The heat is on

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!

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

.....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

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

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......