Our Happy Place

Ok I have final finish the book that almost every one in the world is reading right now. So I have past Harry Potter on to my wife (who has been giving me every chance to read it so she can) I now have time to Post a new blog.

This past week-end we all went to Amy’s aunt Carols cabins for vacation. We have all been there many times in the past but this was the first time in years for us. And this was David’s First time ever.

We left early Saturday morning and drove straight there with out any traffic. I was hopping to have a certain book in my hands; however I was told I need to wait. We arrived about 3:30 pm, a half an hour earlier than expected. Our cabin was not ready as of yet, witch was ok. The boys, after getting a look around the cabins and meeting Amy’s Aunt and Uncle, took off to go play in the woods. Amy and I settled in at the camp fire and talked with Amy’s Aunt and Uncle. After we moved in Amy’s Parents, Brother, sister, and her sister’s boy friend all came for dinner. We all gathered around the fire and enjoyed each other company. (Me and Amy’s uncle Jimmy had a few beers.)

The next day (Sunday) we again relaxed around the fire and the hammock. I found the hammock was very relaxing. In the afternoon we all went to the beach that was part of the Sleeping Bear National Park. That Night the girls had girls’ night out. Me and the boys hung out with Jimmy and Shane at the cabins and had dinner.

The next morning we all went out to Amy’s Grandfather’s Farm house to celebrate both Rodney’s and my birthday (mine is Aug 5th Rod’s is Aug 18th). We had hot dogs and chili, and then Rod and I shared a cake. Rodney got lots of Transformers and I got the Book I had been weighting for all summer. So the rest of the day was spent, for me, try to read Harry Potter. I sent a very blissful 2 hours in the hammock with my head phones on, drinking a beer, and reading my book.

We came home on Tuesday with much kicking and screaming. Of course that was Amy and I, the boys were ready to come home.

It was a very good week-end both Amy and I have decided that the Cabins are our happy place. We always enjoy it, and have a good time. I look forward to going again.

Our little cabin in the woods:

At the Beach

Rod and My Brithday party

A little peace of heaven

Around the camp Fire

Wired

Well I we have really progressed on the bathroom. We moved the pluming, added the hardy backer to the rest of the floor, started on the linen closet and did most of the wiring. We have very little left. We need to finish the wiring, put up new dry wall, plaster the seems, finish the floor tile, paint, add shelves to the closet install a new vanity (yet to be purchased, we need about $ 500) do the tile around the tub, tile the wall around the floor with a bull nose tile, and trim the door and ceiling. We should have it all done in time for Christmas.

I’m also getting a lot out of this whole thing. One, I’m spending lots of time with my dad. More time than I have in more than 10 years. Two, I’m learning a lot about home repair and remolding. (Thanks dad) Three, my Maleness has really gone up. Nothing makes a guy fell more like a man than home repair. (Of course I was also doing the laundry, doing the dishes, fixing meals, and taking care of the kids wile doing my best Tool time Impression) Any way I will have much to post when we get back from up north. Check out my flickr acount for more images

Bathroom Remodel updates

We added the grout today. go my Flickr account to see more. If you click on the photes you will see my notes

Star Wars PocketModel TCG

My newest game is Star Wars PocketModel TCG. I had the opportunity to play it a couple of time now, once with my nephew and once with the guys in my gaming group. The 1st time I played it(with Charlie) I really didn’t get all the rules. So as a result I was not sure if I liked the game or not. The rule book is not very well put together, so I missed a few rules. The second time I played the game (with the guys) I had figured out all the rules and the game work out much better. And I really like the game. Play it in a group has much more dynamics to it then the just one on one.

The game has aspects of both miniatures and collectible and trading genres. It is similar to WizKids game Pirates of the Spanish Main, referring to the mechanics of creating game pieces from components that punch out of styrene cards. The game derives its content from all six Star Wars movies. Also there are the cards that give your miniatures bonuses or change the game play. You win the game in two ways; one you eliminate all of your opponents ships, or destroy all 3 of their objective cards. The coolest thing is when your ship takes damage you add little damage plumes to the ship.

All and all, I give the game 8 out of 10 stars. I will have to play it a few more times to really work out the ins and outs.

The best Star Wars parody ever

It's Sunday and I have a large list of what we did.

1) We tried out a new church, Unity of Livonia. Unity (also known as the Unity School of Christianity) is the largest of the New Thought denominations of Christianity. Unity should not be confused with Unitarian theology or the Unitarian Universalist denomination. We really enjoyed the church. They have a lager and more organized youth ministry and lots of room for the kids. Both boys really loved the group. Amy and I really enjoyed the service and liked their more Christian slant on new thought. Also the services are at 9:30 am and at 11am. They have their youth group at 9:30 and child care at 11am. We took the boys to the 9:30 for the youth group. We also like it because it was not so late in the day so we could do other things. (our old church was late morning and we almost always got home at 1pm) We are going to try it out a few more time before we decide to join but I think we have found a new home.

2) Because the day was very hot out (and we do not have air) we went to the mall. We mostly went for the air but also to get new me a new phone and let the boys run in the play area. (I’ll talk about my new phone next) Amy wanted to go to Olga's for lunch. After getting my new phone we went to the video game store and a few other stops. We also stopped in the pet store, to look at dogs. I really liked a puggle we saw. Puggles are a crossbreed between two breeds of dogs, a pug and a beagle. We end at the book store and let the boys pick out a book each that was under $4.

3) I got a new music Phone. Shockingly, there are other music phones out there that aren't iPhones (Amazing, I know). LG and Verizon have come together to release an update to the LG VX8500 Chocolate phone from last year. Dubbed the LG VX8550, the new Chocolate looks a little slimmer and sleeker and comes with a new navigation wheel with a trace motion light. The touch keypad (which many found rather annoying in the old Chocolate) it now have a vibrating feedback when touched. Hopefully this will make it easier to use. Features of the phone include a micro SD card slot ( got a 2 gig), a music player that supports MP3 and WMA formats, a 1.3-megapixel camera, EV-DO support for V Cast Music, stereo Bluetooth support, a wireless Web browser, and more. I even got a red one, my favorite color. The great thing about the phone is I only had to play $50 for in and that was put on our phone bill. Plus we are getting a $50 rebate. The nice thing about Verizon is every two years I get $100 toward a new phone. So I basically got a free phone. Also all photos on for this posting I took with my phone.

4) We ended the day at the pool right after dinner. then home we came home and the boys helped me clean out the car. The boys went to sleep very quickly.

Today I took a break from working on the bathroom and hung around the house and pool. The last two days my dad and I got about half of the tile put in place. We have to do the hard parts next. Go to my flickr account to se what I'm talking about.

Best Dog outfit ever

Happy 4th of July

Well today we were going to go to Kensington Park for the day but it was going to rain all day. So we changed our plans and went to my parents. We had lunch there then went to see the Transformers movie. (the kids were really looking forward to it) After we got back we had a cook out of all American hamburgers and hotdogs. The big bonus all of the kids were at a different table. After dinner Charlie and I geeked out and played Star Wars Pocketmodels TCC Game.

We then came home and lit of fireworks in our front yard. It was a good day even thought it only rained a little bit in the morning. And was sunny and clear all night.

I have Veggie growing!!!!

Getting a little messy

Today with our bathroom remodel we added some more plaster to the walls and added thinsalit (cement) to the seems of the hardibacker. We mad a little to much cement so we stared to lay some of the tile down. With all the plaster and cement we worked with we both got a little messy.

Adding the dry wall

Today we added the dry wall around the hardibacker cement board. Because the hardibacker only comes in 3’x5’ and we are only putting the board in the area we are tiling we had to cut the dry wall to fit in the area needed. (The dry wall is 4’x8’) We also had to cut the board at an angle for the inside walls. After we got all the boards in place we started to add plaster (mud) to the seems and screw holes. I may start adding the floor tile this week. If you go to my flickr site you can see more images and notes on the bathroom

Geek time with Charlie

My nephew Charlie and niece Zoe are in Flint for two weeks. My brother was only here for a few days of their visit, he left today. I plan to spend as much time with them as possible. Maybe we will get up there a couple of times each week. My plans are to geek out with Charlie and to take Zoe to the Art museum.

Today before and after dinner I taught Charlie how to play dreamblade. He won one of the three games we played. We try to play my new game Star Wars PocketModel Trading Card Game, but only had a little bit of time. So we only when over the rules and looked over the ships. It looks like a fun game. (I'll do a write on the game later)

This next two weeks Amy is also off from work. I’m hopping to use this time to get some work done on the bathroom. My dad and I didn’t get much done last week. We both were very busy last week. We also wanted to spend time with Tom wile he was here.

My Daylilies are Starting to bloom!!