Photo of the day, Wednesday

Happy New Year!


If you ready Holly's blog, you'll know that we are spending this evening and quite a bit of tomorrow morning with the boys from Troop 282. An all night video game marathon. Not really my cup of tea, but the boys are really jazzed about it and since it's our first year I felt compelled to volunteer to be one of the chaperone's. Since the boys and are going to be gone all night Holly decided to join us. Maybe next year a different new parent will watch the boys and Holly and I can do something adult for New Years 2010, like get to bed right after the ball drops. ;-)


In honor of Tom's Birthday, here's a montage of photos that I had handy. The kitchen shots show that he's a great cook. The dog shot shows that his loyalties used to be with a different dog than his current favorite that has slightly lizard breath. In all, these show that Tom's been a great add to our somewhat deranged family. Again, Happy Birthday Tom!
















Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Tuesday

Before I get started it's time for a Birthday Shout Out. Tom, the boys beloved Crystal Lake Uncle is having a birthday. His actual birthday is 12/31, New Years Eve, almost as awesome as my birthday. Anyway, let's fill his in box with warm wishes. Happy Birthday Tom! The photo's not the most complimentary, but it is in focus.

This past week I came upon the startling revelation that I am not in really good shape. Like, I get winded walking up a flight of stairs. That's crazy, I quit smoking 18 months ago, I should have better wind. What? I need to exercise? Something more than walking from the car to my desk and back.

It's a resolution coming on, I can feel it, I really don't do resolutions, but I can't help myself this time for some reason. I resolve to a) walk to the dam and back every day that it's possible. Meaning I'm in town and it's not a hurricane out there. b) lose 20 pounds, hopefully that will come with the walking every day, though I suppose I should cut down on the bacon cheeseburgers.

I did the walk twice today, once for a lunch meeting and again this evening with the family. I have included 2 extra photos. First up is one I took this afternoon, this is an overview of the Rockford dam. By the way, we made the front page of the Grand Rapids Press with a story about the flooding and using the dams to control the flow, for those interested you can read it here. Interestingly enough, Rockford shared the front page with an article about how bad the Lions are and they managed to connect the poor performance on the football field with poor attendance. Rocket scientists they aren't.

This is all four of us standing under the gazebo in the park near the dam If you look really close you can see it, top left. Since we have yet to send out our Christmas Cards, this could make it's way into the letter. Who knows?!

Here are the boys sitting on a wall in the same park. As the last two shots show, it's snowing again in Michigan. I was nervous about this shot, the surveillance camera was pointed our way, pretty sure we'll be talked to about this.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Monday

It was chore day around the Young house and the boys did their best to get it done before dinner. Some days getting them to focus on chores is like herding cats. We also got some fans arranged so that we could get the basement drying. Not sure if this is a permanent problem, but we're going to be watching as spring rolls around.

Ian and I walked down to the dam in downtown Rockford tonight. It was pretty amazing. The river appears to be up 7 feet or so. The lower portion of the fishing area was under water. It was awesome, unfortunately I didn't bring my camera.

Here's Spencer hanging out near his personal Christmas tree.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Sunday

This weekend I wimped out. Oh the weather was dicey on the drive to Crystal Lake and the next day, it was so bad that the Indiana Toll road was closed for several hours as they cleared up some really bad accidents. But today, today I balked at the drive to Rochester. It was icy in the AM, but we could have made it later in the day. Wimp! I still think that the weather on the way home would have or could have been dicey on Monday and I really needed to be home Tuesday morning.

David, Judy, Chris, Allison, Jeff and kids, I am so sorry. We need to plan a make up event when the weather is a bit better.

Here's one of Ian I took this weekend. As you can guess, he was underwhelmed with his dad running around with the camera, but he did allow the photo to be taken, after all, it just makes the whole thing happen faster.

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo ot the day, Saturday

Good Morning! It's a rare post that I do this in the morning rather than at night. We are off visiting Tom and Reen today. Man the roads were terrible, lots of vehicles in the ditches. Holly would either read or sleep, it's calmer that way.

Of all the things to forget I forgot to toss in the Ipass in an so we're stuck in the slow lane this trip. I do like the oasis concept, it's pricey to stop there, but you can get it all, gas, a variety of food, fancy coffee and even entertainment sometimes.

Like last night I was filling up and some lady was coming back from the building. Her vehicle was a great big SUV. I made a weather comment and she replied pleasantly. Once she got to the vehicle, she discovered that she was locked out, we went to each door and peered in the windows, finally managed to get in the back passenger door, but set off the alarm. Lights flashing, horn honking I can see her in the car trying to get the alarm shut down. Finally she gets out of the car, stares into the gas station and gestures violently with a flip of her hands that left both hands palm up. You could see the tension. Immediately the alarm shuts down and she stalks to the car and gets in. I left at that point, having no desire to witness the brutal assault that was sure to happen to her significant other upon their return to the car.

Here's one of our awesome hosts, Tom and Maureen. Tom and I did the cooking last night, we did baby back ribs on the smoker, sweet potato fries. And it was an awesome meal!

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Thursday

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope that you got not what you wanted, but just what you needed to make this an awesome Christmas. Seems funny to say that, but a lot of times what I want is one thing and what I really need is totally something else. Like this one year, I wanted fun stuff, you know, electronic games. What I got though, was a board game that required me to interact with someone else. Just what I needed. You see, while I may appear social, I really am a homebody. Interestingly enough though, many times our wants are driving us in directions that God would just as soon not have us go. So then He arranges a gift that causes us to consider a different path. We still have the free will to choose, but usually His way is better. If I had a nickel for each application of this I think the house would be paid for.


For Christmas this year I got something that I didn't want or need, but will really enjoy. It's an adapter that lets me plug my iPod straight into my car stereo. It is way cool. The only trouble was, I needed to disassemble the trim around my radio. To Larry, my brother-in-law, that would be no big deal. For me, it was a very big deal. But I decided that I could figure this out and save $55. OK, to be honest, I no longer figure things out, now I search the Internet. I did, and I found a great article that explained how to remove the trim, the essence of which was to go really slow and not rush. Rushing is how you break those plastic parts. It worked and within minutes Ian and I were sitting in my car with the stereo cranked. It is very cool to bond with a teenager when loud music is involved. Additionally, I had him figure out how to use the controls and then teach me. It's very cool if your dad needs you to help him. While I don't know a lot about parenting, that little thing, him teaching me, ... that was great for our relationship.


During the day someone kept slipping away upstairs to his room. Here you can see that I tracked him down and landed a wet one on him for my troubles. As you can see by the "rock on" hand gestures, he was cool with this invasion of his privacy.





Have a great day,
Pat

Photo of the day, Wednesday

Merry Christmas Eve!

Work has wound down to...nothing! I am on vacation! Yee Ha!

Holly the boys and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

We went to the Christmas Eve Service at our church and it was lead by the youth minister. It was the most strange message yet, it really pointed to why I chose to become a christian, Jesus came, he suffered, he died and then he rose. Praise God!

Our latest entry into the "share yourself with our gang" is below. Here is the story that goes with the photo, all I have to add is, Jim and Nancy, you guy totally are awesome! I wish I was that cool.

The following was submitted by Kathy.
------------------

Thought I would send this picture to you of my sister Nancy and Jim Bell,Th with my husband Norm in the back ground. I, Kathy took the picture. We are about to go on the zip line. This was during our recent trip to Alaska in August. It was at the point of no return. Can you tell? Turned out to be an awesome experience. At the end, the guides told Norm, (when they get older folks like us), they have problems, but that we did a great job.

Kathy, thanks for sharing!

I hope that you all have an awesome Christmas!
Pat

Photo of the day, Tuesday

Still snowing here. I know, those near here know, those not here, well, feel our pain. I can barely see the mailbox at the end of the driveway due to the huge piles of snow. What's that noise? Dang, the snow plow just buried us again, guess I better get this done and head out with the snow blower.

Work gets pretty weird this time of year, trying to juggle the shutdown schedules for the customers is pretty crazy, but now, with a down economy staring us in the face, some have extended their shut down, others are doing another week in January. We even have set up next week with out team as voluntary, should be fun trying to

The thing that really gets me is that the snack food is becoming a way of life! I have been noshing on all kinds of stuff, chocolate cookies, cakes, brownies, cheese, salami, crackers, peanuts, popcorn and it goes on and on and on. The guys in the tool shop were even slowing down and told me it could take a few days to get through the latest, multi flavor popcorn tin. He seemed disappointed with that.

Still looking to share photos of you guys. Herb, OK to share the one that you sent? (even though you aren't in it) Herb is the area leader for the Toy for Tots program in Polk County. They had an awesome year and over 400 kids were able to have a Merry Christmas. God Bless you and the elves that work with you!

Here are Holly and the boys. Forced pose, but at least I got them all into one frame.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Sunday

Cold and snowy again today. It was so bad that about 150 churches cancelled their services for this morning. I went any, because I was working with the kids. Holly and the boys stayed home and it was probably a good idea. The roads were dicey at best, but you know what, that little black Ford Focus that I drive is pretty darn dependable and I didn't get stuck at all.

This afternoon was a prime stay in and watch TV kind of day so we watch the Wizard of Oz, the enhanced color version and then one called "Your, mine and ours", a pretty good family flick. Ian watched the Wizard of Oz under protest, but once it was going, he was hooked. He made fun of it, but hey, he's a teen, he makes fun of anything that I want him to do. It was really nice being curled up for the afternoon/evening.

Here's one of some friends that are living the dream somewhere near St. Louis MO. It's Cil, Kevin and Aanika. I love the joy in this shot. How can you not smile when you see them?

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Saturday

Happy Saturday! We just got back from Larry, Terri and Jake's for our annual "Smithmas" with them and Holly's dad, Bob. It was one of the best trips on record, maybe they just keep getting better every year, I don't know, but this one was great. We had a chance to see the truck that Larry is working on and it looks really cool, trouble is, I forgot the camera at home, so I have no photos. It's still not quite done, so we have time for the big unveiling anyway.


Great time, thanks Larry and Terri, you were awesome hosts. And the dinner was great too! Jake was such a gracious host for his goofy cousins, it's truly impressive.


Since I forgot my camera it's a great time to start sharing the photos that you all have begun sending in. Remember, I would like to post a photo of you and yours, along with some detail (though I have no problem making up a story). We are a really small community, why not see who else is listening in to my ramblings? With that, our first entry.


Below is a shot from Nancy and Sandy's class reunion from this summer. Nancy, top left, is married to Jim Bell, and Sandy, bottom right, was married to Russ Bell. The Bell boys are cousins on my Grandma Ames (nee Bell) side. It is so cool that we have reconnected this year. So, it was their class reunion and I think that Nancy's name tag with her high school photo says it all. To me it says, here's what I looked like back then, don't you remember me? I remember you! Anyway, can you believe that they want me to believe that this was their 45th year class reunion for St. Ansgar. For those not in the know, follow the link, it's a pretty cool little town in Iowa that produced two awesome women.



Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Friday

Snow anyone!?! Schools were being canceled last night, before the storm even arrived. Spencer was nervous, would he get an extra day off or not? He's a fretter that boy. He's up at 5, in front of the TV, waiting for the news. I come down at 5:15, they like it if I determine if they have to go to school extra early. I log in, sure enough, Rockford's closed. I tell Spencer that he can go back to bed, nah, he says, I'll just go mess around, I'm already up now. That's my boy, and morning person.

We had about 40% of our people out, unable to get in to work. The best was one of the guys working in production called and said he couldn't get in, but how late would the office be open to pick up his paycheck. Always makes for a crazy day, trucks getting stuck, meetings delayed and generally just everyone trying to make the best of it. I worked through lunch and when I did finally get a few minutes I located the snack area, it's Christmas goodies everyday you know, and dined quite nicely on cocktail weenies, meatballs, tortilla chips, candy and cake and coke for good measure. Yes, I am nearly fully recovered from my bout with the stomach flu.

The boys are out to a place called Pando tonight with some of the boy scouts. They are on the tubing side, 3 hours for 12 bucks. Each boy gets a large tube and there's a tow lift that brings it back up the hill. Holly was saying that an area doctor that we know says that Pando really keeps the orthopedic surgeons busy. Nice. I'm sure all is fine, well, at least they have the cell phone if they need it.

Here's our mailbox, it was very accessible yesterday, today, we didn't get mail because the post office couldn't get near it. We have carved it out, so we should be good to go now.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Thursday

Days like today can really take it out of you or make you stronger. I chose to let it make me stronger, so no matter what the deal, I smiled and worked with someone to make it better. It seemed to work out ok.

Oh, yeah, by the way, I have recovered from my minor illness. Thanks for the prayers and kind thoughts, truly appreciated.

The answer to the "Where's Spence" is shown below. A few waded in with votes and unfortunately, fewer yet were correct. Thanks for playing!


As we are coming on my favorite holiday, Christ's Birthday, I was wondering if anyone would like to share a favorite family photo from 2008. Send it in with a note and I'll post it/email it around. It would be good for everyone to see each other, you know our own little band of fellows. It's funny, but as I type, you are all in my mind and I try to please you and make you laugh so that you can forget your cares. Anyway, here's me and my Peep's.





Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Wednesday

Still to sick to go to work, so I worked from home. Pretty amazing how much you can get done remotely.

As is my annual tradition, here is the Where's Waldo shot. We noticed in the program he listed his "stage name" as Spence Young. Anyway, he's in the shot, and the clue this year is that he's in a white shirt. Good luck!

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Tuesday

The bug came back and bit me again. So, today I called in sick. It's been awhile since I did that. I still did some work with email and my cell phone, but at least I had my privacy when I wanted it. I took a nap after a satisfying lunch of Gatorade and saltines. Mmm good! When I woke up I was a bit disorientated and couldn't recall why I was sleeping in the afternoon. Then I sat up and it all came back to me.

Holly, Bob and the boys headed out to Rosie's Diner for dinner. Spencer wanted to show Bob the model that was featured here a few months ago. Spencer walks in and asked the waitress if she remembered him. She did and showed him where the display case would be going. I guess it's really on order, I was preparing to explain how adults aren't always good at following through on promises, but I shouldn't have worried about Rosie's.

While they were out the home phone went crazy and once again Ian is the focus of girls calling him. I taunted him in to calling the girl back while I was in the room, which he did. But after a few minutes he slipped out the door to his room to finish the call in private. I can't say I blame him.

Below is the top of an e-card that I got from Good Old Iowa State. Of course it came with a request for money, and since they knew that some of us would try to use it, it came in 3 sections, not a bad paste job on my part, if I do say so. Iowa State has been on my mind of late for a few reasons; Football lost another coach to a top tier team, Auburn; Volleyball made it to the NCAA elite eight; Wrestling team was ranked at #2 again this year. Go Cyclones!

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Monday

Hello!

I have just returned from the brink. This weekend, after an extreme number of hours at work, I developed a case of the stomach flu. Yee Ha! It's been an interesting weekend.

Bob, Holly's Dad is here for a few days. I sure hope he doesn't get my flu.

Here's one of Ian displaying how my system felt this weekend.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Wednesday

Hi!


Long time, no type.


Yeah, my fault.


Isn't it usually?


What's new here? Well, I've been consumed by work, work and oh yeah, some more work. I have tried to see my family for a few minutes a day this week, to some success.


I am leading a Kaizan, or Lean Manufacturing event. This is typically a full time commitment for a week, well, actually it's like a 50 hour in 4 days kind of commitment. I am really tired, but really pleased with what our team has accomplished. No details, because, I don't think any of you really care beyond wanting me to do well, and honestly, that's too much typing.


Add to that, a major tooling project, with 18 injection mold tools, 2 progressive die tools, an aluminum extrusion tool, with secondary tooling, a plastic injection tool, with secondary tooling and finally a bunch of new parts using utility tooling. Yep, we're busy on the engineering side.


Oh, by the way, 4 other customers want to launch a new part or two with new dies and tools and all as well. I love the pressure cooker, but it's getting close to being to crazy for even me. Say la vee, no, I'm pretty sure the French spell that differently, in English it's "Such is Life".


I need a break from the white stuff, here's my nephew Jake tubing. You can't tell, but we're zooming along at about 30MPH. That's the cool thing about Jake, he can make it all look really easy.

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Sunday

Chilly but really, really sunny! It was so sunny this morning that it hurt my eyes on the drive to church.

To add to the sunshine the Vikings helped the Lions in the quest for a perfect football season, perfect as in no wins.

We are heading out to a party tonight with the worship team and arts group from church. Holly's all jazzed up for it and I'm sure it will be fun.

We took our Wii game system to Tom and Maureens for Thanksgiving. Here we have Holly and the boys playing a game of Marioware or something like that. It's a pretty fun party game and Tom and Reen, though not photographed, really got into it too. In fact Maureen bought Tom a game for the system so that Tom could be better at something than the boys. Trouble is, 10 minutes on the game and Ian has it all figured out how to get bonus points. Tom is now searching for a kid in his area that can loan him some game time to practice. Hope that works for you Tom.

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Saturday

Well Hello Winter!


It blew in big time today. I shoveled before my men's group, mid afternoon and again after dinner. It's stopped snowing, finally, but it was kind of annoying, you know, every time I turned around it seemed, the snow was 4" deep and the plow had just gone by. Aarrgh!


We continued our decorating of the house. Most years I could care less about all that stuff. In fact when we were married and I was a mere 31 years old, I brought only 1, one, ornament into the marriage. I am not a Grinch or a Scrooge, but, all the to do in the house for a month, well, quite frankly it escaped me. This year I helped as much as I used to when I was a mere lad of 12 or so. And you know what, it was fun. Dang, all those years, lost. Never back, always forward, I am so looking forward to this from now on.


I was just thinking that I really blew the horn for my big brother's birthday. As I reflected on how I really enjoyed making a big deal out of his day, I realized that for many of you I don't know your birthday. If you want to share, please send it on to me and I'll make a shout out to you on your big day. If you have new photos, I'll post them too! You make the call.

With decorating the house comes the tree for my office. I'll take it in this week early so that we have it for our week long event. With 8 of us on the event, I'm sure we could use some Christmas cheer. Anyway, here's the tree that Holly created for me this year. Can you tell that I love blue?


Yesterday the boys came home and chased about a billion birds off our front porch. You doubt the number? Look at these photos. Sorry about the sideways shot, for some reason I am unable to rotate this photo, but Ian took this and I am proud of the shot and the style. OK, I've got an idea, if you turn your head to the right. Isn't that better? Yeah, I thought so.Thanks.



Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Friday

Happy FRIDAY!

It's been a long week, the weekend looks better. Next week is bound to be crazy, I am leading a lean manufacturing week long event, the hours are long, but it should be a lot of fun. We take a week and try to make it better in one area of our manufacturing plant. Focused work, it's great because in a short amount of time we can actually accomplish something significant. Not that day to day isn't significant, but with a team and 4 focused days, it's amazing.

We just got back from the hockey game. We went to the Grand Rapids Griffins Hockey game. It was a lot of fun, even though the Griffins lost to the Toronto Marlies. The highlight was that Chris Chelios, a defenseman from the Detroit Red Wings, was playing a few games at this level to get ready to move up. Man, he was a joy to watch with the puck, even as a defenseman. So, here's his photo. He's shown here in Red Wing uniform, and this shot is from the Griffins website.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Wednesday

Happy Birthday one last time this year to brother John. It's bound to be a good year!

Really busy at work again/still. I know that this project will eventually be done, but for now it's killing me. They just realized that the time lines are too long now and so I have to see what I can do to pull things in faster. Stress is driving my hair whiter and whiter.

One last shot of John. Not sure when this was from but it ended up in my laptop. I don't normally use the laptop to post these, but I was working late and didn't want to get off the couch. The photo is probably over 2 years old since I think that it was taken in the Mantorville abode.

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Tuesday

First some great bragging news, Spencer made the honor roll and we now have the window cling to prove it. We are pretty proud of him. Holly won the arm wrestling match and so the window cling is heading to her car. Here it is. Way to go Spencer!


On to the big news, my brother John is having a birthday Wednesday, December 3rd. Let's see, he's my older brother, actually the oldest brother. I am still pretty much a juvenile so it's all I can do to stop from trashing him. Instead here are some shots of John, not an exhaustive montage, but one that shows growth. If you have his email, spam him, I mean send him an e-greeting! Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Mom, Dad and Jack when he was way, way younger.


Dave, Jack, Pat and Mom. Jack has an eye for the camera.


Wally Cleaver, oh, I mean Jack at 8.


Jack in high school, senior?


Dave and Jack by Owens' Ice Machine Van, note the white belt.


Dave, me, Jack and John, all of us older and hopefully wiser.


Jack and Jim Bell, note that Jim, while a bit older, more hair on the roof.


Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Monday

Why is it that when you get used to technology someone, somewhere decides it's time to obsolete or "improve" it? It drives me nuts. I have begun to wonder if it's just because I'm over 50 and so technology is like so much junk once I come in contact with it. My iGoogle home page recently went wacky, then I lost my daily funnies and now something seems to be up with Blogger, where I record these random thoughts. Oh well, let's hope it's a phase, like the teen years.


I know that the message is getting out though since many of you have weighed in on David's reason for the glasses. Most popular reply, "carving the turkey", most humorous; "that's funny. I'm sure I put socks on this morning." Thanks for playing along. David, any recollection?


This is a shot of a "loaner" dog, one that was being watched by Tom and Maureen while the owners were away. Angel took over this dog toy for the weekend and was often seen carrying it around like a large stogy. When bit, a most disturbing noise could be heard, not a squeak, more of a earthy sound, if you catch my drift. Good dog though.


Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Sunday

Here we sit, in the first "major" snow storm of the year. We joined the lemmings and headed to the store to stock up with a few items, but nothing major, after all, we're Michiganders! Ian and Spencer played out their superstition of; if you wear your PJ's inside out and backwards and flush an odd number of ice cubes down the toilet, you get a snow day. We'll see how far that gets them.

This morning the little kids sang in church. Pretty cool song, not one of your standard Christmas tunes, but a new one called; "He Made a Way in the Manger", this is a You Tube link to a video that has the song, I did watch the whole video, It's not like when I watched lots of little kids sing this song, but the music is very similar. I really enjoy working with kids and when we do the "Big" productions, I really get a kick out of watching the kids that I have worked with and see how they deal with life on the stage. Some make it, some hang back and a few grab the spotlight with both hands. It's always interesting watching kids on stage.

One of the bonuses of coming back from a trip is that I have extra photos. Spencer was my main photographer on this Thanksgiving and here is one of his shots. Uncle David is reading something, as evidenced by him wearing his glasses. Other than that, I have no context for this shot. Let's make one up! Post a comment on what you think Uncle David was reading, remember this is a G rated blog. I think David was reading...

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Saturday

Ah, that satisfaction that comes from getting home after being out and about for a few days. It's almost a guilty pleasure. I mean, I love being with my Sister and Brother-In-Law, and the chance to visit with Dave and Judy, awesome. But that sense of calm that comes over you when you get back to your own house with your own bed and your own stuff, well, as they say on the commercial, Priceless. Now the reason that I considered this a guilty pleasure was that I was sure that I would offend my sister if she knew how happy I was to see my own house number after visiting her, but, as I have aged, I have been blessed with a wee bit of wisdom. Now I see that she's probably just as happy to see us off and to have her home back again.

Anyway, here we are on the way home. Not bad for setting the camera on the dash for a tripod.

Yesterday I left a bit of a cliffhanger for you all. To recap, Tom and I were falling all over ourselves with glee at the boys hauling out their first tree. And then I was going to waft philosophical and bemoan losing my boys to teenagers, but I, for whatever reason, opted to quit right in the middle of the sentence. Who knows, I might have been called away to an important meeting, after all, pecan pie was on the menu. In other words, I think it was nothing.

I am the subject for tonight's photo. Friday night, as we have a bit of a tradition of doing, we went to the 1776 restaurant for the "beer dinner". This year the beer was from the Rogue Brewery, from Oregon. Their lead beer is one called "Dead Guy Ale", it's a beer I've had before and enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised to hear was the focus. On the way out Holly asked if I wanted a t-shirt. She was bold enough to ask the owner if one was available for purchase, I was too shy. The owner came back with a t-shirt and this hat and as he handed it to me he wished us a Merry Christmas. Very cool! Ian is so jealous of my hat and t-shirt, but I told him that he needs to be of legal drinking age to wear it. The hat is a black one that has stitched into it, "DEAD GUY" in glow in the dark letters, very cool!

Have a great day!

Pat

Photo of the day, Friday

Happy Black Friday! We you one of those that was out really early, after the deal? Holly and Maureen have done the early out the door thing in the past. Or were you one of those that takes it a bit easier? That’s more like Tom, me and the boys. We were all calm this morning, we slept in, by my way of looking at it, and had a nice breakfast all together.

Yesterday was a great day with David and Judy meeting all of us at Tom and Maureen’s for a feast. It was a true feast this year, probably as a result of running out of leftovers too quickly last year we overcompensated. It was one of the best meals I can recall as an adult being a part of. All of us had a hand in preparing, eating and cleaning up. Here’s my annual shot of the table and the guests. Starting at the head, we have Tom, Holly, Ian, Maureen, David, Judy and Spencer. As usual, the thankful rolls entertained us and helped keep the conversations going.

Today Tom, the boys and I went on our annual quest for a Christmas tree. We scaled back the size, for a couple of reasons, the primary one was that the farm that we like the best a funny situation, some trees in the small size zone and some in the super large, community room size zone, but the middle zone, 7 to 9 foot tall, not much at all. We’ve been doing this on the Friday after Thanksgiving for probably 9 years. This is the first year that the boys were able to carry the tree out while Tom and I strolled back to the barn and here is the photographic evidence of that. It was a red letter day to be sure! As we stolled back, Tom, in a mock sobbing voice, remarked that it was tough to watch them grow up. We roared in laughter at his wit, then I thought about the

Have a great day!
Pat

Photo of the day, Thursday

We are getting ready for our traditional Thanksgiving journey to Maureen and Tom's house. I hate the drive, but love the time. The boys won't even begin to consider letting us drop any traditions, not yet and especially not if it involves giving up pie, cinnamon rolls or thankful rolls.

What are "thankful rolls"?


Thankful rolls are a great invention that I think we picked up from a Parent's or Family Fun magazine 10 years ago. We use Pillsbury crescent rolls, a pencil and cheap paper. We tear up enough note size pieces of paper for one to go in each dinner roll. Divvy up the papers equally among the diners. Each diner then fills out each note with a thing that they are thankful for, the diner must not use the same thought each time. Fold up the notes really small and roll them into the center of the crescent rolls. Bake rolls per instructions found on the container. At dinner, as each roll is opened the opener tries to guess the original author. It's fun and my boys have learned from this that it's not things, but people that matter. Sandy, by the way, thanks for the e-card, we cherish our family and friends.



Here's one of my mom from last Thanksgiving. She was an awesome woman.


I may post, I may not, while we are at Maureen and Tom's, who knows? Not me, that's for sure.

From the West Michigan side of the family, we'd like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.

Have a great day,
Pat