Kaden the Monkey

We got Kaden dressed up in his cute little monkey costume for Halloween. We got it at Old Navy. Here he is running around the yard. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were harboring illegal animals after this went on for awhile.






Laura took him to Wapak to go "trunk or treating" at their church. Kaden went around with Mia and Ashley and gathered up a ton of candy.


When he got home, he sure wanted to enjoy it all. Mommy let him have enough of it right before bed time.

Kaden's Harmonica Returns

We ended up buying a new harmonica for Kaden since the last one was lost. It seems playing that is just like riding a bike. He picked up right where he left off - loud. He likes walking around the house and just blowing into it. Maybe in a few years we will have a little harmonica virtuoso. Ugh.

Check out the video by clicking here.

Kaden Eating

Here are a few photos of Kaden eating and being silly around the house.

5.75 Miles of Fun

After a few solid weeks of going to the YMCA and running in the neighborhood, I finally made it back on my mountain bike. I slapped the GPS on it and took a spin to my folks' house and then around the "big" reservoir.

After 5.75 miles with my average a bit north of 12mph, I made it home with some very sore quads and a good sense that I accomplished something this weekend besides consuming too many calories.

Little Man

Kaden just seems to be getting so much bigger and looking older and older. (Gee, maybe that's because he is?) I know, I know. It's just so incredible.

New York City 2006

Laura and I just got back from four days, three nights in NYC. We visited with Ryan and Melissa for most of the time and got a lot of the tourist spots in.

Here's the list: stayed at Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan, Melissa cooked Italian at their place in Queens, walked in the Guggenheim, walked through Central Park, checked out FAO Schwarz and had some ice cream there, went to the top of the Rockefeller Building (Top of the Rock) for sunset, ate at Del Friscos, went to the Statue of Libery and Ellis Island via Circleline, ate at the first pizzeria in America called Lombardi's, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, visited the WTC Memorial Site, ate Thai food in SoHo at Spice and checked out the Today Show on NBC in Rockefeller Center.

It was a great time!


View all photos by clicking here.

Kaden Digs Elmo

I actually took these photos a couple weeks ago, but didn't put them up for whatever reason. Either way, here they are. Kaden digs watching Elmo.

Laura & I Fly To Urbana For Breakfast

Finally!! I say that because I am finally able to go up with Laura again. It has been months since we've been up together. We had the grandparents watch Kaden while we got up late and went to breakfast at the Airport Cafe at Urbana-Grimes Field (I74).

We got to the airport around 9:30a and were done before 11:30a. It was pretty windy this morning (~15/20Gkts from WSW) . This proved a good time to practice my crosswind landings in the Archer since I haven't had to do it yet. Not bad. It's an easy plane to fly.

The Airport Cafe was pretty busy but we sat right down and ate pretty quickly. It was nice to go for a short flight to keep in the air a bit. We just barely missed a UH-60 flying out of I74 when we were about 10nm out. Dang!

Las Vegas 2006 Part 2 - Day Five+

Today was the last day in Vegas. We had to be at the show by 9am and it was dead. Since there were four of us there, a couple of us at a time roamed the floor and picked up freebie after freebie. What a load of loot! They had so much awesome stuff to look at. Here are some photos from the show (Tag Inifinity SUV, Coke booth, Corona booth):






When we were done packing up after the 1:30pm close, we headed back to the hotel and just chilled by the pool, walked around the forum shops and grabbed a bite to eat. Matt and I hit up the Exotic Cars Museum in the Forum Shops. Pics of that:




After an almost three hour wait at the airport, we took off early for a fast flight back to CLE and the 2.5 hour drive home. Here are shots of the nice departure out of LV:



What a (long) day.

Las Vegas 2006 Part 2 - Day Four

I started the day again by going to the pool and sitting in the hot tub for awhile. At noon, we had the trade show but we were done and gone by 3pm. It wasn't busy at all.

After that I handled our room situation and headed back to the pool for another hour. It is nice down there!

We all ended up just eating at the food court and walking around through Caesars and a couple other casinos around here. After packing up, it was an early night since we're up early tomorrow morning.

Las Vegas 2006 Part 2 - Day Three

Today was day #2 of the show itself. I was up at 830am and headed to the pool for an hour or so for some hot tub, pool and relax time. We grabbed some lunch and were at the show before noon. After five hours of talking with prospective clients, we headed out and I went back to the pool with Matt and Jon. We used the hot tub and pool until they closed up at 6pm.

We watched some MNF and then headed to the Tropicana to meet with some clients from Venezuela. We ate at the steak and seafood restaurant and then headed back to the room for a little more TV and an early bedtime.

Las Vegas 2006 Part 2 - Day Two

Today was the day we setup for the shows. We did the first one real quick at Caesars and then grabbed some brunch at the buffett. Mmmm...omlettes and eggs benedict. After that, we headed to the other show and spent a few hours there setting up.

We got back from that and Jon and I ended up having to go to the smaller show for an hour or so. Oh well. A little mix up.

After that, we all headed to Del Friscos Double Eagle Steakhouse for another fantastic meal and then off to Fremont Street. We walked a little bit, saw the spray paint artist and then did some blackjack at Fitsgeralds. I ended up $1. Woohoo! (Not bad for an hour or more of play. Five blackjacks help.)

We ended up seeing the screen show afterward and headed back to the hotel and were back by 1am.

Las Vegas 2006 Part 2 - Day One

After driving to the Cleveland Airport to hop our non-stop flight to Vegas, we were treated to a nice shot of Cleveland during sunset. Since I upgraded both ways to first class, it was a nice Caesar salad with chicken and a strawberry sunday. Mmmmm...

We got to Vegas "on-time" after a big guy who got stuck on the floor was finally moved from the plane. We all got our bags and hopped a cab to Caesar's Palace. We dropped our bags and went walking. We checked out the fountains at the Bellagio and then grabbed some food at the cafe in Paris. By this time, it was about midnight and everyone was dead tired.

Flying Around Town

I took up a guy from work and his girlfriend after work in the Archer. I told him long ago that I would and finally it's worked out so I could. We took off in some 15/23 winds from 5 and then flew around Columbus Grove, Ottawa, Lima and Ada.

Between Ottawa and Lima, we clmibed up to 5k to play around above the clouds. Fun!

Kiddie Play Date!

All the kids got together at the Szuch's for a little play date this morning. It looks like they did a lot of playing and a lot of pizza eating.

View all of Lora's photos by clicking here.

Here are a few from her site:

Sweet Piece Of Free Software

On one of the computer forums I frequent, a regular poster there wrote some software that basically is for computer techies who like a lot of tools all accessible from one GUI. All the software is freeware and this software is as well.

Download the software by clicking here (.exe file). You will need the .Net v2 Framework from Micro$oft for this to install/work.

Check out the GUI: