The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: Michigan

Events in Michigan

  • Greenfield Village 2009

    Thomas the train came to Greenfield village for a day and boy did James have fun getting to ride on Thomas. Tickets for this event had to be purchased weeks in advance despite having a subscription to the Henry Ford. The train actually looked exactly like Thomas does.

    For those who do not know Thomas, its a kids show based on trains at a train station and was narrated by the late George Carlin (yes, the same guy who gave us 7 words you cannot say on TV doing a kids show, and to be honest he was pretty good at it). Its not really a cartoon, more like stop motion animation.

    While riding the train is never a disappointment and James loved his ride, you really can’t tell that you are on a Thomas train. You really need to be outside to see Thomas’ face and eyes move. James was happy and that is all that counts.

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  • Magic Capitol 4th of July Festival 2008

    After the parade we went to the festival which had plenty of games for the kids including a 4th of July putt putt where kids could put into rockets, top hats, and playing cards (Colon is the magic capitol which explains the magic theme included with the patriotic theme of the 4th). James got to go on the moonwalk a couple times, then went to the dunk tank and actually hit the button with a toss, causing the clown in the dunk tank to go into the water.

    Mom enjoyed shopping at the craft show and checking out the home made items for her garden including bird houses and bird feeders. That being said I think she ended up buying a pair of sun glasses due to being out in the sun all day. After visiting the beach for a quick swim for James we went to our friends house Walter and Mary who had a barbecue going and stayed there till the evening as fireworks lit up the summer sky.

    Fireworks are better in the country than the suburbs due to light pollution. They really showed up great at the Magic Capitol this Independence day.

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  • Red Wings Stanley Cup Champions 2008

    The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup Championship in 2008 and the entire city celebrated. Although we did not make the parade this year, we did spent an afternoon downtown and captured the spirit of the city. I especially enjoyed seeing the big tiger out front of Comerica Park dressed up in a Red Wing outfit. James liked the Tiger too and thats why there are so many pictures of it.

    Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings who have won more Stanley Cups than any other team in the United States. Hopefully they will continue to be a great source of pride for the city of Detroit.

    Now, about that football team…One playoff win since 1957, really!

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  • Oakwood Park 2008

    Most weekends in the summer we make a visit to Aunt Pegs and visit the park next to her complex. James has been playing here since he was in a stroller and almost every weekend in the summer. There is a huge soccer field there also which comes in handy if we want to kick a football or shoot one of James rockets off. They have a swimming pool in the summer but we never go to it, I think you have to live in the city for that. However we seldom see anyone using the pool anyway so why bother.

    James Aunt Peg sometimes shops while we are at the park, James will play for about a half hour then we go pick up Aunt Peg at the store and help her with the groceries. Its a system that seems to work for everyone.

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  • Saulte Ste Marie 2008

    One hour north of the Mackinaw bridge is Saulte St Marie, U.S. and Canada sides. The U.S. side is based on tourism, the Canadian side is based on industry. There are casinos on both sides if you like that kind of thing, we stopped at the casino on the American side one time before James was born and did ok. We did not go to the Canadian side since we did not have James’ birth certificate with us for customs.

    The ever important Soo Locks are located in Saulte Ste Marie and also an awful lot of history including a huge Republic Steel tanker that has been converted to a museum. It has many artifacts including the Edmond Fitzgerald life boats that were washed ashore after the wreck.

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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 Island State Park 2008

    James made it around the entire island this year at Mackinaw State Park. No automobiles are allowed on the island, but they do have an interstate that shows up on maps.

    Our routine is pretty well set, we visit the State Park early in the morning, go to Skull Cave, then to the 3 cemeteries which are older and creepier than anywhere else. We then visit either Arch Rock or the Turtle park, sometimes we visit both, depending on the weather and how tired we are. The two are in opposite directions from the graveyards. When we are really motivated we will head toward the airport or the small little village hidden in the woods of Mackinaw Island (probably not really hidden but it just kind of pops up on you).

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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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  • Weird Michigan Museum 2008

    This is another of those little tourist traps that you love to stop at, this is located in St Ignace Michigan close to the deer ranch.

    It is basically a wax museum but it is based on Michigan lore and stories that I had never heard of before. We tried to get as many pics of the descriptions as we could so that the pictures would make some sense. Werewolves, bearded baseball teams, people getting murdered with wooden legs, melon heads, etc… How could we resist.

    James enjoyed the visit as well, running from scene to scene and trying to figure out what the purpose was.

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  • Greenfield Village Motor Muster 2007

    It was Motor Muster time at Greenfield Village and we all went down to see the cars. Mary took a bunch of pictures of the automobiles that were on display and James and I enjoyed seeing all the cars mixed in with the historic village. They had a parade down mainstreet and awards were given out for several categories of classic cars.

    James takes after his mom and really enjoys cars and such, hopefully he will be more mechanically oriented than his dad who cannot even change his own oil (I tried once but poured the oil into the radiator and everything had to be drained, what a mess).

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