Thursday, September 26, 2013
Happy Birthday Tom!!
Happy Birthday (only 2 days late) Tom!!
This year it was a weekend birthday celebration. I surprised him but that's another blog. I'll let him fill you in:)
We just wanted to say...Tom, we love you, we bless and we are glad you are in our lives.
Tom is amazing. He is not only a great dad and partner but he's a great friend and neighbor. AND...he's a great cook on his way to being a great chef (only 90 days until he's got his chef certificate!! woo hoo!!)
Tom is funny, smart, athletic, flexible, caring, loving, thoughtful, messy, cuddly, handy and friendly.
As Kay would say ...'he's a friend to all'. and... 'Dreams DO come true on birthdays'. and... 'I have him wrapped around my little finger'.
Happy Birthday Tom!!
(shout out to Rica and Wade - Happy Birthday to Tom's birthday buddies!!)
Friday, September 20, 2013
A quick visit and a total blow-out
This past weekend Grandpa Jim and Grandma Bunny stopped by on their way home from their 2 week tour of western Canada and Alaskan cruise. They had a blast and although Grandpa Jim had a cold, as well as half the crew on the ship, the trip was totally worth it. We had a technical issue trying to view the photos via electronics so when we get together at Christmas we can see the paper or as they say these day's 'the hard copy'.
The trip was full of many great experiences for them however, they said their trip via bus to deep into the Denali was the best part. I will let you hear from them as to their experiences. Suffice it to say they enjoyed themselves, which we are glad!
The weekend was fairly mundane as far as the Loudamericans go, neighborhood blow-out Friday night, where Tom was the guest Chef and deep fried a Turkey and a chicken, smoked two chickens and BBQed a couple of pounds of steak. I guess when the word is out that you are about to graduate from Chef school.. why cook yourself? Tracy asked why we weren't just hosting the party since we did all the cooking and tehn realized....clean up! Best of all worlds, make a messy yummy mess for 30 people in someone else house. Brilliant! The kids had fun and young James (who is trying out for yet another baseball team) was a late arrival and unfortuantly did not make the team. But... what time does he have?! It's FOOTBALL SEASON, and fantasy football where he is competing with half of Target Canada and he is the one to beat, quite funny.
Billy is now deep into taekwondo training with two tournaments coming up.He is now training for 3 extra hours on Saturday and it's paying off! Kay is into 12 hours of gymnastics a week and was the center of attention when she pulled off some crazy move, that no other kid in the class can do! So much so that all the other coaches stopped their practice to come watch her and she was just ... "oh well that old move? " Seoul Olympics here we come!
Sunday is football around here. Carb loading around 10:30, Gatorade around 11:00 and off to the field. Jimmy was given a talking to a couple weeks back and was almost placed on the bench for not being aggressive enough. We feel sorry for the other teams because since that talk he has been a beast. The game was against the Guelph Bears and they were supposed to be a good team with depth and speed. Well, without reliving the whole game, late in the third quarter we had to punt, Jimmy made a huge tackle and laid out the other kid, caused a fumble and we had the ball back on their 35. One play from scrimmage touchdown. The Grizzlies had only 8 offensive plays in the whole game, held the Bears to 2 first downs, scored 2 defensive touchdowns and won 55 to 0, against a team with depth and speed, the kids are playing out of their minds.
All good things must come to an end so Monday morning the kids headed off to school and Grandma and Grandpa headed home. We will see them at Christmas and it was fun to have them see the kids in all their athletic glory!
Now it is our honor (and I must say privilege) to report a truly heartwarming story. I do not want to get into to many details of our friends personal lives as you never know who know what or what people want to be know about themselves. However since I received this in an e-mail I could not help but share:
"We are very proud to let you know that this morning, on September 19th, 2013, two new members of our family arrived!
Victor Ferraz entered the world at 8:39am, weighing 6 pounds and 9 ounces with a length of 19.5 inches. Like the rest of the men in the family, he is handsome, strong and healthy. Sofia Jeanne-Marie followed her brother a minute later at 8:40am, incredibly at the same weight, 6 pounds and 9 ounces, with a length of 20 inches. She is a perfectly beautiful little girl.
Katie, our sister-in-law, has been our partner on this journey. She did wonderfully throughout the pregnancy and the delivery, and this morning is recovering. We feel amazingly blessed that Katie cared for & carried our babies so well the last nine months and gave them the best start they could ever have. We are filled with gratitude toward Katie and Mateus for their grace and generosity throughout this process.
JoAnne and Lucas"
Miracles happen every day. Look around you:) Embrace them, and God Bless!!!
The trip was full of many great experiences for them however, they said their trip via bus to deep into the Denali was the best part. I will let you hear from them as to their experiences. Suffice it to say they enjoyed themselves, which we are glad!
The weekend was fairly mundane as far as the Loudamericans go, neighborhood blow-out Friday night, where Tom was the guest Chef and deep fried a Turkey and a chicken, smoked two chickens and BBQed a couple of pounds of steak. I guess when the word is out that you are about to graduate from Chef school.. why cook yourself? Tracy asked why we weren't just hosting the party since we did all the cooking and tehn realized....clean up! Best of all worlds, make a messy yummy mess for 30 people in someone else house. Brilliant! The kids had fun and young James (who is trying out for yet another baseball team) was a late arrival and unfortuantly did not make the team. But... what time does he have?! It's FOOTBALL SEASON, and fantasy football where he is competing with half of Target Canada and he is the one to beat, quite funny.
Billy is now deep into taekwondo training with two tournaments coming up.He is now training for 3 extra hours on Saturday and it's paying off! Kay is into 12 hours of gymnastics a week and was the center of attention when she pulled off some crazy move, that no other kid in the class can do! So much so that all the other coaches stopped their practice to come watch her and she was just ... "oh well that old move? " Seoul Olympics here we come!
Sunday is football around here. Carb loading around 10:30, Gatorade around 11:00 and off to the field. Jimmy was given a talking to a couple weeks back and was almost placed on the bench for not being aggressive enough. We feel sorry for the other teams because since that talk he has been a beast. The game was against the Guelph Bears and they were supposed to be a good team with depth and speed. Well, without reliving the whole game, late in the third quarter we had to punt, Jimmy made a huge tackle and laid out the other kid, caused a fumble and we had the ball back on their 35. One play from scrimmage touchdown. The Grizzlies had only 8 offensive plays in the whole game, held the Bears to 2 first downs, scored 2 defensive touchdowns and won 55 to 0, against a team with depth and speed, the kids are playing out of their minds.
All good things must come to an end so Monday morning the kids headed off to school and Grandma and Grandpa headed home. We will see them at Christmas and it was fun to have them see the kids in all their athletic glory!
Now it is our honor (and I must say privilege) to report a truly heartwarming story. I do not want to get into to many details of our friends personal lives as you never know who know what or what people want to be know about themselves. However since I received this in an e-mail I could not help but share:
"We are very proud to let you know that this morning, on September 19th, 2013, two new members of our family arrived!
Victor Ferraz entered the world at 8:39am, weighing 6 pounds and 9 ounces with a length of 19.5 inches. Like the rest of the men in the family, he is handsome, strong and healthy. Sofia Jeanne-Marie followed her brother a minute later at 8:40am, incredibly at the same weight, 6 pounds and 9 ounces, with a length of 20 inches. She is a perfectly beautiful little girl.
Katie, our sister-in-law, has been our partner on this journey. She did wonderfully throughout the pregnancy and the delivery, and this morning is recovering. We feel amazingly blessed that Katie cared for & carried our babies so well the last nine months and gave them the best start they could ever have. We are filled with gratitude toward Katie and Mateus for their grace and generosity throughout this process.
JoAnne and Lucas"
Miracles happen every day. Look around you:) Embrace them, and God Bless!!!
Friday, September 13, 2013
A year later...
We have been so busy lately that we didn't even realize that we have been in Toronto for over a year! YIKES!
The past year has been full of new things for all of us, new school for the kids, new job for Tracy, Chef school for Tom, different dog food for Nikki,, she basically has the same routine lets face it. She's a dog, sleep, eat, walk, poop, repeat, she has it made.!
(Picture taken at the Toronto Zoo September 2012)
The kids on the other hand have been busy growing, learning and for the most part not complaining as much, which is nice. Jimmy is way into music lately and has even come out of his music shell and telling people at school he is a drummer, which is a way big deal for him. In fact the music teacher is so blown away that Jimmy is now teaching new riffs tot he 8th graders wanted to learn drums. He is interested in playing the trumpet this year just for the heck of it but the music teacher is not having any of it! He is was deep into football. The coaches were a bit concerned about his lack of physical play and told him he needed to step it up or he may not be in the starting line up, and boy did he listen. The last game they creamed the other tem and Jimmy lead they way, he has earned his starting spot!
Kay is now in gymnastics 12 hours a week, 3 4 hour shots and comes home and can barely make it to the coach. She is going to compete in 5 competitions this year and jumped from level 2 to level 4 and let me tell you the kid is ripped. She has been going non stop and I think her body is telling her she needs more protein because she has been eating hamburgers twice a day for the last week, seriously she is off seaweed and on beef! School is just starting to shape up , she has a couple of new as well as several old friends and she is doing great. Meanwhile stay out of her way in the kitchen, she has to be creating something constantly. I think we have got her to realize that during the school year she can cook on the weekend, so this weekend she is planning on making, desert pizza. Rice Cripspies as the crust, red frosting as the sauce and chocolate chips and M&Ms as the toppings along with whipped cream, just because.
( Picture taken at the Toronto Zoo 2013)
Billy is in the middle of Taekwondo training. He has to tournaments coming up in late September and late October and he is dead set on keeping his metal streak alive. Billy lucked out at school as he now in 3rd grade has the same entire class as last year and the same teachers his response to how was school today Bill?, awesome. He was recently on a bike ride with Tracy and they were taking about life and all it has to offer when Tracy turned to Bill and said, what are you thinking? He replied, nothing, then a moment later he said " that's impossible, you cant think about nothing, once you do you really are thinking of nothing which is something". The other Tracy was asking Billy some questions that he answered all with, I don't know and then after some contemplation he said you know what Mom I do know 3 things today, I don't know much, its a beautiful day and I need to exercise more. So Tracy's talked him into a walk and they were leaving the house he turn and yelled to Kay, " Stay out of the kitchen and don't burn the house down! Kids say the darndest things, where do they hear this stuff??? more to come.....
The past year has been full of new things for all of us, new school for the kids, new job for Tracy, Chef school for Tom, different dog food for Nikki,, she basically has the same routine lets face it. She's a dog, sleep, eat, walk, poop, repeat, she has it made.!
(Picture taken at the Toronto Zoo September 2012)
The kids on the other hand have been busy growing, learning and for the most part not complaining as much, which is nice. Jimmy is way into music lately and has even come out of his music shell and telling people at school he is a drummer, which is a way big deal for him. In fact the music teacher is so blown away that Jimmy is now teaching new riffs tot he 8th graders wanted to learn drums. He is interested in playing the trumpet this year just for the heck of it but the music teacher is not having any of it! He is was deep into football. The coaches were a bit concerned about his lack of physical play and told him he needed to step it up or he may not be in the starting line up, and boy did he listen. The last game they creamed the other tem and Jimmy lead they way, he has earned his starting spot! Kay is now in gymnastics 12 hours a week, 3 4 hour shots and comes home and can barely make it to the coach. She is going to compete in 5 competitions this year and jumped from level 2 to level 4 and let me tell you the kid is ripped. She has been going non stop and I think her body is telling her she needs more protein because she has been eating hamburgers twice a day for the last week, seriously she is off seaweed and on beef! School is just starting to shape up , she has a couple of new as well as several old friends and she is doing great. Meanwhile stay out of her way in the kitchen, she has to be creating something constantly. I think we have got her to realize that during the school year she can cook on the weekend, so this weekend she is planning on making, desert pizza. Rice Cripspies as the crust, red frosting as the sauce and chocolate chips and M&Ms as the toppings along with whipped cream, just because.
( Picture taken at the Toronto Zoo 2013)
Billy is in the middle of Taekwondo training. He has to tournaments coming up in late September and late October and he is dead set on keeping his metal streak alive. Billy lucked out at school as he now in 3rd grade has the same entire class as last year and the same teachers his response to how was school today Bill?, awesome. He was recently on a bike ride with Tracy and they were taking about life and all it has to offer when Tracy turned to Bill and said, what are you thinking? He replied, nothing, then a moment later he said " that's impossible, you cant think about nothing, once you do you really are thinking of nothing which is something". The other Tracy was asking Billy some questions that he answered all with, I don't know and then after some contemplation he said you know what Mom I do know 3 things today, I don't know much, its a beautiful day and I need to exercise more. So Tracy's talked him into a walk and they were leaving the house he turn and yelled to Kay, " Stay out of the kitchen and don't burn the house down! Kids say the darndest things, where do they hear this stuff??? more to come.....
Friday, September 06, 2013
The Basil's Arrive! & School Day 1
We had well laid plans to meet Tammy, Jeff, Georgia, Joey and Herby at a place called Pinery, a campground 3.5 hours from each of us however the best laid plans... With to many moving parts we decided to abort the camping trip and Tammy & Jeff made the journey from Grand Haven to Toronto, all the kids were upset about not being able to camp and the adults were excited to sleep in a real bed, age and youth the old debate!In record time for both travel and border crossing they arrived unharmed around 7:00 on Friday night and the fun began. In order to offer the best of both worlds we set the tent up in the backyard, the kids moved all of their worldly belongings into it and began fighting as to who and who not was a member of the elite "camping club", really. We had a great night catching up. eating awesome smoked tenderloin, mashed potatoes infused with smoked garlic, baby back ribs, fresh green beans and of course fresh cold beverages! The sun went down and the moon came up and the camping club began to waver and by the time the dust settled the tent was empty and the basement was full!
Saturday morning was a bust time as Jimmy headed off to football, Tammy and Tracy to get pedicures Tom, Jeff and the rest of the kids had coffee and organized the leftover chaos from the evening before. Lunch was served, backpacks were filled, sunscreen was not liberally applied and we were off to explore Toronto. First stop the historic Lawrence Market, which is a city itself. Vendors from all over the world have fresh produce, meats, cheeses and prepared culinary delights for sampling and enticing one into their web. The kids moaned and groaned at first then finally got into it and we had fun seeing all the different ethnic foods and wares.
The trip to Center or as they say 'round here, Centre, Island is a hit or miss kind of event. There is rally only one way to get there and that is by boat. You have a couple of boating options, big public fairy type boat, small boat taxi, renting a manually operated boat, you cannot however swim. The lines for the boat dictate whether we stay or go, this time we were fortunate and the was no line and we made the journey with ease. The Island has many options, an amusement park, swimming/ splash pad, several beaches, electric trams, and picnic areas. No trip to the island is compete without a photo opportunity with a deranged looking batman and whomever his green side kick is!We wondered around, found the small petting zoo, the kids finally gave in and swam in Lake Ontario, we spend an arm and a leg for 5 ice creams and then headed off to our new favorite place, Jack Astor's for dinner, beverages and sports on the 300+ TV's the seem to have. The tent was a repeat of the previous night and again the basement was full.
Sunday was a big breakfast followed by Jimmy's first football game of the season. The excitement was building and the Grizzlies took the field, the whistle blew and we were off the Grizzlies' Football 2013! The team was in awesome shape, played extremely well and at the half were up 18 to 6. Jimmy is playing tight end as well as on special teams and also 2nd string linebacker. He only had one offense opportunity however the throw was way behind him. The Grizzlies' won 28 to 12 and the opening day was a success. The afternoon was full of a whole lot of nothing as they kids just wanted to play and hang out, so that's what we did. We ended the weekend with the traditional Hickey family fare, Challupa's, awesome.( Basement 3, tent 0)
Monday morning was spent packing up saying goodbye and planning our next vacation, Christmas, skiing, skating and lobster tails! The Basil's set out for home and the Loud Americans began the end of the summer ritual, packing the backpack. In keeping with tradition we had an full scale Indian Feast for dinner complete with butter chicken, Channa Masala, beet root, chapatti, rice and Dal. Tuesday came rushing up at us as everyone hopped out of bed at 6:30 ready to go to school. 6:30! The kids were all excited to see their schoolmates and catch up. It was a great summer, fast, fun and furious!Happy back to school to everyone and enjoy! more to come...
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Happy Birthday Jimmy & Sue and OMG its R5
It is nice that in this ever changing world in which we live in some things never change and one big one is that Sue and Jimmy celebrate their birthdays together! Sue made the trip from Green Bay and arrived in Toronto to kick off the celebration weekend, and what a celebration it was!!!
This year Jimmy is doing his birthday in 3 part harmony, so to speak. He decided that since most of his friends are away at camp that he would have his actual birthday after school starts so that he can maximize the gift potential. Then as a result of that decision he had a sleep over with three of his baseball buddies, because they go to a different school and once school., starts they will be busy. And finally... it came down to part three with the family and Sue! Football practice took precedence over the birthday dinner and having a chef for a Dad, Jimmy was given the option of choosing anything he wanted for dinner and he chose... Mom's Pot Pie's. Kids brilliant when it comes down to household management issue, 'just saying'. Jimmy is in the tough age for presents, gone are the days of a bunch of toys, a few sweets, sealing wax and other fancy stuff. A successful birthday, in are the expensive electronics items which will give way to things like a car, trips to sunny beaches, season tickets to.... where is Puff the Magic Dragon....
Friday Tracy took the afternoon off and we headed downtown to the always entertaining Busker Fest. The City of Toronto along with Scotia Bank present this festival and the proceeds go to the fight against Epilepsy. This year was no different. We wandered around, catching the sights and scents off the street and then lucked out finding a spot in front of the make shift stage. First up we saw a fella by the name of Scott Johnson, who you may say is he, well only the raining Beat Box champion of Canada that's who! Jimmy was mesmerized at the sounds and noises and beats this guy belted out using only his vocal cords, amazing. Then it was back home for Sue's birthday and favorite dinner spaghetti, meat sauce and crusty bread!
Sue chose a trip to the zoo so Saturday (after football & a much needed massage for Tracy) we were off to see the Panda's and the other less drawing but equally cool inhabitants of the Toronto Zoo. Pulling into the parking lot the entire car fell silent as we were directing past not one but two FULL parking lots and into the dreaded zone 3.
We braced ourselves for crowds and headed towards the main gate. We had decided one of the adults would stand in the Panda line while the others wandered the zoo and check out the animals. Much to our surprise there was no line, no line...really... lets go!!!. The Pandas were just doing what Pandas do which is eat bamboo, make room for more bamboo and then eat more, quite simple really.Then we explored some areas of the zoo we had not seen before because this would be our last rip to the zoo as members, being we chose to keep our Science Museum membership, much more useful in the winter! The kids rounded off our zoo experience with a couple hours in the cool calming waters of the Amazon or locally known as the zoo splash pad and then it was off to our friends the Clark's. Russ and Kim have three awesome kids, Maddie, Ryan and Adam, they live a couple block from us and we had a great night of kids running in the back yard, parents relaxing and enjoying a very nice night.
Sunday morning we had a free pass from any sports or kid related events so we slept in, had a late brunch and just relaxed, had we known what was in store for us that afternoon and evening we may have never got out of bed in the first place. It all started innocently enough when we received an e-mail from Groupon announcing The Big Ticket Summer Concert, a Disney event featuring all the current Disney singers and actor/actresses, so we said hey why not, consulted Sue, she was in so we bought the tickets printed them off and stuck them in our pocket. Jimmy received info from his football team about a special offer from the University of Toronto's football team offering reduced price ticket, a hot dog, chips and drink for anyone and since Jimmy and Sue usually attend some type of sporting event on or around their birthday's it was a perfect fit.
The game started at 1:00 we took the subway and a bus to get there and enjoyed watching the London Western Mustangs destroy the Toronto Blues, fortunately we were in the Mustangs section so we sheered for them! Then it was off to the concert, which at this point we had not told the kids about nor really paid any attention as to where it was...I mean the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, just look for the big Molson can, right?! not even close. Side bar: In Toronto there is a yearly event that closes down most of the downtown lake front and it's called the Exhibition, by the locals or the CNE or "the X", by everyone else, in reality it is a State Fair, freak show, intense food setting and more all rolled into 1. And ....it was between us and the Amphitheatre. After a grueling hour of wandering through the CNE we found the concert along with the other 10,000 or so people crammed into the venue. We thought, how long can it be, it starts at 5:00 should be over by 7-7:30 tops we can head to Jack Astor's have a couple cold beverages, dinner be home and in bed by 9:30, 10 at the latest... right?! not so....
Thanks Sue for coming and celebrating her birthday, Jimmy's birthday and enduring the Big Ticket Concert featuring R5, who it turns out have not even made 1 album yet!
PSA: Here in Toronto they refer to up north as, cottage country. The government reported last week that there is a scam: that people are renting cottages to people and when you show up there is no cottage, saying that the prices are inexpensive and the cottages are grand, the governments view on this was "beware, if it sounds to good to be true, it is!"
More to come....
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
One down and One to go oh and football
In the never ending sports a'thon that is Jimmy's world, outside of music, he finished one season of baseball this past weekend. He has been playing on two baseball teams this summer because , well why the heck not? He plays in a house league which consists of any player with the financial wherewithal to come up with the fees, and then teams are divided up based on a magic formula which no one really knows, and a season is born.
The house league players are then invited to try out for they Select Team, which as you may have guseesed is made up of the players that are ' Selected" from the tryouts. There are 6 house league teams with an average of 15 players so doing the math the select pool is around 90 of which 12 are chosen, and as it turns out Jimmy made the cut and made a home on the roster as the starting catcher, and he is great at it! (note, he was also the youngest kid on the team - go Jimmy!)
The teamed finished first in their division, won a couple of tournaments, lost as many and one of the highlights, Jimmy was chosen as an MVP in one of the tournaments! The past weekend they drew a bye on Friday and had two games on Saturday, one of which they had to win to continue in the tournament. The team played hard but they were pretty much worn out and were just 1 Large Double Espresso per kid away from making it. The boys were happy with their season and we had the whole team over for the end of the year party. It is tradition around here that at the end of the year party the coaches are fair game and Coach Brooks and Coach Dana were not let off the hook! It was a great season and many great memories and new friends. (Note, Coach Brooks and Coach Dana not only coach together but they played North York Blues/Mets growing up and through high school into university. They are amazing coaches, encouraging and teaching the kids at every inning of the game. Super hopeful that Jimmy makes Select next year as well so that we can continue their coaching of Young James)
The house league tournament started last night and runs the next 2 consecutive Tuesdays with a championship Saturday scheduled for the 7th of September, more to come on that.
So having missed the Sunday baseball cut off what does a young boy do to fill his time? Head out to the first football scrimmage, a mere hour and a half from the house (you gotta have a Sunday contingency plan for sporting events) . So we saddled up the ole gray mare and headed east to Clarington. We were unsure what or where Jimmy would be playing this year as he has missed most of the June and July Tuesday night practices (defense) for baseball but has made all of the Thursday/Saturday (offensive) practices. He started out on special teams and we were a bit concerned, however in the second half things started to change. Jimmy was now full on in the game playing both offensive and defensive line, line backer and tight end, his favorite spot.
Now many of those of you who follow this crazy kid know he has been passionate about football above all else. He has been playing since second grade, mostly with the motto " Sack the quarterback", he was not really the offensive type, hit or be hit. So besides the occasional forced fumble, or dropped potential pick 6, the kid has never really touched the ball, that is until now.
The Grizzlies were in the lead late into the 4th quarter, with just seconds to play, Ronin, the new quarterback calls and audible, fakes right cuts back and hands the ball off the to the new tight end, number 77 Jimmy Murphy. Murphy cuts right, beats cheeks around the line heads downfield, out runs the would be tacklers and busts over the end-zone for his first touch down!!! Grizzlies win!! Tracy was yelling the whole time " holy cow, he has the ball, he actually has the ball!" We are hoping that this is a promotion of the upcoming season.
More to come sit back and enjoy, the show is free.....
The house league players are then invited to try out for they Select Team, which as you may have guseesed is made up of the players that are ' Selected" from the tryouts. There are 6 house league teams with an average of 15 players so doing the math the select pool is around 90 of which 12 are chosen, and as it turns out Jimmy made the cut and made a home on the roster as the starting catcher, and he is great at it! (note, he was also the youngest kid on the team - go Jimmy!)
The teamed finished first in their division, won a couple of tournaments, lost as many and one of the highlights, Jimmy was chosen as an MVP in one of the tournaments! The past weekend they drew a bye on Friday and had two games on Saturday, one of which they had to win to continue in the tournament. The team played hard but they were pretty much worn out and were just 1 Large Double Espresso per kid away from making it. The boys were happy with their season and we had the whole team over for the end of the year party. It is tradition around here that at the end of the year party the coaches are fair game and Coach Brooks and Coach Dana were not let off the hook! It was a great season and many great memories and new friends. (Note, Coach Brooks and Coach Dana not only coach together but they played North York Blues/Mets growing up and through high school into university. They are amazing coaches, encouraging and teaching the kids at every inning of the game. Super hopeful that Jimmy makes Select next year as well so that we can continue their coaching of Young James)The house league tournament started last night and runs the next 2 consecutive Tuesdays with a championship Saturday scheduled for the 7th of September, more to come on that.
So having missed the Sunday baseball cut off what does a young boy do to fill his time? Head out to the first football scrimmage, a mere hour and a half from the house (you gotta have a Sunday contingency plan for sporting events) . So we saddled up the ole gray mare and headed east to Clarington. We were unsure what or where Jimmy would be playing this year as he has missed most of the June and July Tuesday night practices (defense) for baseball but has made all of the Thursday/Saturday (offensive) practices. He started out on special teams and we were a bit concerned, however in the second half things started to change. Jimmy was now full on in the game playing both offensive and defensive line, line backer and tight end, his favorite spot.
Now many of those of you who follow this crazy kid know he has been passionate about football above all else. He has been playing since second grade, mostly with the motto " Sack the quarterback", he was not really the offensive type, hit or be hit. So besides the occasional forced fumble, or dropped potential pick 6, the kid has never really touched the ball, that is until now.
The Grizzlies were in the lead late into the 4th quarter, with just seconds to play, Ronin, the new quarterback calls and audible, fakes right cuts back and hands the ball off the to the new tight end, number 77 Jimmy Murphy. Murphy cuts right, beats cheeks around the line heads downfield, out runs the would be tacklers and busts over the end-zone for his first touch down!!! Grizzlies win!! Tracy was yelling the whole time " holy cow, he has the ball, he actually has the ball!" We are hoping that this is a promotion of the upcoming season.
More to come sit back and enjoy, the show is free.....
Friday, August 16, 2013
A little help from our Friends
The rock stars, while attending KCC, were also fortunate enough to have several sleep overs and play dates with their cousins and friends from the OL' neighborhood and school.
Jimmy was able to connect for several sleep overs with his cousin Ben and even hang out with Kaden Murphy, an added bonus. Kay hooked up with Carmen, for 2 ...yes two... sleep overs as well as an afternoon play date. She was also able to see Mia and Grace, making the trip home in her words, "totally awesome"! Rounding out the schedule was a double play date for Kay and Billy with Ella and Cole both stating "don't bug us",,, Kids same the darndest things.
Into the mix of things was Tracy having to work as well as havung a day out with Angela for pedicures, bike riding and accesorising. She was able to finds an awesome basket along with both Canadian and American flags and a drum here Jimmy of you please... a pinwheel...awesome. Tim and Patrick along with the rest of the Gated Community had us over for an afternoon of lazing by the pool. Kids swimming adults catching up and as always tearful laughs at the expense of ourselves and others.
Photo Bombs and other crazy fun:
Out of nowhere we were able to arrange sleepovers for all the kids on the same night which translated into da da da: DATE NIGHT! We meet up with Wendy and Annemiek for a trip to The Pig ate my Pizza, the owners of Travail, our favorite restaurant in the world, are in the process of buying a building and creating a new space for the restaurant so in the old space the created this crazy awesome pizza joint, complete with a 4 course tasting menu followed by a liquid nitrogen infused desert, quite simply awesome!
Kay and her God Father, Uncle Mike had a special night planned and of course it was all about Kay, her birthday and getting a special present from Mike and Libby:)
The Reception:
The best for last ...Jim and Jen Fellows had scheduled their Wedding Reception for the last weekend we were in town and let me tell you cute has nothing on these two. The evening was full of great fun, dancing and a heated argument over which song Tracy and I danced to at our Wedding. There was not an actual agreement but the vote was in favor of Joshua Kadison, Painted Dessert, which I must say was the song.
We headed back to Jim & Jen's place for what Kay lives for, the After Party, which was going great until the tequila came out, enough said! (kids and tequila don't mix) Happy 6 Months to Jim and Jen and many many more, we love you guys!
(as an aside, Jim works as a teacher to special needs kids. He teaches them life skills and one thing he's come up with is "where in the Twin Cities is Jim?" He creates videos and the kids have to figure out where he is, and then figure out how to take public transit to find him. Its brilliant, education, unique and super fun. That's our Jim Fellows:) here's a clip... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMN4d1US9Kc
Thanks for all the fun, hospitality and love.. more to come
Jimmy was able to connect for several sleep overs with his cousin Ben and even hang out with Kaden Murphy, an added bonus. Kay hooked up with Carmen, for 2 ...yes two... sleep overs as well as an afternoon play date. She was also able to see Mia and Grace, making the trip home in her words, "totally awesome"! Rounding out the schedule was a double play date for Kay and Billy with Ella and Cole both stating "don't bug us",,, Kids same the darndest things.
Photo Bombs and other crazy fun:
Out of nowhere we were able to arrange sleepovers for all the kids on the same night which translated into da da da: DATE NIGHT! We meet up with Wendy and Annemiek for a trip to The Pig ate my Pizza, the owners of Travail, our favorite restaurant in the world, are in the process of buying a building and creating a new space for the restaurant so in the old space the created this crazy awesome pizza joint, complete with a 4 course tasting menu followed by a liquid nitrogen infused desert, quite simply awesome!
Kay and her God Father, Uncle Mike had a special night planned and of course it was all about Kay, her birthday and getting a special present from Mike and Libby:)The Reception:
The best for last ...Jim and Jen Fellows had scheduled their Wedding Reception for the last weekend we were in town and let me tell you cute has nothing on these two. The evening was full of great fun, dancing and a heated argument over which song Tracy and I danced to at our Wedding. There was not an actual agreement but the vote was in favor of Joshua Kadison, Painted Dessert, which I must say was the song.We headed back to Jim & Jen's place for what Kay lives for, the After Party, which was going great until the tequila came out, enough said! (kids and tequila don't mix) Happy 6 Months to Jim and Jen and many many more, we love you guys!
(as an aside, Jim works as a teacher to special needs kids. He teaches them life skills and one thing he's come up with is "where in the Twin Cities is Jim?" He creates videos and the kids have to figure out where he is, and then figure out how to take public transit to find him. Its brilliant, education, unique and super fun. That's our Jim Fellows:) here's a clip... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMN4d1US9Kc
Thanks for all the fun, hospitality and love.. more to come
Monday, August 12, 2013
Living in Fast Forward
Irish Korean Rock Stars out of control, the kids have been living life in fast-forward, time to cool down... real slow....The Summer Camp part II came screaming up at us as the wheels touched down in Minneapolis, no sooner had the announcement by the flight attendant " The local time in Minneapolis is.." and the kids wanted to know when the first sleep over was, who are we seeing first, who's on second... whoa, we still have to get our luggage, and that's how rock stars start their vacations!
The 10 day period was so full of events that it will take 2 blogs to do it all justice! Friday after we cleared the rental car and had lunch we stopped by Target to get supplies and then into the rental house for un-packing and planning. Friday evening found us at Rhada & Krishnan's home along with several of the other ex-pat friends and families we met while in India and the reunion/ get together was full of laughter, great food and awesome memories. Jimmy racked up his first sleep over as his friends Jessie & Preston had him over for the night. The 3 musketeers were back in action!
Saturday found us able to sleep in(a bit) and ready for what has now become our annual trip to Dicks Sports Barbers for the boys haircut's and catching up with Dick. Tom has been getting his haircut there since he was 13 and it was the place of each Jimmy Kay and Billys 1st haircuts. Its a family tradition and they have the best haircuts on the planet! Saturday night was a fun filled bash of full on boys as we went to the Orvedahl's. Doug and Jennifer along with James and the twins Sam and Sean provided a night of energy burning and great burgers. Kay hung in there even swimming in their above ground not so heated pool. However girl power won out and Kay headed over to Carmen's to lodge her first sleep over and night with her bestie. (Sam and Sean are seriously Billy/Kays alter personalities. They just "fit" and James is one of Jimmys besties) 
Sunday we celebrated birthday's for both Kay and Grandpa Jeremiah complete with zip lining and an afternoon at the park. The Grandparent's had a blast catching up with the kids and sharing stories, along with planning a trip to Toronto in the coming fall! Then Sunday night was the beginning of the craziness known as KCC or for those not in the know, Korean Culture Camp, the second main event in kiddom only behind, the big guy, A number 1, SC for short. We met the Van Meter's (less Jeff) at the Buckley's new home in Edina. Sherra, Rich , Robbie and Joey had us over for great food, and of course S'Mores and great way to start the week!
KCC, is in its (who knows how many years somewhere around) 35+ years, the camp runs the last week of July, it's full of great fun, great food and about 400 Korean Adoptees, their families and about 200 volunteers. Tom works all week in the kitchen, well 2 Toms and a bunch of other great people who work tirelessly to create classic Korean Food from scratch for 600 people, everyday of camp AWESOME! (The kids have literally said its the best week of their whole year and that they'd trade their birthdays AND Christmas if they could go everyday. We had to promise to come back every year we are in Canada otherwise we weren't allowed to move. I have to admit, Tom and I agree!)
The kids just love it and Jimmy is now one year away from one of his first goals, teen helper! The campers themselves are finished after 6th grade and then can go on to be teen helper. This year Robbie was the new helper on the block and chop, chop. Jimmy and his brother Joey along with Shin Be and Noah tormented him ruthlessly about lemonade, more food and the like, remember Jimmy.... what goes around comes around!
Next up, sleepovers, dinner parties, Jim & Jen's reception
and even a date night! More to come...
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Summer camps Week 1
Here's a story about 3 children all leading very charmed lives, summer vacations camps, all to their liking,
the youngest one in LEGO'S........ (I totally want my kids life....)
Ok so this past week was the first week of summer camps for the kids, this year they each have 3 weeks of camps, and still find time to complain.
Billy:
He spent the week in LEGO camp with 15 of his newest and best buddies creating LEGO creations, fighting fierce battles and even managing to make a trip or two the local park. The fierce pace of LEGO building needs to be set aside for some outside playing and revamping the mental prowess for the afternoon sessions. Billy built transforming, expanding and even giant LEGO projects, and at one point he combined his two favorite things and made a LEGO chess set he love it! (yes, its also called nerd camp....) The camps run from 9:00-3:00 and Billy would promptly fall asleep in the car on the way to get Kay!
Note: we promptly signed up for a second week in Aug.
.JPG)
Kay:
The Chef Upstairs was her daily destination and Chef Michelle greeted Kay each day with a hug and asked her if she was ready for another day of cooking fun! Kay was armed with a notebook into which she wrote all the recipes and even has side noted as to how to improve them, however (like a diary) this book is off limits to everyone! The cooking camp is Kay's favorite and she not only came home exhausted she was usually soaking wet, the afternoons were hot so the kids and Chef Michelle headed over to the local splash pad for a bit of cooling off. The main theme of the week was dessert so we were treated with, cake, apple crumble, chocolate chip cookies and then a Kay inspired treat Maple Syrup sugar donuts covered with bacon, yep you got to eat here! Kay barely made it to the car before falling sound asleep on the way to get Jimmy. AND...we think she ate her weight in food each day, a real accomplishment for those of you who know Kay's eating habits.
Note: we promptly signed up for a second week in Aug.
Jimmy:
"I really can't tell you what we are going to play for the performance on Friday, wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!" We get the same canned speech every time he goes to Rock Band camp, he keeps the band name, songs and artists a secret until we get there and for some reason thinks we won't know the songs. As it turns out most of the time, the songs they play are recommendations for Jimmy, who's source for these songs is Tracy, but who tells their rock band mates their Mom thinks this is a cool song!
The first thing the kids do at camp is get to know each other and then get down to the serious business of naming the band, this year there were actually three bands:
PWWTG (1st band) played The Black Keys Lonely Boy and Get Lucky by Daf Punk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&gl=US&client=mv-google&v=-KQJ-NNewfM&nomobile=1
TBC played The Lumineres Hey Ho, Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance and Oye Como Va by Santana (including a solo by each band member - yes, it was a long long song)
Click to View Lee's Palace Concert Photos! ! Week 2 Concert Photos very cool album cover shot
This years venue was a Toronto land mark Lee's Palace, for this of you in Minneapolis... think First Ave but a tad bit smaller, no less dirty and tons of history of bands playing there before they were famous. Its an icon and we'll be able to say ...yep Jimmy played there... (Note: trying to sign up for a 2nd session in Aug, but awaiting location details)
What's absolutely amazing as a parent is watching your kids discover and follow their bliss. They are each so passionate about what they love and they completely emerse themselves in it once they find it. You could feel the joy and excitement each night as they talked about their day and Jimmys performance is a great representation of how they each felt at camp - totally engaged, committed, passionate, full of joy and in their bliss. Truly amazing....
the youngest one in LEGO'S........ (I totally want my kids life....)
Ok so this past week was the first week of summer camps for the kids, this year they each have 3 weeks of camps, and still find time to complain.
Billy:
He spent the week in LEGO camp with 15 of his newest and best buddies creating LEGO creations, fighting fierce battles and even managing to make a trip or two the local park. The fierce pace of LEGO building needs to be set aside for some outside playing and revamping the mental prowess for the afternoon sessions. Billy built transforming, expanding and even giant LEGO projects, and at one point he combined his two favorite things and made a LEGO chess set he love it! (yes, its also called nerd camp....) The camps run from 9:00-3:00 and Billy would promptly fall asleep in the car on the way to get Kay!Note: we promptly signed up for a second week in Aug.
.JPG)
Kay:
The Chef Upstairs was her daily destination and Chef Michelle greeted Kay each day with a hug and asked her if she was ready for another day of cooking fun! Kay was armed with a notebook into which she wrote all the recipes and even has side noted as to how to improve them, however (like a diary) this book is off limits to everyone! The cooking camp is Kay's favorite and she not only came home exhausted she was usually soaking wet, the afternoons were hot so the kids and Chef Michelle headed over to the local splash pad for a bit of cooling off. The main theme of the week was dessert so we were treated with, cake, apple crumble, chocolate chip cookies and then a Kay inspired treat Maple Syrup sugar donuts covered with bacon, yep you got to eat here! Kay barely made it to the car before falling sound asleep on the way to get Jimmy. AND...we think she ate her weight in food each day, a real accomplishment for those of you who know Kay's eating habits.
Note: we promptly signed up for a second week in Aug.
Jimmy:
"I really can't tell you what we are going to play for the performance on Friday, wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!" We get the same canned speech every time he goes to Rock Band camp, he keeps the band name, songs and artists a secret until we get there and for some reason thinks we won't know the songs. As it turns out most of the time, the songs they play are recommendations for Jimmy, who's source for these songs is Tracy, but who tells their rock band mates their Mom thinks this is a cool song!
The first thing the kids do at camp is get to know each other and then get down to the serious business of naming the band, this year there were actually three bands:
Band name – Power Walking with the Grizzlies (PWWTG) but it was announced as Power Napping with the Grizzlies which I actually like better.
The band with all 9 kids is The Breeze Crew (TBC) and they all had “breeze” nicknames – Jimmy was young breeze, there was an old breeze, might wind, tornado and gentle breeze.PWWTG (1st band) played The Black Keys Lonely Boy and Get Lucky by Daf Punk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&gl=US&client=mv-google&v=-KQJ-NNewfM&nomobile=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00z72qNUUAk
TBC played The Lumineres Hey Ho, Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance and Oye Como Va by Santana (including a solo by each band member - yes, it was a long long song)
Click to View Lee's Palace Concert Photos! ! Week 2 Concert Photos very cool album cover shot
This years venue was a Toronto land mark Lee's Palace, for this of you in Minneapolis... think First Ave but a tad bit smaller, no less dirty and tons of history of bands playing there before they were famous. Its an icon and we'll be able to say ...yep Jimmy played there... (Note: trying to sign up for a 2nd session in Aug, but awaiting location details)
What's absolutely amazing as a parent is watching your kids discover and follow their bliss. They are each so passionate about what they love and they completely emerse themselves in it once they find it. You could feel the joy and excitement each night as they talked about their day and Jimmys performance is a great representation of how they each felt at camp - totally engaged, committed, passionate, full of joy and in their bliss. Truly amazing....
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Ex-Pat Wedding and Reunion
Last weekend we loaded the kids into the truckster and headed down to Noblesville, Indiana to celebrate the Wedding of our friend's Paul and Tamara and to catch up with many of the Ex-Pat's we met while in India.The trip was relatively easy as far as the Loudamerican's except for a moment or two while we were crossing into the US via Detroit. This crossing looks like a border crossing left over from the cold war complete with guard dogs and car checks, also there is only one lane due to "bridge repair".
We made to the town of Maumee " pronounced Mommy), which of course the kids got a kick out of. We found an awesome hotel that had three, count em, 3 double beds, no sleeping on the floor, why other hotels don't so this is beyond me!
Friday we headed off to met the rest of the group and while many of these people have travelled all over the world, it seems that travelling from Minneapolis through Chicago an into Indiana they all forgot their happens to be a time zone change! The "rehearsal" dinner was more of a BBQ and get aquainted event. Tamara's family hosted the entire weekend from the BBQ through the Wedding, and it was simply awesome. We all had time to met her family and friends along with Paul's family and hang around the pool and watch the kids wearing themselves out. The group headed out after the BBQ to hang at the hotel and it was fun catching up!
Saturday we had the day free as we were not allowed back to the Wedding until 5 o'clock, and not a moment earlier! So Rhada, Krishnan, Tejas, Kerty, Wade Angela, Caden, Wyatt and the Loudamericans set off to explore Noblesville, watch out. We found an outdoor Historic Heritage Park and the kid s had a ball. The saved the town from the rebels, fought a furious battle over the vegetable garden, learned how to throw and ax, properly and took a hot air balloon ride, awesome! 
The Wedding was beautiful. The setting was a grassy hall surrounded by tress and a whole bunch of people who showered the bride and groom with love. The ceremony was really sweet and Paul and Tamara each said their vows and then placed them in a box so they could use them as a reference at a later point in time sort of like saying ' Yes Dear". There was dancing and signing and moving to the grove and then when it hit us someone shouted.......
This group of friends whom we see now occasionally as things change and people take different jobs, switch companies move to Toronto, things like that happen in life however it is nice to have friends that you seamlessly fall right back into a groove with. The kids have similar experiences and had same life stories, the adults as well and it was just fun, easy and full of love.Congratulations to Paul and Tamara and thank you for a super fulfilled weekend!
more to come.....
Friday, July 19, 2013
Kay is finally 10!
The big day finally arrived and the birthday girl was in her glory! She woke up look around and stated, today's my birthday and I can do whatever I want.....So after a party with her school friends, opening a special present from Grandma Bunny and Grandpa Jim, the family birthday was looking like a let down. About half way through the day Kay exclaimed, it's my birthday but it feels like a regular day. That translated to basically, Hey let's go to Target where I can spend several hours looking at stuff that drives my parents crazy, like but not limited to moon powder and glue. Steering her away from that and towards a much simpler idea of Yorgurty's the local yogurt shop was much less stressful and more cost effective.
Tracy left work early so we could all go out to dinner of Kay's choice which of course was Korean!!!
We had heard a rumor our favorite Korean restaurant in Toronto ( nothing beats Mirror of Korea),has shut down but to no avail, never believe everything you hear, Nak Won, was alive and cranking our the best kim bap, duk galbi, mandu, tofu ji guy, in all of the GTA, shut the front door, good!
We invited our neighbors, Rod & Peggy along with their 2 kids, Jake and Josh and the German Exchange student, Francie and it was suddenly a party. Those who follow this crazy blog know that our kids when offered Korean food eat like there is no tomorrow and apparently so do our neighbors, there was not a scrap left! So we headed home for... not cake because Kay had to have Lemon Meringue Pie, well it's Kay.
The presents were opened (heavy focus on slushy makers, popsicle molds and baking items - including cake mix and frosting) pie was enjoyed and Kay finally had to admit it was not just a normal day anymore.
Happy 10th Birthday Kay! We love you and are blessed everyday with your smile, hugs and love.
FYI, just because the birthday has come and gone ...the party never ends. Grandma Kay and Grandpa Jeremiah have a little birthday celebration planned for Kay when we head back to Minneapolis next week, seriously..... more to come.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
The Pettersetter's Arrive!
Kristin, Crag, Anders and Bjorn, our neighbors and friends from the infamous gated community back in Golden Valley, made the trek to Michigan and then followed us back to Toronto.
We arrived amidst typical Toronto Traffic and the 401 at a stand still but we preserved and after 11 hours, which should have been 8 we made it home, ironically Tracy actually beat us home from work! Friday we had a great time catching up talking gossip and the kids of course had a ball, like it was just yesterday we were at Lyon's Park.
Saturday morning was filled with the usual Loudamericans schedule, school for Tom, football for Jimmy dog walk for Nikki and pedicures for Tracy and Kristin. Then the fun began after lunch we headed out to show them our town, nah, nah ,nah, nah, nah, this my town...
The subway brought us to Union Station and we headed out to explore the water front and the Asian Festival. We were planning on going out to Centre Island however the other 5 million residents had the same plan so we took a pass and ended up watching a live infomercial. Purina Dog Food was having a Pro Plan dog show and the kids we enthralled watching the different breeds of dog go through a series of cones, gates, hoops and slides, we had to drag the kids away. Then it was off to listen to some awesome live music and explore the water front. No tour of Toronto is complete with out a stop in Kensington Market, which is also Jimmy's favorite part of Toronto, it is like Haite Asbury, Bohemian headquarters all rolled into one. We wondered through China town as well where Bjorn and Kay had to have a fresh coconut chopped and with a straw, it was not a hit.
The subway delivered us to one of our favorite Toronto restaurants, GUU, a mix of Sushi and Western food such as a classic version of Chicken Nuggets, seriously the best in the GTA! We had a fabulous dinner and a couple of tall cold beverages and it was back on the subway homeward bound. Back at the ranch we watched of course cooking shows!, and the kids played themselves out and it was off to dreamland.
Sunday was brunch extraordinaire, Cinnamon French toast, apple infused potato hash browns, cinnamon whipped cream and Vidalia onion Merlot jam, nap anyone? The day was sort of a start and stop kind of day, rain in the forecast, Jimmy had a double header that kept us in and out of commission so the Pettersetter's ventured out on their own to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame and made it back to tell all about it. Of course both Jimmy's games were cancelled and the day was a waste from that perspective. None to fear when you have oil, fresh cod and a couple of boxes of Panko's you can create the best fried fish on the planet!
All good things have to come to a break so on Monday morning Tracy left for work and Kristin, Craig, Anders and Bjorn headed back to the gated community. We are super thankful they came to visit and now the kids are home sick and can't wait to return to Golden Valley and their Minnesota friends.
We arrived amidst typical Toronto Traffic and the 401 at a stand still but we preserved and after 11 hours, which should have been 8 we made it home, ironically Tracy actually beat us home from work! Friday we had a great time catching up talking gossip and the kids of course had a ball, like it was just yesterday we were at Lyon's Park.
Saturday morning was filled with the usual Loudamericans schedule, school for Tom, football for Jimmy dog walk for Nikki and pedicures for Tracy and Kristin. Then the fun began after lunch we headed out to show them our town, nah, nah ,nah, nah, nah, this my town...
The subway brought us to Union Station and we headed out to explore the water front and the Asian Festival. We were planning on going out to Centre Island however the other 5 million residents had the same plan so we took a pass and ended up watching a live infomercial. Purina Dog Food was having a Pro Plan dog show and the kids we enthralled watching the different breeds of dog go through a series of cones, gates, hoops and slides, we had to drag the kids away. Then it was off to listen to some awesome live music and explore the water front. No tour of Toronto is complete with out a stop in Kensington Market, which is also Jimmy's favorite part of Toronto, it is like Haite Asbury, Bohemian headquarters all rolled into one. We wondered through China town as well where Bjorn and Kay had to have a fresh coconut chopped and with a straw, it was not a hit.
The subway delivered us to one of our favorite Toronto restaurants, GUU, a mix of Sushi and Western food such as a classic version of Chicken Nuggets, seriously the best in the GTA! We had a fabulous dinner and a couple of tall cold beverages and it was back on the subway homeward bound. Back at the ranch we watched of course cooking shows!, and the kids played themselves out and it was off to dreamland.
Sunday was brunch extraordinaire, Cinnamon French toast, apple infused potato hash browns, cinnamon whipped cream and Vidalia onion Merlot jam, nap anyone? The day was sort of a start and stop kind of day, rain in the forecast, Jimmy had a double header that kept us in and out of commission so the Pettersetter's ventured out on their own to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame and made it back to tell all about it. Of course both Jimmy's games were cancelled and the day was a waste from that perspective. None to fear when you have oil, fresh cod and a couple of boxes of Panko's you can create the best fried fish on the planet!
All good things have to come to a break so on Monday morning Tracy left for work and Kristin, Craig, Anders and Bjorn headed back to the gated community. We are super thankful they came to visit and now the kids are home sick and can't wait to return to Golden Valley and their Minnesota friends.
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
Summer Vacation begins...
The end of school marks the beginning of the second most favorite time of the year, after Christmas that is, Summer Vacation! This year is no different and with the well laid plans it is expected to be the best summer ever....
We loaded up the family truckster and headed off to the airport to pick up Tom from his trip back to Minneapolis to work at the Golf for the Gift Fundraiser, which we have to say Thanks to all who participated!, and we were off to Michigan to visit Tracy's family. The drive over was full of quiet and no arguing as everyone had their own ear buds and electronics. We arrived on Friday night to hugs and laughs from Grandma and Grandpa and Julie, Cedric and Solomon, totally fun!
Saturday began the week of fun, laughs and catching up. We headed over to Sleeping Bear Dunes where some of us hiked and explored the dunes while others relaxed at the picnic table and discussed detailed stats and opinions on every sport known to man (guess who that was?!). It was too bad we did not bring water because the kids were geared up to walk all the way to Lake Michigan, about a 90 minute round trip.
The afternoon we hung out at the cabin and swam in Little Glen and began the first game of the World Series. If you saw the reactions of the kids you would have thought that it was the final game. At one point Tom had to umpire and explained that the kids were playing with a waffle ball, a plastic Fred Flintstone type bat and were using a bush as a pitching mound and a tree for second base ( not to mention there was not first or third), that getting called out on strikes was really no big deal. When that didn't calm the kids down he had to pull the dreaded um card and said " Do you know why you are out? No why? " Because I am the ump"!
Sunday the Loudamericans moved into the upper guest cottage at Maple Lake resort to make room at Grandma and Grandpa's for Tammy and Jeff along with Georgia, Joey and Herby and Aunt Sue!
We headed off to Empire to do the Empire Dunes walk and broke the rules by hopping the fence and running down the sand dunes to Lake Michigan. The boys from Costa Rica we complaining of cold ( it was in the 70's) while Jimmy was rolling in the lake saying how refreshing 35 degree water can be! Meanwhile back at the ranch Grandma and Grandpa got a fire going and we had s'mores and hot chocolate to chase away the cold.
Monday Tracy had to head back to Toronto and work, Grandpa Jim, who is a Park Ranger volunteer, (which is super cool), had to go to work. The rest of us swam in the lake, played more baseball and continued on our merry way. We are very grateful and thankful for all Tracy does for us.
Tuesday was off to Traverse City for a minor league (farm team) baseball game - The Dune Dudes (not sure that's the actual team name but its apropos). Actually its the Beach Bums. The girls stayed home for some girl time and the boys had a gas cheering for their new favorite team.
Now you can not lead a Rock Star life as a kid and have a Rock Star vacation if you don't have a vacation within a vacation, so it was in this vain our neighbors and friends from Golden Valley, Craig, Kristin, Anders and Bjorn, came to Glen Lake. Tracy and Grandpa Jim had gone over to the campground and secure a site for them and passed the information on to Tom who promptly forgot what he was supposed to tell them. So when we met up to give them the paperwork and they headed over to the campground and were promptly chewed out by the Rangers, it was no wonder. They even let their co-worker Grandpa Jim have a piece of their minds, but all is well that ends well. ( more on the PeterSetters later).
The rest of the week was filled with more of the same, picnics, swimming, BBQ's and you know summer. One of the highlights of the trip was the 4th of July Parade. It is still a piece of small town America~ floats, Uncle Sam on Stilts, the Statue of Liberty, (on stilts), a kazoo marching band consisting of who ever happened to have a kazoo handy and tons and tons of candy. Not to mention guys and girls on Rollerblades throwing hot dogs to the crowd, it went on for over 45 minutes which was awesome.
Friday we had to say goodbye to our cousins, second cousins, Aunt Sue and Grandma and Grandpa. It was a super fun week and we say to Grandma and Grandpa... we love, we
are blessed to be with you and for all the good times and fun we say THANK YOU!
We loaded up the family truckster and headed off to the airport to pick up Tom from his trip back to Minneapolis to work at the Golf for the Gift Fundraiser, which we have to say Thanks to all who participated!, and we were off to Michigan to visit Tracy's family. The drive over was full of quiet and no arguing as everyone had their own ear buds and electronics. We arrived on Friday night to hugs and laughs from Grandma and Grandpa and Julie, Cedric and Solomon, totally fun!
Saturday began the week of fun, laughs and catching up. We headed over to Sleeping Bear Dunes where some of us hiked and explored the dunes while others relaxed at the picnic table and discussed detailed stats and opinions on every sport known to man (guess who that was?!). It was too bad we did not bring water because the kids were geared up to walk all the way to Lake Michigan, about a 90 minute round trip.
The afternoon we hung out at the cabin and swam in Little Glen and began the first game of the World Series. If you saw the reactions of the kids you would have thought that it was the final game. At one point Tom had to umpire and explained that the kids were playing with a waffle ball, a plastic Fred Flintstone type bat and were using a bush as a pitching mound and a tree for second base ( not to mention there was not first or third), that getting called out on strikes was really no big deal. When that didn't calm the kids down he had to pull the dreaded um card and said " Do you know why you are out? No why? " Because I am the ump"!
Sunday the Loudamericans moved into the upper guest cottage at Maple Lake resort to make room at Grandma and Grandpa's for Tammy and Jeff along with Georgia, Joey and Herby and Aunt Sue!
We headed off to Empire to do the Empire Dunes walk and broke the rules by hopping the fence and running down the sand dunes to Lake Michigan. The boys from Costa Rica we complaining of cold ( it was in the 70's) while Jimmy was rolling in the lake saying how refreshing 35 degree water can be! Meanwhile back at the ranch Grandma and Grandpa got a fire going and we had s'mores and hot chocolate to chase away the cold.
Monday Tracy had to head back to Toronto and work, Grandpa Jim, who is a Park Ranger volunteer, (which is super cool), had to go to work. The rest of us swam in the lake, played more baseball and continued on our merry way. We are very grateful and thankful for all Tracy does for us.
Tuesday was off to Traverse City for a minor league (farm team) baseball game - The Dune Dudes (not sure that's the actual team name but its apropos). Actually its the Beach Bums. The girls stayed home for some girl time and the boys had a gas cheering for their new favorite team.
Now you can not lead a Rock Star life as a kid and have a Rock Star vacation if you don't have a vacation within a vacation, so it was in this vain our neighbors and friends from Golden Valley, Craig, Kristin, Anders and Bjorn, came to Glen Lake. Tracy and Grandpa Jim had gone over to the campground and secure a site for them and passed the information on to Tom who promptly forgot what he was supposed to tell them. So when we met up to give them the paperwork and they headed over to the campground and were promptly chewed out by the Rangers, it was no wonder. They even let their co-worker Grandpa Jim have a piece of their minds, but all is well that ends well. ( more on the PeterSetters later).
The rest of the week was filled with more of the same, picnics, swimming, BBQ's and you know summer. One of the highlights of the trip was the 4th of July Parade. It is still a piece of small town America~ floats, Uncle Sam on Stilts, the Statue of Liberty, (on stilts), a kazoo marching band consisting of who ever happened to have a kazoo handy and tons and tons of candy. Not to mention guys and girls on Rollerblades throwing hot dogs to the crowd, it went on for over 45 minutes which was awesome.
Friday we had to say goodbye to our cousins, second cousins, Aunt Sue and Grandma and Grandpa. It was a super fun week and we say to Grandma and Grandpa... we love, we
are blessed to be with you and for all the good times and fun we say THANK YOU!
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