School Update

Cullen had his second day of school today, it was just a half day for him so he only rode the bus to school. When I got home from school he informed me that he, "Made friends with the music teacher. And guess what? She had a magic piano- seriously! I think she just wuvs music!"

Cullen seems to be loving everything about school. Geremu on the other hand is having a rough time adjusting to all the recent changes and his behavior has regressed. Nick and I are both back at school and now Cullen's off doing his own thing. This is the first year that Geremu is home alone without Cullen (we have an awesome sitter at our house). Geremu will be starting nursery school and some other activities but it doesn't start for another week. Apparently that can't come soon enough. In the mean time, I'm trying to keep my patience. Wish me luck:)

Class of 2024

Today was Cullen's first day of Kindergarten! Nick took him to his classroom (today was only a 1 hour class) and he reported that Cullen was skipping into the school he was so excited. He spent a little time doing a project and getting to know his teacher and a few classmates.

Tomorrow Cullen will go to school for a half day and ride the bus to school before his first full day on Friday. I can NOT believe how fast my boys are growing up.

Belachew Reunion 2010

The purpose of our trip to Michigan was to reunite Belachew and Geremu again. It has been a year since they last saw each other... As they have done in the past they greeted each other with hugs that turned into wrestling. It was so good to see them together again.

We also got a chance to meet Belachew's cute brother Hudson.

The boys all seemed to enjoy each others company and got along so well.

They stayed up late at night and got up early in the morning.

They were truly on "vacation time".

Here they are all ready to head down to the beach.

I loved the random hand holding, there were several times while we were together that I'd look up and the kids were holding each others hands. This happened between them all.

They all LOVED racing down the dunes.

The boys stayed busy exploring and "looking for treasures".

Did you know "X marks the spot"? Wild rides were provided by Nick. The 3 older boys would ride Nick around and try to stay on him while he bucked around. It was very entertaining to watch. When one boy would fall off they would chase the group around trying to get back on. I'm pretty sure all the boys had smiles on their face most of the time...

The kids sure did enjoy running along the beach...

One of the afternoons the adults were talking and we noticed that Geremu and Belachew were not near us. Paul stood up to see where they went and he told me I had to check it out...

As I walked closer to the boys I could hear Geremu singing "God Bless my Underwear" and Belachew laughing. It was so cute to see the two of them enjoying each others company.

A little while later I glanced up and saw them helping each other up the sand dune.

The weather was wonderful and the boys did an excellent job of entertaining each other.

It was hard to see the Belachew and Geremu say their good-byes as it has always been. They will have excellent memories of their time spent together, hopefully so much time doesn't pass between visits.

On our way home we got stuck on the SS Badger for most of the day. A piston had to be replaced and it delayed us for quite some time. They kept predicting another half hour then adding time on. The boys enjoyed the extra time on the boat and got to watch more than one movie on our trip home.

SS Badger= Big Ship, Big Fun

We got up early Sunday morning so that we could catch the SS Badger (car ferry), we were headed over to Michigan to catch up with some good friends.

Here Cullen and Nick are boarding the boat.

We all really enjoyed the 4 hour ride across the lake. We went to the movie theater to watch some movies, played a little BINGO, spent some time in the toy room and arcade as well as ate on board.

I did learn an important lesson while on board. I was up on the deck of the boat, my boys had just left to go to the bathroom. I sat up and the next thing I see is something fly in the air that seemed to come from where I was sitting. I suddenly realize that it is the money that was in my pocket. Instinct kicks in and I jump up to chase it down. I stepped on the money, bent over and pocket it only to realize that more money is flying around. I also realize about this time that everyone on the deck of the ship is watching me. I continued to chase the money down, apparently it came out in 3 chunks. I could go on and describe how at one point I slipped in my flip flops but luckily my cat-like reflexes kicked in, etc... My point is this, if you ever see this happening to someone (and you are one of over 50 people standing/sitting around watching) perhaps, if the money comes your way you could step on it. Seriously, throw a person a bone once in awhile (in their defense most of the people where pretty old). I did however receive lots of applause when the freak show was over. When Nick came back I informed him he missed the show... He just looked at me and shook his head. I think he would have been proud of my speed and agility.

Not only was the ship BIG FUN but it turns out Michigan is BIG FUN too!

I've got lots of pictures to blog... I'll post them tomorrow!

Tattoo Mike's Wedding

I have a good friend named Katherine I have known since she was little, I use to babysit her (I'm getting old). After I had Cullen she babysat for me, she went to school close to where we now live. Katherine also stayed with us for a bit while she student taught in the district both Nick and I teach.

My boys have both known her friend/boyfriend and now husband Mike, affectionately referred to as Tattoo Mike by my kids. Mike took Cullen to swimming lessons once when he was watching him. One thing lead to another and the next thing I know my 3 year old, Cullen, really wants a tattoo just like "tattoo Mike's". This past weekend Tattoo Mike and Kat got hitched.

Here the crew/family is headed out on Thursday night... Here Katherine is with her wedding party the morning of the big day...

And here I am with the beautiful bride.
It was so fun seeing neighborhood friends/families that I hadn't seen since I was young.

It was also good to see some of our friends that we have become good friends with because of Katherine.

Sand Castles

We headed to my hometown for a few days last week. While we were there we attended a sand castle festival. The work was really very amazing. So amazing it was hard for Geremu to keep his hands off of the sculptures. So after checking out all the sand creations we headed over to play some games.

The sticky wall was a favorite of Geremu's.

Slow Motion

Geremu has this thing where he likes to be first... I'm not sure where he gets that:) So as we were biking he decided to turn around to locate Nick and Cullen. You know, to make sure he was still ahead of them or something. Anyways, when he turned around he started to veer off the road. This is when my life started to move in slow motion. I yell frantically at him, "WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING!" As he nails a mailbox with his head and gets stripped off of the bike that continued to ghost ride on through the mailbox owner's flowers. I'm not kidding when I say I never knew a neck/back could bend that far back.

I slam on my brakes and drop my bike in the middle of the road and rushed over to him. Geremu gets up, shakes his head a few times, yells a bit at the mailbox and proceeds on to get his bike. He did not get hurt at all, I can't confirm that the mailbox and flowers had the same outcome. Geremu was wearing his helmet and his head was turned sideways at the time because he was looking back. We (by this time Nick and Cullen had caught up to us) did not let him get back on his bike until he went up to the house and knocked on the door to let them know their mailbox may or may not have been damaged by our kids bike helmet. What are the chances that the mailbox never closed before Geremu hit it?