Happiest Place on Earth

Happiest Place on Earth

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Sunday, 24 September 2006


Thursday, September 21, 2006

Thursday, 21 September 2006


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Wednesday, 20 September 2006


  • The past couple of weeks have been a little... well... hectic...
    So, for those of you who need your curiosity appeased...  Let's backtrack just a bit...
    September 7th, we celebrated my birthday.  It's really on the 8th, but only by 2 minutes, so who's really counting?  I prefer to celebrate at exactly 12:02 am on the 8th, because I really like to open presents... hehehe...
    So...  I opened presents (As soon as I finish Hogan's Heroes Season 4, I can start on The Brady Bunch Season 1... YES... got some great new music, reading material, bath stuff, candy, Chick-Fil-A lemonade... don't laugh... and fun stuff from the kids).  Then I went to take a psychology test (uh... wait... that wasn't part of the celebration... just something that had to be done).  We ate at Cheddars, which absolutely rocks...  Where else can you get chicken AND steak like that?  Here is a pic. of me with the four greatest kids in the world...  So now I am 27... 
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    After our celebration, we came home to pack... because I have always wondered what it would be like to take a 20 hour train trip with three children, while 24 weeks pregnant.  It was fun... except for the part where we had to carry all that luggage...  Here are some pics. of the kids on the train.  "Russia" is cold.  I love Ohio.  That's all the detail you need... and it's also all the detail you're going to get... hehehe...
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    We got home... lamented the fact that we missed a full week of school... did more laundry than should be legally acceptable... and prepared for Seth's birthday...
    I cannot believe that Seth is six years old!  But here he is, enjoying his birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese:
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    Edit:  Here are Seth's Birthday pics:
    We had fun back at home, too, where Seth got a boatload of Rescue Heroes stuff, including a Rescue Heroes cake...
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    I went back and looked at Seth's baby book today.  We sure have changed:
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    So... we had a great time, but all of the excitement finally came to a head in the middle of the night, and I headed to the E.R. with Seth, who had been fighting an asthma attack for the past week...  After plenty of breathing treatments, a couple of shots of steroids, and a chest X-ray, we made it back home with some new stickers and coupons for free ice cream...  I think he's almost back to normal.
    We got back to school on Monday.  Swimming started too, but I accidentally got Seth there 1/2 an hour late, so he'll start next week!  It's just about time for soccer and gymnastics to kick off.  And my 17 credit hours are working out OK after all. 
    God is good... really, really good.  And the journey continues...
    Lisa

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Thursday, 14 September 2006


Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Wednesday, 06 September 2006


Monday, September 4, 2006

Monday, 04 September 2006


Take me out to the ballgame... but not for a couple more years... please!
Sometimes we just do things that other... "normal"... people wouldn't do.  Most of the time it turns out pretty well.  Today we packed up our three five and under children and headed out for a day at the ballpark... Comerica, of course...
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And we began to realize... that perhaps... we overdid it this time...
After munching some PBJs in the parking lot, we headed to the gates... which weren't open yet.  I explained the reason for the steam rising from the grates in the road, and we all moved out of the "sewer smoke"...  It was then that Grace began to get irritated, because she was hot... and there were bugs...  Thankfully, though, the wait was not long, and we got in without any issues.  The kids all got free T-shirts, and Phil and Seth went to purchase a program, while I helped Grace out of her sweatpants and jacket.  I am NEVER prepared for cold weather, and when I finally was, it wasn't...
Phil took Seth and Grace down to try to catch balls during batting practice.  There were almost no balls to catch... and they didn't catch any... which added to the crabbiness...  A picture is worth a thousand words...
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So we walked around a bit, while Phil explained some of the historical artifacts, and Seth decided he liked Kanine (as in Al Kanine) the best.  The statues are pretty cool...  While we were looking at them, an incredibly kind woman came by and offered us several free tickets for the carousel or ferris wheel!  How awesome!
Eventually, we decided to find the elevator, which would take us to our seats...  And the funniest thing happened...  We got on, and then the elevator stopped to pick up more people... and Mike Illich got on!  I had my camera hanging around my neck, and I immediately began to think about whether it would be appropriate to snap a quick picture.  In the end, I decided not to.  Everyone in the elevator was kind of looking around, obviously thinking... or even whispering... "Is that Mike Illich?"  Only Phil seemed to have the presence of mind to look at him and say, "How's it going?"  Which nearly made me laugh, because it's not like we know him, and it's not like Phil usually strikes up conversations with people he doesn't know on elevators...  Later we were thankful that he did not say something to the effect of, "It's about time after 14 years!"  And I lamented the fact that I did not say something like, "We just love those hot and readys!"  
Mr. Illich commented about our bringing the family out to the ballpark, talked to Seth for a minute, and then got off... but only after we all tried to get off on the wrong floor... oops...  The poor elevator operator was so frazzled, she nearly couldn't get the doors closed again!
We finally made it to our seats.  Well, first we climbed... and we climbed... and we climbed some more.  On the way up, someone made a comment about how many kids we had, and then he realized I was pregnant and made another comment about more being on the way.  Then the whole row of people burst out laughing.  I wasn't sure whether or not to be offended, so I just burst out laughing, too.  We probably were a pretty funny sight.  We got situated in our seats, and I looked at Phil and informed him that I was not moving again until the end of the game!  Unfortunately, during the first half of the first inning, Caleb had managed to kick the little girl in front of him in the head and spit at the lady seated next to us...  So I decided to move, after all...
This was somewhat problematic, but eventually I had my camera bag slung over one shoulder, a wiggly Caleb in one arm, the folded up stroller in the other, and the diaper bag in one hand...  And then the hot dog man was in my way!  I'm not too sure he liked it that I made him move, but I couldn't really see any way around it.  I continued my descent down the rather steep flight of stairs, dropped the stroller at the bottom (better than dropping Caleb), and proceded to get Caleb situated... again.  And then I began to wonder... what will I do now?  There were still potentially 8 1/2 innings to get through!
Clearly, the most logical thing was to eat something!
I ordered a frozen lemonade, and got a hot pretzel for Caleb.  He called it a "donut" the whole time, but I was too tired to argue.  Then we sat down on the concrete walkway and watched the cars go by the stadium, talked to a nice Comerica Park employee, and caught a few moments of the game on a nearby TV screen.  We tried to sneak into some unoccupied box seats, but the security guard didn't seem to like that...  By the end of the third, Phil, Seth, and Grace came to find us!  We never did get back to our seats!
We took the elevator back down and went in search of the carousel.  That seemed to help...
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It seemed logical, at this point, to watch the game from the main concourse.  We found a good spot under the statue of Hal Newhouser, and all was well... especially the score!  Seth really liked the view of the score board:
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When the game was nearing a close, we started listening for instructions about "Kids Run the Bases".  Once we knew where to go, we walked that way... except, when we got there, it wasn't the right place at all, and kids were already starting to run the bases!  Thus began a family run of epic proportions... We, of course, had no idea that we had plenty of time.  But seriously, we had to have looked like a scene right out of The Brady Bunch, with corny background music!  At one point, Grace was even pushing the empty stroller, while I ran behind her nearly dragging Seth and Caleb, and Phil ran in front pointing the way...
Finally, Phil took all three kids, and I went to find a good place to take video.  I carried the stroller (loaded with most everything we'd brought with us) down some more lovely steep stairs and eventually collapsed in a stadium seat and waited for my family to appear to run the bases... and I waited... and I waited... and I waited... probably about 45 minutes...  During this time, Phil called my cell phone nine times, but I never heard it...
Phil told me later that the wait was worse for him (which I'm sure it was), because I was sitting all alone... in basic solitude... with nothing to be responsible for except the stroller, while he was trying to keep three kids in line... literally.  At some point, Caleb got fed up with the waiting and "spanked" the lady in front of him...  I honestly can't even write that without cracking up... even though I should be mortified...
When they finally made it out on the field, they were all so cute!  Caleb took a couple of spills and was filthy by the time he made it to home plate, but it was tons of fun to watch.  I didn't get any pictures, but I think the video turned out OK.
I carried the stroller back up the stairs and met Phil and the kids, just as they were coming up a different set of stairs... and then we realized that we couldn't find Seth's glove... 
Since I must have been the one responsible for this (moms always are, you know), I retraced my steps.  Well...  I tried to anyway.  The problem was that "Kids Run the Bases" was over, and one park employee was not too thrilled about me going back to look for the glove.  Finally, he gave in, but I was pretty sure he wanted me to hurry.  I ran down the stairs... I didn't find the glove... then I ran back up the stairs.  Partway through my run back up, another park employee took pity on me, I guess, and told me that I didn't have to hurry.  That was very good, because I don't think I could hurry anymore... 
My next stop was guest services, where they immediately produced Seth's glove!
Looking back on this day, it was surely an adventure.  But I have a new rule:  Children under five do not go to pro-sports games!  We had fun, but I'm thinking this might have been a good trip for just one little guy and his dad:
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Lisa
P.S. I decided not to recap the summer.  This is a long enough entry for today...


Comments (4)

  • jlypio35
    I can't believe you went and didn't call me!!! I can see Comerica from my window and would have LOVED to meet your adorable children. Next time you venture into downtown Detroit gimme a call... I'd love to see ya!! Sounds like it was quite an adventure! Miss ya.. the new target isn't nearly as great as brighton was with our team.
  • WhosWhoIsWho
    Sounds like you had quite and interesting day! Glad you had fun though! I started cracking up when i read that Caleb spanked the lady, that is hilarious, even though it shouldn't be. Lots of Love, Jess
  • Shanderific08
    Ahaha... I loved that! I started laughing when I read about ALL the things that Caleb did...lol, He definitely does put a new definition to terrible twos.... lol, I just discovered that your a great story teller.. I probably wouldn't take the time to write all that... Well, I might write about my day at Cedar Point...it was funny.. But if I don't end up doing it, I will have to tell you in person.. (the story is much better in person anyways... ;) >  Lol!!!  Lots of Love, Shandi
    p.s.  You ever need a break, remember that you have a superhero's girlfriend  babysitter! lol
  • pomohoro1212
    How dare you disrespect Al Kaline! :)

    What a day it was.....and I'm glad the lady in front of us was clear it was Caleb that did the spanking, and not me!

    We were lucky to see a win, weren't we? Only 11 in the last 34 games...yikes!

Sunday, September 3, 2006

Sunday, 03 September 2006


  • I had a great conversation with Seth yesterday.  Some background information... Seth has been saving his money for a long time now, in order to buy a fish tank and some bubble-eyed goldfish.  Yesterday, Phil took Seth and Grace by the pets at Meijer, and Grace mentioned to me that she'd seen a guinea pig. 
    So I asked Seth, "Did you see any fish?" 
    And he replied, "They had every kind of fish except bubble-eyed golfish." 
    And I repeated, "No bubble-eyed goldfish?" 
    And Seth answered, "No, and they'd better make some tomorrow!" 
    At this I laughed and reached for a napkin and pen... 
    And then Seth said, "Don't write that down..."
    Which, of course, I did anyway, because I think he will find it very funny when he's older...
    Lisa