Adventures with a Poodle & Baby

It's been a Very busy summer

Around these parts we've been coming and going here and there and everywhere. Jacob's been in soccer and in swim classes. Sam's been getting more mobil, but not yet crawling. This next week we'll be taking a week long vacation, so maybe we'll have some time to blog a little more about what's been happening.

Jacob on Vacation

Jacob had a great time on our family vacation to New York and Penn.

Niagara Video

Video footage and photos from our trip to Niagara Falls, USA.

Camping Trip

Yes, we went camping for the first time with Jacob a week ago. We were in a tent, in a very hot Jellystone Campground south of Grand Haven on US31. The best part was that they had 2 pools, a 6" deep one that we spent a lot of time in with the kids.
By kids I mean that we went with our good friends Cliff & Teri Burrows and their two - Emma and Joshua. Emma is five weeks older than Jacob and the two are good friends. The three of them played around the campsite and kept going in the road with their ride along cars.
We also enjoyed going into Grand Haven to a giant play structure and then again to the beach in the evening.
Lots of bug bites, hot weather, I was sick, but other than that the kids had fun and we had s'mores and a pool - what more can you ask for.

Day 5 - Sunday

Sunday we drove to Quebec City which is 2-1/2 to 3 hours from where we are staying. We thought it was a great city, even though we only saw the Old Quebec. The old (or Vieux) section of each of these cities is sort of a code word for tourist center. We had lunch at L 'Omelette where I was able to enjoy a 6" pizza and Karen had an omelette.
We walked around the fort and the wall that didn't protect the city from the English invasion. It was a nice time and we bought a street vendor's painting that we'll put in Jacob's room.
In the evening we came home and took a nice long walk around the area and bought ice cream at a local store. We got caught up on last week's Lost episode - which wasn't available on ABC's website from Canada so we had to hunt around the internet to find it.
Now we're coming home and looking forward to seeing Jacob soon.

Montreal Photos

Highlight photos from the trip.

 

Day 4 - Saturday

Our fourth day on the streets of Montreal went so much better than the preceding days. Our legs and feet finally feel like they are getting broken in. Also, Karen wore her tennis shoes for the first time - they had been drying out from a washing the previous days.
We started out with a brief 5 minute phone call to Jacob and Grandpa Phil. Jacob was just waking up and didn't talk much. Phil said he was at one point hiding his head in the pillow and then smiling and then cover his face with his hands. We hung up the phone at the house and ran to catch the train. We are about 3 minutes from the train and have been getting worse about cutting it too close to catch the train.
We first went back to the Mount Royal street which had nice shops and were we spotted a good toy to bring home for Jacob. After we picked that up (in our ever present backpack) we were off to the museums.
The day was spent in the Old Montreal section, there are enough museums in this area to make a day of it. There's also lots of tourist shopping, cafes, street artist and galleries. It a really nice place to spend a day, we highly recommend it over our craziness from the previous days. We went to Château Ramezay Museum (5) which was a governor's house - it wasn't that great for the house itself but had good info on the history of the city. They had a nice garden that would be really nice when flowers are in bloom.
From there we went to Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum (7) which had a church and museum about a woman who worked with the poor of the area and had a sailor's chapel. It was interesting and had good views from the tower.
We tried for the next one, Sir-George-Étienne-Cartier National Historic Site of Canada, (6) but it was closed for the season. So we wandered down Notre Dame street towards the Notre Dame Basilica where Celine Dion got married. We stopped at a cafe at the corner by the church and had a yummy lunch of Panini and Crepes.
After passing through the street artists and looking in some shops for our magnet collection, we arrived at Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History (4). We went up in the tower and took more photos while waiting for the intro movie to start. It was the first theater setting we've been in for the whole trip - they had headphones with a switch for the language of choice. Then we had a guided tour underground to see the archeological discoveries of buildings that used to be on the site and the site across the road (which used to be a river and then a sewer and now a road). This was our favorite museum of the trip and is especially good with a tour guide. We were with some others from South Bend, IN and Beverly Hills, MI. There were lots of english speakers that we encountered on this day.
Then due to a lack of planning we got to the train station minutes after a train left and we had to wait an hour. The bad news was we had only 20 minutes to be a home between the drop off and pick up of the next train to get back to the city in time for dinner. The schedule on the weekend is much more limited than during the week. The metro also felt a little less often, but still never more than 7 minutes.
We had dinner at a French restaurant and didn't realize the menu was bilingual. Mostly because were it said "Apetizers" on one side was labelled "Entrees" on the other side. We didn't know those were the same thing. Anyway, we made it through that and had some really delicious food. It was a small place that only had 2 seating for the night, so everyone got there together (within a half hour) and ate at the same time. The 2 waitresses were really moving fast to serve everyone at the same time and the chef and his helpers could be seen preparing our food really close to us.

Today - we're off to Quebec. We half expect it to be a ghost town since not many places are open on Sunday and everything is only open from 10-6 around here. We'll see.

Montreal - Day 1 Photos

More photos from our first day.

Montreal - Day 1

Yesterday was Monday. We left home at 8:40am and arrived at the home of Melissa and Tennessee in Grand Moulin (northern suburb of Montreal) at 7:40pm. We had a nice day of driving, except I kept falling asleep until Karen drove in the afternoon and I got to nap. We made great time with little traffic and nice sunny skies all day.

Melissa and Tennessee are getting married in Portland, OR and we are staying at their home and taking care of the cat. We met them and got an orientation at their home and then headed into the city to find Jenny. Jenny is the sister of Karen's step-father Phil. She lives on the 2nd floor apartment up an outside winding stairway. It's a nice urban apartment with communal clothes lines out the rear balcony. She gaves us the low-down on what to see, eat, and how to interact with French-speakers.

This morning we woke up at her place and then wandered around Mount Royal street and bought some pastries and bread. Then we headed out to our house-sitting job and got settled in. We had lunch, read emails, etc and then back into the city via train. We walked all around the Old Montreal area, both before and after dinner. We ate at a Poutine restaurant. Karen had the Pounte Matty (w/ Bacon, Green Pepper and Onion) and I had the Poutine Elvis (w/ ground beef, mushrooms and green pepper). It was interesting trying to figure out if other people were paying at the table or at the front and if they were leaving a tip at the table or not.

Now were back at the house and exhausted - watching Moonstruck.

Now for some photos:
  This is Jenny's neighborhood.

The white house down by the lake is where we are staying.

Jacob's First Christmas Program

We're in Traverse City visiting the family this week. On Sunday morning we were approached at church about the possibility of Jacob filling in for the role of Toddler-Jesus in that evening's Christmas program. We were a little reluctant due to his less than stellar performance at Laura's wedding. But the time on stage was really low, no speaking parts and no real concern if he messed up. So we went for it.

We met at the church a half hour before show time, and he was to get in his costume. He didn't really go for it, wanted it taken off. But after a while he had other issues when we introduced him to "Mary" and he was really shy. We started having some success with the High-Five, but it wasn't enough.

So we sat near the front for the beginning of the program and during the 3rd song, we went back stage to await our big entrance. We sat with "Mary" and "Joseph" in a little room off-stage.
When it was time to go, Jacob was interested in getting out of the room and seeing what the "angels" were doing playing around on the stage. After about 3 seconds he was ready for Daddy and started heading back. I tried to hide behind a big Christmas tree on the stage to help him out. By then it was time for their next song and I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be in it. So I crouched down to hide behind the kids at the front of the stage and held him on my knee. Then we took off and went to go sit with Mommy back in the auditorium pews and watched the rest.

We figure it's probably good to introduce him to these roles early and in little increments. He should be ready for the big time in 10 years.

Here's a shot we took afterward for a record of the evening.

Marlon and Laura's Wedding

Jacob has been in training all year for his big day to walk down the aisle. Karen had him practicing with the ring bearer pillow at home march up and down the hall. When the big day came it was at Aunt Laura's wedding in Asheville, North Carolina. He had been in a 10+ hour car ride getting down there and staying at a strange house with mom and dad and two sets of grandparents, but no Laura. To say the least he was a little mixed up about things.
Then the day of the wedding Karen was off to do the girl stuff - beauty parlors and such. Dad was left with getting Jacob dressed. He was a little reluctant with the clip on bow tie, but felt pretty good about the outfit because he looked a lot like daddy.
At the wedding, Jacob stayed in the back with Grandma (Nana) Nancy. Dad and Grandma D walked down the aisle, then all the girls. Finally Jacob and his new friend Ellie walked down the aisle together - sort of. Jacob decided after a couple of rows to set the pillow down. He was walking really slow and Grandma Nancy had to tell him to go to Daddy. Finally Ellie put her arm around him and helped him down the rest of the way until he neared the front. When he saw his Dad standing at the front he ran the rest of the way and got swooped up into Daddy's arms.
As soon as the "Who gives this woman" part was over, Jacob was whisked away by Grandma Nana for a brief nap in the parking lot before the reception fun began.

Biltmore Tour

On Thursday, the day before rehearsal day, Karen and I went to the Biltmore Estate along with my Aunt Connie and George. The house was familiar to me, we had been there as a family when we were younger. It was Karen's first time and she was really impressed by the huge mansion but not too surprised since we've been to the summer cottages in Newport for our 1 year anniversary.

Along with the regular house tour (no photos please) we also had lunch in the horse stables and then a guided behind the scenes Rooftop Tour. This tour took us through areas of guestrooms on the second and third floor that were not open on the regular public tour. Some of the rooms were in need of restoration and others were storage rooms. A single room housed bed frames, rugs, bed pans, and Mr. Vanderbilt's samuri armor. On the fourth floor we saw more servants rooms and this lead to the roof access. We came out on the roof over the grand staircase and were shown the elevator over-run, and other fun features in the stone carvings of the house.

Airshow photos

Planes at the airshow

Jacob and elephant are sifting sand

Jacob and grandparents watching planes

Jacob's First Fireworks

We arrived at the beach shortly after 7pm to watch an early airshow - regular ones are Sat and Sun afternoon. The planes didn't start flying for about an hour later. Jacob played in the sand with his elephant, tiger and lion. He ran around our chairs and had a fun time. When the Blue Angels started flying over, he grabbed Grandpa Dillenbeck to protect him - they were loud.
Finally the fireworks followed around 10:15. Normally Jacob goes to bed at 9:00, so it was pretty late for the little guy. He liked the lights and sometimes covered his eyes when they were bright. A lot of "ohhs" and pointing at the lights.
Well he fell asleep in the car ride home, of course and now he's sleeping sounding in bed.

Drive Time

According to MapQuest, the drive to work in Ann Arbor is only 2.66 miles further and 7 minutes longer from Woodhaven (which MapQuest thinks the house is in Trenton) than it is from Dearborn.

Christmas Came Anyway

So despite the overall depressed mood we had from Papa's death, we still had Christmas. Fortunately we were able to celebrate with Papa a week early due to other family plans.
Saturday in TC we went to the model train show, where Jacob was getting fairly interested in watching the trains. There were a lot of buttons to push to make the buildings and settings around the train do things like lighting up.
Sunday night after an evening Christmas concert at our parents church we opened our gifts with them. Then Monday we drove home and talked funeral plans with Karen's mom and brother.
Christmas morning came and we opened gifts at our home, with just Jacob, Karen and I.
We went to her dad's in the afternoon where we opened gifts with Dad and Chris and her brother Mark.
Then we all went over to the extended Williams family where we got even more gifts.
In all, Jacob made out like a bandit. He got the fridge farm, a great peg board, some nice scooters that had a lot of busy things on them, cars, a pop-up fire truck to play in, clothes, a busy ball popper, a popper vacuum and probably a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. Well we came home that night and started the process of separating out toys that he doesn't play with anymore so that our house won't be so over-run with toys.

Photo from Christmas with the Williams:

Cruise Photos

Jacob on the beach in Cozumel.

What's the plan? The gang looks for shopping at Grand Cayman.

Karen holding a turtle.

Tom and Karen on the way back to the ship in Grand Cayman.

Monkey on a lease - Tom and Jacob waiting to be picked up in Miami.

On-Board Adventures

On the cruise there were a variety of things that we did for fun.
Here's some highlights:
Murder Mystery Dinner - While Jacob was in the care of Mom and Phil, we met with 150 other people and grouped into tables of 8 for dinner. We were each assigned a role, given background info and things to ask and reveal during the dinner. We had a great time meeting others on the boat and doing a non-kid activity.
70s Musical Tribute and Cirque Bijou - Performance at the theater on the boat by a dance company.
Second City - Comedy improve and skits, some related to the cruise - one of the best events for Tom.
Ballroom dance lessons - taught by a couple from the dance company - we learned the Cha Cha.
Pool - we took Jacob in the pool on our days at sea.
Under 2 Zoo - 3 days we were able to make it to this play room for Jacob to play with toys for his age group. There was often only 1 or 2 other kids there with us.
On-board shopping - for Karen.
In-room movies - we saved a lot on movie rentals from all the great movies we watched on our little TV in our room.

On Shore - Cozumel & Cayman

Tuesday we were in Cozumel and Wednesday we were in Cayman.

Cozumel is a Mexican island, just off the coast of the mainland. Cruise passengers could take a ferry to the mainland if they wanted to. We took Jacob with us to Cozumel to do some shopping in the morning and then to a beach in the afternoon. Our cruise was docked at the pier from 7AM to 4PM. Shopping there was a lot like shopping in other Mexican locations I've been too. A lot "Hey guys, we got what you're looking for in here" "Hey guys, check out this stuff" the new one was "Hey guys, free gift for you in here". Karen prepared for this shopping trip by attending a lecture on the boat from our "shopping representative" Dominica. So we went to a Tanzanite store and they tried to sell us some big jewels. Karen asked for the special $5 offer she heard about on the ship and then also had a coupon for a free gold bracelet. We got out of there quick since we felt like some cheapo tourists not wanting to spend $800 of a pair of earrings.

We took a taxi to a beach. That was $15 each way. Our aunt and uncle suggested ordering room service in the morning to get sandwiches from the boat for our day trip. When we arrived at the "free beach" they questioned the contents of our cooler to make sure we had no drinks. They had a bar/restaurant there and some shops. The beach was really nice, lots of small crushed shells in the sand. At first Jacob was reluctant to touch the sand. But like most things, that didn't last long. He was quickly scooping up sand in his shovel and pouring it into his bucket - sort of. He also enjoyed the waves coming up on the sand. He would crawl to were the water was coming and wait for it to splash up on his hands. Sometimes it got in his face and he would spit it out and keep going.

Jacob fell asleep in the taxi on the way back to the boat. But by the time we were to our room he didn't nap much longer. Trying to get a consistent nap and eating schedule for him has been the most difficult part about the trip. We can do it pretty good when we're at sea, but on the days at shore, it's tough.

Yesterday we were in the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman to be exact. We went shopping with Mom and Phil, ate lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, and then parted company for our excursions. Karen and I went by ourselves for a bus tour of the island which included a drive-by of the governor's mansion, a stop in the town of Hell and 30 minute walking tour at a turtle farm. The bus dropped us off at a boat dock were we board a glass-bottom boat. We saw tropical fish and some ship-wrecks through the bottom of the boat.

Jacob went off with Mom and Phil to another tour which included Stingrays. We'll have more detail about that later. Pictures to follow when we arrive home. Today's special internet rate is only .40 cents per minute for 30 minutes. Now to check my online scrabble games...

On the boat (Monday)

So here we are aboard the Norwegian Jewel Cruise. We've begun doing a few fun activities.

Sunday we boarded and ate lunch with just about everyone at the same lunch buffet. That was crazy and the first difficult meal with Jacob. We were surprised to get a room with 2 beds and no crib, but we quickly rearranged the furniture to put the beds together and they brought out crib during the afternoon. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant last night. It  was a sit down meal, we got all the courses because the food is free. We did a little shopping before that and bought a watch, since we didn't want to be late to anything else after missing our tour of the boat.

We had an emergency drill at 3:30 in the afternoon, where everyone had to get their life vest on and meet in their assembly area. It was a good chance to see the main theater on the ship where 10 groups meet, including ours. We are on the 4th floor of the ship, the bottom level for guests. Nancy and Phil are on the fifth floor in a room that's the same. Karen and I joke about taking the stairs all the way down to stewage - "there's aren't many rats at all." Titanic references are fun.

This morning the best thing was going to the pool. Jacob freaked out at first. We sat in 1" deep water and he sat on my lap until he got comfortable. Eventually he was walking about and playing with other kids, or their toys more accurately. He even came in the deep part of the pool with me and then back to mom in the shallow part. I think he'll be a water baby by the end of the cruise.

He's also getting his first good nap of the trip right now. Karen's in the room with him, while I've stepped away to pay $.75 per minute at the internet cafe to right this post.

Tomorrow we go to Cozumel with Jacob while Nancy and Phil do their own thing. After that they'll take Jacob in the afternoon and Karen and I will go to a Murder Mystery dinner on board and have the night to ourselves. Wednesday we'll be in Grand Cayman.  More updates to come.