Recent Posts
Visiting Grandpa in Nashville 2010
With time running out on summer it was now or never if we were going to make it to Nashville to visit Grandpa and Uncle Bill. Fortunately we made it thanks to the Michigan law which stops school from starting earlier than Labor day. James got a chance to see his Grandpa and also Uncle Bill and his family. Uncle Bill is rebuilding his home after the flood and it is coming along beautifully. As we visited various places in Nashville you could find buildings and businesses still closed from the devastating flood. In fact the hotel we stayed at near Opryland was discounted because the Opryland mall, one of the major attractions in Nashville, was still closed and not due to open till November.
One good thing that came out of the flood was that Uncle Bill found an archive of old family pictures when going through the flood damage. Mom hopes to scan those pictures in and upload to this site in the near future.
Grandma came down on the trip as well and had a chance to visit friends from her previous home for the first time since moving to Michigan back in November 09.
Duda Tot Park 2010
Just because Peg is recuperating and in therapy does not mean that Jame’s Sundays have changed that much. This last Sunday he went to Peg’s to help dad pick up her mail, cane, and some stamps. Then we went to Pegs who gave James a cookie for his trouble (james carried in the cane without hitting anyone, an impressive feat). Afterwards we stopped at a park where James got to play. The park was empty (most are around here probably due to video games and computers) but James and Dad made the best of it. We even had a foot race.
The park was unique because of the dinosaur slide which drew us in. Pretty cool and was the first thing James went to play on.
After the park James went home and made “pretzel alphabet words” which he later ate. If you would like to see pics click on the link below.
Happy Birthday Aunt Criss 2010
James has been signing his cards for the last couple years but this is the first card that he ever made up himself. He carefully chose just the right color (red, his favorite) and wrote a happy birthday letter to his Aunt Criss. James waved it in the air to make sure all the ink was dry then posed for a picture with the card. James really enjoys doing things like this, something that his father was never very good at.
So Happy Birthday to Aunt Criss from James, Mary, and Chuck and hopefully we can stop by on our way back from Macinac (hopefully we make it there, not sure now what Peg’s status will be that week).
It should be noted that James does not like talking to people on the phone, don’t know why, he does not talk to anyone on the phone including his parents. When he was 3 he had a phone in his room and he dialed 911 and hung up. The police called to see if everything was ok and if we needed help. Since then James has not had a phone in his room so maybe this is his protest for taking the phone out, lol.
Madison Park 2010
Aunt Peg was admitted into the hospital for trouble with her leg, but James and I still managed to have some fun at a local park which had 3 different sets of playgrounds for him. The park is at Madison in Dearborn so its not too far away to walk to.
The primary elections were going on but hardly anyone was going into the school to vote. Guess that must be a sign of the times.
One thing that I liked about this park was that it had a musical section at one of the playgrounds where the kids could play different music on different instruments. Strange we were the only ones using the park, perhaps the kids in the area need to take more of a break from video games (including James). James currently is playing Toy Story 3 video game on Wii, but thats another story.
All in all, we both had a really good time at the park and the weather was simply perfect, not too hot and a gentle refreshing breeze to keep you cool.
Magic Capitol Car Show 2010
It was magic week in Colon Michigan and the whole family went to share in the festivities. There was a car show this year and it was a pretty big success considering it was the first one for the city of Colon. Each car had a bucket out front and you were supposed to throw a quarter into your favorite cars bucket. The car with the most quarters wins a prize! There were loads of prizes donated by the various local shops so more than half of the cars shown in these pictures received prizes.
James did his usual romp around the craft fair and local beach, Mary took in the evening magic show which featured some of the worlds best magicians. Dad got to spend some time in the magic shop (which is always a fun experience for me) and also went on the graveyard tour where famous magicians like Blackstone are buried.
Abbott’s Magic Get Together 2010
What a fine time we had in Colon Michigan, the magic capitol of the world. James had a blast swimming at the small beach that they have here, and Mom enjoyed the craft fair while Dad enjoyed the props at the dealers room, many of which were Halloween oriented.
The magic get together is primarily magic shows and magic lectures that go on at various times during the 4 day festival. The highlight of each day is the evening show which features Vegas quality acts. They have had some of the best acts in magic here during their history including Lance Burton, Harry Blackstone, Mark Wilson, and many many more.
The evening shows are held at the high school, the dealers room is in the elementary school, the buskers are throughout the city, the ventriloquists are at the Abbott Magic Shop, and the Gospel magicians are at church. There are various events throughout the city such as car shows and craft shows. The whole town gets involved in this event and it really shows by how many people return here year after year.
Toy Story 3 Arrives 2010
James has been on a Toy Story 3 kick since the movie came out this summer. He plays the Wii version of the game quite a bit and his favorite character is Woody (and also Rex because he is such a dinosaur fan). He likes Buzz but calls him Buzz Lightweight instead of Buzz Lightyear, a reference to Toy Story 2 for those who have seen the movie (the Kelsey Grammar character (stinky pete or something like that) refers to the Tim Allen character (Buzz) as Lightweight).
Today he got a package in the mail from Aunt Peg and it was a Toy Story play set with a pull out “Andy’s Room”. A very cool toy and James has been playing with it since it arrived. James wanted to say thanks to Aunt Peg so here are some of the first pics from the play set so Aunt Peg could see how happy this made him.
Thanks again Peg.
Marshall Blues Festival 2010 – Then Puppet Show
It was a very hot July day and the traffic and construction tie ups were terrible, but we made it to the Blues Festival in Marshall Michigan for the first time. James and I stayed for a bit then went on to the park and a magic shop, while mom enjoyed the music while shopping for antiques on the Marshall main street. We left around 6pm as the place was just starting to get real crowded. Mary bought a cd of the music of one of the bands and we listened to it on the way home.
That evening James watched a dinosaur movie then did his own version of it in his puppet theatre. Lots of entertainment this day!
Continue reading “Marshall Blues Festival 2010 – Then Puppet Show”
James New Cousin Nicolette
Meet Nicolette
Trenton Festival 2010
What a great time we had at the Trenton festival. James has been here several times in the past few years and he always has a good time. I think his favorite thing is getting the free balloons from the various shop keeps to participate. This year there were a whole bunch of inflatable moonwalks and slides that he could play in as well as the usual games that he is familiar with. He also got to put out a simulated fire with a real fire hose. After the event was over we went out for Chinese to complete a wonderful summer day.
On the way home, we stopped by Aunt Louises old house and snapped a picture. sure looks different with those gates in the drive.
