Weekend Top 5 Written by Gregory Gorilla

Hi, my name is Gregory Gorilla. I go home with a different first grader every weekend and am required to go everywhere with my weekend owner for the entire weekend. This was a crazy weekend to have picked to come home with Noah, but I did. So I decided that since Noah's mom was required to take pictures of me doing all the fun activities this weekend anyway, I might as well write her top five for her.


Well, first I must say that Noah's family sure is a busy one. They kept me running pretty much all day on Saturday. I wonder if they're this busy every weekend. Here are the top five things I noticed in his house this weekend.

1. Weekend Visitor

I came home with Noah on Friday and played with him all day. Noah has to write a report about what we did all wekeend.



















While they were eating dinner, their kitten Pumpkin even curled up in my lap for a nap.













2. Pumpkin Patch

This was the one time this weekend that I saw Noah's mom get really upset. She took a cute picture of me with Noah when we got out of the car headed for the pumpkin patch and when we got there to start the fun, the tab on her camera (actually her dad's camera) was gone, making the camera virtually useless. Apparently, for a mommy who is addicted to taking pictures, and a trip that requires pictures of a certain gorilla having fun, this can be very upsetting. Thankfully, the other members came through and took a lot of pictures of me. I think most of the 20 people that attended the orchard this year on our annual trip held me at some point.



They wouldn't let me be in the annual photo of all the cousins at Post Family Farm...what a crew. The only one missing was Cousin Sara who was in a band competition all day.









Here are Noah and Aaron with their Daddy and Grandpa on the hayride














Here I am in the pumpkin patch with Aaron and his Daddy.


















I even had a chance to give Kristi a hug











3. New Camera

After the pumpkin Patch, where Noah's grandpa's camera got broken, Kristi knew that the evening activtivities (see below) were going to REQUIRE a reliable camera, being the main photographer for the event, I was left in the car while the whole family RUSHED into the mall to get a new camera at Sears. From the amount of pictures that Kristi has taken since the purchase, I can only assume that she absolutely LOVES it. She took 95 pictures at the party, and only had to throw away three from blurriness.

4. Party Time

I didn't get to go to this one...so I'll let Kristi take over for this one event.

My dad and step mom celebrated 25 years of marriage this week. About two months ago, several of our siblings/step siblings wondered if we could pull off a surprise anniversary party for them. I never dreamed that we would actually have it remain a surprise. But we did it. Two of my stepbrothers have opened a restaurant, a sports bar in an old renovated building in downtown Muskegon Michigan. (Shameless plug...if you live in the West Michigan area, check out Muskegon Athletic Club "The MAC" for their signature gourmet mac and cheese...it was awesome!)

We sent out invitations about six weeks ago to our family and their closest friends. About two weeks ago, when we were talking about our annual pumpkin patch trip (see above) Nancy suggested that maybe we could go to the MAC for dinner afterward since we hadn't seen it yet since it opened. She even went so far as to say she was going to make reservations for us (snicker snicker). I will spare any more details and show you some pictures of the highlights.




Nancy making the discovery














Dad making the discovery (holding Cousin Annabelle)










None of else ever knew (until last night) that they had never had a wedding cake. they got married kind of as an elopement when on a trip with their friends (who played a key role in pulling this party off). So when they were so excited about cutting the cake together, we were so happy that we had gone with the traditional wedding cake style.












The toasts were really neat. My brother Matt was the only one who actually spoke for us kids. He actually respoke the toast that Dad gave at his and Jenny's wedding 6 years ago. It was kind of neat to see it come full circle. What was the neatest one (and the second time everyone was crying that night) was when Nancy stood up and said "We have been so worried watching the stock market lately and I am just here to say I was wrong. We're the richest people in the world!" Of course, not a dry eye in the entire room.


There were a lot of other fun moments, but this entry just got really long, so here are just a few quick pictures that showed the merriment.



Uncle Andy teaching Noah how to play bowling on the HUGE Wii they have on one wall.












Aaron being silly













I couldn't get done with this point without Gregory taking back over...so here he is:



When they all got back into the car after the party, they were very tired. Noah used me as a pillow to fall asleep in the way home. It feels so good to be useful.














5. Playworld

Noah and Aaron were quite wild on Sunday morning from the crazy day on Saturday, so Kristi decided that I wasn't going to church that day. As a matter of fact, she left all of us home and went by herself. By the time she got home, we were all REALLY ready to burn some energy so we headed to Playworld. I had so much fun.

Noah pushed me around in the little cars


















I even had a piece of Steve's pizza











I am so sad that I have to go back to school with Noah, but I know I will have more adventures at someone else's house next week. Now here's a word from Kristi...


I hope you enjoyed my guest writer this week. If you actually made it all the way through this post, congrats. I hope you consider posting weekend top five. If you do, please add to Mr. Linky so I can visit soon.

Have a great week.

Weekend Top Five 9/28/08/

Disclaimer: Sorry about all the blurry pictures. I am having a VERY hard time with the camera I borrowed from my dad until I can get one of my own again.


So, here it is...Monday again. Lately I have been struggling to think of five interesting things we did within the weekend. I didn't struggle so much this time. We kept pretty busy.

5. Child Safety and Fire Safety Day

Steve discovered on the computer Friday night that there would be a safety day at the children's museum for a few hours on Saturday. Well of course we NEVER pass an opportunity to go to the children's museum.

There was a firetruck and ambulance for the kids to sit in and explore and a lot of rescue exhibits. The neatest one was an imaginary house. In the kitchen was a tic tac toe game where the kids could identify items that were potential fire hazards



















and then through the door was another room with a pretend bedroom and an actual fire alarm on the wall. The boys would lie down on the bed and practice different techniques of what to do if there was a fire. They practiced crawling instead of walking and also feeling a door to see if it is hot















but my most proud moment was when the fire fighter told Noah to have a meeting place if there was a fire and even though it has probably been six months since Noah and I talked about it, he still remembered that our meeting point was the fire hydrant a couple of houses away.

And related to #5..

4. Fun with Cousins

About five minutes after we walked in the door, Aaron came running up to me shouting "Mommy, my friend Jamie is here!" Sure enough, my sister had brought her kids to the museum as well and the kids were so excited to play together. All of the boys hugged each other when they first saw each other.



All 4 boys "treating" a patient in the pretend ambulance















3. Mommy/ Daddy Date night

As I've mentioned before, we like to periodically split up with each of us taking one boy and doing something one on one. I think the boys cherish this time as much as we do. So Steve took Noah to Wall E (for the second time thanks to a gift card Noah was given at church a few weeks ago...thanks Jen) and I took Aaron to the toy store.

I had an ulterior motive. Aaron's birthday is in a few weeks and we have no idea what he wants. So though I would take him and take pictures of things he wanted like I did with Noah. It was a bit less successful than Noah's.



Aaron and the jack in the box he wouldn't put down for 20 minutes









2. Apple Orchard with grandparents

I warned you the pictures were coming...

After church on Sunday, we drove about an hour northwest to an orchard that we hadn't been to before. We didn't tell the boys that Steve's parents would be there too. They were very excited to see them waiting when they got out of the car. The visit was PACKED with activities...





feeding the goats










Noah on his pony ride


















Aaron picks apples










they both loved the big tube slide















especially climbing up on top
















They even got mommy down the slide















wagon ride to the pumpkin patch...I love this smile on Noah's face








there were a ton of other activities too, but #2 got a little long

1. Tackle that will take several days (or weeks) to finish.

I won't share any pictures yet, but after six years of living in a REALLY yucky kitchen, it is time to do something about it. So after I put the boys to bed Sunday night, I started the first wall of painting. It really is going to take quite awhile and I don't want to share pictures until the entire thing is done. So hopefully mid-October, there will be one heck of a Tackle It Tuesday post.

Believe it or not, this is just a smattering of pictures from this weekend. I actually downloaded over 100 shots (after erasing probably 50 more)

As always, I wish you would share your top five with me. I also wish I could finally learn (hint, hint...Deb) how to do a Mr. Linky for weekend posts like KC did. It is such a fun idea.

Happy Monday!

Weekend Top Five: 9/14/08

A wet, sticky weekend. What happened to make this weekend memorable...good or bad?

Let me share...

5. Truck Woes

I called Steve to ask him to stop and pick up some "scoops" chips on the way home to go with the taco salad for dinner. About 30 seconds after I got off the phone, he called back to say that his back window had just EXPLODED. As he was driving down the road, it just shattered. He can't see anything that hit it. So after several calls to window places, the estimate to replace it is more than the truck it worth. So for now, my husband will drive his truck around with a duct taped back window. And at some point this week, Steve will be visiting junk yards trying to find a back window that the neighbor can transfer to his truck. We are such icons of class...

We are thankful that the boys weren't in the truck when it happened.

4. Another adventuresome ride in the car

It seems to me that a few weekends ago, our trip to visit my brother and sister in law had one bullet JUST for the travel there. Well, here is a repeat performance but for different reasons.

Long story short...the next time there are FLOOD WARNINGS for an entire travel journey that we have planned, the better choice would probably be to heed the warnings and not travel the roads. Silly us. As we were driving, we would encounter various degrees of lack of visibility due to down pours of rain. Add on top of it, hydroplaning and you would think that would be the worst of the trip.

WRONG!

As we passed the Michigan border into Indiana, we noticed a slow down ahead... Then, cars turning around in the middle of the highway...then a stream of cars driving BACKWARDS toward us on the shoulder. HMM.... Let's turn on AM 530 to hear traffic conditions...

Oh yeah, the entire highway is shut down due to flooding.

So now comes time to do the same 180 in the middle of the highway that three other lanes of cars are also attempting and join the parade on the shoulder, drive off the nearest entrance ramp, and detour south to a different highway.

Notice the WRONG WAY sign we are about to pass as we travel UP the entrance ramp to get OFF the highway.





Then of course, discover that this highway is a toll road and we left the house with NO CASH! So now, it's stop at an ATM at a truck stop to acquire the $1.25 toll necessary to pass.

On the way home about 6 hours later, we were less surprised to see that the highway was still closed but now we knew the detour route and we were not even slightly phased.

3. Birthday Celebrations

Once we finally got there, the kids had fun even though it poured all day and they were stuck inside. My sister in law puts me to shame every year with the cakes she makes.

My nephew Ronin had his 1st Birthday. They have discovered that he has several allergies so Jenny found a gluten free, egg free, cake recipe and it was quite delicious. How cute is this dragon?











Ronin had NO desire to eat the cake whatsoever, so there will be a lack of chocolate all over the face first birthday pictures in his baby book.













The other guest of honor, my niece Kira, turned three. Her cake was just as impressive and I was glad that I got her a crown and wand to go with theme.










She played the part of the princess so well.


















2. A Costume party?

Noah started the madness coming into the living room wearing this, complete with the very loud roar. Although most of the kids got into it, there were two little daughters of my brother's friends that got so freaked out that they cried until the costumes went away.














Every few minutes, a different child came down wearing something else...

Kira the kitty cat


















Noah in an INFANT lion suit


















You truly can't get the full image here. Odin has a beast nose, knight armor on his arm, and a dragon tail.

















I guess the daddies were jealous and wanted to join in on the fun...

My brother with the mask inside out...


















and my adorable husband with the bunny ears.


















Who says we need to wait until Halloween to dress up and act silly?


And after an eventful Saturday, what do you do on a cold, wet Sunday when everyone is tired, grumpy and worn out?


1. Sunday Family Movie Afternoon

Although the humidity has subsided, it was still very wet and cold all day. Stuck inside again! Noah found a movie that had received from a bloggy friend awhile back that we hadn't watched yet. "Joseph Prince of Dreams". Everyone is so far behind in their sleep from the nine hours total in the car yesterday, that we enjoyed lounging around watching the movie together.

I will be interested to hear if anyone else's top five were affected by the weather this weekend as well. And my thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are returning home after Ike's destruction down south.

Weekend Top Five-8/23/08

What a weekend. We were originally supposed to go to Wisconsin this weekend for our annual trip to see my friend Beth and her two boys, Alex and Dylan. With gas prices what they are and a van that has questionable reliability, we figured a smaller trip would more appropriate. But I still wanted to do one more special thing with the boys before the summer was over.

So although it was difficult to pinpoint five highlights, here they are:

5. The trip itself: Not necessarily a "highlight" but definitely memorable. A normally three hour trip, extended closer to about six. Within the trip, a stop at the outlet mall in Indiana with a temp reading 92 degrees outside and not a single "bargain" to be had, Noah's first bloody nose right after Aaron finally falling asleep for a nap, who of course was no longer, thanks to Steve freaking out a little over what to do about all the blood, picking the different route to getting to the hotel and taking a side trip through the entrance to O'Hare including extra tolls of 80 cents apiece, and the final straw, getting to check in to find out that our reservation DIDN'T include the water park on site and it would be another $70. After throwing a minor temper tantrum in the lobby, I was able to finally able to get them to hand over the wristbands at no additional cost.

4. After finally getting there and eating dinner, we hit the water park in the hotel.

Even though going down the slide was fun for everyone...

Noah













Aaron

















Apparently it's more fun to see how many cousins can RAM into each other at the bottom before a lifeguard catches you and brings an end to the fun

Kira, Odin, Noah


















Noah also loved the huge tube slide




















and EVERYONE loved the lazy river










except for maybe Cousin Ronin, who had better things to do...
















3. My brother and sister in law are int the VERY beginning of the process of building a new house so another highlight of the weekend was to visit the dirt. This was the most talked about activity for the rest of the day. The land has two tiers and a big crevice splitting down the middle. After throwing rocks over the "canyon" for awhile, the fun game was to run and jump over the crevice.














2. How convenient that there is an ice cream place right near where the new house will be that NEEDED to be tested. (It passed the test)

Cousins Kira, Aaron, Noah, Cousins Odin













Look...a picture of mommy...wow















1. Time with family: My sister in law and I got some "quality" time in the hot tub in the pool after the kids were in bed with the daddies in our rooms and the kids got along so well the entire time.

Why is it that my oldest seems to enjoy being a "big brother" to other kids more than to his own little brother?"

Noah and Cousin Ronin


























And Aaron liked having the chance to act like one

Ronin and Aaron












So we were all sad when the fun had to come to an end after a brief dinner at our favorite restaurant (Noodles) but I am in great hope that this memory of the last hurrah of summer will carry into the stressful first weeks of school as we settle into routines of rushing around and figuring out a new pattern of life for awhile.

As always, I hope you will share with me your top five from the weekend.

Happy Monday.