Grammy's little helper (s) !!!

My little bumblebee...and queen bee...and the hive!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!  We had an especially warm and beautiful day, all the trick and treaters, big and small enjoyed it!!  I LOVED my purple hair - maybe I should consider that color!!  :-)

A few more pics...

I missed a few pics from the post below...of course, the littlest family member was there as well...dressed in her party clothes!  She had a fun time watching all the kids and laughing!  Grampa Dan was loving having her there!  And yes, that's Stephan you see there...we were so excited that Jessie and Stephan came, it was wonderful to see them and Jessie has now moved closer to us on the Farmington Hills/Novi border...so we plan to see her more often! Jessie's boyfriend and his friend also came, nice to meet them as well!!

Sarah and Jessie and Grandma C. with old Moka...he still loves his pets from Grandma!

Grandpa and James...

The beer pong champions - San Marie and Jenny.  San Marie came from Austin with Justin, it was great to meet her!

Surprise!!

Jenny threw Aaron a surprise birthday party the night after his birthday.  Jenny had this planned for at least 6 weeks and we all had a lot of fun sneaking around behind Aaron's back. There were lots of laughs, emails, phone calls, and smiles as we helped Jenny to get this planned.

On the day of the party (last Friday...) Dan and James took Aaron golfing...mind you it was raining, but that's what we had planned so that's what they did...in the rain...and Aaron never caught on.  Aaron is so into golf, that he would go out in the snow if someone suggested it!!

They came home around 7P and we were all in the basement...James and Dan were trying to get Aaron into the basement to play ping pong and we could hear the whole conversation down there...it was hilarious!  I'm surprised Aaron didn't hear all of the snickers!  So, after going to the bathroom (yes, we could hear that too!) and changing out of his wet pants...he finally came down.  He was in total surprise!  He had no clue that any of this was going on...it's so nice to plan something like this and really surprise them!!!

Aaron as he came down the steps and saw lights and friends and family!

Aaron and Jenny - Jenny even dressed the part of a german frauline - Gretchen we called her...the theme of the party was Oktoberfest!  You looked great Jenny and we all loved the costume!!

Beer pong quickly took over...it was fun to watch - obviously some of these kids have had a lot of practice at this  :-)    Nick and Jeff trying to become the champions!

Justin and Aaron - Justin had just flown in from Austin the night before - it was so great to have him here and have him at the party!  We love you Justin!!!!

We decorated the basement to try to bring out the Oktoberfest theme...thanks to Sarah for pushing us into doing up the basement...we had hoped to have the party outside, but with the rain, the basement was our backup...it really looked great!

Kegs of beer in the corner...we had more beer than we could possible drink - but they gave it a good try of course!

Our poster on the wall had an uncanny resemblance to Uncle Dave!  We all got a kick out of how much they looked alike!  Dave just needed a green hat and a feather!

Jenny and her Mom - Mary...Jenny and Mary made most of the food...I helped out with the chili, but it was all so good!!

The original plan was to have bonfires in the backyard...and Dan made these special burning barrels at work...with the rain, we had to switch to plan B in the basement...but we still lit up the burning barrels, they were so cool!

Visiting with family in friends upstairs...

Eating and chatting...fun times!

This was about 3AM - all tuckered out...

Thanks Jenny - it was a GREAT PARTY and Aaron loved it!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!

Aaron turned 27 on October 23rd - my baby - I can't believe it!!  Where does time go??  We celebrated by going to the Rochester Brewery - a local microbrewery that the guys all love.  We took in his gifts and cake - tried to embarrass him as much as we could  :-)  Oh yah, the singing comes at the end of this blog!!  

He opened his gifts...somehow I missed alot of those pics but got these colorful goggles from Jenny!  I think this is so she can keep track of him on the mountain  :-)

Willa is into bread these days!  Her food selection is expanding daily!!  In the restaurant, we give her anything to keep her amused!

Which is why she ended up in the middle of the table, playing with just about anything and everything!  She's not the center of attention at all...  ;-)

Aaron's birthday cake...death by chocolate...looks weird, but tasted great!!  VERY rich!!

Willa got ice cream with her meal...Daddy got her some hot fudge to go on top of it...

and hmmm...look who's eating it!!  We'll cut her some slack since she's eating for two!!

Willa got chocolate on everyone...check out Jenny's sleeve!

Willa, Aaron and Jenny...Willa would not keep her bow in her hair...she just pulls it out constantly!

Happy Birthday Aar!!

Our LA Adventure!!

First of all, let me apologize right now for so many pictures!!  But, we had such a great time, I had a hard time choosing and limiting the pictures to put out here!!

Let me just say that I would have had a great time visiting Joel and my Dad on my own, but having Joye meet me in Phoenix and going with me to LA was the icing on the cake!!  We are so alike that it is sometimes scary - of course there are little things like peanuts or plain  - where we differ...which keeps it all so very interesting  :-)

This is us waiting in the Phoenix airport for our flight to Burbank - can you guess which one is from MI and which one from AZ?

Arriving at Joels' we took advantage of the beautiful weather and sat outside for a while and just chatted.

This is the boardwalk out in front of Joel's house...a great place for my Dad to ride his bike and people watch.  It is used frequently by family's, kids, runners, walkers, riders...you get the picture!

It's 4 miles in length and Dad rides the whole length most every day!  His legs are getting so much stronger, it's a wonderful thing!!

Friday AM, Joel got us up at the crack of dawn to go hiking with him...now y'all know Joel - "oh, this is a really easy walk...nothing to it..."  yah, like I was tired before we even got to the entrance.  We parked at his friends house (Ben Affleck's old house...very cool!)  and walked there - all up hill...and his friend informed us on the way that this IS NOT an easy walk...oh great - I was really worried now!!

We bought some water over to the left, I was thinking I was REALLY going to need it!!

The entrance to the walk...I think Joye looks a little worried too  :-)

Ok, the views were spectacular...we had to take a lot of pics just to get a rest  ;-)  Hope they didn't catch on to us!

See the Hollywood sign way over there? (click on the pic to make it bigger...)  We were about even with it when we go to the top!!  Impressive huh?  Ok, well, I was impressed...no mountains to hike in MI!!

These are a little out of order, but this is walking down, you can see Joel, Byron and his dog Louie in front of us...

Joye walking down, she sure does look happy on the way down!  ;-)

This is at the top, no big deal for Joel and Byron - Joye and I were jumping up and down high fiving!!

After the walk we went shopping at the new Americana outdoor mall...I forgot my camera, so Joye has pictures of that...

Then we had strict orders to be back at 3:30p - mind you that gave us like 1 hour to shop - Dad said that Dan was paying him to keep us out of the stores!!

So, at 3:30 we headed out to Casa Vega - word of warning - when Joel mentions Casa Vega - head the other way!!  The margaritas are TROUBLE!!!!  We all had our fair share and then some!  3:30 for happy hour turned into a number of hours, eating and drinking and then we went to a Comedy Show that one of Joel's buddies was in.  It was a late night, especially for the Michigander ;-)

Happy Joye and happy Joel!

What spot - I don't have a spot on my shirt....!?!?

Yum, goooood Margaritas!

Me, Joye and Raul - Sarah's friendly waiter from when she lived in LA.  He always asks about her and wished her and her family the best!

Joel drove us by Sarah's old apartment...we were driving just about over the spot where Joel got hit by a car when they lived together...long story, but we all got a good laugh once again talking about it!

The next day we got up and made breakfast for the guys and then headed out shopping...I have these a little out of order, but oh well...

Joye modeling UGGs at Nordies!

This definitely needs some explaining...we were trying on some jeans, when I got locked out of my room...and of course rather than get the gal to open our door, Joye decided to crawl under the wall and open mine.  We started laughing so hard...I think the whole dressing room was laughing...I'm sure they thought we were nuts!  Anyway she did the job...and got me back in before anyone caught us...of course, our lady walked back in soon after and we were still laughing so we had to fess up!  She pretty much acted like no one has ever done that before...leave it to us!

Midway between rooms - reaching for my door handle - what a sis!

We just liked this church with the breast cancer ribbon...I think it turned out to be Lutheran!

Driving around - Sunset Blvd...

Hollywood!

Melrose - spent some time here shopping too...

Fred Segal!!  With a big sale going on!!!  We were all over that!

That night Joye and I made a spaghetti dinner for Dad and Joel...with plenty to spare for the freezer!  Joel was going to be in his 1st bike race the next morning, so he requested lots of carbs!  No problemo!!

Let's just say that cooking in a bachelor pad is a bit challenging...but we did it and managed to pull off a pretty good meal!  Dad is still enjoying the extra sauce we left him!

Joel's first bike race!!  Exciting?  Yes!  Getting up at 3AM, not compatible with life!!!!  But, yes, that's when he got us up...we had to drive down to Long Beach and avoid any traffic jams to get Joel ready and pumped up for this ride.  We were his entourage...I held his bike (I called myself his bike caddy...) and Dad and Joye held his clothes and shoes when he changed...it was COLD...that early in the morning!!

Here's the starting line!

Joel, dressed and ready!

Final touches...

Last minute bike adjustments!

Ready to go!!  And they were off!!!  4000 bikers!!!!  Joye and I are renting a tandem next year and will participate with him!!  (Yah, that will happen...)

The finish line, yes, it was still dark...but we waited - die hard Joel fans that we are, in the cold and dark to watch him come across the finish line.

Here's Gramps...waiting...good thing he had his sitting walker!

I'm filling Dan in on all the details...it was 3 hours later where he was in Maryland.

They had to quickly dismount after they went across the finish line...

And here's Joel!  4000 bike riders and he came across in the FIRST TWENTY!!  We were so impressed - WAY TO GO JOEL!!!!!    He was shocked too  :-)

Joel with his medal...

Dad with Joel's medal   ;-)

Joel putting the moves on some girl, until he found out she was married  ;-)

He was waiting in line here for his massage - nice!

We took up residence in the beer tent...what a beautiful day!

Like Father - like Son

We wore our bracelets proudly, and ended up splitting a beer, only because someone gave it to us for free!

The balloon/cotton candy man - made us all laugh on the way home...I think we were overtired!

Trying to catch a few zzzzzz's - didn't last long and we were on the move again...

Out to try out Dad's new trike!

Here's Dad - showing us how it's done!

Last night - back out to dinner at a local Burbank pub - ate outdoors, very nice!  Best burger I've ever had!!

Joye drank her dinner - not really - jk!!

It was a GREAT weekend!!  I can't believe all that we did, totally beautiful weather the whole time!!  Thanks all for a fun time!!

I'll leave you with a video of the 'Peace Sista'