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Valentines Day with the Pistons 2007
The Pistons do alot of great things to promote their team, one of them is a Valentines day game and Mary is a big Piston fan. I surprised her this Valentine day with tickets to her beloved Pistons who were playing the dreaded San Antonio Spurs. The Pistons lost their bid for back to back championships when the Spurs beat them in a 7 game series. Unfortunately for us, the Pistons did not show up this night and lost to the Spurs by double digits.
I also included pictures before the game, James and I had to shovel snow and the weather was just awful. Snow everywhere so after we shoveled out James was treated to a bubble blowing machine which we usually only bring out at Christmas.
The Palace of Auburn Hills does not allow digital cameras into the arena, however you can take pictures with disposable 35mm so the pics here are from those and not our usual camera.
New Years Party 2007
There is no better day for football than New Years Day, we had some friends over and had the basement all decked out for the event. The Wolverines lost to the USC Trojans but it did not put too much of a damper on the whole party.
We have hosted several pretty good sports parties but this was the first time our team had lost since we started doing sports parties in the basement. Whenever we host a sports party and our team wins, we make a little tribute to the event and put it in a frame as a sort of trophy for our party, unfortunately the Wolverines let us down so we don’t get a trophy from this one.
Christmas 2006
This was the first time James snuck into one of his gifts early. However in the years following it will be a constant battle keeping him out of his Christmas gifts, I know this from experience with my family. It was almost a game that you had to find your Christmas gifts and open them early, then sometimes rewrap them so no one would know.
James was just beginning to string words into sentences and sometimes you would hear the strangest sentences imaginable, but thats growing up I suppose. We spent Christmas Eve going around the neighborhood looking at Christmas decorations with Aunt Peg. I think James got more presents this year than any other year, perhaps more than any other child as well. Hopefully he doesn’t become spoiled, he’s a pretty good kid though and seems just as happy playing football with dad as he does the fanciest toys, although I may have some competition with the new car he got. Thanks again to all his Aunts and relatives for helping to make this a fun day.
Huggum Dolls Visit For Christmas 2006
Right before Christmas the family received a surprise from Mary’s mom, Huggum dolls that she played with as a child were sent to us so naturally we had fun taking pics of the dolls with the rest of the family.
They were sent to us Fed Ex and arrived safe and sound. This has been a tradition in Mary’s house for many years and the dolls do class up the place if I must say so myself. James was curious about them, wondering if they were playtoys or not, but Mom assured him they were not his to play with but rather family heirlooms to be passed on from generation to generation.
In these pics you can see some of the fun we had posing the dolls with some of the Christmas decorations. We especially liked the dolls on Jumbo the horse.
Halloween 2006
This was a fun Halloween and most of the strange characters that you see are people who live on our street, what a cool street we live on. James had no idea that Sponge Bob and the Burger King guy were actually the same neighbors he sees in the summer mowing their lawns. James trick or treated the entire block of Tulane, then did a drop off and went back for more on Vassar. We made one more drop and headed toward Parker and Grindley to finish off the evening. Most houses were closed when we got back so we certainly filled the trick or treat time slot this year.
Peg came by to hand out candy so that Mary and I could enjoy the time trick or treating with James. James was in his Elmo Costume and really looked adorable, plus the red fur costume kept him somewhat warm on a cool October night.
We brought out the Nash and put a skeleton in him for some added atmosphere as far as the decorations goes. Lots of fun was had by all and this was for sure a Halloween to remember.
Detroit Tigers In World Series 2006
The Tigers went from worse to first in 3 years and made it to the World Series, which unfortunately they lost in 5 games. Ironically it was against the St Louis Cardinals so I think each generation of Kleiber has gotten to see a Detroit/St Louis World Series.
One of the earliest and strongest memories I have is of the Tigers winning the World Series in 1968 (against the same Cardinals). They won it again in 1984 but it wouldn’t be until 2006 that they would reach the fall classic again. We took James downtown to share in some of the excitement of a World Series, since it has only seems to happen once every 20 years. Hopefully the Tigers will deliver a World Championship before the next 20 years. To be honest with you, it was so cold this day I could not imagine how they were able to play baseball at all. Baseball needs to shorten its season.
Vinyl Siding 2006
I remember the day a salesperson (known as tinmen and they actually made a movie about them) came into our house and sold my father aluminum siding and awnings. It was a pretty good move, the awnings would keep you dry when going in and out of your house during rain storms, and the aluminum siding protected the wooden areas of the house and garage, protecting them from the elements. However after about 25 years, even the aluminum begins to fade and dirt becomes embedded in the metal so much that it cannot be scrubbed out.
Sure enough, another tinman came around and sold us some more aluminum siding so we should be good for another 25 years.
I do like the new drains as they pivot up and down and can even be removed if you like for cleaning.
Nashville City 2006
A very beautiful and fun city, although we never did figure out how to pay the parking there. Lots of attractions, street performers, museums, and restaurants.
Once we knew for sure we were going on the Nashville trip, Mary made me promise to take her to “The Spaghetti Factory” restaurant in downtown Nashville (and also Bar B Cutie which is a take out place). As you can see from the photos, I kept my promise. Its a very cool restaurant with a trolley car right down the center.
Truly a remarkable town and well worth a visit.
On our way home we stopped at a couple of Mary’s old stomping grounds like her first apartment and such.
A very enlightening trip and everyone had fun this day.
Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame 2006
We took James to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Many classic items there but flash photography was not allowed so some of the pics may look dim. They say the flashes can actually damage some of the stored items, who would have thought that.
My family has long been Hank Williams fans, both Sr. and Jr., and Johnny Cash well I think everyone likes Johnny Cash. Lots of interesting things to see but what impressed me most was all the gold albums that lined the walls. A pretty awesome display although you would have a hard time ever finding your favorite song because there are so many.
The car display was cool as well and there was alot of computer/video interactive devices. You could easily spend a whole day at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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Belle Meade Plantation 2006
So many of the great race horses were bred at the Belle Meade Plantation. We had stopped here only for lunch and found ourselves buying tickets and going on the tour. Well, I should say Mary went on the tour, James and I had plenty to explore on the outside of the mansion including the stables and a creepy old mausoleum out in the back.
I remember Mary telling us that one of the people in the Bell Meade history got in trouble with the Tennessee government so they sent him to what they thought was the worse place on earth, that place was Mackinaw Island where we vacation each year.
