert, made by my talented wife! During the afternoon, Jim baked a Key Lime Pie, which he brought out later that evening too! We enjoyed his creation during a new card game that they taught us as well! Finally, after 8pm, we called it a day and headed home to put the boys to bed! Great day!

Speaking of great days, Saturday wasn't bad either! We started off by having a shopping run which we completed before 11am. Next on the To-do list, was to build the garage cabinet we purchased to store the dangerous chemicals, insecticides, weed killer, and paints. Once assembled, Liesel did a great job re-organizing the garage, ensuring all the dangerous items were safely locked away in the new cabinet. That afternoon, I headed to a colleague's surprise birthday party at a local park. I had a good time there and played a couple of rounds of corn hole. I even had a chance to share the live streaming of the Soccer World Cup on my EVO cellphone with some of the party guests! When I returned home, it was so hot and humid, that Liesel, Nathan and myself headed for our pool. I took Josh in with me, but I think water is his Achille's Heel, considering he is relatively fearless in all other realms!

After the refreshing dip, we dried ourselves, and at Nath's request, headed to Moe's Southwest Grill for dinner and family fun night. The food was good (as usual) and the boys well behaved (as usual too).

That was a great summer weekend!

Beach, Baseball and Bicycling

2010-06-06T19:58:00.003-05:00

This weekend's blog will consist of photos, videos and a map to convey what we did this weekend. The reason for this is twofold - firstly because a change is as good as a holiday, and I feel that changing the format of the blog occasionally, helps keep it "fresh". Secondly, it has been an exhausting weekend and I can feel the energy slowly drain out of my weary body as I type. So I will keep this short, in order to conserve enough energy to make it up the fourteen stairs to get to my bed, that has been screaming incessantly for me for the past 3 hours already.

My Friday Family Fun night idea was to take the family to the lake Erie Beach after the supper. The boys loved every minute there, playing in the sand, picking up stones and watching the sun set!

Saturday was much crazier. After mowing the lawn for 90 minutes, I barely had time to grab a Coke before jumping into the car to take Nathan to another T-ball match before 11am. I was so proud of him as he scored 3 runs for his team and 2 RBI's (Runs Batted In).

On Sunday morning, 4am, we were awakened by an automated phone call, warning us of a severe thunderstorm headed to us, and not more than ten minutes later the heavens unloaded a deluge. It sounded as if someone was aiming a fire-hose at our windows, and this continued for a couple of hours! Later at Church, Liesel and I had volunteered to take Nathan's Sunday School class, which consisted of seven 5 year old boys! These should explain my fatigue.... but wait! There's more......

At 3pm, we loaded the bikes onto my car and headed to the Westlake Recreation Center, to ride a few laps of their trails. The map below, generated by the GPS in my new phone, show's our route, and even where we parked!

View Westlake Rec in a larger map

And on that note - I bid you farewell until next week!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T20:49:00.002-05:00

In the USA, there is a saying that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. Well, if that holds true, we are in for one heck of a hot summer, considering the weather we have been having over the past 7-10 days! Each day easily made it in to the 80s (27C +), which finally forced us to turn on our central air conditioning! A friend commented that since we are from Africa, we should be used this heat. True, in South Africa we had many days like these, but it was also uncomfortable there - without having the luxury of air conditioned homes! At least here in the USA, most modern houses have been built with central air. So if you have it, use it! Otherwise it's like driving around in first gear all the time, even though your car is equipped with 4 other gears... (that's my theory anyway!)

So what did the McCarthy's get up to on this warm long weekend?

On Saturday morning, I took Nathan to his second T-Ball match, where he had a great time, AND scored another run for his team. His team played better than in their previous game, but I don't think it was enough to secure the win. In Nathan's words: "It doesn't matter if we win or lose, as long as we have fun!" Pretty mature for my 5 year old :) His mother must have taught him that, because those that know me well, know I have this competitive streak in me that I struggle to subdue at times :P

After the game we came home, and a friend arrived to drop off their above ground pool for us. They had recently upgraded to a better, bigger model, and offered us their old pool. Of course we jumped at the chance, and soon we were filling up the pool in our backyard! This pool will definitely make our summer more bearable as the mercury rises past that 80 degree mark! Unfortunately it wasn't yet full enough to enjoy after I mowed the yard, but at least now I have an incentive the next time I cut the grass!

Josh enjoying a friend's antics in the old pool, while we are assembling the new pool

On Sunday, it was Liesel's turn to "play" with a new "toy". We had recently bought a carpet cleaner, and Liesel was determined to get the entire house's carpets spotless before the end of the long weekend! So what better time to get carpet cleaning, than when the 3 boys are out of the house for a few hours. At 8:45, I got the boys ready, and buckled into my car, and we headed to church, leaving Liesel to spend some quality time with her Hoover. Church was great, with an excellent preacher, and absolutely phenomenal worship set, led by my good friend, Ian. Afterward, we made a detour past a store to pick up more carpet cleaner for Liesel! Nathan's afternoon involved petting an alligator, and playing with some snakes at a classmate's birthday party. The friend's parents had arranged an animal trainer to bring some of his animals to entertain the kids! Nathan had so much fun, that he wasn't keen to leave when Liesel picked him up 3 hours later!

While Nathan was cuddling up to some reptiles, Liesel, Josh, a couple of our friends, and myself went for a leisurely bike ride at a local recreation center. It was a perfect afternoon for a ride, and a great way to spend time with our friends. Once we had made a couple of laps of the rec center, we headed back to our house for dinner, which consisted of salmon on the grill, corn and salad! The evening presented us with the some more great weather, and we enjoyed the food and fellowship on our patio. After our company left, and Josh headed inside for his bath, Nathan and I initiated our pool with the first swim! It was soooo refreshing! I know we are going to be enjoying this pool for a LONG time!

Monday morning was a lazy one, with the boys only getting out of their pajamas around 10am. Once the boys were presentable, I rallied them together again and headed to some more stores, giving Liesel the freedom to clean carpets again without interruption. We visited three stores before returning home for lunch. After lunch, Nathan spent most of the afternoon in the pool, while Josh spent most the afternoon looking for objects to go and drop into the pool! Liesel even ventured into the pool with Nathan after spending an hour and a half in the sun weeding! For dinner, I grilled some pork chops that Liesel had marinaded, and it was one of the best pork chops I had ever had. What a great way to end a long weekend. Now if only every weekend was a long weekend......

From San Francisco to Summer and Seasonal Allergies

2010-05-23T22:30:00.005-05:00

Wow - such a lot has happened since last weekend, that I am not sure how to fit it all in one blog. I will do my best....

On Tuesday, I left the rainy weather in Cleveland behind as I flew out to one of my favorite places in the USA, San Francisco. Unfortunately it was not for pleasure, as I was attending the annual Google IO conference held in downtown San Francisco. But, since it was Google's conference, there was definitely some pleasure thrown into the daily programs!

The plane landed at SFO Airport at 11:30am, and I made my way to the train station at the airport. I caught the 11:55 train to downtown San Francisco. Once in the heart of the city, I managed to make my way to my hotel by 12:45pm. I checked in, freshened up and then headed straight to conference center down the street to register. The conference kicked off at 1:45pm. From that time on, I attended various sessions until 6:15 when a light supper was served. By this time I was ravenous, considering my last meal was the sugarless cornflakes that I was served on the plane that morning :(

On the second and third days of the conference, breakfast was served at 7:00am with the main keynotes starting between 8:30 and 9:00. The early breakfast fitted in perfectly with my schedule, considering that I was wide awake around 4:30am thanks to the under-rated phenomenon known as Jet-Lag. I was really impressed with the the way Google catered for the 5000+ attendees, and the food was fantastic. Each morning, breakfast consisted of your choice of bagels, doughnuts, croissants, muffins, fresh fruit, fruit juices, Starbucks coffee and teas! The lunch menu's were equally impressive! Did I mention that they also had candy stations available, where one could help his/herself to a variety of candy for that extra burst of energy, at any time of the day. Soft drinks, water and fruit juices were also freely available! And of course, Google kept our sugar levels soaring, with cookies, rice crispy treats and brownies for mid morning and afternoon snacks!

The highlights of the conference to me were the keynote speeches, where Google made numerous announcements and launched new products. I think I am most excited about Google TV coming in the September/October time-frame! Google (together with Sony and Logitech) will web enable your TV, making it so much more useful. This will allow you to look-up current programming, or any content that is on the web, such as youTube clips or archived episodes from hulu.com etc! Picture in Picture also enables you to surf the web, while keeping your eye on the TV! It will turn your television into an entertainment station, where you will be able to stream your holiday photos from your favorite online photo sites, or play music from sites such as Pandora during the day. The possibilities are infinite!! At least I have more than 3 months to come up with a decent justification as to why we need another TV in the house :P

The other highlight of the conference was when Google announced that they were giving every attendee the latest cellphone by HTC, which comes complete with an 8 megapixel camera, and HD video recorder built into it! This is over and above the free phone they sent us 4 weeks prior to the conference!!!

My last highlight (yes, I had many) was being taken out to dinner, by one of our business partners, to the Fisherman's Wharf. We had a delicious seafood meal, which was served to us within 5 minutes of us actually placing the order! I had the Chef's special, which consisted of shrimp on a skewer and some Ahi Tuna grilled on a Mesquite fire grill, which added a unique and delicious flavor to the entree! After the dinner, my colleague and I walked around the Wharf, taking in the sights and the San Francisco skyline before making our way back to the hotel.

On Friday evening, after surviving a very turbulent 4 hour flight, I landed at Cleveland's airport and was reunited with my beautiful family again!

Saturday saw Liesel and myself attending our first wedding here in the USA, which was everything we thought it would be. The bride was beautiful, the flower girls, adorable, and the ceremony touching. The reception was held at a Country Club, and our table overlooked the beautiful green golf course and huge trees lining the fairways. The food was simply incredible, and full of flavor. It was also nice to sit down and chat with some friends enjoy the afternoon together!

Sunday, was Nathan's favorite day of the week. He started out by going to Sunday School (like a regular Sunday for the McCarthy clan). But shortly after church, we went to the annual Sunday School Teacher's Appreciation Picnic, where our church thanks the teachers(of which Liesel is one) for their commitment and dedication throughout the year. It was held at a local playground, and Nathan had a blast playing with a number of his friends. Once the food was ready, Nathan and I polished our hamburgers, and he invited to a classmate's birthday party which started at 1pm. After dropping him off, Josh fell asleep in the car, and I headed back to the picnic to pick Liesel up. At 3pm, I fetched Nathan, and he was beaming from ear to ear, and when asked how the party was, he replied "Awesome!" The weather that day was hot and the skies were blue and only a gentle breeze tickled the foliage. It was the perfect evening to sit outside and enjoy the supper of chicken kebabs which I cooked on my grill. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and I had to embark on my 90 minute workout routine of cutting the grass :P

Now that my yard had been brought in line with the high standards set by my neighbors, I decided to reward myself with a home made coffee shake, and I put my feet up on my favorite couch, laid back and enjoyed the very last epic episode (150 minutes) of the Lost series! It was an excellent, and fitting close to the 6 season run of the series, and it will definitely be missed :( Now I have to find something else to fill up the void that now exists on a Tuesday night!

Crazy, Busy, Non-stop, Fun!

2010-05-16T20:17:00.004-05:00

Those four words sum up our weekend pretty accurately. There was no recovery time built into this weekend, and we all just had to keep pushing to make it through unscathed!

The action started on Friday evening, as friends hosted a "Lost" fanatics party at the church. This was the perfect opportunity to brush up on our "Lost" trivia, and share our theories on what the upcoming final episode will reveal.

Our Saturday schedule consisted of shopping, planting, T-Ball practice, hamburger grilling, bicycle ride at the Westlake Rec, and the some delicious ice cream and frozen yogurt at Mitchell's (my choice for Family Fun night). Oh yes, after the boys went to bed, I installed some new blinds in the playroom!!

Sunday did not offer us any rest either. Liesel took Nathan to have his official T-Ball photographs taken with his team before church, and then later joined Josh and me at the service. Afterward there was more shopping, a quick lunch, and then Nathan and I participated in Avon's Little League Opening Day parade! Nathan was especially elated to see Avon's Fire Trucks leading the parade, and the police who had blocked off the roads for us! He also had great fun throwing his lollipops at the children lining the parade route! The parade ended at the Avon Little League field, where all the teams sat on the field, and listened patiently as the president of the league and the mayor of Avon gave their inspirational speeches!

Once we returned home, I mowed the lawn while Josh slept! So all in all, it was a hectic, but enjoyable weekend!

McCarthy Tree and Shrub Removal Service

2010-05-02T19:33:00.004-05:00

With the great weekend weather that we were blessed with, it was time to get into the garden for an "Extreme Makeover: Landscaping Edition". Well to be honest, we were just getting started, and it will take a number of weekends to get our desired results. So Liesel and I removed 2 shrubs, and a tree from some of the beds (Sorry Mother Nature, they will soon be replaced!) The shrubs came out pretty easily, unlike the fir tree that put up a pretty good fight!

Josh has been hit with the stomach flu for the last few days, so we stayed at home as much as possible. This meant that we had to get take out from Moe's for Nathan's Family Fun Night. Actually it worked out well, because it was the perfect evening to eat outdoors on our patio, for the first time this season! But it also meant that Liesel had to stay at home on Sunday, when Nathan and I went to church. The highlight of the church service was the song performed by our Children's choir, the full orchestra and the Providence One Voice Choir. It was beautifully arranged and the children's pieces stole the show! See the video clip below!

This weekend, we also went driving many miles in search of the elusive bike rack for our car. The two local Sears stores did not have any, so we eventually just ordered it online. Until it arrives, our bicycle adventures will be confined to our neighborhood. This is not a bad thing, and we cycled around the neighborhood numerous times on Sunday, even in the refreshing drizzle!

I leave you with some photos of Nathan and his art! Liesel went to Nathan's Preschool's Art Show on Thursday night, and we were so proud of Nathan and his beautiful creations!

The return of the lawnmower

2010-04-25T20:26:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, I picked up my long overdue lawnmower from Sears. They had kept it for 17 days in total for a simple service. To me that was unacceptable, and I complained to them about it. Sears was very sympathetic, and offered to pay for the service, which amounted to more than $75! I was very happy with that! Then a couple of days later, I received another phone call from Sears Customer Care, and they again apologized, and this time offered me a $100 gift card to make up for the inconvenience! Wow! To me, Sears went over and above, to keep me, their customer, happy! Thank you Sears!

Now my lawn is back under control, and my mowing season has officially begun.

Our highlights for the weekend included a family bike ride around the neighborhood, with myself leading the way with Josh firmly secured into a bike seat mounted above my rear wheel. Nathan kept up with me on the sidewalks, while Liesel brought up the rear! We were planning on driving to a local park for a change of scenery, but it was nearly impossible getting all the bikes into the back of the car. So we will be buying a bike rack with the gift card from Sears!

On Sunday, I was privileged to play in the worship team at church again, which was very rewarding - as usual! That afternoon, the season's first thunderstorm blew over our house, bringing with it some welcome rain. As the rain tapered off, I went outside with Nathan and grilled some delicious steak for dinner! Hopefully, this is just a taste of what is still to come for the remainder of Spring and Summer!

Same old

2010-04-18T19:59:00.002-05:00

There was no exciting news to bring you this weekend, hence the abbreviated blog. The most excitement the McCarthy family had was when we went bike shopping for Nathan on Friday night, and ended up buying Nathan and Liesel new bikes, a bicycle seat for Josh that will be fitted to my bike, and helmets for both Liesel and Josh!! Unfortunately, the weather has dipped below average (again!), so we have not gone on our first family bike ride yet!

Oh yes.... I still do not have my lawnmower back from its service - while my neighbors have cut their grass at least 5 times by now, and their yards look beautifully manicured, mine looks pretty darn ugly and untidy. If anyone wants to donate a ride-on mower to my cause, it will be greatly appreciated!

Until next week.... ciao.