Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Fore!!!!
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The girls have had golf clubs for 2 years now and Steve and I have been teaching them at home and on the course. WE thought it was time to have a professional teach them. (Remember, Lindsey's target was Abbey;'s forehead last year!). They had a great experience with the lessons and really like the sport. They took Steve out for Father's Day. I'm next!
Mackinac Island
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I went with Lindsey and her 4 4th grade classes to Mackinac Island for their end of the year (from studying Michigan) field trip. Some highlights were the freezing cold day at Fort Michlimackinaw, the rocky (like a roller coaster) ride under the bridge the first night (what a riot!), and the bike accident the kid Andrew in our group got into. I had 2 quirky boys in my group and Lindsey and her friend, who were fabulous. A trip I will never ever forget!
CF Walk
I recruited Ashley to walk in my Cystic Fibrosis walk team for work. I was the team leader for our lakeshore offices. I had 15 people on my team and we raised $1,200. The walk was in Grand Haven and was 5 miles. It was 42 degrees, sunny and super super windy! Nothing like a little sand burn, but we had fun anyway!
No More Tears
My precious boy... he had tear duct surgery after 2 years of gunk, pink eye and multiple tears per eye. We had hoped he would outgrow it, no such luck. He ended up with tubes in his ducts, that will be removed later this summer. He was a trooper. And we were at DeVos Children's Hospital, no place is better than this! Poor guy could not wake up from his anesthesia so we could go home, so I had to snuggle him there. He did great, he lets his doctor just pull on those eyes and doesn't fuss.
Happy 40th... bring on the mid-life crisis
My husband is starting his mid-life crisis with the need for a tattoo! I even designed one for him for his birthday gift. He wants a Chinese symbol for love and all kids names (my name is still being debated!) So for his party I got him a rub on barbed wire. Hilarious! But... he liked it... better a tattoo than a girlfriend I say!
Buble' Again!!
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I got to see him again! Michael Buble' is so awesome in concert. He had a sore throat this night and he was still incredible. He apologized a ton to us and even thanked us for spending the money to see him in this terrible economy. What a guy. Just coming off of my lovely bladder surgery me, Lisa and Jen had to go potty right after the concert so we jumped the wall of a vacant suite and used their private bathroom!
"Honey, What's Jon Insana Doing in Our Kitchen?"
I asked Jim and Jen to be the husband and wife in my commercial for work with Griffins hockey player, Jon Insana. We filmed the kitchen and car commercials at our Kentwood office. We had a great time. The chemistry with the 3 of them was great. And I could boss Jim and Jen around so they were perfect. A very fun day at work.
We Love Hats
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I told the kids on Spring Break that if they didn't let me take a picture of them with a 3 cornered hat I would buy them one and they would have to wear it everywhere we went. That was an easy choice! But, Lindsey wanted a solider hat, so I bought her one. She liked it until she was being polite and held a door open for a man and he said "thank you, young man". Then we started calling her solider boy (soulja boy) and she never wore the hat again!
(the other fun hats were THEIR ideas! Do I have them trained or what! Makes a mama proud!!)
D.C.
We were brave parents and took our 4 kids on the subway to D.C. for a day on Spring Break. I got in trouble for using the gate without running my ticket through and a security lady kept yelling at "Mama" (me) and told me I was going to be arrested by the Pentagon Police if I broke into her "house". Ughh! We did a lot of walking and saw the whole Mall and the White House. Steve's favorite destination was Arlington Cemetery. It was the warmest day of our trip so I had to buy new shirts for the kids when we got there from a street vendor. Mark's said "Future President"! A lovely business man took this family photo for us right after we saw an old man fall into the WWII memorial! It was quite an experience for all of us. We ended our long day watching Abbey pole dance on the subway. She amused an uptight politician on a crowded ride!
Tip A Griff/Wing
We were excited that the surprise guest to this event was Darren McCarty! (who was doing his return to hockey in GR) The roads were terrible, but when Steve heard he was coming we didn't go anywhere until we got our photo with him. McCarty is not like the clean cut Griffins, he is old school with that missing tooth! Linds and I were happy to get a photo with McGrath, McCarty and Helm. They were all in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pretty exciting. All the guys are very down to earth and so super sweet. Even Hartigan, he brought his baby girl and carried here around the whole night while he waited on tables. Too cute!
Tip A Griff
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A night of snowy roads took the family out to O'Charleys for Tip A Griff, a night where the Griffins hockey team raises money for their charity. All the waiters are hockey players. Many of the guys we met went on to play with the Red Wings later in the year. Pictured above are Corazinni, Insana and Oulahen.
American Idol
Ashley and I had the best time going to a Griffins game, just the 2 of us in January. We sat in the Talsma Terrace at Van Andel the night Phil Stacey (last season's American Idol finalist) was there. We even got invited down on the ice with some cheerleaders (?) when he performed. It was so cool. The bummer of the night was that my camera died on the ice when we were right in front of him and the crowd, so I couldn't capture the moment. Ashley was just embarrassed to be there so it was fine for her! I was trying to get her to wave her arms and she was about to kill me! So when Phil came up to meet us there was a guy in the Terrace that took the photo above. He then submitted it to the Holland Sentinel for a "Spotted" section and we were published a few weeks later! Ashley's Social Studies teacher had the paper hanging up in her room all year. Pretty cool way to document our Mother/Daughter bonding!