The problem for me is that Katie hates thrill rides.  She gets nervous watching them fly down a 100′ drop and turn into a barrel roll and twist and turn as fast as they can.  So…  because of that and because the little man is a little too little to get on those rides we ended up going to the Animal Kingdom.  However we had a great time and they have one coaster, so I was happy.  Mount Everest is nothing crazy, but you sit in a train car and zip around a few corners.  The ride got pretty exciting when half-way through it came to a stop and went backwards down a different track in the dark.  That part was great.  They also have one of the typical water rides in a big round raft that 8 other people sit in.  It’s not the best one I’ve ever seen, but its great for a hot afternoon in Orlando.

What I loved most about the park was their attention to detail.  Of course all of the parks have details so amazing that you sometimes can’t tell if its real or fake, and I love seeing all of that stuff.  Given my background in scenery, I always appreciate the work that goes into it all.  This was my favorite:

They paved the road on the safari to look like mud with tire tracks.  Yes…  That is a paved road with fake tracks… That is freaking brilliant.  And it looked amazing.

Bean Man was a trooper that day.  I mean, I was dead at the end of the day but that little guy just kept on crusin!  He loved every minute of it.  I have to admit, at first I was against the whole let’s spend $80 a person to go to the park for a day for Bean’s first birthday.  To me it was going to be a total waste of money we don’t really have right now.  He was only turning one, which means he wasn’t going to remember the day, so why waste the money??  But I will tell you, and just keep this between you and me, Kate was absolutely right on this one.  After seeing his eyes light up at the shows and the characters, it was 1000% worth every penny.  Bean Man won’t tell you, but I can tell you that it was probably the best day of his little life.  He had so much fun!

I learned a valuable lesson in parenting this past weekend.  When kids are little, even though they don’t know any better, it is still SO important to value those times together and make those days just as important as if they were 5 or 10 or 15.  Sure they aren’t going to remember the day years later, but that’s why you take pictures and videos.  Your kids deserve the best that you can give them whether that’s a blow up swimming pool in the backyard or a day at the parks.  As long as your spending time with them and celebrating their big day, they will think its the best thing ever.

I can’t believe its been a year already. Last year when we woke up today, we were grinning from ear to ear and poking you in your mom’s belly. Your mom and I were so excited that day. We didn’t know what was about to happen, but it didn’t matter, we knew it would be great. Then you came and it was so much more than great.

Bean Man, you have changed our lives. You made us a family! Its something we had always talked about but I never thought that it we be this much fun. From the first little speck on the monitor to the little man you have grown into, I can say that you have made me the happiest dad in the world. You brighten my day with your smile and laughs.

I know your only one year old, but you have taught me how to be a better person. You taught me how to be patient and I will always be thankful for that Bean. I can’t wait for you to grow up so I can teach you the same thing. I am going to teach you everything I know. We will build tree forts and I will teach you how to ski. I will teach you how to play golf and how to drive a stick shift. It makes me excited thinking about it because I know its going to be so much fun.

But for today, on your first birthday, the day when you finally get a number, I just want to tell you I Love You. This has been the best year of my life and you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Love You Buddy, Happy Birthday.
Dad

***************

Read Katie’s birthday letter to Bean over in The Bean’s Page.

Be sure to check out the Bean’s birthday video slide show over on the Confessions page.

Yes.

I admit it.

I loved not working.

It was bad once a month when we needed to pay the bills. Other than that, I played golf twice a week and made breakfast every morning. I watched daytime TV and played with Bean all day. I could watch movies and eat popcorn all day if I wanted and anytime we need to go somewhere we could just go. Those two months were fantastic. I never realized how busy I could stay without a job and looking back there were only a couple of days with nothing to do. On top of all of this, for the first time in his little life, Bean Man and I had all day together. Kate and I have always worked except in the very beginning and I think it was great family time. I think the transition would have been bad if I had started right away. Being off for two months gave us stable ground here in OTown. Believe me even with two months off stability was not easy to get.

Making a big move like this was tough. Sometimes it felt like the wrong move and other times it felt really good. It was back and forth like that all the time, and still is sometimes. But we just kept pressing forward and finding the good moments until that cloud passed. And it has for the most part. I think we made it to the other side. This house certainly isn’t helping matters, and Kate not working is still rough. But she is doing good. She seems better everyday. Yes, she has rough days, but they are few and far between now. To tell you the truth, I’m really proud of her right now. She is more focused than I have ever seen her. She is living her dream, and kicking its ass. I’m so happy that she found the right agent. It’s making a world of difference, and this book is going to knock your socks off. Really. She reads everything she writes to me and all I can say is its my story and when she is reading it to me, I never want the chapter to end.

But that is not what I wanted to tell you today. I wanted to say that I thought it was going to be hard going back to work after all of that great stuff above. But truthfully, going back has made all of that better. Finally we are in a little routine again. Work is great and what a change of environment for me. Everyone I work with wants to be there and everyone wants me to be there. I work with my superiors instead of never seeing them. It is a wonderful place and I’m glad to work there. Also coming home and seeing that ear to ear smile that Bean gives me when I walk in the door makes it all worth it.

Like I said, some days aren’t the best. And things will get even better when Kate gets this job. But I think we can see that we are on the right path. We are here for a reason. We left that wonderful place in CT for a reason. We are at another stage in our life and I am happy for the future.

2. I miss my old Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker. Let me tell you MR COFFEE… Your new coffee makers suck. Why did you change everything!?! Why the hell are there springs? I had my old coffee maker for the last ten years, and there were no leaks. My coffee pot was a sad loss in the move. The glass shattered. I’m so sorry old friend. The 2010 Mr. Coffee sucks and I might shatter his glass myself.

3. I love that my deep fryer made it back to the counter top! YES! I have missed you too old friend.

4. I feel like we are on dial-up internet again. Its really slow and MUST change in the new place.

5. I really love to work, but I also really like not having to work right now. I get to do things like play 18 holes of golf on a Wednesday.

6. I hate our bathroom. Have you ever done something the exact same way your entire life, and then that something unexpectedly changes without notice? The sink spout is so short I can’t properly bend over and fit my mouth under it to get water after brushing my teeth! Now I have to do the “one handed gulp” method, and I can never get the correct amount of water. And I don’t even want to tell what happened when I tried the “two handed gulp” method, I almost drowned.

7. I like being close to my sister again. Its been so nice having her just stop by for lunch or dinner.

8. I love that it is sunny almost everyday right now. I need to get my tan back. I look like a snow bird. Actually right now I have a golfers tan. Haha whatever..

9. I love looking for houses with Katie. Usually we start looking at houses we can afford and then wander into the really nice neighborhoods. We just drive through and talk about the million dollar homes. What we like and what we would do differently to them, you know, if we ever had a million dollars to buy one…

10. I can’t wait to get my season pass to Universal and Islands of Adventure. CANT WAIT.

11. Its awesome to be back in Gator Country. Football season is going to be so much fun this year.

12. I can’t wait to see the final Space Shuttle launches this year. Did you know that they are retiring the shuttles? So sad but the next phase of the space program is exciting!… If only they had the money

13. LOVE LOVE LOVE hanging with Bean Man everyday. I know it won’t last, but its so much fun right now. I can’t wait for the little man to grow to 42″ so we can ride roller coasters together at Universal.

14. I miss my Man Cave. I miss my pool table. I miss my Ping Pong and World Domination with great friends.

15. I know that the tough times will not last forever. I know that we came here for a reason. I know that old friends will always be there, and I know that new friends are out there too. I know that even though Florida doesn’t feel like home yet, it will. I know that Kate will find a job because she’s brilliant. I know that I as long as we communicate to each other, everything will be fine.

Words can’t even describe the experience.  You know in your car (and my car for that matter) when you pull out in front of someone and you step on the pedal but it only has so much juice.  Well in this car, you could push that pedal all the way to the floor and it would say “REALLY, THAT’S IT, we can go MUCH faster than this!  COME ON!  And you know in your car when you need to slow down a little around corners…  not in this baby.  Third gear was the by far the best.  I was going 50 on the interstate in second gear, dropped it into third and stepped on it,in about 2 secs we were going 80.

WOW just thinking about it again gives me chills.  It was so much fun!!!!!!!!   Thanks Uncle Tim for buying that car.  And even more thanks for letting me drive it!  I don’t want to say it, but I looked GOOD driving this thing.

WHEW!         

I WANT ONE.

AWESOME.

I like to call it, well chili I guess.

(**Disclaimer… I’m not a professional chef. I don’t care what you think about my ingredients or the way I cook them. If you don’t like it, well then you don’t get a bowl… Please get out of my living room… You can watch the game in the basement.)

The ingredients.

2lb lean ground beef  -  2 yellow onions  -  2 green peppers  -  1 red pepper  -  2 jalapeno peppers (not shown but there in there)  -  3 cans diced tomatoes (I use zesty chili style and basil, oregano, and onion style)  -  3 cans kidney beans (1 white, 1 light red, 1 dark red because its essential to have LOTS of color)  -  1 6oz can of Tomato Paste  -  1 hot chili seasoning packet  -  1 box of original Saltines crackers

The guy that makes the magic happen.

Oh Mr. Crock, I Love You..  You are magical.

Alright, the play-by-play.  Stay with me here.

Onions First.  Dice those babies up and get them in that pan!  Salt, Pepper, a touch of olive oil, and your good.

Once the onions are ALMOST soft, take them out and dump them into the crock pot.  Then brown the meat in that same pan.  Season with some salt, pepper, Lawry’s, and some garlic.

Once the meat is good and brown, into the Crock-pot it goes.

Now things get really exciting.  Dice up those peppers baby!

Now don’t get too crazy here, this is very important so listen up.  Only put 1 red, and 1 green pepper in right now.  I will tell you why later.

Next get those diced tomatoes in there.

After that, Beans, Beans, and more Beans.  But not The Bean he won’t fit, and you can’t buy him, and that would be weird.

Also, drain these suckers.  I don’t know why, but I don’t like the bean juice.  It’s slimy and you don’t need it.

Next plop that tomato paste right on top, followed by the chili seasoning.

Next, its the jalapenos.  Now this is the only thing I am a little flexible on.  I almost always add one because it gives a nice heat, but the second one can absolutely be throw into the mix for big game days.

Now, mix all of that goodness up and let that Crock-pot do its thang.

I usually try to get at least 4 hours in the pot.  Sometimes more, sometime less.  Remember that now lonely green pepper?  You need to add that diced pepper when you have around an 1.5 left.  The other peppers are good and soggy by then and I like my peppers to still have a little crunch when its all said and done.  So adding these late in the game is essential.

Mmmm…  Now I’m hungry.  Kate and I can kill an entire Crock-pot full of chili, so its hard to say how many people this will feed.  So you can either have some amazing left overs if there are 2-4 people eating.  Or feed 8 or so at a game day party.  You might even need to do a second pot, because people are going to want seconds.  Eat up!

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m an independent person, I always have been. I talk to my family once a week or so, sometimes more and sometimes less, but we are all ok with that schedule. Its been like that ever since I went to college. So it didn’t bother me when we made the decision to move to Connecticut to live. Sometimes I hate that I can’t see my sister for lunch and things like that but I have learned to live with it. I know that they will always be there for me if I need them. Maybe that is a little selfish on my part, but I love that me and Kate have our own lives up here. And it makes it so much more fun when family does come to visit because we could show them places that they had never seen before!

I won’t lie. I have fallen in love with New England. As a kid I was always jealous that we didn’t have snow. It flurried like twice when we were growing up and I can remember being so excited I couldn’t even sleep. CT is a beautiful place to live. There is so much history and culture and not to mention the scenic drives are endless. I love love love love love seeing the seasons pass. I’m of the out-doorsy type and I used to think the Utah was the most beautiful place I had ever seen but I think CT takes the cake. Each season has a completely different mood and feeling and I’m going to miss that so much. In Orlando, everyday looks the same. Sunny, usually warm, it will shower around 3pm, and the trees never loose their leaves. Poor trees.

But possibly the biggest hesitation I have for packing up and moving out are all of my brothers in NYC. I can’t tell you what it means to have people around that you have known for 15+ years. Justin, my best friend since the sixth grade, grew up down the street from me when we were kids. We have been friends for so long that I can remember having sleep-over’s and talking about kissing a girl for the first time. And I can remember the first time we tried a beer. And building tree-forts. Hell I new him YEARS before I met Kate (side note, I think they actually had a thing before we got together. weird.) Now I see him playing with my son and it blows my mind.

My other boys, that justin and I met in high school, all live in the city as well and let me tell you having that support group a train ride away has been awesome. I love all of those guys and I’m going to miss them more than anything.

Now I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be around all of these wonderful things forever. I figured when we had kids that we would end up in the Carolina area which both of us had the desire to live at some point. I certainly never thought we would go all the way back to Florida, and I really didn’t think we would be heading there like tomorrow.

But the reason I can to terms with all of this is this little guy.

You see, on the flip side of all of this, I have this Bean that need to think about now. I keep going back to the fact that I don’t know where I would be if my grandparents didn’t live next door to me growing up. I was my granddad’s little shadow as soon as i could walk and I know that I want BeanMan to have a relationship like that with his grandparents. We can’t do that from Connecticut, it just doesn’t work. But I guess that’s what you do when you have kids. You still make your life decisions, you just make those decisions with someone else in mind.

I love our life here. The past five or years has been some of the best years of my life. Our marriage is stronger than ever and we have a little family of our own now, so I feel like this chapter is complete. We are at a fork and we have chosen the path to Florida. The important thing is that we made the decision together. Kate started the conversation, and we talked, and we argued, and we talked, and we made the decision that we felt was the best one for everyone evolved; Me, Kate, Bean, the Dogs, and our families. My friends will always be my brothers, and Connecticut will always have its scenic drives, but Bean Man will only grow up once. And I really want him to grow up with his family close by.