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Mothers Day Caring For The Graves 2009
Photos of the Kleiber Graves at Memorial cemetery in Michigan. Kleibers, Grafs, and Dunbergers are buried here in various parts of the cemetery.
James enjoys handling the water detail and as we put flowers in all the vases, James comes by and fills then up with water.
We usually visit the cemetery on Memorial Day and Mothers Day (depending on weather). In fact, our Mothers day tradition is going to a Chinese restaurant not far the cemetery, good weather or bad. We do postpone the cemetery flowers if the weather is bad on mothers day and then make it up on Memorial day.
The weather was great and the graves look pretty good for Mothers day.
Fathers Day Surprise 2009
What a surprise I had today, James came home and had several crafts that he had made for Fathers day. There was a key holder, and pictures of him making the key holder out of wood. What a surprise. James showed us the card he made as well, it had a picture of him holding a happy Fathers day sign.
Thanks James
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.
Greenfield Village Magic Show 2009
James got to see a magic show at Greenfield village, he’s in Colon MI alot (the magic capital of the world) so its not unusual for James to watch a magic trick. This was the same day that Thomas was in town so needless to say it was a very big day for James.
The magician was great and floated a spectator at the end (or suspended the spectator if thats a better way of saying it). James sat through the whole thing and this was on a day when Thomas the Train was circling the park so you know it had to be good to keep any kids attention.
We will be riding Thomas later in the day, you have to schedule your time in advance.
Easter 2009
Easter sure is fun for James because when he gets his Easter basket he’s about as happy as can be. Say what you want about the Easter Bunny and Santa not being real, but don’t say it to James because he does not want to hear it. I guess he knows a gravy train when he sees one.
This Easter we spent most of the time outdoors. James is learning the value of money and got a basketball piggy bank which works right into that theme. His main concern is quarters for the gumball and tattoo machines that we see when leaving restaurants and stores and this will allow him to save up his own money rather than having to ask Mom and Dad for money for his gumball machine escapades.
New Bird Family Members 2009
I remember we used to give the dove eggs away because they never were fertile and the doves would spend weeks sitting on eggs that never hatched. Its kind of rare for doves in captivity to breed, none the less, the doves we got last year hatched 2 chicks and the proud parent doves are taking good care of the chicks, feeding them and cleaning them. They still can’t fly and sometimes stumble and fall but they are doing pretty good and should be able to fend on their own in a couple weeks.
Pretty bird would be proud to see how her tradition is being carried on. For those who don’t know we do several magic sites and use the birds in magic tricks to promote those sites.
Christmas 2008
I remember as a child my mom would tell me stories about how their parents would keep the door to the workshop closed and locked before Christmas and they would hear them working on presents as Christmas got closer and closer. This year I thought about that as I snuck down stairs and spent several hours putting together all the wonderful gifts for James. So many had to be assembled that I felt like there really was a workshop in the house, although it was just me and a screwdriver for the most part.
James was completely surprised when he woke up and saw the living room filled with his toys already put together. It was a great moment for all of us. Thanks to all who sent us presents, as you can see they were very well received. Later on I took James to his Aunt Pegs to check out the Christmas display she made. A very memorable Christmas for sure.
Magic Capitol Christmas Parade and More 2008
What a blast we had in Colon this Christmas, a very cold and snowy day, tents were set up with hot cocoa and cookies, a small petting zoo, a Santa parade with Santa ending up in the library where the kids could make Christmas crafts. The celebration ended with a free magic show at Abbotts. A very traditional Christmas celebration, how refreshing. Although the weather was very cold, we went home with a warm fuzzy feeling from the events of the day.
Probably the best thing was the livestock that they had outside the library including llama’s that the kids could pet. What a nice treat during the Holidays for the kids, this was much more than we expected.
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Halloween 2008
This year we had a big trip to the pumpkin patch where James got to pick out whatever pumpkins he wanted, then we took them home and cleaned them up, and carved them up. James did the little one all by himself. Great work James.
Halloween James got to dress up as Mary’s favorite race car driver, Tony Stewart. In fact, you could hardly tell the two apart. James trick or treated all of Tulane and Vassar, then made it up to Grindley and Parker before bringing his stash in. Peg came by to hand out candy so we could be with James.
James heard us talking about the tale where my sister Criss soaped the inside of the windows on devils night, not to be outdone by his Aunt, James did a little artwork himself on the window.
Outdoor Escape Stunt At The Magic Capitol 2008
James got to see a live escape by a girl who was placed inside a box then hoisted up into the air. The rope holding her box up was lit on fire and everyone though she would perish, but when the box was opened she was gone and then came out from the pizza parlor with a pizza. The crowd of about 100-200 people applauded and it was a great fall day for all.
The police and fire dept were on hand not only in case of an emergency but also to block off main street from traffic. You have to wonder what people traveling down 86 thought when they had to be detoured because a woman was bound, put in a box, and hung from a burning rope on mainstreet. They must have thought they were in the dark ages.
Once the street was blocked off the first thing James did was run across it, must be a natural instinct for a 5 year old.
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