More Good Grades & Immigration stuff ....

Got home this evening and waiting in the mail was Samantha's report card. I was worried that it was only sent to her Mom's house. She did FANTASTIC - straight A's in fact A's in US History/Geography, Accelerated Math, and ART; A+'s in Music, Honors Science, Language Arts, Phys Ed (of course) and keyboarding. What a GREAT report card. Now I just need to track down Tika's.

Also waiting in the mail was a letter from US Citizenship and Immigration Service. In it they stated they received my application, it was being processed and that I would be contacted in 90 days for an interview. Not sure what that entails but it is progress.

Finally - been tracking my exercising for months - this month was the first month I hit over 300 miles on my bike. On top of that I ran over 30 (best month for running has been almost 40).

There is more news but I need to make some personal connections before I blog about that.

Not a bad day ----

---- cu

Beach Volleyball and good grades ....

Today was our annual company picnic --- which also means my annual beach volleyball game. I did not get any pictures from this one but I do have one from a previous year. Of course this year I am a bit thinner - my triathlon training and eating better has got me down to under 175 lbs. It was a bit hot today - over 95 so we took it easy - only 30 minutes or so of playing. My team did win :-)

Kris's report card showed up the other day. A+ in Health/PE; A in Honors Science, Art, Teen Living, Honors Civics and Geometry; B+ in Guitar and a B in English. On top of that she scored a perfect score on her Civics SOL. Of course Dad was very proud. The fact that she goes in High School with HS credits is VERY cool. I hope to see Sam's and Tika's soon.

Looking forward to next week - a few days in Albany and of course Canada Day. Hoping it will be a good Canada Day - my hearing is Monday so I will likely need a good pick me up. Hopefully after Monday I will get to see some people I have not seen for a while. Been a stressful few weeks/months.

... cu

It has been a loooong week .....

The last week has been VERY tough - some VERY good days because of the kids - and then others where the days could just not go fast enough. This week has been one where things are totally out of my control and I cannot reach out and change that. I sit and wonder if anyone else has the same challenges - not knowing what is going on - seemingly powerless to do anything about it - but wondering what is going on with things - knowing things have changed but not able to know if anyone knows. This blog has been the one thing that has help me keep my sanity --- but who knows who reads it (except I know Mom does). Hopefully the other important people are reading it - hopefully.

More cell phone camera play ---- to try and lighten things up :-)

Hope this coming week has things happening - even just a message that there is a chance - so I feel like progress is being made or at least there is hope.

cu .....

Kids reminded me of this ...

I was driving the kids home this evening and Sam started talking about Thunderstorms. It reminded me that I had seen something on the news lately and it was one of those amazing stories that I had to share. Here is the link - Luray Lightning JRT

cu ....

Another good day .....

Woke up this AM - all ready to go for a nice bike ride. I planned to ride out to the western end of the W&OD, from my place a little under 50 miles. Had a bite to eat and while it settled decided to check my e-mail. What a pleasant surprise I had. A dear friend who I had not spoken to in over 2 years had e-mailed me. I was taken back at first but when I read her message I was pleasantly surprised that my blog was one of the things she had read. I am glad she e-mailed - it had been way too long.

So today started as a good day - and stayed that way. I did get my ride in - met some nice people from Wisconsin during it. Took some pictures - the one here is a Bridge that crosses over the path west of Leesburg. One day I will have to look into the history of it. I would imagine it has been there since the rail line was in use. Got to do some reading in the sun as well (cycling creates BAD tan lines).

Camera phones are great. I can have it with me riding and snap some photos or when the girls have an event grab some pictures or video. I can also play with it. This pic will have meaning to only one person. I hope they see it.

Anyway - a GREAT day. I hope I get to stay in touch with my friend and I hope she is able to smile every day.

cu .....

Next step .....

So I went ahead and did it - I sent in my papers for Naturalization. I have been living/working in the US as a Permanent Resident for almost 7 years, but today I sent in my paperwork to change that. Looking at the Immigration Service website - the process may take a while but it is started.

I have had a lot of time this week to think about things and my GREAT day with Sam and Kris yesterday helped me to decide to go do the things that I needed to finish - things that have been left hanging out there. A good friend made me realize that I have not been all that good at finishing what I needed to and the positive outcome with Kris and Sam helped me to motivate me just to get things done. If they all turn out as great as yesterday - BONUS. One big part of finishing things is getting my hearing scheduled to finalize things with my divorce. I wish the County clerk would give us that date before I leave for Albany the week after next to see the girls compete at Nationals - fingers crossed.

After all that is finished we will see what happens :-)

---- cu

I have GREAT kids ....

OK - I will not take all the credit for my kids being great but I know that I have great kids. I have been living apart from them now for 2-1/2 years. Their Mom and I are just now finalizing things legally and there have been struggles - both between myself and their Mom and in my relationship with my kids - especially with my oldest daughter (16). We have our ups and downs and right now it is more down but I always let her know I will be there to support her. Over the past few months my two youngest (12 & 14 - all girls) have been very open about things but today they surprised even me.

I know they love their Dad but today was the day to have a conversation with them about me and relationships. I guess the biggest surprise was that my 14 year old asked why we had not had this conversation earlier. After I picked myself up from that we had a great conversation about families and relationships; about the future and about the next few months. They really did surprise me with how open they were - both about how they felt but also about how understanding they were that people need relationships - even Dads. Sam was worried that I might date one of her teachers and she was not excited about that - LOL. It was especially nice to hear that they were first concerned with Dad being happy since they knew that I would always be there for them.

WOW - what GREAT kids - now I know why I love them so much.

---- cu

Happy Graduation Kris!

It is hard to believe that I will have two daughters in High School next September. Kristen had her graduation ceremony from middle school last Wednesday. She looked great. She was very polite, no surprise there, when she received her diploma and met her new principal. It is hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I guess it is things like this that make a guy appreciate Father's Day so much more.

I look forward to celebrating a lot more of these special days - they make all the struggles worthwhile.

.... cu

First Triathlon Completed ....

This past weekend I completed my first Triathlon - Reston Sprint. It was a Sprint, so not long, but it was fun. I think I will do a couple a year to have goals to reach each year.

The race was a 400m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. My official finish time was 1:18:20. Everything worked great other than some challenges getting my clips in on my initial bike mount. I had what I felt was a GREAT bike ride (36 min for 12 miles) and the run was pretty standard (9 min mile). I passed a few people and only had two pass me. There was one guy that I frogged leaped with a few times and at the VERY end he came on me with a hundred or more yards left so I decided to turn it on. I sprinted (as best I could) for the last 100+ yards. The other guy was younger and had much longer legs and managed to keep ahead of me. I made the line but was just about ready to hurl. I held it in and was fine after an orange slice.

Again - it was fun - and I did better than I had expected - 140 of 418. Definitely will be doing it again next year - see if I can do better. To get ready - maybe some swim lessons and to keep up my routine of running and biking.

... cu