Pilato Family News & Notes

"The Fifty States of America", by Aidan Pilato

2012-01-07T09:23:00.001-05:00

Our youngest son, Aidan, woke before the rest of us today. Never one to sit idly, he focused his first energies of the day into creative writing and illustration. The following silly story resulted.

Once upon a time, fifty states woke up from bed. (Of course, California and Texas -- because there wasn't a bed the size of them -- had to sleep on the ground.)

One day, Washington was taking a stroll on a spring grass knoll when he didn't even notice that up in the sky a rain cloud was watching him. The rain cloud said, "Lightning Bolt, STRIKE!" But there was no lightning.

The raincloud struggled up to a rusty white cloud. He knocked on it.

In a silly voice, the lightning bolt said, "Yes?"

"It's me, Rain Cloud. Strike that Washington state!"

"Yes, sir."

Since the lightning bolt was dumb, he missed thirty times in a row. Since the lightning bolt couldn't even strike, all he could do is poke himself in the belly.

Apparently, Texas heard all about it. He gathered up all the states (even Washington, when he got back). They made a plan.

But Lightning Bolt and Rain Cloud heard about that. They made an army.

One day, as the plan said, Washington went out again where he found the lightning and rain cloud. They had been waiting for him. He saw them and started talking to them. He said, "We don't we start battling each other. If my army wins, you turn to the good side. If you win, we turn to the dark side -- deal?"

"Deal!"

"Good. Charge!"

"Charge!"

Washington was in the front. But California and Texas didn't have a weapon. They didn't need one -- they used themselves. They just kept smacking guys on the ground.

Finally, the battle was over. The states had won. The other army would join the good side. They started to cry. But the good side gave the leader a mouse.

THE END

I'm not sure what he has against Washington state. We've never been there. And to our GWB-hating readers, I can assure you that it's merely coincidence that Aidan had Texas tossing his weight around and taking the states off to war.

... and Amy Makes Four

2011-11-16T14:43:00.005-05:00

In 2011, our son Aidan completed his fifth and sixth seasons of soccer with the local Harrisburg Parks and Recreation youth athletics league. His team (the Kickin' Pandas) won their league championship! In fact, Aidan scored his team's only goals in the championship match. Our son Gavin returned to soccer after a two-year hiatus, and had a very successful season, too. His team (the Angry Birds) advanced to the finals, where they claimed a second-place finish in their league. As it turns out, Gavin also scored his team's only goal in the championship match. Daddy (Mike) played his third year of adult soccer with Harrisburg. His team didn't really do so much to speak of tournament-wise, and he didn't score a single goal the entire season. In fact, he completely blew a great scoring opportunity in the first match. But at least he had fun playing. And now ... could it be?! Oh, yes! Mommy's got a new pair of shoes!

Are You Considering Home Education in NC?

2010-10-21T10:29:00.004-04:00

Home education has been a core value of our family since before the birth of our first child. From his first moments outside the womb, teaching Gavin about the world and his role in it has been one of our family's greatest joys and most important responsibilities. Amy and I strongly believe that the task of educating a child falls squarely to that child's family — parents, siblings, grandparents, and so on, natural, adoptive, or otherwise. The family is the building block of society, and where the family and its members are ill-equipped, society is weakened.

In our family, which now includes two school-aged children, that means taking advantage of the opportunity for Amy to formally educate those children in our home. To assist in this task, we are members of a larger community of families in our area who have made similar choices, the Cabarrus County Home School Association. We've been actively involved in the CCHSA for over two years now, and greatly enjoy the benefits of this local homeschooling support group.

If you're considering home education in North Carolina, and you'll be in or around Concord, NC on Monday, October 25, 2010, you may wish to check out the CCHSA's public Informational Meeting. Here's a snippet from an email notification we received about the meeting:

Hi! I wanted to let everyone know that our first CCHSA Informational Meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 25th at 7PM at the West Cabarrus YMCA on George Liles Blvd. We will have speakers talking about the "why" of homeschooling, what to know about homeschooling in North Carolina and in Cabarrus County, what resources are available to help homeschoolers, and a variety of "special topics" for a Q and A session.

[…]

The Q and A speakers will be answering questions about things such as sports opportunities, advantages/disadvantages to various specific curricula, how to prepare high school students for college, how to help special needs learners, or how to juggle multiple ages/grades.

For a map to the event location, click here.

To be clear, Amy and I don't believe that the public school system is evil. We don't believe that parents who choose to avail themselves of public education are negligent or failing their children in some way. Many of our dearest friends work every day to ensure that public education in our area is the best that it can be. Our challenge to all families is simple and universal: take ownership of your children's education, and use the best mechanisms and approaches and services you can to do so.

Surprise Beach Mini-vacation

2010-10-04T11:22:00.005-04:00

Hearing the excitement in two young boys' voices when they learn that the family is going to take a four-day vacation to the beach is one thing. But hearing that excitement when they learn this fact as you pull into the parking lot of an oceanfront pier takes it to a whole new level!

Last Tuesday, Amy whisked the boys out of the house early in the morning for a quick errand to her parents' place while I sneakily dropped fully packed suitcases into the trunk of our other car. Upon their return, she and I announced to the kids that we'd be taking a field trip. What we didn't tell them was that the "field trip" was to be a four-day excursion to North Myrtle Beach.

Amy had the boys' schoolwork all prepared, and they spent the first two hours of our three-and-a-half hour journey doing that work: reading books aloud to each other, taking math and science tests, etc. When they'd finished their work, they naturally began to wonder just how far away this secret field trip location was, but were easily distracted into various other activities — more reading, drawing and coloring pictures, imaginative play, etc. Our ruse became more difficult as we neared our destination, with nearly every highway sign screaming out the number of miles remaining to Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach. But we managed to keep up the distractions until we finally pulled into the parking lot of the Cherry Grove Beach pier. Ocean in full view, our sons finally realized where we were. And then we told them we'd be staying for a while.

The weather was cloudy or rainy for most of the trip. Some would call that unfortunate, but in reality it was wonderful. The air and ocean water were warm enough to enjoy comfortably. The rains held off every time we got into the mood to go down to the ocean. We never had to fuss with sunscreen. We never had to deal with heat exhaustion. It was just perfect! I got rained on only once when I intentionally went for a four-mile jog in the rain on Wednesday morning while Amy and the boys did their schoolwork for the day. (It was a great jog, by the way, dribbling a soccer ball up and down the coastline, playing keep-away with the surf!) We were able to visit resort's indoor pools every night of our stay except for the final one, which we spent treating the boys to a surprise trip to Medieval Times.

The boys had a surprise for us, too, it seems. The first night that we visited the pools, both boys started swimming a bit on their own without flotation devices! That provided many hours of excitement for the family, and quite a bit less fatigue than usual for Amy and I.

And the aforementioned resort offered its own lovely (if geeky) surprise. When I visited the hotel's community computer system to print off our tickets for Medieval Times, I found that it was powered by none other than Ubuntu Linux (a free operating system and extremely viable alternative to Microsoft Windows and MacOSX)!

Truthfully, there's very little to not have been thrilled about on this trip. We left Friday morning (our first sunny day), drove further south to Surfside Beach for some seashell hunting and beach soccer, and then aimed our car toward home, very thankful to have had such a wonderfully relaxing family vacation.

Parents, when was the last time you took your family away from it all for a bit of respite? Make and take those opportunities now before your kids are grown and your family dispersed!

Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, and Asheville vacation

2010-06-01T15:35:00.009-04:00

Every once in a while, you take a vacation that's great not just because of where you went or what you did or who you were with or how your kids behaved or just how much you needed the time off, but the amazing cross-section of all of that simultaneously. We just enjoyed one of those vacations.

For the past month or so, ours has felt like a bit of a mad house. This time of year is always extremely stressful, with all of our birthdays and anniversaries happening between early March and early June, my and Amy's wedding anniversary in late April, the wrapping up of school years and soccer seasons, the reintroduction of yard maintenance and spring cleaning, and so on. In addition to all of that, we've been dealing with a bit of a kitchen makeover. (You know the type: supposed to be simple, but winds up complicated.) But this past Wednesday, the last of our kitchen crew finished their work, and Gavin and Amy completed his homeschool year. So after A.J. finished his last day of preschool on Thursday morning, we headed out of town with our good friends the Batsons (Paul, Liz, and their two kids) for a few days away from it all.

Paul and I had arranged for our lodging to happen at the historic 1927 Lake Lure Inn & Spa, where Amy and I had spent our first night of marriage together over twelve years ago, and we did so as a surprise to Amy. The hotel was in much better shape than I remembered (excepting the pool, which had just sorta opened for the season but clearly hadn't had its pre-season maintenance). The staff were pleasant and helpful, and even though the rooms in that old place are small, it turned out to be a very nice play to stay.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into our rooms, then went out for a walk by the lake just to get out into the air and kill some time before dinner. The four kids enjoyed playing on and watching ducks from the docks. After our walk, we drove into the town of Chimney Rock for dinner. Now, Chimney Rock isn't a particularly animated place on its most populous day, but on a Thursday evening in late May, it was practically vacant. We managed to find an open family restaurant, which was … less-than-impressive. But the ice cream shop a few doors down allowed us to forget our lackluster dinner, and fueled the kids for a trip down the riverwalk to play on the rocks by and in the river. As sunset approached, we decided to head back to the Lake Lure Inn and test out the pool. (To completely exhaust the children before bedtime, of course!)

Friday morning we returned to Chimney Rock, where the little town's culinary reputation was wholly redeemed by Medina's Village Bistro. Medina's is a tiny place, but serves up a mean breakfast — killer cinnamon rolls, big fluffy pancakes, eggs, meats, etc. With happy stomachs, we left there to tackle our primary activity of the day: Chimney Rock Park. At Chimney Rock, we hiked around the Chimney itself and then out to the base of the Hickory Nut Falls. I love hiking. But I really love waterfalls. (This was one of the best moments of the vacation for me.) Despite the long walk, the kids all did a great job of keeping up the pace without complaints (which was a bit easier for little Ella, who had the challenging task of riding in a frame carrier on her Daddy's back).

Lunch after our hike was a quick one, as the ladies (Amy and Liz) had spa appointments at Shoji Retreat near Asheville. While they went off to get pampered, Paul's kids napped, mine failed to nap, and then the lot of us visited the pool again. After a short swim, we got ready to drive up to Asheville to meet the ladies for dinner. It was at this time that we realized just how much Amy and Liz were probably weirded out hours earlier as they drove to their spa appointment. Shoji Retreat is off the beaten path. I mean, way off the beaten path. We're talking hairpin-turns-up-the-hill-past-the-toothless-dude-by-the-moonshine-still, here. Poor girls must have been running on sheer faith in their husbands by the time they arrived. But both gave glowing reviews of the spa itself, so Paul and I didn't lose too many husband points in the process.

After meeting up with the ladies, our two families continued into Asheville for dinner at Steak & Wine. Now, here's where things could have gotten crazy. This is a white-table-cloth environment, into which we just dragged four tired children under the age of seven. But amazingly, the kids were able to deal with the situation pretty gracefully. Our meals were wonderful (I'm already trying to make up excuses to get back there at a future date!), and thanks to the stash of kids books in our car, we were able to keep the children quiescent after they finished eating and while the adults wrapped up their meals. We stopped by the now-famous drum circle in Pritchard Park (just outside our restaurant, which was chosen largely for its location) before walking to a creamery for dessert. It was a late evening, with all the children nodding off in the cars during our drive back to Lake Lure, but even now I'm completely amazed at how well the children handled some of these not-so-kid-focused situations.

Saturday morning, we checked out of the Lake Lure Inn, hit Medina's again for breakfast, and then made our way to Rutherfordton (or, as Paul claims the locals call it, "Ruffton") to visit the KidSenses children's museum. The children had a great time visiting the exhibits, doing some crafts, and so on, and it was a suitable reward for their excellent behavior the prior days of the trip.

After a final meal together at Mi Pueblito, our families officially parted ways, and the vacation was complete.

I can't remember a more successful vacation for our family, where success is defined by our ability to actually escape from the craziness of life. I'm thankful for a great family, thankful for great friends, and thankful for a great job which helps to fund these types of occasional getaways.

Successful spontaneous microvacation

2010-02-16T12:15:00.006-05:00

Sunday was Valentine's Day, but Amy and I had already celebrated it Friday night. So as my kids were downstairs watching a movie, and my wife was downstairs with them pretending to watch it (on those magic screens she has on the backs of her eyelids), I was upstairs suffering from boredom and wanderlust … and possibility! See, Monday would be President's Day, and I'd be off from work. Of course, Amy being a homemaker and our boys being homeschooled, their days are somewhat flexible, too. So at around 3pm on Sunday afternoon, I started looking for day-trip options.

I wound up most interested in The Children's Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, SC. I figured we could leave soon (Sunday afternoon), skip down to Greenville, stay the night in a hotel, and then visit the museum on Monday. And I figured we could do this without telling the boys of our plans. I ran the idea by Amy and — incredibly — she was game! So we booked a hotel stay near Greenville, packed a suitcase of stuff, printed maps, and snuck all this stuff out of the house and into the car — all while the boys were still downstairs watching their movie.

Once Amy and I were ready to go and the boys' movie was finished, we asked them to put their socks, shoes and coats on so we could go out to dinner. Aidan was wanting to be the one to pick our dinner spot (since Gavin had done so a couple of nights prior), which was fine. We delayed him until we got onto I-85 and were well away from areas with heavy restaurant density, and then we let him choose. He wanted to eat at Bob Evans. An hour later, we were in Gaffney, SC and still hadn't found a Bob Evans. This was just a fortuitous coincidence, though, from our point of view. The boys never really questioned why we'd spent so much time in the car just trying to find dinner. We kept their minds busy listening to the Wall*E and Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks. Eventually, however, Aidan's hunger won out over his patience, so we convinced him to abandon his first restaurant choice and settle for less. He wasn't happy about doing so, but finally agreed. And now that we were running a slight goodwill deficit, Amy and I chose this moment to reveal our secret plans. And what a reveal it was — the boys were overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of an unexpected hotel stay and museum visit! So we ate dinner happily and then continued on our trek, finally arriving at the hotel at around 9:30pm.

Monday morning we woke (well, those of us that slept, anyway — I had a difficult night of sleep deprivation…), got ready for the day, ate breakfast, checked out, and then headed to the museum. We'd seen billboards advertising the place as we drove down the night before, all saying "Coming Summer 2009". So we knew the place would likely be in good repair. We weren't disappointed. The boys had fun exploring three floors of hands-on exhibits covering race cars, space shuttles, robots, sound (ala Blue Man Group), light, water, and more. The place even had an onsite cafe catered by a local restaurant — I can't recall the last time I ate museum food that was so good! By 2:45pm, we'd seen the whole museum and revisited some favorite exhibits. We piled into the car and headed home, happy to have invested the day together and shared this new experience as a family.

Dear Santa. Again.

2009-12-09T21:50:00.004-05:00

Today for school, Amy had the boys compose a letter to Santa. She draws a pretty clear line between "teaching time" (where she might correct their spelling and letter formation) and "creative time" (where she gives them the freedom to think and express without her oversight). This was one of those latter types of projects — zero input from Mommy to her two students on this one.

Aidan got straight to the point. "Let's skip the niceties and talk about what you should bring me!" He filled the front of his page with his wish list...

...and then continued on the back. (Notice he even made his own lines.)

Gavin had already composed his wish list earlier this month. So he took the time to actually write a letter to Santa. Of course, if you've got the Big Red Fella's attention, you might as well transmit amendments to your wish list. But check out what else he writes:

Clearly, my sons love Star Wars right now — that comes as no surprise. But when did my oldest learn to wield the colon and the ellipsis in his prose?! How does he remember the, uh, ghost-written letter from Santa he got last year?! And why doesn't everyone realize what this six-year-old does: that Jesus is, in fact, the reason for the season?

Father/son camping trip

2009-11-23T15:45:00.013-05:00

Gavin and I just returned from our father/son camping trip to Pilot Mountain State Park, and man was it fun!

We left after church yesterday, arriving at Pilot Mountain State Park at about 2:30pm or so. We met the campsite host, who informed us that we were the only campers for the night, so any site was ours for the picking (as was any firewood we found at any site). Rain was in the forecast, but fortunately had not yet started. Gavin helped me to pitch the tent and get our stuff all settled inside. Afterwards, he wanted to drive to the summit lookout, where he told Amy on the phone that he'd get a picture of the view off the mountain.

We got that picture:

But as we were taking the picture, the rain appeared! We drove back down to the camping area. As it was still just mid-afternoon or so, I didn't want to climb into the tent and stay there. Fortunately, I had a spare tarp, so Gavin helped me make a little lean-to-ish thing by attaching the tarp to two trees and then pulling the bottom of it back at an angle. It was plenty of space for us to put our chairs — and our firewood!

We sat under our little shelter and ate our dinner — sandwiches and chips we'd prepared at home. Once the rain died down a bit, I took a crack at getting a fire going. It took a bit for me to remember how to do that well, but eventually I remembered what I needed to remember. While the fire established itself, Gavin and I played with some Star Wars characters. (I'm sorry, but Droidekas are just cool.)

Once the fire was roaring, we toasted some marshmallows. I don't really know why we did — Gavin and I don't even really like toasted marshmallows. I guess it's just something we feel you're "supposed to do" when camping. After we'd filled our bellies, it was getting pretty dark out. So I surprised Gavin by bringing him into the tent and informing him that I'd brought our portable DVD player with WALL*E loaded and ready to watch. We managed to see all but the last 5 minutes or so before the battery died. We told a couple of made-up bedtime stories to each other, and then finally drifted off to sleep.

Sleep came easy at first, but I was awakened at 1:30am by the loud sound of the rain which had returned. And stayed. And poured all night long. I was also reminded of how limber I no longer am — sleeping on the ground just isn't as easy as it once was. But I managed to get a decent amount of sleep, and when I wasn't sleeping I was covering Gavin up to keep him warm (the temperatures were in the low 40s). He slept pretty well, and I was glad for that.

This morning we woke around 7:15am or so. Rain was just a light drizzle, so I got another fire going. This time was even more difficult than the first thanks to lack of good kindling. Fortunately, my camp axe made quick work of some larger firewood to meet that need. We heated some water and used it for our instant oatmeal and hot chocolate breakfast. I even grilled a couple of Pop-Tarts for kicks. Gavin insisted that his oatmeal and hot chocolate were the best he'd ever had. The Pop-Tart? Not so much. After we had breakfast, we set about tearing down the campsite. This took much longer than the setup because everything was so wet. We were both quite wet and dirty ourselves when it was all said and done. But after our stuff was fully packed away in the car, we went down to the bath house, changed clothes, and left the park, thus completing Gavin's first ever night of camping (and my first in many year).

In all, it was a wonderful way to end a weekend which began with Gavin's soccer team winning it's championship game (with Gavin's shootout goal being the point that won the game).

Summer 2009 (so far...)

2009-07-20T10:38:00.003-04:00

Summer 2009 has shaped up so far to be a pretty fun — and pretty busy — one. Much of the activity has been centered around our new church family:

Vacation Bible School was a fun week. The boys had a great time participating, and are still singing the VBS songs around the house. Amy helped all week long, and led the little story time segment one night. Mike even dropped in one night to rock out "You're Powerful" with drummer-dude Evan for the kids.
Providence is keeping the kids active through the summer with events about twice each week (one for Gavin's age group, one for Aidan's, though often both are invited). These are wonderful deviations from the typical arc of our days. Two young boys trapped at home together all the time does many a feud incite.
We joined the church's Compass Youth Program for a mission trip to Charleston. The work was more hot than hard, but everyone enjoyed themselves. You can read more about this trip on the Youth Minister's own blog.

In addition to all this stuff, the boys wrapped up their soccer seasons in early June, rode in a float in the Harrisburg Fourth of July parade, have attended numerous of their friends' birthday parties, have taken a few field trips, and have basically been "on" with their energy knobs "turned to 11" from 9am to 9pm every day. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad have busied themselves with yard work and music and a new two-service church worship schedule and every possible date night we can get our hands on.

Oh. And Summer is only half over.

North Myrtle Beach spring vacation

2009-04-30T22:40:00.007-04:00

What a great week at the beach! We had a blast swimming in the pools... and jumping in the waves! We walked around at Barefoot Landing... and grabbed a sweet snack at Krispy Kreme! Our days were filled with digging in the sand... bowling... and chillin' out on the couch watching a little TV. We couldn't have asked for a better family vacation... except maybe that Grandma and Grandpa could have joined us!

Church search complete. 1 result(s) found.

2009-02-16T23:54:00.002-05:00

Five weeks ago today I wrote about the fact that Amy and I had decided to leave our former church in pursuit of a location for worship and service in our hometown of Harrisburg. Those have been an eventful five weeks for us, filled with excitement and enjoyment. Where do I begin?

On the first of those Sundays, we visited Southbrook:Monroe, and had a very interesting experience with God there. But that was more of a show of support for our friends Geoffrey and Nancy Janes than a maybe-this-is-our-new-church type of visit. After all, Monroe is quite a bit farther away from Harrisburg than even our previous church.

On subsequent Sundays, though, we've attended Providence Baptist Church in Harrisburg. That has been a truly rewarding thing for us. The Young Couples class there is a great group of folks who actively share their lives together. We've been extremely blessed to find friendship with the youth pastor and his family. Senior pastor John Cashwell is a down-to-earth guy with a clear vision for the church, and I've had the pleasure of talking at length with him about some aspects of that.

Providence is, like many others, a church in transition. The church is over forty years old, and like most other Baptist churches, fell behind the curve in adjusting the methods it uses to take its message to the surrounding community in a culturally relevant way. Those familiar with our previous church might be wondering why in the world we would be drawn to yet another church in transition. The answer is pretty straightforward: the folks at Providence, young and old, seem to genuinely be aligned with the transition vision, and that was not the case in our previous situation. At all.

As a church in transition, there are of course still parts of the methodology that remain behind the curve. But that's okay. Amy and I agreed long ago that we'd rather find an imperfect church where we can make a positive difference than a seemingly perfect one where we'd be of no service to anyone. We don't want to be mere consumers of the church experience — we want to be on mission with a church in serving the community.

So yesterday, Amy and I walked the aisle of Providence Baptist Church in Harrisburg, NC, to say to that congregation, "We want to be on mission with you. May God use us in whatever capacity He so desires."

Leaving Plaza

2009-01-12T09:40:00.001-05:00

This past Sunday marked the end of a chapter in the life of the Pilato family. After attending and serving in various capacities at Plaza Baptist Church (which is a thirty-minute drive from our home) since we relocated back to North Carolina in 2005, Amy and I both feel God is leading us to local worship and service in our hometown of Harrisburg. For reasons that we can't humanly explain, we've both been picking up vibes of yearning for service in our immediate community. This has been a sort of ongoing thing for some time now — almost like a spiritual nagging, if you will. And over the recent Christmas holiday, Amy and I independently came to the conclusion that "it was time" — we simply must be obedient to what we feel is a Divine nudge.

This wasn't a particularly easy decision to make. My parents have been members of Plaza for almost twenty years, and even while in Chicagoland, I continued to think of Plaza as my "home church". Though Amy has only attended there for a few years, she very quickly made some close friends at the church. And our young boys don't fully appreciate why they have to leave the teachers and friends they love so much. Amy and I were both very active in the music ministry of the church, and were involved in several other committees and areas of service as well. Yes, it's no secret that the church has experienced a serious decline of membership in recent years, and a non-trivial amount of leadership churn. But to call our leaving an "exodus" belies the semantics of this life change: it's more that we are "moving toward" whatever God has for us next than that we are "moving from" the place we were.

We let Plaza's leadership know of our decision a couple of Sundays ago. Pastor Stephen Bounds and his wife, Juli, expressed personal sadness but rejoiced with us nonetheless. Amy and I had been contemplating how to let the church membership know of our decision — simply disappearing seemed like a stunningly awful approach, likely to leave others with unanswered questions and encourage gossip and misinformation. Fortunately, the Boundses believed similarly. And so yesterday morning — after an amazing and uplifting time of corporate worship — Amy and I explained to the congregation from the stage about our decision and the reasons for it. Then the church members present gathered around us to pray for us and release us for service in Harrisburg. It was a wonderful time of celebration with sadness, and another in a series of ways in which God has affirmed this decision.

And so we now begin a season of searching for a new place of service in Harrisburg. We don't know what the future holds for us, but we know Who holds it.

Amy's acting debut

2008-12-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

Our church put on a Christmas dinner comedy production this year. Amy has said for some time now that she'd like to try acting just for kicks. So she auditioned for the production, and was awarded the role of Beth, one of four silly servants in the Bethlehem Inn. The cast performed their show this past Saturday and Sunday evenings, to a combined audience of around 100 folks, I'd guess. It was a fun show, and I think the attendees enjoyed themselves. And in my completely unbiased opinion, Amy did a great job in her role.

The boys also played a part in the show, as part of a troupe of child Bethlehemian(?) dancers. Take seven energetic kids, add one tambourine and two colored streamers apiece — instant cuteness!

I'm proud of my wife and kids, of the rest of the cast and crew, and of Pastor Stephen Bounds and his wife who really drove the thing from concept to completion.

Our first trip to Urgent Care

2008-12-13T12:49:00.000-05:00

Last night, while salmon steaks were baking in one oven, battered fish portions in the other, and the spinach was awaiting its trip through the microwave, it happened. I was upstairs at the time, reading the latest edition of WORLD magazine, when Gavin ran into the room and announced somewhat calmly: "Dad, as soon you get finished, could you come downstairs? Aidan hit his head on the fireplace."

On a list of things I least want to hear, that's gotta be somewhere near the top.

I came downstairs to find Amy holding Aidan in the kitchen floor, trying to apply an ice pack to his bleeding and swelling nose. Seems the boys were running around playing "rocket cars" (which unfortunately seems to require great bursts of speed best experienced outdoors), and Aidan-the-Rocket-Car crashed bridge-of-the-nose-first into the front edge of our very hard, stone fireplace. Fortunately, the cuts on his nose weren't bad at all — in fact, they appeared to be no more than abrasions. But out of concern that he might have broken his nose and that his injuries could impair his breathing, we packed the family up and headed out to an urgent care facility a few miles away.

Aidan was pretty upset (understandably) as we tried to get into the car, and dozed off a couple of times during our trip to the facility. Once there, he quieted down, but mostly out of fear of this new place. Fortunately, the nurses present were able to assure him that he would be treated well. They took a pair of X-rays of his head that didn't reveal anything alarming, and as expected he wasn't in need of any stitches. We were sent away with a recommendation of some Children's Motrin (for the pain and swelling), the promise of a follow-up call from the radiologist, Tootsie Pops for the kids, and a smiling little boy with a busted up nose.

So, after this, our first trip to an urgent care facility, we say, "Thanks", to the fine ladies at Expressmed's Concord Mills location, and to God for protecting our little guy from what could have easily been a much more serious situation.

North Myrtle Beach again

2008-10-12T02:58:00.001-04:00

The Pilatos never get tired of the beach. So for the second year in a row, we've claimed the week before the Columbus Day holiday as our beach-trip week. As we did last year, we returned to the Avista Resort in North Myrtle Beach, SC, and did the overlapping visit thing with my parents. (We were in the three-bedroom suite from Monday to Saturday; my parents were there from Wednesday thru the next Monday.)

We had wonderful weather—not too hot or cold, and dry for the most part. We scored that three-bedroom resort suite by accident, even. I thought I was driving hard for a bargain on a two-bedroom place, and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the deal I got was not only a great rate for two bedrooms, but was being applied to three! We all had plenty of room to spread out in that oceanfront suite, and my and Amy's bedroom was waterfront with a balcony to boot!

Of course, we didn't spend all our time in the suite. We did some mini-golf. We bowled. We shopped. Amy and I even caught a Medieval Times show. The boys were in good spirits most of the time, but tended to be a little preoccupied with hanging out in the various pools at the resort. Have water wings, will cooperate, it seemed. (Admittedly, Amy and I loved the water wings, too—it can be quite tiring to hold a forty-pound kid for an hour, even in the water.)

Our vacation week was a full one, but a good one. But don't assume that we returned to find more peace and relaxation. Oh, no. I'm hovered over a new laptop (which was shipped to Amy's parents' place in my absence) trying desperately to get Ubuntu Linux installed, and to get all my data off my previous work laptop, which has an ailing fan and only boots about 20% of the time as a result. Why the rush? Because tomorrow I leave for Germany and SubConf 2008! Busy times, busy times….

Labor Day apple pickin'

2008-09-02T13:30:00.000-04:00

Today, Amy and I began the day by doing something I never imagined five years ago I'd be doing — marching into our own back yard and picking apples from our own apple trees.

We picked about eight plastic grocery bags full of good apples, plus another six or seven bags of apples that were rotten or soon-to-be rotten. Our neighbor Hilda even came over to join the fun. She grew up on a farm, so was seasoned in the skills of harvesting. We were somewhat embarrassed, though, when she used those skills — or maybe just her eyes and brain — to inform us that a second tree which we'd come to think of as a particularly bad pear tree was, in fact, another apple tree. (In our defense, we had been told the tree bore pears).

Amy even used a few of our apples to make some homemade applesauce the other day. I am not exaggerating a bit when I say hers was better than the brand-name applesauces we routinely purchase at the grocery store. Yum!

Flooding in Harrisburg

2008-08-28T02:58:00.000-04:00

See spot. See spot run. See spot swimming in his own front yard in flood waters. Swim, Spot, swim!

March Illnesses: a poem

2008-03-03T01:40:00.000-05:00

There once were two children beside us, Who, when given medicine, would fight us, Though both Amy and I Wished to soothe their pinkeye And the youngest one's tonsillitis.

WANTED: One (1) drop-in or slide-in range, soon

2007-12-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

Amy's been somewhat less than excited about the range/cooktop included in the purchase of our current home. So, I'm sure there's some part of her that's not altogether saddened by the fact that it died on Sunday afternoon. Yep, while eating lunch, we heard a really loud pop coming from the kitchen. My guess is that the bottom element cracked or something, because it now generates no heat. The cooktop still works, as does the broiler (but who uses that?). But as GE's website lists no available replacement parts for this 18-year-old oven, I suppose we'll be making a trip up to hhgregg in the next few days.

[UPDATE 12/13/07] Much to Amy's chagrin, my Dad was able to locate a dealer that had a replacement element for our oven for a mere $30. Sorry, Sweetheart—looks like you'll have to hold out for the kitchen remodeling after all.

Fun at the Fair

2007-09-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

Last year at this time I was in Romania, which was a neat experience, but it meant two weeks of missing my wife and kids, and missing the annual Cabarrus County Fair. I purposed at that time to do everything in my power to make it out to the 2007 fair. So this evening — on the anniversary of a very somber day in American history — we chose energetic family together-time over quiet reflection, and fulfilled that goal.

Now, Amy and I had taken Gavin to the fair in 2005, when he was two years old and right at 36 inches tall. Aidan was only months old back then. But now, two years later, Aidan is where Gavin was at the time. That makes him eligible for many of the rides at the fair, and made the whole idea of the thing that much more exciting. So tonight after work, we packed the kids into the car, grabbed a fast bite of dinner, and headed off to the fairgrounds.

The first thing Amy and I noticed was that there seemed to be more rides than there were in 2005. The second thing we noticed was that we needed to take out a second mortgage on our home to cover the anticipated costs of the evening. Rides take a minimum of three tickets per ride, per person. 24 tickets cost $20. So, for a yuppie foodstamp the family could ride maybe two rides. Ouch. Fortunately, for $15/person, you could get an armband which granted you unlimited rides. Clearly, it was the best financial decision we made this week.

The boys were, shall we say, a bit excited. But honestly, they demonstrated stellar behavior the whole night. They patiently waited in lines, didn't try to drag us from ride to ride at a harrying pace, and were respectful of both each other and those around them. Surprisingly, they weren't really afraid of the rides we rode, either. Two years ago, I remember Gavin crying a bit on one ride that did a fair amount of spinning, and so I expected similar responses from Aidan tonight. But there was none of that — both boys loved all the rides (save for one that Gavin and I did together that neither of us liked much because it was literally difficult to breathe while on it). Ferris wheel high above the tallest trees in the area? No sweat. A smallish roller coaster with hills and thrills? Rode it twice.

Fifteen years ago, as a student in the Cabarrus County school system, I couldn't have cared much less about the fair. And I certainly never dreamed I'd actually be looking forward to it. I guess that belongs on the growing list of things that inexplicably change when you become a parent. I suspect we're not alone in these types of transformations, nor that parenthood is finished transforming us just yet.

But for now, I'm anticipating the 2008 fair!

(Mostly) wallpaper-free!

2007-08-21T01:16:00.000-04:00

Amy and I finally came to terms with the fact that we would never, ever, get around to finishing the wallpaper removal task in our house. So a couple of weeks ago, a crew from SouthEnd Painting (in Charlotte) came in and spent three days removing wallpaper from, floating, sanding and priming the walls of our kitchen, living room, dining room, and the downstairs half-bath. The crew was professional, very respectful, and did their best to keep our home orderly and dust-free (which is no easy task in jobs like this). And the end result met our expectations (also no easy task). Of course, it pained me to write a check for the cost of this service, but as my friend Fitz observed, Amy and I "finally recognized the value of our time."

Unfortunately, I'm not able to give quite the glowing review of the whole process that I'd like to.

I noticed shortly after the crew left our house that the glass break sensor in our kitchen (part of our home security system) was not functioning. Upon removing the front panel (just as I'd shown the crew leader how to do the previous day) I noticed that one of the microphone lead wires was missing, and that the microphone itself was sorta shoved up into the backing instead of in its proper mounting location. I called SouthEnd to report the damage. I wasn't sure if this kind of damage was covered by the service plan we have on our security system, so I told SouthEnd that I'd get a quote for the repair or replacement of the sensor. If there was no charge to me, then no harm, no foul — SouthEnd Painting wouldn't hear another thing about it. Otherwise, they'd be responsible for any costs incurred in the repair. I also advised SouthEnd to ask their work crew about the damage, just to make sure there was no dispute on the responsibility. I called our security provider, got the quote ($150), and relayed that to an assistant at SouthEnd, again advising that they verify the quote by calling our security provider themselves.

A few days later, I got a call from Todd, SouthEnd's owner. What happened next was simply unfathomable — after admitting that the work crew had claimed responsibility for the damage, and acknowledging the cost of the replacement, Todd had the nerve to suggest that they send me a check not for $150, but for only $125. "Why", I asked incredulously, "would I cover $25 of damage your crew caused after just writing you a check for over a hundred times that amount?!" Todd replied curtly, "Well, it doesn't hurt to ask — I'll send your check."

On the contrary, Todd, it does hurt to ask. You just lost the business I'd intended to give you for the upstairs of my house.

Gavin and Rapunzel

2007-07-15T09:34:00.002-04:00

Aidan was having an off morning with his basketball routine, only hitting 20% of his 15-footers instead of his normal 80%. So I started playing guitar and singing a made-up song to try to encourage him not to get frustrated when he missed his shots. While doing so, I was reminded of a song I composed and sang to Gavin when he was just a baby. Here are the lyrics.

The Ballad of Gavin and Rapunzel
by: C. Michael Pilato, December 10, 2003

It was a late hour / When Gavin approached the castle with a flower. / It was a late hour / When he tried to save Rapunzel from the tower. / But a witch was waiting there / When he climbed that rope of hair. / And she warned Prince Gavin his vision would fade / And that she'd banished fair Rapunzel far away.

It was a dark minute / When Gavin's flight the witch tried to inhibit. / It was a dark minute / When he toppled toward the thornbush and fell down in it. / As the witch had prophesied, / The thorns tore into his eyes. / And so in blindness Prince Gavin did roam / Miles and miles away from his princely home.

It was a grand second in their lives / When Gavin's face Rapunzel thought she recognized. / It was a grand second in their lives / When stumbling through the desert he heard her beckon through her cries. / And all of those painful years / Washed away in Rapunzel's tears. / Then all of their sorrows turned to laughter again / And they lived happily ever after. The End.

I admit the subject matter is a little advanced for a six-month-old. We haven't made a habit of exposing our boys to graphic storytelling or anything.

Oh, wait. That's not true. We do read them the Bible...

South Mountains State Park

2007-05-29T09:33:00.000-04:00

South Mountains State Park has been a favorite day-trip destination of mine for about fifteen years. We took the family up there today (Memorial Day) for some hiking and escape from daily life. Well, Amy, Gavin and I were doing all the hiking; Aidan had it easy. Nothing says, "I love you, son" like strapping him into a backpack frame carrier and toting his extra thirty pounds of weight a half-mile to the base of a waterfall, 150 steps straight up to the top of the falls, then a mile back around and down to the starting point again. And nothing says, "You need some exercise, man" like the pounding heart and heavy breathing that hits you about 100 steps into that bottom-to-top climb portion of the trip. Were those vultures circling overhead, or was I imagining things?

Happy B-day, AJ!

2007-04-22T02:32:00.000-04:00

On this your second birthday, Aidan, I find myself looking at the journal entry for your first birthday to see what's changed. "Cars, trains, and anything spherical" it reads. So based on that, you might say nothing has changed over the last half of your life.

Fortunately, you are so much more than what you like to play with. Your personality continues to shine. I can't even count the number of restaurants and other establishments where people know you and your brother as "the cutest kids", your eyebrow flirtations and toothy smile among the most memorable displays of said cuteness. Your speech improves daily. Your manners are incredible and natural and seem tenderly genuine. You have a bit of a tendency to react to displeasure with swinging fists, but also have a bit of a tendency to react to most things with smiles and hugs and love.

Your favorite indoor toy is at the moment actually shifting a little bit from the basketball goal to vehicles—you seem especially pleased with the Thomas the Tank Engine train/flashlight that Gavin got you for your birthday. Outdoors, you and the bubble mower are nearly inseparable. And recently you've developed a love of music, too. I mean, you've always liked singing, but now you beg for the chance to watch a Cedarmont Kids music video or listen to a Little Peoples music CD. You even like watching Barney, but prefer to skip to the end for the "I Love You" song. You are comfortable around the folks we are most often around at home or church, and count all such folks among your biggest fans.

You, my son, are a natural charmer. You've stolen my and your mother's hearts.

Happy Birthday, buddy.

The beach, in perspective

2007-03-05T09:31:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Amy and I took the kids down to Myrtle Beach. This was one of those things that, as a father, I've been looking forward to for the entirety of my sons' lives — their first time seeing the ocean.

We had a fantastic time, despite the weather being a little cold. (We had no greater expectations — it's the "off-peak" season for a reason, after all.) Shopping for hotels online is never fun. You see those photos showing the sparkling clean rooms and well-tanned über-family in Cleaveresque bliss, but you know those pictures were snapped ten years ago before the place begin to rot and crumble in the sea air. Stil, we placed our bets on the Avista Resort, and were thoroughly pleased with the place.

Oddly, though, upon reflecting back on my boys' reactions to the beach, I find that it doesn't really match what I'd expected. See, you say "beach", and Amy and I tend to think about water as far as the eye can see, touched only by the sky and offering no reason whatsoever to believe that there's anything but more water beyond what's visible. And as a bonus, it's bordered on the near side by beautiful, white, super-fine-grained sand.

But not to my boys. To them, the beach is a most enormous and wonderful sandbox they've ever played in. And it happens to have some (cold) water on one side, too.

To Santa, from Gavin

2006-12-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

Today, Gavin wrote his first letter to Santa. Actually, it was his first letter to anyone. Amy told him to start with "Dear Santa", and then asked how he would ask someone for the things he wanted. He responded with a polite request for two things. Then he put pencil to paper and started writing, sounding out the words with minimal help from mom. The result was beautiful:

DER SANTU, MA I HAV A TREX AND A BEL PLES. LUV, GAVIN

(Translation: Dear Santa, may I have a T-Rex and a bell, please. Love, Gavin)

Why?

2006-11-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

Or should I say, "What for?"

Yep, Gavin has reached "that stage". You know, the one where every description and directive provoke him to question the reasons and purpose behind them.

"Hey, Gavin. Can you take Mommy's shoes over to her?"

"What for?"

"Hm?" (I am biased against that particular phrase.)

"Oops. Sorry, Daddy. I mean, 'Why?'"

"Because she needs to put them on her feet."

I wish I could claim that that's really how all these exchanges go, but that would unfortunately be dishonest. I mean, generally I have a meaningful answer for him. And, even better, my plan to respond to "Why?" with "Can you think of a good reason?" — encouraging my boy to try to think through things just a bit before calling for help — has a hope of actually working. But today I actually did it. I said the thing I wanted never to say: "Because I asked you to." I mean, it's not exactly the same as "Because I said so", but I'm not fooling anyone here. I said The Phrase. I'm so ashamed.

Aidan is picking up more words, and starting to build phrases. This would be truly helpful if he actually spoke English instead of Old Aidanese. Oh well. Between Amy, Gavin and myself, we can typically figure out what the general notion of his somewhat less-than-precise babblings are. And of course, there's the cuteness value of it all.

But on an entirely different note, I just found something in my attic that's not so cute, and that I'm fairly certain shouldn't be there — several small, dead, animals (possibly bats… not sure) and a snakeskin.

And so it's my turn: "What for?!"

A day in the high country

2006-08-28T02:28:00.000-04:00

Today was an incredible day.

It began much like every other day. The whole family was awake, up and about by 8:30am or so (okay, so that's new—I'm sorry to say that I usually sleep in until later). Cereal for breakfast. No real plans for the day. It was just another Saturday in the making.

But then something deviated from the normal path. I can't even remember now how it happened, but one minute we're downstairs doing much of nothing, and the next we were in the car, toting ourselves, some bottled waters, and a frame backpack kid carrier towards the North Carolina mountains. We were embarking on our first agenda-less little mini-getaway since our move to this state almost exactly a year ago.

[Sidebar: holy moly! It's been a year already. In, like, three days, we will have been non-residents of Illinios for a whole year. Where (besides house-hunting and setting-up) did it all go?!]

We left the house around 10:15 or so, with Linville Caverns as our target. Gavin seemed thoroughly intrigued by this cavern concept, referring multiple times throughout the day to "going underground". Around 11, Aidan fell asleep in the car, and caught a much-needed 45-minute nap. We grabbed lunch at a Wendy's about 15 miles away from the caverns, and then made our way to the site. In all, the trip took about three hours.

After parking, we transferred all our stuff into the kid carrier. (This turned out to be a mistake, as we were later informed that there'd be no room for that carrier in the caverns.) We hung around for a little while before entering the caverns, trying to let the boys see the nearby creek and boulders and such, snapping some photos, etc. The caverns were cool (literally, and figuratively). Gavin enjoyed walking around in there, and was surprisingly obedient to the no-touching rule that our guide, Candice, laid down. Aidan didn't seem to mind the experience either, save for the bit where total darkness is experienced. But he calmed down when I spoke gently into his ear, and when I let him walk back to the cavern entrance, he seemed to completely forget that momentary fright. And then as quickly as the tour began, it was over.

It was now only about 2:30pm. Me being the type of person who loves to cram a day full of activities, and loves being out-of-town (even when I have nothing against the town), we just started driving deeper into the mountains. I was hoping to do a little hiking—by golly, I brought that kid carrier, and it was gonna get used! Fortunately, Linville Falls is quite close to the caverns, and offers a hike to the falls that's less than a mile round-trip. Amy was cool with the idea, the boys were in good moods, so we took the opportunity.

Hiking to and from the falls was fun. With Aidan loaded onto my back, and Gavin helping Amy down the trail (or maybe it was the other way around...), we made it down there in pretty good time, and without too much work. We spent a little time at the viewing point, just taking it all in. Gavin and I took more in than we were really supposed to, hopping over the ropes to climb around on the rocks closer to the water. It just can't be helped—God built this world to be enjoyed, and I want my boys to experience the same thrill that I get when actually touching nature beyond the safety of man's well-manicured little walkways. In all, we probably spent only 20 minutes or so at the falls, then began the return hike. Gavin was in a silly mood, and Aidan wanted to walk, so this time Gavin and I paired up (with Gavin energetically leading the way), and Amy and Aidan walked hand-in-hand behind us. Some fellow hikers even remarked about Gavin, "That's one tough little guy." I beamed. And Aidan—wow—four-tenths of a mile, uphill the whole way, and he walked every bit of it!

Figuring there was still a little more to be squeeze out of this day, we continued up Highway 221 toward Boone. We passed Grandfather Mountain, but decided against stopping. Besides, Aidan was grabbing another quick snooze at the time. We ate dinner at a little homestyle cooking place in Boone itself, and then headed home. With two sleepy boys (Gavin hadn't napped all day), the return trip wasn't the most peaceful thing. But eventually we made it, and the trip ended in characteristic Pilato style—with Gavin serenading the bunch of us. Tonight's feature: a tortured mishmash of "The Wheels on the Bus", the alphabet song (as delivered by Tad et al on a LeapPad DVD Gavin owns), and "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea", that included such verses as, "The horse on the bus says 'Move on back, move on back, move on back' ... The log in the hole goes bump, bump, bump ... Every letter makes a sound ..."

Today was an incredible day.

Home ownership, defined

2006-08-14T09:28:00.000-04:00

In a word—or non-word, as it turns out—home ownership has much to do with being anti-Nature. Not, like, "Nature's no good" or "I hate Nature", but more like, "Why can't Mother Nature keep her kids in line? What kind of mother is she, anyway?!"

Okay, I admit that I'm just a little battle worn. Nursing a pair of matching beestings, each strategically placed equidistant from the poison ivy sores in their respective locales, I am quite literally itching to finish ripping out seven ugly bushes that line the back of our home and harass passers-by with their leafy tentacles. To Nature's great credit, reproduction is her strong suit—these suckers shoot their root systems every which way, popping up little micro-bushes all over the place. And not just all over the easy-to-excavate place, either. No, we're talking about under and around such interesting artifacts as the main cable, television, and electrical trunk lines to the house.

Mike pauses to scratch.

Anyway, I'm starting to get the hang of it. Four down, three to go. Another six hours in direct 98-degree blistering sunlight, sweat dripping uninhibited down my buzzed head (I have recently realized one of the benefits that a non-trivial amount of hair provides), and I'll be free of those bushes.

Then I can move on to the other 2,371 home ownership responsibilities.

Ahem. Home at last, I said

2006-05-15T09:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's true that way back in March, we finally closed on a home purchase. But now it's mid-May, and last night we actually all slept in the house for the first time. See, we've been really busy as of late. I've had a bunch of business travel. And we're just now starting to realize that from March to June, there are a thousand different birthdays and anniversaries in our close family to celebrate. Plus, we wanted to replace the carpet in the home before move-in, and we wanted to drive screws through the floor boards before the carpet came in, and … well, you get the point.

But now, at long last, we can really say it—we're home.

One down, many to go

2006-04-22T02:24:00.000-04:00

Aidan reached an exciting milestone today—the first anniversary of his birth. Yep, an entire year of craziness has passed since he was born. With the relocation and house hunt and colic and business trips and living in a temporary place, it's a wonder that any of us remains to tell the story. In fact, I've been in Monterey on business since Wednesday, but arranged to leave early from the CollabNet 2006 Engineering Offsite so that I could get back in time to say "Happy Birthday" in person to my boy. We're thrilled to have reached this milestone, and thank God for our wonderful second child.

It's really interesting to contrast who Aidan is at age one versus who Gavin was at that age (and to some degree, remains). The two are just completely different souls. Gavin was making strong, focused attempts at a handful of real words; Aidan is much more vocal, babbling incessantly with mostly nonsense sounds. Gavin was content to sit and play alone with one thing for long periods of time; Aidan is always moving, always redirecting his focus. He doesn't hold things but long enough to wind up and pitch them across the room. Cars, trains, and anything spherical—that's where Aidan's attention is.

Nothing drove these differences home to Amy and I more than our recent attempt at buying birthday gifts for Aidan. We admitted from the start that non-first children are disadvantaged because parents don't want to buy perfectly good toys that the child might like if the child's older siblings already have those toys. They are further disadvantaged when those older siblings aren't keen on sharing those toys! But the work we put into this shopping trip was much less an artifact of the available options being superficially minimized than it was the result of our two boys just being so different. But different is good; different is cool. Is it more challenging to us as parents? Sure. But I think in the end it's more rewarding, too.

Home at last!

2006-03-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

It's finally here. That day. The one where we (again) sign our lives away into the servitude of a financial institution. We've closed on a new home. She's a fine girl, in her late teens. And as a full-brick structure with 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and a bonus room across 2600 square feet, you might say she's got a … "healthy" build.

At any rate, we couldn't be happier about seeing this long search come to an end in such a pleasing way, and are thanking God as often as this wonderful thought crosses our minds. Hats off to our realtor, Donnie Icenhour of New Carolina Homes realty, for putting up with us for as long as he did!

The house hunt (hopefully) ends

2006-01-27T09:24:00.000-05:00

Today we got some fantastic news—our offer on a home here in Harrisburg was accepted. We're going to have a new residence soon! Obviously, there are plenty of things to be done between here and there, what with inspections and appraisals and loan applications and … you know, lots of paperwork. But Amy and I are so incredibly excited about this home. Land, location, and low taxes—what a magnificent find!

The house hunt begins

2005-10-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

We've finally begun looking for a new house in the Charlotte area. Well, technically, we're looking in the Cabarrus Country area, which is immediately north and east of Charlotte. Fortunately we aren't really pushed for time in this process, so we have the luxury of going about the whole thing with considerably less stress than could have been involved. But we're kinda hoping that we'll be in our home by the time Winter hits—you know, destroy (again) the nice routines Gavin and Aidan have just settled into.

Sold!

2005-07-27T09:22:00.000-04:00

After five days on the market, it seems we're under contract for the sale of our home. That's rather cool, don't you think?

Moving along

2005-07-22T09:22:00.000-04:00

Five and a half years ago, Amy and I had one of those "firsts"—we bought our first home. Today, we had another one as that first home went on the market for sale. The basic plan involves relocating back to North Carolina. We've not worked out the finer details yet, and are fortunately not under any sort of time constraint to do so, but, you know, it feels newsworthy.

Aidan just crossed the three-months-old milestone. Gavin is, of course, fully two years old and then some. And their parents? Tired, a little wacky, and phbbrt amblen jaconisygna. Fortunately Amy's best friend, Beth, is visiting this week, doing far too much to help us ready the home and bring calm to our pair of wee-n-wild ones.

Welcoming Aidan

2005-04-21T09:18:00.000-04:00

At 12:58pm today, Amy gave birth to our second son, Aidan Joseph Pilato. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz., and stretched to 19 inches long. The birth itself was a complete success, with Amy rockin' the whole time. A mere 45 minutes of pushing was all it took (though we were hoping for 46 so she could match Gavin's 12:59 delivery time).

So, Aidan, welcome to "the outside world." And we completely understand if you find yourself wanting to go back in.

Our luck has just completely changed

2005-01-22T09:16:00.000-05:00

Amy and I ordered some Chinese delivery tonight. Excellent food (we tried a new place), and a decent price. After the meal we were doing the fortune cookie thing. The place gave us four cookies, which was cool, because we have four family members. I opened my cookie first.

"Nothing is more beautiful than the smile of a loved one."

After smiling at me, Amy opened hers.

"It is more wise to listen to advice than to give it."

Next, Amy opened one for Gavin, letting him pull the paper out of the cookie.

"A wise person cares not for what he cannot have, but what he can achieve."

Finally, I opened the one for The Unnamed Child. We decided to let Gavin pull the paper out of this one, too, telling him to get the fortune for his brother. Well, unfortunately, the paper ripped, leaving half of the fortune still in the cookie. After breaking that half of the cookie, I tried to pull the rest of the fortune out, but it ripped into two more pieces. Finally, we were able to assemble the three pieces.

"Your luck has just completely changed."

Hrm. For the worse, it would seem….

Oops, we did it again!

2004-12-15T09:15:00.000-05:00

It's apparently a boy. It's allegedly due April 27, 2005. And it's amazing news.

Where did summer go?

2004-10-10T09:14:00.000-04:00

We spent as much of this weekend outside as possible. Gavin now walks around in his shoes with confidence, even on rough(-ish) terrain. Confidence, mind you, not so much gracefulness, but then we all take our share of tumbles in life. Actually, in the last week or so he's begun moving at rate that might just qualify as "running". We think this is a good thing, but will reserve judgment until the cold hits in a couple of months and we're all trapped indoors. In Chicagoland, Autumn doesn't last for long (it's the shortest of our three seasons). And so we'll be squeezing in as much outdoor time as possible, as our boy never grows tired of going out the "doh" to "guh" play "ah-hide" ("door", "play", "outside", for those requiring translation).

That was a fast year

2004-06-04T09:13:00.000-04:00

This morning at 12:59 a.m., Gavin completed his first official calendar year of life outside the womb. As I reflect on the year, I'm amazed at how much less than a year it feels like. And I'm frightened that some measurable percentage of the time I have with my son is already expired—my computer-obsessed mind visualizing the progress meter crossing the 5% mark. God, let me waste no more moments worrying about how many moments I have left.

Amy and I spent hours this week watching video footage from when Gavin was between three and seven months old, chuckling about the differences (mostly in appearance) between the extremes. These days, though, his growth is mostly related to dexterity and language—precisely placing Fisher Price™ stacking rings; open and closing doors and drawers; saying "mama", "dada", correctly answering questions about the sounds that cars, dogs, cows, lambs, and donkeys make, uttering near-hits for "bye-bye" and "more", as well as not-so-near-hits for "down" and "bottle". Yesterday he even took his first few unassisted steps between Mommy and Daddy. He's smart enough to stay on the exact opposite side of the papasan when we chase him around it, recognizes the dull grinding noise of the garage door opener (which sends him searching and calling for Daddy, typically), and knows exactly where to crawl when Mommy says, "Let's go change your diaper."

Despite the number of times we heard how great it was to watch kids grow, we weren't prepared for it being this great. So happy birthday, son. Your mother and I love you very much.

Milestones

2004-05-02T09:13:00.000-04:00

Last week was wonderful. I began last weekend with a move of the CollabNet office to the fabulous Monadnock Building. Then, our family spent the beginning of the week in the St. Louis area, where we were able to relax and enjoy the company of Amy's extended family. Amy's three paternal aunts even watched Gavin for us so we could have an evening to celebrate six years of marriage (dealing with runaway mushrooms and sleeping parking garage attendants, even). Gavin was wonderful on the trip, and when we returned home, he continued to impress us with newfound skills—starting to stand unsupported, giving kisses, and trying out new vocal terrain. And as if that wasn't exciting enough, Amy added another year to the count of her age!

Finally (x2)

2004-03-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

Two long-awaited and exciting things have finally occured:

Gavin has begun to crawl. We suspect he's been practicing in his crib in the wee hours of the night, but he recently he decided it was time to demo his new-found skills. Our house now sports a stylish new baby gate.
My co-authors and I have handed Version Control with Subversion off to our editor, in whose hands the rough stone will become a work of art.

Subversion 1.0 ships

2004-02-24T09:04:00.000-05:00

Subversion—the software on which Mike spends 30% of his time working—officially released its 1.0 version yesterday. The announcement was actually leaked a day early to Slashdot (News for Nerds), so in the past couple of days, Subversion's web servers have been hammered with visits by folks interested in the product. In fact, there were over 118000 visits to the web server which houses Version Control with Subversion, the book I'm co-writing!

Holiday wrap-up

2004-01-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays have come and gone. The season officially ended as we strolled out of Cafe Le Coq this evening with my co-workers and their families. What a great way to return to Chicagoland! Earlier this week, we returned from a three-week vacation to North Carolina, complete with snow-hindered driving through Tennessee, much-needed time spent with our families, and of course, Gavin's first Christmas. And so we begin a new year. I wonder what it holds…