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Tribe

It’s all about tribe. When I worked in Manchester NH my tribe was Fortitude. After I took a new job in Holder MA its eXcel fitness. Both gyms are great, clean, well-staffed with all manner of classes and equipment. But it’s the other members that make is worth going and keep going back. Don’t get me wrong the instructors play and very important part but the members make the club. There the glue that holds the whole thing together. Then encourage, promote, offer assistance, help new folks get set up, even pulling out and putting away equipment they did not use. But for me it’s the side bars conversations, that could be poking fun at each other, tossing out a challenge or in my case offering hand jesters to instructors when my body refuses to conform to the task at hand. You could be having the worst day at work but after 50 minutes at the gym you return a new. Nothing like kick boxing (at Fortitude) or eXcel (at eXcel) to put you back in focus and wipe the slate so getting though the afternoon is not as daunting as you once thought.
Unfortunately, I’m in search of a new tribe as today will be my last (official) day at eXcel, as tomorrow is my last day at my current position. To say I’m disappointed with the latter is an understatement but I think I will miss my tribe more. If anyone knows of a new tribe worth hanging out at in the Bedford Street area of Lexington MA do please let me know. 

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JMans day out

JMan wanted to check out Canobie Lake Park for his b-day. So yesterday we pick up one of his friends and headed north. With lots of free parking losing the car was a breeze and a short walk later we were in.

First up was Log Flume. Mind you trill rides are not my thing and this one is about my limit. We all screamed like little girls at a Miley Cyrus concert and only get marginally splashed. I’ll admit, it was fun, the ride that is….not the Miley concert.

Here’s Jess and I. My mouth was open but thankfully my better 1/2 is clearly astonished enough for both of us.


And here’s JMan and His friend. Yup, both equally impressed with the forces of gravity.


Next up was some target practice.


Which yielded a very attractive stuffed pig.


Then a snack…with our new stuffed friend.

I asked for a small! No, I didn’t finish it, but tried for 20 minutes or so.


Then more target practice, this time with paint ball guns.


We did a puzzle room in the middle here but failed miserably! 

Then the ferris wheel….again, this is more my speed.

In the midde the kids spent a few hours in the water park while the adults sat in shade.

Later the kids took a spin in some very angry tea cups…..definitely not my cup of tea!


We all did the dodgem cars. This is an all time favorite of mine. Many years ago when we visited relatives in Youghal County Cork we’d spend all our money at the local arcade which had dodgems. I can still remember the announcement “okay, here we go now….round to the left”, and the smell, I’m instantly transported to that time.

Later, after more snacking and some real food the gang decided to take a few runs on Boston Tea Party. It was dark so no photos and yes I sat that one out!

But here’s a great way of keeping the kids focused. I suspect this method of parenting would be frowned upon, but I can see the appeal.


Overall I’m very impressed with Canobie, it’s clean, well staffed, and fun. Like most amusement parks food and souvenirs are a little pricey, however, the food was very good and we won afew souvenirs. All in all it was a great day and everyone really enjoyed the park. 

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Family Tree – Part 2

Okay, so maybe I’m into this hobby a little more than I admitted. Today I had our tree printed on a large format plotter. It’s 5 sheets total or 3 feet by 13 feet. This one includes all 580 family members I have recorded to date.

Here it is layed out on our sunroom floor, as I don’t have 3’x13′ free wall space. Jess, the boys and myself are in the lower right hand corner.


When visiting home in a few days I hope to add a few more names. One such person is Aiden Mc Cabe. My mom meet him this week for the first time, he’s a cousin of my great grandmother Angela Quinn (Mc Cabe). At the young age of 93 he’s the oldest member on my side of the family that I know of.

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Counting change

Every three years or so we go to bank with our change. 

We use a gallon glass water fountain bottle to collect it. We all guessed at the amount and no one was even close! 6″ of change equals over $800! 

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Wachusett hike

JMan made it a little over 1/2 way up, them we hiked back down, then drove up! The way I see it we made it.


On Indian Trail.


At the top.


Here’s the look you get when you tell a nine year old not to climb a ladder. BTW the sticker on the column says “Attention, Wachusett Mountain Employee Only”….the rest is not really important is it.


At the observation deck.

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Family Tree

I started working on my family tree several years ago. To date I have 580 people entered with the oldest James Hoey who was born in 1798. I’m 5 generations from him, his great, great, great – grandson.

I tend to go at the tree in spurts and as we are heading across the pond in a few weeks I decided to do a little work.


Here’s my evenings work. This is only 3 generations or 194 of 580 in our tree. What you are looking at is 48 8.5×11 sheets or 98″x48″. The whole tree would be 300 8.5×11 sheets and we don’t have a wall big enough to hang it up! Our immediate family starts in the lower left corner.

I created the tree using a app called MyHeritage. The app is free but if you want to publish online (over a certain number of people) there is a charge. Go here to visit mine.

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Random weekend photos 


JMan saves a turtle.

Water never looked so good.


GMan and I out for a training ride.


Parachutes floating back to down.

What could be going on here?


This is how you get an 8 grader excited about homework…..give him a match.



Anyone for a marshmallow?