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!