hiatus

So I've been off the grid for the past 14-16 weeks, and I am relieved to discover that I have not been deleted from certain 'amigos lists' and 'banner buttons'. I commit to resuming IF and to providing you the details of my sorted adventures and the details of my life in general.

This entry is a departure from the succinct one line posts in the past, so I hope you are all not bored to tears.

In an attempt to get back into the groove, I resumed 6:15 am pickup basketball today at CYHS. It felt good to sweat from exercise rather than 100 degree heat. Being at CYHS reminded me of IF, and in turn this neglected blog, and...well you get the idea.

Below is an update on my summer holiday to catch you up.

NASCAR Weekend

At the beginning of June the guys and I headed to Dover, DE for the NASCAR race at The Monster Mile. The weekend started great with a late Friday arrival at the beach house, followed by light beer in cans, Jack Daniels, Patron, pool, and all night poker. The card game was derailed by a phone call at 1:42 am from the neighbor. He saw the lights on, heard some music, and didn't recognize the car in the driveway. After I positively ID'd myself and provided the code word, he explained that he didn't think anyone would be there that weekend and he liked to keep an eye on the place, thus the call. I'm sure I thanked him, but I regret not getting him over to do a shot in his pj's.

Saturday weather had a 100% chance of shirts coming off, and to kick off the morning we headed to the Starboard for some Bloody Marys. A cracked water glass, a youth small Bull's Jersey, Velcro shoes, and one pastel Speedo later we were on our way. We had full stomachs and even some souvenir swag at inflated retails.

The rest of the day was spent on a round of golf at Old Landing where we are always treated like royalty. There's nothing like heading to the clubhouse after #18 and the owner saying "Play as many as you wish, just leave the carts by the garage." The last 9 holes were fun, sloppy and a bit fuzzy.

A hot and spicy late dinner at La Tolteca was followed by an early bedtime to prepare for Sunday's main event. NASCAR baby!



Sunday's weather was 100% rain and the 45 min drive to Dover from Rehoboth Beach provided to relief. After paying our $15 bucks to park at the Delaware Agricultural Museum, we put up a small tarp, braved the rain, and started to drink Bud in cans as we fired up the grill.

After an early lunch and tailgating, chatter around us started that the race may actually start. In asking the guys in the RV next us if they thought the race would start, all the driver said was "We're haulin' ass back to NY." Even with that news, we walked to the speedway and took in the sites. There's nothing like walking all over town with 100,000 of your closest friends and a beer in your hand.

We made it to our section and prior to getting to our seats inside a trip to the men's room made us miss the flyover. It was all my fault. Our seats were fair. Just as we sat down, more rain came and the race was officially canceled.

We walked back to the car in the rain and then started the long 5 hour trek home. Needless to say, the fun on Friday and Saturday made up for the lack of speed, horsepower, and gasoline on Sunday.

Turns out "Haulin' ass" was the right call. Next year hopefully the weather will cooperate.



Wildwood 2007

During the July 4th mid week -next year it will be great since it's a leap year and the fouth will be a Friday- holiday, the yearly Zinzi pilgrimage to Wildwood, NJ took place. Upon everyones arrival, my parents announced (in typical Zinzi grandiose style) that next summer they will retire, sell the house in Olean, NY, pack-up the family truck-ster and move to Milford, DE.

This is great news as Nicole's parents have a beach house in Rehoboth Beach, DE and my sister (who was with us in Wildwood too) recently moved to Milford, DE as well. In addition, Nicole has many DE stores as part of her work territory so the chances for Evan to see Grammy and Grandpa increased by about 4 million.



It was a short 3 night stay at The King's Inn but we packed everything in and we left wanting more, which is always good. We ate Sam's Pizza, played skeeball at Ed's Funcade, and even took a surrey ride that made our legs burn.




Glow Golf 2007

Once again the Glow Golf at Heritage Hills Golf Resort lived up to the hype. This year was made all the better by actually getting a room at the hotel to allow for maximum fun without the burden of figuring out how to get home.

New players were introduced and the core group was together on 18A. The pre game festivities at Rob's were a hoot, and my trip to the vice store was a hit. The chick at the register asked if i was trying to get cancer in one night. Most of the tobacco products below were not consumed.

The receipt indicated the following:

1 Camel Light Pack – Kings Box

1 Marlboro Ultra Light Menthol – Kings Box

1 Skoal Long Cut 1oz. Straight

1 Red Man Chewing Tobacco 3oz. Pouch

6 Cigar

1 Middleton’s Black & Mild Cream Cigars - 5pk

1 Swisher Sweets Outlaws 8-pk

1 Coors Light 10oz. Can (24)

1 Coors Light 12oz. Bottle (24)

1 Budweiser 10oz. Can (24)

1 Budweiser 12oz. Bottle (24)

1 Jack Daniels Black Label Whiskey 375ml

We each won $25.00 gift cards for our night golf prowess.


Myrtle Beach 2007

Every year we vacation with my cousins Matt and Shannon for a week. They usually join in on the Wildwood, NJ fun, but this year we decided to try Myrtle Beach. Matt and Shannon live in South Florida and their yearly trek to NJ can get long and pricey for a family of 4.

Myrtle Beach seemed like the perfect solution. It's a 10 hour drive for both of us so we would meet in the middle.

We spent the week and the Hampton Inn Oceanfront and our rooms were great. Matt got the Family Suite and we got the connection double queen room. With the doors open, it made for quite the compound for the week.



We stayed the first week of August and it was the hottest week of the year with each day getting up to 100 degrees and some going to 104 degrees. The walk to the beach was very short and the hotel had 3 pools and a lazy river to cool us off.

Our days were filled with morning trips to Target for kid supplies then hitting the beach, dipping in the pool and chasing the kids around the lazy river. Evan could touch the bottom of the river and wanted to play every waking second. I made it until Friday before skinning my knee on the bottom.

The week was fun and the only negative was the nightly struggle to find a place to eat. With 9 people (kids and Grandparents) the wait was about 45 minutes to an hour no matter where we went and in order to get there we had to pile in 2 cars. This was unfamiliar to us as we were all used to the convenience and familiarity of the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk.



Our 'no kids' dinner at Melting Pot was awesome, and a highlight of the trip.

Needless to say Matt and Shannon are back on for Wildwood 2008...plane tickets be damned.



That wraps up the summer and should be enough to catch you all up. I look forward to sharing more as the year goes on.