America celebrated her 247th birthday this week. It was a busy and wonderful weekend for us, as we had an out of town visit from my brother. He and Stacey drove up from Ohio on Sunday. They spent all day with us on Monday. We ordered Pizza for lunch, Barbequed chicken for dinner, and went for ice cream before they headed back to their hotel.
On the fourth, they met us at this little zoo nearby and we spent the first part of the day there. It’s been years since I have been there and forgot that they actually have some pretty cool animals. They have brown and black bears, a white Siberian Tiger, Kangaroos, Lions, and a plenty of birds (more on that in a minute).
The zoo has many places where you can buy feed to give to the animals. They kids loved feeding the goats.
The look on this goat’s face in the picture cracks me up!
The animals are so close to you and there are many you can pet.
Sam does not like birds. I’m not saying I do, but the kids wanted to go into this parakeet experience. When you walk in, they give you a stick with bird seed on it. The birds will fly over to your stick and eat the seeds. I made a friend quickly, and didn’t even need birdseed.
This bird flew to the top of my head and STAYED there pecking at it until we were done. I swear we were in there for at least 10 minutes. This bird would not leave my head. Finally, when the kids were ready to go, we walked to the door of the exhibit and the door guy had to shoo the bird off my head so I could walk out. It was freaking me out!
We went back to our house to wait for our local fire works show. Sam’s folks and a friend from college (who just moved to our neighborhood) joined us in our backyard to watch the show.
Every year, since Ella could walk, we’ve taken pictures of them walking down down the sidewalk with a flag. It was fun to put them all together in a collage and see how much they have grown.
For such a small town, they really do a fine job with their fireworks show. I wish cell phone photos could do it justice.
Ella said it was too loud and Nana and her went inside. The rest of us stayed outside and enjoyed a nice show. I wish that the tree in my neighbor’s yard wasn’t there.
As I scrolled through the photos I took on the fourth, there was one that struck me for the weirdest reason – the shadow.
I thought this was just such an amazing picture. I love the way the shadow is.
My family and I had a nice weekend celebrating America’s birthday.
My wife had to work Sunday night, so she came home and slept for part of the day before getting up to get ready for the festivities. As I have mentioned in the past, our city puts on a nice little fireworks show that we can watch right from our back yard. Because of this, the Fourth has kind of been “our” holiday.
Most of Sam’s family had planned to be up north at her dad’s cottage for the holiday. Her mom was going to be home with her sister and asked if it would be ok to come over. We had no plans, so we were more than happy to have them come over. It wasn’t long before the rest of her family decided that they were going to come over, too!
After Sam got up and we all got ready, we posed for our annual “Family Fourth of July selfie. I’m sure that we did this long before Ella was born, but they have meant more with her in them. I went back and found the pictures from the years before and put them back to back to back. This year, we forgot to look at the year’s prior so we could all be standing the same way, but we got every in it and looking at the camera. Here is July 4th – 2020, 2021 and 2022 (with the addition of Andrew):
Sam had looked back at her Facebook memories and there was a very cute picture of Ella walking down the sidewalk with a flag in her hand. We tried to recreate it with her this year, and then had AJ try it, too.
She had on the cutest outfit! Her shorts are an American flag!
I love the way Andrew looks here! He was waving the flag as I took the picture.
Sam’s folks brought hot dogs and we cooked them up on the grill. There was fresh pineapple, watermelon, and homemade cookies. Best of all, there was family. My nieces and nephew were over and Ella and Andrew had a blast playing with them. Aunt Emily brought glow necklaces, glow bracelets, and glow sticks so each kid was lit up pretty good.
I fogged the back yard with some spray I had never used before. It was made by Coleman and it is meant for camp grounds. It was great, because I made it through the night without a mosquito bite. I wish it would have repelled the flying beetles that seemed to be all over the place, though.
Around 10, we all gathered up our chairs and went out to the back of the yard to watch the fireworks show. Our town put on about a 30 minute show, which lit up the sky! At first, Ella was loving it. “Wow! Fireworks! Amazing!” she yelled. But after about 10 minutes, she was ready to go in the house. Andrew was ready to be done, too. Sam went inside with them, and the nieces and nephew.
I was actually standing in a bad spot when I took these pictures. You can see the tree in the left of the shot. If you get closer to the end of our back yard, you get a pretty clear view of the entire show.
The hardest part of the night is when the show is over and folks are trying to leave. Our street is full of cars leaving from the show. Eventually, all the family left and Sam and I were able to get the kids down to sleep. It was almost midnight and they were still up!! I don’t think they’ve ever stayed up that late before.
All in all a very nice Fourth with the family. I hope you and yours had a great holiday as well.
At midnight tonight, we’ll start a brand new year – 2022. Some have compared a new year to a book. The book with 365 blank pages – one for each day – and said that the book is ours to write. There is truth to that.
As I looked back over my “book” entitled “2021,” I see that (despite the pandemic and all the crap that came with it) I really did have a good year. Bear with me, he’s the recap:
January
January started with some snow. It actually looks like we should be getting snow again this week. Ella absolutely loved being outside in the snow. It was fun to watch her try to figure out just what all the white stuff was. Today, when she sees it, she get’s excited and yells, “Snow! Snow!”
In mid-January, we scratched our heads and wondered just how Ella was 11 months old! I mean, it seemed like she was just born!
The pressure was on as we closed in on her first birthday. With Covid, we weren’t quite sure if we’d even be able to have a party for her.
February
As we got closer to Ella’s birthday, Sam was just not feeling right. 3 days before Ella’s birthday, we found out that baby #2 was on the way!
This took us both completely by surprise! There was great excitement all over again. The hardest part was keeping it a secret…
Ella’s first birthday was a fun and busy day. We ditched the pink blocks and marked the birthday with a HUGE number “1” balloon. This was followed by a trip to the Sea Life Aquarium, the Build a Bear place, and cake at Nana’s house.
We were glad to be able to get some professional “1st Birthday” pictures, too!
March
In March we got our first look at the baby we now know as Andrew/AJ and announced Ella’s promotion to big sister.
Ella also got her first haircut
March also consisted of many walks around the neighborhood and stops at the park.
April
Big brother, Dante’ turned 19 this month! Before that, Easter fell on my mom’s birthday. We got Ella all dressed up in her Easter dress, stopped at the cemetery to visit grandma on her birthday and then went to Nana’s for an Easter Egg hunt!
Ella is so very blessed to have wonderful people in her life. Aunt Margaret is one of them! (She will kill me for posting this picture, but I just love this!!) She and cousin Marissa came to visit and the highlight was watching them read books together.
We also found out the baby’s gender, but that wouldn’t be revealed until May.
May
Birthday’s have never really bothered me, mostly because I opt for the Jack Benny attitude and say that I am stuck at 39. However, in reality I turned 51. 30 was big. 40 was tough. 50 a bit hard to swallow. Over 50? Well…..I examine my own mortality every day.
The month started warm enough that Ella got to spend lots of time in her sandbox and pool.
We revealed that Ella was having a baby brother and got another look at him on an ultrasound.
Ella and I worked on a special project for Sam for Mother’s Day and we got to visit the Detroit Zoo.
May also brought Ella her first taste of corn on the cob!
June
My second oldest boy celebrated his 14th birthday in June. We got to spend Father’s Day together by visiting Crossroads Village. They had a Classic Car Show there and we walked the village and rode the train. It was such a great day with my kids!
It was SO hot that day!!! By the end of it all, Ella was physically exhausted. June was a hot month and we did get to get out and enjoy walks in the park and a day at the splash pad.
July
By July, Sam was 5 months pregnant and was so sick. The pregnancy was a rough one on her. The heat didn’t help things. Despite that, the middle of summer was packed full of amazing things and our family had loads of fun.
We celebrated America’s Birthday, Ella had her first visit to the public library and bowled for the first time, and we all visited the Saginaw Children’s Zoo.
August
As Summer drew to a close, we continued to squeeze as much into it as we could. I got to spend a perfect day doing a daddy daughter picnic, my name was finally on the board at the Corner Cone for a free ice cream, Ella spent lots of time drawing with crayons, and our stress levels were through the roof as we took Ella in for her ear tube surgery. We also got another peak at AJ and had a visit from my brother.
September
Fall! My favorite season of all. I was glad to be able to get together with Margaret, Walt and my buddy Chris at Margaret’s house. Since she’s already mad at the one picture I posted, I’ll just share the one she told me I could share. Hopefully, that makes things a little better….
We always love going to get pumpkins and decorating the front of the house for fall. Ella seemed to like it, too.
Ella and I also got to take one last trip to the Saginaw Zoo before it closed for the season. It was a great day for us, and Sam actually got to relax a bit.
October
We had been told more than once that there was a possibility that the baby would come before his due date. He held out almost until the date! Just two days before he was born, Ella and I got to go outside and enjoy the fall colors.
On October 11th, AJ entered the world. I watched in awe as my son was born and all the pride of being a daddy again filled my soul. We weren’t sure how Ella would handle it, but she welcomed him with open arms.
They still did not have a photographer at the hospital, so we went to JC Penney to have some newborn pictures taken. AJ looks spiffy in his outfit!
While this wasn’t Ella’s first Halloween, it was the first real Trick or Treating adventure for her. She was happy that big brother was there to walk with her. AJ was obviously way too young to attempt to go out this year.
November
Fall walks are among my favorites. I love looking at the colors. Ella and I took many fall walks and there were many instances where she’d just play in a pile of leaves! AJ kept us all busy and so it was just Ella and I making the trip to Bronner’s to get his ornament for the Christmas tree. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at home and got the house ready for Christmas.
December
The final month of the year brought many happy memories. Professional Christmas pictures, my annual reading of Dickens, AJ turned 2 months old, a visit from Papa and Grandma, Christmas Eve with my boys, Holiday lights at Crossroads, our first Christmas as a family of four, and the anticipation of a brand new year.
Blog highlights included my entries to the 2021 Song Draft, salutes to Soupy Sales, my grandpa, and Ernie Harwell, a guest blog from my pal Max, silly blogs about hats and Bernie Sanders’ mittens, fishing memories, my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, and a blog about an amazing cartoon Dog Dad.
There were many sad moments in 2021. I lost classmates and friends to cancer, heart disease, and of course, Covid. If the past two years have taught me anything, it is that life is precious and another day is not promised. You never know when it will be the “last picture,” the “last phone call,” or the “last visit.” It takes me make to that quote that my band director wrote on the grease board my senior year. I have quoted it many times. “Live every day as if it were your last. Someday, you’ll be right.”
Life is too short. Live. Laugh. Love.
As we welcome 2022, I pray that it is a good year for all of us. May we find it full of happiness and good health. May God bless you and yours in the upcoming year.
Get ready. The Book of 2022 awaits. Grab your pen and turn to page (January) 1.
How life has changed in only a couple of years! Every 4th of July, our town puts on a fireworks show that is literally in our back yard. We usually have a big back yard BBQ, bonfire, and invite everyone over to watch the fireworks. Last year, the show was cancelled because of Covid. This year, Sam’s family was up at their cottage, my boys were at their cousin’s house, and it was just Sam, Ella and me at home.
Last year, we got some really awesome pictures of Ella in her 4th of July outfit and we made sure to take some again this year. She’s obviously a whole lot busier, but we still got some great shots. The one that was more candid than any of them also got the most “likes” on Facebook. She was literally walking down the sidewalk when I snapped this one:
Sam’s grandma (and Ella’s great grandma) is in her 90’s. We decided to go and visit her in the afternoon. It’s always fun to watch Ella in a new environment. Despite the fact that we brought a huge bag of toys, books, and such for her, she still seems to find things to get into. Her grandma had a 500 or 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that she is working on in her living room. It’s up on a table, but you know that Ella walked right over to it! I was waiting for her to just get one hand on it to pull it all down. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
When we arrived back at home, we made dinner and relaxed. Our plan had been to put Ella down for bed and then head outside to do a bonfire and watch the fireworks. Either Sam and I are getting old, or we are just exhausted, because Ella was in bed around 8:30 and we were both dozing on the couch. Both of us were in bed by 9:15!
Naturally, we were awakened by the fireworks show around 10:15. We probably could have gotten up and watched part of the show, but we decided that we would just listen to the booms from our bed and try to sleep. I’m not sure how I was able to fall asleep in between the bangs and booms, but I did (for a few seconds at a time). It was funny because we’d hear the booms, then we’d hear the echo coming from the baby monitor. We were both happy when the show was over and we were able to actually sleep.
My neighbor said that this year’s show was kind of lame, so I wasn’t sorry we were in bed!
Outside of some great family pictures, this is my favorite from the fourth:
I love the “Color Pop” filter on my phone!
Song Draft Update
Round one of the 2021 Song Draft is in progress. I believe that there are 13 of us participating with 10 rounds of picks. Each of us participating will offer up a pick for each round. You can follow the entire Song Draft at my buddy, Hans’ blog.
He is posting every pick. I will be posting my song picks here in my blog after he posts mine. My first pick is in and will be posting one week from today. It is a great Detroit oldie that has a neat Motown connection. Watch for it on the 15th…
I have my 10 picks ready and I am excited to be taking part in this Draft event. I hope you enjoy it, too.
We are now three days from Christmas. Remember back in October when folks were all up in arms about people putting Christmas stuff up? I remember blogging about how this year we could use some happiness and approved of the “early” holiday cheer.
I was reminded of a cartoon which shows up every year (in some form or another):
I was reminded of the holiday “overlap” after reading one of the blogs I follow. The blog’s author, Beth, posted it here:
Personally, I have yet to walk into a store that has the Valentine’s stuff out, but I know that come December 26th, it will start showing up! I don’t know about you, but I don’t even start thinking about Valentine’s day until mid-January or early February.
I’ve never really understood the reason to rush a holiday? A month in advance is plenty. Now, Christmas may be a little different in that some people start saving money for Christmas as early as January (yes, 12 months early!). I know plenty of people who Christmas shop all year long. I would think that of all the holidays, Christmas is probably the biggest, at least where gift giving is concerned. Every one is buying gifts for someone.
I’ve never received an Easter Gift bigger than a basket with candy, a Labor Day surprise, a Fourth of July gift, or even a President’s Day gift. The only times I receive a gift is my birthday, my anniversary, and Christmas. Still, the retail stores are quick to usher in the next holiday even before one is over! I don’t get it.
In commenting back and forth with Beth, she brought up a good point. Why don’t they just have “Holiday” stores. One store – with everything you need for every holiday? At least you could walk in there and not wonder “Why is the Halloween stuff out in April?!” You’d expect it to be!
Thanks Beth, for the inspiration. I’m off to buy Valentines…..
Vacation is never long enough! I was off for 5 days last week and while I had some great moments to relax, I still don’t feel like it was enough. We live in a society where people are overworked and underpaid. I don’t think anyone would mind if the United States adopted the mindset of France, Brazil, or Finland who average 30 days of paid vacation!
There were highs and lows during my week. One of the lows was not being able to get my boys for a couple days. I was supposed to pick them up on Sunday, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I wasn’t able to get them until Wednesday. I was very happy to get them prior to the Fourth of July.
Without the boys, that gave me some time to get a few things done around the house. I was able to mow the grass, straighten up the house, and work a little bit in the garage. I have had some things out there that I have wanted to go through.  I have some boxes out there with books in them. I probably need to get a book case to put them in, but we really don’t have the room. Maybe I can put it in the basement??
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On Monday, my buddy Shawn messaged and said he had 18 holes of golf (with a cart) and wanted to know if I could join him. Naturally, I jumped at the chance. It’s about an hour drive to Mt. Pleasant and on the drive there, I finished listening to a book on CD I started a while back (The Innocent Man by John Grisham). There was some concern as to whether or not it was going to rain, but the weather cooperated and I had a good round. I actually made par on about 6 holes.
We golfed with a couple radio guys Shawn works with. There were a lot of laughs and it was a good time. While in the pro shop, one of the guys pointed out these golf balls with a matted finish. They are brighter than your normal yellow or orange golf balls. He kept saying, “You just can’t lose these balls!” I was curious and got one. I actually hit it very well. I hit it off the tee on one of the holes on the back nine and we all saw it go slightly right through a big tree. We never saw it come down. We drove up to where the ball should have been and checked the vicinity. We had all four of us looking for this extremely bright red ball. “You just can’t lose these balls,” he said again! Well, I proved him wrong. It was lost. We really wondered if it got stuck in the tree! It was crazy!
Thanks, again, Shawn! Always a great time on the links with you!
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Thursday was the Fourth. We normally have a big bash at the house, but with all we had going on, we just didn’t get around to inviting a lot of people. We ended up with my in-laws and a couple of friends from college (Hope and Matt) and their spouses. I threw some hot dogs and brats on the grill, cut up a HUGE watermelon, we had mac and cheese, and loads to snack on.
There is a family fun day with many events. They also have a concert at the amphitheater, which we can hear from our backyard. Also from our backyard, we have great seats to watch the town’s fireworks. It is all funded through the fireman’s homecoming carnival. They also take donations in town. This year the show was about 25 minutes. After the show was over, the guests started to leave. We got the boys to bed, and we sat with our friends Hope and Kevin at the bonfire and BS’d for a while.
Great company and great conversation!
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Friday, there was a bit of drama (which is not even worthy of writing about). My wife had one big paper that needed to be written for school and she was working on that. I took the boys to play mini-golf. There was a place just south of the house that I had never been to. They have golf and ice cream. The course has a train/mine theme to it. It was actually very cool.
I got the first (and my only) hole in one. Each of us got one, which always makes mini-golf fun! The wind picked up as we reached the end and we were lucky to finish before a HUGE downpour! Must not have been my day, Dimitri shot 40, Dante’ shot 42, and I shot 44. It didn’t really matter who won, though – it was about having time with the boys.
Whenever we play mini-golf, and I help them with their swing, I still flashback to those days at the Caseville Putt-Putt course. I remember my dad, or my grandpa, reaching over me and helping me with my grip and my swing. It’s one of those “generations” things – my dad and grandpa helped me, now I am helping them.
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Saturday I worked on the air at the radio station. I was on from 9a-2p. When I got off work, it was 86 degrees out. I wanted to take the boys swimming somewhere. There are a couple places that have pools where I could have gone. One of the places had an indoor pool, which kind of defeats the purpose on a hot summer day. The other place has outdoor pools, but because of the holiday weekend, they were not doing day passes (they were doing their fireworks that night).
Sam suggested this little place in Davison called Lake Callis. It’s a little recreation complex with a splash pad, pavilions, and a beach. I had never been there, so we went. It was actually a very nice place. There were many birthday parties going on that day, and it was fairly busy. We found a picnic table on the beach and went in to the water. It was not freezing (which is always nice), and the boys swam for a while.
For no reason in particular, I tend not to swim much in a lake. Maybe it’s the “lake smell” or the fact that there are fish in there, I really don’t know. This lake was man made, and as far as I could tell, there were no fish. The water was warm and swimming with the sun beating down on us was awesome! It was a bit breezy that day and when you got out of the water, it got chilly!!
It was fun to watch my boys making new friends with other kids out in the lake. I loved watching them run around at the splash pad. It was also fun to just sit at the picnic table eating Cheez-It’s and potato chips and talking about whatever they brought up. It was great father-sons time! We will definitely be going back there – we had a blast!
Tonight is my first night back to work – and I am already ready for another vacation!!!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 