Our annual visit to Nashville was one for the books as far as weather was concerned. As nice as it was last year in January, it was equally lousy this year with lots of rain and wet weather for early March. But we made it in time for Grandpa’s birthday (March 1) which we celebrated with a small cupcake party in his room the first day in Nashville.

Saturday was a road trip for Grandpa as a wheelchair van gave him a ride out to the cemetery. Again, the weather made things difficult and Grandpa actually slid out of his wheel chair in the van, but he did get to visit his parents graves which was the goal.

Other highlights of the trip include breakfast at Loveless Cafe, dinner with Uncle Bill at Bar B Cutie, Friday night pizza at the hotel, and a trip to Nashville’s most famous toy store.

Sunday morning we met Uncle Bill at Grandpa’s room and said our good byes. Hopefully we won’t be away for a year this time.

Continue reading “Grandpa’s Birthday 2013” →

This morning we were on our way to visit Aunt Peg (she is scheduled to go home from Heartland rehab this Wednesday) when we saw a street blocked off at Jackson between Dartmouth and Colgate. The fire department was there putting out a home that was on fire. We hope everyone is ok and safe. We do not know what caused the fire, could have been lightning as we had a storm earlier but thats just speculation.

Despite being a little bit under the weather, James had a wonderful Valentines day. All week long he was bringing home art work that he put together in school. Then on Valentines day they had a party at school (James contributed Valentine cards and Reeses Pieces Valentines candy) and the picture shows some of the goodies that James came home with that day. James gave as well as he received, giving Mom two heart shaped boxes of candy, Reeses and Kit Kat style.

James was fine after Valentines day, just a little cough that went away after 24 hours.

Later we found out that James had made the honor roll at school so we should have a certificate later to commemorate that event.

James is currently taking ice skating lessons in Southgate. Several of his friends are there and he is meeting new friends all the time so its a very good social event for him. Skating wise he leaves a little to be desired but he’s only attended three classes at the time of this writing and we are very confident he will become a good skater and that will be something that he can take with him the rest of his life. James enjoys working with his instructors and they are very patient with him so we know he is in good hands.

James has decided to practice on his own with his roller skates in the back yard on sunny winter days so we know he is trying hard.

We will be adding more pictures to this post each week as James progresses through learning how to skate.

Continue reading “James Ice Skating Lessons 2013” →

James synced his Ipad2 with the TV to make sure everyone knew when 2012 ended and 2013 began.

James at the store spending the money he got from relatives and friends at Christmas time.

James began celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve as we went to breakfast with Grandma then everyone visited Aunt Peg who is scheduled to leave the rehab center January 3rd. Upon returning home James was allowed to open one gift and it was Battle Ship from Criss and Kenny.

Christmas Day Idgie was the first up looking for gifts, then Mom, and finally a tired James made his way to the Christmas gift opening. Lots of good educational toys for James this year. Mom, Dad, and Idgie got gifts from James as well. We then sat down to Christmas lunch and watched the final season of Smallville while James played with every gift he got. The snow came down pretty hard and we had a definite white Christmas this year.

James went out after Christmas to spend some of his Christmas money on Angry Bird stuff.

Continue reading “Christmas 2012” →

Aunt Peg was in a rehabilitation center because of her legs and did not make it home in time for Christmas, however we were able to visit her Christmas Eve and exchange gifts with her.

We all felt bad that she would not be coming home till after the New Year (We just got the news she would not be home for Christmas or New Years a couple days back) but we want her healthy and this is the best way for her to get healthy. They hope to release her the first week in January, but that is tentative and depends on how well she does in her therapy.

Peg and James have a little message for everyone this holiday season. Check out the video below!

A trip to Frankenmuth in December is special, especially as the sun sets and all the Christmas lights turn on. We usually make this visit anytime but Christmas but we felt that we had to visit both Frankenmuth and Bronners at Christmas time (Actually Christmas Eve Eve Eve to be exact).

Meanwhile Mary got to visit a cupcake bakery that she had seen on Cupcake Wars (a reality series on cable). Seems this bakery in Frankenmuth came in first place so we bought some cupcakes while we were there and ate them on the way home.

As the sun began to set the Christmas lights came on in the city and it was a gorgeous spectacle. We drove through the town and across the covered bridge then headed home for the evening.

Continue reading “Christmas Visit At Frankenmuth 2012” →

We had planned to get to Bronners to surprise James with a Titanic Christmas bulb which we saw in an ad. James also got a Statue of Liberty bulb and a free bulb for spending over $25.

We usually visit Bronners when its not Christmas time so the crowd was a little bigger than what we are used to, but everyone was still as friendly as ever and we had a great time. They have a giant Christmas telescope that you can look through that I thought was cool, and an elf fishing in a swimming pool which was colorful but I did not really understand the purpose. I think it was meant to be ice fishing but it looked more like a swimming pool to me.

The weather outside still had snow, so that made it a white Bronners visit which is something we don’t often do.

Continue reading “Christmas Trip To Bronners 2012” →