Good Wednesday! Not much new happening in the mega-metropolis of Toledo but wanted to keep the 3 readers of this blog up to date. This past weekend my Mom, brother and sister came for a visit. It was a nice visit, nothing too out of the ordinary. We went to a rather sub-par Chinese joint on Saturday for dinner and then sat out on the patio and enjoyed a fire pit for a few hours. Sunday we had a cook out and went over to the metropark to take a few family pictures. It was a nice visit, I wish I saw them a little more often but it always seem like the 2 hour drive gets in the way.

The nasty man-eating attack birds finally taught their babies how to fly so the nest is now officially removed from the front porch without incident. The birds were identified as swallows in case you were wondering and my opinion still hasn't changed about them; they're still nasty. I spent about a half hour removing the nest and cleaning the mess they left behind on the windows and front porch.

Shawn also began swim lessons this week. He seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit more than the tee ball experience.

Not much else really going on this week as of right now. We actually have a free weekend at this point with absolutely nothing planned other than the usual yard and house cleaning chores.

Have a great week, here are a few random pictures from the past week:

Grandma and the Kids

What a funny looking family!

Okay, I guess that the video post was a big hit so here's Katelyn part two. I will have to post one of Shawn soon:

So I decided to take the day off yesterday to catch up on some household tasks that I've been neglecting and not only did I get the tasks accomplished but I also got attacked by a family of birds.

The morning started in a pretty normal manner; pulled weeds, put away the excess garage sale stuff from a couple of weeks ago, fertilized the flowers, washed the outside of the windows in the back of the house and then the fun began. I knew that I had a bird's nest near the entry way of the house that I had to remove because of the nasty mess that the birds are making under the nest. The nest is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 feet up so I go out my nest remover (actually a tree prunner) and began to knock the nest down. As I took my first swipe at the nest I was met face to face with an extremely pissed bird. So off to the garage I went to find my safety glasses and hard hat in order to protect myself while I finished up the job. When I returned, there was a baby bird on the porch. Of course I couldn't finish the job now so I high tailed it out of there as Momma and Papa bird started to dive at me. So now not only do I have one baby on the porch but a second one fell out of the nest as well. Momma bird decided that she was going to live in her nest and take care of her babies who have taken up permanent residence on the porch. I sure hope no one decides to use the front door!

Last night, the family met up with some relatives in Catawba/Lakeside for an abbreviated family reunion. My uncle (Mom's twin brother) was in town with his daughter and wife. Since they are from the Seattle area, we don't see them too often so we got together with them and some other relatives I haven't seen in awhile.

Katelyn has been sick the last couple of nights. She's been congested, not eating and not sleeping well at all. Last night she was up every hour or so and Lisa really feels the bulk of that pain. So last night after about the third wake up call in which Lisa and I participated we fell back asleep with the baby monitor between us in bed. Katelyn decided to wake up again and in a very automatic manner, I took the baby monitor and put it under my pillow. For any Father out there that has children that still wake up in the middle of the night I do not recomend the baby monitor snooze button. It will definately cause you to be hit in the arm and to be called bad names in the middle of the night. Anyway, Lisa took Katelyn to the doctor and she has her very first ear infection. I hope this isn't a peek at things to come. I really don't want Katelyn to follow the path of Shawn and ear tubes.

That's about it for now. Looks like the much needed rain has started to fall!

We had a good time at the Jamie Farr Gala last night. The food was good as usual and consisted of beef tenderloin, some type of potato/cheese casserole thing, veggies and salad. The drinks were free for the first hour and they really know how to make a drink; after a Maker's Mark on the rocks and a Grey Goose Martini I wasn't feeling any pain. At one point they Mixed Lisa a seven and seven that had to be 4/5 alcohol and a splash of 7up. KC and the Sunshine band was not very good. What is it with all these guys in their late 50's still trying to party like rock stars? I kinda felt bad for him.

Trying something new, how does it work?

So far we've had a pretty busy summer. Lisa and I attended a disco party a couple weeks ago with Jill and Todd and we had a pretty good time. I can't stand disco music but after a few adult beverages and a whole lot of people watching, I actually started enjoying myself which included a lot of dancing. The place was packed; I heard there were around 2000 people in attendance. A ton of drunks and middle-aged individuals, including myself, acting like teenagers. The best was the guy who was on the dance floor all night in his disco garb totally playing the part. There was also all kinds of debauchery going on near the port-a-potties so I've been told.

The following week Lisa had a garage sale at her Mom's house. She finally unloaded all the boys clothes Shawn had outgrown and the rest of the garbage that we moved from Toledo to Grand Rapids and back to Toledo. Lisa's BFF Jill also joined in the fun and between Lisa, her Mom and Jill, they pulled in over $1100 in a little over 2 days! I guess it's true that one person's garbage is someone's treasure. Who sell $1100 worth of stuff at a garage sale?

On the 3rd, our community had their 4th of July fireworks display which we were able to watch from our driveway. Lisa's Mom and Dad came over for a cook out and a sleep over. We started a fire in the fire pit, mixed a few summer beverages and watched the fireworks and then all the neighbors put on their own displays. Sat outside waiting for the fire pit inferno to burn itself out until 1:30 am and got sick of waiting. I ended up using a fire extinguisher to put out the fire and it failed! That fire was still smoldering at 10am.

Went to the Mud Hens game on the 4th as well as walked around downtown before the game. The cities festivities during the day along the river were really bad. Not only was there really not much of anything going on but the people the event attracts what you would call nasty! I bet most of them hadn't taken showers for several days. I wish I remembered my camera so I could have posted some of the half dozen plumbers cracks that I saw in the half hour we were down there. There were 4th of July fireworks at the ball park as well as the display that Toledo puts on so driving home that night was an adventure.

This past weekend Lisa and I spent Saturday and Sunday visiting Columbus walking around campus and Easton Town Center. We drove by where Lisa lived after graduation from OSU and it has turned into the hood. She was a bit shocked to see what the area has turned into and was totally surprised to see the mall that she worked at for awhile to have been totally torn down. We ended up eating at Easton on Saturday at a place called Cafe Istanbul which is a Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant. The food was great; particularly the pita bread which is much thicker than the stuff you get at the grocery and the tabbouleh which was more bulgar wheat than parsley. This place was outstanding and I would suggest it to anyone that likes Mediterranean food. Sunday we headed back to Easton to finish browsing the stores we missed on Saturday and ended up eating at Fado's Irish Pub, the food was good here too but not anywhere as good at Cafe Istanbul.

Shawn's tee ball season is finally winding down. Only two more games this week and the great tee ball experiment will finally be over. I think Shawn really likes the games and seeing all of his friends but he has absolutely no interest at all in improving or paying attention for that matter. Next week starts two weeks of swim lessons....I sure hope he enjoys this activity.

This week centers around the Women's professional golf tournament here in Toledo. I have grounds passes and clubhouse passes so I will end up walking around the golf course for a day or two this week. I also scored tickets to the tournament dinner gala that takes place on Tuesday night. The event consists of dinner, drinks, auctions and live entertainment. This year's entertainment is K.C. and the Sunshine Band...I just can't get away from the disco! Other than that, not much happening.

One other item of note: does anyone want to or knows someone that wants to buy a 2003 GMC Envoy with about 47,000 miles on it? My gasoline bill for last month was nearly $400; the car is milking me dry of all my beer money. I need to buy a moped.....

This weekend was filled with activities. Friday, Lisa and I dropped the kids and Dauber off at her parents and went to Zoo 2 Do. This was the third year in a row that Lisa and I attended the event and it was pretty much the same as in the past. Same restaurants, seems like the same bands and pretty much the same people that attend. The food was good and as always I seem to fill up on the appetizer side of the event with shrimp, oysters and sushi. The event is great for people watching; we should have brought our camera but we'll do that next year if we decide to go. The food is always really good and the people watching gets better as the night goes on and the alcohol flows. The best is watching the older people get drunk and the younger crowd start to dance in their short skirts. We didn't get flashed but we came close a couple of times.

Saturday morning Shawn, Lisa and I headed out to Soak City which is Cedar Point's water park. We picked up some friends of ours and their kids and stopped for breakfast then headed to the park. We arrived about noon and the place was packed! We ended up staying until 7pm and had a blast. The wave pool was a big hit with the kids. Unfortunately, the lines were rather long so we didn't really spend too much time on the water slides.

Sunday was pretty relaxed. Bev and Ted came over with Katelyn who they were watching for the previous two nights and we all headed out to Sideline's for father's day lunch and then it was off to race go-karts. Shawn loves go-karts so it was an activity that we did together for father's day this year. Then it was off to Anderson's and Monette's market to pick up a few items for dinner. Of course we all stuffed ourselves at lunch so dinner actually ended up to be on the lighter side than what we would have been the norm for a cook out. I cut the grass and then BBQ a slab of ribs and a couple of chicken breasts for dinner. We ended up taking a walk around the neighborhood and then it was time to relax a bit before bed.

This week doesn't look too horribly busy. I just found out that I am going to the Indian's game on Tuesday will a friend of mine who got a couple of tickets to watch in the Parker-Hannifin suite and Friday Lisa and I are going to the annual disco party that takes place at a quarry/entertainment facility about a mile from our house with some friends of ours (Jill and Todd). I'm not much of a disco fan but I've heard that the event is a lot of fun.

Other than that, not much else happening. Here are a few more pictures of our adventures (if I'm posting too many pictures, tell me):

Zoo 2 Do

Shawn and Dad
A bit different but very fun Father's Day GiftSweet Potatoes!!

I haven't been the most active blogger lately but life tends to get in the way which is a good thing. I'm going to just spew random thoughts about what's been going on the last few weeks so I apologize if this post is rambling.

A couple of weeks ago Katelyn was baptised. My family and Lisa's family all arrived on Saturday and we all met at Shawn's tee ball game. Now everyone understands what I mean about Shawn having Lisa's athletic ability; I still hold out hope for him to break out and show his true athleticism. Of course I don't remember playing sports of any type at 6 years old so there's still time for him to improve and show interest. It's to the point that every time someone throws the ball in his direction, I close my eyes and hope that he doesn't get hit in the head! Somehow I got talked into helping out with coaching the kids too but I'm finding that I actually somewhat enjoy helping. On Sunday we went to mass and then the baptism service followed. After the service it was back to our house to have lunch and visit with family and friends.

Last Thursday we attended Shawn's kindergarten graduation. Graduation from Kindergarten is also a new experience for me. I don't remember graduation ceremonies of any type except for High School and College commencements and I don't remember too much about the one from College due to the excessive amounts of adult beverages I consumed the previous night. Anyway, the Kindergarten ceremony was very cute. The 4 classes sang about 4 songs and went up to accept their certificate of achievement followed by a coffee and cookie reception. I can't believe that I have a first grader now!

Lisa's birthday was last Saturday so she and I decided to travel to Plymouth Michigan to stay at a rather nice hotel and to relax. The hotel, The inn at St. Johns, used to be a monastery and is still used for many Catholic weddings and various other functions. The hotel was really nice and the grounds were beautiful. The restaurant was also very nice although we didn't eat dinner there we did have a few drinks and an appetizer which was very good. Lisa and I then spent Sunday morning having brunch in Ann Arbor at Weber's Inn and then shopping for awhile before heading home to attend a Mudhen's game.

This weekend we are thinking about spending the day at Soak City at Cedar Point with some friends of ours and their family but really are still undecided. On Friday Lisa and I are going to a local fundraiser at the zoo called Zoo to Do. Its basically a black-tie with shorts affair at the zoo where a number of the local restaurants and caterers make food samples available and there is live entertainments as well as plenty of beverages. This year's theme is Morphed to coincide with the new butterfly exhibit at the zoo. It's absolutely impossible to find a piece of men's clothing that has butterflies on it!

Work has been a bit busy for me lately working through a number of new projects dealing with new vendors and products and with a couple of larger potential clients. So all in all, our summer has started out pretty busy.

Well that pretty much catches you up with what's been happening the last few weeks. Here's some updated pictures:Uncle Brad and the Kids

Godmother Jill, Godfather Uncle Mike, Lisa, Tim and Katelyn

Not Katie Holmes' Sister

Shawn and Coach Dad's Big Butt
Very Proud 1st Grader