Quick Summary: North Myrtle Beach, 12 hour drive to Myrtle (left in morning...7 stops..lol), 10 hour drive on way home (overnight). Rylee disliked the sand, but loved the pool. Leandra and I drank multiple bottles of wine. Time went way to fast, 8 days minimum next time. Enjoy.

New Additions

I added some pics on the side column, as well as a music player at the very bottom. If you aren't interested in listening to music while you read my Pulitzer Prize winning blog, just scroll to the bottom and press stop.

Love, Peace and Hairgrease

Catch Up Time....Rylee's 1st Birthday and Sports

Sports: Michael Vick is back and signed with the Eagles. When I listened to his interview on 6o minutes last Sunday it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It's hard for me to believe a guy who said he has changed completely after one year in prison. I mean it was an operation that was running for SEVEN YEARS. I mean a seven year operation seems a bit habitual to me, so for him to say he wanted to quit was a pile of shit. There is a difference between wanting to quit and having to quit. He had to quit, end of story. Break a leg this year Mike, good luck to you.

On a more positive note, the Yankees keep rolling along, while the Red Sox continue to struggle. The Yanks stand at 74-45 and have a 7 game cushion on the Bosox. That 74-45 record is also the best in all of the majors. This has to be our year as a Yankee fan. It's been quite sometime since our last celebration and this years team seems to be focused and have the closeness of a family.

THE GOOD STUFF: Rylee's 1st Birthday party

-Went great with the exception of rain most of the day. We kept it somewhat small with a few family and friends. Rylee seemed to be overwhelmed for the most part. She isn't much of a fan of getting dirty, so cake time wasn't what we were expecting. She really didn't want anything to do with her over sized cupcake. The mess was limited, but we think she enjoyed herself. Everyone was so generous with their gifts and we couldn't be more thankful to everyone that came. Here are some photos of the party.......

Rylee's new car, from Cousins: Sawyer and JulianaBirthday Cupcake and Cousin MikeyUncle Alvin, Aunt Cara, cousin Sawyer, Aunt Terry & Graham, Grandma and Brian in background.Mrs. Philly with the Cruz GalsMommy, Daddy, and RyleeRyleeGrandma and Rylee

End of party, nearing nap time

What a Great Listen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PzoKyv9fvk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2Fhome%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded#watch-main-area

Thanking God for such a Great Man's Life

Unfortunately on Wednesday we lost the life of Grandpa Mikula (Leandra's Grandpa). Instead of mourning his life, I'd rather celebrate and remember him for the amazing gentlemen that he was. In my eyes, Grandpa Mikula couldn't have been a better husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. He was the ideal role model for any family man. When we would bring Rylee to see him and Grandma Mikula, his eyes would glow as if Rylee was his own daughter. Thats how he treated his entire family. Always so gentle and kind. Rylee will miss him dearly.
I always looked forward to speaking with him during our visits when we were in town. He loved to talk about golf and sports and was never in a bad mood, always so chipper and smiling. Easy going and always had something to talk about, we will miss Grandpa forever and thank God for the presence of a Great Man's Life. We love and miss you Grandpa.

August 26, 1921 - August 5, 2009

"A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience."

So I failed with the diet over the weekend. The diet went great from Mon-Thurs, than took a dive over the weekend. Leandra claims I didn't over eat, but I feel the opposite. Friday I had a dish from Noodles & Co. called Pasta Fresca. It's really not that bad of a dish. Pasta, veggies, and a small cut of grilled chicken. Saturday was a good day as far as calories went. We had pictures in Cincinnatti with Natalie in the morning and stopped at Arby's (Bad decision) on the way home. It made me sick, therefore it was basically the only thing I ate on Saturday. Sunday was an entire different story. Leandra really wanted to go to the Ohio State Fair. I obviously caved and took her and Rylee and ate like a pig. We started off with the obvious, fair fries and a lemon shake. We shared both. Than I moved onto a gyro, which was outstanding, and Leandra had a steak sandwich. After that, we were told by some friends that there are multiple "deep fried" stands (lmao). So we came across and figured we had to try it out. We got an order of the deep fried buckeyes (which we both ate 1 and were not impressed, believe it or not), and also a deep fried twinkies which was amazing. It was so good that I don't even remember chewing. I think it was bite and swallow, or straight inhaling. I ate the entire thing. Sigh....by that time the lemon shake was history and we got a sweet tea to replace that. We went and showed Rylee the pig farm, and ended the walk back to the car with a delightful elephant ear. So I geuss it wasn't a totally disgusting display, but definitely didn't fit into my diet. It's gonna be rough to keep up the diet in the next few weeks due to vacation (North Myrtle) and some light travelling to Indiana for poker. So I got some serious thinking to do about this diet, either man up for a few months or just let myself go like Adam Chine did.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I now present you Adam Chine doing the Truffle Shuffle at the original Goonies house in Oregon. Enjoy.