6/19 - Robina Rhapsody

Last Thursday Maddie and I went to the Robina Rhapsody here in Berkley (the Juniors are the co-sponsors with the City Beautification Committee doing most the work). We went while the boys finally got to go fishing. Maddie had a great time. We went early so I could help set up the stage and get things ready.Once the concert started Maddie couldn't be held back, she danced, socialized, and ate of course! She had a ball. My girlfriend from the Juniors opened up her own lunch cafe a couple of months ago and had food there. The strawberry shortcake was the 'bomb'! & large.

Of course I have to have a couple of pictures of Brendan too. Here he is trying out the new chairs that we bought the next day when we got the flooring for his playroom.

New Play Room

Here is the view from when you walk in. The tv & crafting desk are at one end with a play area in the middle. On the left where the brown shelf is (it's Brian's) another set of the white ones will go to hold all the art & craft supplies, most of which is on the craft table or the other white shelf. Both Brendan and Madelyn have tv chairs.
Here is the play area in the lower part and the computer desk at the other end of the room.
Here is the toy storage. These are mostly Brendan's toys with Maddie's just being off to the right. And the white shelves above to hold board games & smaller bins.

I only have the painting left to do but Brian said that we are taking July off from working on the house so it will have to wait.
I found rubber floor mats at Costco and put those down on the floor, boring gray color but a whole lot better on the knees and feet then the outdoor type of carpet that was the only other thing that we could put down with the possibility of the floor getting wet.

Brendan loves being able to play and Maddie just likes making a mess so I guess that means she likes it too.

Brian was the only one who was not excited about moving everything around. Given that we had to take the computer cubical totally apart I don't blame him. He did get a larger area though, 6 whole square feet! The other half of the basement is still a huge mess and it is tricky to get clothes in and out of the dryer. But I got what I wanted for the kids so I can't complain.

Father's Day

We finally have our new computer and it is up and running with almost all of our programs installed.
So finally we are able to post pictures and stuff.
Here are the photos from Father's Day.
The kids spent the weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's house while we worked at a wedding. So on Sunday we drove up and brought Brendan some of his outside toys.
First is his bow & arrows. Brian has this target at his parents house and wanted Brendan to try shooting at something other than the tree in the back yard.The neighbors across the street have all the grandkids over and they had these rockets that Brendan really liked to play with in the evenings so I bought him some. They were smaller so I thought they wouldn't go as far, I was wrong, they go up to 80 feet! Brendan really enjoyed shooting these at Papa's house.Madelyn had to have a chair just like Brendan. Brendan kept getting mad at her because every time he got up she stole his chair.Brendan being crazy man on the swing set in the back yard.Maddie of course has her own swing too.

Computer Issues

We have been having comuter 'issues' for the last week and will last for hopefully only one more week before our new computer arrives. So until then I won't be able to post as often as I would like but I do have our camping photos up so I will hopefully have some computer time later in the week in the evening.

For those who don't know our home/business comuter decied to die on us last monday while I was busy with a session. And while that is not a problem for our photos, we just don't have a computer for during the day.

Interlochen Camping Trip

The family went on our first camping trip of the year a week ago. We went to Interlochen State park which in up in the pinkie of the Michigan mitten over by Traverse City. Very beautiful part of the state with the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes running along the majority of the area along Lake Michigan. We drove up Friday morning and managed to take a 2 hour lunch break over by one of Brian's camping/hunting stores - Jay's. And during lunch we saw a Amish gentleman at the Taco Bell/KFC! We also saw a Amish horse & buggy driving down the road & an Amish house(you can tell by the clothes on the clothes line outside!)

Saturday we went on our hike that Brian found for us before we left home. It was 2.5 miles and the half way point had a lookout to the islands (can't remember the names right now). Brendan did very good given that he had to walk the whole way since daddy was carrying Madelyn and there is no way that I can carry Brendan that far. Maddie did great the way to the look out but the way down she wanted to nap so I carried an empty backpack and Brian carried Maddie with her head on his shoulder the way down.

After the hike we drove around part of the area and stopped at a local town for lunch. Then I got to stop at two winery's and had a wine tasting at both & also bought some wine at both. We headed back to the camp ground so Maddie could take a nap (I ended up taking one too) & the boys went to the beach and Brendan did swim in the cold lake.

Sunday we packed up and headed home.

Here are the photos:
We brought Brendan his Mee-mee to ride around the camp ground, and we were right next to this hill he loved to go down. (He did an excellent job of looking for cars)Mommy & Maddie got matching Traverse City tee shirts.Daddy with the kiddies on our walk to the lookout.Daddy with Maddie on the way down from the lookout.My little car all loaded up with our new trailer & the canoe.The kiddies in the car, lots of room this time with the trailer.

Weekend Events

On friday Brendan had his Graduation party. I also had gotten him a Graduation Present that he opened when Daddy got home from work. It was filled with spiderman garb. He was so excited.On Saturday Brendan and I had a 'date'. We went to see Pirates 3. It was a great movie. Brendan was all into it too, he was acting like he had a sword and fighting along with the movie. Brian stayed home to try to finish the floor but rain stopped him. When I got home from the movie it was raining cats & dogs but Maddie still wanted to play outside. So I let her, she loved being outside in the rain. On Sunday we took the kids to the Mall because once again it was raining. After dinner Brian went a head and got the wood floor finished. Of course we then decided that with the extra wood we might as well do the downstairs closet too. So he will be doing that tonight. Here is our finished wood floor in the dining room.

Graduation

Brendan had his Pre-Kindergarten Graduation at school today-also his last day of school. It was so cute all the kids had little graduation hats and they got diplomas and afterwards had snack. Brendan also got to play with his friends one last time at school. Afterwards we went to one of his school friend's house for a party. There he got more snacks and to play with his friends for a long time. Only 2 school friends weren't able to make it, but that still leaves a lot of kids!
Here are the photos:
Brendan walking down the isle to get his diploma.Brendan with his diploma.Madelyn of course had to try on the hat.Brendan with his teacher Ms. Alisa.Brendan with his other teacher Ms. Kim.Brendan with his two girl friends.Brendan playing at his friends house.