Northern Italy Day 1 The Saturday after we left home was travel day to Venice and points north. We debated many options for getting to Venice and then to the Killpacks’ home an hour farther north. We thought about flying, driving, and taking the train. We finally settled on taking the Frecciarossa–a high speed train that travels at 250 MPH with limited stops. It was a great ride. The train from Rome to Venice takes you through the heart of the Tuscan country side as it passes through Florence and Bologna. The train cars were spacious compared to what you would expect from air travel. We ha ..read more

We left mid-week, late at night on Lufthansa. If you can ever fly Lufthansa I recommend it. The people were great. The food was great, the in-seat entertainment system was so good it kept our 7-year-old son engaged all night long when he should have been sleeping! Playing at the Frankfurt Airport. Negotiating foreign airports was something I didn’t plan on. Border entry, border exit, customs. Every airport was different.We arrived mid-day in Frankfurt, and because cheapest fare routing we had a 4+ hour layover before our final flight to Rome. Not ideal. It gave us plenty of time to go thro ..read more

School started this week. Our youngest child starts full-day preschool next week. Then dance starts along with weekly music lessons for our oldest three. Before we complete our fall schedule ramp-up I wanted to reflect on our major summer travel endeavor–a trip to Italy. The family in St. Mark’s Square – VeniceThroughout our trip, tour guides, ticket takers, and restaurant hosts would count our party and say “You are, eh. Six? Quattro bambini? Well-eh done-eh!” As I look back on the heat, tours, food, fun and friends this definitely was a trip well-eh done-eh. To start I wanted to wri ..read more

Do you want freedom from whining? Although I can’t guarantee to remove it in all aspects of your life my wife helped me realize one solid strategy for freeing yourself from whining during planned family excursions/activities: Leave your kids at home. This Independence Day we had friends visiting from San Antonio. They went on a cruise from NYC and I convinced/invited them to take a swing up to us since they were already on the east coast. They had limited time and had never been to Boston before. I wanted to show them what I could so they 1) would feel the money they spent on their side ..read more

I’ve previously written about how we get our meat by mail with Butcher Box. Well man does not live by pork shoulder alone (oh if wishes could make it so) so we were intrigued when we learned about a service called Misfits Market that delivers produce to your door. We are often looking for services to make our lives easier. Like many families, we struggle to get kids to eat vegetables. We always try to provide one if not 2 veggies as side dishes and rotate through the normal options of green beans, broccoli, and zucchini (the veggie that shall not be named). We’ve steamed, baked and roasted ..read more

On Friday Dr. Jones and I got a baby sitter and headed into the big city to hear Fitz and the Tantrums perform at the Rockland Trust Bank Pavillion. We heard them live once before when they opened for OneRepublic on their 2017 tour. They put on a great show. It’s like a big dance party. You can’t help but feel happy listening to their music. They played their big favorites and several songs from their upcoming new album. Everything was great. Fitz and the Tantrums performing at the Rockland Trust Bank Pavillion Now I don’t have a big history following or listening to what the kids call ..read more

So I’m kind of having a stay-at-home dadding moment. About a month ago I was really thinking about giving up this blog. I wasn’t devoting as much to it as I wanted and wasn’t sure it was worth the hosting fee. But through my blog someone contacted me to to write an article for a media company that was picked up by MSN.com. Around the same time I raised my hand for a media opportunity on a WGBH (local NPR) radio show that wanted to feature stay-at-home dads for a father’s day segment. So I guess I need to add “syndicated columnist” and “on-air personality” to my Linked In profile. Me wait ..read more

A break from regular stay-at-home duties as we visit the Peter Iredale shipwreck one misty summer morning at the Oregon Coast last year. I was recently approached to write an article about the “stay-at-home dad” life. A lifestyle website asked me to jump in after their scheduled writer had a conflict. The only catch was I had to turn it around in 24 hours. I said why not and thanks to a lighter day and my wife’s help I was able to get it done and sold my first article as an adult. Hopefully there will be more like this forthcoming! Click on over to BestLifeOnline.com to read how I Qui ..read more

Earlier this month it was my family’s turn to help clean our congregation’s church building. I am not a fan. Not the chapel I helped to clean, just a picture of “A” chapel. For those of you not of my faith, the week-to-week cleaning of meetinghouses throughout the world is left in the hands of its members. The year is divided out among congregations (more than one may share a meetinghouse) and church members who volunteer or are voluntold (given an assignment) clean on specific weeks. You sweep, vacuum, mop and set up chairs so the rooms are ready for worship. I think many faiths have ..read more

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