Michelle turned 15, and while I was not able to do anything for her on her actual birthday that did not stop us from having a little mini-party on Friday when I went to drop off the kids for the weekend. I brought some dinner and Kristy got the cake, so the only thing we needed was to drive out there and sign a song, light some candles, and eat!
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Deanna wanted to go bowling real bad. Even since she got here really. I decided it was time to go ahead and do that. Deanna, Michelle, Patty, Eddy, and I all got in the car and drove down to the Akron Lanes, which is only about 15 minutes from here. I opted against getting the bumpers for the lane, because I really feel it is time for the kids to learn to bowl the correct way.
Deanna is the only one of us that owns her own shoes and a bowling ball, so the first thing we had to do was figure out what size shoe we wear and find a ball. They had a decent selection and I think that the kids will get more of an idea how this all works and make the process more streamlined when we go again. I imagine that we might be able to swing the cost of doing this about once a month.
We signed up for two games. It was a great deal of fun. The kids did fairly well for this being their first time without the bumpers. They were really working on their form and learning how to line up and throw the ball. They will probably get it over time. It is a good family activity. I had the kids remember their scores, because I told them that they should always try and beat their own score. That is who you are really playing against when you bowl – yourself.
Went on my first bike ride of the year. It was nothing special really. I do not have the tenacity to put the bike rack back on the trunk of the car, load up the bikes, and drive down to see what the Tow Path looks like in the middle of an Ohio March, which may I remind you there is still snow visible on the ground in parking lots and other assorted places that do not get a great deal of light. Eddy, Deanna, and I all went down to the store and to the park. Patty was at a friends house, so she could not have gone. I wish I knew what the name of that store, but I really do not.
I checked everyone’s air pressure. I have some tuning to do on the brakes on both of their bikes. Eddy’s bike I am not so concerned with, since I believe I will be replacing that this year. I do not feel his bike is the right size for him any longer. I sprayed their chains and gears with WD-40 and I think that took care of some of the rust. I did not take any pictures, but honestly all I would have been taking pictures of is the neighborhood that I see outside my door every day.
I can not find any of the water bottles I bought last year, and I am beginning to think that even if I were to find them I would not necessarily want them any longer. I still need to get thinner profile tires for my bike, because the whole mountain bike tire thing really isn’t going to work for this street/path riding.
Ohio did not get the amount of snow that the east coast got, but it sure seems like a great deal, and it keeps coming. The kids have been unfortunate enough to not get a single snow day during the entire blizzard, because it doesn’t snow at night, which always allows the plows to get out and clear the roads before school begins. I think some other school districts actually had snow days, but not Akron. They just kept plowing and the snow kept stopping. The other deciding factor would be the actual temperature, but the lowest it has dropped is in the teens.
I went outside and shoveled the driveway, and Eddy came outside and helped. Patty helped some as well, but near as much as Eddy. The snow has continued to fall and while I have gone outside to push the shovel around and remove a few more inches of snow from atop my driveway I have to admit that I had to give up. The snow is just beating me this year. I think I should buy more shovels for next year, because these kids are certainly big enough to help now. It is getting to be too much to do by myself.
Michelle was over this weekend as well. I helped her with homework. It was a project where she had to start submitting sources for a paper on to a website. It is interesting and a good use of technology, but Michelle does not actually have internet access at home. I know student teaching in Akron most of those students would not have had access to this sort of thing either. It was fun having her over here. I hope she comes out again soon.
I went and saw my first Digital 3D movie and I have to say that I could not have picked a better movie to do it with. I went and saw Avatar not even knowing what digital 3D was exactly, and I was amazed at what I saw. The movie itself is a fantastic and wonderous journey through an alien world with an amazing story. The 3D effects are not gimmicky, they really seem to be a part of the movie. The whole thing was a treat.
My sister invited me to the last Browns game of the season. I finally got to meet the person who has been giving her all the tickets. The best part of this story is that the Cleveland Browns won, and that is the first time that I have been at the new stadium for a game that they have won.
I would like to spend a minute describing the cold. The picture above is of my sister holding a beer upside down. The beer is quite obviously frozen, as any beer that we would have would be, because it was below freezing outside. I do not know exactly how cold it was, but at one point I think someone said that it was 12 degrees. I do not know if this is something everyone is aware of, but when you find out the temperature in Cleveland you are only getting half the story. Due to lake effect and wind chill you do not know how cold it really is until you take those two things into account. The stadium is right next to the lake, and I have to imagine that with those two things counted in it was probably well into the negatives.
I met the nice young woman who has been supplying the tickets for me this year. I got to go to the pre-season game against the Detroit Lions and this game. She was really nice, and it turns out that she will probably be able to do this same thing next year. That is very promising, because I would definitely enjoy going to more games.
The women were bundled up much better than I was. I think they were each wearing like 3 coats each. It was nice being there for the Browns actually winning for a change. We went out to eat afterwards. It was a nice way to bring in the new year. Maybe it’s a sign that this year will be better than the last. My sister took all these photos with her iPhone, because I was running a bit late to the game and forgot my camera. The pictures came out really well though, and that is good.
I said there would be a part two, because I still had another present left for Eddy. That present has come all the way from Japan and I was finally able to give it to him. Thus concluding Christmas on my part, and ensuring that the kids got the one thing that they really wanted, which is good, because they really only got one thing for Christmas this year.
The toy passed through customs and made it to Jo’s door on Tuesday, so really it did not spend that long in customs. I had no idea it was even that close to being delivered, because while I got an update that it was entering customs on the USPS website I did not receive the same sort of notice when it left customs and started heading from Chicago to here. Jo called me when he got the notice that the delivery had been missed, and we decided to meet in Cuyahoga Falls.
We met in the parking lot and moved it from the trunk of his car to the trunk of mine. We went inside and ate. I brought the kids with me. We ate and then parted ways. I went to GameStop, because I wanted to trade in more games, because I have been trading in a great deal of games lately. The guys inside know me and when I told them about the gift they wanted me to go ahead and give it to him there in the GameStop. He was shocked. I wish I had a picture of his expression. Mouth agape and just pure joy.
We brought it home and we assembled it without any problems. The only thing I actually had to do to help really was get the batteries, because they were not included. He was wearing it. He is still wearing it. He has been wearing it every day. I don’t mind as long as he doesn’t take it outside and break it or lose it. I have warned him that people will try and steal it. That seems to be a theme for Akron and I want him to be aware of it. This was a good Christmas.
This is part 1 of 2, because there is another gift that has yet to be received. It is some where between Cleveland and Japan right now, and more than likely it is at some sort of customs receiving place in Cleveland, which should take at least a day to get released and start making its way here. At that time I will be able to take another picture or two and complete Christmas.
I believe that while there were not a great many gifts under the tree this year the kids did get exactly what they wanted. I know there are pictures where you can scarcely see the tree for all the wrapped boxes in front of it, but in a way this is more of the direction Christmas is going to be going in anyway. The kids are getting older, and older kids results in more expensive and smaller gifts.
Eddy kept saying that he got “mostly” everything he wanted. He is upstairs currently sorting through probably over 100 of those Yu-Gi-Oh cards that he wanted. He has no idea what the package is, but I did tell him that there was one more Christmas gift that he would be getting this year. He does not think it is the one very special thing that he wants though, because I already told him that they do not sell that toy in the United States.
Patty did on the other hand get everything that she wanted. It is very difficult to make the “final” gift a surprise when she gets an itunes gift card and an iHome player for an iPod nano, but some how she did still manage to look surprise when she unwrapped the pink iPod nano. I have already instructed her on exactly what I expect, which is that she will not be taking that thing out of the house and especially not to school. If she loses it or it gets broken it will not be replaced.
I made the kids get dressed again this year, and they both protested and told me that I have never made them do that before. I am glad that I took pictures of last year. I think they were actually dressed better last year.
I made waffles this morning and made them take showers as well. They woke up really early though. That probably has something to do with the fact that they went to bed early last night. I have to find a way to keep them up a little longer from now on, because there is no promise that I will be up and ready to go this early.
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Better late than never? I was just going through the camera, because it is Christmas and I am starting to put pictures up from this morning. I know it is still only 9:30 AM now, but the kids woke up early and decided to force the issue this morning. This quick post on my birthday first and then we can see Christmas.
Much like other birthday’s I got an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. I like them, because it is like the best of both worlds for you in one thing. Plus, to be completely honest I do not like frosting and cake anymore. I like ice cream. Maybe some day I will not like that either.
This is another tradition. It should be pretty easy to figure out what started this, but just in case you cannot figure it out my birthday happens to fall on Halloween, so I get a basket of candy for my birthday.
I am a little ashamed to say this, but I do not have any of these shirts any longer. This is probably why I forgot to go ahead and post these pictures two months ago. Yeah, I returned these and got a gift certificate. That gift certificate went towards Christmas gifts, so in a way it is sort of appropriate that I should find these pictures and remember what happened to this particular gift.
I know there are a lot of people that can not make it through a game of Monopoly and for some families and friends the end of the game is ceremoniously decided when someone either storms out in a rage or when the board is made air born with pieces still having been placed on it. This is not the case here though. The kids and I played a game, and while it was close I ended up winning. They did a good job for the most part. I think they get it. I do not know how they get it exactly, because I cannot remember playing this game with them until this point.
It was quite a while ago now, but I finally got around to getting the pictures off my camera and posting about the Cleveland Browns game that Tim invited me to earlier this month. I believe he got the tickets from a family member, because it was his birthday earlier this month. The only thing we had to do was drive up to Cleveland and park in an awesome spot right next to the stadium.
The game was the Cleveland Browns vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. It is the kind of game that everyone from Ohio wants to go and see. I know that none of these pictures really tell the picture, but we were quite literally surrounded by Bengals fans. I have not been to a game against the Bengals before, so this might be the way the fans are at this game.
The Browns did a decent job, but really they were outplayed for a great deal of the time. I was already a little bummed about going to the game, because this was the game they decided to start Anderson at QB instead of Quinn, and well, now being able to write this post weeks after that game I can safely say that my feeling on that decision was right. It was so hard watching the Browns lose the whole game.
I was really glad Tim invited me, because I have never sat in club seats before. The seats are not even accessible by normal means. You have to actually get access through a door to an escalator to get to the seats. I have always been sitting in the nose bleed section where after hiking up a bunch of ramps, then stairs, you finally reach your seat in time to squint real hard and try and watch the game. The seats were not the only thing that were amazing though – you actually have access to a bar and you do not have to really wait in line when you want something to eat. It is amazing. The price tag on the tickets will probably keep me from purchasing said tickets.
The weather was nice and some guy gave us a bag of popcorn. I think that was pretty sweet. I had a bit of a cold and I sort of just sat there and drank tea and ate peanuts the whole time. I am glad that my cold was not something worse, because otherwise I would have had to miss the game.
That is all I have to say about the game really. It was disappointing to watch them lose and in overtime. They just could not get it into the end zone, and that is ultimately what ended up doing them in. They even managed to block a field goal and an extra point, but they could not get to that next step and actually score themselves. I tapped the girl in front of us on the shoulder and said we will do better next time, but now I doubt it. Field goals just are not going to win games. I wonder how long I have to live to see the Browns get good again.