Tilt

Years ago, we had a really awesome birthday party for Ledger at an arcade. Since then, the arcade teamed up with a local bar and became Tilt, a bar with a pinball arcade in the back! Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, we foolishly had never been there since they opened a year or so ago.

My parents asked if we wanted to go out for dinner with them. Usually we meet up at Pizza Hut, but I asked if they would be interested in checking out Tilt. They said 'sure', so we met up with them there and had a great time! Papa told us a couple stories of how he used to love playing pinball games when he was young, so we placed our order and wandered back to check out the arcade part of the place. We checked out the different games, there was a Doctor Who pinball, a Star Trek pinball, and about 10 more! We each played a game or two, watching each other's progress and having a great time. By then our food was at the table, so we sat down and enjoyed the delicious food and chatted. 

It was really great to check out this new restaurant in town, and we were very impressed with the good food and fun games! We will definitely be going back many times!

Library Battle

When Ledger was little, the local library was a godsend! A public place with special events for kids where they could learn and play- exactly what we needed! Since then he goes less often, but they still have great activities. Most, as you would expect, are geared toward little kids, but our local library also does a bunch of events for the older kids. They have a 'teen room' filled with the latest tech, things like professional level computer drawing pads, VR headsets, and 3D printers that they can come and use. Ledge loves to go there from time to time and play in the teen room. They've also got some fun special events as well. One of the coolest events they have is a 'Nerf Night', the kids are invited after the library is closed, to come in with Nerf guns and go nuts! Ledge invited his friend Emmerson to join him and the two of them had a blast. He said they played a bunch of games including 'capture the flag' all around the library, shooting off their nerf darts at each other. At the end they even had cookies and juice. What an awesome event- I wish they had done cool stuff like this when I was a kid! 

Special Showing

One of my favorite things about my small town is the local movie theater. It's an old one screen movie house from 1919 that was bought by the town and restored. They show recent movies each week, but every once in a while they have special events. I've attended them before, in fact, I try to attend every single one I can! Not just to see whatever they are showing, but also to support the town and movie culture in the area.

They had a special event recently that I was able to go to. This one was a short documentary called 'Jeanie's Face Exploded' that was created by someone in the area about Jeanie Jeffries, a woman who played an important part in the old horror movie 'Dawn of the Dead'. She played a small part in the movie, but was an important part of the make-up and effects as well. The documentary was an interview with her along with old photos and behind the scenes looks at the whole process. What was really neat is that Jeanie was at our showing as well as the director. They went up and discussed what went into making this doc and a few extra stories not included in the film. It was really cool to be a part of the premiere of the doc and everything!

Double Date

It's been way too long since I saw good ol' Aaron. I figured, with a new Marvel movie coming out, it was time to correct that. He's come over to Allegan and we've gone to see movies at the Regent many times over the years, but this was the first time that he's brought a date!

I convinced Diana to come along, so we planned it as a double date. I can't remember the last time we've gone on a double date with my friends, so we were quite excited. They stopped by so we could hang out for a bit and chat. Eventually we headed downtown to see the movie. It was hilarious- we were laughing the whole time! I was surprised how much Diana liked it considering she hadn't seen many of the movies being referenced. Aaron and Lara loved it as well!

After the movie we wandered around downtown Allegan for a while, looking for a bar to hang out at. We found one that was open, unfortunately they only had their own brand beer- and it was pretty gross! Oh well. We called it a night and parted ways. Truly a fun night together!

Shop Local

Christmas is almost here, and of course I've still got a bunch of gifts to get! I've never been very good at being on top of my Christmas shopping... With a few people to still find gifts for, Ledger and I headed out to finish the list. I figured we should take advantage of the cute little shops in town and buy locally. Ledge popped on one of my hats (he looks so cute!) and we headed downtown Allegan. There was a consignment shop that we went into and as I was looking around, Ledge hit it off with the ladies behind the counter. He was schmoozing and making them laugh! By the time we finished our purchase, I'm pretty sure those old ladies were in love!

We hit up a few other places and were able to check off the rest of the list, we figured we deserved a nice pizza lunch. We stopped in at the local Pizza Hut and got a couple personal pan pizzas and joked around, cutting each other up with our silliness. I tell you what, this kid definitely got his sense of humor from his father...

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Santa Parade

Santa Clause is coming to town! Every year my lovely little town has a Christmas parade, ending with Santa! The high school band plays, and at the end Santa has a seat in the pavilion, they light the town Christmas tree, and Santa visits with each of the children. We've been going to the parade for years, but last year we decided to invite the rest of my family. We all had a great time, so we invited them again this year, and everyone quickly agreed.

When Ledger was little, he loved to go because he got to see Santa and let him know what he wanted for Christmas, but that motivation came to and end a few years ago... We've continued to go each year because it's always great to gather as a town and celebrate, and Ledger loves it because he gets to see a bunch of friends from school and hang out. The parade itself is filled with fire trucks, vehicles decorated from the different local businesses, the high school band, and more. We met up with my parents, Jill & Tim, and Noah. We watched the parade from my favorite place in town: right in front of the Regent Theater!

After waving as the parade went buy (and collecting the thrown candy, of course), we gathered in the downtown park to get a photo op with the jolly man himself!

A fun cold time was had by all!

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Tigers Homecoming

We are, by no means, sports people. On a whim though, Diana decided she wanted to go to the high school football game! It was homecoming night at Allegan High School, and I think Diana was nostalgic for her high school time, so we all quickly got ready and headed to the game. She had been a little disappointed that she missed the Code Orange game, so we tried again.

We stocked up on concessions candy and hot dogs and found a seat on the bleachers. After gobbling up his food, Ledge ran off to play with a friend (there were people he knew this time, so he was having a great time!). Diana and I snuggled up and watched the game for a bit. There was a fun musical half time show from the marching band, but once the game started up again we were kind of over it. Ledger's friends eventually disbanded, so we gathered him back up and called it a night. It was pretty fun to participate in the stereotypical 'small town' event, but maybe next time we will do something non-sports related...

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Code: Orange

Our lovely little town has a special event every year called Code Orange. Every year they print out thousands of shirts for sale and the profit goes to the local school education program. They have a special Code Orange day with different events, including the high school football game. All three of us got shirts this year, so we obviously had to go to the football game! We haven't been to a game in several years, due mostly to the fact that we don't care at all about sports of any kind... 

When it was time for the game, Diana wasn't feeling so well, but Ledger really wanted to go because he thought there might be some friends from school there. When we got there we first stopped at the concession stand (of course). After chowing down on a hot dog, Ledger went off looking for friends. About 10 minutes later he came back disappointed because he couldn't find anyone from school. It was a bit cold and neither of us really wanted to watch the game, so we hung out for about 15 minutes more and then headed home.

Library VR

A few years ago the Allegan Public Library made a huge renovation to their building, more than doubling its size. This allowed them to offer so many more programs and activities, which are an awesome addition to the charm of our little town. Ledger and I spent a lot of time at the library as he was growing up, taking advantage of their different kids programs and amazing books. In the new addition they added an incredible tech room, it's got huge top of the line drawing tablets, 3D printers, and VR sets! When it first opened, 8 year old Ledger thought it was so cool, unfortunately there was a restriction to go in there: you had to be 10 years old. Poor fella was crestfallen! Over that summer he must have sweet talked the librarian in charge there, because he would let Ledger come in if there wasn't any other kids in there. Ledge had so much fun playing with all that stuff, especially the drawing tablets. We went a dozen or more times that summer and he loved every minute!

It's been a while since we stopped by the library, so the other day when he suggested it I was delighted at the idea. We've recently had some free time, so we've gone a couple times in the past week. He makes a quick b-line straight for the tech room! He still likes the drawing tablet, but now that he has one of his own at home, that doesn't quite hold the sway over him that it used to. Instead, he's all about the VR! There are a couple of games that he really loves, one of them he was telling me about has something to do with monkeys? I don't know, but he loves it. He spends an hour or so in there while I find a good graphic novel and find a cozy seat until he comes and finds me, ready to go home because the VR made him motion sick. Poor guy gets sick, but still wants to play!

Horse Play

One of the ladies that Diana works with also has horses and barrel races them. What? That's awesome! So, of course, she asked if she could come and watch some time! It just so happened that she was going to be having a competition coming up. Well, we made plans to attend. Diana was talking to Miranda about it and she was interested in going too! Lissa was visiting this weekend and was pumped to check it out too. The four of us, Diana, Lissa, Ledger, and I, met up with Miranda and Frank at the stables it was taking place at, and had a grand old time watching the competition.

All of us loved to see the different participants try to do the different horse events. Ledger, of course, was much more interested in the potluck table in the stables... He found another kid there and made a friend. We cheered along for an hour our two, but then it was time to go out for dinner. We filled up at the Mexican restaurant in Gobles, which is always delicious. Ledger and I headed home while everyone else wanted to go to the apple orchard to pick some apples. Overall, we had a lot of fun!

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Allegan on the 4th

 Now that Mema and Papa no longer have a place at Sandy Pines, we were unsure what we should do or where we should go to celebrate the 4th of July.

We live in Allegan, so we figured we could just go downtown and watch the fireworks with our fellow Alleganians! They had a bunch of events scheduled downtown all day, but we just wanted to see the fireworks. We rolled in around 8:30pm. It was already pretty busy, so we had to park pretty far away- all the way over in the parking lot of the Frugal Hoosier (that's what Diana and I call the local grocery store). We brought chairs so we could have a place to sit to watch the show. They are currently doing a lot of road construction downtown, so most of downtown was filled with orange cones and caution tape! We were still able to find a pretty good spot to sit over by the gazebo at the park. The line to get drinks was so long and so expensive, that I actually just walked back to the gas station and got some fountain drinks for us at a fraction of the cost! Even with the long line, Ledger wanted to get a fried snack. He was willing to wait, so I gave him some cash and let him wait by himself. Eventually he brought back deep fried Oreos! He was very pleased with his treat and gobbled them down, kindly giving Diana and I a small bite each.

At dusk we settled in to our seats and got ready for the big show. The firework show was great, probably better than the Sandy Pines fireworks, so we were very pleased with our decision. Afterward we gathered up our things and headed home, pleased to participate in our little town's celebration!

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Swimming Time

Ledger's school had a special event for all the kids to go to the Allegan Aquatic Center for some free swimming! Now that we no longer have access to the pool at Sandy Pines, this is about the only opportunity he has to swim. He and I headed over to the pool for some watery fun with friends. There were a few classmates that went as well, so he was able to play around with his buddies for a while. They have a couple different pools, so he was going back and forth, having a blast! His favorite, of course, was doing silly dives off the diving board!

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Christmas Parade

The love for our little town seems to be growing! Every year Allegan has a bunch of seasonal events as we get closer to Christmas. One of them that we always love to attend is the night parade and the arrival of Santa! I thought it might be something that my little nephew Noah would like, so I invited Jill to come enjoy the fun with us. Well, Mema and Papa couldn't resist, so they came too. Now this is becoming a big family event! It seems its pretty popular with everyone else in the town too, because it was really hard to even find a parking spot.

We eventually all met up next to the Regent Theater (my favorite place in town) and within a few minutes the parade started. Down the road came police cars, fire trucks and a bunch of floats from different businesses and families in town. The high school band marched through, playing some Christmas classics, and then finally the main attraction: Santa himself! Noah was pretty pumped to see him, as well as collecting the candy that had been thrown from the floats.

The parade went down the street and ended up in the pavilion where Santa walked down and sat for everyone who wanted to get pictures. Ledge is unfortunately a little too old for the picture part, but he got a picture with Santa and Noah. Everyone had a great time and it was so fun to be able to share that experience with the whole family!

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SpongeBob MusicalPants

Allegan Public High School has a really strong theater program, and this year Ledger was especially interested in going to the fall musical. Why, you might ask? Because the musical they were putting on was Spongebob Squarepants the Musical! We had seen the posters all around town for a couple months leading up to it, and then the week of the show some of the high school kids who were performing in it came to the elementary school for an assembly. They had a drawing to give away tickets to the show as well as a special behind-these-scenes visit before the show. Well, wouldn't you know it, Ledger was one of the 6 lucky winners!

The night of the show we grabbed dinner and went to the high school about an hour before the show and got to see all the cool stuff they had planned for us. They took him up on stage to check out the sets, backstage with the performers to see them practice the choreography, and into the music room as they cast rehearsed. In each of the three areas they talked through the process with the kids and had them participate a little as well. Ledger absolutely loved it! I've rarely seen him so attentive and interested! What a fun little opportunity for younger kids to see the fun of being a theater kid in high school. I think it worked too, because Ledge kept telling me how he wants to do that when he gets to high school!

After the behind-the-scenes look, it was time to find our seats, sit back, and enjoy the show! It was a pretty fun performance which Ledger absolutely loved. I think he may have caught the acting bug...

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Winter Theater

Sure it's the middle of the worst blizzard of the season, but that doesn't mean I don't want to go out and see a movie! There's a movie I've been wanting to see for a few weeks now. I waited too long to see it at the M89 theater but was lucky that it came to the Regent Theater here in town. Monday and Tuesday nights we were too busy, so I told Diana that I was going to see it on Wednesday. As fate would have it, Wednesday morning brought in the biggest blizzard of the season! It was slow going getting home from work as all the roads were getting terrible. Clearly everyone was packing it in for a cold and blustery one. Well, not me! Even the six inches of snow and near whiteout conditions weren't enough to keep me going out to the theater! I pulled in and stomped through the snow and made it into the theater. I bought a ticket and went to the concession stand. Realizing I didn't see any other customers, I asked if I was the only one who showed up for the film. Turns out I was the only one who showed up for the movie! I wasn't going to do that to the employees- make them stick around for 2+ hours just for me! they probably want to get home and crawl under the blankets too. I asked if they could give me an IOU for the ticket and I'd come back and try again tomorrow. I warned them though: even if I'm the only one there tomorrow I'm going to stick around and watch the movie anyway! They were thankful and started shutting the place down. I did go back on Thursday and thankfully there were seven or eight other people who came to see it. I was glad that I got to see the movie in the theater and not be a jerk! 

Trick or Treat!

There were a few restrictions in place this year, but Halloween was not canceled! Its a good thing too, I don't know if Ledger could have handled that... We got the boy all fixed up in his inflatable jack-o-lantern costume and headed out. We've been at this a few years in Allegan, so we kind of know the best places to trick-or-treat. There are a couple places in town that have more participation than others. We made our way through those sections of town and Ledger's bucket quickly filled up! The funny thing though is that he doesn't really care much about the candy- we still have some candy left over from last year! The most important part to Ledger is being able to go out and show off his costume and admire everyone else's costumes! He had a really fun time and went door to door well into the dark! By the time we got home we had one exhausted little boy!

Doing His Part

It's a lot. It's a lot a lot. So much is going on in the world right now that has never happened in our lifetime. We are in the middle of a pandemic where almost everything is closed down, and recently there have been uprisings through out the country in response to police brutality, political division, and race inequality. With so much uncertainty and such big issues, Diana and I have really struggled with how to discuss it with our son. He's only 8 years old, and very innocent, so a lot of these huge issues seem impossible to us for him to wrap his mind around them and understand the challenges and nuances to what's going on. We've decided that he needs to be aware of these things, he needs to be informed about the world and how it works. We were delicate in how we explained it all and he did a great job processing it all and trying to make sense of it. His question for us at the end of the conversation was 'what can I do about it?'. He wanted to do his part in trying to help. We talked with him about how he can't fix it, but he can use what gifts he had to make a change. He thought about it and said 'The only thing I'm good at is drawing.' Well, how can he use that to make a difference? We talked it over and he decided that he was going to draw a picture that will 'make the world a better place!' After he was done we decided what we should do with it. We made a dozen copies of his illustration and went downtown Allegan with them. We stopped in each of the shops and businesses that were open and asked if we could post his illustration on the window as a way of encouraging others to do good in the world. A few were willing, so we posted them up! When we got back home he was feeling pretty good about the small amount he was able to do to make our little town a better place! We are so proud of him for caring and wanting to do his part!
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santa came to town

Every year our little town likes to welcome in the holiday season the right way: with a parade and a visit from Santa Claus!  Ledge and I braved the cold to be a part of the celebration.  We went downtown to watch the parade and happened upon a bunch of friends from his school!  We found a nice cozy spot next to them and cheered on the parade as it passed through town.  The parade path ends down by the boardwalk, where we get a chance to line up and see Mr. and Mrs. Clause.
Now that we've got that taken care of, let the holidays begin!
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trick or treat encore

Ledger had had a lot of fun trick or treating with Savannah and her family, but was disappointed that we were done so soon.  Diana and I gave each other a little glance on the way back to Allegan, and I asked 'well buddy, do you want to do some more?' His eyes widened, 'can we?!?'  So instead of going straight home we drove down to the busiest streets and pulled into a parking spot.  'Lets go!' I exclaimed to him, and the two of us were off!  Diana stayed in the car, trying to warm up.  Ledge and I went up and down one more street trying to get another round of trick or treating in before the night was done.  Pleased with his extreme luck, we happily came back to the car, victorious.  We drove back home and on our street we saw that there were still some kids going door to door.  I asked him as we pulled into our driveway 'do we dare go out for a FOURTH time?'  He screamed with excitement at the possibility!  So, we walked up and down our street, trying to get in as many houses as we could before the night was finally through.  We finally walked into the house, soaking wet but with Ledger beaming with joy at the fact that we went trick or treating four times in one night.  This will be a Halloween he won't soon forget!

downtown trick or treating

When Ledger got home from school he was really antsy.  He had to wait another two hours before he would get to go trick or treating and it was killing him!  Knowing that something had to be done, I told him to grab his costume cause we are going downtown.  He was a little confused but excited.  We drove down and saw all the different people wandering from one shop to the other.  I explained to Ledge that all the shops downtown were having a time to trick or treat too!  He was thrilled with the chance to show off his costume and so we went to each place and he chatted with as many random people as he possibly could, telling them all about how he is a 'classic ghosty' this year, but now he's also wearing a witch's hat.  Some of the shop owners humored him and shared his excitement about the special costume.  By the time we made it all the way up and down the main street, he was so pleased about the unexpected extra trick or treating.  We headed home and he gushed to Diana about how much fun he had!  Well buddy, we are just getting started...
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