The Evolution of the Levy's Tree

16 inches

24 inches

54 inches

Over the past few years, our X-mas tree seems to be getting larger and larger. Based on this growth, I project that in 10 years we should have something roughly the size of the tree at Rockefeller Center!

Posted YourTravelShow #3

Click here to go to the site and have a listen!

The Legend of Hanukkah Harry

Alex is a non-believer so I am trying to show her that I'm not making this stuff up!

A day at the Gymnastics Center

Uh, ok... Sam can read! Who knew?!?!?!

So, Carrie is sitting at the kitchen table reading her Bible (People Magazine) and Sam gets up on her lap and points to the page and says "that's IN". Carrie looks down and sure enough she is pointing to the word "in". OK, maybe it's just a fluke. Very funny coincidence. Right? Wrong!

Next she points down to the page and says "that's ON" and sure enough she is pointing right to the word "on"!

I have been working with her on and off reading Dr. Suess's Hop on Pop, but she really didn't take to it the way Alex did. We also do alphabet flashcards, but she gets bored easily and starts to goof off. I guess in Pre-K, they are learning letter combinations at the same time they are learning letters!

Now if Carrie were only reading something worthwhile...

I'm amazed as what 10 years olds know about the Electoral College

Alex and her friend Alanna were doing homework together the night of the election and I was so impressed with the detailed information they knew regarding our political system.

Not only did they know much about the Democratic and Republican candidates, but they also knew about the electoral college. The were particularly interested in who was going to win California since they both knew how many electoral votes it represented.

They were also using my computer to play with the political maps so they they could change the outcome of the election by changing the color of the states. They were so entertained by it!

I was really impressed since at that age I was more interested in cartoons and comic books!

I'm calling it!

He's at 207 at this moment and with 75 votes from CA, OR and WA very (very) likely going to Obama, it looks like he's locked in the 270 and then some. Very refreshing election compared to the disaster of 2000 and the closeness of 2004.

I wouldn't call it a landslide, but it's a comfortable lead for sure!

Sophie's birthday party at Sweet and Sassy

Usually I don't allow any Sass when it pertains to the kids, but in this case I'll make an exception.

Beth and Steve's daughter Sophie had her 4th birthday party at Sweet and Sassy (a beauty salon for kids) in Pittsford, NY.

Looks like they all had a great time and came home with enough glitter on so that they could glow in the dark!

Why no posts?

Well, the posts are coming soon. I have Birthdays and Halloween pictures to put up, but I have been so busy getting my new Podcast up and running so I have had little spare time to post Blog updates.

I also have been updating my Twitter site regularly with political notes and links so between that and everything else, my energy is tapped!

The new Podcast is a travel show for people who travel all over the country and the world to leave trip report messages on my special phone line and then my Podcasting partner and I listen and make comments. We did one Pilot episode and then recorded the real Show #1 a few days ago. I am waiting for the folks at iTunes to approve my submission and then the show will be available on line and on iTunes.

My good friend Steve Wehner from my In-Seitz days created this phenomenal graphic for the show. I sent him a mockup and without even being asked, he sent me back the design you see above. The guy is really beyond gifted. Thanks Steve!

For more info, go to www.yourtravelshow.net.

I don't know if claptrap is any better than Drivel...

In fact I know "claptrap" is not nearly as good as drivel, but I recently realized that I had ripped off a friend's website name by using "The Drivel" and totally forgot where I got the idea from.

Not wanting to completely rip off a friend's' great idea, this blog shall now be known as "The Claptrap". Doesn't have as nice of a ring, but maybe it will grow on me.

Palin on SNL the beginning of the end

After watching Sarah Palin on SNL last night, my reaction was that this is clearly a sign that her 15 minutes of fame is almost over.

A couple more weeks aught to do it...

This just about says it all:

Happy 4th Birthday Samantha!

Today is the big day and here's a picture of the birthday girl enjoying her birthday doughnut!

Caught!

Cleo was caught in the act of eating Sam's breakfast today...

Bad Kitty.

"This toy is freaking me out"

Carrie said that she and Sam were on their way home from Wendy's picking up dinner and Sam said to her, "this toy is freaking me out"!

Carrie said, "what did you say"?

Sam replied, "this toy is freaking me out".

Carrie said, "ok well we can throw it in the garbage".

Sam replied, "it's ok, I'll give it to Alex".

Sam is really starting to show signs of being 4!

Ocean city pictures in Slideshow mode:

See below for the link to the full size pictures.

Those waves can really sneak up on you!

Here are some of the pictures from our 2009 Trip to Ocean City, MD.

Enjoy!

If you have trouble clicking on the link above, here is the address: http://picasaweb.google.com/sclevy30/OceanCity0902#

The vlog posting you've all been waiting for:

Alex documents my opening and tasting of the Bud light and Clamato drink called a Chelada!

Sorry for the shaky cam work but she's only 9.

Reenie the budding photographer

Here are a couple of shots Reenie took on our little trip to the 1000 Islands over the weekend. We went to Alexandria Bay on Saturday and then stayed in Kingston overnight. Came back Sunday. It was a quick trip, but Mom and Reenie have never been to Kingston and had never gone into Boldt castle before, so that was nice for them to see.

I cropped the shots and straightened them out a little bit, but other than that, they are "as is". I'll spare you the other 80 shots. I get a little seasick just looking at them.

Is there a decent beach near Rochester?

As shocking as this may sound, we had a great day at the beach about 45 minutes east of Rochester in Sodus, NY! The weather was great, the water was comfortable and it wasn't crowded at all. In fact, there was plenty of room to spread out, play catch or build a sand castle. The other kid in the shot is Alex's pal Alana.

The only down-side was that there was quite a bit of seaweed all over when you got out of the water and the little foot shower wasn't really doing the job. A bit on the yucky side, but not a show stopper.

Here's a link the the rest of the shots.

I Was Wrong!

All this time I thought that there was a NYS law that stated that no child under 12 years old could sit in the front seat of a car... well I did the research and the truth is the following:

Taken from SafeNY.com

Are children required by law to sit in the back seat?

Although New York does not have a law preventing children from sitting in the front seat, it is highly recommended that all children age 12 and under ride properly restrained in the back seat. Researchers estimate that just by putting a child in the back seat instead of the front seat reduces the chance of injury and death by more than 30%.

Scott gets a Tattoo!

See it here!

Taughannock Falls - Ithaca, NY

The girls and I took a day trip to beautiful Ithaca NY to see Taughannock Falls. It was really breathtaking and almost shocking to see we have such beauty right in our own back yard. I'd say it's as nice as Letchworth, if not nicer!

Click here to see the rest of the pictures!

Happy 4th of July!

Carrie and Alex are heading to Chicago to visit Corinna, Rodrigo and the kiddies so it will just be daddy and Sammy hangin out for the next three days! Yippee!!!

We'll probably go to some 4th of July Carnival, but I'm not sure where yet. Don't know if Sam is going to be able to stay up for fireworks or not, but we may give it a shot.

Be safe. Have fun!

Scott Launches His Midlife Crisis Site

Here's a link to the planning site for my trip next year across country on Historic Route 66. I will be posting my trip ideas, route and schedule for my big trip.

Check it out!

Cooking with Samantha!

Hey there,

Why not hit the play button below to see what interesting concoction Samantha is cooking up today!

Ally on Ally

Welcome to Episode #1 of the Allycast. In this episode, Ally gets to know her very special guest.

This may be the only episode of the series, so don't miss what could very well be the series finale!

Click the play button to watch.

Last but not least of my Blogger triple play...

Alex is learning all about what people went through when they immigrated from Europe one hundred years ago. She's currently on a boat for 14 days coming from Wales heading to Ellis Island and is in the 3rd class section.

I have another kid too. There's a shot of her too just for fun.

Triple Play part 2

Here's number 2 of my 3 postings:

Here's a couple shots of Alex from her last concert of the school year.

She played violin as well as sang in the chorus... a girl of many talents!

p.s. I need a new camera.

Blogger triple play...

OK, I've been a little negligent on my blogging lately so I'm going to make up for it with 3 postings right in a row...

The first of my entires is going to be of my trip to New Orleans last weekend. It was a quick trip (of course), but I got a lot done in a very short amount of time. Basically all of my vacations end of being some sort of sprint to get everything in. Needless to say, they are never a marathon of relaxation.

Here's the list of what I accomplished in 2 days: saw some of the remnants of Katrina, drove a Harley Davidson Electraglide to Biloxi along the Gulf shore, ate catfish, pulled pork, crawfish etouffee and mustard greens, saw the French Quarter and drank 3 hurricanes on Bourbon St. (also had a shot of grain alcohol thanks to Matt).

Here's a link to my pictures.

N-joy!

Lovely Rochester Weather

We've had one of the best Aprils I can remember, but it looks like April is going out like a lion.

Here's some video of a very nice hail storm that dropped quarter size hail for about 10 minutes.

Resistence is futile...

Greg and Kimmie Moens just bought two 8 Gig iPod Touches!

Heh heh heh... 2 more victims have been added to the Apple collective. And what's worse is that they already had an iPod mini!

It must have been a very tight contest between the iPod Touch and the Microsoft Zune!

I don't think the Moens could be classified as Apple Drones yet, but I think Kimmie could be fully assimilated at some point in the future (maybe when it's time to buy a new Desktop PC perhaps).

Resistence, is futile!

Beer and Clamato Juice - Finally!!!!!!!!

The geniuses at Anheuser-Busch have finally come up with a drink we can all enjoy: Beer, Tomato Juice and the always refreshing taste of Clams!

It's a flat, pink, salty and briney beverage that can't fail! Just the description alone made Carrie gag in disgust.

Genius.

Hooray for Sammy!

She's finally started to go to the bathroom on the potty! We're still only good with #1, but #2 can"t be far behind.

Get it? Far behind...

Sorry, just a little bathroom humor. Very little.

OK, it's time to get political...

So I just read that Obama won Wyoming. I was hoping that wasn't going to happen. I happen to prefer Hillary over Obama and this win may be her first real nail in her Presidential bid coffin. It's not that I don't like Barack and I love Hillary... that's not it at all. I just want the democrats to be back in the White House and I'd rather see her (and Bill) there than him. McCain seems like a decent guy, war hero and all, but the sound bite of him saying he doesn't care if we're in Iraq for a thousand years is bordering on criminal!

On top of the fact that I think Hillary would be a hard worker and a decent leader, I just don't think Barack is electable. Nobody really knows a whole lot about him and most people you speak to on the street agree that he sounds like a good speaker, but that's all they know of him. That's simply not a great reason to put someone in office.

OK, that's the end of my political rant for now. One last thing for you to remember, when Clinton lied, nobody died.

Sammy's tattoo

Here's a quick video of Sam getting her first airbrush tattoo. I'm sure it is only a matter of time until she asks me for a real one!

Quick trip to see Mickey:

We took the girls to Orlando for a quick trip to see Mickey and Friends for a couple days with Carrie's Dad (Alan). It was a good time and the weather was great. Could have been a couple degrees warmer for my tastes, but I'll take lower 70's in early February anyday!

Click here to see the rest of the pictures.

FedEx makes it to the Top 20 Most Admired Companies:

Originally, there was an article in Fortune Magazine with FedEx being ranked in the top 100 best places to work for, but a few days later Greg looked at the list and did not see FedEx on it at all. Not sure what happened there, but a quick search showed that we came up in the top 20 most admired companies. I guess that's not a bad place to be either. Here's a link to the article.

Let's hope this one stays up for more than a few days!

Oh, by the way... guess who's number one?

Heh heh heh...

Alex makes her first basket!

Alex made her first 2 pointer in her game yesterday at Churchville-Chili School!

Ok, the team still lost, by 1 point in the last 10 seconds of the game.

But still... way to go Al!!!