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James First Day at Home 2003
After staying in the hospital a few days James passed all his health tests and came home for the first time. He had a bit of a fight with jaundice, but the doctors put him under some ultraviolet lights and they said he should be fine. We have a brand new car seat for the little guy, and he’s already had his hospital photo taken. The people at Garden City hospital did a wonderful job and we promised to come back after Mary recovers and bring everyone donuts and coffee.
Ironic that he was born on the same day as my sister Peg. So many birthdays in September already, now we have another one. At least the odds are that I will remember my sister Pegs birthday from now on. Mary’s birthday is in September, our anniversary is in September, Criss and Kenny I think are in September… Too much to remember at one time.
James Born 2003
Never forget this day, Mary went in for a stress check and a few hours later James was born via c-section. We were prepared for such an event. Mary had a bag packed (it also had $10 in quarters for vending machines) in it. I had gotten her a portable DVD player so she could watch movies while recovering. I brought her the first season of ER, probably could have done a better choice, it reminded me of the movie Airplane where the inflight movie was about plane crashes.
Mary and James are doing fine, will email/call everyone. Stopped at the K for a beer as well. The news on this day is mostly about Johnny Cash and John Ritter who both died. The weather is awful, raining constantly, and I have a cold and am very tired.
Las Vegas 2003
Our original plan for our wedding was to fly to Las Vegas and have a Vegas wedding, inviting friends and family and such. We were going to do this in October 2001. Unfortunately the 911 attacks occurred and put a delay of about a year on everything. We ended up getting married in Sept a year later and going on a simple honeymoon in Norther Michigan (no one was in a big rush to fly back then).
However in January of 2003 we finally took our Vegas vacation and had a blast, seeing a couple shows and pretty much all the sights and sounds of Vegas. When I was last in Vegas they were building the Paris and Venetian Hotels so we made sure to visit both of these places on this trip.
While we did not take many pictures on this visit, we took many videos and here are a few.
Christmas 2002
The Christmas celebration was in Trenton and Natalie and Renee came into town to help in the celebration. James Dad was very sick with a cold this day and spent Christmas in bed so Mom and Dad missed this one. It looked like an awesome time as Aunt Louise met her Great Grandson Jaden. Aunt Peg made it and took these pictures which amazed alot of us when we saw them because they are pretty good pictures, no thumbs or fingers in front of the lens or anything.
At the time we did not know that this would be the last Christmas celebration at the house in Trenton which was known for parties.
Mackinaw Island 2002
After our visit to Saulte Ste Marie we headed South for about an hour and took the ferry from Mackinaw to Mackinaw Island. while there we took a tour by horse carriage to most of the sights. We even made time to visit the haunted house that they have there.
Saulte Ste Marie 2002
These are pics from the boat tour through the soo locks in Michigans upper peninsula on the Canadian border. We stopped at the Soo as part of our Honeymoon, although most of it will be spent on Mackinaw and Mackinaw Island. The day is very overcast so hopefully the weather will be better for Mackinaw.
I remember the Soo Locks and trips up here as a kid. Its a great place to spend a day, but I don’t think you could get more than a day out of it, unless you like casinos, then you will be in your glory.
Chuck and Mary’s Wedding 2002
Chuck and Mary were married at the City Hall back in 2002. About a year later James was born.
We were going to have our wedding in Las Vegas but the 911 attacks postponed everything. Finally we got tired of waiting and planning and I called the city and they said they could do it during the first week in September so we agreed. Ron, Aunt Louise, and Peg attended a small ceremony at city hall then we went on a honeymoon up north and had a great time. We visited Saulte Ste Marie and Mackinaw Island and the weather was literally spectacular the whole honeymoon.
Mary was proposed to at a garage sale at the Kleiber home and the rest is history.
Dinosaurs at the Detroit Zoo 2002
These are pics from before James was born, Mary and I having fun at the Detroit Zoo which is an awesome place to be.
Mary used to live in Ferndale and you could see almost see the water tower from her house, yet we did not start going to the zoo for at least a year after we met. The dinosaur display was the big attraction this year, sort of a 21st century Jurassic park so we took a lot of pictures of that exhibit and Mary had fun posing with the dinosaurs as well. Another glorious summer day in the fair city of Detroit!
Greenfield Village Henry Ford Museum 2002
This was Mary’s first visit to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn MI. Mary loves cars and antiques and really loves seeing the sites at the museum.
I on the other hand was literally raised at Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, at least once but usually twice a year there would be field trips from my school to the village or museum depending on the season. This year the big attraction was the Rosa Parks bus and they were working on a new airplane exhibit which will feature some of the most famous airplanes in American history.
Some of the more gruesome exhibits are the chair Lincoln was assasinated in and the car Kennedy was assasinated in.
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Remembering Loretta Kleiber 1920-2000
According to our sources at Ancestry.com (currently worked by her grandson James) when Loretta Rose Graf was born on January 29, 1920, in Harrison City, Pennsylvania, her father, Joseph, was 32, and her mother, Rose, was 29. She married Charles Thomas Kleiber on February 15, 1941, in Wyandotte, Michigan. They had three children in 14 years. She died on August 3, 2000, in Grand Traverse, Michigan, at the age of 80.
Loretta is James Grandmother and enjoyed traveling alot. Every Saturday there would be at least a trip to Trenton where some project or event was taken place. The evenings all ended the same way with a family game of Pinocle. They played for keeps during these games and my family was not always gracious losers when the game did not go their way.
My mother enjoyed travel outside of Michigan as well, trips to Florida, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Bahama’s, Toronto, and West Virgina were just a few of the many destinations she vacationed at. She passed away while on vacation in Traverse city.
