Live from Tormville!

The Hamburg Family Fun Fest

click any of the photos for a close up

Wednesday evening I got an email from the local newspaper letting me know that I was one of the two lucky winners of four wristbands for the Hamburg Family Fun Fest. A quick glance at the schedule shared that yesterday (Friday) morning would be the only day it would work out with all of our conflicting schedules. 

So we went. The weather was perfect, and the timing was right. We got there at 1 - an hour before the rides opened, allowing us time to check out the animals, get the lay of the park, and find a ticket booth at the back corner to claim our wrist bands and avoid the long line in the front. 

We stayed until 4:30, and there were no lines the whole time we were there. It was starting to get a bit busier as we were leaving. The kids did the bumper cars multiple times.  Except for Mark - he rode passenger to Wendy the first time and was a bit more jostled about then he would have liked. 

The slide was another one they did many many times. They slept well last night. 

The kids wanted to do the ferris wheel, and there as no way I could let them go without me - so I bought tickets for that.  Trickery. They sell tickets in lots of four - but it takes five to ride the ferris wheel. I have NO problem riding in a hot air balloon, but my stomach does a little flip on the wheel, especially with four kids wanting to gawk over the side. 

We almost missed the alligator show. I had planned our afternoon so carefully and it ended up that I had accidentally looked at Saturday's schedule instead of Friday's. I might have even thought it was Saturday for a bit. Who knows - but we caught the show five minutes in - in time to see him wrestle this guy out of the water. 

Had a little happy moment when looking through photos and saw that pure luck had all four kids in this photo. I have a hard time seeing the screen on my camera in bright daylight with transition lenses, so I never really know what I'm capturing or what I got until I get back home. 

Wendy is front middle - between two strangers. Again, pure luck - but I did take about 30 pictures of this hoping to help that luck along. 

Happy Saturday! 

Today we have....

• husband going to the library to put in some work hours in quiet
• Allan has an interview first thing this morning (his landscaping job just hasn't had enough hours yet this summer with the crummy weather) 
• soccer game
• a graduation party
• ballooning

Time to get busy.....

be good

Autofest * 2012

My husband took the day off yesterday. He's on a mission this year to utilize all of his vacation days - he's thrown them away many years in a row.

Him taking the day off, and no longer having littles at home, enabled us to be the first of our friends up to Autofest this year. I had hedged all Thursday and Friday morning long about going - the rain in the forecast scared me. I can NOT get sick this year, and walking in the rain without quick access to a hot shower/sauna will get me every single time. 

With the forecasts looking like they were clearing up - I went. 

And bought an umbrella at the very first shop because it was raining, and kicking myself because umbrellas are the one thing I pick up as many as possible of at garage sales so we have a bunch of quarter umbrellas at home. (We walk to school - we need umbrellas. many of them.) 

Anyway. 

We went. I bought an umbrella. It cleared up and we walked the whole length before the block party began. Greg made it to Willi's. It's a goal of his. 

Although, now that he's been to Germany, he was a little bit critical of their saurkraut. I'm just taking his word for it. 

Braut down the hatch - we sat down for a bit and people/car watched. Just because Greg takes the day off doesn't actually mean he's disconnected. He was taking work calls and trying to explain how to get things up and running - it involved talk of receptors and buttons and I really don't know but I was getting the giggles because he was trying to communicate while all these super loud muscle cars were driving down the strip shaking our whole bench. 

At about four o' clock we headed back down the strip and met up with our friends. 

We have lots of friends. 

At 5:00 they shut down the street and the cars park all along both sides. And the bands start playing. 

I was being questioned from behind as to what I was photographing, so I flipped my camera backwards and shot again. 

Oh hey! We know them! 

Besides people and food - there were also cars there. Lots of 'em. 

I would love to drive this one about town. I'd trade in my van in a heartbeat. 

Besides people and food and cars, there was also music. There are many bands set up along both sides of the strip. Sometimes their music collides (they are too close to one another) but for the most part it works out. I really missed the Blues Brothers Tribute Band this year - they weren't in their usual spot, and if they were there at all, we didn't see them - so I had to pick a new favorite. I pick these guys. Not sure what their name is, but they were very entertaining. 

In a don't try this at home way. 

A short while after this - the sky opened up so quick and hard that it closed the show down two hours early. Everyone was running to their vehicles while the fireworks were blasting. 

I got soaked from the knees down - but took a long hot shower when we got home. 

Oh - and I got a new purse as well, so my night was a success. 

It was another 15,000 steps day. 

----

As for today...

• Lovin' these cooler temperatures - high of 68 today. 
• donning my purple
• Brian starts soccer in just over an hour...time to get busy.....

Sunday at Colonial Kensington

And finally, yesterday, the sun shone after three days of rain. And it was good. After church in the morning, we came home and brewed up a quick lunch of sloppy jo's, and then headed over to Kensington Metro Park for their Colonial Kensington event. We'd been to this event a few years ago and really liked it, so when I happened to hear it on the radio again - we jumped at the chance. 

They moved the place of battle. When one of the soldiers came by us and told us to scootch back a bit because they'd be firing in our direction - our adrenalin picked up speed. 

Dear Spectator.  Never ever ever try to trip a guy carrying a bayonet. 

Mindi - note the loin cloth. 

Funny note: the timing was such that our Brian and this Native American headed to the restroom at the exact same time. Brian turns to dad and says, "you should probably see if you have to go to the bathroom too, hey dad?" 

This guy's short kid was ready to be done with the event after visiting the Native Americans. 

It was pretty much like haps at the event. We saw Johnsons, Pennalas, Eskolas, Kivistos and Jerry and Daria - pilots of the Jedami II that often fly with Denny. 

We were feeling flush, being two days after payday, so allowed our kids to each pick out their own quarter candy stick. 

A colonial event isn't complete without a little Punch and Judy thrown in. 

I loved all the kid's expressions.  (click for a better view)

Our short kid, however, didn't like this show one bit. He was cowering behind his sister - freaked out by all the holloring and hitting. I let him escape and hide behind his dad.  

He was defintely ready to go home. He was done with this event.

Back at home - Sunday afternoon nap and woke up to a text from Denny. Ballooning! We paid Wendy to babysit this time so both Greg and I could go. 

Oh. And Look. There's Jerry. Funny story - we had bumped into him and Daria at the Colonial Kensington event just minutes before the 2:00 weather report. I mentioned that I was waiting for the report from Denny and he says oh - we canceled just a few minutes ago. 

I texted Denny and Denny says oh no, I didn't cancel.  JERRY canceled.  

Three balloons went off at the high school last night. 

Now there won't be any flying until next Saturday at the earliest. 

Last night's happy passenger! 

Happy Monday!

be good! 

A trip to the museum

 

It was a full Sunday, but a relaxing one. 

We started out the day at church - and again, it was hot. Not so much hot as just stuffy, no air flow at all. I had to really concentrate to not get that tight in the chest feeling - directly related to my not so great lungs, I'm sure. Mark let us know that he was miserable. 

But we made it, and there were no bats this week. 

Home for pizza lunch, we then headed out to Lansing to the MSU Museum. We've been to this one a couple times, and the kids always enjoy it.  What's not to love about dinosaurs, masks and a whole lotta preserved animals? 

And of course the standard two-headed cow. 

I changed my mind about wanting to go to Alaska, where this bear was from. Yikes. 

After the museum, we drove a few blocks over to the garden and play area. The kids have all come here on field trips, which is where I learned about it. 

This was probably my favorite part of the day - I don't remember seeing it before, and I'm not sure if it's something that lasts through the winter or not. 

It was even cooler on the inside - the tunnel went all the way through. 

All done there, we stopped for ice cream on the way home, took a Sunday afternoon nap, enjoyed a quick hello from Uncle George and then headed out for an evening campfire where the kids roasted miniature marshmallows around the fire. 

It was a good day. 

Now for Monday!

be good! 

Michigan Challenge Balloonfest * A few favorites

click on any of the photos for a larger/better view

I was up until 1:30 last night (this morning) going through the multitude of photos I took over the weekend, trying to divide them into subjects, bookmarking a few of my favorites, and beginning the process of getting some of them blog ready. 

This will take all week. 

This morning as I lay in bed trying to irk out just a few more minutes of pillow time, I could almost hear Sonja and George nagging in my ear - wake up! Post some pictures already!! 

So here are just a random few from my favorites, in no particular order and from all three days of the event. 

I'll probably (<----- that's me not committing) post a couple posts a day until I get through them all. 

Back to my real life, it's Monday - and I'm recharged. Laundry is humming, lists are being made, coffee is flowing and it's all good. I'll have a Studio AE sneak peek up this afternoon as well - just waiting for my camera batteries to recharge. 

 

We packed a lunch

We packed a lunch today and headed straight out to The Henry Ford from church. So for those of you who saw me chewing on my leftover Gus's Blackened Chicken salad while my husband was putting our life savings into the gas tank at Speedway ($3.85/gallon. Really???) that would be why. 

And has anyone given Speedway a heads up that their Sunday business is going to drop off drastically in a month plus?  (We're in the process of relocating our church - so our Sunday morning tank filling will be moving west) (heeee*)

These are the types of things I lose sleep over. 

I highly recommend the membership to The Henry Ford. We've had ours off and on for years. I'll guess 8 years or so all told.  Two visits in a year and it totally pays for itself - and I like that we can then just bop in for a couple hours and check out a new exhibits without feeling like we have to see the whole museum in one visit. 

I, of course, tend to favor the village - so I'm getting anxious for that to open (they close for winter)

Today though - our goal was to check out the new Driving America exhibit. 

It was pretty cool - the kids enjoyed seeing all the different cars from way back. I got a chuckle out of the old car seats (my battery was dying - didn't get a shot) and the flow of it all was nice. 

This shot makes me smile because Brian always stands like that, with one leg crossed over the other and a hand in his pocket. Totally him. The right hand is usually gesturing in exclamation about whatever subject he might be yammering on about.  This morning it was about how he had a dream that he was drowning in the Artic Sea, so his fingers were fluttering upwards. 

They also added these cool interactive touchscreens that were loaded with information, but what our kids liked most was driving the old car. They had to crank it up, work the clutch, and stop for cows and dodge potholes and get to the finish line in x amount of time.  The only thing here was that it was almost too high for our very tall five year old (that's the almost 7 yr old in the photo) so I was wishing they had a little stool or something for him.  His view was definitely distorted. 

They had another one where you could learn to talk like a trucker on the CB (cleanly) which Wendy had fun with. 

The diner is also open for real dining now which smells really good and made the kids bellies ache after their peanut butter sandwich lunch - but the burgers were not 15 cents. Greg snuck over to check the prices when the kids were distracted elsewhere and said the least expensive thing that he could see to get was $7.  $7 x the 5 of us that went (#6 had to work this afternoon so didn't come) = peanut butter sandwiches and bananas from the cooler.  It'll fall under one of those things to do when just one kid is along.  Lucky little one kid. 

This lucky little one kid thought I was taking his picture - so I couldn't resist. 

Brian practiced his wrenching skills at the Texaco station while his mother warned him - 'don't you dare get grease on your church pants"  

From there we asked the kids if they wanted to move onto trains or planes and they chose the planes. We saw the trains the last two trips, so that made sense. 

Wendy made a new friend. 

Sitting next to us here was a young 20-something guy who had been walking around the museum taking pictures of himself next to different exhibits with his ipad. It ran through my head that it would have been fun to follow him and see how many pictures we could sneak into before he noticed. 

This is the way my brain works. I abstained. 

The kids love the make a plane portion. There are fold by fold directions on how to make a variety of planes, and I tried my hand at making the sabertooth, but I failed miserably.  I got lost somewhere between steps 10 and 11.  

Mark was declared the winner because his plane got stuck in the roof netting. 

31 Day Photo Challenge: Favorite Color

Funny: I had written in my notebook that today's assignment was yellow - so I was caught off-guard when I went through my Google Reader when we got home and was seeing all different colors.  Then I realized I had written yellow because yellow is MY favorite color.  This is how my brain works. 

We then drove home and momma took her Sunday afternoon nap. 

Only 5 more hours until Monday!!!

 

 

That's a problem

Yes - the lack of snow is a problem, but that's not what this post is about. 

Mark and I took advantage of the beautiful sunshiney 50 degree afternoon and went for a hike. I've been wanting to check out the water/flooding problem I've been hearing about. The problem that may finally prompt me to finish rubber-maiding our crawl space. 

The only reason I've been hearing about this problem is because it has a direct impact on my teenager's boss's place. That's his barn in the photo. 

Allan's (landscaping) boss lives just a few houses away, behind his other (dog-walking) boss's condo. (Allan doesn't wander too far). Allan spent a lot of hours over Christmas break helping his boss move equipment and salt from some of the outbuildings. Some of his vehicles are over halfway underwater. It was hard to capture in the photos - but all that water behind the trees there - that's not supposed to be there. 

nope - none of that water is supposed to be there. 

He's never had water like this before and he's been callling everyone he can think of to get it fixed. It's going to be even worse if we ever end up getting snow and have spring thaw on top of an already flooded field. 

It seems the problem starts somewhere over here - a full block away from the first photo.  (This is someone's backyard)

It seems there is a culvert that goes under the railroad track that is blocked with 10 feet of muck  (this report came from my oldest).  Because it's there, it's the railroads problem.  They were working on it just after Christmas, but can't seem to make heads or tails of it.

I didn't see anyone out there today. 

I think we're going to have a big mess come spring, if not sooner - even now the water keeps rising. It's in more than a few of the backyards already.

It's also getting pretty close to the gas pipeline - not sure that'll be any good. The ground there was so soft, we couldn't walk any closer without getting our shoes completely covered in mud. 

Yep, weatherizing the crawl space is our winter project.

I hate our crawl space. It's not as easy on the knees as it was 14 years ago. 

But we live in a high water level sub as it is. Our sump pump runs constantly in the spring time. 

Should be interesting.....

We spent my birthday at The Henry Ford

okay - here it is. My birthday - the long version.  We spent the afternoon at The Henry Ford.   (And we renewed our membership - so you'll be seeing more pictures throughout the next year)

First off - I really miss the fact that the Village hasn't opened during the days in December during this year and last. They are still open for Holiday Nights, but not during the day - totally due to the economy. (and Holiday Nights cost above the membership, and with two adults and four kids - in this economy, we can't afford that) It was the one time that *I* insisted we head down to Dearborn. I loved walking the Village in December, and we often went on the weekend of my birthday. 

Come on economy, pick back up. My tradition is sad. 

But the museum is fun. Santa is there and they have this lovely train set up each Christmas that's all sorts of white and Christmasy and lit up and it's gorgeous and I couldn't wait to show the boys. (seen in this post)

But it wasn't there this year. I asked. Apparently the mice got it while it was in storage. 

We also didn't see Santa. We planned to - but the line was an hour and a half long. He's coming to Mark's school next week - we'll see him then. 

We did, however, enjoy listening to this guy reading The Polar Express on one of the trains. Mark was all sorts of Whoa!!  

From left to right - Allan brought clothes to change into after church, but forgot a change of shoes - so he's got pretty spiffy shoes on for the casual duds he's wearing. He was also approached by someone who saw his unicycle shirt and invited him to come and check out the Redford Township Unicycle Club when they start meeting again in January.  I thought maybe they had disbanded because they never answered the email I sent them back in May - but this lady assured me that they are most definitely up and running and would love to have Allan come out and see what they are about.  Neato. 

Wendy also forgot shoes to change into and had such a bad blister by the end of our few hours that I had to go bandaid hunting for her. 

Greg brought pants that aren't supposed to be seen out of his garage. Even Uncle George commented on them. 

Brian brought shoes to change into but chose to keep his church clothes on. 

Mark keeps it simple like his mother. 

The mother tends to lag behind the gang. By choice. We just wore the same thing all day long from top to bottom.

They had a sweet Wizard of Oz exhibit that was fun for the adults and the kids - lots to see and do in that room. Even fun for those who have never seen the Wizard of Oz.  *grin* 

And they had one of these things too that the boys were able to climb into. I thought it was new, but the boys say they've been in it before. My husband sometimes took the kids down to the museum when I wasn't able to. The beauty of the membership.

After the museum we came back home and appreciated and enjoyed the soup I had put going in the crockpot in the morning. 

Then there was singing and birthday ice cream after my delicious two hour nap. 

It was a good day. 

----

As for today?

A mailbox chock full of goodies - thank you!
A trip to the barber shop for Markie
A drop off of a special order golf ball to the Heart of Michigan shop in town
Stood in line at the post office to mail three other orders. The line was long but moved very quickly.

And tonight Brian is going on a fire station tour - and I think I'll stay home and finish writing Christmas cards. 

It's a good day. 

 

 

Get Healthy Michigan: A good day spent, and (a lot of) photos to prove it.

After Wendy's photo shoot yesterday morning and after Brian got home from his last soccer game - we ate lunch, raked a few leaves to the curb, and then headed out to our local park for the Get Healthy Michigan event. We were in much need of a family day, and this fit the bill perfectly: Close to home, spending time outside, exercise - AND, everything was free. My kids said it was the best day ever.  In their wildest dreams they never imagined the day would ever come that they could spend unlimited time on rock climbing/bungee jumping/and bounce houses.  Check out their smiles in the photos following: 

I love his determination

I love the look on Brian's face

Did I mention the smiles?

I think Mark spent over 30 minutes straight on this thing - one would have thought he'd fall asleep early last night, right?  Nope. 

Props to this guy. He really worked with Wendy to help her get past her fear of heights and attempt the rock climbing wall. 

After we completed five healthy events and had our passports stamped saying so - we then received tickets to go through the food line. The food was proved by Jonna's Market, and I'm pretty much going to stop ever cooking chicken again because our kids informed us that whatever dad and I have cooked before just doesn't even come close.  It was that good.

All five of us had full take out boxes and enough to take home that we ate it again for supper, sharing with Uncle George who had come over to play guitar for us while we carved our pumpkins. 

Did I mention that we got free pumpkins too?  Although Mark, our 4 year old, informed me that I should have made pie with these ones. 

The pumpkin lady was a cat. 

A day well spent. 

 

little sleep and lots of laughs

I don't know about you, but around here - the weekend was a giggly blur. 

I can't even rememember what we did on Friday - but Saturday we had soccer, Saturday cleaning and then Wendy had some friends over for a birthday slash let's go downtown to the Halloween event - event. The weather while crappy all week, turned out perfectly for our outing. We couldn't have ordered anything better.  There were thousands of people who came out to enjoy the weather with us.

I had the girls on one hand, and my little boys on the other. My husband didn't get home from work until after 8, so he just missed all the fun. 

All the fun included creatively scipted gravestones.....

....the headless horseman..... (I had wanted to run the Headless Horseman 5K, but ended up not signing up when I had one babysitter out of town, and a working husband) (and a gaggle of giggling girls for the night)

....some tall Halloween creature things, I assume they entered the contest. Always lots of cool costumes.

....cool grandma's out enjoying quality time and spooking with their grandkids....

....cowboys....

....zombies...

This picture makes my heart swell up. Markie is not fond of crowd situations. He was leaning on Brian's shoulder for support. He passed on the candy bowl more than a few times because he couldn't stand the bowl rush crowds.

After we covered the entire event, we headed home for birthday cake and a giggling sleepover. 

This lot likes to play the dare game when they open gifts. They spin the bottle to find out whose turn it is, then that person has to dare Wendy something in order for her to be able to open the gift.  

• Kiss the dog 15x
• Open the present with only your teeth 
• Open the present with one foot and one finger
• Open the present while standing on your head

Then they got to Mark.  Wendy: what's my dare, Markie?   Mark: Open the present with your BOOTY!! 

I didn't see that one coming. 
Nearly rose the roof with those giggles.

The giggling lasted until just past midnight
The girls weren't quite as perky Sunday morning when we woke them up for Sunday school.

All in all, a good time.  A few friends and I were discussing the city event overall while a lot of fun, is easier if you have kids of just one age grouping. If you have big kids and little kids, it's very hard to keep an eye on them all for how crowded it is.

On Sunday we enjoyed having my husband home for the day - went church, visiting, relaxed.

Today it's baking, laundry, assignments, and two Halloween parties tonight.