For our 9th anniversary my wife presented me with a new wedding band. That may seem like an odd anniversary to renew vows or rekindle flames, until you consider that I have been posing as a single man for the last 7 months. Without a ring on my finger I have spent many late nights prowling the streets of Webster, New York for the unattached. Unshackled from the marriage symbol I have lived my bachelor pad, 2-seat convertible dreams. It’s no wonder that Tricia put the bling back on my finger. She couldn’t handle the renegade that was unleashed and had to tame the wild beast before I jeapordized our family’s well-being.

If only I were that interesting…

I have really been sans wedding ring for the last 7 months because of one of those you’ll laugh about it someday stories. Late last year Tricia and I decided to make pierogies for our family Christmas Day festivities. I took off my ring and put it on the computer desk downstairs so that it would not get ruined amidst the 14 hour day of mixing, filling and quick-freezing dozens of pierogies. Before bed I went downstairs to put my ring back on. It was nowhere to be found. Not on the desk…not on the floor…not anywhere else I would typically leave it. Then I remembered that earlier in the day our 3 year old Anna was playing computer games. Here’s how the conversation went down:

Me: Anna, were you playing with Daddy’s ring today?
Anna: Yes Daddy
Me: Do you know where you left it?
Anna: No
Me: Were you playing with it on the desk?
Anna:Yes
Me: It’s not there anymore, do you know where it is?
Anna: Yes, it rolled on the floor
Me: Oh, and THEN what happened?
Anna: I DON’T KNOW **crying** IT JUST DISAPPEARED

We tried hundreds of different memory jogging techniques, but the long term recall of a 3 year old who plays with pretty things is less than that of a goldfish. It HAD to be somwehere in the house, Anna hadn’t even been outside that day. I didn’t panic. I was convinced it would just turn up. Lost things tend to do that.

The next day, my “it will turn up” mindset turned into obessing about the ring’s whereabouts. I turned the house upside down – opening every Little People toy, and shaking out every princess costume. Finally, I resorted to the best MacGyver tactic I could come up with. I lashed a webcam and a flashlight to a coat hanger, then hooked the apparatus up to my laptop. As if sending the remote cameras down to the Titanic I sent zippy1 (the name for my remote scout) down into the depths of every one of the first floor heat ducts. While there were plenty of dust bunnies and candy wrappers, alas there was not a glint of gold. Dejected, but nonetheless convinced that I looked everywhere, I turned back to “it will turn up”. It never did.

The wild beast I was not. I was heart broken about losing that original symbol of our marriage. But, I also know in the end it is just that. The Ring became a little joke within the family. Now, whenever we lose something we say, “Maybe it’s with Daddy’s wedding ring”. Tricia and I fully expect to someday find that ring along with the countless other trinkets that our kids have lost; probably in the bowels of Mister Potato Head.

The good news is that neither of us is into the yellow gold rings we chose in 1998. We thought perhaps an upgrade to our new taste was in order for our 10 year anniversary. Thankfully Tricia didn’t make me wait that long. Today I’ve got a simple white gold, comfort fit band on my finger. It makes me feel like I just got married all over again. Isn’t that what anniversaries are all about?

Today we attended the beautiful wedding of Wendy Rzepkowski to Ian Vosper in Cassadaga, NY. The reception was at the White Inn in Fredonia.

I love a good Rzepkowski wedding! Mason and Anna, who are now professional wedding attendants brought their ‘A’ game. It was great to see everyone. Congratulations to the newlyweds! Tricia posted some pictures from the festivities. We also made a wedding video and picture slideshow (at the end).

Last week I took a fishing trip with guys from my family including my dad, father-in-law, uncle Terry, uncle Neal and Duane. We drove to the Cabonga Reservoir in Quebec for 3 days of fishing. The catch of the week was this 13 pound Northern Pike. I’ve done a lot of fishing, but this was by far the most exciting catch of my life. We had gotten off of our boats and onto 2 large rocks. As I reeled in my first cast of a Little Cleo (the blue and white beauty in the upper right corner) and only 3 feet from pulling the lure from the water, this giant swirl suddenly peeled out 30 yards of line and bent my pole into the water. After raking on the fish for 10 minutes I got my first glimpse and I knew it was huge. A Northern does not like to see a net or a fisherman so away he went. We fought the fish for another 15 minutes, dancing around the rocks, praying that he wouldn’t saw through the line with his razor sharp teeth. I tired it out and Duane took one mighty swoop with the net. The beast was landed – barely. The net was not really big enough, and an extremely angry northern tore a nice hole right into it. A day after we had lost a stringer full of fish because of equipment failure, we took another 5 minutes just trying to get 2 stringer hooks into his mouth.

Anyways, words hardly do the experience justice, but the reward was taking in the record Northern so far this summer at Cabonga Lodge. As a matter of fact the previous night I had caught a 10.6 pounder which was the previous record. What a joy it was to beat my own record by over 2 lbs! There were many amazing experiences on this trip, not the least of which was spending it with my dad and father-in-law. I hope I can go again sometime.

We celebrated our “Chicago Christmas” on Sunday before we take the kiddies to Rochester for Christmas on the 24th. We ate mucho Polish Sausage, pierogies, and I got one of these (see below). Can anything be better than a HUGE Buffalo Bills victory, opening presents, and eating tube meat? I think not.

iPod 40GB Zippy Special Edition.

The joy of having kids is doing things that you never got to do as a kid. I’m not sure all of the different things that I’m going to force Mason and Anna to try just so I can relive my childhood, but building a gingerbread house was a good start. I never did one as a kid, and I’m sure that to do one from scratch would stop any normal human. We went to Jewel and bought a boxed one. You simply mix up the icing and start gluing pre-baked pieces together. It even comes with a plastic tray that serves as the platform. We had so much fun, and so did the kids. What can be better than lots of icing and candy? Let the holiday cheer begin.

Sunday was Anna’s first birthday. She had an awesome time at her pool party at Lietime Fitness. It was a red white and blue, All-America theme. We floated hundreds of beachballs in the pool, and served Popeye’s chicken and apple pie for dinner. The best part of it all was watching my Anna take the right of passage into the chocolate cake addiction that is a Rzepkowski birthday. Nice job honey! And yes…you can have a brown chocolate cake at your wedding.

It’s amazing how quickly the second child grows up when there’s a bigger kid around to motivate her. Anna is 11 months, and if she doesn’t start walking in the next 2 weeks I would be surprised. In the meantime, she has definitely figured out how to crawl, climb up on her brother and get in his grill. The boy needed a challenge..now he’s got one. With a beautiful 90 degree Sunday we went to the Lifetime Fitness pool. I just need to burn that day into my memory for safekeeping on those 20 degree days in February. Summer is too short.

Father’s Day was excellent this year. Mason and Anna, with a little help from Tricia gave me a bicycle trailer. So Saturday we had a great ride along Lake Michigan from Navy Pier, up to North Avenue Beach for some sand throwing and chewing ( a favorite 2 year old activity), then to the Lincoln Park Zoo for some animal watching, then back to Navy Pier for some fireworks. It was an incredible display. They must spend some serious money to put that on twice a week.

Western New Yorkers everywhere unite. It’s Dyngus Day! A day to throw water on girls and hit them with pussywillows…and for girls to throw ‘dishes & crockery’ at the boys in delight. It’s a Buffalo Polish tradition as festive as the Broadway Market and Butter Lambs. Thanks to Rachelle for featuring one of those badboys.

This was a fantastic Easter weekend. Time was spent eating mucho chocolate and searching for many plastic eggs. Mason and Anna think this may be the best holiday of the year.

The big 2-9. My Grandma and Aunt are coming into town from Buffalo and South Carolina respectively, to celebrate and see the kids. Can’t wait to see them. Gotta go to the airport now. Yipeeeee!