The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: General Day to Day

General Events

  • James Grandma Moves To Michigan 2009

    James Dad flew out to Nashville to help Grandma move to Michigan. Grandma hired a company to pack her things and they loaded up a rental truck and drove them up to Michigan. They rented the truck in Nashville but fortunately could return it in Michigan.

    It did not take long to unload the truck into Grandma’s new place called the “Garden City Tower” and we helped get Grandma settled into her new home.

    There are many activities at Garden City Tower as they have a library and a computer room plus Grandma has an outdoor balcony where she can plant a garden if she wants or fly a flag. She has a great view from the balcony since she is on the tenth floor.

    Welcome to Michigan Grandma.

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  • Sea Shell City 2009

    We always stop at Sea Shell City on the way home from Mackinaw. Its about 10 minutes south of Mackinaw and James loves to play pirate on the boat out front. This gives Mary a perfect chance to shop in peace since I am usually with James while he plays on the boat. I think thats why so many of our funny t-shirts have comes from here.

    Its always on the way home that we stop at Sea Shell City, it makes the end of vacation a little easier having this to look forward to. It also usually gives us one more chance to buy that perfect souvenir of our vacation, as if the car full of bags of souvenirs and “stuff” is not enough.

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  • James Promoted to First Grade 2009

    It was a very tough school year for James but he hung in there and completed his work and passed Kindergarten and will be in the first grade next year at Hoover Elementary.

    Congratulations James!

  • New Bird Family Members 2009

    I remember we used to give the dove eggs away because they never were fertile and the doves would spend weeks sitting on eggs that never hatched. Its kind of rare for doves in captivity to breed, none the less, the doves we got last year hatched 2 chicks and the proud parent doves are taking good care of the chicks, feeding them and cleaning them. They still can’t fly and sometimes stumble and fall but they are doing pretty good and should be able to fend on their own in a couple weeks.

    Pretty bird would be proud to see how her tradition is being carried on. For those who don’t know we do several magic sites and use the birds in magic tricks to promote those sites.

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  • James Begins Kindergarten 2008

    James did not look very happy when we dropped him off for his first day of Kindergarten. He did ok when we picked him up but we felt bad for the little guy, so we made a project for him, tinkertoys and hot wheels. Two toys that really do not go together we thought maybe James would be able to combine them into something interesting, sure enough he did.

    After playing with the tinkertoys separately, then playing with the hot wheels separately, he combined the two for something original and unusual. We have added the pics to this post of his latest creation.

    Originally we were hoping that James would go to St Albert like his Dad and Aunt, but unfortunately St Alberts school closed down a few years back due to lack of students.

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  • Traverse City 2008

    The trip down from Mackinaw sometimes gives us a chance to stop places we normally don’t plan on, like this day we spent at Traverse City. The train ride goes right along side the beach and was alot of fun not only for James but for us as well. It has little crossings where pedestrians have to wait as the train putts along. The shopping district is right across the street and has not changed all that much since my last visit which was during my softball days in the 90’s. James made a friend and they had a blast building sand castles while Mary and I relaxed on the beach.

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  • Sea Shell City 2008

    This is a fun gift shop…with all sorts of things…fudge, a lot of beach decor, shirts, sea shells and they have a 500lb clam (they call it a man eating clam). What makes it so appealing to us is the wooden pirate play ship outside of the main building. James just loves going and playing on this ship. There are port holes in the ship and little slides and even though James can barely walk he is able to navigate this ship. Must be something in the will of a child to learn how to play.

    Eventually we bring James off the ship and into the store in his stroller, why in there I noticed a family drive into the parking lot and walked straight to the pirate ship so the pirate ship must be like a park to the local people here. In other words I don’t think you need to shop at the place to visit the Pirate ship.

    They only allow pictures in certain places inside the store which is the reason most of our pictures are outside.

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  • Mackinaw City 2008

    This would be our last year of arriving at Mackinaw city before Memorial Day because James will be in kindergarten this time next year so we wanted to make the best of it. After this, we will be sharing our little vacation haven with the rest of the world that cannot come up early due to their kids being in school.

    There was an early morning fog that made the bridge and the straits look awesome, as if the bridge slowly fades into the clouds.

    James likes nothing better than to skip rocks into the Lake with the huge super structure in the background. He also enjoys the playgrounds and getting things at the store of course, but for sure his favorite is throwing the rocks into the lake. I guess its his own tradition.

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  • Bronners on Christmas Eve Eve 2007

    We try to get to Bronners at least once a year, usually when we are coming back from a trip to Mackinaw or around Christmas time. Bronners is the largest Christmas store in the world and Frankenmuth is well known for its hospitality as a resort town. A trip to Frankenmuth during the Christmas season is well worth while and you will be shocked by all the decorations and how well lit up the city is.

    Frankenmuth also has one of the last covered wooden bridges in Michigan that you can either walk through or drive a car through (if you ever saw the movie Beetlejuice it looks sort of like that, only longer).

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  • A White Christmas In 2007

    This year we were hoping for a white Christmas and it looked like we were going to get a really white Christmas. We got hammered with snow on December 17th, my birthday no less. James had to help shovel the snow because there was so much, and afterward we put together a snowman from a kit his Aunt Peg had gotten him a while bit. They kit came with everything except the snow, and mother nature provided plenty of that.

    This would be James first snowman, and we had a ball putting him together. He lasted for about a week until a rain washed away most of the snow right before Christmas. The house really looked good with the now and the decorations, especially at night.

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