March 2009 with the Girlies
In March my lovely and talented wife Kim had a major birthday, and as you all know she looks as beautiful as she did when I first met her. My plan for the big event (before the dirty Swiss and their stupid little army knife encouraged me stay home more often) was to rent a huge house in St. John and invite all of our friends and family to join us in celebrating her birthday. However, thanks to Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the anticipation of the certain failure of the ridiculous 'Cash for Clunkers' program, the economy tanked, my company made plans to abandon the US market, and most of our relatives and friends decided that a week in St. John in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the late 1970s was probably not a great idea. That was a very long, disorganized, and confusing sentence.
So I tried to come up with something unique - a surprise party would have been too difficult, considering that both of our families selfishly refuse to move to NY to be nearer to us and the lovely girlies. Then I thought we could do a quick weekend away with just the two of us or with a few friends, maybe to Paris (home of Parisians), but Kim subtly (not subtly) let me know that whatever we did for her birthday should include and involve the girlies. Sally loves crepes and doesn't like to take a bath so I am sure she would have enjoyed Paris, but in the end I decided that was not a good option.
I also found that a crashing economy is really bad for owners of fancy vacation homes, so I turned back to St. John and found a very lovely place to rent for a reasonable fee. I knew most people would not be able to come, but fortunately I was able to convince several very important and good-looking people to postpone saving for college and retirement and use that money instead to celebrate the birth of my lovely wife.
It was a great trip, and a big surprise for Kim, as she had no idea that anyone was joining us. She sort of figured out where we were going but didn't know that others were joining us, so she was shocked when she saw Stacie Corcoran at 7 in the morning, her sister Jenny at the St. Thomas airport, and Stacy B and her charming mother in St. John.
The girlies had a wonderful time, as our house had a pool, a rooster, a few lizards (my sister D;alkjds's brother-in-law Tony thinks that chickens are actually just big lizards), and a huge bedroom with two fancy cribs.
Below are some photos, videos, and musings on my long-faded handsomeness:
Kim and the girlies at Starbucks at the beautiful Newark Airport - Did you know that drinking coffee gives you breath like my 8th grade speech teacher Mr. Hill?
So I tried to come up with something unique - a surprise party would have been too difficult, considering that both of our families selfishly refuse to move to NY to be nearer to us and the lovely girlies. Then I thought we could do a quick weekend away with just the two of us or with a few friends, maybe to Paris (home of Parisians), but Kim subtly (not subtly) let me know that whatever we did for her birthday should include and involve the girlies. Sally loves crepes and doesn't like to take a bath so I am sure she would have enjoyed Paris, but in the end I decided that was not a good option.
I also found that a crashing economy is really bad for owners of fancy vacation homes, so I turned back to St. John and found a very lovely place to rent for a reasonable fee. I knew most people would not be able to come, but fortunately I was able to convince several very important and good-looking people to postpone saving for college and retirement and use that money instead to celebrate the birth of my lovely wife.
It was a great trip, and a big surprise for Kim, as she had no idea that anyone was joining us. She sort of figured out where we were going but didn't know that others were joining us, so she was shocked when she saw Stacie Corcoran at 7 in the morning, her sister Jenny at the St. Thomas airport, and Stacy B and her charming mother in St. John.
The girlies had a wonderful time, as our house had a pool, a rooster, a few lizards (my sister D;alkjds's brother-in-law Tony thinks that chickens are actually just big lizards), and a huge bedroom with two fancy cribs.
Below are some photos, videos, and musings on my long-faded handsomeness:
Kim and the girlies at Starbucks at the beautiful Newark Airport - Did you know that drinking coffee gives you breath like my 8th grade speech teacher Mr. Hill?
The girlies at the airportOn the tarmac in St. Thomas - this video was taken only seconds before I was tackled to the ground by Department of Transportation thugs and questioned for hours about the extent of my airport video cassette taping activities
The four of us in front of our vacation house
Stacie Corcoran eating popcorn out of a Budweiser box, while Jenny enjoys a frosty cold Stella
Stacie and Sally (both looking cute), with some dork
For some reason I am making the stupidest face in the world, which is unfortunate because the girlies and my lovely wife all look beautiful. But I look like a huge knucklehead. I used to be the cutest boy in the 4th grade but those days are long gone. 
Sally and Amelia with me on the beach, right before the iguana situation. I don't look so bad in this picture, probably because I have sunglasses on.The girlies on the beach
A huge iguana crawled under Sally's chairExciting Lizard Video
Sally in her groovy sunglasses on the beach
Amelia playing in the sand
As the song lyrics say "More beauty in this world, I swear I've never seen"
Jenny and Amelia in Coral Bay
The girlies by the pool, with Kim's shinbones
Sally taking a snooze with her new goggles
Kim and Stacie with the girls, waiting for me to get our rental car battery fixed (a long story that involved me getting threatened by an angry dude because I mistakenly parked in a taxi zone. Not as interesting as the time I got choked in the Barnes and Noble, though.)
Stacy Bielema-O'Malley, with her Mom. Stacy got up with the girls each morning so Kim and I could sleep in like we used to do back when I was in my late 30s.
On our way to get sandwiches for the beach. In mandarin, 'sandwich' is pronounced 'san-ming-zhuh'
Every night I got to go home with the girlies while the broads, er, uh, I mean the ladies stayed out late and caroused with young surfer dudes. Here they are at Woody's, a famous joint in St. John.
