Parker turns 7, final installment

Parker huddling with his buddies after receiving a football as a gift.

Parker meeting Justin Roberts after the concert. Parker told me that Justin knew that it was his birthday. I said, "Parker, How do you think he knew it was your birthday?" He said, "Mom, he asked does anyone have a birthday today before singing IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY and I yelled MEEEEEEE. He remembered my voice, so when I went to meet him he remembered."
The birthday boy's sis hangin' with her friends Josh and Katie. They look sooooo cool!
Parker's cuz Helena shares the same birthday. We got her a cake, tiara and birthday wand. What a cutie!!
Here is Parker and Tricia hanging out with their cousins after the party.

Yesterday, on Parker's actual birthday we headed downtown and heard some friends sing in a 4th of July concert and then headed to Ed Debevic's restaraunt. A must if you ever visit Chicago. The wait staff is hiliarious. We had a waiter named Tofer and the kids at the next table called him Tofu, so pretty much the whole section was calling them that. The waiters and waitresses can be rude, but it's all in fun. He told me to throw the menus on the next table, so I did, literally. It was a great time. We went with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Anne.

Here is a poem I wrote for Parker.

My Little Man

My little man just turned seven

He was a gift to us sent from heaven

It seems like just yesterday that you were born

It's you that I love and you that I adorn

Keep growing up the way that you are

In my eyes you will always be a star

You are very polite and a lot of fun

I'm sure glad God picked you to be our son.

Parker, Mommy and Daddy love you so much. We want you to always know that and remember that as you grow up. We love you, Buddy. Happy Birthday!!

Parker turns 7 Part 2

Here Parker relaxes as his friend Nathan K. gives him a back rub. Ahhhhhhh!
Parker, Nathan K. and Paul belt out a few tunes!!

Chillin' with some friends. L to R Josh, Luke in back, Parker, Jack D. Gage and Nathan S.

Parker, with his super rock star face on jammin' with his band and back up singer, Gage and Sara.

Some more rockin' and Rollin'

Parker Turns 7

I cannot believe that my baby is turning 7. His birthday is actually tomorrow on July 2nd, but we had his birthday party today. We had it at Ravinia, which is a place that holds concerts all summer. They have kids concerts during the day and other concerts at night. Today one of our favorite kids singers was there, so we knew it would be a perfect setting for our little singer's birthday party. One thing that is neat about Ravinia is that if you buy lawn seats you can basically bring in anything you want to picnic with, so we went all out. Parker has loved to sing from an early age, so he loves the show American Idol, so our theme was American Idol/Rock-n Roll. Here he is posing with his electric guitar cake. An awesome friend from church, named Anna Maria made it for him.

Here Parker and Jack U. are giving Justin Roberts thumbs up. They were all having a Rockin' time!!

Hangin' with some friends from school. Kasia and Parker met in Preschool and were in 1st grade together. Steven and Parker are buds.

Parker and I rockin' out to the song IT's YOUR BIRTHDAY by Justin Roberts. We had an incredible day. We had 25 kids and 13 adults, perfect weather, good music and great cake!! What else can you ask for? Well, for Parker it was the Cars Video game and Auntie Lynn filled that request.

I will post more pictures later.

I am a Triathlete!!

Well, folks, I did it. I can now say that I am a Triathlete. Below are my results. My goal was to to the Tri in under 3 hours. I did that. Another goal was to not be last in my age division. Did that too. :-) I will blog more about the actual event when I get home and can include some pictures. All I can say is it was AWESOME. I have just proven to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. I just wanted to thank you all for your support and encouragment through all of this. I could not have done it without you.


overall place:
1583 out of 1603

division place:
276 out of 277

gender place:
1583 out of 1604

time:
2:27:07

swim:
21:27

trans 1:
7:30

bike:
57:47:00

trans 2:
4:33

run:
55:53:00

Tomorrow is the big day!!

Well, this is it. My big day has finally arrived. Tomorrow is my first ever Triathlon. I am so excited and nervous rolled into one. I took some pictures today at the packet pick up and will blog after the big event. Please pray for me as my neck has been hurting this week, so I am a little nervous about the swim, but I know that I will be able to do it. I'll let you know how it goes. Gotta get to bed. Thank you everyone for your support. Much love, Melissa

A lot has been going on

As most of you know I did BIKE THE DRIVE on May 28th, 2006. This is where Chicago closes famous Lake Shore Drive for about 5 hours and opens it to bikers. It was a lot of fun. I considered this to be training for my triathlon. I will have to bike about 15 miles and did 30 in about 2 1/2 hours. I think I will be fine for my Triathlon. :-)

The picture above is of me on the train around 4:45am heading downtown. It was a lot of fun because the CTA changes their bike rules for the day, so at this point I was on the train with about 4 other bikers. Usually they only allow 2 bikes per car, but not today.

On the advice of some friends I started my ride heading north, so I could get the hills out of the way. Keith and I started out our marriage at 3600 N. Lake Shore Dr. I have spent countless hours driving in a car on Lake Shore Drive, so it was fun to pass our old stomping grounds on a bike. This is a self portrait of me with the tower we lived in behind. The tower right behind my head is the one that we lived in on the 13th floor. Ahhh, memoriesI finished the ride North and headed to the South. This route was much more fun because that is where all the sights are and it is less hilly. Here I am with Field Museum in the background.

This is my self portrait of me in front of Soldier Field. This is also where my chain came off. I was on the side of the road yelling, "Anyone know how to fix a chain?" Finally my Good Samaratin came along and helped me and I was back on my way. Next stop, Museum of Science and Industry and then back to Grant Park. I was trying to post more pictures, but I am having some trouble, so I will post more at a later date.

A lot more has been going on in my life, which is why I haven't posted on here in awhile.

First of all, I am back in college. I am taking 3 summer school classes. I am in Intermediate Algebra, Old Testament Survey and Non-Western Civilization. They are all interesting, but it is a lot to keep up with. I'm not sure what I was thinking signing up for 3 classes. In the fall I will be Trinity University student studying Elementary Education. I will be graduating Spring of 2008. Eeeeeeeeeeee!! I'm so excited. They have a face paced track I will be on. I will be in classes every Monday night from 6-10pm. The classes are all condensed, so the working person or mom can fit it into their schedule. It is a nice fit for me.

I have quit my preschool job and am taking a job in the fall being an aid for a little boy. I will be assisting him in Kindergarten. We have visited the school twice and it is a good match for us. It is montessori school, which both of my kids went to for preschool, so I am familiar with the philosophy of teaching, which will make for an easier transition.

My triathlon is on June 25th. Darlene and I are doing it together, so today we did a practice Tri. It was good, but tiring. It was almost 90 degrees and very humid. Luckily the Tri on the 25th will start early in the morning, so it shouldn't be as hot.

Tricia won a sweepstakes. She will honorary bat kid at tomorrow's (June 16) Cubs game. We have to go early, so she can watch batting practice from the dugout. She gets a hat, jersey, baseball, her name on the scoreboard, her name announced over the PA system and she gets to meet players. We are not allowed to go into the dugout, but we still get to be there with her and get to go to the game. As a Sox fan this is nice for me because the Cubs are playing the Detroit Tigers. That is the team that the Sox are trying to knock out of first place, so I need the Tigers to lose, so I will be a Cubs fan tomorrow.

After the Cubs game we drive to the airport to leave for Arizona for a week. Keith's Mom and Grandma live there and we haven't been in a couple of years, so it is time. We are all looking forward to it. I will blog when I get home.

I think that is pretty much the update and the life and times of Melissa. Until Next Time Keep on Keepin' On.

" I only have good days and great days." -Lance Armstrong

Funny Picture of Luke

Here is a cute picture of Luke. He just wouldn't let go of that Binky. Luke has been with his new Mommy and Daddy for just over a month now and everything is going great. We all love him very much. Thanks for letting me share. Later, Melissa

WW (Weight Watchers) Report and some new gear

Hi everyone,

Well, it's been a week since I've written, but I have great news. My official weigh in for the week of April 27-May 3rd was a weightloss of 6 pounds. I am so excited. I knew I had a good week, but didn't know it was that good, so I lost the weight I had gained plus a couple of pounds. It's really got me back in the right mind set again and really motivated. One thing I did during my great week was go and buy some new gear. I headed off to the local running store. I asked about 5 runners at the gym where they shop for running gear and 4 out of 5 runners said, DICK PONDS of Barrington.



A great gentleman named Bryan helped me find the perfect shoes for my silly 'ol feet, but there was just one little problem. He didn't have them in my size. I bought some socks and some sunglasses and headed to another location. I hopped in my car, with my new shades on and headed about 25 minutes south to DICK PONDS of Schaumburg, where a super lady named Kay helped me get all fitted for my shoes.

Here I am checking out my new running/biking shades in my car at a red light on the way to the Schaumburg store. No more bugs in my eyes anymore.

Here is my beautiful shoe. I bought BROOKS Adrenaline GTS 6. I have no idea what all that means, but that's for all you runners out there that care. I couldn't wait to get to the gym the next day.

Here is a picture of all my new gear. I got some very cool socks. Check out the pair with the bikes on them. I've already worn them biking and spinning. Cool.

The next day I headed out the door to the gym, stretched, hopped on the treadmill, walked a couple of minutes and then uped the speed. For some reason my new shoes did not make it any easier to run. I thought once you got the shoes you could just do it. :-) After 30 minutes of running/walking/panting/gasping I called it quits. I have done that again and it was a little easier. This time I walked/ran/panted, but no gasping this time. I was supposed to go and do this torture again yesterday, but my back went out Thursday night, so I haven't been able to bike, SLOG (slow jog) or swim at all, but I am not going to let this get me down. I will be back next week and I will run/walk even longer and better. I will keep you posted on my running adventures.

Another very cool thing I just signed up for today is called BIKE THE DRIVE 2006. For those of you familiar with Downtown Chicago there is a road called Lake Shore Drive that stretches out along our lakefront. On May 28th they will be closing it in both directions from 5am-10am and opening it to bikers. You can choose to do the 15 mile loop or the 30 mile loop. I will be doing the 30 mile loop. I will definetly be taking pictures and will blog about it. I was only going to the the 15 mile loop because that is how long my Triathlon bike will be, but I decided that I want to challenge myself to the 30 mile loop because I know that I can do it. I am very excited and cannot wait.

Until next time, Melissa

Weight Watchers Report

I cannot believe that another week has gone by. I am disappointed that I didn't get to the gym like I needed to and am bummed that I haven't been feeling well. Anywho, I really don't want to post this, but I will. . .My Official weigh in for the week of April 19-April 26th is a gain of 1.4. I will be back with a great report next week. You can count on it!! Later, Melissa

My first time clipping into my pedals HILARIOUS

Well, today was the day. I took my bike off my trainer and reintroduced it to the great outdoors. (For those of you who don't know a trainer is something you can hook your bike into so you can ride your bike indoors during the winter months. You know like a stationary bike, but it is actually your real bike.)

I have mentioned in previous post about my AWESOME biking shoes that I got this winter and have been using to clip into the pedals on the spinning bikes at the YMCA. (Again, if you need a refresher, these are shoes that actually attach to the pedals, so you are one with your bike. This way not only can you push down the pedals you can pull up as well causing the ride to be sooo smooth and you get more bang for you buck. If any of you biker people out there would like to give a more technical explanation please do so in the comment section, but alas, I digress. ) I decided today was the big day. I would be clipping into my bike for the first time outside. I have clipped in a few times on the trainer, but it is not quite the same. On the trainer you are held up, outside you are not.

So I'm all ready and get on my bike, grab onto my mirror on my mini van, balence and get my right foot all clipped in. I mean, this foot is not about to go anywhere, so I start biking and head into the local subdivision, so I can work on clipping in my left foot before hitting the open trails. Here I am riding around in circles, with a bunch of kids, trying my best to get my left foot in when I finally give up. I decide I will bike with one foot clipped in and keep working on it the whole ride, so I head off to the trail in the distance. I'm still working on the left foot when it goes in a little. I'm excited, so I start pulling up on the pedals and D'oh, my left foot comes out, so I try again, give up, stand up to get going fast and VIOLA, my left foot clips in. I'm so excited I almost fall over. I finally make it to the trail and have my sites set on a Dad and his kid in the distance. I think to myself, I WILL PASS THEM. I'm closing the gap and am all excited that I'm about to beat an 8 year old kid and his old man, when out of nowhere a bug flies into my right eye. I was so going to catch up and pass this kid and his Dad, but the bug incident slowed me down and then they take a left and I needed to go right, so I decide that it is time for me to stop and take a little rest and make sure my eye is ok. I realize my feet are still clipped into the pedals. Before falling over I manage to get my right foot out, but my left foot is stuck now.

I see a fellow biker riding really slow, I think he was making sure I was ok and I notice that he is clipped into his pedals wearing the same cool shoes I have. I asked him if he had a sec and he did so I asked him about clipping in and that my left foot felt stuck and he showed me how I could loosen the clip on the bike when I get home and we talked for a minute and then he wished me good luck and we were off. The exciting part is that when I got back on I was able to clip the right one in right away and the left one only took about 2 minutes this time, just in time for a big hill, well, not really that big, but I hadn't been riding in awhile, so it felt big. :-) I make my way home all proud of myself and make it to my driveway, almost fall over, and finally get my right foot out. I then realize that my left foot is REALLY stuck in the clip. I mean I was almost spraining my ankle just trying to get out of this pedal, so I wheel up by the front door and start yelling at the door, KEITH, KEITH, KEITH. No answer. So I start again, KEITH, KEITH, when I hear my son, Parker, yelling through the door, MOM, YOU OK OUT THERE? He doesn't bother to open the door, so I tell him to open the door and he does and I tell him to get Daddy, so Keith comes to the door and I say, Honey, I'm stuck in my bike and he gives me this priceless look, so I have him hold my bike and I'm almost breaking my ankle at this point (ok, that's a little exaggerated), so finally I have him undo the Velcro on my shoe and I take my foot out and really have to tug to get my shoe off my pedal. It was pretty funny and then when I walk in Parker says, MOM, good thing I was going potty, we never would have heard you." I was glad too. I really don't know how I would have gotten out because I had just raised my seat and I don't think I could have reached the velcro.

So, there is the story of my first time clipping in to my pedals. I wish I had a great falling over at 0 miles per hour story, but this one was fun and now it won't be so bad next time. If anyone has any advice, great stories or better technical explanations than I gave feel free to comment. Also I have written a couple Hiakus (Haikus are short poems that have 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line and then 5 in the third line. They are a lot of fun to write.) dedicated to the whole experience. If you would like to write a Haiku for me I would love to hear it too.

Shoes click into bike
I have fun getting them out
At least I fall not

Yelling at my door
I'm stuck in my bike no more
After Keith saves me

I like to bike ride
I like the wind in my hair
Don't like bug in eye

Have a great night.
Melissa

PS. Oh yeah, about the whole weight gain last week. I'm over and so remotivated after my bike ride tonight. It's great to be out in the fresh air again.

Weight Watcher Report

I had a rougher week than I realized. I knew that I had gained, but how much was a surprise. My official weigh-in for the week of April 12-19th was a gain of 2.6. I was very proud of myself because I didn't want to go and weigh-in, but I remembered that I blogged that I would be blogging my progress, so I didn't want to skip and have to blog about skipping the meeting, so I guess putting this on here really does hold me accountable. I know exactly what I haven't been doing and am so remotivated tonight in my journey. Gotta go get my prune boy out of the tub and in bed. Thanks for listening or should I say reading?

More Pictures of Luke

Here is little Luke. He is such a happy baby, well at least for 10 minutes. After he eats he is soooo happy and his Daddy calls it his 10 minutes of happiness.

Here I am with Little Luke. For those of you who don't know all my nephews and nieces call me Aunt Meepa. That is because when my 23 year old little brother was learning to talk he couldn't say Melissa, so it came out Meepa and it has stuck.

Here we are, proud Daddy and Proud Auntie. Ahhhh, he sleeps like a baby, wait a minute he is a baby!! If you would like to see more pictures please check out the proud Papa's blog at www.pastorkarl.com.

This is my 100th post and it's exciting!!

We have exciting news in our family. My brother, Karl, and his wife Sara are Parents. They have been praying for 10 years to have a baby and Easter Sunday their prayers have been answered. They are adopting a beautiful little boy named Luke Given. It is an exciting time for our whole family. Here is a great picture of Dad and Son. Enjoy! There will be more pictures to follow of my new little nephew. Have a blessed day!!

Pictures of the kiddos

Here is a picture of Parker right after he received his White Belt in Kung Fu. He received his uniform after this picture was taken. He now has 2 stripes. You need 10 stripes on your belt to move up to the next color.
Here is Parker with Shihan. Shihan is the title above the more commonly known Sensei. He is a great teacher and a great match with Parker. He is tough on him, but very kind as well. When Parker prays at night he always tells God how grateful he is for Shihan. This is right after he received his belt.

Here is Tricia on her first day of Skateboarding getting some advice from her teacher Anthony. She really likes him and he is very helpful and thinks it's cool that she's into boarding.

This next picture is of Anthony helping Tricia get ready to DROP IN. Lookin' good kid. Anthony got her feet already and was reassuring her that if she trusted him and leaned forward everything would be ok.

So she trusted him and DROPPED IN, literally. Hey, it's just the first week of class. She did Awesome and has been back to the Skate Park twice since class. She can't wait for me to take her to Kohl's where they have a line of Tony Hawk clothes. She also can't wait to get to the Skateboard store to check out the shoes. Who knows maybe we have a future X-gamer on our hands, afterall, she already has a snowboard on her Christmas list.

Weight Watchers

On wednesday nights I attend Weight Watcher meetings to help with my weight loss journey. I decided on Wednesday nights I will be posting if I gained, lost or maintained. I know that I need accountability in this area, so this will help me.

Official Weight Watchers Report For the week of April 6th-12th: Lost .2 pounds. The Weight Watchers scales are very accurate. :-) I will let you know next week how I did. Keep on keepin' on.

Later Gators,
Melissa

It's been over two months!!

Hi Everyone! I cannot believe that it has been over two months since I've blogged. As you can tell from my last post I was missing my Mom. I figured out that I haven't really grieved her and had a tough time there, but am doing better. I am doing better emotionally there, but had a setback with working out and weightloss. With my Triathlon right around the corner I am getting back in the swing of things. About 4 weeks ago I started swimming lessons. My teacher cracks me up and keeps lessons fun. I have my last lesson on Monday and will probably sign up for 5 more. This week I feel like it all clicked. I never realized how much there really is to swimming. I am going to get my bike off my trainer after Easter. The weather has been gorgeous, so it has been hard not to go biking, but I have 25 people coming over to my house on Easter and am distracted enough as it is. I don't need my bike to be an added one. :-) I'm starting a running program next week. It is called FROM THE COUCH TO A 5K IN SIX WEEKS. Considering I don't run yet this seemed like a good place to start. We will soon see. My goal for my first Triathlon is to finish and after that set time goals, so that's pretty much where I am on the Triathlon route.

One of my posts talked about my Friend, Chris in Iraq that was hurt. He has been home for awhile and is doing AWESOME. In fact as soon as he can get the doctor's ok, he will head back to Iraq as early as June. He still has guys over there so I understand that he wants to go, but don't like it. :-)

Tricia is doing great. She started Skatebording lessons last Saturday and is doing great. She is the only girl in her class, but has no problem with that and the teacers are great with her. I will be posting pictures soon.

Parker started Kung Fu about a month ago. He is a White Belt with 2 stripes. He loves it and it is teaching him great discipline. Again, I will post pictures of him soon.

I'm off to volunteer in Tricia's class. It feels great to be back. Blog more later, Melissa

My Mom and Me

I was cleaning through the basement and found this great picture of my Mom and Me. As most of you know my Mom, Patti, died 9 years ago this passed Christmas Morning. She was my everything and for some reason I am having a hard time with her being gone lately. I'm reading a book called Motherless Daughters, which is helping me work through this latest wave of grief. I've been praying a lot and reading my Bible, which is also helping. I think I figured out that my son losing his first 2 teeth probably sparked it this time. Please enjoy this picture of my Mom and Me. It has a glare on the picture, but it is a great one. :-)

Fun in Michigan Part 2

At the end of my Fun In Michigan post I put that you had to stay tuned for the highlight of the trip for me, so here it goes.

Parker has been dying to lose a tooth for the longest time and a couple of months ago he lost tooth #1. Recently he had been telling me that another tooth was loose. The Morning we were leaving for Michigan he showed me how loose his tooth was so we gave him an apple. No luck. I thought for sure he would lose it at school, but no such luck.

Afterschool we headed off to Michigan knowing that he would lose it on this trip. He was wiggling it with his tongue, but was getting to a point where he was starting to not eat because it hurt so bad. Daddy had even spent some time wiggling it for him.

At the end of our trip we went out for Ice Cream with Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jordan before leaving town.

After we were done with our Ice Cream we were sitting there visiting and I noticed that they sold ROCK CANDY so I bought the kids some telling Parker to bite down on it and his tooth will come out. He didn't want to, so finally I said, "Let Aunt Kelly take a look at it. She's a dental hygenist." So he actually let her wiggle it and pull it out. This picture is of her in action and the funny part was I closed my eyes while taking it because I couldn't look.

This picture is afterwards. Check out that smile!!

He was telling people the next day that his Auntie yanked out his tooth. He will always have this fun memory with his Auntie. Thanks Aunt Kelly for being a fun Aunt to our kids.

My Buddy in Iraq has been hurt and is on his way home!!

I wish this was a post about my kids or my triathlon training or how my weightloss is going, but it isn't. It's to let you all know that my friend, Chris, has been hurt in Iraq. If you have known me long enough you know Chris is a household name which is spoken daily. Tonight I logged on my computer to find an email that Chris had been hurt in Iraq. This was his 2nd deployment. He left before Christmas and was supposed to be there a year to a year and a half. Well, he is on his way home via Germany. Here is the blog post from his wife, Melissa.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

He's going to be okay.....
Hello again,Well, I guess this isn't the best way to inform everyone. I just didn't know how else to get this done in a timely manner other wise. I received a call from Chris this morning. He is in Baghdad waiting transfer to Germany then onto the states. He was out on patrol yesterday (it was around 3 a..m. My time) and his humvee was hit by an IED. His tank crew and him are fine. His driver had minor injuries. His loader has burns on his face and various parts of his body. His gunner who was standing up out of the top of the humvee has a pretty messed up ankle with burns to his face and some to his hands. Chris has burns to his neck, hands, shoulder, and various parts of his body. He had to get 18 stitches on the back of his head from where debris hit him. He is in pain but has lots of medication right now. He still has his up beat happy go lucky personality and trying to stay tuff for his guys. He said I am Superman I can't die....so you know he is hanging in there.From what I know right now they are sending him on to Germany tonight or tomorrow. Then he will be coming to San Antonio for burn treatments after that. I don't know what they will do from there. He said it all depends on how bad his burns really are and how fast he can recover.I am sorry to post like this but I just wanted everyone to know what is going on and I will post as soon as I get more information that I can share with you all.


I wanted to share some pictures with you so you could put a face with a name. Here is Chris with his kids the morning he left for Iraq. Blake and Destiney are hanging on to him and Mason is next to him freezing. It was 4:30 am. The next picture is of Chris and a 26 day old Iraqi baby. Sorry the picture is so tiny. This was how his wife put it on her blog and I don't know how to make it bigger. Keep scrolling down.
Here is Chris and the Iraqi police that they work with. Chris is the American that is kneeling down.

Here is Chris with a group of Iraqi kids. It's amazing how quickly they will follow you when you are feeding them sweet tarts. Look how beautiful these children are.

I just got done IMing Melissa, Chris' wife. I let her know how much I love them, how much I am praying for them and that I am letting all my friends and family know, so they can keep them in your prayers. Please pray specifically for her as she tells her children. She has not told them yet. She wants them to finish out their school week. Thank you so much for letting me share my friend with you. Please scroll down for a poem I wrote.My Internet Soldier turned friend-By Melissa

I have a friend named Chris, who is serving in Iraq

He is like a brother to me, but it wasn't like that when we met

See he was just a name in a computer data base

and I was a civilan in the crowd with no face

I signed on to a website, it was just another day

Said I wanted someone in Iraq that I could support in every way

The next day my email read, we've got a soldier for you named Chris

I read it over and over, no detail to miss

I started writing letters and sending packages to him

He responded back and that made me grin

I started talking and emailing his wife

I could tell after a while this was going to change my life

See as time marched on our friendship grew

I not only supported him, I supported his family too

Even after he got home after his first time there

We stayed in touch, we were friends now, we all cared

We talked about the kids and Chris' BIKE

We talked about Church and the things we liked

That's why when he got the call to go back

It was a lot harder, we had all become attached

See I used to tell people I met this soldier on the net

But not anymore, he's a friend and that's that

Fun In Michigan

This past weekend we went to see my little brother, Jordan and his wonderful wife, Kelly. They move to Toronto this next weekend. Jordan got a job for MLB.com as their beat writer for the Toronto BlueJays. I am really proud of him, but will miss Kelly and him when they move. WE had a lot of fun seeing them before they move.
The pictures are a little out of order, not sure why that happened. :-( We started off at a Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun. A highlight for me was going in the basement of the museum where they were having career day and getting to talk to a naturalist. After he was done talking he asked if anyone was scared of snakes. We answered no and he grabbed this huge python out of a rubbermaid container. That is my sister-n-law in the black sweater, Parker on her right and Tricia on her left. Keith is on the end in the striped shirt.


After the museum we went out to lunch, to some cute stores in downtown St. Joseph and then on to the bowling alley. Jordan and Kelly have a fierce rivarly going on at the lanes. Here are our results.

KELLEY'S LANES - ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN
GAME 1 Adults with no bumpers:FIRST: Kelly 129, SECOND: Keith 112, THIRD: Jordan 94, FOURTH: Melissa 74
Kids with bumpers: FIRST: Tricia 81, SECOND: Parker 80
GAME 2 Adults with no bumpers:FIRST: Jordan 123, SECOND: Kelly 116, THIRD: Keith 107, FOURTH: Melissa 78
Kids with bumpers:FIRST: Tricia 72, SECOND: Parker 68

No comments, I never said I was a good bowler and for the record the kids had bumpers so they did not beat me. :-)

Tricia waiting to see if she has success. Tricia and Parker were so cute. Parker would do these dances after throwing the ball. I think he was trying to will the ball towards the pins. We would clap even if he only got one pin down and he would cheer. He was soooo cute.
Parker back at the Museum having fun in a kaleidoscope mirror. I look at this and think, "AWW man, am I glad I don't have triplets."
Kelly and Jordan waiting for their turn. AWWWW aren't they soooo cute!!
Jordan in action. Just look at that form. I'm impressed. Jordan is so fun to bowl with. When he is not doing well, he gets all pouty and ticked off at himself. When he does well he gets this little grin. We are so competitive in our family. Luckily I just stink at bowling, so I didn't have to worry. :-) If you would like to see more pictures of our weekend in Michigan check out Kelly's Blog www.kellybastian.blogspot.com or for a more in depth coverage of our bowling see my Sport Journalist, brother's blog at www.jordanbastian.com and click on MY BLOG.

The highlight of the trip came right at the end. Stay tuned. . . .