The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: General Day to Day

General Events

  • Sea Shell City 2012

    James has been going to Sea Shell City for years now, he loves playing in the pirate boat outside and enjoys the shopping inside. He usually always walks out with something, maybe a hat or maybe a shirt, ironically never a sea shell (they have thousands from all over the world here).

    The story of Sea Shell city is an interesting one. We always lump it in with Mackinaw since its only a few miles from the bridge, but it actually is in Cheboygan. It is right off interstate 75 at exit 326 and is quite visible from the road. Its been here sine 1963, but its the story before 1963 that is interesting.

    Sea Shell City originally opened for business on Old 27 in Gaylord, MI. Since Interstate 75 did not come this far north, It was an excellent location as everyone had to use Old 27 to continue north to Mackinac City, Mackinac Island or to take the ferry across the Straits of Mackinac to get to the Upper Peninsula. When Interstate 75 was completed in 1957, the business decreased severely as there was no need to travel Old 27 to go farther north.

    So you could say the Mackinaw Bridge being built which forced 75 North was almost the undoing of Sea Shell City. Now its probably the main source of visitors for them.

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  • Spring Frankenmuth Trip 2012

    James picked up a few Mario brother characters, a hard hat with a light in it that says Frankenmuth on the side, and an Easter bunny from Bronners (yes, he went to the Christmas shop and bought something for Easter). James had lots of fun and the place was strangely quiet for such a pretty day. We had most of the place to ourselves and had no problems getting seated for a chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn.

    Highlights include James feeding a horse named Gus, flinging about 100 pennies into various fountains, and the many photo ops where you stick your head through a hole (in one James could not reach the boy fairy hole with his head so he stuck his head through the next hole which was the girl fairy). The picture is very funny looking and we all had a little laugh at the fairy pic. You can see that pic and a whole bunch more by clicking the button below.

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  • James Skipping Rope at Hoover Elementary 2012

    I asked James what to write for these pictures and he told me “Jump Rope At Recess”. The pictures were taken at his school’s field day by a school secretary and sent to us by his teacher. Jame’s teacher also wrote the following “James did so well at everything. He really practiced jump rope; it’s a hard skill to teach someone but he was game.”

    Good for James. I have never been able to master the jump rope.

  • Abbott’s Flea Market 2012

    The family went up to Colon Michigan to participate in a Magic Flea Market and Auction. We go to this almost every year primarily to look for Halloween stuff which shows up from time to time. This year was different because Mary had a Flea Market table. Mary sold some used magic, posters, and books that were supplied to her from the magic shop hosting the event and she had a great time selling and interacting with the visitors, some who came as far away as St Louis to attend this. James and I did manage to find a couple things to buy for Halloween but mostly spent our time outside at the playgrounds. They also had a flower sale going on that day so it was a very busy day in the Magic Capital Colon Michigan.

    After the Flea Market we ate a buffet in Coldwater then went to the antique shops in Allen MI (From the Magic Capital to the Antique Capital). Ironically Mary found a Phantom of the Opera poster framed which we will show you once Halloween rolls around. A fun day for everyone.

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  • Reading Night at Hoover Elementary 2012

    James had a fun time at the Hoover Elementary Reading night. First he met up with a couple of his class mates then got to be entertained with “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis. After that James went to his first reading destination which was Ms. Frizzle’s Castle which was read by Mrs Jent, his regular teacher. After reading a story the kids got to make tiaras, wands, and shields. James made a shield and you can see it as the last picture in the gallery. The S in the upper left hand represents what James wants to be in life…a School teacher. The K in the upper right represent his family K=Kleiber. The lower left H represents Espirit Decorp, mainly Hoover elementary, and the J represents James. The Kleiber Crest looked great on his practice sheet, however when he went to put it on his Shield he put the crest on the Titanic! A thousand years from now when they discover the Kleiber crest they will see the Titanic on it.

    James second destination was Dinosaurs and Reptiles, and had several living creatures including salamanders, lizards, and turtles. The instructor talked about extinction and the idea that dinosaurs are not really extinct but live on in birds. He showed several dinosaur skulls then the kids got to pet the lizards and the animated triceratops.

    Afterwards all the kids got ice cream sundaes. What a way to spend an evening!

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  • Nashville Phillips Toy Mart 2012

    It is so nice to escape the cold weather of Michigan in January and head to the more “calmer” temperature of Nashville. It was so nice out that we stopped at Phillips Toy Mart to pick up some outdoor game that James could play while we were visiting Grandpa and enjoying this moderate temperature (we have to figure that it may be months before James will be able to play outside in Michigan with the possible exception of building snowmen or snow forts).

    James got to climb up and be the conductor for the train while visiting the store. We found several things for him to play with outside (there is a wide open field outside of where Grandpa is staying that is ideal for this) and ended up with a light up frisbee like saucer that we ended up tossing to each other. Grandpa was able to go outside but whether or not he could see the light up frisbee flying through the air I can’t say for sure.

    Thanks for having the right toy at the right time Phillips

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  • James Makes Hoover Elementary Honor Roll 2011

    Yes its true, no one was more stunned than us, but it appears James turned it up at school and really did well this marking period, making the Honor roll and getting several awards including an award for improvement in reading. His behavior has been much better as well, although in a recent parent/teacher meeting the teachers said James gets a little anxious the last half hour of school and if he causes them trouble thats usually the time.

    We are all proud of James and when we got the news from school took James out to Walmart and bought him a video game he had wanted (we were going to get it for him for Christmas anyhow). Hopefully he can continue winning awards at school and making his family proud.

  • Halloween Treats from Hoover Elementary 2011

    Wow, it seems each year James brings more and more home from school for Halloween treats. This year he got so much it looked like Trick or Treat time. James got a flash light, vampire pen, pez, marshmallow Halloween meal, finger candy, candy corn, and even a pop corn hand with candy corn fingernails.

    Special thanks to all who contributed to Jame’s loot and if he does this well at Trick or Treat he will be doing great. Also a special thanks to Mrs Jent and all of Hoover elementary who always go out of their way to make holidays special for the students.

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  • Pumpkins for the Halloween Party 2011

    What would a Halloween party be without pumpkings? James and Dad pondered this thought and decided to go out and buy a few pumpkins to carve for the Halloween party. Pumpkins usually last a week or two if they are not carved, but once you carve one they begin to deteriorate rather rapidly and you really only have a few days of being able to use a carved pumpkin (It also depends on the temperature, if they are kept cool they will last much longer, but if left in a warm house they will deteriorate quickly).

    A quick trip to the store got us everything we needed and James was very creative with his carving of the pumpkins. Hopefully they go over good at the upcoming Halloween Party. James thinks so and so does Dad.

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  • Summer Fun in the Backyard 2011

    Today, Sept 7, 2011, James started the third grade, so we thought we would pick out a few of the pics from what james did the final month of his summer vacation (besides playing Wii and playing on the computer). The summer of 2011 will be remembered for being hot and humid, but James took care of that by playing with various forms of sprinkler toys. His moonwalk came in handy as well, but eventually the heat got so bad that we did not want James getting too hot jumping around in it.

    With school starting and Fall right around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to remember the hot summer of 2011.

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