The Daily Planet has Gone Green!

Another year has come and gone. This year, so much has happened! We sure went through a change! Our goal was to do more with the family and spend more time with friends.



We finally took the kids to the Museum of Natural History after all these years being just miles away from the city. Thanks to the movie "Night at the Museum", we spent most of our time looking for Dum Dum, Rexi and "little people".












We took a road trip to D.C. to meet up with some old Penn friends. We went to the Air and Space Museum, Ben's Chili Bowl and the kids were very happy to find Todai again.


We finally all got passports and were able to travel to Canada for Gary's cousin's wedding. We rented a car and drove to Kitchener with Tom, Gary's brother and on the way back, we hit Niagra Falls. After this trip, Grace is convinced that she wants a minivan.







Our first baseball game! Well, it was a minor league game but still pretty fun and exciting for us! Grace never wanted to go to a baseball game before because she thought that you had to sit on bleachers but was pleasantly surprised that there were individual chairs!

We went with some friends to Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT over the summer. We really enjoyed this water park. Part of it was an amusement park and the other was a water park. The free soda was a plus! Note: If you go, you have to try the fried oreos!

Grace and Gary go to White Castle

I think we were probably the last people who never had a White Castle burger. On Black Friday, around 2:30 AM, we decided to stand in line at Best Buy. While waiting, we spotted a White Castle across the street that was still open. So, Grace drove over, got 6 cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries. They were really good at 3:00 AM (in the freezing cold). Around 4:00 AM, Grace decided to walk across the parking lot to Old Navy to pick up a pair of boots (her toes were freezing!). Around 4:15 AM, she got in line to pay for her boots. After a while, still in line, she saw Gary walking through the door with all of his Best Buy purchases. Apparently, Gary managed to get into Best Buy, buy everything he needed, walk to the car and get to Old Navy even before Grace managed to buy the boots! We will never go to Old Navy on Black Friday again...or at least, do all shopping online.

Like every year, some things change and some things stay the same. The economic crisis took a personal note when Gary found himself unemployed for the first time ever in March. Despite the initial worries, it turned out to be an always needed renewal of our faith in the Lord and that He alone can satisfy our needs. It was also probably be the best 2 months off at home with Grace and the kids! That time did have to end though and Gary is now working at RBS in Stamford, CT with a less stressful job and much better commute.

Gary continues to enjoy playing basketball with the same great group of guys (now on Tuesdays) and has also started playing in a 3v3 league at the local gym. Despite all this ball playing, Gary started to gain some weight and decided to fuel the DVD fitness market and give P90X a try. It was pretty effective, but very tough. Unfortunately, Gary's version should be called P70X.

Other memorable events for Gary include introducing Jonathan to the violin, running and playing basketball with both kids, RCNJ's Men's retreat, and his 20 year H.S. reunion.







Grace ran in her first marathon relay at the Jersey shore (less impressive than is sounds). She had a great time doing it with Gary and her friends. If they are up to it, she's interested in doing it again! She still enjoys growing her rubber stamp collection, cricut cartridge collection, baking and carving pumpkins.







Jonathan is still playing basketball and piano and enjoys reading a lot. He picked up the Harry Potter series and finished all 7 books in about 10 days. He's started violin and running as well. Hmmm....sounds like he's following the footsteps of someone else in this family (or, is he being dragged along?)

Can you believe that Jonathan won all of those M&Ms by guessing the closest number of M&Ms in the jar? He was only 1 away from the correct answer!








Jennifer ran her first 1 mi. race at the Armonk Halloween Fun Run! She finished it in 11 min. She looks forward to doing again next year. Jennifer has also started piano lessons this year and hopes to catch up to Jonathan soon. This year, she has opted not to have a birthday party and instead, wanted stuff. She has Grace running all over the place looking for the elusive Zhu Zhu pet.