Happy Birthday Mom!

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

It's good to be back with family!

The end of Summer

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

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

Labor Day weekend

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













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

Birthday at the beach!

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!