Its been a couple years since we visited the Dinosaur park in Kentucky so we thought it was time to take advantage of the dinosaur exhibit at Cedar Point called Dinosaurs Alive. The major difference between this one and the one in Kentucky is that 50 of the many dinosaurs were animated and 3 were set up so that you could control the animation yourself, thus making it very interactive. Like all kids, James is fascinated by Dinosaurs and really, what kid isn’t? When you think that had it not been for a meteor millions of years ago that they might still be walking on this planet it certainly makes you wonder about cause and effect. James wanted a picture of every dinosaur and every plaque and he and Dad decided that one cold January day in the future, they would look back at all these pictures taken today when it was still warm outside.

Mom said later, “we just brought summer back for a day today” and we could not agree with her more. See the short movie of the dinosaurs below.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Dinosaurs Alive 2016” →

Its been over a decade since we have made it to Cedar Point in October to see the legendary “Hallow Weekends” and truly enjoyed the visit with all the scary attractions. James went on about a half dozen rides as well so his time was very well spent going on rides and watching the Halloween attractions. There had to be thousands of pumpkins in the park and several large animatronics including a rock monster and an ogre. Lots of selfies taken on this vist as there was just so much going on and so much to see. A perfect autumn day in the high sixties!

There were also several graveyards, a parade, and a visit to a dinosaur exhibit which we are going to post here as well, but as there own separate topic. Also of note is that this was the first time ever we have gone to Cedar Point on a Sunday (Friday and part of Saturday was rainy) and after our visit we found out that the Tigers got eliminated from the post season, the Lions lost to the bears, and Tony Stewart was eliminated in the Chase. Sounds like our time was very well spent today.

Below is a video of James on a swing ride this day at Cedar Point.

Continue reading “Cedar Point Halloweekends Sunday 2016” →

James birthday this year marked the passing of 13 years since his birth in Garden City hospital and what a great time we had.

Unfortunately Aunt Peg was sick and missed out on the birthday lunch (Aunt Pegs birthday is the same day). James had lots of gifts to open from relatives and friends and we would like to take this time to thank you all. James got some wonderful gifts as well. As of this time, he has not spent any of the money or gift certificates but when he does we will be sure to post pics of what he bought.

Welcome to the teenager years James and Happy Birthday.

Continue reading “Happy 13th Birthday James – We Have A Teenager in 2016” →

This was a very busy day for the entire family as we left early for the annual Haunted Garage sale which took place at a new location in Westland on Cherry Hill near Newburgh. We don’t know if it was the new location or what but the place was packed and seemed to have many more dealers. We bought several signs for .50 cents and a buck and also picked up several items for Jame’s pirate room. We had to hurry through because we had to catch the Michigan game which started at noon. Luckily our neighbor gave us excellent directions on where to park and we made it to the pregame activities in plenty of time. On the way home from the Michigan game we stopped back at the garage sale just before they were closing and picked up a couple other items that the vendors figured was better to sell cheap than not at all. A very bush but wonderful day and a fun time was had by all.

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Our neighbors were kind enough to give James and his Dad tickets to the Michigan / Central Florida game played in Ann Arbor MI. James had a complete blast as Michigan scored 3 touchdowns in the first quarter which pretty much secured the win. James and his Dad then went out and ate pizza and french fries during the second quarter and finished up the afternoon walking around the stadium and going to the souvenir shops. The final score was Michigan 51 and UCF 14. James enjoyed the band, the cheerleaders, the warthog flyover along with the big flags, but when asked what his favorite moment was it was sacking the Central Florida quarterback deep in their own territory. Dads favorite was seeing three kicks blocked (2 punts, 1 field goal) in the first quarter. The tickets were in the endzone 25 rows up and we could see ourselves on TV for most of the extra points. The Michigan Stadium is the largest football stadium in the United States which made it all that much more fun for James since he loves statistics.

Continue reading “James Visits Michigans “The Big House” Stadium 2016″ →

James in front of Austin Dillon’s Sprint Cup car at our local Walmart in Taylor Michigan (Austin wasn’t in the car). The NASCAR Xfinity and Cup car races are at Michigan Internation Speedway (MIS) this coming weekend. MIS is located in Brooklyn Michigan near the Irish Hills for those who are not race fans but are state of Michigan fans. In the parking lot (pictured) you can see the Nascar truck that brought the vehicle to Michigan.

James has been a big racing fan since his first visit to MIS about 7 years ago. He has been to MIS three times and all for the same race (it kept getting rained out)

We had lunch with Grandma at Red Robins and James ordered his usual “hot wings”. We made it to the restaurant before noon and had no problem getting seated, in fact Grandma asked for our usual seat (which is the first one). After the meal we went to Spirit Halloween (which was on the way home) and looked at all the new decorations for 2016. Grandma enjoyed the haunted dolls while James enjoyed trying on hats including a sailors cap that made him look a little like Gilligan.

After Spirit Halloween we took a quick drive through Hines park where lots of activities were taking place. It was a beautiful August day, not too hot and not too humid and a drive through the park just seemed right.

Earlier in the day we stopped at Aunt Pegs and James did his usual vacuuming for Aunt Peg, then went across the street to return bottles to get himself a little spending cash. Aunt Peg hopes to see Richard down in September for her birthday and we certainly hopes he makes it as well.

Lots of fun on this hot day in August, lots of rides on the splash ride and a trip on the old mine roller coaster to try to dry off. All in all lots of fun. James rode a few of the swing rides that looked kind of easy till they started moving then it was like “look out” as the rides really took off. We enjoyed a late lunch at a buffet in the park and everyone got some t-shirts. Unfortunately they won’t let you take pics while you are on the fast rides (even when they are going slow) so that put a little damper on the picture action, but everything else was perfect. Next visit here we plan to see the dinosaurs, and the visit after that should be Hallo-Weekends so hopefully we have lots more of Cedar Point before the season ends.

You have to give James credit for being inventive, no matter how hot it got at Cedar Point, he always had a way to cool off.

Continue reading “Cedar Point August 2016” →

Nothing like a trip up to northern Michigan to beat the 90 degree heat with 70 degree temps. Mackinac City was packed and the weather was overcast all day so I am assuming that a lot of people who would normally have taken the ferry to the island decided to play it safe and stay on the peninsula. Since our last visit one of our shopping stops has turned into an arcade, which is fine since we have so many places to shop in Mackinac but not many arcades. James got to visit Sea Shell City and throw rocks into Lake Huron so he was content (plus getting some souvenirs and tshirts). All in all a very fun trip and a nice way to beat the summer humidity and heat.

Fortunately the Great Lakes have plenty of rocks to throw into the lakes, despite James best effort there were plenty of rocks left when he left

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This year Mom and Dad actually did some work at the Get Together, manning the discount book table and also doing a charity thingy for VIP camp. James was at Howell Nature Center so Mom and Dad had to hold down the fort. But fear not, James came out Saturday to the last day of the Get Together which keeps his streak going at ten (not bad considering he is only 12). We did manage to raise $30 on Wednesday and another $24 on Saturday for VIP camp so I guess we did some good. The annual Magic Get Together is always fun and we always come away from it with a great feeling as we see friends who we only see maybe once or twice a year at the event.

James made the trip up and back interesting as he found a 32,000 piece puzzle (its $300 and its not happening) on the way up, and on the way back enjoyed eating hot wings at his favorite Mexican restaurant.

Continue reading “Abbotts 79th Magic Get Together 2016” →