For once we had a three day weekend where the weather lived up to the billing. Beautiful all three days and James took advantage of it. Yesterday we went to the Magic Capital and had a blast, today was more traditional as we did our traditional flowers and flags on the graves.

While at the Michigan Memorial James visited the Veteran’s Memorials and 911 Memorials. As hinted to above, we also visited our family plots to see if Aunt Louise had gotten her temporary marker yet (she did, its in the pics). On the way back we hit the many Flea Markets and Garden sales around town, Mom got some flowers, Jame’s got some toys, and Dad got a rubber skull.

Later we grilled out and had a wonderful (and traditional) Memorial Day Barbecue.

Continue reading “Memorial Day 2014” →

This Memorial Day Weekend began a little differently with a visit to Colon’s “Magic Park” where James got to play at the playground, then it was on to the magic shop to watch some magic. We then ate lunch at Curly’s which had only opened about 2 months earlier (the entire building was ravaged by a fire about two years ago and was completely rebuilt. Curly’s is well known to magicians as they have an annual magic competition on Thursday during the Magic Get Together. The event takes place late in the evening (after the evening magic show) and since its at a bar, its usually a real fun time.,

Lots of people don’t realize that the Magic Capitol of the World is located right here in Michigan, where they have been celebrating magic at their convention since the early thirties.

Continue reading “Memorial Day Trip to the Magic Capitol” →

St Sebastians had their annual festival which James attended and he went on most of the rides and had a great time. Tickets were 22 for $25 or 4 for $5 and the rides cost 2,3, or 4 tickets. James went on the funhouse twice, both times with Dad. Then he went on an airplane ride, a whirli ride with Mom, then the Ferris Wheel, then the Merry Go Round with Mom, and finally a Hollywood spining ride again with Mom (Dad does not like things that spin). After all the rides we went to have a snack, Mom and Dad got funnel cakes ($6 each) while James decided on cotton candy ($5 each). A great time was had by all and although the prices seemed a little steep, the money went to a good cause. We still miss the St Albert festival, mostly because we could walk to it.

Continue reading “St Sebastian Festival 2014” →

James and Mom attend the Mother and Son night at Hoover elementary. My understanding is it kind of makes up for the Father and Daughter dance held earlier in the year. Refreshments were available and their were many games and activities for the kids to play. James was quite proficient in explaining new games to Mom that she had never seen before and most of the time spent was playing games (I guess that’s why its called “game night”. James brought home a huge styro-foam airplane that we flew in the back yard that evening.

All in all a great time for everyone, except Dad of course.

Continue reading “Hoover Elementary Mom and Son Game Night 2014” →

Another beautiful day for Mom, and the weather wasn’t bad either! The day started out as a typical Sunday as we took Aunt Peg shopping. Afterwards, we went out to the cemetery and paid our respects. James cleaned up some of the graves and added flowers to others. The weather was so perfect and bright that we could not see the pic in the view finder and kind of just shot blindly. We visited both the Kleiber side of the family and the Graf side of the family.

We noticed the rock around Jame’s Great Grandfather Graf is beginning to break. The grave is 70 years old so its probably not a surprise. Also Aunt Peg thought that there would be a temporary marker for Aunt Louise out there, unfortunately there wasn’t yet.

We traveled a little further South to one of Mary’s favorite antique shops where she got a little shopping spree as a Mothers day gift. We’ve pretty much done this same routine every Mothers day but deviated a little by eating at a Mexican restaurant instead of a Chinese restaurant (we had Chinese the day before on the way back from the Flea Market).

A fun time was had by all – Happy Mothers day!

Continue reading “Mothers Day 2014” →

For the third year in a row, Mom worked a flea market table at the annual Abbott Flea Market in Colon Michigan. It was a perfect day and James was able to take advantage of some of the recreational activities at the new park behind the school. James was a big help as he helped label items and such, he has come a long way from his first Flea Market where he told a customer everything was a “nickel”.

In addition to helping Mom sell, James also bought a few tricks, including a glass effect that is a real fooler. Lots of fun for a kid at these events. He also was given a T shirt by one of the dealers and some candy and a “fart maker” by another dealer. How can a kid go wrong?

Afterwards we went to a China buffet and for the first time ever, Mom and Dad got the same fortune cookie message.

Continue reading “Abbotts Magic Flea Market 2014” →