Outta Here

-I can't wait. Vacation time for Fof3 and family. I'll take many pics and have much to tell when I get back late next week.

-Please stay happy and healthy and we'll pick it up again then. Fof3...OUTTA HERE!!

Hey there

Another Monday. Not quite. Fof3 will be in the Carib in 48 hours. Not just another Monday.

-Weekend of doing stuff around the house. And a great family gathering.

-Saturday...95 degrees couldn't stop us from enjoying a BBQ at a cuz's house. Wiffle Ball, water gun fights and lots o' laughter. It was really fun.

-Sunday. Grrrr. Bought the kids a basketball hoop...you know a real one... should have known better. Half ass-embled as we speak. <---Funny how a hyphen changes that whole sentence. Then it was to the airport to pick up Mother In Law. Except her plane landed in Pa due to bad weatherf and five hours later, I got the info. She'll be home soon.

-Fof3 noticing how it's getting darker earlier these days. Smells like autumn is just around the corner. I'm ready. Enough summer. Bring on soccer, football, hockey, Halloween, school and jacket-weather.

ok...that's about it. Fof3 is NOT going to give Trinity anything to get meon today. So there... OUT!!

TGIF!!

Sorry. But it's been busy. And except for the ever-faithful Ohio contingent and Motherof2boys, there hasn't been much activity on your end of the Fof3 blogisphere. <---August, you know.

-ok, starting with the boy. Liam's baseball summer season ended the other night and it ended with quite a bang. We played hard and were very professional the whole season. The boys all became a team and made me proud. The "bang" part was the party after the finale. We all went to a local restaurant (a word that I always misspell and have to re-type, btw). Moms and Dads and Grandparents and little bros and sis's ...even aunts and Caitlin, the lone big sis. We had the outdoor part of the placce and ate and drank merrily. We even did the Malverne thing...hooray for the train as it goes by. (This happened about 4 times.) Fof3 had a wonderful time coaching the boys and I can't wait to do again next year.

-Caitlin slept over her cuz's for a b-day slumber party. <---Miss ya, kid...can't wait to see you tonight.

-Noelle is gearing up for soccer. She changed her mind and wants to play....badly. <---ok, say Hi to your coach.

-Mof3 is bz getting the kids ready for PR. <---Fof3 is all set... now, take care of yourself.

-Trying to tie up some loose ends here at work. Mets lost. Bad outfield collision. Yanks won.

-Fof3 listening to Billy Preston now.

-Sunday night...new Celebrity Fit Club. <--Can't wait...we love that show.

--Well, Fof3 hopes you ALL have a great weekend... leave word here. <---There you go Trinity. Later!!!

Sorry

Busy. 2bz2blog. Will return tomorrow. In the meantine, Trinity, say whatever you'd like.

Tuesday 8/9/05

Hi gang. Sorry again for the light blogitation. <---Fof3 not feeling so hot lately. Headaches.

-Anyhooo... block party was a smashing success. Not as hot as previous BP's, the kids are all getting older and therefore, easier. Oh yeah, and Fof3's sister (SofFof3) had a baby boy...Jack Christopher. <---That makes 4 kids for her! <--Congrats.

-Family of Fof3 gearing up for Puerto Rico next week.

-Mets winning, Yanks winning, too.

-Baseball game #9 last night... we win 5-1. We did have to lend the other team 5 players, so it was a bit mixed up. The boys who went to the other team volunteeered, and behaved wonderfully. They gelled with the other kids (whom they's NEVER met) and it worked out great.

-Last game coming up and then it's a party at the local restaurant. Mof3 arranaged it and so it will be great.

-Happy to see Chef Gordon Ramsay has signed on for another season of HK. <---We really enjoyed that show.

-I've seen promos and billboards for "Prison Break" on Fox starting August 29. <---Not a reality show, Thank God!!

-Speaking of Thanking God, the space shuttle is back home safely. It was great to see before getting on my train this a.m.

-Not much reaction on the Ken Griffey Jr. story I posted here on Friday. I liked it.

-Congratulations to Todd and Jeff for winning the film competition they entered a few weeks back. You deserved to win. Good luck as the competition moves to another phase.

-Hi Noelle and Caitlin. Father loves you more than you'll ever know. (Check that, you'll know when you have your own kids.)

-That's about it for now... leave word... Fof3..OUT!!!

TGIF!!

Hi everyone. Not much to report on here... just gearing up for another fun weekend.

IF LIAM GROWS UP TO BE A PRO BASEBALL PLAYER... THIS IS THE KIND OF PLAYER I WANT HIM TO BE. Please read this.

Grandpa stricken in stands, boy finds comfort on field
Reds rally around frightened child

Bill Summee has been a police officer since 1992, but nothing prepared him for the situation he encountered Wednesday night.

Summee, now a security officer for the Reds, responded to an emergency call to Section 143 at Great American Ball Park during the seventh inning. A man had collapsed, and paramedics were working on him.

As they tried to revive the man, who did not survive the apparent heart attack, an officer handed the man's 6-year-old grandson to Summee.

Little Antonio Perez had come to the game with his grandfather, whose name the Reds did not release, to celebrate Tony Perez Bobblehead Night.

Over the next 2½ hours, Summee and numerous Reds players and coaches stepped up to comfort and entertain the boy.

"It was a bad situation," Summee said. "But I'm proud of the way we handled it as an organization."

Once he had the boy, Summee's first order of business was to get Antonio out of the stands.

He wanted to get him away from where his grandfather was being treated.

"With all the commotion, I wanted to get him out of there," Summee said. "I took him down to the concourse. He laid his head on my shoulder and asked, 'Is my Pawpaw going to be all right?' "

Summee knew by then the boy's grandfather would not recover.

"We didn't think we should be the ones to tell him," Summee said. "We didn't lie to him, but we thought his parents should tell him."

At one point, the child asked: "How am I going to get home?"

"I told him I'd take him home," Summee said. "But he knew his grandmother's name and phone number."

A call was made, but the boy is from Hamilton, and it would take awhile for his parents and grandmother to get to the ballpark.

Summee still wanted to get Antonio away from the stands, so he took him into the Reds' bullpen, where bullpen coach Tom Hume let him sit on the bench for the last two innings of the game.

Then Ken Griffey Jr. became aware of what was going on and took charge.

"Win or lose, he was coming in the clubhouse," Griffey said.

As the Reds wrapped up their 8-5 victory over the Braves, Griffey went to the bullpen and got the boy.

The players included Antonio in their high-five celebration. Then they took him into the clubhouse.

"We play a game," Griffey said later. "What he was going through doesn't compare.

"It was important that the little guy not be by himself."

Clubhouse manager Rick Stowe said the other players followed Griffey's lead and rallied around the boy.

"Jacob Cruz, Jason LaRue, Junior, they were all great with him," Stowe said. "They gave him bats, balls, wrist bands. Felipe Lopez signed the helmet he wore in the All-Star Game and gave it to him."

"Ken Griffey Jr. was extraordinary," Summee said. "He went completely out of his way to do everything he could."

Said Griffey: "We just tried to make a bad situation a little better."


-Grandma's block party tomorrow. <---Annual fun.

-Fof3 hopes you're all having a swell summer. See ya Monday.

Thursday.

Sorry for the lack of blogitation yesterday. Fof3 had the day off to attend an old friend's funeral and then see a doc about headaches. Oh, yeah, then beach and baseball. We lost but played hard. I slept harder!

-Liam made quite a play at SS ... nice scoop and strong throw to first. He is soing a wonderful job hanging with the older kids on the team. Liam is the youngest by a long way...but he is keeping up. <---When Fof3 was trying to get the boys' attention, it was Liam who told them all to be quiet. This made Coach Dad proud.

-Noelle had an almost-sleepover last night with her friend. She got cold feet about leaving her family overnight at 10:30 last night and asked to come home. <---I was actually happy that she spoke up instead of staying in an uncomfortable situation.

-The beach club was lots o' fun yesterday. Many people... much sun, lots of food and lots of laughter from kids AND adults.

-Caitlin was with her 2 friends all day. She's been really working in her room these last few weeks...re-designing.

-Fof3 and family are gearing up for Puerto Rico in 2 weeks. Can't wait. <---Gonna miss blogging.

-Mof3 is planning a last game of the year party for next Wednesday. Maybe a pizza party at the field... maybe a local restaurant. We'll see. She's a great party planner.

-Well that's about it for now ... back to work. Someone say something smart. Fof3...OUT!!!

A 3-3 Tie!

Wow. We were this close.

-Malverne had a 3-0 lead going into the last inning. Fof3 rounded up the boys and told them how proud I was of the way they'd played. We were one strike away from wining when GC mounted a 3 run comeback and tied the game. We were ok. We had fun and played hard. We were not intimidated by the champs. We were great.

-Last night in NY, the weather was perfect. For those of you who are unfamiliar with NY weather, the summer months are usually hot and HUMID. Not last night. It was May or September last night. Lovely, really.

-Now the humidity is back.

-Noelle is leaning towards gymnastics in the fall instead of soccer. <---Your decision, honey.

-Hell's Kitchen ended with a bang last night. Suzy must be happy...Michael won.

-Mof3 looking beautiful these days. <---Many compliments at the game last night.

-Caitlin, stop growing up so fast. You are TOO gorgeous.

-Fof3 listening to Steely Dan.

-No NY baseball last night. Liberty play tonight.

-Your turn... someone say something. Anything. <---Go ahead, Trinity.

What A Great Weekend!

Wow.

-One of our best weekend ever!

-We did the mall thing on Saturday after Fof3's nap. <---I was up at 4:30 am to do an airport run..back in bed by 6:30 up at 10. We had fun at the mall... made Mof3 happy with a new coffee table and Caitlin got the bedding set she's been eyeing.

-We then pigged out at a Shish-Kebab restaurant. It was at the restaurant that I made sure all of the kids look around and realize how lucky they are. They were sitting in a very nice restaurant, with endless amounts of food, stuff they had just been bought in bags by their feet, about to go home to a nice house and sleep in comfortable beds. They all say they know how lucky they are to have all of these...I hope they really do get it.

-Sunday was a great day also. After 12:30 Mass, we dropped Noelle off at Aunt J's house for a bday party while the rest of us used tickets to a New York Liberty game. The kid's dentist, Dr. Joe gave us these and he whispered to Mof3 that they were pretty good seats. <---Courtside, row A... right there!!! Madison Square Garden looks great from down there. The game was very exciting, Liberty won and again we went to eat right in the Garden restaurant. Caitlin and Liam each won raffle prizes...an autograph with the team's star, Becky Hammon. They were overjoyed. We trained it back to LI, to Aunt J's party and then home. <---Btw, Aunt J. is having her 4th child any day now.

-Big game tonight for Liam's team... vs. Garden City... the perrenail champs. We'll win.

-Fof3 wants to hear about your weekend too...thanks for reading and fill me in. Go!