Everyone had a wonderful time at this years Halloween party, some felt it was the best ever. Lots of food as many of the guests brought food in addition to what we had (thank you very much). Once again the weather was great and we were able to have the back yard (garage) open.

What really makes this party fun is seeing folks I have not seen in decades and once again this year it happened again as I met up with a couple friends I had not seen in ages.

This year we made some major changes to the displays, the back room became a skeleton room, the living room became a carnival (or carnevil if you prefer), and the kitchen became a Beetlejuice display since the new Beetlejuice movie had just came out earlier in September.

A great time, not many pics of the party folks this year as we were very busy with the guests, although many of the attendees did have their pics taken by the magic mirror.
Continue reading “2024 Halloween Party” →

James celebrated his 21st birthday in many ways. First he surprised Mom and Dad with gifts in the morning he had his annual physical and blood draw in the morning, then he went to class, and finally after class he went to his favorite restaurant, Bubba’s 33. At the restaurant James met his friend Nick and his Mom who joined us to help celebrate the event. James surprised Mom and Dad by paying for the meal

After Bubba’s 33 we headed home where James had a surprise as one of his gifts was a new bed set including mattress, sheets, and covers.

James then opened gifts in the living room from Mom and Dad and after the gifts were opened we all enjoyed some cake and ice cream.

Continue reading “Happy Birthday James” →

The Tigers are in a wildcard race, so we had that to cheer for when we went with Nick and his family. It was Nicks birthday which made the event that much more festive.

The pregame activities were great. Everyone got a free shirt to start. Then James got a foul ball during batting practice, and James was on Jumbo screen twice this game, a record for him. This was also Latin America night and their were some awesome dances and a tribute to all the Latin players and their contribution to baseball and the Tigers. Alex Aveilia through out the first pitch.

Unfortunately the Tigers ran into some strong pitching and did not score until the 9th inning (2 runs), but unfortunately Baltimore scored 4 runs in the first 8 innings to win the game 4-2.

Beautiful night in downtown Detroit, and all is not lost as the Twins were losing big time when we left the park. Big thanks to Nick and his family for inviting us.

Continue reading “3rd Tiger Game in 2024” →

Happy Birthday Mom

This was an interesting Birthday for Mary because we had reserved tickets to the Beetlejuice movie on her birthday and because of this we could not have any flowers delivered on her birthday, so they were sent one day ahead which is actually our wedding anniversary so it all worked out.

The highlight of the gifts was one of those unknown presents that James had bought during our visit to Sea Shell City on the way to Mackinaw. No one knew what was in the package and that made it kind of fun for everyone.

Again, Happy Birthday Mary

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James and Dad surprised Mom with two sets of flowers for an anniversary gift. This was our 22nd and its hard to believe its been that long as every day has been wonderful with this family.

Actually only one of the flowers (the red roses) was for an Anniversary, the other flowers (from James) were for Moms birthday. The reason we sent both flowers for delivery on the same day was because we plan to see Beetle Juice Beetle Juice tomorrow so no one would be home to receive the flowers.

A very nice dinner concluded the evening!

Continue reading “Happy Anniversary 2024” →

James began his senior year of college today and we are all very proud of him and his academic achievements.

It seemed like just yesterday we were dropping him off at kindergarten.

James has a busy semester planned. He will be at Wayne State again but concentrating more on French Class and Math Class (Calculus 2) rather than his business classes at Mike Illitch which will resume in his second semester.

Hopefully when the second semester begins we will be talking about a bachelors degree.

Another gorgeous Michigan day as we visited the Lincoln Park Festival.

James volunteered to do some cleanup work at the park grounds a week earlier and because of that he got a free pass to all the rides.

This year VIP camp did not have a booth, but there was still plenty to look at including pony rides which I don’t remember being there before (although I could be wrong).

Lots to look at and plenty of rides helped to make this a very pleasant experience. Afterwards we went out and did some Halloween shopping as the Halloween stuff is now on the shelves at stores.

Continue reading “Lincoln Park Days Festival 2024” →

It was a hard decision but we had once again accumulated too much stuff.

Most of the stuff was older Halloween decorations and while they are old to us, they are a little collectible so when we have these sales we do a post on various forums and facebook letting people know that if they want a Universal Frankenstein they can come to the garage sale.

The Halloween stuff sold very well and we had excellent results with that. The Christmas stuff didn’t sell at all. All the clothes that did not sell were taken to Purple Heart charities where they will find a new home.

Good weather but its still tiring doing these sales. The profits went to James College fund for the most part.

Continue reading “2024 Garage Sale” →

It seems to happen earlier each year as we went to the first Spirit Halloween store to open near us today.

This year their theme was Carnival or as they like to say, Carnevil.

We saw a gruesome looking spider that we liked, but other than that it was mostly clowns… again.

We didn’t buy anything because we did not have any coupons (you can usually pick up a 20 percent off coupon at their website once the stores open but in this case it was too early even for their website.

Even though it is early August it is still nice to see the upcoming Halloween decorations.

Continue reading “First Halloween Store Opens 2024” →

Another season of VIP Camp has come to a successful conclusion. James and his friends had a blast this year and we look forward to seeing the participants again in the future as this season just seemed to whip on by. Plenty of activities and games including the annual bowling extravaganza!