Dana and I visited her cousin Gina and her husband Sam this weekend. They live in Bear, DE, which is a stone’s throw away from Maryland, Philly, and Atlantic City. Despite the relatively cold weather (high 30’s in the morning, low 60’s as a high), there was no rain, so it was pretty nice to get out and enjoy the day.

Friday Dana and Gina went shopping while Sam and I took Deuce and Kayla (Sam and Gina’s daughter, who will be 2 years old soon) to their neighborhood park. After that, the girls and kids took a nap, and Sam and I just hung out for a while, then went to get crabs for dinner (which were excellent).

Saturday Sam had a rugby game. Having never played, I got a crash course on Friday and on Saturday morning. He explained it as a great form of exercise (running for 80 minutes will do that) and fun to boot. I’ve really been trying to get into the habit of physical activity on a regular basis, which for me has been running and light lifting. The running is good, and it definitely makes me feel better, but it is rather boring. So I contemplated looking up a rugby club up here when I got back.

That contemplation was cemented after I got to play in the B-side game after their match. As it turns out, it’s a very fun game, extremely fluid, and fair (in that everyone touches the ball, everyone can score, etc). It’s also relatively quick (two 40-minute halves that run like soccer (no clock stoppages). We only played two 10 minute halves, but I really think that’s all I need. There is a club that practices about 20 miles from our house, so I contacted them yesterday about playing. Who knows, maybe I’ll be playing rugby in the spring.

Anyway, we really enjoyed ourselves this weekend. We don’t typically see Sam and Gina on a regular basis, and we had a blast hanging out with them over the weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to work some more frequent visits into our schedules.

Yes, I know, the posts have been thinning out on both sides of my life. Trust me, it’s not like there’s nothing going on. Far from it, in fact. Dana has really started to get into a groove at work. Being in a sales position, this carries a negative and positive effect. The positive is she’s making more money, while the negative is the 60+ hour weeks she’s been working. As such, the majority of my time is devoted to going to work and then taking care of Deuce.

Taking care of Deuce has become such a fun “job.” He’s at that age where he gabs constantly, and he’s starting to put his words together into small sentences, which makes every time he talks exciting. He’s continually developing a personality. There is also a hint (ok, it’s a BIG hint) of the “terrible twos” that started a while back but have recently become very prominent.

Dana and I are doing pretty well with our fitness goals. I’ve quit calling it a diet for two reasons:

1. I’ve never been on a diet for this long (it’s going on 8 months now)
2. We’ve succeeded in changing our exercise habits as well as our eating habits

Her and I are both at a bit of a standstill in terms of weight loss. But I’ve been running about 3 times week for a little over two months now, and Dana has been going for about a week or two (her knee surgery set her back a bit in that respect), so we’re trying to get into shape. Personally, I’m probably in better shape now than I was in high school, although that’s not saying too much. Each of us would like to run a 5K at some point, but I won’t be running much more than that ever. I’m not built for distance running.

But that’s about it. We’re all pretty happy and healthy. Hopefully I’ll be able to find some time here and there to post updates a bit more frequently.