May 31, 2001 -
Zephen arrived from Indiana yesterday and so far, so good. Heather and him
have been playing together quite well without a flare-up. We just hope this
honeymoon period last a while. Mary Ann had today off and we spent it with
Zephen. We picked him up a new skateboard and he's been riding that all evening.
He, unfortunately, got into some poison ivy just before leaving his dad's
and is covered in a rash from head to toe. We're going to wash his bedding
and clothes each day and we're doing what we can for the itching. Today approached
80 degrees and we've been sweltering all afternoon. Looking at the picture
below, I realized I've put on some weight again .... I've got to start working
out!!! 
May 27, 2001 - We spent yesterday at "Northwest Trek" and had a great time. Northwest Trek is a wildlife preserve in Pierce County. In addition to big cats, wolves, and bears, the refuge has about 400 acres of free range area loaded with all sorts of herding animals. We had a 1 hour tour of the area aboard a tram that took us right up to white and black tail deer, moose, elk, bison, sheep, caribou, and mountain goats. There were also beaver and several varieties of water fowl. It made for a wonderful day and the weather cooperated beautifully.
May 25, 2001 - The weather has been great this entire week. I had a few rough days at work, but the WEEKEND is here. Heather is staying the night at the neighbor's and Mary Ann and I went out for a nice Mexican dinner. I don't know what our plans are, but we'll be getting out tomorrow. I looked into refinancing the house this week. Good news, I'll save almost $200 a month and still have a 15 year loan (around $1206/month vs. $1400). That will be helpful given how tight our money has been lately. The only downside is I have to pay a few hundred dollars out of pocket for the appraisal. It looks like Zephen will be flying in Wednesday morning at 1 AM. I need to get a room set up for him and I think I'll have to put an airbed in the family room.
May 20, 2001 - As it turns out, Mike had never bought a ticket for Zephen. He called Mary Ann today and asked if we would buy a ticket with a credit card. Mary Ann said no (he made a comment "oh, you're in the same boat as me, huh?". I guess he assumes we have bad credit and no credit cards...) We're leaving it up to him to purchase the tickets (I've always done it in the past and ALWAYS had to wait 1-3 months for him to pay us 1/2). Man, I'm sounding real petty and bitchy here. I think I'm still irked about him TELLING us Zephen was coming instead of asking us and coordinating things. I talked with Fred at work and we might work out a kayaking lesson or 2 for Zephen and me. I'm hoping I can find enough things for Zephen to do while he's here. With Heather still in school for 4 weeks, I'll be able to spend some time doing things with him without them fighting and hopefully the visit will go smoothly.
May 17, 2001 - Zephen's dad, Mike, called and INFORMED Mary Ann that he had bought a ticket for Zephen to come here from May 26 till the end of August. Given that we never discussed dates with him and that with Zephen here the whole summer left us no ability to set up proper supervision, I picked up the phone and INFORMED him that this was not going to happen. Looking at my schedule, it looked like we could get him at the end of July. As it turned out, we reconsidered about having him in May and June (Heather is still in school and we think we can work around times to prevent unsupervised interaction between Zephen and Heather). Heather has a week of summer camp when her school lets out at the end of June, and Zephen will spend a few days at Dave and Nancy's home or with the boyscouts on July 4th or the following week. So, looks like about 6 weeks. Mike said he'd see if he could get the ticket changed. I also won't be able to put in any OT for that period, so it'll be belt-tightening time for a while.
May 8, 2001 - I finally got the yard work done today. One of my computer's hard drives died last week and I put in the replacement yesterday and did a clean install of WIN ME. I got everything back up and running yesterday and I spent the day doing laundry and the yard. As luck would have it, just as I began cleaning the house, Heather came home and said the front yard was covered in water. Our sewer line was plugged again and I had to run to the rental store to get a snake. I got the snake with a hugh toothed head and about 40 feet down the line, I hit the root that was giving us the problems (snaked it 2 weeks ago). Lets hope I tore it up enough to prevent any more problems for a while.
May 4, 2001 - Mary Ann came home from work last night and hit me with an ultimatum. Either we go out dancing or go to a Mariner's game. My feet were killing me from work lately, so I chose what every red-blooded American male would ... BASEBALL. So, Mary Ann, Heather, and I enjoyed a great ball game on a beautiful Thursday night (Mariners 10, Red Sox 3 WOO HOO!!!). I traded days with a workmate (Wednesday for Friday) and Mary Ann and I had a great day today. We spent the morning together and I took her to a movie matinee. It was real nice to have a full day off with her. Since her promotion, we only get 1/2 of every other Saturday off together. I almost forgot how much fun it is to date my wife!!
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