070828 - Fire escape

070828 - Was up till 5 getting caught up, then up for a full day of work. Howdy rode his bike to school and L,J&G went to Marlene's for a play date. When Howdy got home I helped him with a bit of his homework and got him a snack, then the rest of the gang came rolling in...
After work Lori and I rounded up the boys and had a firedrill. The boys, by themselves, had to get the window open, put the chain ladder out, help eachother out the window and down the ladder. They did very well!
Headed out for dinner, checked one of the rentals then to a video game store where Jack got a used Gameboy (so he quits buggin his brother...) and got a bunch of game in the Two4Tuesday sale! www.vgmx.com

070827 - Back on track

070827 - Up and a full day today. More catching up on personal paperwork then work email, but hardly home to do it so do it when I get a chance... After work took Howdy & Jack to Karate. Amazingly they remebered most of their stuff, even from being off all summer.

070826 - Lego Time

070826 - Home after the skate park and building all the Legos Howdy got today!

070826 - Howdy's B-day

070826 - Everyone up and to church. Dylan wanted McD's for his birthday so we got some and wejt to a park to play and eat. We ate, then Jack had an accident so we had to run home for some fresh clothes before hitting Toy's R Us. we got to the toy store and after much debate and thought Howdy made his final decision, I think... Headed home, dropped off L & G and D, J & I went to the skate park where there were tons of kids and heat.

070825 - Shark cake

070825 - Party time!

070825 - '"&4@? Up

070825 - Up in the am and Gma & pa B here. They took D&J to see the dinosaur show downtown. I ran some errands while L got things ready for the party. Here the boys are loading up the water guns for Howdy's 8th B-day party.

View from Lee's house

070823 - Had a good day at work, got a lot done. Went home with Lee because he was going to take me to SFO tonight. BUT... I guess ORD had tornados today.... and I'm stuck in CA ... Lori had a bad day and is at her wits end... not such a good day afterall...

Fog rolling over the mountians

My rental car in SJC

070822 - Second Grade

070822 - Up, we all got ready and Dylan heads off to second grade. I got to walk the big boy to school, now off to catch a lane for SJC...

070821 - Final Race

070821 - Hard to believe the summer is gone... Had another 2am concall today, grabbed some rest then put in a full day. Had dinner then the family headed to the horse races for the final races for us this summer as Howdy starts school tomorrow morning...

07820 - Meet the teacher

070820 - Up for a concall @ 3-5am. Then got some rest before starting a full day... Was able to stay on top of things and make good progress today. Had dinner with the fam, Nic over to watch J&G. L&I took howdy to school in the rain. Howdy & his friends meet their teachers.

070819 - Momma gets a meal

070819 - After playin we drove around Grandville so L could look at the big houses. Headed home and hit Applebee's, Momma gets a meal she didn't have to cook!

070819 - Play time

070819 - Rode our bikes back from Rita's then all pilled in the car and headed to Granville to play on the big playset.

070819 - Bike ride

070819 - Up and L, D&J headed to church. I got a couple chores done and then after lunch the boys and I took a ride to Rita's for some ice cream and a play at the school playground.

Hungry crab

Had a great time at the lake. Here Grant is caught in the quicksand and about to be attacked... After a couple hours at the beach we headed to my friend Beth's engagement party in Kenton. There were lots of folks there and the kids loved the goats, ducks, chickens, pond and about 50 cats. It was a good time but I sure wish Lori was with us, would have been a lot easier... Home about 9:30 with 3 VERY tired boys!

Quicksand!

Dylan gets sucked in!

Indian Lake

07818 - Corn field

070818 - Everyone and about. L and the girls headed out for a school shopping and I got the 3 stoogies... We ran some errands and drove by one of the rentals and then stopped for lunch at the corn cob field in Dublin. Next we are heading to Indian Lake.
070817 - Got home about 10am yesterday and worked all day. Took the fam to the party in the park, then home and watch the classic silent sci-fi film 'Metropolis'.

Creekwalk

070817 - Redeye

070817 - Good couple days in San Jose. My flight out on SJC was cancelled tonight so they drove me to San Fransico to catch the redeye to Detroit. Should be home about 10 tomorrow...

070814 - In SJC

070814 - Up way to early and off to the airport. Landed in SJC & off to work. Had a couple hour of good work and the a LONG walk home w/ Arno. Off to Applebee's for dinner. The boys made it home and had a BLAST w/ Gma & pa W today. All home safe and sound.

070813 - Evening

070813 - Up early and into Cedar Point. Not many kid rides open early but it gave us time to get around without the crowds. Dylan & Lori rode The Magnum, Jack rode lots of stuff too. Back to 'the camp' for a quick rest after lunch and then swimming at the pool and beach. Back to camp and then to dinner. GmaW & Jack coloring while L,D,G & GpaW scare the geese

Mac n cheese

Spinnin

Old Car 2

Old cars 1

First coaster

070812 - Jack here on the Frog Hopper. The Gemini behind him, where his big brother is with his mom! Dylan went on the Gemini earlier w/ me. The Gemini was both my & Lori's first coaster: continuing the tradition!

070812 - Cedar Point

070812 - Up and everyone ate and headed to the barn. L & I headed to get supplies for the trip and ran into Dave Loughman at K-roger. Then back to the farm and packed up and headed to Cedar Point. We got in the cabin and started having fun
070811 - The Aunt's (Mary & Martha) swung by the farm to check out Jack in his wedding outfit and measure him up for alterations. Louise stopped by a bit later to so Fatso. The Mike & Amy Woods family stopped by the farm this evening where the kids all played and had pony rides. We ended up at Pizza Hut for a huge dinner. Then home and watched a movie.

070813 - Friend in Mansberg

070811 - Farm

070811 - Everyone up early, the boys & I out running some errands. Home, talked w/ Doc, he said he would watch the dogs so we could go up north for a couple of days.
Got up to the farm and L & GmaW went to a shower: GpaW & I took the boys to lunch & found horse show the Grant really liked.

070810 - Home again!

070810 - Up way to early to catch a Jet for home. Got home with no problems, but too late for calling hours (Doc's Father died last weekend, 90). Made a couple of calls and then took the fam to eat in the park for a concert. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad!

070809 - Misery

Today in mexico EVERYTHING that can go wrong IS! What a miserable day, nothing is working right on our system, and of course I am the only person from our company here... It is painfully hot [114 yeaterday] and just being here surrounded by the poverty is depressing. I leave tomorrow morning so there is hope...

070806 - Cleaning up

Up in the am and on the computer [mirst time in 9 days] getting all the paperwork done that has pilled up for weeks during my traveling and vacation. The afternoon was nice as I left the office and headed to the icecream stand and the skatepark with the boys. We came home, jack tried on his outfit for the upcoming wedding and then we had dinner and watched a movie.

Back to Mexico in the morning....

070805 - Last day of vacation

070805 - Last day of vacation

Today at home it was pretty rainy out so Howdy, Jack and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. With this we have completed everything that wason our list of thins to do while we were on vacation.

Our vacation was great, the picture here says it all!! I am sure we all remember it for years to come. I only wish these wonderful times were longer...

070804 - Foamhenge

070804 - Foamhenge
One last stop at a life size replica of Stonehenge out of foam blocks. Well it must be windy here because half of it was missing... but the boys liked it just the same.
Back on the road and Lori found a 'short cut'... well on the map it looked good. We went up and down several dozen mountains and passed numerous towns that don't exist on the map or this planet for that matter. But the short cut took about 1 hour longer than the freeway but we did have some great sights...
We arrived home about 11:30pm, a long day in the car...

Dino Boys

070804 - Well we got up early for the long ride home and tried to make it a bit better by stopping along the way. We stopped in West Virgina to see a Natural Bridge, one of the seven natural wonders of the world they claim and it was pretty cool. We took a long walk back to the bridge that pretty much exhausted us, then we went farther to see an Indian village. But both very cool.

After the natural bridge stop we headed for a dinosaur place and monster museum. Well the boys thought it was cool and they got scared a bit so I guess it was worth it.

070804 - Natural bridge

070803 - Vacation Sunset

070803 - Our last full day at the resort was the perfect day. After L & G got there rest we headed back into Colonial Williamsburg. It was HOT but we enjoyed the bus ride to the site and the boys got to play with hops and sticks and really liked them, almost as much as transformers. Then we went to the market green to get a good seat along the rope in the shade. We waited and waited. Then we heard the drums, then the fifes, then we could see the soldiers! The soldiers and band came in and shot there guns. Then the citizens formed an army. Jack, Dylan & I ran out to become patriots! We formed ranks, learned some basic manuvers and were part of the malitia. We had to march behind the Seargent that yelled at us the whole time. Everyone clapped aand cheered for us! It was great! On the way back to the bus we saw some lambs so Jack was happy. On the bus on the way back to the car I asked the driver for a good 'local' place to eat. He sent us to Surry which was very cool as we had to take a ferry to get there. The boys really liked that we drove right on to a boat with our car and could get out and monkey around on deck. We found the little local joint and had the best meal of our trip. Back to the ferry where we watched the sun set on the James river. We drove home on the Colonial Parkway past Jamestown to get home. A qiuck bath, a bit of candy, a bit of play and off to bed...

070803 - Slowin Down

070803 - Up in the am and to the pool. We swam for a couple hours and then the boys made a craft thingy. Grant and I left a bit early to come back and make lunch, didn't turn out so good, but everyonr did get something to eat after all. After the so called lunch of popcorn chicken, peperoni, salami, cheese cubes, melon and grapes, I took Howdy and Jack to the arcade for an hour or so, so L & G could get some rest. We came back got some beer and coke and headed out to the gazebo to play a bit.
070802 - After a brief rest we went to an indoor bounce around place so the boys could work off some energy. We then went to a nice resturant where we had a fairly peaceful meal. As I was leaving an older couple said to me 'You have a very nice and well behaved famliy.' I thanked him and told him they were just lucky not to have been hit by a flying porkchop. :-D we then headed back to camp and to the pool for an evening dip.

070802 - Chillin out

070802 - Up early and off to the old dowtown Colonial Williamsburg. We walked from the vistir center to a plantation where we walked through a tobacco field and saw a drying house. Jack found a tobacco worm that the guy told him to feed to the chickens. We walked through a carpenters area where they were making board the old way, through the slave quarters and fed the chickens. Next we went to the govenors mansion where we saw a canal and all went through the hedge maze. There was a presentation by the govenor and several reenactments of discussions that led to the revolutionary war. The boys liked it a bit but they really liked the magazine where the guns were stored. We took a quick bus ride back to the car and then headed home to get out of the 97 degree heat a dance a bit. We are colling off trying to figur out what to do the rest of the afternoon.

070802 - We love guns

Williamsburg magazine

070802 - ANNOUNCMENT

070802 - Governor announces the boston tea party happened days ago.

070802 - Williamsburg

070802 - Well deserved...

070801 - Gus's Hot Dog King

070801 - Jamestown was cool but not what we expected. There was a neat Indian village, 3 replica ships, a fort, museum and a gift shop. There we not a bunch of settelers, indians, army guys or things for kids to participate in... L & G bailed out early to go sit in the air conditioning and we joined them to cruise the gift shop where Jack got a little bag of treasures, but Dylan held out for something better... We left Jamestown hot and hungry and headed to the candy warehouse! While the others rested in the car Howdy & I bought $30 worth of candy :-D we then went to a big outlet mall where L got a bunch of clothes for the boys and herself a black sweater... I out fitted all the boys, each with their own pair of cons: Jack & Grant got bright red ones & Howdy got camo. We hit about a dozen stores including KB toys, where Dylan again held off for something better... So we headed to Gus's Hot Dog King for some fantastic dogs. L was not to excited about it at first, but ended up ordering a second helping! They had great milk shakes too. The boys want to go there for dinner every night. One more stop on the way home where Howdy went to the exact toy gun he was waiting for all day. What a boy; to watch his brothers get stuff at different times all day long and not a peep. He knew what he wanted and didn't get upset that other were getting stuff, not easy for a boy. Back to our camp and we all went off to the pool for a late night swim! We finished up about 10 and got the boys in bed. Long, Good, Hot, Fun day for all :-D

070801 - The Fort

Dug out canoe

070801 - Jamestown

070801 - Early Start

070801 - Boys were up first, dressed and on the back porch planning there day when we got up... So we had a quick bfast and headed to the 'Experience Center' where we played video games for a half hour or so, then headed out to the pool. There is no one eles in the pool in the morning, unlike the huge crowds in the afternoon. We are going to swim a bit, have lunch and head to Jamestown...