Readme
Or, don't read me! It's really your choice. However, since you've read this far, it seems you've made the choice to read me. And I bet you can't stop reading, even though this is turning out to be pretty inane material. Think of this as typical Los Angeles-style journalism.
sit ready to entertain the children at the King of Prussia Mall, that is if you have two quarters for about a 30 second ride. Anthony always goes to these cars and trucks (located on the 2nd level next to Stawbridges Dept. Store)and normally sits and sings and does not want them to move... hense, no quarters necessary.
All that's changing as Anthony grows a bit older. "Memix, memix", says Anthony, and that means music and motion to those of you who understand his baby talk. He rides the rocking cars with finesse. He steers the trucks as though he just renewed his card with the Teamsters. However, he has not yet received his pilots license for flying the helocopter... he's a wee bit small to pull back on the stick that makes it go up or the other stick that makes it go down.
Anyone with a pocket full of quarters can lose them in a matter of minutes in these arcade vehicles. Don't go there with Anthony or you may have to consider working overtime in order to pay for the week's groceries.
Whaaaa! I want it NOW!
That's the name or title of a book written by Dr. Laura Schlesinger, the radio talk show hostess. That also seems to be Anthony's credo when shopping with Grandpa at Super Fresh these days. He's very impatient indeed. Grandpa bought some bananas and was going to give Anthony one, but of course he wanted it weighed and paid for before Anthony could eat it.
Whaaaa. (I want it now) screamed Anthony. "Just a minute", said Grandpa, thinking it wouild be less than a minute as the person in front of them seemed to have completed his check-out. What's taking so long he thought? Then he realized that the cash register computer had frozen for some reason (unknown to the check-out clerk as well, hooray for high tech!). The other registers had longer lines. Whaaaa! continued Anthony.
Finally, after almost 10 minutes, the manager came over and got the register operating again. Grandpa paid for the banana first and opened it for the little guy. The crying stopped immediately and he started to gobble down the sweet meat. He had just had a light breakfast so we didn't think he'd be very hungry. Surprise! On the way home, holding his treasured banana, he ate the whole thing... and it was a big, big banana!
Hand, Foot & Mouth Virus
is what the Nurse-Practicianer at CHOP diagnosed as the cause of Anthony's 103 degree temperature that he started over the 4th of July weekend. She noticed the sores on his tongue and throat. She checked his hand and feet which showed no rash. "There's a lot of the Hands, Feet and Mouth Virus going around these days. There is no treatment except to make certain that he drinks plenty of liquids besides just water."
CHOP (The Childrens Hospital of Penn) is one of the nicest health care institutions most have ever visited. However, for some reason little Anthony is terrified of the place. As soon as he is brought into the examining area, he screams and cries continuously. The doctors are so nice. They say that Anthony's behavior is not all that unusual.
Anthony certainly had lots of attendents. In addition to the Nurse-Practioner, there was Mommy, Mommy's friend Rachel, Grandpa Paul and Grandma Rachel. Hand, Foot and Mouth Virus... sounds almost like Hoof and Mouth Disease. Hmmmmm....
Carousel Ride
There's a beautiful old time carousel (with horses, carriages, benches and other rides) that is permanently placed inside at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. Anthony first rode this ride with Margie and he seemed to enjoy it very much. For now, he's still on the tamer seats such as benches and carriages.
For $1.75 a child can ride (and an accompanying adult is free) for about 3 minutes. Once or twice more than satisfies the little guy. Then he likes to walk down to the opposite end of the mall, and look at and hopefully play with the water in the mall's water fountain display.
Beta Gamma Sigma
is the national honor society used by business schools across the USA. Kevin was elected to Columbia University's Business School chapter after his first year. What an honor!
About 10% of the class is elected in the first year. Then after the second year, another 10% of the class may be added. Will Kevin work hard on his acedemics in his 2nd year now that he already made the "club" in his first? Hmmmm ?! Perhaps he'll spend time at the Knicks games. Or he'll join an acapella group at Columbia. Or he'll go to Broadway shows every weekend. The possibilities are unending. He might even study harder the 2nd year to make certain he gets his tuitions worth from the school. After all, it is an awful lot of money.
Appleford's Arboretum
Margaret treated us to a visit at the Appleford's Arboretum, located in Bryn Mawr, in the township of Lower Merion. It was a well kept estate with fish ponds, ducks, turtles, flower gardens and lots and lots of trees.
Grandma, Grandpa, Margaret and little Anthony drove there late one cool summer afternoon. The whole place was beautiful and to our surprise, we were the only visitors in the arboretum for the first half hour. Then about three other cars showed up... it turned out to be a wedding party rehersal. So we really had the whole estate to ourselves. We were lucky enough to have brough old bread and a small bag of Cheerios with us to feed the fish and duck. So much fun for Anthony!
Then we walked several of the well manicured gardens. Lots of flowers and so well mantained it really surprised us that it was not full of visitors. A definite treat for nature lovers.
Chi Ba Ba!
Anthony now often calls Heidi "Mommy" instead of "Mama". Somtimes he calls David "Daddy" instead of "Dada". But unless you are familiar with all of his phases, you can still come very important meanings. And when you don't understand him, he tends to repeat his phase louder and louder and if you still don't understand, Anthony get frustrated with you.
"Chi BaBa", said Anthony. "Huh?" answered Grandpa. "Chi BaBa", said Anthony is a louder voice and at a quicker pace.
"What in the world is he saying?" wondered Grandpa aloud.
"Why Chi BaBa means Change Diaper" said Heidi. "BaBa" has been what Anthony called diapers since he was two or three months old continued David, and he still calls them the same thing. Ooooh! Better understand that phrase!
MI-2
Mission Impossible-2 is an action movie with little theme, lots of special effects, and very entertaining. It stars heart throb Tom Cruise and is directed by Hong Kong director John Woo(famous for action karate movies with lots of special effects). So if you are looking for deep meaning and human interest... don't go and see this one.
However if you are a fan of movies such as Leathal Weapon or James Bond, then you'll hit the mother lode with MI-2.
Driveway Repairs
The Weston house has a long, long circular driveway and the winters of New England put a lot of stress on it. Each Spring, the Handyman inspects it for winter damage and finds many cracks that need to be filled. Sometimes he uses latex fillers and other times silicone fillers. He usually looks to buy the type that cleans up most easily.
The blacktop fillers are dispensed via a cocking gun and them pushed into the cracks and smoothed by a plaster, putty knife. Doing this every years will extend the life of the driveway perhaps 10 more years. That's a lot of savings when one has such a long and wide driveway.
sit ready to entertain the children at the King of Prussia Mall, that is if you have two quarters for about a 30 second ride. Anthony always goes to these cars and trucks (located on the 2nd level next to Stawbridges Dept. Store)and normally sits and sings and does not want them to move... hense, no quarters necessary.