Father's Day

We were invited to join the whole Brink family for a special Father's Day meal at Mema and Papa's. We got ourselves ready and headed over there, making sure we weren't a half hour late like last time! We got to celebrate Papa, Tim, and myself for Father's Day, and for the first time Chad joined our ranks!

For the first time ever we had the complete family now that Chad's son is joining us. Since I've got 11 years of experience, I made sure to impart my vast fatherhood wisdom... Actually, my advice to him was to take as many photos and videos of his son as humanly possible. I've always found that I never regret taking pictures and videos of my son, and now that he's grown up so much I wish I had taken more while he was little!

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Game Night

Diana has never been much of a game person, and Ledger feels the same. Sure, Ledge is always up for playing video games, but board games or card games have never been his thing. There are a few games that Diana enjoys, she likes Yahtzee and a couple different card games, but that's about all. I have been pretty busy and stressed from work lately, and I think Diana was starting to notice. She asked if we should maybe do a family game night to give all of us a relaxing and fun time together. Great idea! I went down and grabbed a few different games that I thought we might like to play: Yahtzee, Uno, Life, and Skip-Bo. She opted for the last one, so we all three sat around the table to play. Ledger had never played it before and it had been quite a while since I had played. Diana said that Skip-Bo was one of the games that they played growing up all the time, so she brushed us up on the rules and got us up to speed. We spent the next hour playing it a few times and having a good time laughing and relaxing. Ahhh, I needed this more than I realized!

Grandparents Summer

Now that summer is here, the first thing on Ledger's list of things to do: go visit Grandpa and Grandma! Wouldn't you know it, its the first thing on their list too! We made plans with them for Ledge to spend few days with them. It's about an hour and a half 

to get to their place, so Grandpa offered to meet us half way. We handed him off and Diana and I got to have a few days with just the two of us! Granted, I still had to work, but it was nice to have our evenings to ourselves for a couple days. We went out to eat together, went for late night walks, and just generally enjoyed each other's company for a while. We love being parents, especially to such a loving little boy, but it's still nice to have some time with just us adults!

While Ledger was gone a package showed up at the house. Not sure what it was, I brought it with when we went to go pick him up. We met up half way for a quick dinner at Burger King and we found out what the package was: Ledger had talked Grandpa into getting him a stuffed animal from one of the games he plays! That kid, he can sweet talk his grandparents into anything!

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Jaidey's Open House

They keep getting older! Our dear sweet little Jaideyn is graduating high school and had an open house to celebrate. We made our way over there on this unfortunately rainy Sunday to congratulate her. Tim and Jill had the whole place decked out, complete with a few tents in the driveway so we could stay dry. It was run to look over all the pictures they had on display- we were even in a few of them. She has big plans to go to Trinity College in Chicago next year to play soccer and begin her education in nursing. Part of the fun was seeing all the extended family members as well- Ted and Joni, Aunt Marlene, and all the rest!

Congrats, Jaidey, and good luck becoming a Troll! (that's the mascot of Trinity College)

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Baby Brink

Finally we get to meet the newest member of the family! My brother and his family made the long journey across the country from Washington state to dear ol' Michigan. He's now retired from the military and came back to live with Mom and Papa for a month or two while they look for a new home. Lucky for us, that means we get to see their little one!

We had been planning ahead for his arrival- Diana enlisted her mom to make some really cute crocheted items for him and we were finally  able to give them the amazingly made gifts!

It was really nice to see my Chad and Myuki as well as their amazingly cute little fella. Now that they are in town (for now), we will be able to visit a bunch more!
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Last Day Picnic

It's finally here- 6 years in the making. The last day of Ledger's elementary school career! He's pretty pumped to be done with school this year, but he's also a little sad. It's been a good year for Ledger and his class as the biggest kids at the school. He got to do some extra curricular things, he got to do safety patrol, go on a bunch of fun class trips, and even have his mom as the lunch room and recess helper! Though there were a bunch of fun things, there is also the sad realization that this is the end of something important. He's been excited for the year to be over, but leaving West Ward for the last time was hard for him.

Fortunately, they had one last blowout! Every year the school has a half day picnic on it's last day. All the parents and families are invited to come and join the students for lunch. In years past, all the parents were invited to bring food for their kids and eat out on the lawn. This year the school had Pizza Hut host the event and we could buy personal pizzas and drinks for cheap. They were the perfect size, and it took away the hassle of trying to find something ourselves. After eating, all the kids were invited to play a game of kickball against the teachers. That only lasted about 15 minutes before it broke down into just a chaotic mess of kids running around. Eventually, the teachers gave up on trying to wrangle everyone and dismissed the kids to head home for the year.

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Elementary Graduate

Its a pretty big day: our son graduated from elementary school! He's still got one more day of actual school, but the ceremony is tonight. There's a bunch of different stuff rolled into the ceremony tonight, including a song from the fifth graders and awards given out recognizing each student's strengths. We all dressed up a little bit for the celebration (not too fancy though, I'm still wearing my sandals). We got there and found seats near the front and Ledger went over to the student section and found his assigned seat.

The whole thing started with a video of pictures from their years there, even some super cute photos from kindergarten and first grade! Next, the kids came up and filled the risers so they could sing the song they had been practicing in choir. It was really cute and Diana certainly shed a tear or two. Next, the fifth grade teachers came up and called out each of the students to recognize them for a special aspect of who they are. Ledger, not surprisingly, was given the 'Art Super Star' award! Next, each child was called to receive their certificate of graduation from fifth grade. When Ledge got his we cheered loudly!

He's pumped to be done with elementary school, but the prospect of going to a different school next year for middle school is a little bit scary to him. He'll be fine- he's got so many friends and buddies that he's not going to have any problems at all next year. He is the funny kid, after all, and everyone likes the funny kid!

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Finishing Yard Projects

It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I get the urge to do some yard work! As the weather gets a little warmer (not too warm, mind you), I decided to get out there and do a bit of cleaning up around our palatial estate. I even wrangled Ledger to come out and help as well! We put in a deck a couple years ago and I had grand plans to put some landscaping around it to make it look nice. I had put in a plastic edge and stepping stones last year, but I never got around to filling the space with woodchips. Well, I corrected that issue and got it looking really nice. Also, a couple years ago Ledger and I tore down the rotted out shed in the back yard, but we left the floor of the shed. We finally went out and tore it apart and uncovered a big cement slab that it was on. All together, the place looks so much better! Both he and I were all sweaty and dirty by the time we were done, but it was worth it to finally finish those two projects.

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Miranda's Open House

A few months ago Miranda bought a house. She had been looking for a while and finally found one she liked that was in her price range and an area she wanted to live. We've been over there once or twice, but she decided that she wanted to have an official 'open house' and invite everyone over to show off the new place. She's been working hard over the last couple months repairing and updating it to get ready.

David and Mom were invited to see her place as well, so we met up with them for lunch together and then went to see Miranda. Her family was there and we got to celebrate her beautiful house together!

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Bronner's Christmas

 One last stop before heading out of town: the famous Bronner's Christmas store! I've always been curious to check this place out. Before going on this trip, the only thing I knew about Frankenmuth was that they had a huge Christmas store. Bronner's has a ton of billboard advertising all the way over in Grand Rapids and Holland- I've even seen them in Indiana! Ledge was excited to see it all, so we stopped over before we left.

It certainly lives up to its claim- the place is humongous! We went in and started walking around; once we found the end of one room, there was another huge warehouse sized room right next to it! Most of the space is filled up with different crazy styled ornaments. There were a few fun displays of different Christmas stuff too. Ledger loved the enormous snowman, which he dubbed 'The King of Snowmans'!

We found Ledge a cute ornament to put on the tree next year, and I found a penny cruncher, so I was pretty pumped! Eventually we found our way out and headed home. Truly a fun trip. Thanks again Lissa and family!

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Frankenmuth: In Town

 One of the days we were in Frankenmuth we went into town to check out the touristy sights. It was really easy, the hotel had a shuttle to town, which ended up not being very necessary considering it's only about a 10 minute walk! We got there and wandered around the shops, checking out what they had to offer. My favorite was a Celtic shop that had kilts! I've always wanted one and tried one on- I loved it! I came really close to actually getting one, but couldn't really think of any time in my life when I would actually wear it, so I reluctantly (regrettably) put it back on the rack.

On the sidewalk they had a xylophone that anyone could play, which caught Ledger's interest! The rest of the group moved on to the next shop, but I stood there and Let Ledge play his heart out! He was rockin' those mallets for a good 15 minutes...

Eventually we made our way to a pizza shop and had a delicious lunch together. We wandered around for a bit more, but then made our way back to the hotel. This town is pretty cool!
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Bavarian Inn

 The hotel in Frankenmuth was really cool! Lissa's family had booked us in the biggest hotel in town: the Bavarian Inn. It was partially under construction, so the whole parking situation was pretty dire, but we found a spot eventually. Apparently there was a big dog convention in town and this hotel was dog friendly, so there were tons of pups wandering the grounds and halls!

The room was nice and had access to the balcony (with a great view of the construction...), but the best parts were the pool/water park, and game area! We hardly left the hotel because there was so much to do!

We spent three nights there and it wasn't enough, we just kept going down to the pool and game room- we didn't even have time to check out the second pool or mini golf course.

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Frankenmuth

Lissa and her family wanted to celebrate Andrew's birthday by going to Frankenmuth, and they invited Diana, Ledger, and I to join them. Sounds like fun! Diana and I had never been to Frankenmuth, but I've always heard that its pretty cool, so we took them up on the offer. I got the time off of work. We packed up and headed up to meet them there. They had booked rooms for us at the Bavarian Inn hotel. We got up there a little bit before Lissa's family, so we checked in and unloaded the car. When they got into town they let us know and we met up with them at a great restaurant. It was really nice to see everyone- it had been years since I've seen some of them. Diana sees them all the time, but I usually can't go because of work, so it's really cool that I can tag along this time. When we walked in and sat down at their table, Diana had to introduce me: 'See, he does exist!'

After filling our tummies with a great meal, we went back to the hotel. Everyone else checked in and we eventually met up together in our room and went down to see all that the hotel had to offer- and it was a lot!

Brian Regan Live!

Back in college, my friends and I discovered the comedian Brian Regan. His album was hilarious and we listened to it regularly! At one point I was home and going on a short road trip with my dad and convinced him to listen to it on our trip. He had the same response as I did- he was howling with laughter! Ever since then he and I have referenced those jokes and enjoyed a couple other comedy specials of his on TV.

Fast forward 20 years and Papa calls me out of the blue saying 'Brian Regan is going to be performing live, do you want to go?' Of course I do! So when the date arrived we met up and drove down to the theater in Indiana. It was pretty great to take a little road trip, just the two of us. It's been a long time since we got a chance to chat and connect. We stopped for dinner and fueled up for the evening of fun. We got to the theater a little early and found a good parking spot. We went in and grabbed some snacks and drinks before heading to our seats. The show itself was as hilarious as we had hoped! Brian Regan is so funny! His jokes are good, but its all about his delivery. That voice and facial reactions are what make him howlingly funny!

After the show was over we had a great ride back, chatting and recounting the great punchlines from the show. My favorite part of the ride back was when Papa and I took turns sharing some music favorites with each other on the truck stereo. He dropped me off and I thanked him again for such a fun and funny night together!

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Torn Up Yard

We got a heads up a couple weeks ago, but it was quite a surprise today when our lawn got torn up! Apparently our town is going through and methodically checking all the different water pipes in town to replace any of them that are too old or made of the wrong material. This means that they need to check everyone's pipes to see if they need to be replaced or not. The problem, of course, is that the pipes are underground, so they have to tear up a lot of lawns. Fortunately I don't care at all about the lawn! Tear away, boys! They came to the door to give us a warning that they would be doing it, and then dug right in- literally! They got the crane unloaded and got to it, tearing up about an 8 foot patch, going down five or six feet. After about 20 minutes, we got the 'all clear' and they started refilling the hole. Our pipes do not need to be replaced, but now our lawn does!

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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Birthday Pizza

 With all the birthday celebrating over the past week, we had to have a party with my side of the family too! We all met up for a joint celebration of Ledger and Diana at the local Pizza Hut. Jill and the kids came too, which made it extra special! We all chowed down and had a great time chatting. Most of the chatter was about the newest addition to the family, Chad and Myuki's baby, and how we couldn't wait for them to get here at the end of the month.

Egg Hunt

 Easter is here! That means that the eggs getting filled with candy and the boy gets to do a little bit of hunting. Earlier in the week I got a few different types of candy to fill up the plastic eggs for the morning hunt. Loading them up the night before, I snuck around in the dark of night and found good hiding spots for all 35 eggs. They were scattered around the living room, dining room, and kitchen for Ledger to find. I made sure to put some in easy obvious spots as well as a few tricky hiding spots. When we woke him up Sunday morning we reminded him what day it was, and he hopped out of bed (pun intended) and grabbed the Easter basket- the hunt was on! Most of them he found pretty quickly, as intended, but the last couple took him 10+ minutes to find! He kept asking for clues of the last locations, but I refused. He's got to work for his sweets! Later we headed over to Mema & Papa's house for a great time and delicious Easter dinner with Jill, Tim, and the kids.

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Super Ledger Bros!

We didn't have a big party for Ledger's birthday this year, but we still made plans for something special. The Mario Bros. Movie came the Wednesday after his birthday, so we had him pick a few friends to invite to go see it with him! He picked three friends and we talked to their parents and we were all set.

Saturday afternoon we all met up at the theater (we picked up Karson on the way), we were thinking ahead and bought the tickets in advance- and its a good thing we did because the line was huge and the show sold out! We loaded them up with popcorn, drinks, and candy- now we are ready for the show!

We got to see it in 3D, Ledger's first theatrical movie he's ever seen in 3D. Diana wasn't all that interested in going to see this one until she found out it would be in 3D, then she was all about it! Through out the movie I kept looking over at the boys and they were grinning ear to ear and having a blast. Ledger absolutely loved the birthday movie and getting to joke around and laugh with his friends, and the whole event was a big hit with all four of them!

After the movie we stopped at a park in Otsego so the boys to spend a little more time together and get some of that sugared up energy out!

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Yippee!

A while ago Ledger had some of his artwork featured on a TV show! My friend Adam works for a little boutique streaming channel for Christian children's entertainment called Yippee. He is one of the people who works on the different shows that they make. One of the shows was making a series of skits about the Easter story with the actors in front of a green screen. Knowing of Ledger's passion for animating, Adam asked if he would like to create the backgrounds for the five different scenes. Amazed at the opportunity, Ledger was excited for the challenge!

He did the work and send it his different background animations and, after a few slight tweaks, they actually used them! When they were broadcast on Yippee, we got to watch the skids and see his work on TV and everything! Ledger was really proud- and so were we! I tell you what, we are going to have to start writing this kid's resume, because he's already got a ton of impressive projects and showings!

Recently we got a special package from Yippee: Adam had gotten a thank you card signed by all the on-air talent from the show Ledger helped with, and a really cool branded mug as a gift for Ledger's hard work!