Writing A Story

Happy Thanksgiving.

Not very mobile today, back is out, but trying to be creative, I am following up on an idea. Mead is an artist and storyteller so I thought that it might be fun to combine the two and make a cool book. She is drawing the pictures and I am supposed to write the words and we will just see what happens.

So we have a giant archive of videos and it is very labor intensive to produce them so I'm also experimenting a bit with digital storytelling so if we get anything I will post it up here.

A Cool Summer Picture From the Past!

Try to guess where this was taken!

Daddy and Isaac Day in Petoskey

Today we ventured out of the cabin in search of a day out and a few possible gifts. We departed shortly before noon; the sun was shining off the snow. Roads were clear and empty and we cruised into Indian River and noticed the car began to stall. Instantly I knew what to do. I pulled off at a roadside fruit stand, currently out of season. I popped the hood, and noticed a loose plug wire. I fidgeted and commented about it, quite negatively, but then rigged it up and we were back on the road again.

Soon we were rolling into Petoskey. I couldn’t find an auto parts store to save my life, and Kmart (yes there are still a few left!) had every type of auto part except sparks and plugs. Typical Sunday, anything having to do with cars is closed. Great changing station in the bathroom!

Soon we pulled into downtown. It was desolate compared to a summer Sunday, which was nice. The warm weather offerered no wind, snow, or ice. We popped into a few shops; I was looking for something for Karrie since telling her that I would bring her something home. We found nothing so we popped into the Roast and Toast which is a cool and funky coffee shop that also serves great sandwiches. Isaac was geeked, and I got him some soup and a vanilla steamer. He loved it, but soon was only interested in the toothpicks in my veggie sandwich. I was tempted to have a nice big Italian, but my heath has been marginal so I pushed toward the healthier option. Isaac, in the meantime, was waving and making friends with everyone from little girls to big ones.

Leaving there, we popped into a few more shops, notably a bookstore where I bought them an all ages card game. This later turned out to be a real show stopper. At the time, Isaac was also more interested in the Choo-Choo trains at Grandpa Shorters, and he was being so good in the store that I should probably take him back soon to get one.

We headed onward down the sidewalk, with him cruising along next to me. We had lots of fun, every place had great people, there was a local artists market where I think Karrie could sell some of her photos, and a consignment shop where they had a small play area that was just in time, if you know what I mean.

We had a nice time out, and it was an extremely notable day since I usually have both kids out, and it was also great since it reminded me of the early days before Isaac, where I would typically take Mead out and go just about anywhere.

Here We Go Again

Well after a great week at work Button, I-man, and myself jumped in the car with some help from mom and we went up north for a little vacation. It was not without some challenge, the I-man went on a 50 mile tirade where I thought he would simply fall asleep, but didn't. I was just trying to get there, but finally we stopped and that made all the difference. With two adults in the car it is usually easier to tell, but with just one, as I was, then you lack the benefit of shared decision making.

Well, here we are, and we are having a great time. It was a beautiful day on the lake and we walked on in under blue skies and warm weather, for up here! Here's to a week off!

Isaacs First Shower

Imagine this... I am traveling at over 70 miles an hour as I write this! An amazing experience to write while watching trees and snow zoom by!

This morning, we were up north and the girls went to church, which left dad and I at home with Isaac. We were watching Sunday Morning on CBS which is a great program, and it is very interesting that both of my dads like it. I especially like the moment of silence where they show a picture of a beautiful place and it is like a small TV meditation. Isaac spent a bit of time with the small wind up Choo-Choo. It has been around long before me, and it is a an elaboratively made music box, that has a small three car train that circles around a shack and under a bridge as the inner music box rings out the tune I've Been Working on the Railroad. Both kids could watch it go round and round for all time. I found it a good moment for me to get our stuff organized. Every two minutes or so I would have to walk over the the train shack and wind it up so he could watch it go around again, which was a nice punctuation for my activities.

After a while, I thought it would be nice to have and activity that he would be crazy about, and an easy one is to put him in the bath. So we got the water running, got a few cups, and got him in. He was having a great time pouring and Phoebe the dog even visited to sniff what was going on. I know it was risky to have him in the bath early in the morning, because he is known to have a movement in the morning. Well it wasn't too long before he did.

I'll spare you the details, but the upshot is that he got the opportunity for his first shower. He never wants to take a shower, buy after an accident in the bathtub it really is the best way. I got the hand held shower head and put it to low pressure, and asked him if he wanted to get his hands wet first. He did, and stuck them right out into the lazy streams of water. Next we got his toes and feet, and in seconds he was all the way in. When it was time to get out, after many minutes, he sat down and protested. Great!

New Year, New Business

What a great start to a new year! I have had lots of time with the kids ever since our new business has been picking up. We have started Wings and Roots Photography and we have been very busy doing family photography and also planning for some weddings. It is incredibly exciting, with everything else that is going on.

So what do I do with the kids? Any museum, coffee shop, or place to get out and walk or play is it. Our favorites are the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum, and then just about any other big place that you can get inside and walk around in the cold winter months.

Usually, we try to cut costs as much as possible by having a picnic. Since we bought a membership at the DIA we typically pack our lunch and head to the place that we call the castle. This is really funny because we talk about it quite a bit as we walk around, and get all kinds of funny looks from people who are wondering where the castle is. It really only exists to us, because we are the ones who named it that.