A Peek at Life as a Natic

We had pics to post but when Ryan took copies of the pics of Dominic and Nico, he removed them from the card

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to head over to Andrea and Ryan’s house to celebrate Nico’s 2nd birthday with their family and friends.  We had to run by a few stores to search out some shoes for his present which ended up in a big negative.  I think that we need to get into the children’s clothes business.  How hard is it to make some shoes that look decent…. you know without velcro and stuff.  They make they for adults… why not for children.  We were forced to get him a toy at Target and then give them some money to pick up some shoes that Andrea can decide on when she finds them.

The party was ball themed and it was very cute.  Nico just loves sports balls and had a blast.  Between those and the balloons he would be entertained for days.  We bought him a bowling set and that became his favorite thing immediately LOL.  It was cute.  He was very insistant that it was his toy and he was going first.  He didnt even want to eat cake because he didnt want to stop playing with the bowling set LOL.    Speaking of which, it was hysterical when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and Harrison (Nathan and Sara’s son – they are on our links on the right side of the page) blew out Nico’s candles as the singing concluded.  Watching Nathan come running to bring Harrison outside for a little talk was hilarious! 

After the party and everyone left, Alisha and Andrea headed upstairs to take some pictures of Dominic.  We hung out for a bit later but had to head home as we had the dogs crated at the house. 

When we got home I was excited about watching the Georgia game.  I have been watching every game this year and was excited to watch the dogs win at home on senior day for the last game at Sanford Stadium for the year.  They started out looking good.  Up at the half and that is where it ended.  It got worse and worse until they blew the whole damn game.  I was incredibly pissed off.  I just wanted to throw my remote through my damn TV.  It was ridiculous.  Between huge costly penalties and four turnovers how the hell do they expect to win.  It really just ruined my day.  I guess I just care way too much.  Ugh.. it makes me sick just typing this.  Apparently I am not the only one though.  I signed onto facebook to display my disgust and that was all i saw.  Just pages of posts about UGA’s crappy game and how ridiculous it was that they blew it.

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Amicolola Falls and Burts Farm here

On Sunday we made plans to do what we originally planned to do on Saturday – Burts Farm!  We planned to meet up with Andrea and Ryan over in Dawsonville at a huge pumpkin patch called Burts Farm.  We go there every year as it is tradition now.  Each year we go it is busier and busier and let me tell you, this year was NO different! 

Bobby came over to our house in the afternoon and we headed up to Amicolola Falls as he has never been there.  We grabbed subs and chips for lunch at Publix and brought a 2L bottle of my homebrew to have a nice lunch at the falls.  We headed up and were very rudely awakened when we hit traffic damn near the entire way up there.  With the rain on Saturday, I think everyone rescheduled their outdoor North Georgia activities for Sunday.  It was insane! 

Once we got up there we headed straight to Amicolola Falls to have lunch and then head up to see the falls.  I will certianly admit that we far underestimated how chilly it was.  We were actually quite cold!  We ate lunch right next to a mini water fall as the water was racing beside us.  It was awesome!  We then walked up towards the base of the falls.  Alisha would have had a very tough time getting up there as the walk is quite steep, so she stayed near the base as we hurried up to get back to her.  The falls were awesome!  There is so much more water coming down now with all the rain we have had recently.

After the falls we headed back towards Burts Farm to meet up with Ryan, Andrea, and the kids.  Holy crap was it packed!  I have never seen anything like it.  They have tons of parking… well maybe I should say they had lots of parking… before we got there lol.  It was insane.  People were EVERYWHERE.  The hayride line was almost through the entire pumpkin patch!  Once we got in we had a great time as always.  We took a TON of pictures of the boys for Ryan and Andrea as well as some with all of us.  We then headed to pick out some pumpkins.  Bobby picked one up, I picked up too and Ryan and Andrea got a few including one MASSIVE pumpkin.  That darn thing was so heavy we could literally barely lift it off of the ground to get it into the wheelbarrow.  It was a great time as always!  I cant believe that October is almost over already

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Anthony’s FOURTH Birthday Party at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.

Anthony's Cake!

Holy cow!  Anthony is already four years old.  If feels like not long ago Andrea was telling us that she was pregnant…wow!

We took the drive out to Douglasville (AKA D-Vegas) to spend some time with Andrea and Ryan to join them in celebrating Anthony’s 4th birthday.  The theme was transformers so it was Transformers everything – especially the cake which their friends baked for them.  It was awesome!

We had a great time spending time with the DiRocco’s and their friends and family. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY!!

Dont forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Water Slide Fun at pictures.neilnatic.com or here

Paul Sliding Down

On Wednesday Alisha had a busy day but it still looked like fun.  She had plans with Aubree to spend some time in the back yard of Ryan’s house and play on this inflatable water slide and Anne decided to bring Paul over so that he could play with Ryan as well. 

Water Slide

On Tuesday night Andrea called to see if Alisha could watch Nico and Anthony as she was hired to be Katherine Heigel’s hand double in the movie being filmed in her area called Five Killers (at least right now it is).  Her husband Ryan dropped the kids off with Alisha on Wednesday morning bringing the kid total to 4.  She had a handful but they still had a great time.  This slide looks awesome!  I want one!

Friday night we headed over to Ryan and Andrea’s house to spend the evening with them and the kids.  We have not made it out there as often as we would have liked, so we decided to make the drive. 

We ate a quick dinner and then headed out to the park that is in their neighborhood.  They live in Tributaries in Douglasville GA which is an excellent neighborhood.  The people are great and the neighborhood is gorgeous.  They have all of these little parks and stuff throughout the main phase that really leads to people being social and becoming friends.  They were doing a movie in the park last night so we grabbed our beers and blanket and headed out to grab a spot. 

By the time the movie was over and we headed back to Ryan and Andrea’s house it was about 11:00 so we headed home.  It was a good time as always at the DiRocco’s.

I am sorry loyal readers I have not updated in over a week – so here is a quick update.

On Friday night I caved in a decided to go to take Alisha to Maggianos. Ryan and Andrea also joined us for the evening with Nico. We had a great dinner and took some time to catch up. Unfortunately, I regretted eating it like crazy so I sent all of my leftovers home with Ryan and Andrea. I just felt terrible after eating so I decided it was not a good idea to eat it again for lunch on Saturday. I am sure Ryan didnt mind taking a little extra home that night

On Saturday we had a busy day. Since we are going on our cruise at the end of May we remembered that we REALLY need some luggage. The luggage that we have has unfortunately not weathered the storm and has fallen apart. This time we decided to get some higher quality stuff and see why some costs more than others. We were not looking to go top of the line by far but wanted better than we had picked out last time. Andrea had told us to head over to Macy’s to check out theirs as they ALWAYS have sales. She was totally right! We headed out there and picked up 2 medium sized rolling lightweight bags, a carry-on bag, and a garment bag. Thanks Andrea! We needed it badly!!!!!

In the afternoon we headed over to Myrna and Louis house to celebrate their children’s accomplishments in the Catholic Church. We had a good time hanging out with friends and family as well as eating some Spanish foods. mmmm.

After hanging out there for a while, we headed up to Twisted Taco in Roswell to meet up with a number of our friends for Krystle’s birthday gathering. We spent a few hours hanging out and having a great time with our friends before headed home for the night.

On Sunday, I unfortunatley left Alisha for most of the day. In the early afternoon I met my dad at the shooting range to shoot a few rounds. It was his first time ever shooting and we had a great time doing so.  We had been wanting to go for a while but because of the shortage of ammo these days it was very difficult to go.  It is total bullshit that you cant find any ammo anymore. 

After the shooting range I headed over to the other type of range to meet the Solanas for a round of golf at Old Atlanta Club!  I had a great time playing with Joe, Carol, and Joey.  It was a blast and they always kept me laughing.  Sunday was a perfect guy day although I wish Alisha would have come. I had a great time and it was one of the best Sunday’s I have had in a while!

On Sunday we went down to Florida, I mean Douglasville to spend the day with Ryan, Andrea, and the boys!  It was great to see them again as we have all been so busy that we have not been able to see each other as much as we wish we could.

The ladies went shopping, the guys watched football and played Tiger Woods Golf, Nico ate Pop Rocks, and Anthony wore fuzzy boots.  We had a great time with them and can’t wait to see them again on Saturday night at Maggianos for Ryan and Alisha’s birthday dinners.

See ya next weekend guys!

 Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery for pictures of Nico’s First Birthday at pictures.neilnatic.com  or here.

They are added to Nico’s album from his birth

So not yesterday, not last Saturday, but the Saturday before that (damn am i behind ) we went over to Andrea and Ryan’s house for Nico’s First Birthday party.  We spent some great time with Andrea, Ryan, and their family / friends and celebrated with them.  Nico got a bunch of gifts and of course, most importantly, got to eat his first cake all by himself. 

At first he was a little hesitant, but then he dove in like a pro.  Before long 90% of the cake was either on the floor, in his belly, on his hands, or on his face.  We have 3,000 pictures of his birthday, but I only posted a few.  Alisha had our camera in turbo mode taking pictures. 

Andrea, if you have any up on your site, send me a link.  I will add it to this post.

Yesterday we made plans to head down to Douglasville to hang out with Ryan and Andrea for a Labor Day get together.  We got there at about 2:00 or so and got to hang out with Ryan, Andrea, Matt, Jessie, Gary, and Bradelle.  It was nice to see everyone again.. it had certainly been a while.

When we got there we cooked out on the grill and enjoyed some beer.  We all ate, drank, and had some desserts (mmmm S’mores brownies!) and just talked for a few hours.  Before long Matt, Jessie, Gary and Bradelle headed home and we stayed to enjoy the rest of the evening with Ryan and Andrea.  We chilled around the house talking and then played some Wii.  We then headed out so that Ryan and Andrea could try to get us to move there with them as we went through many of the houses that are still for sale in Tributaries.  Me and Ryan were drinking before we left so of course we had to bring our unfinished beers with us.  With two car seats in the back we fit Ryan (in Anthony’s car seat), Nico (in his car seat), Andrea and Anthony in the driver’s seat, and Alisha and me in the other front seat.  It was ridiculous :crackup:  Soon after me and Ryan decided to walk but Andrea offered the trunk to us.  Both of us ended up inside the of the trunk with it open while drinking beer and touring the neighborhood.  We then recruited a neighbor to come down and hang out with us while we cooked up some of the left-overs.  It was a great time!

It was great to see Ryan, Andrea, and the kids again.  We look forward to doing it all again sometime very soon.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery  for pictures of Nico at pictures.neilnatic.com or here.  Videos will be added for download in Nico’s album in the photo gallery soon.

After meeting up and Wild Wing for Dan’s B-Day dinner, Ryan and Andrea took Anthony to our house for the night so that they could get ready for the new baby.  We were asked to make sure that Anthony could be there when the new baby was born so that he could be the first to see him.  On Tuesday night we got the call that Andrea was asked to be at the hospital to be induced at 6:00 AM on Wednesday morning so we woke up early to make sure that we could have everything on time. 

I woke Anthony up in the morning and he immediately asked me to take the lid off of container with the toys that were in the room.  As i was heading out of the room, Envy followed and cries of “Envy play toys?!?  Play toys Envy?!?  Envy????” came as Anthony wanted a playmate.  It was adorable.  I went back in the room and took the toys to my room while me and Alisha finished getting ready. 

On the way to the hospital, we stopped by Target so that Anthony could pick out a stuffed animal and flowers for his new brother and mom.  He picked out a cute bear and a boquet of yellow gerber daisies.  We also grabbed a card and headed up to the hospital. 

We arrived at Northside Hospital around 10:30 and found Ryan’s parents who were in the waiting area downstairs.  We sat with them and kept Anthony entertained.  Ryan’s mom bought him a new toy and I think i ended up being more entertained than he did.  I sat their and tied them all together and played for an hour easily.  Before long, Andrea’s mom, dad, and brother arrived and sat with us as well.  We all got lunch from the cafeteria and just talked while eagerly awaiting the news. 

Ryan came down at 2:00 to let us know that the baby was born at 1:32 PM at 8 lbs. 2oz and 21 inches.  They still did not have a name at this point and Ryan took Anthony upstairs to see his new baby brother and to decide on a name for him.  Around 3:30, Ryan and Anthony came back downstairs and let us know that they had a name for him and we could all go see him… unfortunately Anthony forgot the name and Ryan refused to tell us until Anthony did himself.  So we were all eagerly trying to decipher what Anthony was saying so we could figure it out.  Unfortunately it did not work and we spent 5 minutes in the room with the baby before Ryan told Anthony what it was and had him say it.  It was so funny to see all the suspense to see what his name was.

We all gathered around when the nurse came in to give Nico his first bath.  After seeing Anthony’s hair and  Ryan’s  brother mentioning a mohawk, the nurse gave Nico one and posed him for some pictures.  Soon after his bath everyone took turns holding him.  Alisha even convinced me to hold him for a picture.  I just don’t feel right holding something so fragile… I just feel like i am going to drop something that small…  but I will say he was adorable!

Andrea got word of which room she was going to be put into and we all rushed down there to decorate it for her.  We had balloons, flowers, and tons of baby boy decorations to hang up for her.  Shortly after we left as Ryan and Andrea needed some sleep desperately.  They had not gone to bed from hanging out with us at Wild Wing yesterday and it was taking its toll.

 Congrats Ryan and Andrea!  Your baby is finally here!!  We will see you guys soon.