South Bend Swim

Ah, now this is the life! We made our way back down to South Bend for an extended weekend. Mom and David are always excited to have us visit, so it didn't take too much to convince them! The weather was so perfect that we spent a lot of time out on the lake. To really shock everyone, I even jumped in and swam! Barbara and James stopped by for one of the days and joined us out on the boat.

The funniest part of the weekend: We took poor old Wiggins out on the boat with us, and when I jumped in, I took him with me! He was not at all prepared for that! Turns out, this dog does NOT like to swim! He was holding on to me for dear life while we were in the water! Thankfully, I put him back on the boat after a couple minutes. After we swam for a while and got back on the boat, he would not go anywhere near me for the rest of the boat ride... Poor fella!

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Work Picnic

Every year my work has a huge picnic. They invite all 5000 employees and rent out the fairgrounds and do it up! There are a bunch of rides, games, concessions, and prizes. Employees and families are invited, so I rounded up mine, and we headed over.

Most of the games and rides are for the littler kids, so Ledge wasn't really interested, but there was one thing that caught his eye- the jumper! (I don't have any idea what it's actually called, but its a bunch of bungie cords you strap to your waste and bounce super high). We waited in line for that one and he got to give it a try. It's a bit harder than he expected, but had fun with what he could do. We filled up on hot dogs, brats, and hamburgers, wandered around for a bit, and got frozen slushies. I saw a few of the people I work with and got to introduce them to my lovely wife and son, and then we succumbed to the intense summer heat and got back in our air-conditioned car! It was a really fun event and we had a great time!

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Bill, Ted, and Ledger

 It finally worked. I had been working for years to try and convince Parker, the guy who programs movies at the local theater, that he needs to show a 'Bill & Ted' movie. The last Friday of every month the local theater, the Regent, shows an older movie. Usually an old favorite or cult classic. Every time I saw Parker I would tell him that he needs to program a Bill & Ted movie. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is my favorite movie ever and I've always wanted to see it on the big screen. Well, all that pestering finally paid off! He wasn't able to do the first one, but he was able to book a screening of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey! Good enough for me- I'll take it!

Now it was time to enact my plan: to introduce my son to Bill & Ted! There are a handful of movies that I love so much that I want Ledger to appreciate them as well. For that reason, we haven't watched them yet, I want to wait until he is old enough to appreciate them for himself. That's why I hadn't shown him the movies yet. But with him being 13 years old now, this was the perfect opportunity to watch them together.

I prepped him a little bit and let him know how much I love these movies, and how much they mean to me. We then watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Friday evening and an hour later, all three of us went to the theater to see Bogus Journey. And you know what? It worked! He absolutely loved the first one and loved the second one even more! It has been a dream come true! I must have done something right with raising our boy, because he thoroughly enjoyed both movies, laughing at the dumb jokes, giving me looks at the awesome parts, and just genuinely enjoying them completely! For several days after watching the movies, he is constantly quoting them to me, which is the greatest thing on earth! I am a very happy and proud father. Excellent! Wyld Stallyns rule!

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!

4th of July

We spent the 4th with Diana's family in South Bend. Everyone was there including Alanna and Tavish! They came for an extended visit from the east coast. Alanna's boyfriend Brad came along as well, he was pumped to visit- he's never been to a lake or gone fishing, so he was really excited to go out on the dock and cast a line. Most mornings he was out there living it up.

With such beautiful weather, we were able to spend a lot of time outside, hoping on the boat and going swimming in the middle of the lake a couple times as well.

With the house being so full, it meant the boys had to sleep in the living room, which lead to them staying up way too late and being so silly! It also meant that they didn't exactly get enough sleep- delirious fun!

David made sure we were well fed, including a meal of delicious burgers and veggies on the grill. Lots of time spent talking, laughing, and playing games at the table. All in all, we had a blast!

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