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The First Annual Kentucky Bourbon Trail Weekend

By
Steve
– April 22, 2011Posted in: Me
What started as a cool idea and a shot in the dark actually happened.  I had first learned of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail a while back and thought it would have made a cool trip.  So many people go out on Long Island or up to the Finger Lakes to […]

What started as a cool idea and a shot in the dark actually happened.  I had first learned of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail a while back and thought it would have made a cool trip.  So many people go out on Long Island or up to the Finger Lakes to go on winery tours… why not go to Kentucky and visit some bourbon distilleries?  So, I mentioned it to some friends, and wouldn’t you know it we actually pulled it off.

Last weekend, me, Ed and Tom piled into Ed’s Fit and made the 11 1/2 hour journey to Kentucky.  We braved fierce storms, a scary encounter in West Virginia and an exceptionally questionable playlist, but we arrived.

The next day we began our journey, but were immediately met with a roadblock as I had some incorrect information and we went to a distillery that was not open.  According to Ed and Tom, I ruined the whole vacation because of this… Anyway, we got ourselves back on track and hit 5 of the 6 distilleries.  Along the way we learned some interesting facts.

  • Bourbon can be made anywhere in the US, but 95% of the distilleries are in KY due to the limestone filtered water with little to no iron in it
  • It must be made with at least 51% corn, but typically is made with more.  Other grains that are added are wheat (for sweeter bourbons) or rye (for spicier bourbons)
  • The bourbon is aged is charred white oak barrels.  Each barrel is only allowed to be used once.
  • Bourbon should be enjoyed with a little bit of water or a few ice chips to open the flavor.  It should never be consumed neat.

Aside from the Bourbon Trail, we also paid a visit to some Brothers in Lexington Lodge #1.  We had a good meal, met some great people and watched some excellent ritual work.  After the meeting we went out for a few drinks with some of the Brothers and had a great time learning more about Kentucky and bourbon.

Every place we went people asked if we were in town for Keeneland.  We had heard about it before we came down, but didn’t realize what it was, or that it was such a big deal.  Keeneland is a race track in Lexington that holds racing 30 days of the year and also conducts horse sales.  We got a tour from one of our Brothers and watched the horses.

It was a great trip.  We left 1 distillery unvisited so we would have a reason to come back (actually we just ran out of time) and would like to work in a full day of racing at Keeneland.

Stay tuned for Kentucky Bourbon Trail 2012…

 

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Just Me and My New Friends

By
Steve
– April 12, 2011Posted in: Me
This morning on the train going into work I was flipping through my Twitter (@sjshaw361 – for those who aren’t following me yet) and I saw that Sig Hansen and Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand were going to be on Fox and Friends promoting the new season of Deadliest Catch (tonight […]

This morning on the train going into work I was flipping through my Twitter (@sjshaw361 – for those who aren’t following me yet) and I saw that Sig Hansen and Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand were going to be on Fox and Friends promoting the new season of Deadliest Catch (tonight at 9pm on Discovery). On the off-chance I would catch a glimpse of these guys I walked over.

When I got there they had already finished up the live stuff and were taping a segment that would air later in the day.  There was no one around except the crew, the captains, me and 2 other guys.  When they finished taping the three of us looked at each other and said, “Should we go up there?  Yeah!  Why not.” So we walked up to the guys and said hello.  They were really nice.  They looked like they had just stopped partying about 20 minutes ago, but they were real friendly.  We all got some nice pictures.

I am the coolest person on the web right now.

 

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Run a Half Marathon: CHECK!

By
Steve
– April 2, 2011Posted in: Half Marathon, Me
Well, after 8 weeks of training, the day finally came.  I was nervous as hell, but I hit the ground running (pun most definitely intended) and ran 13.1 miles. It was a challenge, and I was a little concerned about the end, but I finished.  My official time was 2:43:43 […]

Well, after 8 weeks of training, the day finally came.  I was nervous as hell, but I hit the ground running (pun most definitely intended) and ran 13.1 miles.

It was a challenge, and I was a little concerned about the end, but I finished.  My official time was 2:43:43 which put me at a 12:30 pace.  I was hoping to finish in 2:30:00, but once I hit mile 10 I knew that wasn’t going to happen.  Then I just wanted to finish.

My “Official” Time

I’ll have some photos from the race soon (I hope) but for now, here is a picture Frank took of me about 10 minutes after finishing.

 

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Playing with Grandpa

By
Steve
– March 22, 2011Posted in: Jack
I haven’t posted in a while… sorry to my dozens and… well… probably no more than a dozen… followers. Grandpa and Grandma T came over recently to hang out and then do a little light babysitting while Jen and I went out with her family for my sister-in-law’s 30th birthday […]

I haven’t posted in a while… sorry to my dozens and… well… probably no more than a dozen… followers.

Grandpa and Grandma T came over recently to hang out and then do a little light babysitting while Jen and I went out with her family for my sister-in-law’s 30th birthday dinner.  While we were all sitting around the house Jack and Grandpa started playing with Jack’s trains which somehow turned into a game with his laundry basket which then turned into a game where Jack was choking him.

I have no idea how it started… but it was very funny.  We all had a good time.

 

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Jack’s First Circus

By
Steve
– February 19, 2011Posted in: Jack
I had gone to Ringling Bros and Barnum and Baily Circus a few years ago.  I don’t know if it was the fact that our memories are very different as adults then as children, or if the circus itself just hit on hard times, but it was awful. There was […]

I had gone to Ringling Bros and Barnum and Baily Circus a few years ago.  I don’t know if it was the fact that our memories are very different as adults then as children, or if the circus itself just hit on hard times, but it was awful. There was some terrible story line about a family and a little girl and flying and other nonsense.  The acting was terrible, they did these little skits all through the performance and it generally was just painful to watch.  Then… the cats came out.  CATS!  House cats!  Not lions.  Not tigers.  Not even a panther.  HOUSE CATS!  A whole performance with cats.  I wept for my future children that this was what they had to look forward to.

Fast forward to 2011.  We decided to take Jack to the circus for the first time.  But, rather than go into Manhattan for Ringling Bros, we decided to start small at the Westchester County Center in White Plains for the Royal Hanneford Circud.  I was not expecting much, but I thought he might enjoy it.

WOW!  Was I impressed.  The venue is small so everyone is close to the action and they had a lot of great performers.  So much better than Ringling Bros!

How did Jack like it?  He enjoyed himself.  He really liked the animal acts.  He liked the ATV stunt guys.  He was so so on the juggling and trapeze stuff.  Was not a fan of the other stuff.  But, all in all he had a lot of fun.  They even had a human cannon ball.  Jack claimed this was his favorite part.

As this was not only his first circus, but his first live event, I think we all faired very well.  I would definitely go back.

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Farmer Jack – E-I-E-I-O!

By
Steve
– January 15, 2011Posted in: Jack
If anyone is going to Blue Hills at Stone Barns in the next few days, you just might eat an egg that was collected by Jack. We drove up to Stone Barns this past Saturday to take part in the Saturday Family Activity, which is egg collecting. After the eggs […]

If anyone is going to Blue Hills at Stone Barns in the next few days, you just might eat an egg that was collected by Jack. We drove up to Stone Barns this past Saturday to take part in the Saturday Family Activity, which is egg collecting. After the eggs are collected they are either sold in the store or bought by the restaurant to be used in their meals.

The farmer takes you to the chicken coop and tells the kids about the chickens and the eggs and the farm Then, they bring you into the coop and let you collect all the eggs. After the eggs were collected, they took us to see the pigs and the sheep.

Jack was a little unsure of the chickens because there were so many of them and they peck at your feet and legs the whole time. But he was having fun holding the basket and seeing the chickens When we went to see the pigs he was just yelling, “Oink oink!” at them. The farmer threw one of the cracked eggs into the pig sty as a treat. Jack very politely asked if he could have a turn. Unfortunately they don’t let the kids throw the eggs. I bet that could get messy.

Next time we are going to try our hands at vegetable picking in the Greenhouse. That is their Sunday activity. We will definitely be spending more time at Stone Barns.

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Christmas Parts II, III and IV

By
Steve
– December 29, 2010Posted in: Jack
We got lazy playing with our new toys (both mine and Jack’s) and then had a fun snow day on the Monday after Christmas so I never put up any of the Christmas photos.  So, I got even lazier and decided to put it all into one big post. Christmas […]

We got lazy playing with our new toys (both mine and Jack’s) and then had a fun snow day on the Monday after Christmas so I never put up any of the Christmas photos.  So, I got even lazier and decided to put it all into one big post.

Christmas Eve Eve (or Festivus for the “rest of us”) was fun.  Jack and Jen made cookies for Santa and Jack drew Santa a nice picture on his Christmas plate.  Jack was very excited about making Santa cookies.  He was also very proud of his drawing for Santa.

Christmas Eve was — as it is every year — at Jen’s parent’s house.  It was a lot of people, a lot of presents, a lot of noise and A LOT OF FUN!  Last year Jen’s Dad dressed up as Santa for Jack to take pictures and add a little extra fun to the day.  This year, he dressed in the suit again, but Jack wanted no part of it.  For some reason he was very scared.  I can’t figure it out.  Last year he hated the Mall Santa, but loved Poppa Santa.  This year, loved the Mall Santa and hated Poppa Santa.  I guess we will never get the balance right.

After the Santa drama, Jack opened his gifts… all of them.  He got some great new toys.  Then, Jen and I opened our gifts.  We too, got some great new toys.  Then the rest of Jen’s family came over and the magical chaos that is Christmas Eve ensued.

Christmas Morning was fun.  Jack woke up and came out to see if Santa ate his cookies — and if the reindeer ate the apple.  He then proceeded to tear through all his presents as fast as he could.   Then the fun of opening each toy and putting in the batteries began.  I realize its only been 3 Christmases that I have had a kid, but it seems that each year the toy companies come up with new and inventive ways to cause grief for parents trying to open their kids toys.  This year I actually needed a screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers to get the gifts out of the packages.  CRAZY!

After our Christmas Morning it was off to my Dad and Theresa’s for Christmas dinner.  Jack made out like a bandit there as well… as did me and Jen.  Then, Jack spend the rest of the day playing with my Dad’s trains.  He would run the trains as fast as he could and wait for them to fall off.  Then he would laugh and wait for someone to put them back on.  He would have done this all day if we let him.

After a long day of Christmas we headed home… Jack fell asleep in the car and barely moved in the transfer from car to bed.  Another great Christmas in the books!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Christmas 2010 – Part 1

By
Steve
– December 13, 2010Posted in: Jack
Jack is a lucky, lucky kid.  Each year he is guaranteed to have at least 4 Christmases – One with my Mom, one with my Dad, one with Jen’s family and one with us.  Add in a school party and whatever might be happening in our complex and Jack could be looking […]

Jack is a lucky, lucky kid.  Each year he is guaranteed to have at least 4 Christmases – One with my Mom, one with my Dad, one with Jen’s family and one with us.  Add in a school party and whatever might be happening in our complex and Jack could be looking at 8 days of Christmas.  Its the Hanukkah of Christmases!

This past Sunday was Christmas Part 1 with my Mom and that side of our family.  It was a windy, rainy day, but we were glad it wasn’t snow.  Everyone had a great time, and just when we thought we were going to lose Jack during dinner, Cars saved the day!

Jack got some really great gifts and had a fun time playing with Jasmine – the dog in the photos.   We all had a really great time.  Now we just have to hope the rest of our celebrations go as smoothly and that we don’t get too many new toys… or we will have to buy another apartment just for jack and his stuff.

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Rockefeller Christmas Tree

By
Steve
– December 11, 2010Posted in: Jack
Since we never got around to going to see the tree last year, we decided this past Saturday would be the perfect time to go. We didn’t have any plans and it wasn’t going to be that cold.  Turns out I was wrong. Jack just wasn’t feeling it.  He did not want […]

Since we never got around to going to see the tree last year, we decided this past Saturday would be the perfect time to go. We didn’t have any plans and it wasn’t going to be that cold.  Turns out I was wrong.

Jack just wasn’t feeling it.  He did not want to get out of his stroller and if I stopped for more than 30 seconds, like say, for a traffic light, he starting screaming, “I want to move!  I want to move, now!”

We went to see the tree and he wouldn’t get out for a photo and kept yelling, “I want to see something else!”

It was a fun time… So, since we wanted to spend more than 30 minutes in NYC, we decided to walk around and find some lunch.  The only problem was we knew Jack would be awful in a restaurant and would not sit still. Then the light bulb went off! We got some Wendy’s and some Five Guys and ate lunch in my office.  It was the happiest Jack was all day.

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Meeting Santa

By
Steve
– December 4, 2010Posted in: Jack
We took Jack to the mall to meet Santa.  After last year (search my previous posts) we decided to get him set up for the whole thing.  We told Jack that he would need to tell Santa what he wanted to Christmas and that Santa was going to ask if […]

We took Jack to the mall to meet Santa.  After last year (search my previous posts) we decided to get him set up for the whole thing.  We told Jack that he would need to tell Santa what he wanted to Christmas and that Santa was going to ask if he was a good boy.  Jack told us he was going to ask Santa for a Thomas book.  If we had known it was going to be that easy we could have returned the hundreds of toys we all bought for him.  He also said he was going to tell Santa he had been a good boy.

We got to the mall and Jack immediately starting running around.  With the long line, we thought we might be in trouble.  But as we got closer he stayed with us.  Then we were next.  That was when Jack decided he wasn’t waiting anymore.  He lifted up the rope and started running.  Jen unhooked the rope so I could grab him except that she didn’t unhook it all the way and I ran straight into it and bounced backwards.  By now Jack was halfway down the ramp.  I threw down the diaper bag, lifted up the rope and ran under just as Jack reached the bottom.

So… then it was our turn.  Jack sat on Santa’s lap and told him he wanted a Thomas book.  Santa, being as knowledgeable as he is, started asking Jack about James and Percy and all the other trains.  It was great.  He was a little shy, but we got a couple of great pictures.  MUCH better than last year!

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