School Awards

A special day here in Ledgertown. He's finally being recognized for all his work at school! Diana and I made a special effort to attend the middle school presentation of the award show to recognize the great work that the students have accomplished this year.

So many students came up to accept awards, many of whom Diana recognized from her work in the elementary school over the past year or two.

We were delighted when our beloved boy was called and walked up to receive his much deserved award for getting 'A' grades all year! We were so proud! What an accomplishment! well done, little buddy, keep up the good work! He seemed pretty delighted too!

To the Lake

David's brother was having a birthday, so David threw a big party! He invited a bunch of family to come by and spend the weekend at the lake. The families of his brother and sister all showed up to celebrate the special day. With Alanna and Tavish in town, we were going to join in on the fun too, of course! Most of the extended family we hadn't seen since our visit last year to Maine, so it was nice to chat and catch up with everyone.

It was a real challenge for me to adjust to being up all day, but after a quick afternoon nap, I was able to enjoy all the outdoor fun with everyone. Ledge and Tav had a blast playing around a going out in the lake for a swim! They were allowed to stay up too late and slept in sleeping bags in the living room- the house was too full for them to get bedrooms!

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Dad Visits

Every once in a while Diana's dad builds up the nerve to drive up from South Bend to see us. He's not a big fan of long driving trips, so it doesn't happen very often. Well, he's been seeing someone new for the past month or so and we haven't met her yet, so the two of them decided to brave the roads and drive up to spend a Sunday afternoon with us! 

We had a lovely time meeting his new lady. She is lovely! Ledger loved it because he had a new audience to share his drawings and animations with!

Eventually we all got pretty hungry, so we went out to eat. We were all up for some delicious Mexican food, which meant we went to Malia's in Gobles.

All in all, a very lovely visit!

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50th Anniversary

Wow, 50 years! Impressive! Mema and Papa celebrated their 50 year anniversary and had a party. Chad and his family came down, Jill and Tim and all the kids came too. We wanted to do something a little special, so after the delicious dinner, we all headed downstairs so I could show them the slideshow I had put together for them. There were some pictures of their wedding (oh the fashion!) and a bunch of us growing up as well as all three of their kids families.

It was a hit and everyone loved to relive the different memories! I left them a copy so they could watch it again whenever they wanted.

There was a lot of celebrating and reminiscing about all the good times we've had as a family. We've been really blessed to have such a strong example of a loving couple growing up- and still today!

Here's to 50 more!

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Choir Concert

 With the end of the school year fast approaching, Ledger got to put on a show! He is taking the Choir track in Middle School. He enjoys singing, so it was a better option that band or gym classes. Being in choir brings with it the twice-a-year commitment of performing in the choir concerts!

He's got a nice voice and likes to sing, but he's not much of a fan of choir class. Mostly he just gets annoyed that they keep singing the same songs over and over again! Well buddy, you've got to be able to perform them well for the concert! 

This spring performance had an oceanic theme, including a song from Moana! Now we're talking! As usual, he did a great job and was pretty proud of how it went after the show. We were pretty proud too, Ledge- great singing!

Diana's Birthday

Happy Birthday, my dove! As we get older birthdays become less and less of an important day. With it being a weekday, we couldn't really do anything too crazy, so instead of doing some amazing party or anything, we planned ahead and went out for dinner the weekend before.

Of course, I also needed to make sure she had some special gifts to open on her special day. I got her some boring clothes and jewelry, but I had to do a fun gift too. She was very excited to open up a brand new Barbie doll! See? 15 years in and we still find fun little ways to show how we love each other- and stay young! 

Game Time

We aren't much of a boardgame family, as much as I wish we were. Every once in a while I can convince Diana and Ledger to gather around the table and play a game or two, but it's usually just a card game or something that only lasts about 15 minutes. Even though I know this, I still keep trying to entice them to play games with me! I keep finding different games to try, either unusual ones that I have never heard of before but have some strange and fun twist, or I like to get themed games of stuff I love. I got a Stargate SG-1 game, but it looked super complicated, so I knew better than to try and get them to play.

I recently picked up an unusual game based on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and convinced them both to give it a try with me. It was pretty fun! There were a bunch of trivia questions that were a part of the game, which kind of puts Ledger at a bit of a disadvantage, but we had a good time with it none the less. The next game up is a Gargoyles cartoon themed game. Wish me luck getting them interested...

Bee Sting

Look at this sad boy! While we were hanging out on our deck in the back yard, Diana and I noticed Wiggins wandering around chomping at the air. We looked a little closer and realized he was trying to bit a bee that was hovering around him. Well, it looks like he got it, because then he started scratching at the ground. A second later he yelped! He immediately came scrambling over to us, hoping on three legs. This poor dumb dog got stung by a the bee he was pestering! I picked him up and went inside to examine his arm, and sure enough, it was starting to swell a little bit. He then proceeded to give me this look as he held him little paw up to me as if to say 'make it better!' Sorry buddy, you are going to have to deal with that pain... I held him for the rest of the afternoon, poor little guy.

Goodbye, Cali!

Morning came way too quick! What felt like two minutes after falling asleep, we were back up and getting ready as fast as we could. We packed up our last items, double checked the place to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, and off we went to LAX for our return trip.

Our layover in Denver was pretty frustrating. We tried to grab some lunch, but the food took too long and by the time we made it back to the plane, there weren't three seats together anymore! Argh! So all three of us had to sit next to random strangers. I was pretty angry about it, but Ledger didn't seem to mind, and he made some friends who he got to chat with the whole way home!

Finally back in Grand Rapids, we got our luggage and went out to the car pick up. And what glorious vision awaited us there? Why, my beautiful wife! Diana picked us up and got to hear our stories all the way back. We dropped off Aaron, said our goodbyes, and returned home exhausted! It was a long trip, but so much fun to spend all that time with friends! It was a strange element having Ledger there, but the guys were so great with him and he did an amazing job of fitting in and being one of 'the guys'. 

We will have to do it again some time! 

Last Night

Sadly, our California trip is coming to an end. We had a ton of fun and spend the last night just chilling out and enjoying our last hours together. One of Ledger's favorite parts of the trip has been playing a drawing game with everyone. He was able to convince us all to play one last round together. It is a super fun game and we had a really fun time each of the times we played!

Finally, it was time to call it a night. We had an early morning ahead of us, and a long day of travel. We packed it in and headed to bed for the last time in Adam's awesome house. 

Hangout and Brewery

When we got back from Downtown, Ledger and I were exhausted. That worked out just fine because Adam, Aaron, and Cousin Aaron all wanted to do some micro brew beer tasting. So they went to go do that and Ledge and I stayed back at the house. It was nice to just sit down and enjoy a little peace and quiet after our long and adventurous week! He played on his tablet and did some animating while I caught a quick nap on the couch.

A couple hours later, both of us refreshed, got picked up by the boys to join them for one last bar stop for dinner. It was a pretty cool place with some good food, so all of us were quite happy!

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Downtown Hollywood

Adam had a few other work things to do, so Aaron, Ledger, and I decided to do the most touristy thing possible: we went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame! The Uber dropped us off and we walked down Hollywood Boulevard, taking in the sights. We checked out the different stars on the sidewalk and the Dolby Theater. We went up through the outdoor mall and got to see the Hollywood sign!

After a quick stop in for a chili dog at one of the restaurants, we made our way past the Mann's Chinese Theater where they were having a world premier! We didn't see anyone famous, but they were setting it up a red carpet for the premier of the movie Monkey Man. We got to see a bunch of street performers dressed up like different movie characters that you can take a picture with (we didn't). All the really touristy stuff like the wax museum was just too darn expensive. So after wandering around and taking in the sights, we headed back to the house.

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Out Like A Lamb

For breakfast, we got to see Lamb Chop! One of the strange events that Adam was excited for us to attend while we were in LA was a special appearance from the puppet Lamb Chop and Shari Lewis' daughter. It was just as weird as you might expect...

Adam is a member of a really unusual group: the Los Angeles Breakfast Club. It's a weekly breakfast get together where they have special guests come and chat with them for the morning. They get all kinds of different guests, from historians to minor celebrities. It's a pretty goofy group who has a bunch of funny nonsense traditions and songs that they all do together for some reason.

Adam, Aaron, Ledger and I sat and enjoyed the breakfast as we watched, baffled by the weird songs, motions, and recited passages of nonsense that the club members seem to have memorized. We were very confused as Adam laughed along with us as this unique scene unfolded. Finally, after all the traditions were acted out, Mallory Lewis, daughter of the famous puppeteer Shari Lewis, shared a talk and performance with us. It was odd, self aggrandizing, and interesting. Not entirely sure what the point was of the whole thing, but it was really fun!

After she was done, everyone mingled and chatted. Ledger wandered around and talked with a bunch of different random people, as is his way. As he was on the other side of the room rubbing elbows with other members, Adam was sharing with Aaron and I that Ledger was, unbeknownst to him, chatting with some legends and luminaries of the animation world! Ledge was showing off his drawings to people who had created famous cartoon shows and movies! I'm sure they were very impressed!

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Post Universal Bar

After our long day at Universal Studios, we stopped by a cool bar restaurant to fill our bellies before we went home. The place was pretty cool, it was like an open air bar and had some good food! I got a burger and Ledger went fancy and got lobster mac & cheese. He wasn't so sure about the lobster part and kinda picked around the chunks. Don't worry, I picked them out for him (and ate them).

Adam and Aaron were pleased with the beer selections and we had a good time recapping the day and talking about our favorite parts. My favorite was the Waterworld Stunt Show, Aaron and Adam loved the backlot tour. Ledger's favorite was the minion ride and Simpsons land.

We shut the place down (they closed at 10pm, so it wasn't too hard...) and finally made our way home. What a fun day!
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Universal Studios

Did you know that Disneyland can sell out? We sure didn't. We had high hopes of going to Disneyland but when we went to buy tickets two days in advance, we found out that they were sold out! Dang! So instead we went to Universal Studios. No one was too disappointed, but it was different than we had planned. Adam was able to get all his work done the day before, so he was pumped to join us for the day!

We got there at the start of the day and had a lot of fun going to all the different lands and going on the backlot tour.

They have huge areas dedicated to Harry Potter, The Simpsons, Minions, and Mario. All of them were pretty cool, but you'll never guess which one was Ledger's favorite: The Simpsons! It's hilarious to me because I don't think he's ever actually seen a single episode of the show! I think the cartoon style of everything in that land just appealed to him. We walked through a bunch of different shops while we were there and the one thing he actually decided to buy was a Simpsons plush- of Marge! Whatever you want, buddy!

We got to go on some fun rides and even see some famous people while we were there. A great time was had by all!

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The Grove

Adam was still busy working, so we decided to kill some more time and walked down the street a bit to The Grove. Aaron and I had been here last time we visited all those years ago. Last time we were in LA we went to a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which is right next to The Grove.

It's basically just a fancy outdoor mall with a outdoor market in front of it. We got some ice cream at the market and walked around, checking everything out. Last time we were here we saw someone famous, but we weren't as lucky this time. We popped into a couple stores, but mostly just enjoyed the good weather and good vibes.

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Oscar Museum

Bucket List day continues! Now, it's my turn... Aaron got to see his beloved car museum, now I get to see the Academy Museum! Home of the Oscars!!! This was the one thing I told Adam I wanted to do while we were in LA, and now we are here!

After we finished at the car museum, we only had to walk across the street and we were at the Oscar museum! As you might expect, I was pretty giddy about it. We walked around the building and found the entrance. We walked into the main floor and there were tons of awesome Oscar statues around and a viewing room where they were showing old clips from classic movies. We wandered in there and found a cozy round couch to chill for a few minutes. Ledger was pretty exhausted, so he kind of camped out in that dark room while Aaron and I checked out the museum shop. There were some pretty cool things in there with Oscar stuff on them. I ended up getting a neon light in the shape of an Oscar statue- perfect for my movie room back home!

It was pretty cool to be in the place that they always reference during the Oscars each year. I was a happy boy!

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Car Museum

It was Bucket List day. Aaron's obsession with cars made going to the LA car museum a must. There was really only one thing that he demanded of the trip: that we go to that museum! Adam needed a day to do some work, so we took the opportunity to go, just Aaron, Ledger, and I.

We Ubered down to the museum and got our ticket. Before we went to see the exhibits, we made our way to the cafe restaurant that they had there. The food was pretty good and the view was great. We sat out on the veranda, enjoying that balmy California weather!

Now that our bellies were full, it was time to see some awesome cars! There were a ton of really cool historical cars, some wild prototypes, impressive one-of-a-kind beauties, but the real reason Aaron wanted to go to this museum was because they had the actual screen used KITT from Knight Rider! We wandered around checking out different cars, but when we finally happened upon it, Aaron got really quiet... He was in awe! I took a bunch of pictures of him with it, and then I let him just quietly take it all in. I continued to wander around a bit, giving him some alone time with KITT. After about a half hour I checked back in with him. He still wasn't ready to move on. No problem, Ledger found a kids area to keep himself busy, and I just let Aaron soak it all in... It was like a religious experience for him and I didn't want to come between him and his commune with the sacred.

Eventually he came back to our world and we checked out the rest of the museum, but for a brief time there, Aaron achieved nirvana.

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Game Time

After a long day of seeing the sights, we spent the evening hanging out at Adam's. Cousin Aaron grilled over at the neighbors and brought over some delicious burgers for all of us to enjoy. We gathered around the table and laughed and ate together. When the food was gone, Adam pulled out a few games to play, much to Ledger's delight! Knowing that Ledge loves to draw, Adam showed us a couple drawing games to play together. We had a blast! Finally, the thing that became the highlight of the whole trip for Ledger, we played a drawing competition game on the Playstation where everyone draws on their phones and we compete of the TV. Ledge loved it so much that he tried to get us to play it every night for the rest of our trip (usually he was successful!) The day was filled with a bunch of fun LA things, but just sitting down, playing and laughing together was the best part!

Little Tokyo

 Adam started telling us about some of the other districts in Los Angeles and when he mentioned 'Little Tokyo', Ledger's ears perked up- 'let's go there!' So we took the short drive, found a parking spot, and wandered into an area filled with Japanese shops and restaurants! Ledger's love of all cute Japanese art and characters sent him into a state of bliss as he wandered doe eyed from shop to shop... We were just there trying to keep up! The favorite that he finally decided on was a cute lil' banana plush that he then proceeded to put in random spots and take dozens of pictures of through out the rest of the day. This was, by far, his favorite part of the trip yet! The rest of us were laughing along with him as we tried to keep up.

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