After the storm...

This past Tuesday night we had a pretty spectacular storm. When we woke up there were quite a few branches down in our neighborhood. One of the blossoming trees in the center of our street broke off its trunk completely. The Rochester city DPW came by and cleaned up the downed branches and trees...the very next morning (now that's service!). Luckily we only had a few branches they had to trim and an injufed arborvitae.

We wondered if they'd do our rain gutters too..

Paul could use a chipper like this one...

Paul was a bit late to work as he was blocked in by the truck...

An arbor vitae next to our house is all pushed apart from heavy rain.

Bouncing Sammy!

Nothing interesting to say here...just some pics we took of Sammy today as he bounced up and down in the bouncer. Notice his shirt...he's developed quite the taste for clothing.

Sammy the bouncing baby!

All smiles for the camera!

Our son!

Sunday in the Park

Panoramic photo of the playground...

...this picture was sticthed together from several photos

One of the nice things about living in Rochester is the city park system. It has over 60 miles of trails...and perhaps more importantly now with the addition of Sammy...some excellent children's playgrounds. Over by Silver Lake there is a very large playground. So this past Sunday Michele, Sammy, Sharon, Ana, Noah, and Paul went to the park. To describe it as large is a bit of an understatement. Now that Sammy is with us, we're more than happy to have our taxes go to these types of things. We didn't expect it to be as hot as it was, so after about 45 minutes the kids had had enough. But we took a few pics. Enjoy.

Sharon, Ana, & Noah on the bench swing

Michele, Ana, and Ana's hat

Michele & Ana

With the price of gas, we'll all be driving something like this soon.

No top notch playground is complete without a pirate ship!

Sharon loading the kids up on the choo choo.

Where in the world...are Michele & Ana? (see hint)

Mr. Excitement at the park.

Sammy catching some Z's

Sammy and Red Dog at the park

Babies "R" Us Comes to Rochester!

Rochester Minnesota is now home to more than just the Mayo Clinic and a water tower shaped and painted like a corn-cob (really!). The local Toys "R" Us in town just put on an addition and opened a Babies "R" Us. How convenient for us since we rely on bottled Similac to get us through Sammy's night feedings now.

They had a "grand opening" where they had coupons, cookies, and cartoon characters for the kids, so we took Ana, Noah, and little Sammy. Here are some pics.

Some cartoon character "Dora" with Sharon & Ana

Noah is usually all smiles, but sometimes when photographed projects melancholy.

Sammy was up to this point not impressed at all...

...until he met Winnie the Pooh (what is a Pooh anyways?)

Ana may be small in stature but mighty in heart.

Baby Steps

Sammy's Aunt Sharon was kind enough to give him the walker his cousins Noah and Ana used. Sammy took a short while to figure out that he could move himself using his legs. Here's some pics of Sammy moving around one step at a time. You can probably notice from one of the photos that we watch a 13" tv set...yes we are on the cutting edge of technology. If you open the bottom picture, you'll also notice that Paul watches tv with close captioning on. Yes, he's getting old.

A Cookout With Sammy

Well, summer is now here along with cooking dinner on the outdoor grill. For the Fourth of July, Michele had Paul go to Wal-Mart (his favourite store) to get a charcoal grill. Paul bought a Weber "Smokey Joe." So for two days in a row now we've had cookouts. Today, while the kabobs were cooking we snapped a few pics of our snazzy son Sammy. The tasty kabobs were purchased from Rochester's Ye Olde Butcher Shop...a favourite of Michele's.

Sammy & Michele on our back deck.

Sammy wearing a nice hat.

Sammy posing for the camera...

Isn't he the cutest?

Sammy & Paul

The kabobs on the "Smokey Joe"

Baptizing Sammy - Part I

Well, we took a bit long to get Sammy baptized. The church we belong to in Minnesota...it's priest is on sabbatical for six months and the deacon wasn't really available. So we procrastinated...and procrastinated.

When Michele's grandfather died a few weeks ago, we all went back east for the funeral. The priest who peformed the funeral really made an impression on Paul. They spoke for a couple of hours after the funeral about everything from Palm Pilots to liberation theology. After the funeral we returned home, but a week after that Michele had already planned on coming back east for a week to visit again. So we asked Father Thomas Ward if he'd baptize Sammy. He agreed and thus we were all back in New York for the third time this year.

Sammy was baptized at Saint Josephs in Oxford, NY by Father Ward. Paul's family for the most part lives in either Minnesota or Texas now, so it was Michele's side of the family who was able to be there and celebrate with us. Sammy's Great Uncle "Don" Andrew was his Godfather and his Aunt Sharon was his Godmother. Sammy wore a white baptismal gown he received as a gift from his Aunt Jacci and Uncle David (Paul's brother).

Most of the baptisms we've been to are usually included in the Sunday mass and last about 3 minutes. Father Ward did an exceptional job. The service for Sammy's baptism lasted 45 minutes! We wish we had video taped it. Since most of the people there had been at Sammy's Great Grandfather's funeral little more than a week earlier, Father Ward tied it all together (life, death, etc). To try to summarize the what he said here wouldn't do it justice. We will just leave it with saying that we are glad to be so fortunate as to haveFather Ward baptize our son. He really made it a special moment and impressed upon us the responsibilities we have to raise Sammy in the Catholic Church.

After the batism we gathered at Sammy's Great Grandma's in Mount Upton for a macaroni and meatballs meal...which included eggplant parmagiana by Great Aunt Diana, garlic nuts by Great Aunt Liz, and imported Locatelli cheese (Pecorini Romano)...which is considered to be the world's finest grating cheese (made from 100% pure sheep's milk).

Father Ward with Sammy and Michele

Father Ward baptizing Sammy as Michele holds him.

Father Ward blessing Sammy with holy oil.

Father Ward with newly baptized Sammy.

From left to right....Godparent Aunt Sharon,
Godparent Great Uncle Andy, Father Ward, Paul, & Michele

Baptizing Sammy - Part II

Here's some pics of Sammy with family immediately after his baptism.

Sammy's Godparents...Great Uncle Andy and Aunt Sharon

Great Grandma, Sammy, and Michele

Geat Grandma & Sammy

Grandpa Rothdiender, Michele, Sammy, Grandma Rothdiener, & Paul

Great Aunt Diana, Great Uncle Andy, and Sammy

Josh, Todd, Great Aunt Liz, Justin, Great Uncle Jimmy...and Sammy

Laura, Mary, Great Uncle Chris, Scotty, & Great Aunt Brenda with Sammy

Great Aunt Suzie, Sammy, and Great Uncle Ron

Great Uncle Pete, Sammy, and Great Aunt Terry

Holy Mary, Mother of God...

The Godfather...really

Well, the moment was almost upon us to have Sammy finally baptized. Here's a pic we took of Sammy with his Godfather to be...Great Uncle "Don" Andrew. We're not sure of the significance of the apple in Aunt Diana's hand...but we'd much prefer it to a horse's head.

Don Andrew has cotton balls in his cheeks for the Brando effect...can you tell?

Who's afraid of the big bad...red dog?

Paul remembers a cousin who when a baby used to cry uncontrollably whenever the song "If" was sung. Well, it appears we have found little Sammy's Achille's heel...a stuffed red dog that Michele bought for him. When he sees it, our otherwise intrepid young man's face opens wide in horror and he starts to shriek and cry uncontrollably. So the red dog has been exiled to the top of our bed (where our cat Veto used to sleep...until all 17lbs of him fell on us one night).

Next to Red Dog in the photo below is the first ever picture taken of Sammy when he was still in Michele's tummy.

Who's afraid of the big red dog
Big red dog, big red dog?
Who's afraid of the big red dog?
Tra la la la la!