June 26, 2004 It's been 5 wonderful years since Rob and I celebrated our fun-filled wedding day! It's been a memorable and exciting 5 years...
In these past 5 years, I've worked at 4 different law firms and I've had 3 different cars--Good thing I don't go through Husbands as quickly! haha
Happy Anniversary, Rob. I love you more now than on that spectacular day 5 years ago. I'm looking forward to many more years of growing old together! Love, Mrs. Robert :) (and thanks for not greeting me this morning with "Are you F***ing Kidding me?"--as you did on the morning of our wedding...)
One of my personality traits is that when I am interested in something--I go ALL IN. Michael Jackson was the first Entertainer I loved. (He was a true entertainer, I can't describe him just as a singer, dancer, or actor....)
He still was at the top of my list of performers to see live. (I was supposed to be front and center when he came to Pittsburgh in 1984 but the concert never got booked...). I don't care what went on in his personal life. When I hear MJ, I am a little girl again, singing into a hairbrush, dancing around my room, making up choreography with my childhood friend, Dana. Growing up, I shared a room with my older sister. She had to live with me decorating my 1/2 of the room in the latest and greatest MJ memorabilia:
I even had a Michael Jackson "Thriller" jacket. Because EVERYONE had a "Beat It" Jacket with the zippers and I wanted to show I was a true fan. I dressed as MJ for Halloween. Luckily, he was light skinned so it wasn't full on black-face at age 10...But I adored him. I wore the glove. I moonwalked. My mom even borrowed my costume for a work party, and she won 1st prize! I made sure I had every detail covered...
One of my fondest memories of my grandma was her sitting outside the outside shower at our vacation house in Ocean City, NJ listening to me belt out "BEAT IT" with reckless abandon as if I was singing to a stadium of cheering fans...
So, let me start by saying that I am not a regular viewer of the show- I have only seen tidbits and snippets of the show, but it is really hard NOT to be aware of the Jon & Kate + 8 saga...
Hearing all the rumors that there was a "major announcement" being made in last night's episode--and knowing all the celebrity rags were reporting that the "news" was a separation and divorce--I tuned in.
Honestly, the announcement I wanted to hear was that they were quitting the show, getting some family and couples counseling and going to work on the relationship in real life, not on reality t.v. I was holding out hope that they fed the Insider, Entertainment Tonight and Radar.com with some phony info. to throw them off the scent. They didn't. They announced their separation as expected and of course as Kate said, "The show MUST go on". Yea, because as if the kids don't have it hard enough, now they have to have the breakup of their parents' marriage and the fallout from that immortalized on t.v. and for sale on DVD...
Now, even if they had done what I hoped, their path may still have led to separation and divorce, but at least it would have spared the kids the very public spectacle of this very private issue, and at least Jon & Kate could have both slept well at night knowing they had done their absolute best for their family: that they had exhausted all possibilities, that they fought hard for each other AND their kids and that they did it the right way--privately.
Jon and Kate are famous only for being parents to a lot of kids. They weren't actors, singers or entertainers before this t.v. show. They were just a bunch of high school sweethearts who got married and wanted a family. They are not like Brad and Angelina. Their celebrity is like that of Paris Hilton (famous for her name only) or Kim Kardashian (famous for having a big ass and a sex tape*)
If they chose to go back to a normal, non-televised life, eventually the Paparazzi and their fans would lose interest. After all they are just parents raising their kids-just like all of us parents, whether we have 1 kid or 18.
In truth, I really hope TLC cancels the show.
*Credit: Joel McHale and "The Soup" for the apt description of Ms. Kardashian.
My little Gilligan. He refuses to wear a baseball hat. The toddler bucket hats are too small for him, so I had to give him mine. It's a little big, but it keeps the sun off his face, protects his head from sunburn and most importantly he keeps it on!
Bobby is car obsessed. Not with play cars or trucks but with the real deal. At only 2 years old, he can identify cars by their logo and knows who drives what. And he is not limited by color, model, or type of car. He notices and points out all the different cars while we walk along our street, while we're driving anywhere or just walking in a parking lot.
He knows I drive a Subaruand that Rob drives a Nissan. Grandma Pat has a Ford (or "sword" as he says it)PapPap drives a Mercury, Uncle Matt drives a Cadillac, EeEe has a "v-dubya". And he even knows cars that he doesn't see everyday. He knows his friend Nate's mom has a Chevy.
Roman's mom has a Honda. My parents' neighbor has a Dodge.Every car brand, whether it's a car, pick-up truck or SUV is identified correctly. He can even identify the keys by the emblem on the key!!
He loves to look at the cars and touch the logos...whoever he identifies the car with first is what he sticks with, so although my brother also has a Cadillac...it's always and forever going to be "Matt's car" even though he knows which car is Uncle Brian's and which is Uncle Matt's.
Maybe I should print car logos like flashcards, videotape his "rainman-like" skills, post it on YouTube, become a viral video sensation, get on Oprah, and cash in on this talent...
Marian Hossa turned down a lucrative, long-term contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in order to accept a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. He thought he had a better chance of winning Lord Stanley with Detroit. He thought Wrong! YOU LOSE!
Pittsburgh fans are nothing if not rabid. and loyal. That's why we'll never forgive Hossa for his defection.
If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as Gwen Stefani. She has such a great and unique voice. She has killer abs! Even performing live, her voice was spectacular. She has a great energy and dance style. Her abs were amazing. She is so cool and fun. Did I mention her abs? No Doubt really performed a great show, and she absolutely rocked it! Along with her amazing voice and stage presence, she is a mom of 2 boys. Here is what she looked like pregnant:
and here she is post-babies:She is one kick-ass Mama!
My parents took Bobby away to the beach a few weekends ago. He was gone 5 days--the longest I've been away from him his entire life. He had a wonderful time and as any smart parents would do, we decided to fill our weekend with things that we cannot (or do not) do when Bobby is around. For me, this included a Saturday filled with beauty treatments: haircut/style, manicure and pedicure. (Thank God I was finally able to catch up on all the Jon & Kate drama covered in all the celebrity rags).
However, in a more curious decision, on Sunday, we decided to go to Kennywood. Now, most parents probably don't run to an amusement park without their kids, but then I remembered this:and I thought this might not be the summer for Bobby to explore the rides at Kennywood!
So, Rob and I went and rode the bumper cars and The Whip and we enjoyed all the roller coasters: Phantom's Revenge, The Thunderbolt, The Racer and The Jackrabbit. We didn't go on any "wet" rides (although I need to go back for the LogJammer), and I don't do any "puke machines"(i.e. any ride that just goes in a circle, upside down- or both -and will just lead to nausea).
We enjoyed a sampling of the food fare: Potato Patch Fries and a corn dog for me. Turkey dinner at the Cafeteria* and an ice cream for Rob, and a shared funnel cake for both of us.
*Due to my insider knowledge of Kennywood cafeteria workers and the inner workings of what goes on there, I cannot really enjoy eating a meal in the Cafe as I was privy to the "Mutant Parade" of Cafe workers every year during the Health Department seminar on food safety.
Anyway, I got to relive my 3 summers working at the Park. It was THE BEST summer job in College--it kept me motivated to finish school (I had my fill of flipping burgers and cleaning up the condiment/seating area), I got to work with and get to know people from other schools, we got to ride the coasters early in the morning during the "test runs" and it was a fun, hijinks-filled summer job, in spite of the motto, "If there's time to lean, there's time to clean."
So, that brings me to the greatest revelation of the afternoon. I may just bypass Kiddieland altogether*. At 2 years old, Bobby is more than tall enough to ride my favorite coaster, The Jackrabbit. The Jackrabbit was the first coaster I ever went on. I think I was about 4, maybe 5 years old.
It is a wooden coaster built in 1921. The only safety device is a strap (I can't even call it a seatbelt) that goes around both riders in the car. Now, when I was little and I would go on with my dad, when we sat down and fastened the strap around us, it was so loose around me because he was so much bigger that it really was useless. The Jackrabbit is famous for a "double dip" hill. I can still remember the panic thrill of feeling like I was going to fly out of the coaster--the force of the ride made me fly up to an almost standing position...I was definitely airborne by the 2nd dip! (check out the dips at 1:22 in this video):
How many years of therapy do you think he would he have to endure if I strapped him into this ride at 2 years old?
*DISCLAIMER: I am a responsible, educated, worrisome, somewhat overly-protective parent and in no way do I intend to put my 2 year old child on a roller coaster, even if he is big enough.
Now, this is the scene from the front car of the Phantom's Revenge:
I feel like the coaster is going to go right off the track and plummet to the Earth when it crests the first hill. It's fantastically scary. I can only hope that Bobby will progress to someday enjoy roller coasters like Rob and I do, even though they scare the bejesus out of me.
From a Miss
June 26, 2004
and that Rob drives a Nissan.
Grandma Pat has a Ford (or "sword" as he says it)
PapPap drives a Mercury,
Uncle Matt drives a Cadillac,
EeEe has a "v-dubya". 
And he even knows cars that he doesn't see everyday. He knows his friend Nate's mom has a Chevy. 
My parents' neighbor has a Dodge.
Every car brand, whether it's a car, pick-up truck or SUV is identified correctly. He can even identify the keys by the emblem on the key!! 
She is one kick-ass Mama!
and I thought this might not be the summer for Bobby to explore the rides at Kennywood!
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