The panda watch center. Amazing.
Lunch after we left the zoo…
And of course we were Pokemoning the whole day…and these are the two gyms we overtook!
Category Archives: JTOK
Family Costume Party!
Friends (the Brownes) invited us to a costume party and we hadn’t been to one in ages—and I’ve never been this thin—so I eagerly bought myself an awesome costume! I mean, I figured why not?!
So, you saw the sneak peek:
And Tom had a few costume options from previous years…but I had seen a friend do Cousin Eddie (from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and thought it was brilliant…so I picked up the pieces for that. And of course we had the two Pokémon kidlets.
On our way…
Ta da! Thankfully we had an unseasonably warm day and we were actually comfortable in these.
Who wore it better?! 🙂 The consensus was Tom, though Randy showed more nipple. 😀
I loved all our costumes but I really want to have a theme one year. We briefly tossed around being Team Rocket or Ash and Misty from Pókemon but the costumes were too expensive for what they were and I didn’t feel like creating them myself. Maybe next year will be the themed year.
Our themed hosts:
Even Squirtles need to eat.
And Pikachus need to potty. 🙂
I really lit up well in the black light…but I don’t think it even looks like me.
The kids had a blast—we barely saw them the whole time. They were playing in the yard and going on a treasure hunt with 20 other kids.
Black light paint!
The funny thing was that we were all thinking it was like 9-9:30 (it was dark and we were tired) and we looked at the time…and it was only like 6:45! Are we old or what? 🙂
Once the sun went down it quickly got chilly so they started a fire and we hung out there for a bit but then we called it a night and were home by 7:30. ARE WE OLD OR WHAT?! 🙂
My first trip to DC with the family!
The deal was they were Pokémoning and I was taking pictures!
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Washington Monument
World War II Memorial
Back at MLK.
Walking to the Jefferson Memorial.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Eleanor Roosevelt at the FDR Memorial
A long line of ducks.
At Katie’s castle, otherwise known as the Jefferson Memorial!
We stopped to take over a gym!
Bingo night!
Owen and Colton
We didn’t win any of the bingo games, but they were giving away free pizzas at the end of the night so both boys got one!
Family mini golf!
I had a coupon that we needed to use (which I also bought last year but we missed out on) so I was determined to NOT miss it again…so we went today since it was sunny and daddy had the day off! Katie didn’t want to go because she thought it was going to be super buggy like when we went with Grannie in the UP this past summer!
It was interesting because there had just been a huge windy and kinda stormy day so the entire course was literally COVERED with huge acorns! We started to clean them off but it was really a lost cause because each hole had anywhere from 20 to 300 little hazards on it and we were spending more time cleaning than playing! So we just moved the big tree branches and had more fun with the little hazards!!
I got a hole in one here!
And then I decided to record the kids playing one hole—Katie went first:
And then Owen started before I could start recording again…and he got a hole in one! STINKER!
Pouting about who knows what.
Okay. Happy again.
Even with my hole in one, Daddy ended up beating me by 2 strokes (59 to my 61), Owen was third with 67 (which was actually quite impressive, though we were quite generous with counting his strokes), and Katie was last with an unofficial 76 (she pretty much drags the ball to the hole).
Of course we ended the trip with a Pókemon hunt around the campground and marina…which I think they were more excited about. 🙂
Halley’s first spirit day!
Black and gold for everyone! (Katie and I were planning on going to the morning program so we dressed for it as well. Also, I was excited to finally wear fall clothes!)
Since daddy was home this morning we got him in a pic, too—but he wasn’t spirited.
And then at school! Can you see Owen?
Two family selfies
As we headed off for Owen’s Lego build, we tried two selfies. Sometimes they’re awesome, sometimes they’re just okay. Today was just okay. 🙂
Pirate’s Cove, Take 2, NO POOP!
We convinced Tom to take the day off work to come play with us!! We were there right when they opened, so I tried to take a bunch of pictures quick before the background was overrun with people!
Owen wasn’t thrilled with stopping to get his picture taken!
I even went down the slide!
A Pokémon gym was right at the entrance, so Tom took Owen over to battle!
I didn’t have my camera with me when we were closer, so this is a quick pic from the other side of the park. I even went down the red slide! (I have to admit, I was actually a little nervous at the top—I haven’t been on a slide in a long time—but it was fun!) We never did get Katie to go on it, which is a bummer because I know she would have loved it! (As it was, I had to practically BRIBE her to go down the little blue slide above—she wanted NO part of it. But once she did it, she loved it!)
So we had a nice, relaxing day…and best of all, there were no poop incidents!!
Last day of princess ballet camp!
They had a little 10-minute show for us at pickup. They had the girls bring in princess dresses to change into. 🙂
A rarity: post-pool family cuddle time.
We’re on top of the world!
None of us had ever been up Brockway Mountain, so we did that after mini golf.
Owen took a selfie!
Len Christmas 2014 and 2016
I didn’t even notice that Owen is wearing the same outfit—my mom pointed it out! (I did buy it in two sizes, though, so it might not actually be the exact outfit!)
Birthday treats!
Dairy Queen (plus I got my Vacation Bucket List Blizzard!), the park, Pokemon hunting for Owen, splashing and throwing rocks in the river, a walk around the neighborhood with Gramma, and then a Gramma cuddle. 🙂
I thought she’d like sticking her feet in the river but she whined that it was TOO COLD! (It felt like bath water to me!)
Len Christmas in July, Year 3
This year our celebration was at Rose & Jim’s cottage on Houghton Lake. The weather started out a bit sketchy—chilly and windy—but within an hour it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a perfect day with lots of delicious food, fun watching the kids, a fun gift exchange, and conversation!
I’m only posting this picture because it’s the first “in the wild” picture of me that’s been taken and…I had ZERO idea who it was when I first saw it!
Hitting a box of $5 garage sale golf balls into the canal—well, trying to get them across the canal onto the island but not many made it there. 🙂
This happened quite a bit!
Katie wanted to fish…but only for about 32 seconds at a time and then she was off doing something else.
Alex caught the first fish!
Feeding the ducks off the back of the pontoon!
Going out to hunt for turtles for turtle races!
Apparently the tradition is to kiss the first fish you catch… What a sport!
At first, Katie wanted nothing to do with the boat—she didn’t even want someone to set her on the boat! But after the second trip she was jumping onto the boat herself and loving every minute of it! Owen loved it, too!
They caught a previously-caught-and-tagged turtle—no one here is C.B. 🙂
Owen said fishing was boring—we told him yes, it was. He’s used to fishing at the Fish Hatchery where the fish pretty much jump in your bucket. 🙂
Aubrey tagged her turtle!
I lined the kids up for their annual shot and didn’t even realize until afterward—when Aubrey pointed it out—that I did it wrong! She told me “I’m older than Owen!” And I agreed with her and then realized they had been in the wrong order!
Nick is 12, Owen is 7. Nick had the slight edge on Owen last summer and it looks very similar again this year…though I think Owen gained a very tiny bit on him. We didn’t set them on flat ground so we can’t be 100% sure.
In the right order! Katie (4), Owen (7), Aubrey (8), Gracie (10), and Nick (12).
All of the cousins: Jessica (an upcoming senior), Alex (an upcoming freshman), then Nick, Gracie, Aubrey, Owen, and Katie.
Maggie was FASCINATED with the turtles!
Marge gifted all us girls with one of her ostrich eggs!
Turtle races!
Trying to scoop up the golf balls that rolled in the canal!
It was exciting for everyone when Greg caught this huge dogfish! (Katie is still talking about it days later!)
We celebrated Katie’s birthday a day early!
And Aubrey’s two days early!
Uncle Timmy diving for turtles!!
The second run of turtle races (after they went out on the boat to get more turtles)!
Owen’s turtle winning the second race!
And a Then & Now throwback picture:
Family, fun, and fireworks!
We decided to try a new location for watching fireworks this year—the equestrian center just up the road.
Owen saw a first-grade friend so he played with us for a bit.
A perfect viewing ditsnce for the kids as it wasn’t loud enough to bother them!
Let’s go to the movies!
A shirt from the shopping trip I had with my friend a few months ago (that I haven’t worn yet) and one of my new XS (!!) Lularoe maxi skirts!
It’s still feels a little weird to be “dressing up” just to go to the movies, but this is what I wanted—it’s not really dressing up, it’s just looking put together. 🙂
Getting ready to see Finding Dory and splurge on delicious hot buttered movie popcorn!
Happy family on our way to see friends for dinner!!
I absolutely love it when a quick spur of the moment picture turns out perfectly. 🙂
And one of my new dresses since I rarely have occasion to dress up.
Workhouse Carnival, Year 2
Opening day was the only day we could go, so off we went!
My first carnival ride in who knows how long! It was Owen’s first time on this ride and while he didn’t love it (it went a little fast, he didn’t like going backwards, and he didn’t like the loud siren), he was a trooper!
This is him listening to the ride after we got off:
Katie wanted to do the fun house…amd was super excited ablit it…
Running into it, still excited…
And about 10 seconds later, this is where it ended—when she refused to try climbing up the rope netting to the next level.
So after trying to convince her to just try it, she turned around and walked out. She actually got her tickets back, though, so that was a bonus. Then both kids DESPERATELY wanted to grab the ducks to get stupid cheap crappy toys. Ugh. It was $5 for three ducks, so we chose that—except, of course, if TWO kids want to share grabbing the three ducks, it’s $6. SERIOUSLY? So then they both picked swords. We explained to Owen that this was exactly like Chuck E. Cheese with the dollar store toys that weren’t worth what you paid for them and he could have gotten SIX of the identical swords had we just bought them. Hopefully it sinks in like the Chuck E. Cheese lesson finally did. But they were happy.
Then Katie wanted to go on the carousel. Owen didn’t, of course (they didn’t like any of the same rides), so she did it by herself, sitting on the seat because she wants NOTHING to do with sitting on an animal.
After which we took our family photo:
And Katie’s last ride:
And Owen’s last ride:
Of course they didn’t want to leave, but we had blown through $30 in tickets and games in a half hour so we were done. If they really liked the rides I would be more willing to buy more tickets, but they honestly just want the cheap crappy toys so I’m MUCH less willing to pay for that.
Memorial Day cookout at the pool!
Otherwise known as Day 3 of 3. 🙂
We had a super fun four hours at the pool for the Memorial Day Cookout! We were there as soon as they opened and it was GLORIOUSLY empty—and quiet—as we were the only ones there! (We were there so early because we know the pool gets CRAZY when they offer free food—everyone and their brother who never come to the pool all summer otherwise show up for the free burgers, chips, and pop 🙄 —and we wanted to be sure to get good seats.) The forecast had called for rain all day, so we were excited that the weather held out and was actually very nice. The sun even came out to warm things up just enough for me to take a quick dip in the pool and take some pics with the waterproof camera! It eventually clouded over but it never rained!
We made her get out of the pool and dry off because her lips were blue and she was very visibly shivering—even though she didn’t want to. Yep, she’s definitely my daughter—that’s exactly how I used to be!
After two towels and some snacks, she was ready to go again!
Katie and her friend Ainsley (they will be moving later this summer). 🙁
The huge crowd (which my pic doesn’t really even do justice)—which we will only see for the cookouts today, July 4th, and Labor Day.
Lunch with the good character!
We surprised Owen at lunch today!
It was difficult trying to get a pic so this was the best one. 🙂
Us: January 16, 2015 & 2016
Facebook has a feature that shows you what you posted on this day in past years. So, tonight I learned that one year ago we took a family picture (the day we all went to the Pentagon to see Tom get his award):
So we took a similar one tonight:
I posted this on Facebook:
I liked what my friend said:
Our snowflake ornaments up close!
These are the snowflake ornaments we all painted at Owen’s school before Christmas.
Go Sparty!
She’s in Owen’s old jersey/pants outfit since her cheerleading outfit is getting very short.
This is what it’s always like trying to get both of them to pose:
I got Owen in one shot:
Everyone in Sparty green, even though you can’t see mine.
Daddy’s Day Off, Part 2
I completely spaced on it being school break time (duh, that’s why Owen was able to go!) and the aquarium was a nightmare. I have never seen that many people there…and we skipped about 70% of the stuff because we didn’t want to wait or push through the hordes to get to the displays. Ugh. We’ve been super spoiled the past few times we’ve gone and it was (for all purposes) empty.
On the escalator to another level.
Another escalator!
The frog displays were very busy. I didn’t get many pics.
Trying for a desktop wallpaper.
And one my favorites…jellyfish!
More attempts at computer wallpaper!
We had planned on having lunch beforehand at our favorite, Capital Grille, except we were there too early and they weren’t open…so we planned to do it after. But…as we were walking through the last part of the aquarium, we looked out across the water and saw Family Meal, a Bryan Voltaggio (Top Chef contestant) restaurant. I actually remembered I had a coupon for there, so we decided to try it.
We started with chicken pot pie fritters (delish!), Tom ordered biscuits and gravy (I might have been tempted except it came with over easy eggs on it which didn’t sound good to me), Rob got meatloaf, and I ordered fried chicken and this is the dish it came in. 🙂 It was yummy but a little expensive for what it was…but I’m glad we went.
And then this happened on the way home.
Christmas Eve!
Getting ready to bake cookies for Santa!
Fresh-baked cookies and a Christmas shooter (vanilla egg nog) for Santa!
Owen wanted to put his new Lego creation out for Santa.
Christmas jammies and Santa hats…
Along with lots of outtakes!
One good family picture out of about 15 attempts!
Uncle Grob!
And then a ticklefest ensued.
Sparty green day!
Even Maggie!
Gov. Snyder proclaims Friday ‘Spartan Green Day’
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proclaimed Friday as “Spartan Green Day” in honor of the No. 5 Michigan State football team.
The celebratory day in Michigan is one day before the Spartans play No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis.
Nutcracker!
I saw a link on Facebook for VetTix so went to check it out—and ended up getting free tickets for the Nutcracker! (If you are Currently Serving or a Veteran use my link to sign up and earn 15 coins!)
I had never seen the Nutcracker before, so it was going to be a new experience for me, as well (Tom had seen it many, many years ago). Once we told the kids and told Katie she was going to see ballerinas, she was ALL IN. Of course, she wanted to wear a ballerina-esque dress. I didn’t bring out any of her actual ballerina outfits because I am 100% sure she would have chosen that. As it was, this was a brand new dress so she was VERY excited.
I’m thankful I read the synopsis beforehand because otherwise I would have been completely lost. As it was, I was still a little confused, and was surprised there wasn’t more actual ballet. Both kids did very, very well considering the first act was an hour long. After Katie took a bathroom break, she said she wanted to dance, so I told her to go right ahead…and then daddy and Owen came back from their bathroom break and she danced in the aisle!
The second half had MUCH more ballet than the first and was more impressive…and Katie was entranced, sitting on the edge of her seat for almost the whole thing. I, on the other hand, learned that ballet is really not my thing. But overall it was a nice afternoon out yet away from any hustle and bustle of Black Friday!
Let’s get this game over so we can get home and watch Sparty!
I ran out of time at home before the t-ball game to set up the tripod to take our picture, so we grabbed an MSU-alum (a dad!) at the game. 🙂
I’m wearing Tom’s jersey…because mine is way too big! 🙂
Apparently it’s family couch day.
Tom is watching the MSU game, Katie is watching a movie on the iPad, Owen is watching the game and Katie’s movie, and I’m writing the blog (with Maggie on my lap).
A new family picture!
Tom was home this morning…because he was going to surprise Owen at school for Morning Program (Owen was getting a Good Character award—which was also a surprise for him!). So I took advantage of us all being home to snap a new pic! It turned out great!
These were the other pics I snapped beforehand. You see what trying to get a picture of the kids together can be like? Not one “good” one in the bunch. 🙂
