crafties

ledger's new latest obsession is making crafts.  he wants to make a ton of different things out of paper and make 'crafties'.  now, this is all well and good, but the problem we are facing is that ledger is a bit of a perfectionist and doesn't think his drawings or work is as good as he wants it to be.  so that means that he demands that diana and i draw everything and cut out everything for him!  he just directs us as to what he would like us to make...  this is ok for a little while, but he wants to make crafties for hours every single day!  diana eventually decided to make a sign for when she was willing to help him make crafts- she wrote on one side 'open' and the other side 'closed'!  sorry buddy, the craft shop is closed, we ain't making you anything right now!
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decorating for christmas

as ledger gets a little older he has become more and more obsessed with the holidays.  i've always been a bit of a scrooge when it comes to christmas decorations (except for, as my mom tells me, one year when i was obsessed with wanting to put christmas lights all over my bedroom...), being the first one to complain when stores start putting up christmas stuff after labor day...
but that little guy has even melted my grinchy heart.  with being in our own place for the first christmas with an interested child, we decided to splurge a little bit on decorations.  we got a nice big christmas tree, decorations, and a bunch of lights to put out on our balcony.  when it was finally time to put up the tree (which was a reasonable time after thanksgiving), ledge was so thrilled about it!  we made a whole night of it and took our time setting everything up while we had christmas music playing in the background.  ledger loved every single minute of it- and so did diana and i!
i will admit, its starting to feel a lot like christmas!
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roku 3

as we've gotten settled into our new place we knew we weren't going to go the route of getting cable tv.  we did a little research as to what might be the best option for doing the internet and subscription only thing, and we decided on getting a roku.  we have netflix and recently got amazon prime, so we loaded it up and tried it out.
let me tell you, this thing is awesome!  its got little app icons for each of the subscription channels, and a whole bunch of other ones.  we've got one for each of the networks, history channel, syfy, youtube, cnn, pbs, and even a ton of kids ones for ledge.  this thing has been amazing and we don't miss cable at all!  the only thing that is a bother is trying to watch live events.  we don't watch any sports, so that's not an issue, but it may be a challenge trying to watch the oscars when they come on.  hopefully they will be streaming somewhere online by then, but i've got a digital antenna as well just in case!

a new bed

as our boy gets bigger and bigger, we decided it was time to get rid of his crib and finally get him a bed.  we ordered him one and when it arrived we tore it open and strapped on our tool belts!  i had my little helper right there to help me put it together- he sure felt like a big boy using daddy's tools and everything!  once we got it all put together and set up he hopped in and loved it.  its so much smaller than his old crib and gives him the chance to feel like a big boy with his big boy bed!
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ledger's first movie

so, i'm kind of obsessed with movies.  they are my passion and hobby.  i've never been interested in sports, instead i get that thrill from seeing a new movie or reading about movie related stuff.
so many guys are excited when they become a father to have a first catch with their sons, or teach them how to play different sports.  not me.  i have been excited to show my son movies!  well, i finally got the chance to take him to the movie theater for the first time!  he's been old enough to enjoy a movie and handle himself in the theater for a while now, but i wanted his first theater experience to be connected with a special movie.  one finally came out that i thought would be a great first one: the peanuts movie!  we've been talking it up for the past couple weeks, watching the preview a few times to get him excited about it.  he's been asking what's different about seeing a movie at the theater compared to on the tv.  i told him that the screen in the theater is as big as a house!  this totally blew his little mind and got him really eager to check it out.
the day finally came, so diana and i took him to the theater and he loved it!  he was really amazed at the size of the screen and he kept wanting to go up and touch it!  fortunately we went to an early show the second week it was out so the place was empty except another young family with kids who were just as chatty as ledge was.  at about the 45 minute mark he got a little antsy and was wondering if it was almost over, but once snoopy, woodstock and the other birdy friends were back on the screen he was into it again.  the movie was fun, but the experience of being able to share my love with my son was an amazing experience i'll never forget!
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halloween

ledger's favorite holiday is here: halloween!  due to my work schedule, i was not able to get the evening off, so ledger actually was down in south bend for the event.  he went trick or treating with his dear auntie barbara.  we had found him a fun skeleton costume and barbara did the cool face paint for him.  he went out with james' nieces and they had a great time!  it was his first real halloween going door to door, so he wasn't exactly sure how it all worked.  fortunately the other girls showed him the ropes and he had an a amazing time- and got tons of candy!

moving again

so... we're moving again.  ugh.  we just moved to allegan two months ago but now we are packing up and starting over again.  this time its not because we want to, its because we have to.  we were no longer able to live in the house we were in, it was very old and beautiful, but unfortunately we discovered that the basement furnace area was just caked in black mold and the paint in the kitchen, which was peeling off, was lead based pain.  yikes!  we contacted the landlord and informed him that we were moving immediately.  he understood, us having a 3 year old and all, and even gave back our deposit.  we moved about a mile away and are now renting an apartment.  its a pretty great place, its got two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a great living room, kitchen, and even an awesome loft!  we've called in some more favors with friends to make the move and have been really happy with where we are now- no mold or anything!
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regent theatre

ever since we first moved to allegan i've been excited about the regent theatre.  its a really old single screen movie theater that looks like it came straight out of the thirties.  i have been drawn to it ever since i first spotted it when we drove around town on our first visit.  i've been telling my wife for weeks now how i want to go and see whatever is there- it doesn't matter what movie- i just want to go there!  the place is so beautifully charming that i just wanted to go and check it out.  well, i finally found an evening free where i could go and watch a film there and it was just as awesome as i hoped it would be!  they have some of the original features in the place, including a balcony and ticket booth.  the place was just amazing!  i've now realized that the reason we live in allegan is because of this theater, i must live near it- i am in love!  i must do whatever it takes to have this place be a part of my life...
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fish feeding!

one of our favorite activities on my days off is to go down to plainwell and wander around m store (that's what my family calls meijers).  ledger is especially fond of checking out the aquariums and seeing all the different fish.  last time we were there ledger got to do something pretty special:  the man who works that section of the store was there feeding the fish.  ledge walked up to him and just started chatting it up and asked him what he was up to.  the man told him and asked ledge if he wanted give it a try.  ledger erupted with excitement and was beaming for the rest of the day!  i tell ya what, its little stuff like this that makes us love to go to the m store!

table time

since we moved in to the new place we've got enough room for just about everything!  we have out table out and have been using it regularly for meals and fun time.  diana and i have been trying to get our little guy more familiar with writing, letters, and numbers.  so, he and i tried to do a little 'table time', we spent about a half hour trying to write with crayons and trying to recognize letters and their sounds.  he's starting to pick it up and having so much fun doing it!  i even went and got a couple preschool training books with coloring and games for him to try.  he does pretty well but has a still has a hard time following the dotted lines.  oh well, he's only 3, so i guess i won't throw in the towel just yet...
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burgers with brains

living in allegan has been great so far!  its a bit far from everyone, but thats also what makes it nice..  one person who i get a chance to see regularly is my good friend jon.  he works here in town, so i've been meeting up with him almost every week for lunch.  we usually head to bk because its my favorite.  ledger comes with and we get to have a bit of a boy's time out, just the three of us.  granted, we mostly talk about what kids shows ledge is watching, but it still feels like real live adult interactions!

bouncing birthday boys

jeffry lee's nephews were in town and had a special birthday party.  they do not live around here, so they didn't really know any other kids, but jeffry lee thought ledger might like to join them on the fun day they had planned.  so the three of us met up with them and had a great time together!  we went to skyzone, where they boys got to have a blast on their bouncy trampolines, then had cake and pizza at the hotel party room with the boys and jeffry lee's family.  there was cake, there were gifts- needless to say the boys had a blast together!
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back to the drawing board

when ledge first got this drawing easel from sarah and vince for his birthday, he wasn't all that interested in it, but ever since we moved to the new house he has been having a blast with it!  he has been drawing all week on it- always the same things:  different ghosties and aliens.  he loves to draw faces!  i think we may have another artist in the family...
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tractor rides

now that levi and miranda live further out in the country, levi is able to fulfill all his farmin' dreams!  he recently talked miranda into letting him get a tractor, so of course he needed to show it off while we were staying there for the weekend!  he started it up and gave all of us a chance to take a turn driving it around their back yard- even ledger got a turn riding on it with uncle levi!  i had never been on a tractor before, so now i can tick that off the ol' bucket list...
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sis' reception

what an amazing wedding reception!  barbara and james had their reception at james' sister's house.  they live out in the country a bit and have a beautiful barn and large yard where they set up tents for the big event.  the barn had an open bar in it as well as a dance floor and even a side room for the kids that had a tv playing kids movies and coloring books to keep them busy!  what a great idea.
we had a really fun time and the food was amazing!  diana and barbara's grandma was able to be there for a while and celebrate with them, but as she got tired, levi and i drove her home.  we headed back and when we got there it had gotten darker, so all the stringed lights and candles had been lit- and it was so beautiful, it looked like a magical storybook party!  eventually we called it a night, but barbara, james, and all their friends kept rocking it well into the night!
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sis' wedding

it's barbara's wedding day!  it was awesome to be a part of her special day and it was fantastic!  the whole ceremony was beautiful and i even got to go up and do some scripture reading for it.  diana was the maid of honor, so ledger and i sat with miranda and levi during the ceremony.
the whole thing was great, but what i loved the most was seeing how different barbara is from her sister...  it was really funny to see just how laid back and nonchalant she was about the whole thing.  she was totally like 'whatever'!  she was the last one to arrive at the church, we hadn't really gone over anything as far as how it was going to go.  they asked me to read scripture during the ceremony, but didn't actually let me know what passage or what order i would be going up to read until about 3 minutes before the wedding started!  yikes!  they invited a bunch of people to the wedding ceremony, but didn't seem to realize that there weren't anywhere near enough seats in the small church.  it kind of resulted in a 'standing room only' thing where there were about 30 people who had to stand in the back lobby peering into the sanctuary through the doorways!  and do you think this bothered the bride even one bit?  nope!  that's barbara for you- totally carefree, just enjoying the chaotic fun!  and it certainly was that: fun!  it was a great laid back celebration, which is exactly what it these two wanted!  congrats sis, and welcome to the family, james!
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let's rehearse

with barbara's wedding this week, we headed down to south bend a little early for the rehearsal dinner.  its always a great time to see diana's family, and alanna and tavish were there too- ledger was so thrilled to be able to play with his cousin!  it was really nice to meet james' family and friends and get to spend some time with all of them.  the rehearsal dinner was at a really delicious italian place in granger.  we were only able to wrangle ledge and tavish to sit with us for a few minutes, but as soon as their food was gone- off they went!  they wandered around a bit pestering as many people as they could.  eventually all the kids were sent outside; right across from the restaurant was a big field for them to run around in, which helped a ton with getting their energy out!
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pack and move

ever since we moved up to michigan for my job we had been living with my parents where space is at a premium- especially with all five of us living there!  diana's mom and david have been gracious enough to allow us to keep our stuff in the attic of their garage this whole time.  but, now that we have our own place, its time to pull it out of storage and start using it again!
as soon as we signed the lease for the new place we made plans to go down and get all our stuff.  we rented a u-haul, got barbara to help us out, and started picking though our stuff decided what we needed and what we didnt.  diana, of course, wanted to throw everything out and start fresh- or at least with the bare minimum, but i wanted to keep and take it all!  i am definitely a pack rat by nature and diana is the opposite, so we have a hard time seeing eye to eye with this kind of thing!  we settled somewhere in the middle and packed it all up for the move.  we drove up to allegan and started filling our house up and began to turn it into a home.

kids kingdom

we moved to allegan without much knowledge of the place, so we have recently been exploring the town and getting a good look around.  one of the places that we found that is really cool is a place called kid kingdom, its an awesome park that has a huge area just for kids!  the name fits because its not just a slide or wooden structure, its a whole fenced in kingdom filled with different fun things for kids to play on!  ledger was blown away by how amazing it is.  and to top it off, its actually within walking distance of the house!  i know where we're spending a lot of time this summer...
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time to move

the time has come.  we had been living with my parents for the past 8 months and though it has been great, its time for us to get our own place.  when we first moved up to michigan for my job, my parents offered to let us live with them until we could find a place of our own.  its been awesome to be able to tuck away a few extra dollars to prepare for the move, but now its time to strike out on our own again!  for reasons we aren't quite sure of, we decided to move out to allegan michigan and start the next chapter of our lives there.  jon hooked us up with someone who owned a few places he rents out.  we stopped and checked one of them out.  its is a beautiful old house that diana immediately fell in love with.  the place is huge!  we took a tour of it and thought it was great.  we signed a lease- and now we live in allegan!

pines visit

diana, ledger, and i have enjoyed having the house to ourselves these past couple months, but we still love to go out to sandy pines!  ledger especially loves the chance to see his his cousins- and take cart rides!  we don't get out there as often as we might like, but its good to go out when we can, the season isn't very long and we miss it all winter!

gatecon fun

ah, another successful gatecon in the bag!  we got to see a bunch of different speakers, including parker lewis!  we got to wander around rosemont and get some pizza that totally wrecked all of our stomachs, i got some great stargate merch, and we had a blast!  its unfortunate that this will most likely be our last time attending one of these.  they are having one more next year but i think this is going to be the end of the line for us.  i guess stargate will have to live on in our hearts... and earlobes...

gatecon loot

the guest speakers are a big part of the convention, but the other fun part is going and checking out the stargate merchandise!  each year it seems like there is less and less to choose from.  this might be because the show has been off the air for 9 years, but i'm not sure...  this year though, was an exception!  there was a new booth in the merch room and they had some really rad stuff!  usually when i come to the convention i don't have much money to waste on merch, but i actually planned ahead really well for this year and had almost a hundred dollars extra to squander on stargate stuff!  i got all kinds of awesome stuff- a few new books, a cool wall mirror, and a couple stargate lego sets (ok, they are lego knockoffs, but they are still pretty rad!).  jon got a few things too, so we were having a blast in the ol' merch room!
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gatecon cant loose!

there were a lot of fun guests this year, we went to the con on sunday, so the main people we saw were...  oh, who am i kidding?  corin nemic was there!  that's right, parker lewis was at the convention!!!  i guess i hadn't really looked very closely at the schedule, because i had no idea he was going to be there until we got there.  i totally loved the old show 'parker lewis can't lose' back when it was on, and i also really loved his character jonas from the season where daniel jackson was gone from the show.  i'm pretty sure i'm in the minority on that one, but i thought his character was awesome!  jon strongly disagrees, but what does he know?  he's only been to four gatecons, its not like he's an expert on stargate or anything!
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gate con begins!

its my favorite time of year- its time for the annual stargate convention!  this is my fifth year of going to the con and i'm usually able to round up a friend or two to join me.  this year jon joined me for the 4th time, and jeffry lee tagged along for the second time.
granted, the show has been off the air for a long time now, but that hasn't lessened our passion!  there were a bunch of guests who came to speak, i spent way too much money at the booths, and we had an awesome time!

good to fair

at work we have a 'member appreciation day', which means we have a special grill out meal and free entry into the holland state fair.  we took advantage of the free fun and headed out!
i tell you what, i haven't been to a fair in years- and ledger never has!  we went in the special picnic area and chowed down.  got our free passes and free ride bracelets and headed over the check it all out.
there were tons of fun rides, games, and even a petting zoo!  ledger had a blast, and so did we.
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snakes for the gift!

my birthday has never been much of a big deal to me, at least as an adult.  so when it came around i wasn't too worried about doing anything special or different.
we were visiting in south bend at the time, so diana's mom and david treated us to a lovely lunch.  that was just right to me, a little something special but that was enough.
what did make my birthday extra special though was the amazing birthday card from my boy! (i think he wrote it himself, but diana may have helped a little...)  and also the special gift he gave me: a play-doh snake!  probably the best birthday gift ever!

hottie

seriously.  i'm the luckiest guy in the world- just look at her!

anyway, back to your regularly scheduled blog posts...

light up the night

as summer sets in ledger has been staying up later.  the sun is out so long that we cant reasonably expect ledge to go to bed at 7pm and have it still be as light as noon!  he's been a-ok with us delaying his bedtime!  some times we have even had special events or plans that have kept him up extra late.  recently he was up late enough to see his new favorite animal in the whole world: lightning bugs!  he was so thrilled with seeing them for real- he had thought they were just imaginary like the other characters on tv!  he ran around in the backyard trying to chase after them.  whenever they would light up his eyes would light up even brighter!  we certainly have a nature lover on our hands with this guy!

new car!

ever since our black car died we have been a one car family.  its been a bit of a struggle, but staying with my parents for a little while has allowed diana to use their cars if needed so we have been able to manage.  during that time we have been saving and saving in order to get a new car, and now we have enough stored away that we are able to actually pay cash for a second vehicle!  we really want to be debt free, so we made the decision to wait until we could pay for it without more debt.  diana had been looking online for a new vehicle for a couple months now, and she finally came across this beauty- a chrysler pacifica.  we went to go check it out, were impressed, and drove home with it!  oh, don't worry, we brought it to a car place to give it the ol' once over before we signed the dotted line, but it passed and we were all set- we got ourselves a new car!

a cold treat

with the summer weather getting so hot, we thought we would let ledge try a summer treat: his first popsicle! he was very confused by it at first, trying to just take a bite out of it, but realizing how cold it was he knew right away that was a bad idea...  once he got the hand of the licking thing he was thrilled about the whole thing!  after he was done we just about needed to wash him down with a hose because he was so sticky, but it was totally worth it to see the thrill in his eyes!

a night of knights

what has now become an annual event, i got together with a few old classmates from the old junior high days!  my friend adam went to a different high school than most of my junior high class but he always wanted to stay in touch with everyone, so a couple years ago he spearheaded a class reunion of sorts with our 8th grade class!  it was a lot of fun and we have gathered together every summer ever since.  the gathering isn't always very large, but its always a great time.  its funny to see everyone and where life has taken us since we were 14!  we had a couple people stop by this year that hadn't attended in years past, so it was nice to catch up with them as well.

fun at the library

since i'm working 2nd shift, that means i get to spend a lot of mornings with my boy.  what better way to spend the day than at the library?  the kent county library is really cool, the built a new one a few years ago, so we were able to take full advantage of the beautiful facilities and full schedule they have for kids.  this summer the theme was superheroes, and they even had a fun cut-out that the kids could get their picture taken in.  ledge loved having his face with the big 'strong guy' body!  through out the month we came to check out the fun things they had planned- a magician, a petting zoo, and even tractors and a fire truck!  he was always super excited when i told him we were going to the library.  we would come for the events as well as the weekly story time for kids.  we always left with a few books too!
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back home to ledger

it was a long trip and lots of fun, but we were so thrilled to be back to our little boy!  we got home and he was so excited he could hardly handle himself!  he was thrilled to have us back- and of course we came bearing gifts.  his favorite though, was mama's big bucket of rocks she had collected.  we went to visit grandpa allen and he took the whole time inspecting each rock and having fun looking at them dry and then see how the color changed when they got wet.  he was certainly in his glory- back with mama and daddy.  all was well, once again, in ledger's life- and all was well once again in ours!

up walk

it was our last night in grand marais, so we figured we go out for one last walk.  sure, it was 11 at night, but that didn't stop us!  it was a really cool walk- apparently the house we stayed at had a cemetary not far behind it...  so we went for a nice creepy late night walk through the graveyard and ended up at the edge of lake superior!  don't worry, aaron had brought his rc car along and it had lights, so that lightened the mood- and lightened the path!
the next morning we were sorry to go, but so thankful we had such a good time resting and relaxing up there with friends!
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up falls

while we were up there it was miranda and levi's anniversary, so to celebrate we wanted to go to a nice place for dinner.  knowing there is a cool brewery restaurant over by tequamenon falls, we headed over to check it out.  the place was lovely and the food was great.  i was especially excited because they had a penny cruncher machine!
after dinner we discussed if we should go check out the falls.  after all, we had driven all the way over, we should probably take a look, right?  the humidity was so thick, and the cloud of mosquitoes thicker, but some of us chanced it anyway!  this view is as far as we got- we were being eaten alive!  we ran back to the air conditioned safety of the vehicles and headed back to the house.
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up boat trip

ah, this is what the whole week had been building to: a day out on a rented boat at painted rock national park!  we did this last year too and was the reason we were all so eager to return.  last year we ended up spending more time on the boat than we had actually paid for (oops), so this year we rented it for 4 extra hours!  we drove over to munising together, all the while enjoying (and mocking) the local radio station there.  we got on the boat with all our stuff, and were on our way!  the weather was a little colder than last year, but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying the day.  the place was absolutely beautiful- probably one of the most beautiful places i've ever been on earth- just gorgeous!  we pulled into one of the beaches so the girls could check out the cool rocks, do some exploring, and have a picnic together.  it was just perfect and so much fun!
everything was going smoothly, right up until we started to head back for the day to the dock...  we clearly did not know and had not been warned about the weather that was coming in.   apparently there was a hurricane scheduled for that afternoon and no one bothered to tell us...  as we started our ride back the clouds came rolling in, and a fierce rain storm along with them!  the waves picked up and the wind did too.  the cold water of lake superior crashing over the front of the pontoon boat was ice cold- and so was the rain pounding down on us!  i know that the picture above doesn't look like there would be any bad weather coming, which is why we were so surprised by it!  we hunkered down and just tried to survive!  the girls crowded together on the bench, huddling together for warmth.  i stood in the back, holding the rails as tight as i could, trying not to fall out each time we hit a huge wave.  none of us were quite ready for the onslaught, so we were all in shorts and bare feet!  the frigid water pouring over the boat would careen down the floor, drenching our feet as the rain drenched everything else.  as the hour long return trip got longer and longer, i was pretty sure my bare feet were going to freeze over.  trying to cope, i played over the reality that i may loose my feet to frostbite...  'well, i guess i'll learn how to get around in a wheel chair...'.  everyone else was just as miserable as i was, everyone except barbara!  she was miserable, but decided she was going to be our moral booster- she stayed at the front of the boat dancing, yes, dancing!  she was freezing and wet the the bone, but that didn't stop her from shaking her booty for laughs!  i don't know how she did it, being silly and getting laughs while i was contemplating if it would be easier to just jump off and end it all or last another 45 minutes in this brutal storm...
somehow, thanks to levi's eagle scout training and steel determination, he got us back to the dock and safe to shore!  we haphazardly gathered up our stuff and ran to the car, thankful for a haven from the bitter cold of the water and rain.  we drove the rest of the way back to the house like survivors of a great national disaster, thankful to just be alive!  immediately after we got back home i crawled up to our bed and passed out for the rest of the night.
unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the rain storm or chaos of that return to the dock, but that's because we figured if we even tried to pull out our phones they would be doused with water and get ruined.  so you will just have to trust me on this one...
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up rock shop

we stopped at this rock shop last year and diana has been raving about it ever since.  i'm pretty sure this was what diana was looking forward to the most out of our whole trip!  the gitche gumee museum and gift shop was pretty cool, but the lady who worked there is a real piece of work...  we probably would have stayed a while longer to check out all the great stuff they had there, but she just kept yapping her jaw about who knows what!  she had a real chip on her shoulder about something or other, but her terrible attitude drove us away- we got out of there as quickly as we could!
even still, diana really wanted to get something.  we headed over with a few bucks in our pockets, able to get a couple things to decorate our house when we got back.  she found some awesome agate hangings that she really wanted.  i made her pick one of the two, so she picked one but was torn about it.  later in the week i snuck away with levi and picked up the other one as a surprise for diana- she was so pleased!  from all my years with diana, i know the quickest way to her heart is through rocks.  strange, i know, but that's what does it for her!

chillin up style

it was fun to go out and check out the town and the national parks, but the best part was hanging out with everyone at night!  levi was kind enough to bring some great games and treats, so we took full advantage and whooped it up!
we spend our evenings feasting and playing, going for walks to the beach and even playing with aaron's rc car he brought up!  i thing one of the best aspects of the trip was how well everyone got along together.  for most of them it was their first time meeting aaron and nicole, but it felt like we had all known each other for a long time!  aaron felt comfortable very quickly and was his old funny self in no time, cracking jokes and being hilarious.  nicole and the girls quickly bonded over their love of geology and had a great time talking and getting to know each other.
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the up beach

one of the days up there we went to a park with some awesome waterfalls.  we actually went there last year as well, but it was so beautiful we were more than happy to go again.  diana, nicole, miranda, and others were more than happy to scour the mouth of the stream looking for cool rocks and stuff.  some walked up the trail to see the bigger falls while barbara wandered down the beach for an hour...
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around grand marais

part of the fun of grand marais is checking out the cool quaint places in town.  its a cute little town with some great restaurants and bars- and we were going to take full advantage!  for lunch we stopped at the lake superior brewing company and had a bite to eat.  we hung out there for a while and then made our way around town, stopping at the general store and taking in the sights.  it was a really nice lazy afternoon together.  now this is what vacations are supposed to be!
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da up pad

this was our second trip up to grand marais, but this time we planned ahead a bit better and instead of getting a hotel room, we rented a house for the week- and boy what an awesome house it was!  since we had so many people going, we were able to get a really big pad.
it was an awesome house, it had three stories, seven bedrooms, and totally rad.  we felt like we were really living it up!  before we left we divided up the meals and all brought up some food to fill the kitchen for the week.  i may have gone a bit overboard and brought enough food for all of us for two weeks...  oh well, no one went hungry!
the first night we got up there we picked our rooms, unpacked, then fired up the grill; aaron and i took care of the burgers and brats while the ladies got everything else ready.  we sat down for the first meal of the week together and had a blast- if this is what the week holds, we are going to to have so much fun!
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back up north

oh man- we are heading up north!  last year miranda and levi invited us to go with them up to the upper peninsula of michigan for a long weekend.  it was so much fun in grand marais that we made plans to do it again this year!  but this time we actually invited a bunch more people and planned for a full week up there.  diana and i had been waiting for the vacation for months!  in preparation we went down to south bend and dropped off ledger with grandma and grandpa (it was hard to tell who was more excited about spending the week together: ledger or grandma!)
miranda and levi came to get us super early to get a head start on the week of fun!  levi drove with the girls and i drove barbara's car.  that way the three girls could sleep a little while longer (and i got some good podcast listing in too, so i didnt mind the drive alone in the other car).  we made our way up to grand rapids where we met up with aaron and nicole and continued on our way.  about half way up to mackinaw city we were joined by lissa as well- finally the whole gang was convened!  we took a break at mackinaw city and grabbed a delicious lunch at the dixie saloon.  we spend the meal catching up and talking about all the exciting things we had planned for the week, you know, exciting things like sleeping in...  well, thats exciting to us at least!
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summer starts at the pines

its the start of summer with memorial day here, and that means we are heading out to sandy pines!  my parents had their annual memorial day grill out at their place and invited the whole gang.  its always nice to catch up with everyone after the long winter, see how much the kids have grown, and compare how much hair we've lost (i didn't win this year, but came in a pretty close second...)
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ledger rules

my wife made this fantastic list of rules for ledger.   it has been really helpful- now, instead of telling him over and over again, we just have to ask him about the rules and he realizes that he is misbehaving.  well done, diana- now that's good parenting!

a cheesy afternoon

diana had a couple appointments in town, so ledger and i took the afternoon and had a little fun- we headed over for a special afternoon at chuck e cheese!  we had been there once before for his birthday, but this time it was just the two of us to play the games and have a blast.  well, it worked- ledge loved it and got so into the different games and rides!
its always nice to get an opportunity to do something different and a little special with him.
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blue merc

one of ledger's favorite new shows right now is 'miles from tomorrowland'.  its a new show on disney jr. and it features his favorite character: merc, the robot ostrich.  he is constantly pretending to merc, running around making bird sounds and telling us he his a robot.  well, here's the thing, the character of merc is blue.  ledger thought it would be a great idea to color himself blue, you know, to make it more realistic...  he grabbed a blue marker and started to color his arm blue.  when diana and i caught him he knew he had done something wrong.  we figured we would play it up a bit and told him that the marker doesn't come off.  (is this mean? maybe, but we wanted him to realize that he shouldn't be coloring himself)  he was mortified that his arm would stay blue forever!  finally after about a half hour we told him that we might be able to wash it off if we tried really hard...  it came off very easily of course- we aren't dumb enough to leave permanent markers around a child- it was a washable marker the whole time!  he was so relieved that he promised never to do it again!  parenting mission accomplished, i'd say.

clean teeth

now that we are up in grand rapids, we needed to find ledger a new dentist.  we found a great one that specializes in children.  he was a little unsure when we told him he was going to the dentist, but was excited to check it out.
the place was really cool, they had neat fish in the lobby and lots of toys for him to check out while we waited.  when we were called back i was able to go along with him and hold his hand if he needed it.  he didnt!  he was so excited to check out all the different tools and things in the dentist's office!  he was, as always, a chatty cathy with all the people in the office, asking about what everything was and what they were going to do with it.  if i remember correctly, i'm pretty sure he even broke out into song at one point...  he was having so much fun and fortunately the dentists were thrilled to have a patient who wasn't scared that they were having a great time laughing along with him too!
i'm sure if it were up to him, ledge wouldn't mind going to the dentist every week...

roof repair

i got a call about our rental and how the roof was really bad and needed to be repaired.  i feared the worst and took some time off of work to try and repair it.  i enlisted the help of diana's dad and his friend todd and the three of us headed down to griffith unsure how bad the damage would be that we would find.
turns out it wasn't so bad!  i was expecting it to be caving in and terrible- i thought you would be able to see the sky from inside the bedroom!  actually, it was just some wet drywall and a leaky point in the roof.  we spent a couple hours replacing the plywood and bracing it, then put on some new shingles and- voila! everything was looking better!  we also did some repair work on the drywall, getting rid of the warped parts and making it look better.  the whole job, which i expected to take a couple days, ended up taking only about 6 hours.  it helped that todd and diana's dad were seasoned vets when it comes to roofing, that's for sure!
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birthday lunch

a special day that only comes around once a year (less than that if you ask her...) is diana's birthday!  we didn't really have the chance to do too much since i had to go to work like every other day, but we did get the chance to slip away together for a couple hours and enjoy a fancy lunch together.
we always have such a good time hanging out, especially when its just the two of us for a special occasion!  its another year gone by, but you wouldn't know it by looking at her, she's even more beautiful now than when we were dating!  i'm such a lucky guy...