What's That on my Webcam???

This is a New One...Blog TV

We met our new neighbors -- Dave and Jamie, and their two sons. They live in the house behind us.  Yes, even more boys to top off the overflowing supply of little boys in our little corner of Bellevue. Just kidding, since two boys left that house, with two more to replace things it's still even.

Dave-the-Neighbor and Dave-the-Husband seem to get along really well, exchanging beers and fireworks tonight, and will probably do the same tomorrow night.

We also exchanged website addresses and I've been intrigued by Dave-the-Neighbor's "Blog TV" site. (I got permission to put the website out there for the world to see). Dave-the-Husband and I both checked it out and it's a rather interesting concept. Dave-the-Neighbor merely sets up in his basement, doing what he usually does on his computer, whether it's paying bills or e-mailing friends, but he has his webcam on, and we can hear whatever he's listening to on iTunes. He takes requests, and if you have something to discuss, he has a chat capability up such that you can chime in on anything. If you become a Blog TV subscriber, you can also hook up your own webcam and do that type of talking.


Since I've met Dave-the-Neighbor in person, and his wife, and his children, and I know where he lives...and where he works, I checked out the website without any qualms. But it's certainly a brassy thing to do, to put yourself out there LIVE.

Dave-the-Neighbor's site is neat, but I'll definitely stick to my primitive mainly-text blog! I don't think I have the commitment for the live online stuff --

Howie Likes the Clean Carpets

Had to shampoo carpets today. They were quite gross.

Vollmer Vacation Ventures

We are now back in Nebraska. Many of you know this already, if you've been following Dave or me on Facebook, Twitter or our family's homepage. We made a nuisance of ourselves advertising every point of our trip to the world, much to the delight of potential thieves, as someone pointed out to me during our trip. Our valuables were with us (except for my violin and Dave's trombone) so for the rest of our niceties Dave and I said "Bring 'em on, we've been wanting a new TV anyway!"

Here's a summary of some of things we did on our trip, along with some of my favorite pictures. This might get long, but I think this will work out better than a bunch of small posts. Overall we had a really fun time, but after 16 days, we were all ready to head home and get back to our lives and our own beds!

June 13th - Our eastward drive towards Dave's parents in NY. The highlight of this drive was our stop at Indiana Dunes State Park on the shore of Lake Michigan. It was meant to be a 1-hour stop with the McNabbs, and it quickly turned into almost 2 hours. But it was so hard to say "No" to our boys, who hadn't see a beachfront since last summer! Luckily we could tell the boys that they'd see a beach again in 3 days, and the McNabbs again in 2 weeks. They left with little protest...the exercise was great for them!

From 2009 06 13 VacationEastDay1

As always, when we arrived in NY on the 14th to see Grammy and Grampy Vollmer, the boys were thrilled! They had a great time playing with Grammy and Grampy's dogs: Chloe and Dillon. All 3 boys had a great time constructing with Dave's old Lego bricks from his childhood.

From 2009 06 14 DriveToNY_Chalks_Legos

June 16th - Beach! Grammy joined us on a trip to Robert Moses State Park, on the south shore of Long Island, where the boys spent a morning at a no-kidding beach! Even though the temperatures were only in the mid-60s, the boys were so excited to see the beach they charged right into the water and had a great time!

From 2009 06 17 Beach_at_RobertMosesStateParkNY

June 17th - Dave and I met one of Dave's high school friends, Dan O'Sullivan, for a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant in Greenlawn. Dan and his wife Nina drove all the way from West Chester, NY to meet us and we had a great time -- just 4 adults having a great evening together.

From 2009 06 18 OSullivans

June 18th - New York City. The original plan was to hit a Yankees game that afternoon -- they had free tickets for military personnel! But as was the case most of the week in NY, it was rainy and the 18th was the rainiest day of all! So we dedicated the entire day to a trip to the Toys R Us in Times Square. It was so much fun! The boys really enjoyed exploring the store and with the weather, we didn't really care to go anywhere else...of course, for the boys riding the train is a large part of the trip, too!

From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare

From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare

From 2009 06 18 ToysRUS_TimesSquare

June 19th - Visiting with the Beilers. We spend every Father's Day weekend in Pennsylvania visiting with Dave's family -- the Friday evening is always with Dave's Mom's side, then Saturday and part of Sunday is with Dave's Dad's side. It's a tradition I've been part of for 15 years now :-) Here's a pic of our boys with Uncle Ross and Aunt Gay, and one of me on Aunt Gay's gorgeous Harley!

From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty

From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty

June 20th - Vollmer Family Reunion. Despite a thunderstormy afternoon, we managed to fit in all the reunion traditions: the hay rides, beer, pretzels and BBQ, and the peanut toss! As usual, we had a great time, and the boys had a blast too!

From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty

From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty

From 2009 06 20 StrasburgRR_FamilyReunion_LancasterCounty

June 21st-25th - My parents in WV. Last summer my parents moved from my childhood hometown of Norfolk, VA up to Martinsburg, WV. My sister was visiting with her 3 sons during our visit and my parents must have been in Grandparent Heaven having their 5 boys running around like a pack of wolves -- or sitting around playing Nintendo DS and computer games. We got my parents' house in time to take them out for a Father's Day dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse.

From 2009 06 26 5Boys

From 2009 06 22 TimmyLawnMower_WarMemorialParkMiniGolf

The boys went mini-golfing with their cousins, and then spent 2 days in a row at the community pool, which has to be the coolest public pool ever!

From 2009 06 22 TimmyLawnMower_WarMemorialParkMiniGolf

From 2009 06 25 Boys_at_MartinsburgPool_Day2

June 23rd - Washington, D.C. We drove to Vienna, VA to take a Metro train to the National Mall area to visit the National Air and Space Museum. The boys enjoyed the many exhibits, but our fun day was tempered by an escalator at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station eating Timmy's Croc.

From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc

From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc

From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc

From 2009 06 23 WashingtonDC_AirSpace_Croc

June 25th - Mountaineer Brewing. My Dad, Dave and I managed to sneak off to a private tour of West Virginia's only brewery, Mountaineer Brewing Company, which is right up the street from my parents' house! The brewmaster, Daniel, was awesome and answered Dave's and Dad's many questions and even sent us on our way with a complimentary mixed 6-pack! Thanks!

From 2009 06 25 MountaineerBrewingCompanyTour

June 26-28th - Ohio. We spent a couple days with our good friends, the McNabbs, who are back at Wright-Patterson AFB, which happens to be where we first met them back in 2000. Even though it wasn't quite halfway home, we made it a stopping point just the same, so it was 8 hours of driving on Friday, then 13 hours on Sunday. We were surprised with an evening airshow and fireworks display Friday night, which we were able to enjoy from the McNabbs' driveway in the military housing area about 1/2 mile from the National Museum of the United States Air Force. On Saturday we enjoyed an afternoon at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Throughout all of it the kids played and played and played! They got along SO WELL!!!

From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs

From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs

From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs

From 2009 06 26 Ohio_McNabbs

We got home at about 7:30pm Sunday night and Dave had to work on Monday morning. I was lazy with the unpacking and getting the household back in order, but it all was taken care of in a day or so: laundry, unpacking, cleaning up, sorting through the mail, etc.

Things will be quiet here for the next couple weeks, and then the kids will have activities planned again while I go on Reserve orders for a few days to work from home on assorted performance reports and award nominations....