road trip #1-holland

dave left for vegas on wednesday morning, october 15th. so not to be out done, the boys, tina and i decided to take a trip of our own. we all loaded in the car and headed to holland. ok, so it was holland, michigan, but still.
fireflight was in town to play a smaller show at a church so we all went over since we haven't seen jessica and justin since the beginning of september.
mom was already there with rainah since don was in the hospital and jenn was staying with him. but a little before the show started jenn was able to get out for a bit and see the show with us.
during the entire sound check talan was rocking out by air drumming and head banging. he was amazing. for whatever reason i wasn't thinking and i never got it on tape...but jessica did get some video of it so maybe one day she can get it to me and i can post it.
we stood in the back when the show started but talan kept trying to run up front where there was a huge crowd of people. eventually i was able to find the perfect place for us...right up front and directly in front of justin. i held talan for the entire show and he barely moved. when justin is on stage he doesn't bother to dance, he simply stares at justin. when justin moves, talan's follows him.
at one point justin had his hands in the air clapping and apparently talan thought justin was waving to him so he stuck his little hand up and waved until justin finally saw him and gave a little wave back.
hayden always enjoys the show but not the way talan does. he watched for awhile and then started playing his video game. when he found us up front he did sit with us for awhile before heading back out to the lobby to find mom and jessica.
we ended up staying for awhile after the show was done and then finally put the boys in their pj's and headed out. we didn't get home until probably around 1am but hayden still managed to get up, ready and head to school the next morning. he even ended up getting a green light at school despite the lack of sleep!
it was great finally being able to see jessica and justin again (i think hayden was more excited to see dawn though...no offense guys!) and we were excited that we would get to see them once again on sunday.

talan saying "cheese" and waiting for the show to start:
jessica at her new job:
tina, hayden, rainah, jenn, mom and jessica (i have no idea where talan is):
jessica trying to keep talan quiet before the show by showing him a video of himself. it worked:

hayden, jessica and talan watching the show:
fireflight rocking holland:







there really was a much bigger line...i just waited to take the picture until the end:

please keep your hands inside the car at all times

so after a very busy and late saturday, we had to wake up nice and early on sunday morning to get the boys to mom and dad's house before 7am. once we dropped them off we then headed over to bobby and mallory's house so we could head off to cedar point.
unfortunately this year, jessica and justin couldn't make it since they are on tour. bobby was so bummed because justin was his screaming partner. so this year the group that headed out to sandusky ohio was dave, myself, tina, bobby and brianna flowers, mallory artman, katrina (bri's friend), mike gregg, jason and sonya artman.
we were supposed to be taking an excursion limo but i guess at the last minute we weren't able to get it. so we ended up taking our mini van and bobby's mustang. we were quite a pair.
after a quick trip to tim horton's we headed out a little later than planned but we still made great time. it's possible we just lost track of time since we were playing "name that monster ballad."
we got to cedar point just after 10am and hit up the rapture first. right after that, dave walked us to the blue streak thinking we were going somewhere else. so since we were there, we hoped on. it was on this, the second roller coaster of the day that i almost got kicked out of the park. right before we took off i took a picture of dave and mike sitting behind us. then on our way up the hill i took another picture, figuring i'd post this blog with all of the roller coasters to make jess and justin jealous. i also took a picture of me and teens. suddenly the car stopped as we were going up the hill. a few minutes later a dedicated employee came walking up and asked "did one of you have a camera out?" i fessed up (although i thought about blaming tina) and he told me to put it away. sorry for the delay, rest of the car!
we had a beautiful day as it was 80 degrees and sunny. it was actually a little too warm since we had to dress knowing the evening would be cool. but i'm not going to complain...it wasn't freezing or raining.
most of us ended up going on every roller coaster, just like last year. this year they were open until 10pm instead of 8pm so we were able to ride a couple of other rides in the dark which is always a fun experience. we saved pretty much all of the big ones for last. the longest we waited was about 2 hours for the maverick which is well worth the wait as that ride is amazing. we didn't ride it in the pitch dark, but it was dusk which was pretty cool. we did wait quite a bit for bobby, brianna and katrina to ride the skyhawk simply because someone puked on the turn before them so when it stopped they had to spend about 1/2 hour cleaning up that mess before letting them ride.
we even walked through a part of their haunted forest trying to get to a ride and it was pretty good. most of the time you couldn't even see the people before they jumped out at you. at one point i was walking arm in arm with tina and i told her and mike "i'm really not much of a haunted house person" and as soon as i finished that sentence some dude snorted in my ear. freaked me right out. later, after we were out of the haunted area, i tried the snorting thing on mallory and it worked just as good....if not better.
i have to say i was quite impressed with brianna and her friend as they went on EVERY single ride. katrina had never even been to cedar point and she was right there on the millennium force and dragster with us. next year i expect to see mallory and jessica on them as well!
after our dragster ride we had about 15 minutes before the park closed. bobby and brianna were still waiting in line for the first car on the dragster so dave, mike, mallory, katrina and i all made the hike over to the rapture so we could ride that one in the dark. it was well worth the shin splints.
we once again all had a blast and can't wait for next year when hopefully jessica and justin will be able to join us again.
until next year, poochigan!


bobby, jason, sonya, brianna, tina, katrina and mallory waiting for the rapture:
dave and mike, super excited for the blue streak:
the monster blue streak hill that apparently has top secret info on it so no cameras are allowed. i might be banned from cedar point just for posting this:
the last picture i took seconds before the ride stopped and we almost got kicked out:
as we were walking past the bumper cars we said "why didn't we do bumper cars last year? let's do this! they sucked. seriously. so lame:
mike, tina, sonya, jason, bobby, mallory, katrina, brianna and dave waiting for....MINE RIDE!!!!!!:
dave and i on the mouse trap or whatever that ride is called:
the ride that bobby, brianna and katrina waited a really long time for:


this picture was not being taken of bobby or mallory. it was taken of the guy in the red shirt with the glasses, super bad blonde mustache and, oh yeah, THAT HAIR:
more pictures of his hair because it was just that good:

dave's big plan was to get an ice cream treat and go ride around on the train for a bit. brianna was the only smart one in the bunch that asked "will they let us bring food on the train?" they didn't but by the time we got to the train we were done eating anyway. we road around the park two times checking out "boneville" it was scary.:
dave, bobby and mallory taking our leisurely train ride with the mantis behind them:
mallory and i thought bobby looked like a little kid:
the super cool trees while waiting in line for the maverick....NOT john mccain or sarah palin:

a trip to ortonville

after hayden's soccer game and banquet on saturday morning we all rushed back home to get ready for an afternoon in ortonville.
we headed out there to visit our wonderful friends, scott, susie, estella and samuel loudon, and to attend the grand opening of scott's recording studio, aashrum.
the weather was PERFECT and we were able to listen to music in the studio and then come outside to hang out with the kids all day long.
hayden and stelli have always played great together but on saturday i realized that she is possibly the best playmate he has ever had. they played together all day long with little to no incidents. samuel also tried keeping up with them, as did talan. later in the evening i realized that talan would harass samuel by taking a toy from him, running into a different room and them throw it and wait for samuel to pick it up. i have no idea where in the world talan would ever get such a thing from.....
after playing outside all day, we finally got sick of the mosquito's and we headed inside. susie ordered a pizza (and then another one a little later which had the BEST spicy sausage ever) and we all had dinner together. when the kids were done they went right back to running around.
at one point stelli asked if hayden could spend the nite, so we started planning a weekend that maybe we all could do just that. it's a bummer they live so far, but when we do see each other we have a great time.
we didn't end up leaving until probably around 9pm. the boys were both stinky and soaked with sweat. talan passed out pretty quickly in the car since he didn't even get a nap but hayden stayed up the whole drive home playing video games.
the main reason we went to the loudon's was for the aashrum grand opening. we have been around since the beginning of it all and it is amazing to see it all completed years later. the studio is GORGEOUS and i cannot say enough about it. i am not a musician, but i still wish i could record in this place. i am sure my words and even the pictures won't do it justice, but trust me...this is the coolest recording studio ever.
if you or anyone you knows is a musician that is looking to record, coll that you have accomplished. contact me and i'll get you scott's information. it would not just be a place to record, but a true experience.
congratulations, scott! the place is beautiful and we are so proud of a
thanks also for allowing us to hang all day long. it seriously was the most relaxing, fun saturday that we have had in a long time...if not ever. we can't wait to see you guys again soon! we love you!

aashrum recording studio:



















playing outside:



a good 'ol fashioned game of roof ball:

let the games continue inside: