Michael's posts with tag: family
 | the 4th | Jul 5, '08 4:08 PM
for everyone |
Friday was the 4th for everyone else. For us it was Philip's birthday party. #7 this year. The usual extended family on the wife's side was there and my mother. No one else from my side is invited and we only invite because we have too. The morning was setting up the back yard and garage; by 2 :15 just about everyone was here. I started the grill and did the cooking while Lisa kept the kids entertained. I stayed entertained with a large bottle of Coke Zero and 12 shots of rum. Not much of a party really just family eating and talking until 11:30. My mother did not move from the time she got here until she left. 9 hours without moving! We had to bring her food and pop. She just will not do anything for herself.
Saturday 6/7 – Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum Yes carrousel is spelled correct for this museum. This is nice place to check out. For a dollar you get to ride an original carousel From their site: | The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is located in the original Allan Herschell Company factory complex at 180 Thompson Street in North Tonawanda, New York. | | | The building, which is listed on both the New York State and National Registers of Historic Sites, is a series of seven interconnected structures which once housed all of the manufacturing components of the factory. The Allan Herschell Company shipped its first ride from this factory complex in 1916. The Museum: was opened to the public in July of 1983 operating the 1916 Allan Herschell carousel in the original roundhouse. Since 1988, the entire first floor has been open with exhibits and demonstrations that interpret the operation of the factory. | |
| Today, the Museum hosts approximately 15,000 visitors per year and offers a variety of programming. We have a paid staff of four, a dedicated active Board of Trustees, and many loyal volunteers | | who serve as carousel operators, gift shop clerks, admissions greeters and maintenance personnel, contributing greatly to our mission. Programs include: Woodcarving classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, classes for young people, a summer lecture series, and guided tours for groups of all ages. The museum exhibits the history and growth of the Herschell Companies, demonstrates carving, horse restoration and band organ roll production, and operates two antique carousels. We also host family entertainment several Sundays during the summer, with performances as diverse as youth theatre, interactive poetry, magic, music and puppetry. Special programs for young people include a Youth Volunteer Program which encourages youngsters ages 12 to 18 to experience the positive aspects of volunteering, and a Neighborhood Partners Program for local elementary school children which provides special free visits to the museum. The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum has become a focal center of cultural and recreational opportunities for local citizens as well as tourists visiting the Tonawandas. Adjacent to the site of the Museum, the City of North Tonawanda has developed a linear walking/bike trail along a two-block section of the former New York Central Railroad right-of- way. In addition to walking and biking, there is space for public events such as craft shows, band organ rallies and outdoor public performances.
This landscaped "Heritage Trail" connects the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum with the Railroad Museum site on Oliver Street. The trail continues, by means of signage, to the Riviera Theatre in downtown North Tonawanda and to the banks of the Erie Canal. |
Saturday 5/31 Buffalo Bisons game and Family Fun day – This will be its own blog. The Bisons are Buffalo’s AAA baseball affiliate. http://buffalo.bisons.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t422 This is not there best year but they still have time to come around. For the past few years they have sponsored the family fun day in conjunction with Western New York United. http://www.wnyunited.org/ WNY United is a drug prevention group in Buffalo. They have a group called Leaders in Training that Jimmy belongs to. I’ll blog more on that on the 6/5 update blog. The family fun day is a mini carnival fund raiser for the group. For $5 you get lunch and a ticket to the game. Philip got a free hat from New Era hats. http://www.neweracap.com/?country=1 There were a bunch of games and the usual Chinese auction* So we don’t even get to the entrance to the carnival when we hear people screaming Jimmy. The people in charge saw us – specifically Jimmy and called us over.  The group loves him. The Bisons, Sabres, and Bills all sent people down for autographs.   They had 2 bounce houses and 4 big blow up games.  Hawk Creek a local wildlife rehab place had some birds on display. http://www.hawkcreek.org/  They even had pony rides.  * Why is it a called a Chinese auction??? Really why???
On March 15 we went to the circus. Jimmy won 5 tickets from school so the 4 of us and Jimmy's Krystal went to see the show. It was at the Erie County Fair grounds for the weekend. It was a good show and snacks were a great price. candy and popcorn were $1. There were other things for more money and the usual toys. Philip got a light sword. I took over 100 picturs but I only put a couple on a slideshow.
  Last Friday the boys had off so I took a day off from work too. Philip want to see Dinosaurs so we went to the Buffalo Museum of Science. They have a section on dino’s that he loved; but he loved the new hands on weather station even more. Jimmy took a ton of pictures while we were there. After that we had a good lunch at Red Robin, it was Friday so I got the fish burger. It’s Lent you know. It was opening day for Dairy Queen in Buffalo. It was 24 degrees Fahrenheit. We went to DQ for dessert; Jimmy and I stood in line in the cold for 20 minutes to get the ice cream for everyone. Yes, there really was a line to get ice cream in the cold; there were 2 lines. At least it didn’t melt by the time we got to the car. It was the usual weekend stuff; shopping errands and the gym. Monday morning the main PC died. It would boot up and lock up. I’ve been wanting to re-image the boot drive for a while now I didn’t have a choice. Monday night I moved files using the laptop over the network. Tuesday morning I set it up to run the image. Tuesday night I was able to set up the internet, install IE7 and all the updates from 2004 when we bought the PC. The printers are installed and set up on the network and the PC is now usable again. Now I need to go through all the different programs that we were using on there and see what we actually need installed and install it. The anti virus needs to be updated along with the Ad Aware and other protection programs. It’s protected but I add extra stuff. All of that will take a week at the current rate I’m going. Tuesday Philip got his glasses. He looks like a short professor. I know I promised everyone some blog and they have been started. The kidnapping is almost done and would have been if it wasn’t for the PC. I’ve had many requests for the shooting blog. That is a long one and covers a couple of months to set up.
16 blogs in 3 days and still more to go. I’m working on a couple in Word and will be sending them out soon. So far it seems people want to know about the kidnapping more then anything else. Oh well that is one I’m working on. This weekend I’ve had a bad cough. Saturday morning I was up at 4:30 and tried sleeping on the couch so the wife could sleep. Sleeping sitting up helped but laying down was torture I did make it too the gym for an hour on Saturday but not Sunday. This coming week will be tough to get there. So this past week: On Tuesday Jimmy hurt his knee at Tae Kwon Do. It’s only a hyper extension but he’s still having pain. We stayed home Wednesday. Thursday was the usual I get to stay home for a little while when Lisa taught religion. Philip is one of her students and Jimmy helps out in class. Friday was the dinner so I skipped the gym. Saturday Jimmy took class but he had some pain. This sucks because he has a Level test for Tae Kwon Do on Wednesday at 7pm. If he passes he will be a 1st Dan level 2. That leaves at least 2 years until the next black belt test. Sunday was not pleasant with Jimmy. Girl trouble but that will be a different blog. Philip had a great time watching AFV this week. He couldn't stop laughing.
| Stuff | Oct 28, '07 4:59 PM
for everyone |
Not much going on here. Carved pumpkins today with the kids. I should have pictures up later. Sabres won 2 in a row. Bills are tied with the jets.
Had very little time to blog today. Right after work the family went to America's Fair. Also known as the Erie County fair to normal people. Here's the link http://www.americas-fair.com/index.php. We went today for 2 reasons. 1 it was cheap today. 2. Kurt Busch was signing autographs. The line to see him was huge. My future ex brother in law once removed was guarding Kurt's wife. (So he was watching Kurt's Busch.... Yes a very bad joke) But on the upside he got Jimmy a personnalized autograph. Philip walked around with mom while I stayed in line for 2 hours with Jimmy. We missed a lot this year but we still have a week.
Monday - Was Philip's last T-ball game. After the game all the kids got a medal for playing. Then we had a pizza party. The coach bought pizza, one partent gave hime some money for it, we brought little hugs to drink. No one else brought anything. For the past couple of games Jimmy has been helping out with the little kids on the team. He sets up the tee and helps with hemets. Tuesday. - As said before Philip's soccer team won again. They played a bigger team and still pulled it out. One thing I noticed about the games: our coach makes sure every kid gets about the same amount of playing time and everyone gets a water break. The other coaches call plays and yell a lot. Interesting. Our coach tells the team to have fun; they see to like kicking the ball into the net. Wednesday - the usual TKD for Jimmy. I went to the gym during his class. Thursday - Double class at TKD. Extra time at the gym. Both boys had back to school dr. visits that included shots. Glad I was at work for that. Friday - Double class again. More time at the gym. One of his friends got hurt in class. She landed on her ankle. She seemed ok but was going for x-rays just in case.
 Saturday: Philip had T-ball in the morning. We surprised the boys in the afternoon with a visit to Adventure Speedway. Spiderman was there at 3:00. Philip loves Spiderman. They have go carts, Jimmy has NASCAR on the brain and wanted to go on a go cart for weeks. So both boys got to do something at the same place. I took Phil on one ride so I couldn't get a picture of him in the car. He went on with his mom and I know she won't let me put one of the pictures up. So we have a pic of Jimmy in a go cart. Sunday: Nothing. Monday: Philip's birthday - he opened presents from us. Tuesday: Philip's Soccer game - it was our snack week so we took cupcakes and skippy cups. The guy that was supposed to bring drinks brought crackers for a snack. Wednesday: Philip's party that was supposed to be outside was moved inside because of the rain that wasn't supposed to happen until today. We got everything outside, then brought it all back inside. It worked out but we couldn't do the pinatta.
 Saturday: Philip had T-ball in the morning. We surprised the boys in the afternoon with a visit to Adventure Speedway. Spiderman was there at 3:00. Philip loves Spiderman. They have go carts, Jimmy has NASCAR on the brain and wanted to go on a go cart for weeks. So both boys got to do something at the same place. I took Phil on one ride so I couldn't get a picture of him in the car. He went on with his mom and I know she won't let me put one of the pictures up. So we have a pic of Jimmy in a go cart. Sunday: Nothing. Monday: Philip's birthday - he opened presents from us. Tuesday: Philip's Soccer game - it was our snack week so we took cupcakes and skippy cups. The guy that was supposed to bring drinks brought crackers for a snack. Wednesday: Philip's party that was supposed to be outside was moved inside because of the rain that wasn't supposed to happen until today. We got everything outside, then brought it all back inside. It worked out but we couldn't do the pinatta.
| Band | Jun 10, '07 12:01 AM
for everyone |
 My oldest has been in the band for years now. This past week the school had their annual Spring Concert. As usual he did good. He plays the Tenor Sax; that means he sits in the back during concerts. Finally I was able to get a picture. Philip is back to normal after the surgery. He's eating like before. He has T-ball Monday and soccer practice starts this week.
Way too much has been going on. Philip was sick last week and found out he needs his tonsils out. This week his mom took him for blood work twice. The first time the results said he may have thin blood so we have to wait and see if they will do the surgury. The surgury is scheduled for next Thursday. Tuesday I have jury duty. So that screws up work. Friday Jimmy decides to skip a class in school. Then he has an anxiety attack in school. He's suspended until Wednesday. Last night we went to a birthday part for a friends kid and we had Jimmy stay at grandma's instead of causing trouble there. Tonight is a college graduation party he is going to go to. Monday s the family picnic at my sister's in law. Of course the family likes to pick on him and cause issues. The next 2 weeks should be fun.
| Passed | Feb 17, '07 6:50 PM
for everyone |
Passed I spoke to Mr. McDowell today; Jimmy passed the 6 hour class. He has some things to work on but he will be maintenance testing this month then off to the next 6 hour class. He technicall does not need to take more maintenance tests but he wants to take the other to possible tests. Then, if he passes all of that, he can take the Black Belt test at the end of April. If all goes well starting in May he will start in the adult class with his poon belt. Then in August he can get the Black Belt.
| |
