Day 5

Not a lot to report today. Had an early start with Darin up by 6:30. Stacie took her mom to an eye doctor's appointment this morning, so I got Malin around for her last day of church camp, and then had a nice morning with the boys. It was pouring rain all morning, so we had to find some inside activities. Darin played with Play-Doh and Gavin spent some time on the Nintendo DS. Then I read some books to Darin before his nap. While he was napping, Gavin and I read a bit of Harry Potter (We've been working on it for a few weeks now, and he's hanging in pretty good), and then built a Star Wars lego set. Once Darin got awake, we loaded in to the Suburban, and headed to Lewistown. I picked up my suit from the dry cleaners, and then took them to McDonald's for lunch. They both ate good and were well behaved and got rid of some good energy at the play-place. I tried one of their new Angus burgers, and thought it was pretty good. After they had sufficient time to play, we headed back to Centre Lutheran to see Malin's end of week program. It started at 1:30, but we didn't make it there until about 5 till two -- and it was over already. Malin wasn't even there for me to pick up. Stacie and Mam-Maw had stopped on their way back from Harrisburg. So I was quite the bad guy. But when we got home, the rain had stopped, so I took the boys outside. (Malin was working on a birthday present for a friend who's party she goes to on Sunday). We kicked soccer ball for a while, took some rides in the wagon, and then had an 'artichoke' battle (long story) before heading in for dinner. We had a pretty easy night with baths and bedtime. Stacie fell asleep reading a book about 9, and I finished up a puzzle game on the DS before logging in here to do by daily blog duty. The only thing I did today job-wise was to make a handful of phone calls to make sure my references are in order for my interview. With that, here are a couple of pictures from a journey to Guss Park on 7/8

Day 4

Had a very nice day with Stacie and the boys today. We took them to see the Popcorn Hat players at Strawberry Square. I thought a lot of the jokes were a little over the kids' heads, but they liked the silliness and said that they enjoyed the show. After the play, we ate at the foodcourt, and explored the mall (Darin must have ridden the escalator up and down 20 times - probably his first time on one!) before taking a walk around the Capitol Building and then losing the Suburban in the parking garage...     We parked on level 5, then went up a level to the elevators. So when it was time to leave, we took the elevator to level 6, and went down a level -- no Suburban. I thought maybe I had mis-remembered either the spot or the level, so I walked up a whole level, while stacie walked down a whole level, and still no Suburban. Turns out that they had a double ramp thing going, so you could only get to the even/odd numbered levels depending on where you got off the elevators. So we got back on to the elevator, rode up to level 7, then walked down and found the 'burby right where it was supposed to be. Thank goodness a nice guy saw us wandering around and explained it to us because I was getting very worried!     Stopped at Fort Hunter on the way home and played at the playground there for a bit. Darin took a little nap from there to Centre where we picked up Malin from church camp. She had a total melt down (she thought she was going home with Mam-Maw) so the rest of the ride was pretty rough, but she did manage to calm down and take a nap when she got home.     I finally got all the software for the new computer, and found all the required cables for both cameras, so I can add some pictures today!
Gavin's new haircut
	Terrible Two's!
Daddy and Gavin vs Malin at the Dutch Wonderland Bumper Cars
Nothing new on the job front today, although I am working on my resume while blogging and playing (losing at) poker on facebook. Talk about multi-tasking!

Day 3

Today went pretty fast for me. I headed over to State College for an appointment with the folks at PICCC (Private Industry Council of Center County) for a resume workshop. They were extremely helpful, so I now have lots of 'homework' to do. Malin was at church camp again, she came home with a toolbox and a bird feeder that she had made as crafts over the past few days. Aunt Charshe came over and spent the day playing games with the boys. The biggest news of the day is that Stacie took Gavin to the barbers this morning, and Gavin decided to get a mohawk! He had been saying that's what he wanted for some time, and Stacie and I decided that at this age it wasn't really hurting anything - we will shave it all the same length before school starts. It looks real cute. We got a new camera, and I don't have the software installed to pull the pictures off, otherwise I would attach them. That's another thing to put on my to-do list, I guess. Not really anything new on the job front. I got my suit to the cleaners in preparation for my interviews next week, but didn't have time to call in my travel arrangements. I did get on travelocity to see what flights are available from Harrisburg. The cheapest flights? Harrisburg to Charlotte to Philadelphia to Newark to Boston, or Harrisburg to Philadelphia to Detrioit to New York/JFK to Boston with a durations of 11 hours, 55 minutes and 14 hours, 4 minutes respectively. I think that is pretty funny, considering I could drive from Harriburg to Boston in 8 hours!

Day 2

Well, I have two days of being unemployed down. We had an early start this morning - Darin hasn't been sleeping well lately, and was up shortly after 6. He is on Singulair for allergies (to help him sleep), and we think it may be doing more harm than good. His mood has definitely been off for the past few days, although it could be an adjustment to having me home too. Malin was at church camp again, so I hung out with the boys all day. Our big project of the day was spray painting the mailbox and flag, and stenciling our new 911 address on it (Welcome to 2009, Juniata County!). Stacie made the numbers on vinyl with her Cricut, and I think it looks pretty nice. Malin had ballet and tap tonight after she got home from church camp (busy day), and found out that she was chosen to play a part in the Christmas ballet, so she is very excited about that. Stacie and I didn't have anything planned this evening, so we watched a movie together - 'The Good Shephard'. I thought it was sort of hard to follow, and way too long, but enjoyed it anyway. On the job front, I am interviewing for two positions at Raytheon in Massachusetts on Monday the 3rd. One is a software job, the other is a systems engineering job. I also got my resume to another contact at the ARL.

Back at it

Well, we've been neglecting this blog for a while, and now that I am unemployed, I guess there's no excuse as to why I can't keep it more up to date. Malin had her first day of church camp today at Centre Lutheran Church. It is run my the counselors at Camp Mount Luther, and runs 9 am to 3 pm, and thoroughly tuckers her out. Marylin MaCoy picked her up and took her swimming afterward, and she was so tired when she got here at 5:30 that she just wanted to go straight to bed.
Gavin spent the night at Nana's house, so he didn't get home until around 3. Nana said he stayed up until 11:30 last night (What are grandma's for?) and pretty much swam all day. He was asleep by about 7:20, which is a good hour earlier than he normally winds down.
Stacie and I had a somewhat quiet day, with two of the three kids out of the house. I took advantage and painted the brick molding around the garage doors, which I had replaced a day last week. I also spent a lot of time with Darin, playing games, building with Lego blocks, and pushing him on his swing.
Stacie made her weekly romp to the grocery store, got some scrapbook stuff organized for her next crop, and spent some time in the kitchen making spicy garlic crackers and ranch dip.
On the job front, I applied to a job created specifically for me by some of my old contacts in Mass, and made some phone calls to and forwarded my resume to some contacts at the ARL, which is Penn State's research laboratory.
Tonight Stacie is watching the Bachelorette finale, and as soon as I log off the computer, I am headed to the basement to work on waterproofing the walls.