Grandma Wendy Visit

Last week my mom came for a visit with Blake and Ashlynn. It was their spring break and we were happy to have them for a visit. I just feel bad because I couldn't take any time off of work and the kids were in school so they had to find stuff to do on their own during the day. It was still good to see them for a week and I know that our kids loved having their cousins around to play with.


Grandma Wendy with Payton.


The grand kids minus Payton. She was not in a picture taking mood that morning and we were not going to fight with her to get in the picture.


We were lucky that the weather was so nice and the kids could spend most of the time outdoors. The trampoline, basketball hoop and water hose got a lot of good use last week. Here is Maddux clamping down the defense on Ashlynn.


The kids were very creative in turning these storage bins into miniature pools. The water was extremely cold but the kids didn't seem to mind getting in. Look at those muscles. Maddux has free tickets to the gun show if anybody is interested.

In addition to all the playing outside Blake and Ashlynn got to go to the Great Lakes Science Center as well as the Natural History Museum. I think they were a little bored with them but we tried to make up for it on Saturday when Grandma Wendy and I took all the kids (minus Payton) to the IX Indoor Amusement Park for a whole day of roller coaster riding and games. It was a long day and the kids were spent by the time we got home but we all had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the day.


Dad and Nolan on the giant indoor ferris wheel. Nolan and Ashlynn were the only kids who were brave enough to get on.


Here are Nolan and Ashlynn enjoying the ride. They really liked it when the ferris wheel went above the roof and was actually outside.


Here are the boys on the spinning bears. I use to be able to ride those all day long but now I will limit myself on the number of spinning rides I go on.


Brooklyn and Ashlynn getting ready to spin around and around and around.


Blake and Maddux on the twirling dragons. This is one of the two spinning rides that I actually did go on. It was mainly so I could get some good action pictures. You can tell by the look on Maddux's face that he is having a blast.


Maddux was very hesitant to get on his first ride but once he did he was ready to go on anything. This is about the third adult ride that he went on and I was very surprised that he went. This was the inverter and was a ride that swung you to the top upside down. There was one point when we hung upside down for about 10 seconds before the ride came down. I felt bad for Ashlynn who really wanted to go on the ride but was about 1/2 inch to short and the guy wouldn't budge. Maddux had a lot of fun and had no issues with this ride at all. It is funny because he is so hesitant to go on the rides but after he actually gets on the first ride that is all he wants to do the rest of the day.


Maddux and Ashlynn going on a caged ride that you can spin around and around in circles. I didn't think they would actually cause the cage to spin around but that was all that they did.


Here are Blake and Brooklyn waiting for the kiddie rides. They had zero interest in going on any of these adult rides and had to just sit and wait them out. I felt bad for Nolan because he wanted to go onto all of these rides but was too short. The two people who wanted to go on all the rides, Nolan and Ashlynn, were the two who couldn't go because of their height and the two tallest, Brooklyn and Blake, wanted nothing to do with these rides.


This was the ride that started it all for Maddux. Once he went on this he wanted to go over and over again and then wasn't afraid of anything. I was actually surprised that Brooklyn actually went on this one. I love Nolan's look while on this ride. He had his arms raised the whole time he rode this and most other rides. He is a true roller coasterer.


Here is everybody getting ready for take off. Notice that Nolan's arms are raised and ready to go.


They had a live tiger show which the kids really enjoyed. Well I should say all but Nolan. He fell asleep about 2 minutes into the show and slept on my shoulder for the next 20 minutes. I guess he just needed that power cat nap to get his second wind. This is a white tiger standing on her hind legs with arms folded.


This was Maddux and Nolan performing in the backyard circus as a lion and a tiger. They got to play dead and then jump through a hoop.


Brooklyn and Maddux feeding a baby goat. They had this huge petting zoo where you could fee some goats, sheep and cows.


Nolan feeding a sheep. He was hesitant at first but had no problem after the first bite.


Brooklyn, Maddux, Blake and Nolan on the caterpillar roller coaster. Ashlynn wanted nothing to do with this as it was "boring".


Brooklyn, Maddux and Nolan racing down the giant slide. As you can see Maddux won quite easily. I also think that he might have gotten a little bit of a jump on the other two.


Brooklyn's reflection in a mirror on the carousel.


Blake riding the carousel and you can see Maddux's reflection in the mirror.


Brooklyn riding her horse.


This was one of the last rides that we went on and one that I hope I never have to go on again. The only reason I went on was because they weren't going to let Nolan on without an adult and I couldn't break his heart. I barely fit into the seat and it was very herky-jerky.

Well we all had a lot of fun with Grandma Wendy and the kids and just wish that we didn't live so far away. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and already miss them. We thank them for coming and hope that they has as much fun as we did.

This is Why You Don't Mess With Maddux

If you think Nolan looks bad you should see the other guy. This is what happens when you mess with Maddux. Nolan and Maddux were jumping on the trampoline when all of a sudden Jennie heard Nolan crying and holding his head. She didn't think too much of it until a couple minutes later when he was still crying. When she saw his face this is what it looked like. He had a bump the side of an egg on his eyebrow. His whole eye was almost swollen shut. I can't believe that it didn't cut him as hard as he hit. That kid has the hardest head.


A view from another angle. The pictured don't do the size justice. I couldn't believe how big that bump was. The funny thing is when I got home and noticed it I thought he had just woken up. When I got closer I noticed that his eye was huge. It didn't seem to bother him too much until I asked him if he wanted to see what it looked like. As soon as he saw his eye in the mirror he started to cry. I think he actually scared himself.


This is about 3 days later. The eye was still swollen and had started to turn a little purple. Never mind the scratches on his neck. He had a rough run in with a tree.


Here is Nolan 6 days later. The swollen was gone but the eye colored up quite nice.


If the eye and scratches weren't enough Nolan decided to take on Maddux one more time. Once again he lost that battle and ended up splitting his bottom lip open. They somehow knocked heads again with Nolan taking the worst of it. Why not add fat lip to a swollen eye and neck scratches. I am just glad that he didn't have a doctors appointment at all during this time because someone would have thought that Jennie and I were beating him. It is amazing how much punishment he took in a week and still just keeps going on. He is one tough kid. However, as big as Nolan is it will only be a mater of time before the roles are reversed and he is the one dishing out the bumps and bruises.

An Action Packed Weekend

Well we had a very fun filled weekend this past weekend and started with a trip to the Cleveland Auto Show Thursday night. Four of the Cleveland Cavalier's were there signing autographs and one was Anderson Varejao. He has given Brooklyn a basketball twice during CAV's games when she got to go onto the court. I have wanted to get it signed since that time and figured this would probably be the best bet. They were only signing autographs for 2 hours so I wanted to get there early to make sure we had a chance. We showed up an hour early to make sure we got a decent spot in line and would be assured an autograph. It was a good thing we did get there that early because the line was already 250 deep. We got very lucky as they closed the line down about 10 people after us. We ended up waiting in line for 3 hours in order to get four autographs (JJ Hickson, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker and Varejao). The kids did a great job at hanging in there for 3 hours and I was very proud of them. It isn't easy for a 6 and 7 year old to stand in line for 3 hours without much to do and they were troopers the whole night. We then ended up getting a couple pictures with the kids in some of their favorite cars. It was a long but very fun night for all. Above are the kids in a new Jeep. I think they just liked the fact that there were no doors and surfboards on top.


These next pictures are for Grandpa Beard. Here is Maddux hanging out in a 2011 Cherry Red Convertible Corvette.


Brooklyn in the same car.


This was Maddux's favorite vehicle there. A huge Ford pickup truck. I love the look and combined with the mohawk make Maddux look like one tough dude.


Brooklyn with her favorite car. I think she just liked it because it was pink. We had to settle for this picture as they would not let people sit inside.

Here are a couple of close-ups of the CAV's players. Due to the number of people in line they were not allowing people to take pictures with the players. I was hoping to get Varejao and Brooklyn in a picture but had to settle for close-ups of just the players.


JJ Hickson -- I was disappointed in his attitude as he seemed like he really didn't want to be there. He wasn't talking to anyone and rarely looked up at the fans. A guy was sitting next to him and would slide the stuff for him to sign. I would think that he would be a little more personable than he was.


Jamario Moon -- He was very friendly and took the time to talk to the kids. He commented on Maddux's mohawk and said that he really liked the style.


Anthony Parker -- Also very nice. He called Maddux his littlest fan. Parker and Moon were very good with the kids as they were talking and interacting with everyone that came through.


Anderson Varejao -- This is Brooklyn's guy. She has received two balls from him during the game and he is pretty easy to spot due to his long hair. I don't know if she actually knows his name but instead calls him by his nickname "The Wild Thing." He as also very nice and took the time to talk to the kids.

Then on Friday night I took Brooklyn to the CAV's game. Maddux had already been to 2 so it was time for Brooklyn's second game. As always we started the night by having Brooklyn go down onto the court and take pictures during warmups. If you ever go to a game you need to make sure that you take a child with you. They are magnets for extra fun stuff. I think every time I have taken Brooklyn and Maddux to a game they have been selected to do something at the game. Whether it is being a ball kid and getting a basketball, to going on the court to take pictures and shoot free throws, or having our seat upgraded we have always been selected to do something. You just have to make sure that you get there way early. It works out because it also gives the kids time to get their face painted, hair colored and grab something to eat during the game. It also happened to be CAV's snuggie night. Every person in attendance recieved a snuggie blanket. The goal was to set the World Record for most people in one place wearing a snuggie blanket. Needless to say Brooklyn and I are now part of a Guiness World Record. Brooklyn's pictures from that night are in the process of being developed so you will have to settle for the ones I got back at the house.


Here are the kids with their foam fingers from the CAV's game. Brooklyn really wanted to get one so I had to get one each for the boys to make sure their were no fights.


Here is Brooklyn and me in our snuggies.


As you can see I didn't have the snuggie for very long. Maddux has taken it over and now is its rightful owner.

I am hoping to have some of Brooklyn's pictures posted by this weekend. I am just waiting to get them back from WalMart to see how she viewed the game. It is always interesting to see what they take pictures of and watch during the game. You never know what you are going to get. Stay tuned for those.

On Saturday Maddux had a birthday party at Pump It Up and then Jennie took Brooklyn and Maddux to see Alice In Wonderland. They had a really good time and enjoyed the movie. I just think it was good for Jennie to get out and have some fun with the kids. She doesn't get to get out with them that much so I am sure she had a good time. Well as you can see we had a lot going on as there was no shortage in fun. I love being able to go out and do fun things with the kids and probably have more fun than they do. I just hope that they will remember some of these times.

A Winter Wonderland

With all the snow that we have received over the last couple of weeks the kids have had plenty of time to sled and play out in the snow. I think they are outside every day when I get home from work. They obviously don't get that from Jennie as she usually wants nothing to do with playing in the snow. On a couple of different occasions we have received in excess of 12 inches which makes for a lot of fun. Here are some various pictures of them having a blast in the snow.


Here is Brooklyn and Maddux running thru the snow. I am just glad that the older kids don't mind letting Nolan hang around them.


Maddux leaping into a snow bank.


It didn't take Maddux long to realize that jumping off the car into the snow bank was a lot funner than just jumping into it.


Maddux making snow angels in the front yard.


Brooklyn and her snow angel skills.


Nolan trying to eat the snow. Just look at the smile on his face. He is having the time of his life.


Maddux throwing snowballs at everyone. This is a perfect shot of snowball in mid flight.


Nolan just playing in the snow.


Brooklyn just waiting for the fun to begin.