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Town Peddler Flea Market 2011
This is our third year at the town peddler flea market in Livonia. Mom did about as well as last year, selling material, fiesta ware, and various odds and ends. The weather was just perfect, not too hot and not too cold. The event was well attended and we all had lots of fun.
James and I would visit Mom during the day to give her bathroom breaks and lunch. It was during this time I took some pictures of the event. James stayed in the booth eating his happy meal and I stepped back a couple feet and snapped off a few pictures. James and the booth were only a few feet away from me but to a person walking up to the booth it looked as if James was there by himself.
Two elderly ladies walk into the booth and I kept my distance just to see what will happen (James was still eating his happy meal from McDonalds at the time).
James see’s the ladies approach and tells the ladies “The magic tricks are over there” pointing them to a little stand we have with jokes and magic tricks on it.
The ladies say to James “Oh, we’re not interested in magic tricks, we want to know how much you would take for this Fiesta Ware” .
James replied to them “A nickel”.
Needless to say the Fiesta Ware was a little more than a nickel. Thus ended Jame’s first day in the flea market business.
Nascar Cheerios Car 2011
We were out and about when Mom and James saw Clint Bowyer’s Cheerio car out front of our local Walmart. Both Mom and James are big time race fans and when their guy is close to winning a race, you can hear both of them rooting for that guy in the same way Dad roots for his football team to win.
Dad is not a big fan of Walmart and usually tries not to go. Dad does not like the lines and believes they should hire some extra tellers to shorten the lines to check out. However on this day Dad did accompany his family to Walmart and got the see the car himself so maybe Dad will think better of Walmart in the future.
Regardless this was a big time fun day for Mom and James and a very pleasant surprise, thank you Walmart for putting this show on.
Mothers Day 2011
This year Mothers Day was a little different than usual. First, we did not travel to our usual Chinese restaurant in Flat Rock, but went to our normal Chinese restaurant in Taylor with Aunt Peg. Aunt Peg joined us on our trip to Michigan Memorial Cemetery where we placed flowers on all the graves. On the way home Aunt Peg wanted to get some things from the store so we dropped her off and took James to the park for a few minutes while Aunt Peg shopped. We picked Aunt Peg up and took her home and had a great day. The weather was perfect (however the two weeks before was all rain and the two weeks after would be all rain).
Grandma is still recovering from her broken leg and arm so she did not make the trek with us, however the next day we surprised her with a McDonalds breakfast.
A different Mothers day but just as fun as the ones in the past.
Late Spring Snow Fall 2011
When you live in Michigan which is surrounded by the great lakes you can get snow almost anytime except summer. This is one of the reasons you can’t really do much gardening in April and according to the farmers almanac, you are not out of the woods regarding snow until Memorial Day (and I remember some close calls regarding snow even on Memorial Day).
James took a break from his Easter activities and shoveled the snow which was nice, especially on Easter weekend. This little blast kind of took us by surprise and the snow just does not work with the Easter decorations.
However the people in the neighborhood who still have Christmas decorations are saying a big and collective “told you so” to the rest of us.
Easter 2011
James had the week off before Easter and also the Monday after so he had a pretty long Spring break. The school also let them out at lunch time Friday to start vacation a little early and James went to his favorite restaurant – China Buffet – with Mom and Dad because he got good reviews at school. However his vacation started out a little rough with a spring snow shower that he decided to go out and shovel. Stuck inside all weekend we made do by creating a creepy magic show with Halloween props and had a lot of fun doing it.
Later we dyed eggs and ate them off during the week. James got new toys including a Batman play set and additional Lego’s that he had been asking for. The day before Easter James and his family went to visit Grandma and later went to Aunt Peg’s who treated James and his family to the China Buffet, James favorite restaurant. Mom went shopping at TJ Max and Aunt Peg went shopping at a grocery store so while waiting for them, Dad snapped a picture of James in the car with his Easter ears on. Mary got to see an Indy car while shopping, a promotion by Verizon that day.
Like Christmas, James stayed up late hoping to catch the Easter Bunny but he eventually fell asleep. The next morning it was obvious the Easter Bunny had been there because the living room was full of baskets with toys and candy.
Thanks to all and Happy Easter from James, Mom, and Dad.
Abbotts Closeup Magic Convention 2011
Here’s an interesting story, a couple years ago Mary went to a Evening Magic Show and the Master of Ceremonies was Stephen Bargatze, who grew up in Tennessee. Afterwards Mary told me she had a bus driver named Bargatze who drove her to school each day and she wondered if the two were related.
Years later Stephen Bargatze (perhaps the premiere comedy magician in America) shows up at a Closeup Magic Convention so Mary made arrangements to photograph some of the show and got to meet Stephen who said the bus driver who drove her to school was actually his Great Uncle.
Below are some of the pictures from the Convention, you can see Mary in 9 of the pics (another photographer was on the other side and took some pics) and we also included 6 pics Mary took.
Winter in Mackinaw 2011
I had to attend a safety meeting at one of our customers up North, so we checked the weather, called the school and kept James out a day, and took him on a quick up North trip to see the Straights of Mackinaw frozen in winter.
I had been up here before in the winter, usually January or February, but I think this was a first for the family being up here, even though it was only for a little while. For the most part, everything was closed except for the souvenir shops outside the Fort, (a couple restaurants, and the Holiday Inn Express were also open). We did not cross the bridge because of the high winds and lack of time but I think James understands why we go up North in the summer and not the winter.
A Fun Snow Day 2011
A blistering cold Michigan Saturday did not stop James from having some winter time fun. He built a snow fort, then had a blast demolishing it. He made snow angels and snow balls, but had difficulty getting the snow to stick for a genuine snowman. He was visited by Swiper (the squirrel that can be seen in the neighbors tree, James named him after Swiper the Fox from the Dora cartoon series because he looks alot like the fox (he’s a big squirrel). It appears that we were the only two human beings outside this day, I don’t know if that’s a statement about us or about the neighborhood but eventually we just said no more being a prisoner of a Michigan winter.
Happy New Year 2011
James’ New Year Eve started New Year Eve Eve with a trip to Toy’s R Us for a second shopping spree, this one courtesy of Grandma. James picked up two toys, the first was a Sponge Bob playdoh set which is really cool because you create Spongebob and when you are finished you can use the accessories and have a sort of sponge bob potato head type toy, tough to explain. The other was another robot that he added to his hotwheel set. This robot picks the car up and flings it 90 degrees in a different direction.
As the day went on James, Mom and Dad took a trip down the block to see the big tree decorated on Tulane and Lehigh, then returned to watch the New Year celebration with Dick Clarke. James had noise makers and those “pull a string and they pop with confetti” things so he had a blast shooting them off outside while fireworks went off throughout the night. Needless to say James slept in the next day but he had simply a great Holiday vacation and we are looking forward to him doing big things this year in school.
Christmas 2010
James stayed up very late Christmas Eve waiting for Santa, finally falling asleep in the living room. The cats actually beat him to the punch when they surrounded their Christmas sock early christmas morning while James slept in. When he finally did wake up Christmas Day Santa had arrived and put many presents under the tree for James. Mom wore her “Bumble” slippers for the morning festivities (Bumble is the abominable snowman from Rudolph and a favorite of James). James decided to open and play with each toy rather than opening them all at once so he was still unwrapping gifts hours later, keeping Mom and Dad busy assembling toys and taking out the wrappings. Mom kept everyone happy with ham, casserole, and deviled eggs throughout the day and Jame’s was very happy with the gifts he received from everyone and we all wanted to take the time and thanks everyone for making this a very special Christmas!
