Tag: Fun Activities
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.
Artist At Work 2010
James got a pack of construction paper with some bottle money he had saved, and the first project he did was re-create the picture on the front of the package. James showed a lot of patience and work as he got the exact colors and drew the figures. Neither Mary nor myself are very good artist’s but I know both his Grandma and Grandpa Kleiber (could draw a very good popeye) were excellent in drawing so maybe talent skips a generation.
Mom and Dad thought enough of his effort that we framed the picture for him. Now he has an artist easel and he is making the most out of it. Do we have an artist in the making?
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.
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.
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.
James Shopping Spree 2010
My sister Peg and I took James to Target so he could spend his Christmas money from Uncle Bill. James went right to the videos and bought a Scooby Doo movie and Scooby Doo puzzle which did not really surprise me, what did surprise me was he went to the food section of the store and spent the rest on snacks that we usually do not have in the house – Doritos, Oreo Cookies, Ice Cream and pizza.
We have been keeping pretty healthy food in the house such as apples, oranges, pears, rice cakes, etc that we have for snacks, I guess James is putting us on notice that we wants a bit more variety in his diet from the 5 kid food groups -cookies, chips, ice cream, pizza and candy (his Aunt bought him a Valentine Day sucker to complete the entree).
What Happened to the Breakfast of Champions 2009
Mary found this cereal at the store and immediately bought it so we could have fun with it at another one of our sites, Curse of Bobby Layne. We got James to pose with the box of cereal (we didn’t actually give him any to eat, we were afraid he might start losing things the way the Lions lose games) with a curious look on his face and posted it on the website. We thought some of you might be curious what we do as a family on those cold wintry days in Detroit. We also decorated on of our Halloween skeletons as a vendor at Ford field when the Lions blacked out their game right before Christmas because no one was showing up at the stadium.
James is a big football fan and we play almost every Sunday. If we go outside he likes to kick field goals and if we play inside we use the nerf ball. However the Lions have been so bad that he has no idea of what a winning football team is like and its hard to get him interested in the Lions, but he does like the game of football.
Oakwood Park 2008
Most weekends in the summer we make a visit to Aunt Pegs and visit the park next to her complex. James has been playing here since he was in a stroller and almost every weekend in the summer. There is a huge soccer field there also which comes in handy if we want to kick a football or shoot one of James rockets off. They have a swimming pool in the summer but we never go to it, I think you have to live in the city for that. However we seldom see anyone using the pool anyway so why bother.
James Aunt Peg sometimes shops while we are at the park, James will play for about a half hour then we go pick up Aunt Peg at the store and help her with the groceries. Its a system that seems to work for everyone.
Traverse City 2008
The trip down from Mackinaw sometimes gives us a chance to stop places we normally don’t plan on, like this day we spent at Traverse City. The train ride goes right along side the beach and was alot of fun not only for James but for us as well. It has little crossings where pedestrians have to wait as the train putts along. The shopping district is right across the street and has not changed all that much since my last visit which was during my softball days in the 90’s. James made a friend and they had a blast building sand castles while Mary and I relaxed on the beach.
Ann Arbor Hands On Museum 2006
Here’s an idea whose time has come, its called the hands on museum in Ann Arbor is a great place for kids of all ages to visit. Different activities on different floors and James might actually have learned a thing or two. James got to see himself in front of a blue screen with different backgrounds and also got to see a tornado up close. Lots of science and electronics and much of it was beyond him, but that’s why they have different floors for different ages.
I would have to say the favorite thing for James was the gear boxes and the switches. The gear boxes were fascinating because he turned one thing and a bunch of things turned, the switches were fun because, well, he likes turning on switches.
Highly recommended, glad we found this place
