Snake face

Daytona 500 Painting

As many of you know since going to MIS, my family has become a huge NASCAR family. I saw a commercial for the following painting the other day. Any guess who the artist is?




Scroll
Down
for
the
Answer









The artist is Thomas Kinkade...The Painter of Light! My brother Jon thinks that Kinkade has gone too commercial.

Halloween Costumes

Andrew the US Army Soldier

Stephen - Anakin Skywalker Matthew - Joe the Plumber

Joe the Plumber, complete with Buttcrack.

The Results

We finished carving the pumpkins tonight. Normally we do it the day before Halloween, but this week is so hectic with Scouts, basketball tryouts, CCD, etc. this was the only day we could do it.

It gets easier to carve pumpkins each year. I remember there would be years where after about 10 minutes, I would be the only one left at the table. This year Matthew & Andrew pretty much gutted and carved their pumpkins by themselves. Stephen gutted his pumpkin and drew the design on for me to cut out.

I did find a cool website with a bunch of free patterns. Check this site out.

Andrew

Matthew

Stephen

Carving Pumpkins

Make Up Artist Part 2

She also used me as a victim. She needed to show the boys how to make up someone as an old man. (I think she figured that I was half way to being an old man, I was an easy choice.)

Make Up Artist

At tonights Troop Meeting they were working on the Theatre Merit Badge. We had a professional make up artist come in to show the boys some cool make up ideas for Halloween and also for the stage. Kim is a professional make up artist in the area that has been working on many of the films that have been shot in Detroit recently.

She made Matthew up as a Zombie. The fleshy like stuff hanging off his face is made by letting spirit gum get tacky on the face and putting Kleenex on the sticky area. Then put grey and red make up around the area.

Before

During

After

Multimedia message

Red Wings vs. Thrashers

Making Chili

Last weekend I made a big pot of chili. Andrew and Stephen wanted to help out. When it came time to chop the onions, they were having a tough time holding back the tears. Andrew tried out a few ideas he learned from Mythbusters, but none of them seemed to work. The next step was the swim goggles.

Four Religious Truths:

An important primer on some of the world's great religions, as found on Niel Rubin's blog:

1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.

2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.

4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters.

Lions Pre-Season Champions Shirts

Click on picture for larger image.

Extreme Makover

Our house just finished having a face-lift. Early this summer we decided that it was looking pretty shabby. Our house is about 34 years old and the trim was beginning to rot in some places, the nails holding the gutters were popping and the aluminum siding was stained. We ended up having all the siding replaced with vinyl, all the trim covered with aluminum and new vinyl soffets. We also had all new gutters and shutters installed.

When we were choosing the color for the siding, Kris wanted white. I let her know that if we were spending that kind of money, I wanted to make sure that people could tell that we had something done to the house. We chose a Tuscan Clay siding with white trim and blue shutters. We are very happy with the way it turned out.

The best news is that I will never have to paint the exterior!!!

Front BEFORE

Front AFTER

Side BEFORE

Side AFTER

Back BEFORE
Back AFTER

Family Room BEFORE
Family Room AFTER

Interesting Stat...

Read this in the Detroit News today...

"Jon Kitna has thrown more interceptions than touchdown passes as a Lion."

Lion's New Logo

Night of Destruction

Friday night we went to the Toledo Speed way for the NIGHT OF DESTRUCTION!!!! There was a group of 20 that went down to see the figure 8 demolition derby, roll over contest, chain race, plywood race and the school bus figure 8 races.

The School Bus races ended abruptly when one of the bus' throttle stuck open and ran in to the retaining wall and fence. Fortunately no one was hurt and the driver walked away from the bus. This could have been a lot worse the bus stopped about 5 feet from the grand stand.

Video's from last years races are here, here and here. (they are about the same as this year).

Happy Birthday Kris!!!

Now she is as old as I am...for nine days every year she tells me how much older I am, but sooner than later she seems to catch up to me.

Back to School

Don't they look thrilled to be going back to school? Apparently 7:00 am was way too early to wake up today.

Matthew

Andrew

Stephen

President

Not sure if you had heard or seen it on the news, but I have decided to throw my hat into the ring. You can check it out here.

Weekend Plans

For those of you with no weekend plans yet, this guy has all the information you need to keep busy. Here is a list of all the TV marathons that are on this weekend. I can't wait for Monday when the "John & Kate Plus 8" Marathon airs on TLC.

Birthday Phone Call

For those of you who forgot the rules to the Birthday Phone Call, or any new members of the family, here is the official link. Please note that these have been posted since November 28, 2006. There should be no excuses.

Apparently someone forgot Stephen's birthday and claimed he did not know the rules. I won't mention any names, but his birthday was on the same day that the rules were posted.

Rogers City (Guest Blogger)

Last week Bob and Amy and their boys, Dan and I and our boys, and Mom and Wally went to Rogers City, MI. My mom was kind enough to rent her cousin, Marvin's cottage for us. There are 3 bedrooms and 1 huge loft room and 2 bathrooms. The cottage is just down the road from Lake Huron. It is on lots of land. The kids built a fort which kept them very occupied. There was enough room in the yard to play baseball and kickball. You know it's going to be a good game when the pregnant Aunt Amy is the best player on the adult team. Bob and Dan might have been better but they had to hold Max on their shoulders for pitching and batting.

One of the favorite things to do while we were at the cottage was using the ATV's. Marvin has 7 ATVs. When we were finished only 4 were in the same condition we found them in. 3 are being repaired. The kids were doing great on them at first and we became a little lax. On the first day Matthew, Andrew, and Alex ran into trees. No one was seriously hurt though Alex had to have stitches in his forehead.

Later we were more responsible and had an adult start the line of ATVs and another adult at the end.

I loved riding the ATV and was not in charge of any children when the accidents happened.

Marvin went up to the cottage the week before we arrived to make sure everything was in order. He went around and changed all of the names on the trails so that each of the kids and I had our names on a sign. The kids thought this was great. It was a very special touch that we would never have found anywhere else.
When we arrived Stephen's baby found its long lost dog. It was sitting on the porch waiting for our arrival.

Casino was one of the highlights. Bubba Wally is teaching all of the kids to play poker and black jack. He even supplies the money for gambling. Each of the kids came away with approximately $7. We also taught the Dudley's to play Speed Scrabble and Hearts. I learned to play Cribbage. We played lots of checkers and chess, too.

We tried to get a good picture at the end of the trip. The only place we could get Max to smile was sitting on the ATV. So the background on this picture isn't the greatest but Max is happy. (Mom, you look great in this picture).

Max turns 2 on August 18th (Happy Birthday Max!) and Stephen turns 8 on August 22nd. We celebrated their birthdays at the cottage. Stephen got a bunch of stuff from the dollar store (cap guns, trick cards, a whoopie cushion, flarp, and other items that made his mother extremely happy). Max got a flashlight and Little People boat.

We also went to Mackinac City, St. Ignace for the Mystery Spot, the beach on Lake Michigan that runs along Rte. 2 in the UP, Ocqueoc Falls, the beach in Rogers City, and the quarry in Rogers City. It was a great vacation. All of the kids got along great. My children picked up some new Samisms and Maxisms. We were all sorry to see the week end. We hope to be allowed to go again.

Nascar Carfax 250

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

2008 Summer Olympics

I have ATT Uverse for my cable (It's not really cable as it all comes through the telephone line and is distributed throughout my house via CAT5 wiring). For Olympic coverage I have 17 channels (10 in HD) that are broadcasting the Olypmics during somepoint in the day. I even have a Korean Olympic channel. I just finished watching the Korean women beat the Italians in team archery (At least I think they did, it was all in Korean).

In addition, they have VOD for events that happen throughout the day. I was able to re-watch the Opening Ceremony. They also have an interactive site which gives up to the minute medal status and news stories.

I am really looking forward to this year's Olympics although I am very dissapointed that Jon and Beth did not make it.

Multimedia message

Multimedia message

Sleeping in Airports

For those of you who travel quite a bit, you may want to think about investing in one of these babies...the Mini Motel.For $50.00 it comes with the following:

• Air Mattress
• Pillow
• Bed Sheet
• Alarm Clock
• Reading Light
• Tooth Brush & Tooth Paste
• Ear Plugs
• Eye Shades
  

Another website that may be of interest is www.sleepinginairports.com. Amserdam was the #1 and Seoul, Incheon Korea was ranked #8 as the best airports to sleep in. They have ranked Chicago O'Hare as the #3 worst airport to sleep in and JFK received a dishonorable mention.

Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Everyone thinks that Allie is a "Little Susan." These pictures prove it!

Scout Camp

Matthew was at Scout Camp last week. His troop was at Cole Canoe Base in Alger. While there he earned Swimming, Camping & Sports Merit Badges. He also earned a partial in Physical Fitness, Orienteering & Archery.

His favorite meal was the Beast Feast. Each troop cooks their specialty food and everyone from camp can sample the other groups food. They had a River Rat Rodeo, War Canoe Race, Ice Cream Social, Movie Night and Pig Roast on Friday.

The weather was OK. It rained a little almost every day. When we arrived on Friday night to pick him up, there were thunderstorm warnings. About 8:30, right before the big closing campfire was to begin, it started coming down in buckets. They ended up moving the campfire under the large pavilion.

This was Matthew & Bendan's tent at the start of camp.

This was Matthew's side of the tent on the last day of camp.

This was Brendan's side.

Fore!!

Andrew and Stephen took golf lessons last week. They learned putting & pitching, driving and use of their irons.

I consider these lessons part of my retirement plan. Hopefully one of them will be the next Tiger Woods.

They both seemed to really enjoy it. I have taken them to Lower Huron Metro Parks which has a nice par 3 course. Best thing about it is that it is $6.00 for 18 holes. The longest hole is about 125 yards.

Innapropriate Use of Air Quotes

Stephen and Andrew took golf lessons this week. After his first lesson, Stephen asked Kris for a golf "Shirt" (using air quotes where the quotation marks are).

Apparently he wanted a Dri-Fit golf shirt.

Happy Fathers Day, Dan! (Guest Blogger)

Dan got a coupon jar from Stephen, a Dremel, a pizza pan for the grill, a cover for the grill, a "King of the House" crown from Matthew, Dad's root beer candy from Andrew, and some Margaritaville chips and salsas. Happy Father's Day to the best Dad around!

Fathers Weekend Sunday (Guest Blogger)

Today we went to the Tigers vs. Dodgers game at Comerica Park. Friends from Dan's old job had eight tickets. Matthew sat with them in the Tiger Den...cushy seats right behind home plate. Dan, Andrew, Stephen, and I sat in Tiger Den also but in the foul ball section along the third base line.

Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco warming up before the game started.

One big bat!

Tigers won the game 5-4. We did have a rain delay of about 45 minutes in the fifth inning. It poured! We went to Cheli's Chili Bar in Dearborn (the restaurant in the one downtown was not open). The chili was excellent!

Fathers Weekend Saturday (Guest blogger)

On Saturday we went to Cathie's parents for a Fathers Day Weekend Pool Party. The kids are all waterbabies and spent the day in the pool. They did take time out to enjoy some delicious food. The wings are always a favorite!

Susan, Dave, and Dan take a quick break from the water.

Dad and Judy were only able to stay for a short time as they had a graduation party to attend.

All of the kids spent some time jumping into the pool in some way. Ben jumped to Susan.

Andrew was airlifted by Uncle Dave!

Dave, Kevin, and Matthew tried diving into the floating basketball net.

Matthew being tossed about by Uncle Dave.

We got a good laugh watching and trying to teach Susan how to dive. She did manage to actually dive one time. Most of the time, however, she belly flopped or just fell in.

Dan tried making a smiley face out of sunscreen on Dave's belly while he was sleeping. Ben saw it and said, "He not know that there, does he? That funny." We all thought so, too, especially when Dave put his hand on his stomach and then rubbed his hair down.

Stephen shows what an exhausting day we had with tons of fun! Thanks to the Lebbons to opening their home and pool to our motley crew.

To see the rest of the pictures click here.

Multimedia message

Jimmy Buffett 2008

Kris and I went to see Jimmy Buffett tonight at Pine Knob (DTE Music Theater).

Great concert as always. Believe it or not, we were not the oldest people there (nor the youngest).

Below are my attempts at taking video with my phone. Needs some work.

Margaritaville

Pirate Looks at 40