Fishers Ren Faire

It was 91 degrees on October 6th when we went to the Renaissance festival. We were very hot and uncomfortable, but didn't want to miss a thing. The costumes were fantastic and we loved watching the combat reinactment. Here are a few pictures of the day. http://www.fishersrenfaire.com/

"The Giant"

Nick, Nate, Gael and I took a tour of "The Giant" on Saturday. A 7,000 square foot house, designed by Vic Cook, which costs less than $1/dollar a day to run, yet it contains a high-tech music studio, big-screen television, two computers, washing machine and a homemade Beeche log refrigerator. He built the home himself in the early 1980s for about $3500. He uses just one solar panel to harness the energy to run the electronics in this home and he designed a rain water collection system to provide his running water. Check out the link for more information http://www.giantearthship.com/thegiant.htm

Picture of the boys crossing Fall Creek while we waited for the start of the tour.

Beautiful fungus covered log we saw on the hike to "The Giant"

Nick as Pyramid Head from Silent Hill the Movie

Nick and I made this costume together. I think it turned out awesome.

Lahiana Town

Banyan tree in Lahiana. Believe it or not this is just one tree. It is a big as a city block.



Us on Front Street. Lahiana was the closest town to our resort. We came here several times for dinner and souvenir shopping.

View to the island of Lanai.

Luau at the Hyatt

Nakalele Blowhole

Small wave coming through the blowhole.

Bigger wave coming through the blowhole.

Rainbow at the blowhole.

Deppert's getting drenched by the blowhole.

Mouth of the blowhole.

Ocean by the blowhole.

La Parouse Bay

The water camera is gone so it is a good thing I brought a back up! Here are some pictures that I took at LaParouse Bay. This is a lava rock shore line.

High Speed Rafting in Maui pt. 2

After our excursion to the Kanaio Coast Lava Caves, we had several opportunities to snorkel on the trip. Our first spot was known for it's turtle activity and we did see 2 or 3 from a distance. The reef was nice and we saw several types of fish. Next we rafted out to Molokini Crater and snorkeled the inside and outside part of the Bird Sancuary Island. We saw a shark, several eels and more fish. It was starting to rain and the water was choppy so we zoomed over to a sunny reef in front in Wailea. This time we saw a very friendly turtle. He kept swimming right towards me. I floated there waiting for him to swim away and then I starting to back out of his way, but I think wanted to kiss me.

Here is a picture of Molokini and a sea turtle.

High Speed Rafting in Maui

On Monday we went on a high speed raft across the bottom of Maui to see the Lava Caves. This is a part of the island that you cannot drive to, you can only see by boat and it is a part of the ocean that is very rough, we were the only boat out there. It was like white water rafting EXTREME! We would hit a 10 ft wave and fly through the air, crash back down just in time to hit the next wave. It was a ton of fun, but be are very sore today. It took a lot of muscle power to just stay in the boat. The Lava wall was very cool. I was about 40 feet tall. We were able to back the boat into one cave and wait for a big wave to wash us out. I would love to show you a the 50 pictures that I took, but unfortunately I lost my camera a little bit later that day on a dive on the back side of Molokini. Here is a picture a grabbed off of the rafting website. We were really here!

Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix

It feels like we have been waiting forever for this film to come out. It is a family tradition to see it on opening night. But not this time! We waited 3 days, so that we could see it in IMAX 3D. It was AWESOME. The huge screen makes you feel so emotionally connected and involved in the action. Now we can't wait for the book to come out next week!

Cedar Point Trip

June 20-22, 2007

Three days at Cedar Point! It was AWESOME!

We decided that Millennium Force was our favorite ride. Although, the newest ride Maverick was breathtaking.

Top thrill dragster has the most impressive statistics, but it was only 17 seconds long.
Oh yeah, 17 seconds of non-stop screaming!

The newest coasters are truly like riding on a rocket. Shooooom -- zero to 120 mph in 3 seconds. Imagine Wile E. Coyote sitting on an ACME rocket with a lit match in hand -- only with seat belts and lap bars.

We listened to Pet Semitary by Stephen King in the car on the way. (That's how he spells it) It was actors performing an abridgement. We had fun making fun of their sub-par performances while waiting in the ride lines. (whispery & squeaky) " Oh my god, Oh my god, no, no "

We also played Go Fish and Bloody Knuckles. The lines weren't too bad except for the Maverick; it was 1 1/2 hours each time we rode.

Oh yeah, we got to ride all the great rides 3 times. (head bobbing with pride of how cool we are)

Nick and Nate took home dog tags with their names engraved on them for souvenirs.

Quinton & Chandler's Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun at the party. The weather was perfect. I wish I would have brought the dogs, they would have loved the hike. Too bad Troy and Nate had work and school obligations.

Click to play a slideshow of pictures of the party.

My favorite picture of the day.

Our Celebrity Look-Alikes

Nate's school orchestra had a performance last Wednesday night, I'm amazed at how well they sound. They teamed up with the Jr. High Orchestra for the last song, which was the theme from Pirate's of the Caribbean. Their next performance is in May. I left the camera at home so no pics of the event, but I did add some fun celebrity look-alike collages on the bottom of this post.

Troy and I volunteered for the Church at the Crossing's Parent's night out for special needs kids and their siblings on Friday night. They do this program every other month and it was partially funded by a grant from Autism Advocates of Indiana.

On Saturday, we picked up Troy's bike from the shop. They had screwed up when they filled the oil in the fall, apparently new roadstars require substantially less oil than traditionally would be used. We're glad it was an easy fix, but Troy was not too happy that it was 34 degrees when he rode it home.

Saturday night we went to the Tip Top Tavern to watch Crackhead Patty. One of the gals that I work with is the guitarist. They were really good and had a great variety of songs. We hung out with a bunch of other work friends and had a great time.

CELEBRITY LOOK-ALIKES BELOW







Note: Nick asked me to remove his. He's not happy that he happens to look like a lot of really beautiful women.

My New Riding Leather

Look what I got at the bike shop today. A new riding coat.
Extra padding, air vents, zipper pockets. I love it!

First Ride of the Season

It was over 60 degrees last night! So we got out the bikes. They were slow to start but eventually fired up. We took 'em down to get some fresh gas and then took the boys out to dinner. Troy's bike was smoking a little, so we are going to take it in today to get it checked out. We are hoping it is a side effect of the repair work he had done over the winter.

My bike is running perfectly, of course!

I don't have any recent bike photos so here is a picture of us at Universal Studios on the motorcycle from the movie Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

NIck's Play

Nick was in a play tonight at church. His character got the best line, the lesson line. "Watch what you say and do, so people will trust you." His character was supposed to purchase a gift with the money that all of the kids collected, but instead he bought a cheaper version and spent the rest of the money on movies. In the end, he asked for an advance on his allowance so he could purchase the correct gift. He wanted his friends to trust him again. He was going to have to do a lot of extra chores around the house to pay his mom back.



Nick worked really hard to memorize his lines. Pops, Gael and Bill came to watch the play and have dinner with us. Look how handsome Nick is on stage!

Midland Hockey Tournament

In January, Dad and Patti flew back to Michigan from North Carolina. Patti had a hockey tournament and she got to meet her new granddaughter Zoey. Troy, the boys and I headed up to visit and for some hotel fun.

We visited with a lot of my family in Michigan. Davin came up from Detroit and we all went out with the team to a Karaoke bar to celebrate Dad's birthday (a little early). I also spent some time with my friend Chris and her 3 little ones swimming and bowling. We had our first snow storm while we were up there, just in time to drive home.

It was a pretty exciting trip with the all of the people, entertainment, snow - oh and did I tell you we got locked out of our hotel room?

The battery went dead on the card key opener of the door. So we were sitting in the hall way, in our lounge wear (just came back from the hotel breakfast) for over a half hour. There was so much snow, that all of their crew was out plowing. It turned out that the maintenance guy had to go out the patio of the room next to ours, scale around a wall to our patio and then literally break into our room.

How scary is that?
A. The Icy Climbing thing.
B. He was able to break into our room in about 3 minutes.

Over all it was a Great Weekend.

Nick & Austin

Nick was recently reunited with his best friend from preschool. We went bowling and played games in the arcade. Here is a picture of the boys together . . . they are both so tall.

Snow Day

Here is our snowman. We built him with the first round of snow a few weeks back. We got the snowman parts in a kit for Christmas. I just love that carrot nose. This snow is nothing compared to what we have now. If you look at the front porch in the picture, we now have snow up past it. Oh, and that snowman . . . he only lasted 5 minutes before Nick tackled him, picked up his head and smashed it to the ground. We were looking for snowman parts for weeks! Boys.

BIG! Hawaii

Troy and I are going to Hawaii! Maui to be precise. We have our flight, hotel, and car booked. C o n v e r t i b l e!

We leave July 28th for 10 days. Uncle Bill is going to stay with the kids.

Links to some of the things we have planned:

Ka'anapali Beach Hotel
Water Fall Excursion
Haleakala Skyline Tour
Catamaran to Lanai

We would love to hear any tips or recommendations you may have!

BIG! Violin Gold

A few weeks ago Nate played violin in front of a judge and earned a Gold Medal!
We are so incredibly proud of him. He's pretty proud too!

Welcome!

I admit it. I never call. Well maybe when something big happens, but it usually has to be something really BIG. So, since I'm not planning on having anymore babies, getting a new job, or buying a new house, you probably won't be answering any calls from me for a while.

However, little things should be acknowledged and shared, too. So, I've decided to start updating this website with the stuff that happens to us - big, medium and small.