August 12, 2007

Day's Nine and Ten August 11th and 12th, 2007

Day Nine August 11th, 2007

This morning Robyn and I ate a very late breakfast at IHOP and then did some shopping. We lounged around for the rest of the afternoon and then went to Mama Guzzardi's to meet Laurie and her boyfriend Bill for dinner. I wrote a brief review of the place here: RepBuzz.com.

We had a great time and some great food! Robyn and I went back to my place to watch Charlotte's Web, but then just decided to relax and do some reading.

Day Ten August 12th, 2007

A nice relaxing morning followed by a fabulous rib dinner at Mom and Dad's with Laurie and Bill. I helped Robyn pack and we were off to the airport. They were boarding as soon as we got there. We said our very sad good byes, and she boarded the plane. I went home to eat some dinner and wait for her call. She called about 30 minutes ago and she is fine. She'll call again later.

We had a wonderful week, that seemed much longer. We are hoping to plan a trip for November or December, but we are restricted by my lack of vacation time. We shall see.

Posted by Mike at 6:16 PM | Comments (3)

August 11, 2007

Day's Four through Eight August 6th - 10th, 2007

Day Four August 6th 2007

I awoke this morning, deflated and folded the Aerobed, and ate breakfast. Robyn woke up not too long after that and we both packed for our trip to Canton. Since our plane wasn’t due to leave until 7:11 p.m. we decided to eat a late lunch. We went to Paisans, one of our favorite places, as always it was wonderful! I had the Chicken Rosa and Robyn had the Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce. We stopped at the Hallmark store on the way back to her house. Her Mom came home and then her Dad, we did some last minute checking and then all piled into the car to go to Logan Airport. Our flight was fluctuating between an hour and an hour and a half late. It only ended up being an hour late. When we got there, there was a HUGE line at Airtran’s check-in. We already had our boarding passes, but we still had to wait way too long. Once past that mess, we breezed right through security and began to wait for the plane. I was listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on my iPod and Robyn was reading Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. She’s decided to read the whole series, and she already owned and had read part of the first book. Our plane arrived at the newly scheduled time and the flight went just fine. We arrived at the Akron/Canton Airport and Mom and Dad were there waiting for us. It’s always nice to see smiling faces when you get off of a plane.  It was late so we got settled in and then we all went to bed.

Day Five August 7th 2007

Robyn and I had whole grain waffles for breakfast and lounged around for most of the morning. Then we went to the library and returned a movie I had, and then went to my parent’s house for lunch. We had a very nice deli lunch and had a nice time chatting. After that Robyn and I went to Wal-Mart, Gander Mountain, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, looking for a mask and snorkel, because we were going with the family to Lakeside the next day and I want to snorkel with my cousin Jim. We found nothing at Wal-Mart, expensive stuff at Dick’s, and just what I wanted at Gander Mountain, though Dick’s did have a better selection. We went back to my place and together cooked a nice meal of Hamburger Stroganoff and Corn. It’s one of my favorite things to make and Robyn loved it. She even ate the mushrooms and she hates mushrooms! We settled down to watch The Bourne Identity. I’ve seen it many times, but Robyn hadn’t seen it before. Since we had seen The Bourne Ultimatum and she loved that we decided to watch the first two. We watched a few of the extras, but Robyn was falling asleep, so I took her back to my parent’s house. I helped her pack for Lakeside and then went home and packed myself.

Day Six August 8th 2007

Lakeside! I awoke, showered, dressed and drove to my parent’s house to meet everyone to go to Lakeside. Jim, Cindy, and Kayla were already up in the area visiting friends and Mom and Uncle Bob drove up together, so it was just Robyn, Laurie, Dad, and I driving up together. We had a nice drive up; we talked and listened to music, and just had a really fun time. We met everyone at The Marina Del Isle and had a very nice lunch before driving to Lakeside. We got to Lakeside around 1:00 p.m. and learned that our rooms weren’t ready yet, it was no fault of the hotel’s, they had been full the night before and the rooms weren’t actually scheduled to be ready until 3. We all went out to sit on the porch and wait for our rooms. Robyn and I decided to go for a walk. We went and looked at a couple of shops down near the water, and then walked all the way down to the north gate, then up to Fourth Street and then back towards the hotel. Our rooms were ready so we got our keys and went up. Robyn, Mom, and Laurie stayed in room 601 on the third floor. Dad, Uncle Bob, and I stayed in room 533 on the second floor, with Jim, Cindy, and Kayla in an adjoining room, 533A, the whole thing was a suite. We all had room keys, but Laurie, Mom, and Robyn all had to share one. (Maintenance was supposed to be making more, but I’m writing this on our last night and we haven’t seen one yet.) Now that we were settled in, Jim and I decided to Kayak down to some flat rocks past the north gate and do some snorkeling. We reached the rocks, went ashore, and put on our fins, masks, and snorkels. Then we tried not to kill ourselves on the rocks while actually getting in the water. The water was very refreshing, but the visibility was awful. We could barely see a few feet and sometimes less. Add to that the fact that my brand new mask didn’t seem to want to work with my mustache, and it turned into a rather short trip. We paddled back to shore and met up with the rest of the family, who had been swimming. We all went to The Patio for dinner and then to The Whistle-stop for ice cream. It was all very good. We decided that we would go to the Lakeside movie theater and see Ratatouille, but while we were shopping and waiting for the movie, all the power for the whole peninsula went out! It was out until around 10:40 p.m. It was incredibly hot and humid, so we all went out in the pier. There was a gentleman out there playing a fiddle, so we listened to him for a while and then just decided to go up to bed. Dad and I took ice cold showers and then tried to imagine we were cool until the power came back on.

Day Seven August 9th 2007

Grandma would have been 107 today. We started this tradition of going to Lakeside in August for her birthday while she was still alive. We continue it in her memory. Happy Birthday Grandma!

This morning I awakened to find everyone had gone downstairs. Robyn called and said they were going for donuts and coffee. I said I was going down to see what they had for the continental breakfast, as I shouldn’t eat donuts. Everyone joined me shortly and we all had a nice breakfast. We all relaxed for a while, it rained for a good part of the morning so there wasn’t much to do. Kayla wasn’t feeling well, so she slept a lot. We visited some shops and did some reading. We went to The Patio for lunch and then sat around and waited out the rain. Once the rain cleared up, Jim and I took the Kayaks and paddled about a quarter of the way to Kelly’s Island, it’s a pretty long paddle, and we didn’t have a lot of time. We returned, and I found Robyn reading on the porch of the hotel. Gradually we gathered together and then decided to go to Abigail’s Tea Room for dinner, and then off to the performance hall to see a wonderful guitarist named Pavlo. He and his band were a lot of fun. Afterwards we went back to The Patio for ice cream, out on the pier to eat it, and then back to the hotel for bed. That’s where I am right now, writing this on my laptop. There’s no internet at the hotel, but there is at The Coffee and Cream, a local coffee shop. I haven’t been there yet. I really brought my laptop along to charge mine and Robyn’s iPods, my cell phone, and to write these blog entries. We go home tomorrow so I will write another entry then and post all of these. Then Robyn and I have just Saturday and Sunday and she goes home Sunday afternoon. Neither one of us is looking forward to that as we will both be pretty busy with school till next year, and I have no vacation, so it will be quite a while till we see each other again. 

Day Eight August 10th 2007

We had another nice breakfast in the hotel. Kayla was feeling somewhat better so she came down to breakfast too. Since she was still feeling under the weather, she, Jim, and Cindy were going to leave a little early. We went up to our rooms, packed, and then lugged everything down to the cars. We said our goodbyes to Jim, Cindy, and Kayla and the remaining family members went to Sloopy’s for lunch, and then to Coffee and Cream for some ice cream and iced drinks. I wandered to a few of the nearby shops because I hadn’t found a souvenir yet. I found a nice shirt that says Lakeside on the front with a picture of a skeletal pirate, and on the back has more skeletal pirates and says “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!” We sat and soaked in some sun and then headed for the cars. We had a nice drive home. Laurie went off to meet her boyfriend Bill for dinner, and Robyn and I went to my place to watch The Bourne Supremacy and have some popcorn.

Posted by Mike at 8:56 AM | Comments (4)

August 5, 2007

Day Three August 05, 2007

Today was more of a lazy day. We mostly lounged around the house, only going out to go to lunch. Robyn and I wanted to go to a new Mexican restaurant, but it was closed so we went to the Chinese place next door. We got to watch an episode of Law and Order Special Victim's Unit while we were there. Fred Savage played the suspect. It was a very good episode. Robyn and I came back to her home and we began to watch Sweeney Todd, which she had never seen. We broke for an excellent dinner of the most delicious ribs. Yum! Then we watched a little more TV and then finished the movie. Now we are just relaxing.

I can't express how wonderful it is to be together. Well, I better get back to her.

Posted by Mike at 9:46 PM | Comments (4)

Day Two August 4th 2007 - Part Two (The Rest of The Day)

What a great day! We spent most of the morning relaxing and then around 2:00 p.m. we went out for a nice lupper at The 99. Robyn and I had the Honey BBQ Chicken Wrap and Ron and Joyce had seafood. Ron and I got the seafood chowder and Robyn got the clam chowder. Great food! After eating we went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, and it was simply amazing! I loved the first movie and really liked the second one too, but this one might actually be my favorite. It definitely made me want to go back and watch the first two again. It also made me want to go back and watch Sneakers again, though I wasn't sure why until I realized that David Strathairn was in it too!

After the movie we went back to their place and relaxed.

Another wonderful day!

Now lets see what's in store for today.

Posted by Mike at 6:34 AM | Comments (4)

August 4, 2007

Day Two August 4th 2007 - Part One (Waking up)

Went to bed way too late last night. I finally remembered, before going to bed, that there is a quick release valve at the bottom of the Aerobed and that is why it wasn't filling up. Once I locked that, it filled up very quickly. I was up too late and up too early. My internal clock seems to wake up at 5 or 6 regardless of when I went to bed. I'm sure I'll take an involuntary nap at some point today.

I'm sure Robyn will sleep until 8 or 9. I woke up at 6 or so and couldn't go back to sleep.

It's wonderful to be on vacation. We have absolutely no plans for today. We may watch a DVD tonight, but today, aside from Robyn needing to go to the bank, is wide open!

I'll post more later.

Posted by Mike at 6:49 AM | Comments (3)

August 3, 2007

Day One August 3rd 2007

I decided to blog each day of the trip this time. When we're at Lakeside we won't have Internet access (I don't think), but either I or Dad will have a laptop I'm sure, so I'll record my blogs and post them when I get home.

I went to work at 6 a.m. this morning. Work went smoothly today, and I was only 10 minutes past my goal of going home at 2 p.m. I got home, grabbed a few last minute items to throw in the suitcase, and took a quick shower. Mom and Dad arrived to pick me up at 3:20 p.m. and we were off to the airport. I barely had to wait at all, and the plane boarded on time, but we ended up getting to Boston 15 minutes late, then it took forever to get our luggage. Ron, Joyce, and Robyn picked me up at Logan and we went to Royals for dinner. Ron and I had the roast beef and Robyn and Joyce had the clam plate. Great food! We went back to their place for some coffee and now the Red Sox game is on. It's in Seattle so it comes on really late here. I just checked my email and decided to do a blog entry.

It's so wonderful to be with her again. Oh well, I better get back to her now, before she kicks me out.

Posted by Mike at 10:33 PM | Comments (3)

August 2, 2007

Stormy Weather?

Well, the weather could be interesting for the trip. I hope Lakeside is nice when we are there.

Posted by Mike at 7:29 AM | Comments (4)

June 19, 2007

Robyn's Visits, Work, Etc. - A Long Awaited Update

Well, I was recently chastised by Sally, and deservedly so, for not updating.

So here it is.

Work is going well. Goodyear just put out an RFP (Request For Proposal) for the printer contract. HP is one of 5 companies bidding for it and if they get it they are going to try to hire me, which would be nice. I still really enjoy my job, but I would really like to be able to explore my options as a more permanent member of the HP Team.

Robyn and I did a split trip in November/December. She came here for the first half of the trip and then we flew back to Boston for the trip. We had a wonderful time. Her family is so great, and my family just loves her.

Robyn also came to visit me at the end of May through the first part of June. She wanted to come for my birthday. What a great present!

We are planning another trip in August. I will fly there for the first half, then we will fly back here and go to Lakeside for a few days with Mom, Dad, Laurie, Jim, Cindy, Kayla, and Uncle Bob. I haven't been there since 2003 and Robyn has never been there so it will be great fun!

Oh, and I think I owe you all some new pictures.

So...without further ado!

Collected New Robyn Pics

Posted by Mike at 6:21 AM | Comments (8)

August 20, 2006

Robyn's Trip

Robyn's trip was wonderful. As always, it was too short. She flew back today. We are both sad, but we hope to see each other again around the holidays and we are going to continue to work on our wedding plans. If you click on the above image it will take you to all the pictures.

Posted by Mike at 7:24 PM | Comments (11)

July 20, 2006

Robyn pics from Laurie's Camera

Wow! My sister is the best! She found an old roll of film from May of 2005 and had them developed. There were four pictures of our trip to Boston, when my family met Robyn for the first time. Here they are in all their glory!

I love that last one. When you are in a long distance relationship, you rely so much on pictures and you forget lots of expressions. I love to watch her laugh.

Posted by Mike at 6:08 PM | Comments (10)

July 10, 2006

Robyn is coming to see me in August again!!

August 12th through the 20th, Robyn will be here. We are both a tad excited about it. We haven't seen each other since February when I proposed to her.

No news on the marriage front yet. She has two classes to finish, but keeps getting shut out of them. She finally got signed up for one of them.

I'll have my associates degree in November, then I will take a break before starting on the bachelors. School has been a lot of work, but it will be worth it once I have that piece of paper.

We had talked about possibly getting married in 2007, but with all the school delays I doubt that will happen. We haven't even started planning yet. We'll probably do some of that while she is here.

I can't wait to pick her up at the airport! I can barely focus on anything else right now.

Posted by Mike at 6:41 PM | Comments (6)

February 19, 2006

Back from Boston!

I've been back from Boston since Thursday night, but I've been fighting a monster cold since then. Tonight is the first night that I have felt remotely human so I will now regale you with the tale of my trip.

My plane arrived early Friday night. I took the shuttle to the car rental place, where they gave me the POS Mustang mentioned previously. I drove, through 5 oclock traffic, to the hotel and got checked in. I then drove to Robyn's house, picked her and her cousin Colette up, and drove to the hospital so they could see her Mom.

(A side note here: her mom is doing really well now. She is no longer in ICCU, and is able to eat solid food and sit up in a chair for a good portion of the day.)

Well...most of the days blurred together, but let me get to one night in particular that you will all be interested in. Valentine's Day!

We went to Uno Chicago Grill to have a nice meal and exchange our gifts. Robyn got me a cute little cat that has a sign on it that says, "It's a cat's world...adjust." She also got me a nice coffee mug that has hearts on it, and a nice picture frame. I gave her a silver bracelet with hearts on it and some garnet earings. Garnet is her bithstone. We shared a piece of cheese cake, paid our bill and headed for the car. Once we got in the car I remembered another present I had for her. Here is a picture of it.

She loved it, but didn't notice right away that he was holding, not just a heart, but a heart-shaped box! Once she noticed that she opened it, here's what she found.

Oh, this is what was in the little card!

Yes, that's an engagement ring. She actually said yes! We are engaged!

Lastly, here's a pic of her and Fluffy, you can just make out the ring on her hand. This was the day I had to leave.

We haven't set an actual date yet, but it definitely won't be until 2007 or later. But we are going to get married!

Posted by Mike at 8:05 PM | Comments (19)

January 29, 2006

Going To See Robyn

I've been so busy with work and school that I haven't posted here in a while!

I'm flying to see Robyn on Friday, February 10th and I'm returning late on Thursday, February 16th. I have started the countdown in the right column. When I began writing this it was at 12 Days, 10 Hours, 11 Minutes, 14 Seconds!

School is going well. I received A's in both of my classes in the first block.

My new classes are keeping me busy. The science class has lots of reading and the algebra class has lots of homework. Sometimes it just gives me a headache!

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll try to post more again soon!

Posted by Mike at 8:18 AM | Comments (8)

September 14, 2005

It's Been One Month

It's been one month since I picked Robyn up at the airport. It seems more like a lifetime ago. We miss each other, and I am working towards a financial state where I can go see her again. We will both feel better once we can set a date for the next visit.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:01 AM | Comments (4)

August 21, 2005

A Wonderful Week!

Her smile.

Her Laugh.

The way she looks at me.

Her smell.

All things I miss about her.

Leaving her gets harder every time, but this time is the worst, because she was here, here from Sunday to Sunday. I can't find the words to express how great this week was. So here are the pics.

Pictures of Robyn's August 2005 Trip

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:36 PM | Comments (10)

August 17, 2005

The great 'meet Robyn fest'

Benjamin commented, "How did the great 'meet Robyn fest' go?
I was sorry to miss it. I look forward to meeting her...
w00t"

We missed you too Benjamin, and the few others that couldn't make it.

The great 'meet Robyn fest' was wonderful. We had a great turnout! Robyn really enjoyed meeting everybody. It was so great to have so many loved ones together. Thank you so much to everyone who came. Don't worry, folks, this will not be the only time she will be here. She will have plenty of opportunities to meet you all.

Ps. I will have pictures of her visit to post once she is gone.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 3:52 PM | Comments (5)

August 13, 2005

It's around 18 hours now

In about 18 hours I will be picking up Robyn from the airport! I have been cleaning and rearranging all day. I would post pictures, but I will wait till Robyn is here and in them!

I'm so excited!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:43 PM | Comments (6)

August 7, 2005

One Week!

One week from today I will be driving to the airport to pick up Robyn! It's going to be difficult to focus on work this week. I'm just a tiny bit excited!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 11:33 AM | Comments (4)

July 29, 2005

Two Weeks Till My Vacation

The week that Robyn is coming to visit, I took vacation. My last full day of work is August 12th. Then, the anticipation of seeing Robyn on the 14th will drive me crazy!

Of course, Dad and I will go Kayaking on the 13th, if the weather is good, we've been going every Saturday for all of July so far. We want to keep going every Saturday, as long as we have warm enough weather.

I'm excited about having time off from work, but I'm a thousand times more excited about who I will be spending that time with.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:20 PM | Comments (5)

July 14, 2005

Robyn's Trip!

Well, we have officially decided that Robyn will come here on August 13th (A month from now!) and she will stay here until the 21st! My parents fixed up my sister's old room for her to stay in while she's here! I'm just a tad excited!

I added the counter to the right, it's just below the slide show.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:53 AM | Comments ()

June 24, 2005

Robyn is fine.

Robyn is fine, in case you were wondering why she never comments here anymore or posts to her blog. She was having computer problems and then just decided to take a break from the internet. I have no idea if or when she will be back.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:22 AM | Comments (1)

June 18, 2005

Of course I have to have a Robyn category.

Of course I have to have a Robyn category. I need to be able to write about my sweetie!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:42 PM | Comments (1)