Honoring Grandpa Clair

For the 2nd time in 4 weeks we had to say goodbye to a beloved grandparent... Unfortunately, Josh and Abby were not able to make it back for the funeral so Grandma asked us to record part of it to be sure they'd get a chance to see it.

Grandma said that it was always Grandpa's wish to have a military service... below is a video of the presentation of the flag with the gun salute and taps.

Baptism

Today was my baptism! The baptismal heater was broken so the water was quite brisk to say the least!!

A trip to Disney.... Again. =)

Mmmm good... My brat and kraut in Germany - it's a must every visit


Cinderella Castle - so pretty


I love the toy soldiers

The rain had got the best of us - so we went a little crazy

Oh yea... the hot light was on at Krispy Kreme!

This is just a taste of how packed it was after the big parade and fireworks at the Magic Kingdom - Crazy!!

The Castle is so beautiful when its covered with lights...It was a bit chilly this night.

We were fortunate enough to get to hear Steven Curtis Chapman tell the Christmas story during the Candlelight Processional at Epcot

Merry Christmas from Minnie!

The Osbourne Lights

The big cheese Mickey Mouse at Fantasmic

As always we had a wonderful trip down to my second home...it was a little chilly, but lots of fun. Another great mother daughter trip!

Recent stuff....

Here Daisy is anxiously waiting for Matt to get done with hanging the ornaments so that she can start rearranging them! If you see our tree in person - you'll note that the bottom is quite void of ornaments!


Mike just loves family time - especially pictures!


Dad carving up the birds... One from the oven and one fried!

The boys hard at work on our fried turkey

Just for Greg....

Greg, this post is just for you...it's a video from Hollywood Studios...the Osborne Spectacle of Lights...The Dancing Lights... sorry I missed it when they danced to TSO!

Vacation Pics to Follow!!

No...No...NO

That seems to be the just of our vocabulary since our new arrival entered our house. A more appropriate name for her would have been Chomper... lets say she's like a shark and explores with her mouth! She hasn't chewed up anything - just a bite and run kinda girl. That aside we can't wait to rush home at the end of the day to see this sweetie. Here are a couple of pics of my family on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Newest Member of the Family!

We decided to adopt... another coon dog. We'd like to introduce everyone to Daisy, the newest member of our family. Grandma Pam and Grandma Joyce are so thrilled that they have a new granddoggie. We don't want any of you to be fighting over who gets to keep her when we go away. Her big brother Eddie is just a little bit jealous. He won't even stay in the same room with her... and when we put them together he won't even look at her.

Even better....

So to continue on our story from our plane ride home from vacation.....today I recieved a letter from NWA/Delta - apologizing for the disruption of our scheduled flights and as a show of good standing/customer service - Delta has deposited 10,000 miles into my frequent flier account! Ha! Funny thing is only I got a letter...Matt didn't. (maybe his is in the mail??) Even funnier is they didn't disrupt OUR flight - we got on it at the last minute! duh!

Back from Vacation!!

We had a great time down in sunny, hot florida! Of course we didn't want to fly back to Ohio today - but to make it a little more easy to swallow - check out this story.... We got to the airport way ahead of time (couldn't think of anything else to do) when we did the check in at the kiosk NWA said our flight was over sold and looking for volunteers and so starts the glimmer in my eye of stretching out our vacation another day. We decided to wait until we got to our gate and talk to a NWA rep to find out exactly the terms of the bump, compensation and all that. When we got to our gate area we noticed a flight bound for Detroit leaving in 10 minutes and also about that time happened to hear an announcement that if anyone is in the terminal early for flight 429 (our flight) that there is a plane getting ready to depart with plenty of seats available, so Matt went up to the counter to inquire about getting on that flight. In less then 5 minutes we were handed two new boarding passes (exit row seats all to ourselves) and then the rep said " Oh yeah and here are your 2 vouchers for $300 each for taking a bump on your original flight" - Matt and I looked and each other and high fived it saying "SCORE!!" So NWA paid us $600 to get home 2 hours earlier and to enjoy exit row seating!! Gotta love that ;-)

So here are some pics from our trip!



Waiting to ride Toy Story Mania for the 4th time!


My two favorites guys!



Waiting for Toy Story Mania Again!

Bekah - we know you love kissing pics ;-)

Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios - my fav!

What a crew

You really made it your own....


An $8 sundae - but oh so good to the last spoonful!

Trick or Treat

Ready for a fun night!

Spooky....

Magic Kingdom Hallowishes Fireworks

Yes, those are our trick or treat bags full of candy!!

ps... to all our Buckeye Friends.... still Buckeyes...but.... Oh yes its great to be a Florida Gator!

Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?

To commit suicide apparently... it must have been depressed.

We rode the motorcycle up to "Harold's Place" in Brooklyn, Michigan for breakfast yesterday morning.

We weren't on the road for more than 2 miles when a rooster darted across the road right into the front tire of my bike. Feathers exploded everywhere and the bird went spinning off to the side.

Kurt and Alice were right behind me and he thought I hit a big stick...

Quick Trip to Chicago

Chris spent the weekend with us and in celebration of his last weekend of summer -before school starts - we decided to surprise him with a last minute overnight trip to Chicago. We picked up Matt from work and headed west Friday night and spent the night outside of the city. On Saturday we got up and headed into the city for the day. We couldn't have asked for better weather - it was actually a tad chilly. Of course we had to have lunch at our favorite pizzeria! We also set off on a journey to find Super Dawg Drive In -which was featured on the Food Channel's Top 10 Best Hot Dog Places...

Looky, Looky... Mikey is 40!

Our little Bootros is 40 today... here are some of our favorite photos of him (fortunately for him, the scanner is broke or we would have been able to post some of his famous Tim McGraw mullet shots.


Do we really need a caption for this one? Nice belly shirt dude.


Stylin' on a motorcycle trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway.


Refusing to smile (surprised?) in a photo with his lovely bride, Kara.


Yeah, I can feel the love here. Don't look so thrilled Mike.


Sweet work attire.

A dent in the lobster population....

We just got back from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine (Acadia National Park)... all unpacked, stuff put away, and laundry in the wash - so its time to kick back in the recliner! We had a great time out East despite the rainy, foggy, and chilly weather. We also did our very best to put a hurtin' on the lobster population. Enjoy the pics below!