sunday afternoon, while the girls were laying out at the beach, my dad and i ended up at the adult rec center. this year they finally abandoned the old golden onion restaurant at sandy pines and instead converted it into a recreational area for adults. they put in a couple pool tables, a ping pong table, tvs, a wii, and a really cool table shuffleboard game. my dad and i tried our hand at the game, which is a blast!
saturday night after dianas parents had left, we headed over to tim and jills trailer. they had planned to go over to their friends house, so they needed someone to babysit. originally they were going to go home get a babysitter, go out, come home, wake up the kids and then come back out to sandy pines. we figured we could stay at their trailer for the evening and save them a lot of hastle.
later in the afternoon on saturday dianas parents came to visit. my parents had gone down to meet them a couple weeks ago, and it was time for them to return the invite! her mom, step dad, and dad arrived around 5:00 after only getting slightly lost... when they arrived we all had dinner together. tim, jill, and the kids were there as well. it was a big group, and a ton of fun! we even got a surprise call from chad! everyone got along smashingly. the food was great, and my mom even made me my favorites: deviled eggs and for desert blueberry crisp!!! ah, she spoils me so much!
saturday diana and i went to sandy pines to spend the day with my family and to celebrate my birthday. we had a great time with everyone. in the afternoon both saturday and sunday we headed to the beach so diana and my mom could lay out and catch some rays. jill and jackson soon joined the fun!
saturday was a very important day: it marked the six month anniversary of diana and i going out on our first date. wow, things can really change over the course of half a year, huh? at the end of january i remember feeling like my life was going nowhere and i had no idea how to change that. i guess i needed diana to show me how good life can really be.
its a bit old news now, but i recently downloaded some of the photos on my moms camera from the day i proposed to diana. that night my parents had a bunch of their friends over for a party that night (it was my dads birthday too. he didnt mind at all my taking away the spotlight. at least thats what he told me...)
in anticipation of diana and i going up to grand rapids this weekend i took friday night off work and was planning on driving over to pick up diana after she got out of work at 5. but she had some problems with her contacts at work and had to leave to go to an eye doctor. all it well, she got an eye exam while she was there, and got done with that around 11. she didnt go back to work, so i headed over there immediately!
for the past four years matt and i have worked together. he teaches gym class for kids k-8, and his office is right across from my classroom. we became pretty good friends, partly because as guys teaching in a school we were in the minority and needed to stick together!
its been a bit difficult getting used to this new work schedule. ive been working nights at a grocery stocking shelves for the past four weeks, and its wreaking havoc on me. i go to work at midnight and get home at 7 am. im still not sure if i should go to bed right way, or stay up until the afternoon and sleep until i have to get ready for work. oh, and the weekends dont help. i get the weekends off, which allows me to go and see diana, but she is on a sane persons schedule, so if i want to see her i have to go during the day (i.e. sleepy time for me). so ive been staying up all friday so i can sleep friday night and have a normal saturday and sunday, but then i have to adjust back to the night shift on monday. which is insane.
this past weekend i got to meet even more of my future in laws. ive met all of dianas moms family, but i hadnt yet met anyone from her dads side of the family. on sunday we fixed that. diana and i picked up her dad and drove over to see her grandma. we had a great time, we ate dinner, and then just got to sit and visit for a couple hours. as we talked her aunt, uncle, cousin and her two kids stopped as well. it was really nice to get the chance to meet some more of her family. her grandma is something else... she is about the smallest woman ive ever seen! shes 91, and probably less than five foot tall, weighs no more than eighty five pounds, and has a hilariously squeaky mouse voice! and let me tell you- she is a ball! shes feisty, quick witted, and doesnt take any guff from anybody. she had me laughing the whole time! her uncle and aunt were very sweet as well. hes a retired pastor, so it was fun to talk with him about that a little bit. her cousins kids are junior high age, so it was easy to chat with them as well.
this morning i went to panera bread to get online. i set everything up but my computer wasnt working right. argh. i was connected to their wi fi signal, but for some reason it wasnt working. i thought it might be my computer, but i figured i could try somewhere else. so i asked where else there might be free wi fi, and they told me a rather unlikely place: bw3! alright, ill give it a try...
on wednesday i went to the movie theater and bought 35 movie tickets.
last weekend diana and i were coming back to her place from dinner and were trying to think of something to do. we couldnt think of anything fun. so, on a whim i offered up the suggestion that we could stop at the drug store and get crayons and coloring books. she loved the idea! in fact, she actually had some already at home! 
so when we got back we cleared off the dinning room table, pulled out the crayons, and got to work. we put on some good background music (some good 90s stuff like wallflowers and counting crows). her sister has this game called loaded questions that has a bunch of cards with random questions on them. weve played as a group before, but i thought it might be fun to ask each other questions as we colored. so we did, and it was a blast! it was a really cool opportunity to just chill out, be artistic, and get to know a little more about each other. i think we may make this into a regular thing. although, next time i want a batman coloring book...
yesterday was a rare treat for me: i got to spend the day with diana! this summer job ive been doing has been killing me- i no longer get to go visit her on a whim! so we really make the most of the time we do get to spend together. but, as you can see, we dont exactly take it too seriously though...
this past wednesday was a big one. for the first time my parents met dianas parents. yikes! dianas mom and stepdad have been saying for a while that they would love to have my parents over and have a grill out and go for a ride on the boat. well, we finally found a time that would work, and so they came.
last time the guys came down to visit me we had a blast. i always mean to get a picture of all four of us, aaron, jeffry lee, rex and i, but i usually remember as they are driving away back home. d'oh! but this last time i remembered. so i took a picture and i thought it was quite funny, so i figured i should post it up here for everyone to enjoy!
saturday i drove over to dianas right after work. i got to see her for about 10 seconds, then she had to take off and go to work! after being up all night and then driving to see her, i went inside and fell right to sleep. when she got out of work i had gotten up and got ready. we drove over to her moms house to celebrate the 4th of july (on the 5th...). there is a clubhouse type thing on the lake they live on and they were planning on doing their fireworks that night. when we arrived some of her extended family was there too. we had burgers on the grill, and then we went for a boat ride. the lake they live on is part of a series of lakes and one one side of it there is a cool summer camp which is nice because that means that land is mostly untouched and still a thick woodland. the scenery was amazingly beautiful! diana and i sat on the front of the pontoon with our feet in the water. it was really cool to cruise around the water and take in the sites. later that night we headed back out and watched the fireworks from the middle of the lake. the fireworks werent that great, but the experience was.
i say im going to every year, but this year i finally did: i got a summer job. i just finished my seventh year of teaching and i have never worked during the summer. my summers are a blast as a result of it. typically i just hang out, watch too many movies, go visit up to grand rapids whenever i please, stay up late, and sleep as late as i want. it is my opportunity to not feel like an adult. needless to say, it is wonderful. each spring i convince myself that i will get a job for the summer, and when summer starts, i never do anything about it. usually i have no intention of actually getting one, i just say i might to make it sound like im attempting to be a productive member of society. but instead, i opt for the lazy route.
ive been having some issues with my cars tires ever since diana and i drove down to see my brother in missouri. most of the way my car kept telling me to check the tire pressure. i did, and filled them at a gas station, but the warning kept coming up. on the way home the problem became much worse- the car itself started to shimy when i would go slowly, but at higher speeds it would drive normally. when we finally got home i knew that the tires might give out soon.
last sunday, after the guys left, i drove over to see diana. it had been far too long since i had seen her! it was her best friend miranda's birthday, so we went out to celebrate. we went to one of those japanese restaurants that have a chef right at the table! i had never been to one of those, so it was fun to watch him do his work right there in front of us. the food was delicious and the chef put on a cool show.
while we were at the comic book convention we were just walking down the different rows of comic retailers, just looking at the different toys and bins of comics. then, out of the corner of my eye, i recognized the guy next to me looking at the same stuff. it was comic book artist and creator rob liefeld! i instantly nerded out. he created and drew a lot of the characters i loved growing up! he worked on 'x-force' and created the characters cable and deadpool. later he helped found 'image comics' and created the book 'youngblood'. i later changed my opinion about him, but you still got to give the man credit for what he created. i turned and spoke to him for a minute, telling him i really loved his work, and got really nerdy and asked him for a picture. im sure he gets sick of this sort of thing, but it was really cool to meet him.
the reason the guys came down this past weekend was for the annual comic book convention in chicago. we have been going for many years now. years ago i went to a couple of these by myself when i was really into comics. now im not really very into comics, but its such a blast we still go anyway!
last weekend the guys came down to visit! it was a rare event that seems to be getting rarer and rarer... all three of them came, aaron, rex and jeffry lee. we had a great time!
i know i do this every couple of months, but i just wanted to remind everyone again that this is only the main page of the 'poke it with a stick' blog, there are many posts that dont appear on this page. there are different thoughts on movies, tv, music, books, more photos, random quotes, and even a page about craig ferguson (strange, i know).
since diana and i started dating i have been able to meet all of her family, and she has actually been able to meet my whole extended family. well, except for one glaring omission: my brother! she still hadnt met her future brother-in-law! weve been trying to fix that for a couple months now. he is currently stationed down in missouri and we had been looking for a time when we could go down and meet up with him. well, the opportunity finally presented itself this past week. diana had some time off, and chad said he would be able to take some time away from the base and see us. so wednesday morning diana came over to my place, bright and early. we headed off by around 9:30am and just started driving. it took us about 7 hours, driving past st. louis and other cool sights, but we finally made it!
we soon met up with chad out front of the base. we followed him in and drove over to where he is living. he took us on a little tour of his place (very small!) and on a short drive through the base (very big!). we headed out to eat at a chilis knock off called peppers (clever, huh?) while there we were able to chat and talk about anything and everything. it was fun to hear him talk about some of the crazy hard stuff the military has him do for training, and we got to tell him about what has been going on in our lives and the wedding stuff. at one point diana left for the bathroom and i asked chad what he thought of her. he said shes cute and seems very nice, he likes her. i told him that that was a relief, because he better- she is, after all, going to be his new sister-in-law!
chad told us that then next morning there was going to be a military ceremony for some of the soldiers who had been lost in battle, and that we were allowed to attend if we wanted. diana and i figured it was early (6 am!), but we had come to see chad, so we shouldnt really pass on an opportunity to see him. we said yes and showed up at his place around 5:30am. chad still wasnt out to see us, so i called him and i guess he had overslept and i woke him up! he was up, ready, and out to the car in about 8 minutes (dang, thats quick!). we drove over to the chapel on base and watched the ceremony. after it was done, we said our goodbyes, and we were off! diana and i stopped for lunch, and then drove the rest of the way home. it was a long trip, lots of driving, but it was really great to have diana meet chad. i know he wont be around much, but im glad we got to spend some time with him now.