A great day for football as Michigan beat Penn State (at Penn State) and Michigan State beat Ohio State (at Ohio State). Next week the opponents switch and MSU will play Penn State (at home) and Michigan will play Ohio State (at home). If MSU wins they are the Big Ten East Champs but if they lose the winner of the Michigan/Ohio game will be Champs. Pretty much the whole day it was raining and snowing and the next morning we were left with a pretty nice site with everything having a white outline to it as only Mother Nature can do. The only concern is the weight on some of the power lines but so far the lines have been holding up pretty well. These pics were taken the next morning.
Category: General Day to Day
General Events
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First Snowfall of the Season on Big Football Saturday 2015
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After Halloween Sale 2015
This was a strange year for after Halloween specials because Nov 1st was a Sunday and we really did not know what to expect. For the second year in a row James was with us for the shopping and having more people is always helpful (Mom used to do this all by herself in the past). What we found was not as many great sales – Halloween City and Target only offered 30% off – but you could still find them if you looked (Michaels 80% sale was awesome). Spirit, Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart were all at 50% off so its still the normal percentage discount. Another bit of a surprise was the Christmas Tree Shop and Home Depot were 50% off before Halloween so it could be said Nov 1st no longer has exclusive rights on the Halloween sales. Regardless we did very well and declared Michaels this years winner (CVS was last year with 90% off). Some of the items were not perfect but all are quite fixable, most just needing new batteries or a wire soldered here and there. Once again, today was when Dad got his Christmas gifts which makes this extra special for me. -
Best Decorated Halloween Homes 2015
We do this every few years and take pics of some of our favorite Halloween homes. All of these are a few blocks from James and all are unique in one way or another. There are many many more decorated homes but we only have space to put up a few of our favorites. These homes look very good in the daylight so you have to assume they look great at night. The neighborhood we live in has always been very active in decorating for every Holiday, guess we are just lucky. One of our favorites is the skeleton tree where all the skeletons are made out of gallon milk jugs. -
US 12 Garage Sale 2015
Once again we spent an enchanting day driving down US-12 for their annual Detroit to Chicago Garage Sale. This has actually become a routine for us as we have our favorite places to stop. This year our first stop was the farm and while we did not find much in the way of purchases, it still made for a good time and allowed us to visit the chicken coop and such. Later we stop at a Church that turns itself into a big flea market and found a couple of Halloween items there. By the time we got to Clinton MI (about the half way point in our trip), the cars trunk was getting pretty full and we had only spent about $20. By the time we got to Colon for the Magic Festival the trunk was pretty much full and fortunately we had spent very little. That’s the great think about these garage sales on US 12, everyone can afford it. -
James Go Cart Racing 2015
James went to Midway Entertainment (known as putt putt to us older folk) and rode the go carts about 6 times and also did the dodge em cars a couple times. This was a scheduled visit with his VIP camp and most of his friends were there with him having a blast. This was the last field trip for his VIP camp this summer and the camp itself will have its annual last day celebration this Thursday so we should have a bunch of photos from that event.Midway entertainment certainly has gotten more activities since James’ dad was young. Back then there was a small putt putt, driving range, batting cages, and a couple trampolines. Its been around a long time.
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Pool Relaxing on a Busy Weekend 2015
James had a very busy weekend starting on Friday with a trip to see his Doctor (we had to get him out of the pool because he was having so much fun before the appointment). Upon return James went right back to his pool duties. On Saturday we visited New Boston and Lapeer (one a little South of us, one a little North). After visiting a couple shops James then ate at his favorite restaurant, the China Buffet on telegraph road in Taylor. Finally, after letting his food digest James finished off the Saturday with another swim in the pool. Tomorrow we go visit Aunt Peg on another weekend adventure! -
Past Tense Country Store 2015
We actually found out about this place in a Halloween Forum because they sell Halloween year round. Its located in Lapeer MI and is a little over an hour drive from where we live. Its called “Past Tense” and consists of an Antique and Craft store, a Cider Mill Restaurant, and a General Store that is huge. The General Store has several sections including Christmas, Halloween, Floral, Greenhouse, and just about everything else that you can think of. Mom enjoyed the crafts and antiques, James enjoyed the Christmas and Halloween, and Dad enjoyed everything. A great outing on a rainy Saturday and a real fun place to visit just off US 24 in Lapeer. -
James Swimming Pool 2015
We are all set for summer now, its official – the pool is up! Last year we had to wait until James finished school to see if he would get his swimming pool or not. This year he already had it so we put it back up and James (with a little sunscreen) was relaxing in his pool in no time.Prior to getting the pool up we tried leveling the ground beneath it with 18 bags of soil and we have the water level from the highest point to the lowest point at about 1 inch which is better than last year. James worked very hard leveling the dirt and did a real fine job.
It seems each year we are adding dirt to the backyard, must be gravity at work.
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Snow Day 2015
The midwest got clobbered on Super Sunday (also known as Feb 1st) with about 17″ of snow in one of the largest one day snow falls in our history. James and Dad both shoveled snow multiple times while waiting for the game to come on. We were notified that Jame’s school was closed around 5pm so we had no problem letting James stay up for the entire game, although he was disappointed in the outcome.We started shoveling snow a little after 7am Monday and were surprised to see the streets already plowed. By noon most of the streets were clear and it was business as usual. Hopefully James will not have too many more snow days this year, but it was ground hog day and the ground hog saw its shadow so it certainly does look like six more weeks of winter.
