FULL TERM!

So, today Marin is officially "Full Term"! Baby Knight is ready for the real world...well, ready as he/she will ever be. The doctor estimates that our baby will be in between 7.5 - 8.5lbs. I am guessing it'll be closer to 8.5 lbs. Her due date is July 18th. It was July 15th at first, then they changed it a few times...and finally settled on the 18th. Haven't heard anything different, so that is what we're going with.

So, we're taking guesses on sex, weight and birthdate. My dad said that he'll send a prize to the person with the closest guess.

Final Guesses

Team Boy:

Uncle-to-be Greg: 8lb 9oz boy born on July 13th
Grandpa-to-be Knight: 8lb 7oz boy born on July 13th
Ashley and Rod Bass: 7lb 11oz boy born on July 15th
Cousin Colleen Knight: 8lb 8oz boy born on July 15th
Amy (Kane) Nolan: 7lbs 7oz boy on July 16th
Bonnie Palsa: 8lb 2oz boy born on July 16th
Joan Holmer: 8 lbs 2 oz boy on July 16th
Cousin-to-be Steph Crandall: 8ln 15oz boy born on July 16th
Grandma-to-be Thompson: 9lb 3 oz born on July 17th
Uncle Greg: 7lb 11oz boy born on July 17th
Pretty Aunt Collin: 8lbs 12oz boy born on July 18th
Kathy Kane: 8 lbs 14 oz born on July 18th
Great-Grandma-to-be Shaughnessy (Marin's Mommoms): 8lbs 1oz boy on July 19th
Stacey Long: 6lb 7oz boy born on July 20th
Grandma-to-be Knight: 8lb 4oz boy born on July 21st
Marin: 8lb 3oz boy born on July 21st
Grandpa-to-be Long: 8lb 12oz boy born on July 21st
Great-Grandma-to-be Knight: 8lb 4oz boy born on July 22nd

Melissa Marandino: 7 lb 2 oz boy norn on July 23rd
Deidre Morrissey: 8lb 6oz boy born on July 24th

Aunt-to-be Lauren: 8lb 9oz boy born on July 25th

Uncle-to-be Steve: 9lb 0oz boy born on July 27th
TR Kane: 8 lb 3 oz born on July 30th

Great-Grandma-to-be Brown (Eric's Nana): 9lb 8oz boy born on July 31st

Note: If a boy is born on the 26th, 28th, 29th we will go to the next closest guesses date-wise (before or after the arrival) and then choose based on the closest guess in weight

Team "Girl":

Alec, Madison and Griffin Creighton (Eric's cousins): A vote for "team girl"!
Bob Enzler: A vote for "team girl"!
Uncle-to-be Frank: 7lb 9oz girl born on July 9th
Karolyn Zikas: 8lb 2oz girl born on July 15th
Aunt Debbie (aka Aunt "Nanny"): 7lb 4oz girl born on July 15th
Terry Kane: 7 lb 7 oz girl born on July 16th
Jenny Carter: 8lb 2oz girl born on July16th
Carla Gallelli: 8lb 3oz girl born on July 16th
Kym, Drew & Jordan Zlogar (Eric's Cousins): 8lb 6oz girl born on July 16th
Aunt-to-be Collin: 8lb 7oz girl born on July 17th
Aunt-to-be Kim: 7lb 15oz girl born on July 17th
Tia Kane: 7 lb 11 oz girl born on July 19th
Brett Gilmore: 8lb girl on July 20th
Cousin-to-be Heather Crandall: 8lb 15oz born on July 20th
Erin Smith: 7lb 8oz girl born on July 20th
Brian Smith: 8lb 1oz girl born on July 21st
Eric: 8lb 8oz girl born on July 21st

Kristin Zikas: 8lb 0oz girl born on July 22nd
Kerry Schutz: 8lbs 1oz girl born on July 23rd
Ashleigh Rich: 7lb 10oz born on July 23rd
Joe and Mandy Pitcavage: 7lb 9oz girl born on July 23rd
Harcourt Schutz: 8lb 8oz girl born on July 25th

Note: If a girl is born on July 24th we will choose the closest guesses date-wise (before or after arrival date) and then choose based on the closest guess in weight.

Red font indicates those people who have been eliminated.

As of 7/14/07, all new bids are closed :)

As of June 29, 2007

Ian's Sea Craft

On Father's Day weekend we went to dinner with our friends the Morrisey's and the O'Connell's (blogs on the right). Both Mike and Ian are classmates from Mass Maritme and are both in the Marine Industry. Needless to say this is an extremely busy time of year for the both of them so we were happy we were able to catch up everyone for a little while. After some beers and virgin Cape Codders(aka Cranberry Juice) for Marin at Baxter's we all went to the Brazilian Grill in Hyannis...I've never seen so much food!

During dinner we got to talking about one of Ian's (many) projects. I might not get all the details right, but about 3 years ago Ian bought a 1970's model 23' Sea Craft that needed to be completely overhauled. For those that aren't familiar with this model, Sea Crafts (especially the old ones) are a very well-known, desirable brand of powerboats.

Anyhow, Ian started working on this boat 3 years ago and the before and afters are below. We got to go out for a ride around Barnstable Harbor after dinner and the finished product, as you can see, is simply beautiful. My hat's off to Ian...real nice work. I am sure his the new boats that Ian and his business partner Dana are building are going to be gorgeous. The first Bassett Custom will be delivered to her new owner on Martha's Vineyard this summer. Mor photos to come. http://www.bassettcustom.net/ (still under construction).

Before...

During....

And the "Afters".......

Block Island Race Week

So, Team Savasana is off to Block Island this week http://www.blockislandraceweek.com/. It will be the first time I have skipped this regatta in 4 years, but I am happy to be here with the mommy-to-be. Savasana is the defending champion of Block Island Race week as we won the event last year by a nice margin of 11pts. The crew on this year's boat is a little different than in the past. We have two new-comers Marykate Moniz from Marion, MA (my old crew from high school sailing) and Harcourt's brother-in-law, Brad Taylor from Charleston, SC. The rest of the crew are regulars Brian Keane (Marion/Weston, MA), Harcourt Schutz (Guilford, CT), Mike Danish (Corpus Christi, TX) and Jon Colarusso (Charleston, SC).

A view of the party tent at BIRW

Days 1 and 2

There are 24 J105's at this year's BIRW and 183 boats total. After 3 races "Savasana" currently sits in first with 6pts (1,3,2 finishes) with a comfortable lead over second place "Arbitrage" with 13pts (7,5,1 finishes). Yesterday was the "Around the Island Race" where all 183 boats race around Block Island (14.831 nautical miles). Savasana has won the last two around the island races ('05 & '06) and just missed the three-peat yesterday as they were edged out by "Arbitrage" by just a few seconds on a shortened course. The team is confident that if they race was not shortened, they would have had the win no problem...woulda coulda shoulda!

J105 start for the around the island Race

I pirated this shot from the Schutz's blog who pirated it from Tim WIlkes wesbite http://www.timwilkes.com/

Another Tim Wilkes photo. From front to back: Marykate, Jon, Harcourt, Brad, Mike and Brian.

Day 3

There are still 6 races to go over the next 3 days. This morning's report from Harcourt said that it's "windy, foggy, and cold"....that's the June weather on Block Island that we all know . best.

Looks like Brad got stuck with the tiller up on deck in the rain. Is he praying to the rain God's to make it stop?

While Brad's up on deck in the rain, Jon and Harc are nice and dry below waiting for the racing to begin for the day.

The team won the first race by quite a distance on this rainy and cold day giving them a total of 7 points after four races still in first place over one of our regular rivals "Eclipse" who is tied with "Morning Glory" and "Andiamo" and "Arbitrage" with 21 points each after 4 races.

The second race proved to be a real challenge as the team crossed the line with an 8th. However, the fleet was very scattered and even some of the other top boats (Eclipse did not finish, Morning Glory finished 20th) had much worse scores. As bad as the 8th place finish sounds, Savasana still "won the day" with the scors 1, 8 by one point over "Andiamo" (7,3) who wins the tie breaker with more 3rds over "Woody"( 5, 5). Apparently they were in 3rd to last around the first windward mark after a tough start and having to exonerate themselves (by completing a 720 degree turn) after fouling another boat in a Port/Starboard situation. Still, they managed to pass 16 boats in the race to get 8th.

Savasana now leads the pack with 15 pts. over second place "Andiamo" who has 24pts and third place "Woody" 27pts.

After the first race tomorrow (the 6th race) everyone will be allowed to drop their worst score, so things will REALLY get jumbled up. However, as long as Savasana stays around the top 10, they should still be on top.

Day 4

Well, it's the first day of summer and if the weather in Boston is in any way indicative of the weather on Block Island then it's perfectly clear, beautiful and breezy. I haven't heard from the team yet, but I did get some photos from last night. They are clearly having a good time.

Savasana heading out the cut of the Salt Pond for Day 4

Just got this picture above from the team. Looks like a beautiful day. Maybe they'll actually get some races off on time for once. Apparently the wind has been very shifty.

OUCH! So, they finished 13th in the first race (6th race total) of day four. Looks like they'll have to keep that 8th they got yesterday. Not sure what happened this race, but it was reported that the winds were light again, so it appears that they missed a shift or got caught on the wrong side of the course.

Brian was quoted in this morning's BIRW Press Release as saying "We're moving quick; just can't make the big mistake". Well, not a big mistake, but the regatta is definitely much closer. With a drop accounted for Savasana sits in first with 15pts and close behind in 2nd is Kinscem with 18pts (finished 1,1 in the last two races) and then "Andiamo" with 20pts. Just confirmed....they were caught on the wrong side of a huge shift that put them from 4th to 13th.

Thaaaat's better. Savasana finished 1st in race #7 . In second was "Kinscem" followed by our friend's from Annapolis on "Tenacious". So, Savasana still leads the event with 16pts after the drop, but after a solid day by last year's second place boat "Kinscem" (1, 2 on the day), the margin is cut to 4 pts as "Kinscem" sit in second place again with 20pts. In third place is "Andiamo" with 27pts. Two more races tomorrow (we think) and with a big fleet and shift breeze it's still anyone's race.

Day 5

Another beautiful day here in Boston. It's very breezy, I am wondering if they're getting the same thing down on Block Island. It's about 1030 EST right now and their frist start, if on time, is usually around 11. I just got an email from Harcourt that read "Is it bad when the water is coming in faster than you can bail?". Apparently when they got to the boat this morning (late as usual) they opened up the cabin top and looked in to find everything, including the dehumidifier floating. They took on a TON of water over night and had to bail it all out just to get the engine started. They finally did get it started and got out to the race course. They figured out that the seal around the shaft for the prop was broken and was letting in quite a bit of water. According to Mike, they were about 3 threads away from losing the shaft/prop entirely...not sure how something like that happens on it's own...

Photo from Tim WIlkes Photography http://www.timwilkes.com/

The first, and come to find out the only, race of Day 5 was a 5 legged 10 mile race that they started with about 22kts of breeze. Savasana got off the start but could not keep pace the first upwind leg and ended up 10th around the first mark with "Kinscem" (the boat that is only 4pts back) in fifth. If things were to stay that way, Kinscem would take the regatta by a point. However, on the downwind leg the wind kicked up to about 26kts. Because the team has been sailing J105's together for years now, we know that 26kts is a magical number. Time to take the "High Road" or "Do the Dance" as we call it. The "low road" is the most direct angle to the leeward mark, but once the wind kicks up around 26+ the high road is much faster and becomes more adventageous than trying to sail the closest angle to the mark. The high road is a little riskier as it is very easy to crash and burn, but the team knows they have solid boat handling. So, they took the high road and passed 5 boats on the downwind leg rounding the leeward mark in fifth. Kinscem passed two boats and rounded in third. The team did their best to keep Kinscem as close as possible holding onto their fifth while Kinscem could not crawl any higher than 3rd. That was it! Savasana wins the 2007 Block Island Race Week! Two years in a row!!!

L to R: Harcourt, Jon, Brad, Marykate, Mike

Congrats to the team...I wish I were there to celebrate with you all!

To learn a big more about the J105 Class, you can go to http://www.j105.org/

Happy Father's Day

Eric and I can only wish the very best Father's Day to Ron and Bill...our loved daddies, who have taken great care of us over the years. And, this Father's Day was especially fun because Eric was able to get a little bit of spoiling prior to the baby's arrival. After all...he too is a father!

We spent Father's Day weekend on the Cape and enjoyed a beautiful Sunday playing around with Ron. The Annual Hyannis Car Show was on Main Street and we made sure Ron had a chance to check out all the oldies but goodies. Eric and Ron checked out the local driving range too. Afterward, we spent the day vegetating by the pool and later enjoyed a grilled dinner of salmon, chicken and veggies.

Thanks again to our daddies for being so good to us! We love you!

Baby Showers!

Baby Knight is going to be welcomed into the world with style! After two beautiful baby showers, our nursery and baby necessities have come together beautifully.

Collin, Lauren and Erin Smith hosted a fabulous shower in Boston earlier in May. In addition to my family, I was so fortunate to have so many dear friends celebrate our baby's arrival. Out-of-towners included a representative group of VIPs (Carla, Jaime and Jenny). My aunt Collin also made the trek from Minnesota.

This past weekend, Linda outdid herself planning a beautiful Cape-based baby shower. Close family friends and my mom celebrated our soon-to-be baby's arrival as well. We sure had a ball!

Mom-to-be and her mom, Grandma Thompson and her awesome gift (Pack n' Play) in the background

Mom-to-be and Grandpa-to-be Knight. He loves to feel the baby move!

Grandma -to-be Knight made these. The Bassinet is for all of her grand- children to sleep in when they visit the Cape, but pale is just for Baby Knight!

The Lombard's (Eric's cousins: Zoe, Paige, Sterling, Quinn and Hampton) made this really cool lamp for Baby Knight! (not shown: awesome green lampshade!)

We musn't forget the beautiful cake (still enjoying it!)

Though we didn't get a picture of it, the framed picture is a Liz Mumford (our favorite) that was given to us by the two Great Grandmother's-to-be on Eric's side.

Look at all of this great stuff! Thanks Everyone!!

34 Weeks and Counting

I've officially reached 34 weeks in my pregnancy and we sure are excited for our little bundle of joy to arrive. If you can believe it, here are some of the stats for Baby Knight:

• Approximate length 16 to 18 inches, weight 4 to 5 pounds.
• Her/his arms and legs are continuing to fill out from fat accumulation.
• She/He's dimpling at his/her elbows and knees and forming creases around his/her wrists and neck.
• The percentage of fat on his/her body is 8%, compared with only 1% of his/her body weight at 20 weeks. At birth, his/her body fat will be about 15%, helping him/her to keep warm.

Dr. Katz informed me at my appointment today that the baby should be somewhere over 7 pounds and under 10 pounds. I'm cheering more toward a 7 pounder but I'm definitely hoping for healthy no matter what.

Charleston - National Champs Again!

My alma mater, the College of Charleston, just one the National Collegiate Sailing Championships held at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW edging out Dartmouth in the final race.

An article from the CofC sport webpage is quoted below. Congrats to the team and especially to Russ O'Reilly for taking the A-Division by storm.

"The College of Charleston Sailing Team used a first and second in the final two races in the A-Division to take home the 2007 ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy Championship, the second in a row for the Cougars. CofC came back from third after the first day to win the regatta, held this week at the U.S. Naval Academy. Charleston finished with 225 points, with Dartmouth placing second with 234. With the win the Cougars take home the Fowle Trophy, the highest honor for a college sailing team.

The win was the 13th national title for the Cougars, having won two earlier this fall.

The duo of Russ O’Reilly and Megan Riddle, who sailed in the A-Division last season to lead the Cougars to the 2006 Dinghy Championship, posted 75 points in this year’s A-Division races, 36 points ahead of second-place Hobart/William Smith. Of the 18 races in this division, the Cougars placed in the top five in 13 of them. Three of those were wins, including the second to last race of the day.

“I am really proud of our team for being able to repeat as champions, especially in an away venue, and one that we knew would be tough,” said Head Sailing coach Ward Cromwell. “I am especially excited for Russ (O’Reilly) and Megan (Riddle) who probably sailed the best of their careers this week. I knew it would come down to the last race, and it did. Our team excelled at the end and came through with the win.”

The team of Brendan Healy, Britney Haas and Julia Southworth sailed in the B-Division, placing 10th with 150 points, just 19 points out of the top five. They placed in the top 10 in all but six races, winning the sixth race and placing third in the first and 13 races.

The Cougars took home the Fowle Trophy for the fourth time, and first since 1997-98. The winner of the Fowle Trophy, the highest honor a college sailing team can receive, is determined based upon the best cumulative performance in the six North American Championships – the six are the Men’s Singlehandeds, the Women’s Singlehandeds, Sloops, Women’s Dinghies, Team Race and Coed Dinghies. Charleston won the Women’s Singlehandeds, the Sloops and the Coed Dinghies, while placing second in the Women’s Dinghies and sixth in the Team Race.

“I am also excited for the team having won the Fowle Trophy. It is a testament to the dedication and effort our team has put forth this season.”"

Lauren and Frank's Engagement!

It is official - Lauren and Frank are engaged! After a much anticipated engagement, Frank asked Lauren to marry him late yesterday afternoon at a landmark spot in Centerville, MA - The Candy Store. A celebration followed immediately with the Knight's for a wonderful dinner at the Hyannisport Golf Club. Eric and I heard the great news when Lauren and Frank came by up on their return to Boston. We were already tucked in bed watching the Red Sox play the Yankees when Lauren and Frank came by the share the awesome news. They both were over the moon with excitement. Let the planning begin for a summer wedding in 2008!

An added note (as Lauren's brother). I could not ask for a better brother in law!

Memorial Day Weekend

We're a little late posting this, but better late than never. We were waiting for some pictures (forgot the memory card for our camera) from some family members, but everyone is currently out of town!

Anyway, Marin and I got out of the city in the early afternoon on Friday. We made it down to the Cape with relative ease. For those of you that have not been to the Cape in a while, they have done away with the rotary on the "off-Cape" side in an effort to ease the difficult traffic we usually face heading down there. However, they still make you merge to one lane! So, in reality it's not all that effective. Fortunately, many of the people heading down to the Cape hadn't experienced the new roadway either because everyone piled in the left lane for about 2 miles of traffic. However, what they didn't know is that the right line was wide open all the way down to the beginning of the bridge where there is a LEGAL merge to the left lane. In the papers on Saturday there were some people who took issue with those "impatient individuals that flew down the right lane and cut everyone off". I say they're just jealous that they didn't know how things worked and that next time they'll be right there with me doing the same thing!

We arrived and Marin and I immediately changed clothes and relaxed by the pool. Lauren and Frank showed up later in the afternoon with Deacon (we had to make a pit stop in Quincy on the way out of the city and couldn't bring Deacon with us). So, Deac immediately got to go for his long awaited swim in the pool. He would have been there all weekend if he didn't drag him out of there. Friday night was pretty relaxing...we watched the Sox play and win and I got caught up on my "Entourage". We don't have HBO, so I have to watch them all "On Demand" when we're on the Cape. Great show, btw.

Saturday was another gorgeous day...we woke up and Marin took Deacon for a walk around the Bay Lane Loop (a nice 3 mile loop) while I washed the car - something I love to do because in the city we're forced to use a carwash. I had planned a cookout for about 15 of our friends at my parent's house on Saturday night, so we went to BJ's to get hot dogs, hamburgers and all the food we'd need for the cookout. There was no way I was going to go shopping with the rest of Cape Cod that afternoon. We then came home and I ran some errands in Hyannis with Lauren and Frank....Marin was not allowed to join for reasons she will understand around the middle of July. The cookout started around 6ish. Brett and Melissa came over with a few of their friends (right on time!) that were in town James (HS friend) and his girlfriend Liz came...and everyone eventually trickled in. A pretty good showing...it was great to see everyone. Alexis and Billy (Alexis is my HS classmate and they also live in Boston) showed up with their baby boy, Will, for everyone to meet. Probably the highlight of the evening. After a while we all decided to head out to the bars in Hyannis. We tried Trader Ed's first, but there was a line to Valet your car (yeah..valet in Hyannis?) and a 45 minute wait in line to even get in the place! So, we turned back and headed across the harbor to our beloved Baxter's Fish and Chips. At first the place was empty, but then a wedding party from a '95 BHS alum showed up full of Red Raiders and it was like a high school reunion (a good one). I got to catch up with my good friends Betsy, Caitlin and Jon (all HS classmates) and a lot of other people that I feel like I haven't seen for a long time.

Sunday morning our Charlestown neighbors, Erin and Brian Smith came down for the day. Brian and I had a tee time at 1045 with with Brett Gilmore and Jon Sproul (high school classmates of mine) at Hyannis Golf Club. I played like crap, but we had a great time and for reasons I cannot explain I cannot wait to get back out there and torture myself all over again! Marin and Erin (who is 5 mos pregnant with their first) took Deacon down the street to Alexis' families home (the Karr's) and to meet up with Alexis and Billy and their yellow lab, Jackson and the Karr's two springer spaniels and took them all down to long beach (same beach that we took Deacon to for Mother's Day weekend). It was an illegal move, but no one called the cops on them this time. When Brian and I got back we found Marin and Erin chilling out by the pool with a soaking wet Deacon. We then grabbed some Four Seas ice cream and Erin and Brian headed back to Boston.

We woke up early Sunday and headed back home. I hate traffic and we succesfully avoided it by leaving as early as we did. Not much else to report....a pretty tame weekend! Marin and I enjoyed a nice time at home on Monday and of course celebrated the rememberance of all of those that have died serving our country in the armed forces.