We are having our first official snowfall/rain mixture on October 1st. How did I end up in Michigan!!!!

It is nice to go away on vacation, but it is even nicer to be home. After all of the laundry is done & the suitcases are put away, it is nice to get back to your normal routine. Overall, we had a really good time & Shawn loved being spoiled.

Tim is officially back on the Atkins diet. It started yesterday, so it is back to meat, tuna, cheese, sugar free jello, beef broth, pork rinds, eggs and lots of water. Not sure how long it will take for him to get to his desired weight.

Bought a Meijer brand of Hamburger Helper for Shawn & I for lunch today & he is eating it up. He likes it alot! I will try the tuna helper next. Add some variety to his diet.

I have a bunch of things to do this week - get a haircut, get Dauber his annual checkup & bath, drop my film from vacation off, call the dentist for appts for Tim & I and clean the house. Plus work on top of that. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Tim just found out that he is getting a company car. Unfortunally, the car he is getting is a piece of junk. It is a brown Taurus with around 60,000 miles on it. The service engine light is on, the guy who has it now smokes a pipe in it and it is on it's 3rd suspension! He isn't too excited. The only good thing is that I can start driving his current car, because we are way over miles on my car!!

Yesterday was a long day overfilled with walking! We got up & headed right to Animal Kingdom. We were so glad that we went. We had heard some so-so comments about the park, but we really enjoyed ourselves. Took a ton of pictures on the safari ride. Got our picture taken with King Louie from the Jungle Book. Had a yummy lunch. Went to the Tarazan stage show. I was so excited because I thought they were going to have Phil Collins (he sang all of the songs for Tarazan) blasting through the speakers during the show. When it opened, this really goofy lounge singing guy started singing Phil. I was so angry & wanted to get up & leave, but Tim said they had made an announcement that you couldn't leave during the show. So I sat for a half an hour listening to this guy butcher the songs. It was just wrong!!!! We were at Animal Kingdom until 2:30 & then boarded the bus to MGM.

By this time, I was pretty tired. I had bought prizes for Shawn at Animal Kingdom & thought I would rent a locker at MGM, so I didn't have to carry the bag. I go up expecting to hear a $1 or $2 rental that gets returned when you return the key. The lady tells me $7.00. Tim & I must have had a horrified look on our faces b/c half way through she cancelled the order & told us to take the package to package pickup. We left there & I said heck with it & carried the bag. Walked around there, watched the parade, sat in a restuarant & had a pop at the bar & then for some crazy reason, decided at 6pm to head to Epcot to walk the world plaza.

I was so tired by this point! We had nachos in Mexico & then walked around the worlds & headed back to the bus system around 8pm. The bus from Epcot to Animal Kingdom was filled with tired, crying kids. It made me think of Shawn & smile. We got back to the hotel & headed to the hottub & pool for an hour. We then went back to the room, took a shower & then went out to get a take out pizza. Brought the pizza back to the room, ate it & we were asleep by 11.

Not sure what we are going to do today. We just finished showering & we are going to head out for the day. I will do a final blog tonight when we get back.

I am so mad. I had half of my Blog entry done & I hit the wrong button on my laptop & lost eveything I had just typed!!

Thursday's update - went to breakfast at the hotel we stayed at 8 years ago. The waitress had been there 11 years & remembered the meal Tim wanted, but they no longer serve it. She said that if we were in for a few days, the chef could order the food in & make it for Tim. We were impressed, but said no thanks. The food we did have was really good though. Tim was excited because they had kicked up Bloody Mary's. It was a spicy tomato juice, Absolute Peppar Vodka & a cajun spice around the rim. He said it had a kick to it, but it was really good. I think he liked being able to start his day out with a drink!

From there, we headed to Magic Kingdom. After we parked the car, road the tram, got on the monarail & got through the ticket counter & security, we were finally in the park. The crowds were great. We got on most attractions with no wait at all. The longest wait was 10-20 minutes & I think we only hit that twice. Disney is not a place for kids! As we were riding on the rides, I was thinking of Shawn & he would have been scard at 90% of the rides. The kids that were there seemed to be crying or tired or just over stimulated. I think at maybe 5 years of age you could think about going, but you would still have to pick & choose the rides. THANK YOU MOM & DAD FOR TAKING CARE OF SHAWN!!!! WE APPRECIATE IT!! It started raining on & off by 1 or 2pm. We had pretty much finished the park by 4. The tickets that we used to get in were from when I worked at the Disney Store in college 12 years ago. I can't believe that I still had them & that they were still good! They cashed them in for 1 day park hopper passes. So, we decided to head over to Epcot since they were open until 9pm. We were thinking okay, back on the Monarail, tram, car adventure to head over to Epcot. Then we see a monarail marked Epcot. I asked the guy how long the rail ran & he said until 10:30pm. Yea! We jumped on the Monarail & headed right to Disney. By the time we got to Epcot, the rain was pretty steady. I knew that the new space ride was there, so headed for that first. NEVER AGAIN!!! It was a simulator of being an astronot & it really felt like the real thing (what I would think it would feel like) & had that ride gone a minute longer, I would have thrown up all over the inside of the simulator!! I was sweating & fighting not to get sick the whole time. I could bairly walk when I got out - I felt like I was going to pass out! Tim didn't feel to well either. We sat down for about a 1/2 an hour. The rain was still pretty steady & we didn't feel too well, so we said heck with it & headed back to the monarail, tram, car routine!

Came back to the hotel, showered & headed out for something to eat. We went to Downtown Disney first. I forgot that they have a whole shopping area there. We are going to head back there either tonight or tomorrow, as we were to hungry to shop. The restaurants were too expensive there, so we left & ended up at a seafood restuarant called Crabby Bills. Pretty good food. We left there & headed to WalMart to get a bigger CF card for our digital camera, which will allow us to take more pictures. It was raining hard, so we pulled up in front of the store & Tim went in. After that, it was around 10:30, so we headed back to the hotel & crawled into bed & watched the news & fell asleep. Busy day!!

Today is more of the same. Not sure if we are going to breakfast or not. It is 7:15 & Tim is still struggling to wake up. We are headed to Animal Kingdom first & then finishing the day at the MGM park. They open at 9, so we have a little time. I'll update tomorrow.

Well, I guess I have to eat my words about never going back to Universal Studios CityWalk. We went to dinner last night with 2 other couples from Tim's work (it was their last night in town) and they had not been to their yet. We ate a Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville. We all had fish meals. I had the Tiliapia. It was good. I had a Banana Dacaquiri (sp?) in a take home glass that Tim can now use for his special drinks. We then walked around. The guys played video games in the Nascar restaurant & then we headed back. Tim & I took a walk around the gardens in the hotel & then headed to bed.

Today, we are headed to breakfast at the Disney hotel that we stayed at for our honeymoon. It is a cajun type of restaurant that served eggs with crawfish - gross!!! Tim loved it & we ate there everyday that we were here. We are going to head over there & see if the menu has changed in 8 years. We were going to take the hotel shuttle in to the park, but when we decided on breakfast, we thought we'd drive in. The hotel shuttle runs once an hour there & back & we didn't want to be stuck like that.

I'll update tonight after the park. It's open until 7pm.

We ended up going to City Walk last night. It was okay. A lot of hyped up restaurants. We ended up having appetizers at the Motown restaurant. After that, we left & went to the town of Celebration. This is the town that Disney built. If you have seen The Truman Show, that movie was filmed in a town called Seaside in Flordia. That town inspired the builders to build this town the same way. It almost feels like you are walking around on a movie set. Huge houses - most around 1 million dollars. They have a downtown area with some neat restaurants & taverns that we are thinking of going back to. Their website (unable to link properly from here, sorry!!) is www.celebrationFL.com. Really neat place.

We then went to the local grocery store where I got a ham & cheese sub, some banana pudding, 2 plums and 2 candy bars for lunch today. In the parking lot was a large Egret, which is a Heron according to the Internet! It was pretty neat. The store clerk was out there & she said his name is Bob & gave me a piece of popcorn to feed to him. I had to get down in the squating position so I wouldn't scare him. Those beady eyes looking at me were pretty scary. All of a sudden, his long beak came at my hand for the food. His beak was really sharp & it hurt. We took so pictures, but it was pretty dark, so I think I need to go back!

When we got back, we went down to the bar & sat with Tim's boss for a drink. I stayed down for about a half an hour & then came up to the room.

Tim is done by 2:00 today. Joyce is sending me an overnight envelope today with my payroll reports in it. That should be here by 10am, so I'll get that done, eat lunch & then Tim & I will figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

Tim just got back. He still has to go to the trade show for an hour or so & then he turned dinner down with the group so we could go out!! We are going to head to the Universal Studios Citywalk. It is suppose to have rerstaurants & stores. Their website at citywalk.com said that tonight is the Bartenders Challenge to see who the best bartender is. That might be fun to see.

I'll update later tonight or tomorrow!! Tim doesn't have to be downstairs until 9:30 tomorrow & he is done by 2:00 I think & then we are officially on vacation!!

Had some stress this morning trying to dial up my payroll company to download my weekly files from them. Ending up going to a payphone here in the hotel that had a spot to hook up my phone line cord from my computer to the phone. After calling the tech support at the payroll company, I was able to get it taken care of. That was my last official thing that I HAD to do for work. I have actually been able to get in 4 hours yesterday & 5 hours today! Not bad.

I went to the pool for about an hour & a half today. It started getting a bit hot & I was getting bored, so I left. I think I am going to lay down for an hour. Tim was snoring last night & I had trouble falling asleep as he kept waking me up. Tim is done at 3 & then he has a trade show at 4:30 that I can go to with him. Not sure what the dinner/evening plans are at this point.

Just returned from dinner. Tim went down to the bar for a drink & I decided to head up. I may go down in a bit, but I sure don't feel like it. Went to downtown Disney for dinner. Ate at the House of Blues. There were 8 of us. I had a hamburger, fries, salad & tea. Tim had the jambalaya. There were 8 of us & the bill was $215 w/tip. The food wasn't bad, but it wouldn't be my first choice to go back to. But, it was on Tim's company, so how bad can that be!!

I made a mistake with my rental car. I didn't know that they charge you up front for a full tank of gas, unless you tell them not to. I got charged $19.50 for a tank of gas & I only used less than a 1/4 a tank!!! No refunds! I guess live & learn. I'll know next time I have to rent a car!

Forgot to mention how expensive food is here. I had a ham & cheese sandwich, chips & an ice tea & my bill was $10! Ouch!

I made it to Orlando. The flight was perfect - no problems. I got in & out of the airport & the car rental place so quickly. It took me 45 minutes on a busy, but non stressfull highway to get here. This hotel is huge - it is just beautiful. I have free internet access in my room, so I just finished working for today & I think I will sit by the pool for a few hours tomorrow & Wednesday & come in & work when I am too hot. If I can work & save my vacation time, I may as well.

Tim just called & said that his boss is taking everyone to dinner tonight. We are to be downstairs at 6:30.

I'll update later tonight!

Getting ready for our Florida trip. I am pretty mad at myself for booking the flight that I did. It is causing a lot of problems - the main one being that it is an hour away from where we are staying. The money that I saved in the flight is being spent in me having to rent a car on Monday to get myself from the airport to the hotel! I would have been better off spending the extra $40 on the airfare & getting to the main airport where our hotel has a free shuttle!!
Live and learn!

I will have to take my laptop with me because I have to download my payroll files for the current payweek & open the new payroll cycle within 3 days of submitting payroll. So, now I am into the phase of getting 800 numbers for the payroll company & having to figure out how to dial it from my hotel room!

I hope this trip is worth it, because right now, it has been nothing but a headache!

Shawn is still up at 5:50pm!! By still up, I mean he hasn't taken a nap yet today, after getting up at 7am. Mommy needs a break!!

I have given up on story time at the library. It is at 10am & that is when I am most productive work wise, so if we have an errand, we don't do it until the afternoon. If I were to go, I know I wouldn't work for the day. I guess I will have to have my own story time with him!

Waiting for Tim to get home from work...

Heading to Toledo tomorrow, so this will be my last blog until sometime next week. Tim is going to steam clean the carpets, cut the grass & golf while I am gone. He will head to Detroit on Friday to pick up John at the airport & then head on to Bowling Green for a college reunion. We will meet back up on Sunday.

Brad & Sheri are coming for a visit October 3rd & then Brad just told me that they will be in for Thanksgiving. That will be the first Thanksgiving that we have had with them in awhile, so we are looking forward to it.

Taking Shawn to story time at the library tomorrow before we head out.

Went to Chuck E Cheese Friday. Had a good time until the kids started getting tired. Olivia threw a temper tantrum in the parking lot. She didn't want to get into her car seat & it took about 10 minutes of her screaming at the top of her lungs before they could hog tie her into her seat. We were able to get her to stop crying in the car by telling her she could go to Shawn's house. So, we come back to our house & Shawn proceeds to get mean & start crying b/c Olivia was playing with his trains. No one messes with his trains!! They left & Shawn feel asleep soon after.

Today, we decided to take a trip to Saugatuck, MI which is about a half an hour from here. Really cute town with neat stores. Lucky for us, Shawn decided that half way through he was done cooperating & started throwing crying fits. We were ready to leave him there!! We want to go back & give the town another try & actually go throug the stores. We did buy a neat windsock that is hanging from our deck,

We came back & Tim started to cut down the summer flowers. We then went to Meijer for dog food & diapers. When we came back, Tim & Shawn had a dance party in the basement. Thet were dancing to a bunch of different music, but when I came in, they were listening to the OSU band. Made me want to get in the car & drive to Ohio State!!

Cleaning the house tomorrow!! Fun for me!

High of 68 today. I just finished putting a pot of while chili in the crock pot. That will simmer all day & be ready when Tim comes home.

Tim went golfing on a mini league with people from his office last night. It was a nice night, so Shawn & I were out front. Shawn saw Olivia & went running to her. Shawn & Olivia watered the flowers in Olivia's yard & then they played with chalk on her driveway while Melissa & I sat on their front step & drank a glass of wine. It was fun. The 6 of us are heading to Chuck E Cheese Friday night for dinner & playtime for Shawn & Olivia. Looking forward to that.

It's been a busy week or two. Tim's parents came in town last Friday to spend Labor Day with us. Shawn & Dauber enjoyed getting 100% attention all weekend.

Shawn had his first play date today. He went next door to Olivia's to play & have lunch. He did great up until lunch & then he just started crying & wanted to come home. He came in, sat down at his place at the kitchen table & ate his food. He is use to use routine I guess. Melissa (Olivia's Mom) and I are taking them to the library next Tuesday for story time. We took the kids last week to the Zoo. Had a good time until Olivia got stung by a bee. That cut our lunch short. It has been a blessing having Kirk, Melissa & Olivia next door. The kids get along great & we really like them.

Nothing special planned for the weekend. It is suppose to be cool, so probably just spending time inside cleaning. I leave for Toledo for a week on Wednesday. I will work Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. We are having a birthday party for Mom on Friday, as Marsha, Ray, Steph & Hillary are coming in as well. We may go to the Toledo Zoo on Saturday, depending on the weather. When I get back, it will be time to start getting ready for Disney!!

Well, it's been 2 weeks since my last update. You can see that I'm not so good at this updating thing.

We are going to Disney! We as in Tim & I. Tim has a meeting there September 21 - 24. I am going to drive to Toledo on the 21st & then fly out of Toledo on the 24th. We will fly back on the 28th (Tim to GR & me to Toledo.) I will work in the office on the 29th & then head back to GR that afternoon.

Tim had to fix a big drain problem on the back of our house. The drain goes underground & the pipe that the previous owner had installed was way too small. He put in 50 feet of new drainage pipe. I took pictures, so hopefully he can download them tonight.

Tim had to go to Toledo today for a meeting & back again on Thursday. Why they couldn't do it all in on day or 2 days back to back is beyond me, but he is driving there & back both days. He'll be tired!!

Tims parents are coming in on Friday to spend Labor Day with us. This will be the first that they have seen the house. Nothing planned - Tim & his Dad are going golfing on Saturday.

Working out of the house is going pretty well. My co-workers feel no hesitation to call me. Either my cell or home phone is ringing 2-3 times a day with questions or they are sending email. It helps to break up the day. Shawn loves being at home. He is very good about entertaining himself. Every once in awhile he will ask for help, but overall he is very content. He likes sleeping in until 8 or 8:30 where as when he was going to day care he had to be up at 6:30 or 7am. He is starting to not take naps. He plays all day & crashes around 6pm or 7pm. Last night he fell asleep at 6:15, woke up at 8:30 & went to sleep for the night at 11pm. Not sure what type of schedule that is!!

Dauber is being wierd today. He has not eaten breakfast at this posting, but his stomach is making a lot of noise. He is still following us around. Maybe he just has a touch of the flu.

Tim & I had a really nice night last night. We headed out to the 2 story mall & ate dinner at Kahunaville. Very similiar to the Rainforest Cafe chain. I had a teriaki flank steak meal & Tim had a seafood gumbo. We had great food & good service. It was expensive though. Not your every week type of restaurant. We then walked through both levels of the mall. We got home, changed into comfy clothes & watched Unwrapped. We were asleep by 9:45!

Taking Dauber for a bath today. Going to work a bit & then pack for my trip for Toledo. Not sure what we will do tonight.

Shawn left for Toledo this morning & it is so wierd being in the house without him. It is a first for me & I miss him bothering me so much!!!! It has been nice to work at my own pace & do my own thing, but I got use to that little face always there. I can't wait until I see him on Wednesday.

Tim & I are gping to go out to dinner somewhere tonight. Not sure where yet. We are in the middle of a huge rain storm rignt now. Tornado warnings were issued. We may not be going anywhere!!

I am looking into Shawn & I taking the Amtrak to Chicago for 3 or 4 days - Like a Tuesday - Saturday. I can catch the train out of Kalamzoo or Grand Rapids. Out of Kalazoo into Chicago was $54.00 for the 2 of us. Brad could meet us at the train station & we could spend the day downtown or head back to his place. I'm hoping to do it in September.

Had a nice trip to Toledo. It was so nice to be able to leave Shawn in good hands & head to work, my haircut, errands, etc. & just have a break from him.

Went to the new members night at the Zoo. It was raining, pretty hard at times, so we walked around a bit & then decided to go & see the new baby elephant & then leave. The elephant was worth the trip - he was so cute!! Not a crowd, so we got to stand and watch him for as long as we wanted to.

Tim & I went to dinner & a movie Saturday night & left around 12:00 on Sunday. Overall, we had a good time.

Last night was National Night Out. Not sure how they call it national, as I had never heard about it before coming here, but it is a BIG deal in Grand Rapids. Basically, you are suppose to get together with all of your neighbors to build relationships for block watch's & crime free neighborhoods. The lady at the end of our street planned a cook-out where you bring your meat & a salad or dessert (one half of the street got a salad & the other half got a dessert assignment) and she provided the grill & plates. Tim thought it was sort of stupid & really didn't want to go, thinking no one would show up. Well...the entire street & their kids showed up. We have I think around 20 houses & probably 17 showed. It was a lot of fun & we met almost everyone. It went from 6-8, so it wasn't a long commitment. The weather was perfect & Tim had a good time!!

Our next door neighbors invited us over for dinner tomorrow night, but Tim has stuff going on at work, so we are going to do it when they get back from vacation.

Tim is going to Orlando at the end of September for a meeting. We are tossing around the idea of me meeting him there on Wednesday, when his meeting is over & staying there until Sunday. We would stay at Disney & see what has changed in 8 years. Mom has offered to come here & stay with Shawn & Dauber, so it all depends on if Tim can change the return time on his ticket & if his boss is okay with the plan.

Not much new. Tim's job is very stressful. He has to lay off 2 people & he will have to go out & do selling as well, which he wasn't suppose to have to do. He isn't too happy about it. We tried a new pizza place last night. It is a local restaurant & we were hoping for Mom & Pop pizza, but it was just fair. Well keep looking. Can't keep up with Dauber's shedding. With the light carpet & pale walls, it all stands out more than it did in our last house. For Christmas, we are going to ask for a carpet steam cleaner. Hopefully that will help!

Tim's lawnmower is ready today. He is so happy!!! Shawn has started to ask about his day care friends. I'll ask him if he misses them & he'll say yes, but if I ask him if he wants to go to school, he very loudly says NO!!!

Hoping to go into Toledo this weekend. Tim may have to be there on Friday to meet with his boss. If not, I am hoping to convince him to go anyways to go out to dinner, a movie, golfing, etc!! We need Mom & Dad to give us a break for a night or 2!!!

Got up this morning & went to Horrocks for various fruits & veggies & then to DW to get milk. When I got home, we got ready & drove to Holland. We went to Dutch Village. It was a true tourist site, but Shawn enjoyed all of the water & animals. Tim will be posting pictures from the trip soon. Tim & I both got certified that we aren't witches!! I'm sure you are all happy to know that!!

Tim thought that the swing ride that they had there went really slow, so we thought that Shawn would have fun on it. Well, it was your typical amusement park ride that goes really fast & high. Shawn was scared to death & crying. We were the only ones on the ride & Tim tried to get the guy to stop the ride, but he didn't hear us. Between being scared that Shawn was going to fall off the swing, the heat & the dizziness from the ride, Tim & I didn't feel to well after the ride. We went & sat down & had a drink until we could feel better. Shawn seemed fine as soon as we were done.

From there we went to Office Max to pick up a phone for our kitchen & a literature sorter for Tim's office. We then drove to Holland State Park . We didn't enter into the park, because they charge you & we didn't bring our swimsuits. The coast line is really pretty. Pretty houses, cottages & a ton of sailboats! Dad would love it. There was a huge Chicken BBQ set up as well.

After that, we drove to Fennville, MI to Crane's Pie Pantry. I had heard about it from the Food Network (at least I'm pretty sure that I did). They serve lunch there, so I had their famous Sloppy Joe, Tim had their famous Chili & a chef salad & we ordered Shawn a hot dog that Tim ended up eating!! They have desserts that they are famous for so I had a cherry cheese strudel with ice cream & Tim had a slice of sugar free blueberry pie.

We are going to relax for a bit now & then head over to Tim's office to set up his literature file.

Last night we ate dinner & Tim wanted to drive around so we took 31N and just drove to see what we could see. Saw some shopping areas & golf courses. Not an area that I would make a point to go to, or show anyone, but it was nice to see what was there. We then came back & went for ice cream. Tim still has not found any Carbolite ice cream, so he had a diet pop. Shawn had "white i cream" & I had mint chocolate chip.

Tim's lawnmower still is in the shop & the neighborhood kid that he used last week has his lawnmower in the shop, so Tim had to borrow our next door neighbors lawnmower. He was going to go & rent one, but the guy has offered twice, so Tim felt it would be a slap in his face if he didn't use it. This was the first time for him cutting the grass & the hill was a bad as he thought it would be.

While Tim was cutting the grass, Shawn & I went to the library to get a Thomas video. When we came back, Olivia, the 2 year od from next door was out. She came over & played with Shawn & watched movies for about an hour. It gave her Mom a break. Hopefully, she will return the favor soon!!

After he cut the grass, Shawn took a nap & we then went to a mexican restaurantt called the Beltline Bar. It is pretty well known in the area & the food was really good. Tim said the salsa was some of the best he has ever had. We both had their famous wet burritos & Shawn had a taco, applesauce & fries. We all enjoyed our food. We then went to Meijer to walk off some of the food.

Tomorrow we are headed to Holland, MI to see what we can find!

This week hasn't been too eventful. I've been working & keeping Shawn occupied. We tried something new from Meijer. It was a gyro kit from Mediterranean Chef. It was a family pack that came with the flatbread, the gyro meat & the sauce. The meat was all ready cooked so you just had to warm everything up. It was pretty good. We'll get it again.

Tim is planning on going into work for a little bit this Saturday. There is a German fest going on downtown & the Whitecaps (minor league ball team) are in town this weekend as well. We'll see what we actually end up doing.

Drove to Reed's Lake this afternoon. It is about 20 minutes away from us. (straight down Brenton Road, Mom) It was a really pretty lake with picnic tables & benches & tons of ducks. Shawn had a great time running around. The lake was beautiful. There is a small sailing school with the type of boats that Brad & I use to take out at Jolly Rodger. There is a neat restaurant that I want to take Mom & Dad to when they come. It sits right on Reed's Lake & it has a deck that you can eat at. It also has a take out restaurant in town. The menu for both is the same www.rosestakeout.com We then found ourselves about 5 minutes from that in a little area called Gaslight Village. The area was once a amusement park. There was an old fashion ice cream parlor called Jersey Junction that serves hand dipped ice cream, as well as sandwiches. They are open every night in the summer until 10pm, so we wil definitely go back there soon. Check it out at www.jerseyjuntion.com We are now headed out past Meijer on 28th street into the city of Cascade to find a Mom & Pop ice cream shop.

We went to Grand Haven yesterday. Pretty area. It has a long boardwalk that we pushed Shawn in the stroller on. Tons of power boats & people walking to the beach at the end of the boardwalk. We were going to go to the beach to swim, but it was actually cooler there by the water & I didn't want to get Shawn sick.

Shawn did really well until we hit a toy store that had a Thomas train table. He loves pushing the trains around on these tables. Right now, I buy him the die cast metal trains from Target for $4.99-$5.99 a piece. The wooden trains that go with these tables are $9.99 a piece. Anyways, the wooden trains have all of the trains from his movies. I showed him one of the trains from a side view & asked him who it was. He had to turn & look at the train's face & then he was able to tell me that it was Peter Sam. There are probably 50 trains & for him to be able to look at the face & know which train it is amazes me!! We go to leave the store & put Peter Sam back & he started screaming & crying & throwing a major fit. He threw himself down on the floor of the store. We walked out of the store & down to a restaurant, hoping that he would settle down. He cried & was mean for about 20 minutes & then started to settle down. Tim & I both agreed that we were not going back to buy him the train because he was so bad. Towards the end of the meal, he was being so cute & good, and well, somehow, Tim ended up back at the toy store buying Peter Sam. I know, we are horrible parents, but he is so hard to resist!!! Looks like his Christmas gift may be the train table & track!! These trains are the only thing he plays with. No matter where we go, he has to have a train with him. He runs them all over the floor & if one falls over he will say “Sorry, Edward” or whatever the trains name is. He will also talk to the train saying “It’s Percy, Thomas” or whatever else he is trying to say. At this point Mom is probably saying “And you have all of that on video, right Lisa?” That would be a big “No’. I haven’t broken the camera out yet.

We were going to be productive today & work around the house, but Shawn didn’t sleep too well & we are all tired, so we have done nothing today. Shawn went down for a nap at 12:00, so hopefully he will wake up happy.

There is a Social Committee meeting on Tuesday night. This is the committee that plans all of the events in the neighborhood – Garage Sale, Easter egg hunt, Pool party, etc. Not sure if I will go or not.

Well, now that I am home all day, I am going to attempt to start up this page again. This has been the end our first week here. It has been quite an adjustment for me being home with Shawn all day. I have to work a minimum of 24 hours a week & trying to concentrate on that & deal with Shawn has been tough. Tim went out & bought me my own desk so now I have a a true home office with my laptop, desk, fax machine & cell phone. Except for managing Shawn, it is working out pretty well. I have not been able to print from my laptop to the printer, so I have been emailing to our home computer & then printing. My Computer department at work just overnighted me a wireless printer server to attach to my computer so it will work. Tim is going to work on getting that set up tonight.

The neighborhood is really nice. We have met some of the neighbors, but no one has become life long friends yet!! I guess it takes longer than a week. We have only been to the pool 5 times. 4 out of those 5 were with Mom & Dad. Trying to find the time during the day is hard. Not sure if I will get a membership for August or not. We have the grade school within walking distance from our house, just like our last one. The other night we drove our bikes over there & let Shawn play on the playground. He had a great time. The cisty is building a Nature Park next store to the school, with lookout decks to fish off of & trails to walk on. It is not quite done, but what we saw so far is nice. It's nice to have it so close to home!

We have pretty much figured out the city. It has all of the same stores as Toledo, plus a few new ones, so that hasn't been too bad. We had to take my car in to repair the passenger side window (it would go up or down) and the electric passenger door. On the door, we were opening it half the time by the handle & half the time by the remote. If you open it by the handle, it messes it up & then it doesn't close all the time. The reset that, so now it works. The had to order a part for the window, so my car is going back in on Tuesday.

Dauber has to go in for surgery on Wednesday to remove a stich in his ear and a wart on his leg. They will have to give him some happy gas, so it will end up costing us around $285. Not fun, but I guess it needs to be done.

Went to Bunko last night for the first time at the community club house. It is a dice game. There were 20 woman there. I ended up with the most Bunkos (2) and won $26.00!! You put in $4.00 to play, so not bad returns!! It is a monthly gathering. I give it another try & see if I can meet some of the neighbors.

Tomorrow or Sunday, we are planning to drive to one of the lake towns for the day. Not sure which one at this point. From 10-1 tomorrow, they are doing Child ID's at the clubhouse. We are taking Shawn there. We'll see how it goes.

Sold the house for $3000 more than list....what a relief!!! Now it should be pretty much downhill from here, if I could only get a moving company to come and give me a quote. Now I get to call and set up the closing on the house in Grand Rapids and the then the fun begins.

We are in a bidding war! At least I am on the right side of the war this time! By the way, Reuben is definately the bomb...told you so!

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. We bought a house today in Grand Rapids (by the way, if you didn't already know, I got transferred). If you want to see a picture of the new house, look at Brad's Blog (link is on the left of this page). I'm going back to Grand Rapids with my boss Monday morning to be introduced to the office. I have a big job ahead of me trying to grow the business in the Western Michigan area.

We have had two couples come through the house this weekend, The feedback from the first couple was good. They had gone through three houses and they really liked this one...they said that they will want to come back for a second look next week. No feedback from the second couple yet. I just hope we can sell this house quickly...I really don't want two house payments at the same time for too long if at all. That's it for now...I have to get up early for the three hour drive back to Grand Rapids.

Reuben is the bomb dawg!!

Let's try this again. I hate my HP digital camera, printer and now their stupid photo site! I am trying a different site. I hope this works.

I seem to be having a tough time getting the picture link to work. I will try to fix it later tonight.

I have been a little slow to post lately...sorry! I do have much to report but I had a little yard work accident today and smacked my hand with a hammer not once but several times. Seems that it is a little painful to type at the moment so to keep you entertained until the swelling goes down, take a look at these pictures from the Easter holiday.

I had to take Dauber to the vet today to see why his ear smelled like dog butt. Apparently, he has a yeast infection in his ear and he has scratched at it so much (his ear, not his butt) that he has some very impressive open sores. Now I have to clean his ears twice a day and treat him with an antibiotic cream. Dauber by the way doesn’t like anyone putting anything into his ear so I have to tackle and sit on him in order to clean up his grotesque ears. How does anyone, dog included, get a yeast infection in his ear? It is really quite disgusting.

This weekend, Lisa and Bev took Shawn to an Easter egg hunt at the church down the street from us. The church likes to suck up to all the neighbors because of the traffic problems that it causes being in a residential area. Lisa said that Shawn had a blast...he found several eggs filled with candy that Mommy will enjoy eating if she hasn’t eaten it already. Speaking of eating, Lisa and I ate at a Mexican restaurant called El Reparo Friday night...it was really good. Lisa had Chimichangas and I had enough food to feed a small family. My platter had a chalupa, guacamole salad, chile relleno, beef taco, tamale, enchilada, rice and refried beans. My dinner came out on 4 plates (it seemed like they just kept bringing more). It was all very good...maybe the best that I have had in Toledo and the service was really quick (probably less than 10 minutes from order to serve) and my meal was a meager $8.95!!! The wait staff doesn't speak English very well...matter of fact, I’m not sure they spoke English at all. The best part about this place is the fact that they serve MAMOTH MARGARITAS.....The monster, as they call it, is only 46 ounces ($9.25).

I have discovered a new hot sauce that I may like even more than I like Cholula. Believe it or not it is made by Tabasco and it is their new Chipotle smoked sauce. I am not a big Tabasco fan because I think that their sauces have too much vinegar but this new sauce it really good. The sauce is hot but not overpowering and it is thicker than the traditional Tabasco...try it if you can find it.

Finally, we went out for our first ice cream run of the year. Shawn had a blast and I had a Carbolite™ . Carbolite is a low carbohydrate alternative to ice cream and it really isn’t as bad as you imagine. The flavor that they had tonight was chocolate-raspberry-cappuccino. It actually tasted like raspberry with a slight chocolate aftertaste.

We are planning on going to our first Mud Hens game of the year on Easter. There is an Easter egg hunt before the game and I think that the weather is supposed to be decent this weekend. Since the new stadium opened last year, many new restaurants and bars have opened...the downtown area is really starting to make a turnaround. The latest fine establishment to open is Frickers. I have heard that you can actually watch the game from some of the tables at Frickers, I will have to check that our soon.

Adios Amigos!!

Opening Day was not very enjoyable this year. I didn’t even have a beer at the game which is not normal behavior but I guess when game time temperature is 34° you do what you have to do to stay warm. And if freezing my tail-end off wasn’t enough, we lost the game to the White Sox in extra innings (yes,I stayed the entire game). It looks like it may not be a good year to be an Indians fan….if they win 70 games, I would be surprised. One nice surprise was the Indians are trying to fill the stadium up in April and May, so they are giving tickets away to anyone who turns in their opening day ticket stub. You just mail your stub in and let them know what game you would like to see and they mail you another ticket free!!! Pretty cool, but they really should give all tickets away to see that team.

Before the game, we ate at a Irish Pub called Flannerys the food was really good. I had Irish stew which has excellent, very thick and was served with a large scoop of Colcannan on top. Colcannan is basically mashed potatoes with garlic and scallions and I think it also had some cabbage mixed with it. There were some interesting menu items that I would like to try the next time I am in Cleveland.

The door to door salesman is not dead!!! We had two salesmen come to our front door this evening. One selling carpet cleaners and the other one was soliciting quote opportunities for vinyl siding and windows. Lisa basically slammed the door in the face of the steam cleaner salesman and I also shut the door on the other one. I think that I might need the equivalent of the tele-zapper for the door to door salesman (maybe a M-16 or an UZI). Just when you finally thought the end was coming for the telemarketing idiots, the door to door guy is re-born.

Short weeks cause all kinds of trouble at work for me. I am behind gathering information that I need for a report that I have to have for a regional managers meeting on Friday in Fort Wayne. It might be a long day tomorrow.

Shawn has a new hobby. He took a liking for beating Dauber with toys. Tonight, he tried to bash Dauber with one of his cars in the face....lucky that Shawn’s coordination isn’t well developed yet. The other way Shawn likes to hurt the dog is by jumping off the couch right on Dauber while he is sleeping or hanging out minding his own business. Lucky Dauber is so laid back.

Usually I would end this post with some stupid ethnic phrase but I can’t think of one that is all that fun so......Joe Mama wears combat boots to bed.

Why do I feel like I am packing to go to a Browns game instead of an Indians game? Maybe its because we are supposed to get 2-5 inches of snow before the end of the day Monday. I have been looking all over town for a hooded sweatshirt with a zip-up front to wear under my coat for the game tomorrow, finally found one at MC sporting goods. You can’t believe how difficult it is to find a sweatshirt in April.

Dauber got into the trash again today, that is a nasty habit that he learned from his cousin Goliath. Lisa caught him in the family room with a corn cob in his mouth. Needless to say, Lisa gave him one hell of a beating and he retreated to the bedroom.

Shawn is into Thomas the Tank Engine (animated-like toy train that has videos etc.), Lisa found out that they have a life-sized Thomas that tours the U.S. every summer that you can take rides on him. Thomas is gong to be in Lost Peninsula, OH this summer during Memorial day weekend and guess who gets to go and spend the day with Thomas? If you guessed Lisa, Shawn and I....you are correct. We had to make reservations for tickets and I also made reservations to stay at the Embassy Suites in Independence Ohio. We will probably hang out with my parents and then go hang out with Thomas and the other 10,000 other pre-school children in attendance.

One last thing before I continue to pack for opening day in the snow....Lisa has fallen in love with these characters that you can buy from the gumball machines at the grocery stores. These loveable little characters are called “homies”. They are tiny figurines that are of typical stereotypical mexicanos...I can’t get out of a store without dropping a dollar for these things. I think that I will have to set up a village with graffiti on the building and use these things as the “towns people” or ghetto people!!! You can see why Lisa loves these things so much here.

Finally in keeping with the ethnic tradition that I have started I leave you with this......I be keepin it real in the 419....word up homies......

Okay, so I can't type so well!!! Sometimes I do need a light to tell me when to get in the can but it really has nothing to do with my car's tire pressure. I guess I will have to type these updates in word and spell check them from now on. At least Brad got a laugh out of my typos. Shawn, Lisa and I took about a mile walk through Swan Creek (the park Brad, not a walk in the creek). I just finished the budget at work today...that was an experience after I printed the reports out, it turned out to be about 200 pages long. I really learned a lot about excel in the process. Since the series of mergers and acquisitions took place in my company last September, we have gone from a company that was totally run on cash to a company that uses bank financing. In order to show the bank the information it requires, we had to develop a budget that drives a cash flow report and a balance sheet to develop the financial ratio information the bank needs to see and to check ourselves to make sure we are meeting bank covenants. Pretty strange having a budget...we never had a rigid published budget before. My next big project is working on getting ISO certified in at least one of our locations. I have a funny feeling ISO will take a while. Word to your mother...see ya on the flip-side.........

Not too much to report lately. They got me for $500 for four tires, an alignment and oil change. I guess I am also losing a ball joint as well. I got in the can on Monday and the low tire light went on...I didn't even know that I had a low tire light. I thought that I sprung a flat but only needed to reset the monitor (this of course caused some chice words to come out of my moouth as I was driving down the road to work). Lisa,Shawn, Bev, Ted and I went to a new pizza joint last night called Capers Pizza Bar. They have a really nice bar but no liquor permits yet (pretty strange). The pizza was really good (we have been looking for a mom and pop joint for a while) We had a white pizza which just had a little garlic/olive oil and four cheeses and a traditional sausage and Mushroom Pizza. The white pizza was great!!! We also saw 8-mile over the weekend and it was better than I thought it would be. Gotta get to work. Word out........

.Lisa is a poop-head. She thinks that it is too time-consuming to update this page. I will try and do it for her. Today I took Dauber to get a bath and we are getting ready to go and turn in the Carivan. It will be nice not having the extra car in the drive and I will get a refund for the insurance that I have pre-paid. We will also go and get new tires for my car (the present tires are original and have about 80,000 miles on them). Other than that, we will probably do the typical clean the house and do laundry thing this weekend. Only 9 more days until opening day in Cleveland which could only lead to a giant hang-over ( I can't wait for my annual day of excess--I could do without the hang-over though. By the way, everything that you have heard or remember about two-year olds is false.....it's much much worse. One more item of note...Shawn said his first swear word the other day (shit). He learns all those bad habits from his Mother, she has such a potty mouth!!! Have a good weekend!

This will be my last blog entry. I have decided to put an end to this web page.

Shawn's food consumption from 5pm-8:30pm tonight:

1 cup cheddar brocolli rice
24oz milk
1 lg can of mandarin oranges
1 taco bell soft taco
6oz of diet coke

This may not seem like a lot to you, but for this little man who would only eat fruit & drink milk last week, this is a victory

We tried to take Shawn to Penneys for his 2year picture & he wanted nothing to do with it. He was all dressed up cute & in a great mood, but when he saw the room, the moving backdrops & the table, he freaked out. He kept saying no & running out. They had me laying on the table & him sitting on me & he still wouldn't go for it. I think he thought he was at the doctors. I was really bummed. I'll try again in 6 months & see if he understands the process a littler better by then.

We are going to a surprise birthday party tonight for someone that I work with. We would rather just camp out at home, but we committed to going so we have to leave at 5:20 tonight.

I joined the OSU alumni association this past year. I just received my order form for 2 tickets to a home game. They assign you to a game by a last name rotation. I have the opportunity to go to a game on Sept 13th against North Carolina State. It is $99 for 2 tickets plus $7.50 for a parking pass. I would like to go & see the new stadium & take Tim to see a game, as he never has there. We'll see what he decides.

I head to Dearborn, MI on Thursday for payroll training. I will spend the night & head back on Friday. I then go back the following Thursday for 1 more class. I will take the 14th off to prepare for Shawn's party on the 15th. Hard to believe that he will be 2.

We leased a new car yesterday. We leased a Toyota Sienna - http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/vehicles/sienna/ . It had 3000 miles on it, even though it was a 2003, so we got it for a really good deal. It drives great. The color is white, with a grey bumper guard all the way around it. We don't have to turn my caravan in for a few more weeks, so Tim is going to get insurance on that & drive that car until we turn it in.

We got around 5 inches of snow last night. We shoveled the snow this morning & then went & picked up Mom, Dad & Shawn & went to breakfast at Frishes for their breakfast bar. We then went to Farmer Jack's to get the makings for dinner - a roast, ceasar salad, sugar snap peas, and a lemon pudding dessert. Shawn is sleeping, Mom & Dad are watching travel channel & Tim & I are cleaning the house & doing laundry.

We got back today from our Hocking Hills/Columbus trip. We had a good time, but missed Shawn so much. We got to Hocking Hills around 5pm on Wednesday night. We checked in & then drove down the huge, steep hill to our cabin. We then parked the car at the top of the hill & loaded up a wagon with our stuff & went down the hill to our cabin. I was sure that I was going to slip & fall into the valley!!

The cabin was really nice. We dropped off our stuff & then went back up the hill to head into town & get food. They have built a Super WalMart since we were last in town, so we went there & picked up food. We had shrimp, guacumole & chips and cheese Wednesday night. Watched American Idol results - yea Ruben!! I love him!! Went into the hot tub & that first night it was horrible. It was around 9:30pm, so it was really cold outside & 105 degrees inside the hot tub. You stepped into the hot tub & it was too hot, but if you didn't get in, you were freezing!! We only stayed in about 15 minutes that night.

We got up the next morning, made coffee & an egg casserole, put a fire in and watched Analyze This w/Billy Crystal & Robert DeNiro. Really cute. Went in the hot tub after that. It was much better this time. The sun was out & it wasn't as cold. We then cleaned up & went to Old Man's Cave which is one of the trails in Hocking Hills. Took a ton of pictures of the frozen waterfalls. It was so pretty. Came back & had pizza for dinner & watch Shallow Hal - cute movie!

Friday morning, we got up & packed up & headed into Columbus. We went to Easton Center first. Walked around & ate lunch at Chilpoltes. We then headed to another mall - Polaris & walked around there. We then went to our hotel & checked in. Tim was looking for a shirt for dinner so we left & went to another mall (Tuttle Crossings) - big mistake b/c we were both tired of malls by now. We were in & out of there very quickly w/no purchases made. We went back to the hotel, had our drinks at the managers reception & then went to dinner. We decided to eat a BD's Mongolian Barbecue on Sawmill. The concept is you make your own stir fry. You go to a salad bar type of table & pick out your meat, veggies, sauces. etc & then take them to this large, round grill where you stand while they cook the food. It was really good. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel & watched tv.

Got up this morning & went down to breakfast. After breakfast, we checked out & went to clean the snow off our car. Columbus was hit with about 3 inches of snow over night. We drove down Franz road to this field that had cement corn cobs standing on end. There were probably 50 of them - imagine a cemetary or flags all spaced out & that is what the corn cobs looked like. I took a picture of them - we'll see how it comes out.

Went to WalMart on the way out to pick up some of their flavored water that Tim likes. On our way home from Columbus to Toledo, you always pass signs & then the building for Coons Candy (www.coonscandy.com). It is right before Upper Sandusky & we have passed it for 10 - 15 years now. Anyways, we finally stopped & we are glad that we did. It was a really cute store with a lot of great things. We bought Mom & Dad a loaf of Raisin bread & a homemade Cherry Pie. They were really happy to see us. We'll definitely stop again!

Shawn was happy to see us. It seemed like he aged so much while we were gone. He is a little more clingy now (which I'm eating up!!), but that should pass. He had a great week with Nana & Papa & got spoiled a ton! Now for the unpacking, laundry, cleaning house & getting back to life!!

Took Shawn to the doctor yesterday - he has pink eye. He is in a great mood, his eyes are just a mess. He is home with Mom & Dad all week.

Tim & I leave for Hocking Hills tonight. We are looking forward to it. The only thing we are worried about is the terriorism threats going on & the changes of them happening while we are away from Shawn this weekend. I rented 9 movies to take with us because the tv reception in the cabin is not good at all. We have firewood for the fireplace, movies, games, books & magazines & the hot tub. Hopefully we are set!!

At the car show we liked the Honda Odessey & the Oldsmobile Siloutte. We are going to go & test drive those plus a Toyota minivan. We had our car inspection on Friday. The first weekend we had the car we went to Franklin Park Mall & when came out we found that someone had either opened their door into our passenger door or actually hit it. Anyways, that ding will cost us $50, but that is the only cleanup charge we will incur. Didn't think that was too bad.

Tim moved into his new office this past week. Since starting at his company, he has always had a cubicle or a desk in an open space. With his recent promotion, he actually got an office with a door! He was excited. We went over on Friday & rearranged the furniture - took out a bookcase & a table topper & moved the furniture around. I must say that he definitely needed my help to get it looking good! He needs a picture on the wall behind his desk, so we are going to go to Cleveland for the day tomorrow to find a Cleveland skyline picture.

Tim & I leave Wednesday afternoon for Hocking Hills & Columbus. We are looking forward to getting away.

Went to Nicks for breakfast today - thought of you Brad!! I had eggs, bacon, toast & coffee & Tim had an omlet & a side of gyro meat & sauce. It was all really good!

We are in the process of turning in my minivan for a new car. My lease is up in April & Chrysler comes to our house this Friday to inspect the car, so we took it today to one of those $20 car wash places where they clean the car inside & out. We are now going to clean the carpet where the stains from coffee are & sweep the seats. Tonight, we are going to the Toledo Auto show. There are 200 cars in the downtown convention center. We'll go & sit in a bunch of cars & see what we want next.

Had to go to Troy, MI today for a meeting. About 1/2 before I reached the office in Troy, I got pulled over for speeding. What an idiot I am!! He clocked me going 79 in a 65!! Lucky for me, he only wrote the ticket out for going 5 over. Needless to say, on the way back I was going 60 the whole way!! That's a quick $85's gone. Sorry Tim!!!!!!!!

Mom & Dad went out to dinner last night so Shawn didn't do his usual Friday night sleep over so he is headed over there today to spend the night. I get my hair cut at one & then Tim & I may head to some mall for the afternoon. Going to friends house for a super bowl party tomorrow night. I'm taking Mom's Chocolate Eclair dessert.

Working on the plans for Shawn's birthday party. Couldn't decide between a Bear in The Big Blue House theme or a Thomas the Train theme, so it will be a mixture of the 2.

Brad added links to his & Sheri's website on this site, so you can click between the 3.

You will notice a new spot on my web page - the word feedback. Brad was able to set me up with a comment section! Just click on the word feebback & add your comments!

Took Shawn to his 6 month checkup for the tubes in his ears. His right tube had fallen out & I guess it has been out for some time. His left tube is still in place & open. They did a test to check the pressure behind his eardrum in his right ear & that checked out good. Checked his tonsels, nose, etc & gave him a clean bill of health. We go back in May to check his left ear. Between now & then, we just have to hope that nothing develops in his right ear. If it does, he would have to most likely go in for surgery again & get the tube put in again.

Getting ready to watch American Idol - I love that show. Tim is getting our dinner ready for tomorrow night. Beer brats in the crock pot - new receipe...

We spent the weekend cleaning the house - took down the changing table in the living room because Shawn is just way to big for it. Unfortunely, we had no where to store it so it is up in his room with toys & stuffed animals on it. It's pretty crowded up there now. All of his clothes are finally in his dressers (before I had his clothes in baskets underneath his changing table). The living room looks really empty now.

We are currently saving money for a down payment on a new house. It won't be until sometime next year, but we would like 4 bedrooms, a full basement, a large kitchen with an island, a workshop area or a garage big enough for Tim to putz in, a back yard for Daub & Shawn & a master bathroom. Those are just a few things that we are looking for. We'll see how long it takes us to get to our money goal!!

Made reservations at the Embassy Suite hotel in Dublin for the Friday we leave Hocking Hills (Valentine's Day). We were going to stay at the Embassy by Brad & Sheri's old house, but it was a lot more expensive than the one in Dublin. Thought that was wierd. We like Embassy Suites b/c you get the free mixed drinks in the evening & the breakfast in the morning. We'll probably just hit a mall & then head back to Toledo.

I have to travel to Troy, MI for the day on Monday to look at a new payroll system. Troy is about 2 hours from here. The meeting isn't until 2 pm so I will hit downtown Detroit rush hour traffic on the way back which sucks!! It will add extra time to my return time. I will then have to spend 2 1/2 days in Dearborne MI in the near future for training. I will stay over for that trip.

Tim came home yesterday and said that a woman from his office had been complaining of not feeling well on Friday. On Sunday night, she called her boss & said that she felt like she had an ear ache & had a doctors appt shceduled for first thing Monday morning. She said that she would be in after that. She got to the doctors & I guess she passed out & died right in the office. She was 35 & from what Tim thinks, no history of health problems. Shook up the whole office. Pretty sad - she had been married 10 years.

We are going on a mini vacation in February. We are leaving February 12th for Hocking Hills to stay in a cabin there - www.hockinghills.com/hhcabins . We have stayed there once before. We are staying there on the 12th & 13th & checking out on Valentines Day. We will then head to Columbus, find a hotel & eat a Valentines dinner there. I am going to make dinner reservations soon for some restaurant there - all you Columbus people - give me a recommendation!! I haven't lived there for awhile. We will come home on the 15th. Mom & Dad will watch Shawn & Dauber. We feel bad leaving Shawn on Valentines Day, but I know he will get a ton of love from Nana & Poppy!!

Mom & Dad took Shawn Friday night. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, went to Wal Mart in Bowling Green & then came home because it was so cold. On Saturday morning, we woke up restless to go somewhere. We decided to get a hotel room in Ponitac, MI & go to the indoor outlet mall in Auburn Hills. It is about 1 1/2 hours from here. We called Mom & Dad to see if they wanted to go along. Dad had to work Saturday night & Sunday night, so Mom came. We were able to get a 2 bedroom suite at a Residence Inn. Really nice room. We went to the mall & shopped.

Tim got a couple of shirts and a black light to charge the stars on Shawn's ceiling. It is really neat. Shawn goes in & says "Oh sky" "Oh, Stars" "Moon" He really likes it. We alos got Shawn a Percy train piece from his Thomas & Friends collection.

Shawn feel asleep on the way back to the hotel. As were heading back, we saw a carry out for Guido's pizza. Mom went in & got the menu & we headed back to the hotel. While Shawn slept, we ate the Big Guido, an antipasta salad & garlic bread. It was pretty good. When Shawn woke up, we all changed into our bathing suits & headed to the pool. We had to go outside briefly to get to the pool & that was freezing!! Their was no one in the pool!! We were happy. We were going to go into the pool, but it was really cold. The hot tub hadn't been on all day, so the water was about 80 degrees. So, we all went in there. Shawn was so happy. He kept saying bubbles & fun & happy. After about 3 times of turning on the timer, we could finally feel the water getting warmer ( the sign stated that it was suppose to be between 101 & 104 degrees). So, we pulled Shawn out & we all headed back to the room.

Sunday morning we got up & went to the comp breakfast in the hotel. We had scrambled eggs, sausage, coffe, yogurt, V8, waffles & muffins. Pretty good. We then headed to Target & back to the Mall. Tim had 2 Gamesworks cards - one from Vegas & one from Columbus. Their readers couldn't read the cards & then Tim realized that they expire after 1 year. He was bummed. Took Shawn to a play area & then we headed home. Stopped off at another mall on the way home. Shawn didn't want to shop, so it was a quick trip through there. We will go back there again - it was a neat mall.

Came home, unpacked, went to Sam's Club & then dropped off Mom & picked up Dauber. We were tired!! We had to pick up the house because we finally have a Electrian coming to fix our microwave problem!

It seems like I am always playing catch up - either at work or home or with this website. There never seems to be enough of me to go around. Had Christmas in Cleveland this past weekend. Shawn got a ton more toys - a Fisher Price farm house & airport, a Leap Pad imagination desk, books, a talking grill, and a matchbox car race track. He also got 3 Christmas ornaments. When Brad & I were growing up, each set of grandparents would buy us an ornament each year. When I moved out, all of my ornaments came with me & they now hang on our tree. I carried on that tradition for Shawn. It's fun to see the ornaments each year.

Starting to plan his birthday party. I was going to keep it small, but that just isn't any fun. He doesn't need anything so it will be more of just a join us & eat celebration, but don't bring a gift. It will be here before we know it.

Our microwave draws too many amps when it is running, which causes our breakers to keep tripping. I have been trying to get a electrian to return my calls for 2 days now to come out for a service call & I have had no luck. The commerical places charge you an $80 consulting fee & then you have to schedule another appointment to have your problem fixed. I have been calling licensed individual contractors. I gave up today & turned the job over to Tim - maybe a guy calling will get more results.

Shawn goes to Mom & Dad's on Friday nights for a sleep over, so Tim & I are planning on going out to dinner and then on Saturday, cleaning & running errands. It is a nice break for all of us!! We can't thank Mom & Dad enough for being willing to take him every week!!!

We got hit with a lot of snow this afternoon. When I came home, I got Shawn all dressed in his boots, hat, jacket, gloves, etc & thought I would take him outside & have him "help" me shovel the snow. I got 2 rows done when I heard Shawn crying. I turn around & he had his gloves off & both hands were stuck in the snow. He was frozen in place, kind of like in shock at how cold his hands were. So I freak out & race him inside, thinking that his hands were frostbiten & would fall off!!!! I shove his hands under warm water & he still kept crying & his hands were still bright red. Tim came home & helped to get Shawn to stop crying. Shawn won't be helping me again anytime soon.

We went to a coworkers apartment for part of New Years. They live downtown on the fifth floor of an office building. The whole floor is their place. It is really neat. We took Shawn & stayed until about 10:45pm & then headed home. Shawn had fallen asleep before we got home, so we put him to bed, changed clothes & prepared to watch the last hour of Dick Clark. Needless to say, Tim woke up with 4 seconds left until 2003 & woke me up so I wouldn't miss it. All I was concerned about was if I could go to bed. Typical new year for us!!

We are going over to Tim's friend Bo's tomorrow night to watch the Ohio State game. We will leave Saturday morning for Christmas in Cleveland with Tim's family.
It' s been since November since they have seen Shawn, so it will be fun for them to hear all of the stuff that he has been saying. He latest thing is to turn the lights off & say "Oh,dark". He will turn them on & off, playing this game. He has also taken to not wearing his shoes & socks at daycare. He doesn't wear them at home & I guess he must feel at home there. It has taken me some getting use to - thinking about all of the possible germs/dirt, etc on his feet. His favorite word these days seems to be "no". Everything is "no" with a temper tantrum. I guess we are getting ready for the terrible 2's.