There and Back Again

The rest of our Michigan visit was fantastic....had a great time. Wednesday was a day for hanging out at the house, finding my long-lost 16mm Sorceror's Apprentice print, and a short jaunt to Lakeside Mall. Jonathan had to buy a teapot for Mom's birthday, and it had to cost $21.99. The one he saw before was no longer there, so we had to search each teapot until we found one at the right price. We stopped at the Disney Store and had a hard time getting out of there cuz they had so much cool stuff. Upon returning to the house, Yaya arrived and we had dinner (hot n' spicy tortilla soup), and then we set up the Christmas tree. Blake arrived with a dramatic entrance, knocking over a picture frame thingie which was left leaning against the door. Hung out, watched Family Guy, and that was Wednesday.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and viciously cold and snowy. We headed out to Nancy & Bill's house in Ann Arbor for dinner; it was great to see some of my cousins for the first time in 4 years! When we got back, Meighan stopped by for a visit and it was great to catch up. Gee how we've all grown!

Crazy crazy crazy man!


Friday we decorated the tree and did some window shopping in the Village. I found a farting dog toy that had me laughing so hard my eyes got puffy. I wasn't allowed to buy it. That's ok though, I went back the following day to videotape it, so I will be able to treasure it when I'm old, grey and farting. Anyway...

That night we also went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was quite enjoyable, although I enjoyed the Prisoner of Azkaban a little bit more. When we came out, there was a real kind of magic in the sky as a vast snowfall was sailing down, looking quite amazing in the streetlights. Every night around 10:30 or 11ish we had to have Dan take us through a drive-thru for a midnight snack cuz our stomachs were still on Pacific Time and dinner was like our lunch. We got to visit the Grosse Pointe KFC which was like the Monty Python Cheese Shop because they were out of food.

Saturday we got to go to Costco and harrass Dan at Krogers. I threw a pair of panty hose at him. We also drove around town a bit, bought some flowers for Mom, shopped some more, and watched the Family Guy movie with Dan. I like the pop culture references in the show, and the surreal humor, but sometimes it seems like a big Seth MacFarlane ego trip that goes on way too long. But decent entertainment when you're in the right state of mind.

And I finally got an Ipod! It was worth the wait. Dad transferred a bunch of the Cruisin' record series to mp3s for me, and so far I've been enjoying them tremendously, appeasing my latest obsession with nostalgic radio. The music back then was so great. So much more basic. It's neat to get a glimpse into how things were before my time, and imagine what the culture must have been like for my parents.


Sunday was Mom's birthday so we brought presents over, and went out to the Henry Ford Museum for the Disneyland exhibit. It was amazing being in the presence of original artwork by John Hench, Marc Davis, Mary Blair and others. I have a special fondness for the old classic Disneyland rides and animatronics. We met Jeff & Marie and Steve & Mary there and got to catch up with them briefly too. Fun fun fun! After that we went to Memphis Smoke for birthday dinner...holy crap, best food ever.

Monday was a long day of travelling, since our first Detroit-Chicago flight was delayed we missed our connecting flight and had to wait almost 6 hours for the next one to Vancouver. By this time it was dark and a very bumpy ride. They also didn't serve any food! I had $10 in my pocket which I purposely didn't spend so we'd have money to buy those little meal boxes on the plane, and then they didn't have them! On a friggin' 4-hour flight all they gave out was friggin' pretzels! Good thing I had bought a bag of chips and some Good n' Plentys, but even that wasn't enough to keep me happy. (Note to self: Good n' Plentys are great by themselves, but don't mix with Pepsi.) I was not impressed. At least Charlie & the Chocolate Factory was mildly entertaining enough to keep my mind off things for half the flight.

Thusly, we finally arrived home cold and hungry around midnight, so now we're back.
And now for something completely different....

We told Mom, Dad and Dan at the dinner table Saturday night, and the news is now spreading further to other family and friends. August is sure to be a busy month, as Mike just got engaged and he & Jo have set a date for Aug. 26. My book also comes out around the same time the baby does, so our theme for August 2006 is Book-Baby-Brother-Bride!

...and Blessed! Pray that all goes well, for an Earthling child can only be found beyond the boundaries of Fantasia...