The last day I took Keira to Pre-School 6/2

For the second to last day of Pre-School they had a "Donuts with Dad" gathering. All the Dads came in and we sat on the tiny chairs and enjoyed some milk and donuts with our kids. Mrs Fran read story about sitting on your Dad's shoulders to us. After the snack we were invited to play with them and have the kids show us their favorite things to do at school. As Keira walked me around and gave me a tour it hit me. "I'm not going to bring her to this classroom ever again". Just when Christie and I got used to her being in Pre-School it's time for more change to take place, and then more changes after that. It's both a sad and a happy moment. Before I left I managed to pull off what I think is a great shot of her and her best friend at school Emma.

Ferris Bueller was right "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. "

OPERATION PIXIE DUST

Coming this fall Exclusively to the XboX 360.

Keira's Pre-School Graduation 5/28/09

Keira had her gradation ceremony today from Pre-School. She's been attending Jack & Jill Nursery School since September of 08. It's amazing what she's been learning and how social she's become in the last several months. She has a few more classes and will be out in early June for Summer. She'll be attending Kindergarten at Patton Elementary school around the corner from our house this fall. Here's a shot of her today with her teacher Mrs. Fran and her school picture from earlier this year along with a brief video. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend - Pool Vid 5/24/09

Here's a clip of Keira in her new little pool.

Memorial Day Weekend 5/24/09

Well after spending most of yesterday setting the pool up we finally took a little dip today. Although it being 70 out and since we don't have a solar cover yet the water was just a bit on the cool side. Still I got some great shots while it lasted. Hope your Memorial Day finds you in good health and having fun.

Motor City Comic Con 2009 - 5/16/09

So a couple of weeks ago we took Keira out to Novi (the city where I work about 30 miles away) for Free Comic Book Day 09. The main reason (not just for the free comic books) was for her to see one of my co-workers in costume. You see last June I interviewed a guy for an opening we had in our engineering department. At the end of the interview I learned he was a member of the 501st legion. A Star Wars costuming group which dresses up as characters from the Empire and raises money for charity. Needless to say I hired him!

So after that day she's been asking when she's going to see Clone Troopers again, and Darth Vader etc. Enter the Motor City Comic Con. An annual convention here in the Detroit area, basically heaven on earth if you are a comic book and or anime geek (in my case, both). We attended on Saturday and Keira was amazed at all the people in costumes. Not just 501st members but all walks of fan. She wanted her picture taken with just about all of them and we spent a better part of the time stalking storm troopers as all she wanted to do was follow them around. A short while after we got there Keira got her face painted and wanted Queen Amidala's face paint job from Episode I because "that's Cali Girls Mommy" she tells us.

We were able to hang out quite a bit with the 501st and Keira won a prize in their "Droid Hunt" game. She also got to meet one of the artists that illustrates Dora the Explorer books, so we got her a couple of new ones and he illustrated custom drawings in each book for her. Her first celebrity encounter!
It was a great time and a great way to spend my Birthday. I couldn't ask for more.
The main collage is of Keira and all her new 501st friends. The lower image is my co-worker Jason in his newest costume, "Wild Weasel" the Cobra Rattler Pilot from the old G.I. Joe toys.

Keira hanging out with Fraser's Finest

Every now and then Uncle John likes to give the neighbors something to gossip about by rolling up in the driveway with the police lights flashing and the sirens blazing while I'm mowing the lawn. This past Friday was one of those days. This time though I asked Christie to grab the camera and we got a couple of great shots. Thanks Uncle John! Stay safe out there Law Dog!

Yay Spring is here! 5/3/09

So it's been a while since I gave the blog some love. These are some shots from earlier this month. See it can get above freezing here in Michigan :) This is Keira enjoying her new princess bike and showing off her art skills with the sidewalk chalks.

Keira's 1st Shark's Game 3/28/09

After Nolan's Birthday party we took Keira to her 1st ever NHL game. First sporting event for that matter. Of course it would be a Shark's game! They faced off against the Phoenix Coyotes and won the game 3-2. Keira was really into it in the 1st period, but with no scoring she got bored quickly. By the 2nd period she fell asleep as 4 goals were scored, 2 by each team. Somehow she managed to sleep right through it. I think she had fun, just the time change set in from flying in the afternoon before. It was fun seeing all of our friends from the row behind us and teaching Keira how to do a proper chomp on the power play.

Nolan's 2nd Birthday - 3/28/09

This past Saturday we were fortunate enough to get some time off of work to fly into California and celebrate Nolan's 2nd Birthday! We had really great weather this year and were able to take advantage of it. His theme was Cars and I must give credit to my Sister and Jeff as they went all out with the decor and the cake! Great food as well!

Keira's 5th Birthday - 3/10/09

Hard to believe 5 years have gone by already, but they have. Keira celebrated her 5th Birthday on the 10th of March. We had both sides of the family over for celebrations. This year her theme of choice was Bolt. Complete with a bolt cake and decorations and a wonderful banner by her talented dad and his friends at PPC :) Among the gifts she got her first big power wheels car which mom & dad can't wait to get upstairs and out of the basement as soon as the warm weather arrives!

Whole Foods Santa Cruz Now Open!

I'm proud to report that the Whole Foods Market in Santa Cruz, CA had it's grand opening yesterday morning. While I was not in attendance I will be checking out the store in our visit at the end of the month. As many of you know this project has been ongoing for sometime. I originally started work on it in 2007. Many changes and new ideas later here we are. If you find yourself heading over 17 go checkout the work we did on the store! Also, many thanks to all the support you have shown.

The store is at:

911 Soquel Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Events: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/santacruz/storecalendar.php

The BACON EXPLOSION!

Do you like Bacon? I mean REALLY like Bacon?? Then check this out!

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html

My daughter the rock star...

If you've never witnessed it in person Keira loves to dance! If there is a song on TV or on the radio that she likes she'll stop anything she's doing and start dancing. One of her favorite songs still is a short clip they play on Boomerang. Boomerang is a sister station to Cartoon Network that plays all of the old cartoons that we grew up with Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry etc. The clip is a newer piece of animation that I think is great! It's a version of the Josie & The Pussycats (or Josies & the Pussycats as Keira calls them) theme song where they travel through music history, the song changes with each era of music. The top vid is Keira dancing to it with her favorite guitar, the lower is the actual television clip. Give em both a spin!

Growing fast...

I haven't updated this collage since 2005. I figured I blow the dust off of this little project and update it. My Grandpa Rudy had sent this Christmas decoration to us back in 2004. When I got it put together it worked out that Keira was sitting next to it so I took a picture. Almost every year since I have been taking her picture next to this decor every Christmas. For some reason I missed 2006. I think my Grandpa would've liked seeing Keira next to it every year, so I'm going to do my best to continue to take this shot. We'll see how it goes. Any way here it is updated with the 2008 photo going back to 2004.