Trouble

Who knew a picture could show the true definition of trouble?


Enough said.

Minnesota

Who knew a state you haven't live in for 9 years could still be home?

Ok, before I get carried away on one of my long rambling posts, let me say that it is official, I am home and will not be leaving for a while (at least a year or 2). Good news to say the least. Now, on with the more important stuff.

That is exactly how I feel about Minnesota. Everytime I go back it feels as though I'm home. Funny how that works isn't it? I guess I did spend most of my growing up years there so it does make some sense. I'm pretty excited though - always like going back.

We have a wedding we are invited to (woohoo) and are really excited to get to go. Not sure the details yet - when we are leaving, coming back, where we are staying, etc. There are a few complications we have to sort through, I'm not a fan of being an adult at times, too many decisions. One of the biggest things we have to figure out is how many days to take Taylor out of school. She will be in week 3 (or is it 4?) of middle school at the time, which leads me to my bigger problem...

I HAVE A KID IN MIDDLE SCHOOL?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm not sure I'm ready for this. Taylor is - she's ready to roll, and I think is also ready to be able to hang out with other people. We (by that I mean Jaimie) has been doing her best to have a lot of friends over for Taylor in the last few weeks so the summer ends on a crazy fun note. I'm still in shock that I'm currently the proud father of an 11 year old. I'll load some latest pictures of my little girl when I get the chance.

It has been a crazy summer - the last month has been insane. We did 5 states in 3 weeks - not bad huh? We were in Cleveland (Ohio - 1), Dallas (Texas - 2), Tuscon (Arizona - 3), Chicago (Illinois - 4), and Lowell (Indiana - 5). Phew. We were so glad to get home it wasn't even funny. We did have a blast though and between my blog and J's, we should be getting some photos of our fun month up shortly.

It is good to be home, hopefully that will mean I have time to post and update this blog...I realized today my countdown has been on zero for over 3 weeks...that's pretty sad...

Fourth of July

Who knew parades could be fun - and are even better when you go with friends, arrive an hour early to the wrong location, and then figure it out from there?

On the fourth, we went to a parade in Depot Town (Ypsi) with Ann and Adam. Laura, Jake, Lake and Tate also met up with us. It was a lot of fun and we had great seats. We thought it started at 10AM...actually it was 11AM...and we thought it was going to go down Michigan Ave - instead it went through Depot Town. After some sleuthing at 9:45AM on Michigan Ave, we finally got information that it was in Depot Town.

So, we rushed over there. When we arrived, there were only a few people there - so we set up front row seats - and then I walked to cafe Luwak for a coffee. Turns out the parade was at 11AM, not 10AM - but we were sure glad we arrived early. By the time the parade started, the whole street was packed - standing room only. It was nice to have front row seats and the kids got some candy during the parade as well as those fancy flags they are waving.

All in all, it was a fun time and I highly recommend it. Here is a picture of Tay, Adam and J at the parade (Ann stepped out of the picture to take one of her own - she's pretty crafty).

Wrigley

Who knew Cubs games could be fun?

A few weeks ago, I stayed in Chicago for the weekend and Ben (friend from Minnesota) came down to visit me. We had a great weekend (at least I did) and on Sunday we went to the Cubs game at Wrigley (incidently, they were playing the Twins). We got the tickets from some one I know at the plant - and the seats were pretty good. Below are some pictures from our seats.

My Little Girl

Who knew they could get cuter as they got older?

Tay and Lake hanging out being buddies...

Bad day huh?

Who knew something as cute as a baby seagull could cost your life (or at least clean clothes and some scrapes and cuts)?

So, it's been kind of a rough few weeks for me - work has ramped up since we are now in production. That's exciting to be at this point (the end is coming - and no, I'm not standing on the corner wearing one of those signs), but we are crazy busy.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to go camping this weekend - which was a ton of fun, but kept me from getting home to see my family. I think part of my grumpiness this week is due to the fact that I really miss J and Tay (and I guess Nadia also). Go figure.

Monday morning rolls around and some stuff hit the fan first thing - we hit the ground running. Usually on Monday, we get to ease into the day since most people are driving in from Michigan. Since I was one of the few that was here bright and early (since I was back in Chicago on Sunday night due to my camping excursion), I was one of the few people here to run around and get stuff done.

At one point, I had to go outside and move a bunch of our vehicles around. As I ran out the side door, I looked down and saw a baby gull (very similar to the picture above). What I didn't realize is that mom, dad, and some other friend of the family were on the roof waiting to defend their baby at all costs. As soon as I got outside, they started screaming at me, dive bombing me, and using me as target practice for poop bombs. Totally didn't see that one coming.

So, that's a good example of how my weeks have been. Innocently walk outside and into a trap set by some crafty gulls. Nice huh?

Good news is that they never connected on any of their bombs. If they had, I probably would have simply went home.

Jinx

Who knew blogger has a countdown gadget???

At the risk of jinxing my return, I have added a countdown to my blog. I was told (tentatively) that I will be moving out of here at the end of July. It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel - I'm just waiting to see if it's the bright, warm sunshine, or a train. I'm holding my breath...as should we all...

On a side note, this picture has nothing to do with the post (other than having a countdown clock), but since we all know I'm a legend, I thought it was fitting to include anyway.

It's been over 7 months since I came down here - seems like forever, but time has moved pretty quickly. This week at work we are starting production on the 2010 Taurus (the project I've been working on). It's crazy to think we are already at the point where our vehicle is all we are producing - one of my favorite times in the project (maybe since it signals the end is near and I can leave). It's been a bumpy ride and a lot of hard work, but we are getting close to getting this completed...now we just need to win car of the year and our work will be done...

Lou Mitchell's and Harry Carrey's

Who knew eating food could be so much fun?

So on one of our weekends in Chicago, I took J and Tay to Lou Mitchell's (a place introduced to me by Abram - he rocks). Lou's is one of the famous breakfast places in Chicago - it was even on Top Chef Chicago as one of the challenges. The chef's had to sling breakfast quickly for a certain amount of time (Season 4, Episode 11).

I had a previous post about Lou's as well in which I explained that when you order at Lou's, you get a TON of food. Having that knowledge for round 2, we were able to order accordingly, have a great time, and not go home totally bloated. Always fun to get to see some of the famous side of the city.

Tay's small order of pancakes.

My omelette...

J and Tay outside standing in front of the famous sign.

During Christmas, J's mom and Len came to Chicago to visit. While they were here, we went to dinner at Harry Carrey's (another pretty amazing and famous restaurant). Here is a picture of Tay and Papa standing next to the statue of Harry in the lobby of the restaurant (not a great picture, I took it with my phone). Anyway, thought I'd throw it up anyway.

Remember Ballet?

Who knew you could be really good at something and give it up anyway?

I was looking through some pictures and found this one of Taylor in her ballet costume. This was at the ballet studio during the 'dress rehersal.' At the time, we thought this was the beginning of something that was going to last for a long time - it was our first performance with the studio and was a pretty big deal. Taylor was placed in the front row for the performance (some of the other parents with kids that had been there for many years were a little miffed that Tay was in the front for her first performance ever). She was really good at ballet, but it was always something she did, but didn't really love.

After that first session at the studio for about 6 months, we stumbled into something called Ypsilanti Youth Theatre...and I think we all know what happened from there. It was still fun to see the picture and remember - she was really good at ballet and it was a lot of fun watching her learn and grow during that time.

Trip to Chicago

Who knew trips to Chicago could be fun?

I was going through some old photos last night and found some of a trip to Chicago we had. We were playing UNO and having a great time. Seeing these reminded me of how much fun we had when they were down visiting...

This is how I feel most days...

Gotta love UNO...

This is what I look like after winning so many games of UNO it just isn't fair...