Last night I got two things that helped me forget about things (one Meg could enjoy more than the other, you decide) a well behaved, tasty dinner out and really cool coin find.

We took Henry and Hazel out to the "Red Diner." That's not it's real name, but that's what Henry calls it (it's mostly silver colored, however). Meg and I had some pretty good fish and chips. The best part is the kids were great. We had no problems at all with them.

125 small dollars turned up two proof dollars (2 x 2001S), one mint set dollar (2002D) and a Dominican Republic $1 Peso coin. I have already found one 2001S dollar, but these are both in better shape than one. The Dominican Republic coin is a new one for me. Let's hope I don't find more of these. I don't mind paying $1 once for such coin (that's the price of the hobby), but I don't want to buy more than one at that cost! ;)





8,000 halves yielded six 90% silver halves (2 x 1963D, 4 x 1964), seventy-five 40% silver halves (1965, 7 x 1966, 25 x 1967, 27 x 1968D, 15 x 1969D) and a British Honduras 50¢ (1901). The British Honduras coin is really cool. It's the only Queen Victoria coin and the third oldest foreign coin I've found so far. It's slightly smaller than a US half dollar, just 10,000 were minted and it's 92.5% silver. I looked it up in my catalog and found a few similar ones that have sold on E-Bay. Based on that I'm guessing it is worth $25-$30. It was feeling like it was a long time since I found what I call a stunner. This fits the bill I think!

Just a coin update ...

3 large dollars, 333 small dollars, 6 half dollars produced four mint set dollars (3 x 2002D, 2004D) and one new Presidential dollar, the 2011P Andrew Johnson.

2,520 quarters had one silver Washington (1943), two Canadians and one US nickel.

3,300 dimes turned up three silver Rosies (1963, 1964, 1964D), five Canadians and six US pennies (gee, thanks!).

1,680 nickels rounded up just four Canadians (1 Ni).

3,700 pennies lassoed in twenty-one Wheats, twenty-eight Canadians, two US dimes and a Taiwan 1 Yuan.

1917, 1937, 1940D, 1941(2), 1944(2), 1945, 1946, 1947, 1951(2), 1952D(2), 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1958, 1958D(3)

Found: 2 pennies

9,100 pennies had forty-nine Wheats, sixty-seven Canadians, ten US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢ I've noticed that my Wheat percentage has been down for this year (so far anyway, everything can change with one big Wheat score). My Wheat percentage is .58% for 2011 and .66% for 2007-2011.

1909 V.D.B., 1918(2), 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941(4), 1942(2), 1942S(2), 1944(5), 1945(3), 1946, 1946D, 1947, 1947D, 1949(3), 1950, 1950D, 1950S, 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953, 1955(2), 1956(3), 1956D, 1957(4), 1957D(2), 1958

Curling

On Monday I went curling with my office. It was a team building exercise. I had never gone curling before and didn't know too much about it. It was a lot of fun. The ice they use has a texture to it so it wasn't as easy to slip as I thought it'd be. There's also a lot more team work involved than one would think. I hope we go next year.



Here's a picture of Hazel attempting to climb our stairs. So far this is the closest she's gotten to pulling herself up to a standing position. She can reach and pull up to the second stair. It frustrates her a bit as you can see in this picture. Hopefully she can channel her frustration more into attempts like this and less into complaining. Crying or not, however, it definitely was a lot of fun to watch her try. All three of us were very happy. She sure misses Meg when she's not in the room or upstairs!

I had some pretty good luck with my coin last night.

6,920 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1960D), two proof quarters (2001S Vermont, 2003S Illinois), eight Canadians (including a new one for me, the 2009 Speed Skating quarter), six US nickels, two Bermuda 25¢, one Indian 1 Rupee and one Ecuador 25¢. I can't believe how many proof quarters have been showing up recently. My extra effort has been paying off, I guess. This is the first time I've ever found two proof quarters in one sitting. Fortunately, both are new ones for me!





As you can see in the above photos they are a bit scuffed up. I don't mind too much as it's great to find any new coin. All of the clad state quarters I've found do not have much of a cameo appearance. I wonder if this is true of all proofs for these years?

4,100 dimes produced four Canadians (including a 1944, George VI, 80% silver dime) and one Chinese 1 Fen. I haven't had too good of luck finding silver US dimes lately.

1,840 nickels yielded three War Times (1942P, 1943P, 1945P), six Canadians (2 Ni) and one Connecticut Turnpike token. I did a bit of research on the token. Such tokens were used from 1958-1985 and were last sold for 35¢. The Connecticut Turnpike (since renamed) consists of parts of I-95 and I-395.



Found: 1 penny

Poop Me

It wasn't supposed to be, but this weekend was a three day weekend for me. Meg wasn't feeling well on Friday so I took the day off to watch the kids. To get them out of the house I took Henry and Hazel to my sister's house. Henry said, "Dad, Hazel and me go Evan and Liam's house. That makes three of us." While there Henry spelled his name for the very first time (He did it a few more times over the weekend.). There was a lot of fussing going on there so we left in a bit of hurry. In the car Henry asked me, "why Liam not say bye to me?"

On Saturday we took Grandpa to Sturbridge Village for his birthday (quick, but fun) and to a new BBQ restaurant (great food, chaos reigned).



Henry in Kidstory.



Hazel in Kidstory.



The boys at the BBQ restaurant.

On Sunday we saw Evan's pageant at our church, the transfiguration of Jesus. Afterward we all went to my parent's for my father's birthday party.



Evan reading to Henry.

After farting today, instead of saying, "excuse me," when prompted Henry said, "poop me" a couple of times. I'm not sure what that means.

8,000 half dollars produced three 40% silver halves (2 x 1968D, 1969D) and one proof half (1992S).

Found: 4 pennies

No So Happy Birthday

Yesterday was a rough day for Henry (and Meg). He was sad in the morning and asked to go upstairs to sleep. That was an odd request for Henry. He slept until just before his friends came (Meg woke him up for his party). At that point she realized he had a fever, he went back to bed, but his friends still came over for his party. Henry came down for a little bit of his party, but wasn't himself at all and slept throughout most of the afternoon. No one had any cupcakes. :(

Let's hope that's the worst birthday for him for some time!

He seems to be doing much better this morning. Now we're worried this thing is moving on to Meg.

Yesterday I rounded up quite a bit of coin.

481 small dollars and 58 half dollars produced a proof dollar (2007S Madison). That's the second Madison proof dollar I've found. Coincidentally I found another, in much better condition, at the same bank in January. It is tied for my rarest small dollar coin, 2,002,812 were minted. I've got to find a way to find more dollar coins, finding these proofs feels pretty cool.



3,080 quarters yielded three Canadians, one US dime, one UK 5 pence (1980) and one UAE 1 Dirham.

4,350 dimes rounded up thirty Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one French ½ franc. Bummer, not finding any silver dimes in this batch; that's a lot of dimes to go through and not find one.

1,800 nickels had one War Time (1943P) and three Canadians (1 Ni).

5,700 pennies found me thirty-five Canadians, twenty-eight Canadians, four US dimes, one Trinidad and Tobago 1¢ and one Euro 1¢.

1935, 1937, 1939(2), 1940, 1941, 1942(6), 1942D, 1944(2), 1945, 1946(2), 1948, 1950S, 1952, 1952D, 1953D(2), 1954D, 1956(2), 1956D, 1957(4), 1957D(2), 1958D

Happy Birthday Henry!

Today it is Henry's 3rd birthday! Fortunately I got to see him before I went to work (Miss Hazel was still sleeping). Instead of the usual "Mommmmmm," he cried out "Daddddd" to let us know he wanted to get up and out of bed. Strangely, I was touched. Later this morning his friends will be coming over for a small party. Hope it goes well.

2,520 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1957D), seven Canadians, two Bermuda 25¢, one Dominican Republic 25¢, one US nickel and one Brazil 50¢. The Brazilian coin is a new one for me.



2,900 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1962), eight Canadians, two US pennies, one Irish 5 pence and one UK 5 pence.

960 nickels produced two War Times (1943P, 1944S) and two Canadians. There was also a 1955 in there. This is only the third 1944S nickel I've found. The last time I found one was July 15th, 2008!

3,800 pennies had twenty-five Wheats, thirty-six Canadians, three US dimes and one UK penny.

1919, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942(2), 1944(3), 1944D, 1946(2), 1949, 1950D, 1953, 1956D(4), 1957