Online Lite-Brite Fun

Those of you who grew up in the 80's like me can appreciate some quality time with a Lite-Brite. Now, you can do it anywhere and not worry about screwing up your picture with a wild color pin making a hole where you didn't want it.

I present... Online Lite-Brite!! Enjoy.

Here's my latest creation...

Morning Golf

Matt and I went out for 9 holes of golf at Sugar Creek GC. We tried to hit up Hawthorne Hills GC, but they had an event going on and we'd had to have waited about three hours. Nope.

It was a great time and only cost $15/person including cart. Nice!

Here was my shot on #6 off the tee. Pretty close to a hole-in-one! I ended up with a birdie.

Energy Drinks - dNeero Action

Big House Update!

Well, the landscaping is pretty much done along with the deck being done. As I was taking photos, they were starting to lay straw on the grass seed. I am very happy with Spieles Nursery. The quality is great, they are hard workers and you CAN'T beat the price. I would recommend them 100% and will certainly be using them again in the future.

BEFORE PHOTOS: Front taken on April 06. Back taken on December 06.





AFTER PHOTOS: Taken today.






I'll take better photos soon when the sun is at a better angle and everything is cleaned up. These were done at 3pm. Also, look how fat I was in the before picture!

Michael Vick - dNeero survey

Night Night Time

Kaden was cooperative right before bed. He hugged all of his stuffed animals and just looked at me. I couldn't resist and ran to grab the camera. I came back and he hadn't moved.

Lazy Sunday

Today was a great day of doing nothing (besides running 5+ miles, burning DVD's, hanging out with the Szuch's and eating Beer Barrel pizza). This morning, Kaden was feeling cozy with mommy and snuggled up with her on the couch for awhile.




After my run, I decided some down-time on the chair outside on the deck was in order with a big cup of ice-cold water. Mmmm. (Kaden decided it sounded good, too.)

Happy 7th Anniversary, Laura!

Happy seven years! I love you and can't wait to experience another 70 with you.

Smooches!!

Love,

-your hubby, Brandon

An Evening at the Allen County Fair

Justin and Crystal joined Laura, Kaden and I for an evening at the Allen County Fair and then a movie at our house - Hot Fuzz. (Good movie.) I haven't been to the fair in years and was kind of looking forward to it just for the food. Mmm... I was right.

The rain had finally stopped so we headed out and found a parking spot that wasn't a mud pit. We walked up to the fair with our free tickets. (Thanks, dad!)



We started our quest through the food row and finally ended up at the "Beef -- it's what's for dinner" tent. Justin and I both got a steak burger which, it turns out, is a big slab of beautiful beef put on a bun. It was very tasty. While we ate, Crystal and Laura took Kaden through the barns to see the animals. I decided that I couldn't walk through the beef barn and look the cows in the eye while I ate their brethren. Oh well.

After our steak burgers, we walked down to the huge outdoor grill (see in background below) and got Crystal a huge turkey leg. That was a massive slab of meat! I was going to get the shish kebobs, but figured I'd had my ration of beef in my steak burger and needed to save room for some deep fried goodness.



During our walk-about, Kaden slowly ate his corn dog. It was more corn than dog, but he seemed to enjoy it OK, as you can see.


Laura and I split a breaded tenderloin sandwich (you know the kind - small bun, 3.5 sq. ft. of "meat") and Kaden was playing at a small swimming pool filled with prizes. The gentleman running it was nice enough to let him play for 5-10 minutes, so we ended up buying a prize for Kaden. As you can see, he liked it. He's my little Teddy Roosevelt - "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far."


We played some ring toss to win the sticks. Crystal and Laura were the big winners with Justin and I coming up empty handed. I also enjoyed a lot more food including fried Oreos (Oreo covered in dough and deep-fried - everything nice and soft), an Elephant Ear and some soda. Laura had a milk shake.

It was a fun evening with Justin and Crystal and I guess I'll make sure to hit the fair up at least once per year for the food. I'm going to be paying for this in the morning.

Justin & Crystal's Wedding Reception Video

These were some clips taken on our Canon SD550. Enjoyable.

Kaden the Artist

Kaden was taking some (no film) photos this morning after breakfast. He just likes the flash and rarely uses the view finder. Also, check out his new t-shirt from Target in Muskegon, MI.

Belly Bulletin

21 weeks and growing...

10.. 9.. 8.. 9.. 8.. 9.. 10.. Blast Off!!

Here is some video of Kaden playing with his toy airplane.

Tyler's Wedding in Michigan

It started on Friday when we headed up to the airport in Bluffton and pulled out the Arrow. Laura, Kaden and I loaded our stuff (that wasn't already en route via car) and blasted off towards Toledo Suburban Airport to pick up Whitney. The weather was clear, but the winds were against us all day, so we stayed low (3000' and 4000').

Landing in Toledo with some crosswinds was fun with the more narrow runway (50') and the tall trees surrounding it. We loaded up Whitney, used the facilities thanks to the fine folks at Suburban Aviation and blasted off towards Muskegon County Airport. With some head winds and a full load, it still only took about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Landing in Muskegon was interesting. We landed on runway 24 with winds out of 330 at 18 gusting to 25 or so. Fun! (The other two runways were closed. Not sure why.) After arriving in Muskegon and parking at Executive Air Transport, our Nissan Maxima rental car was ready to roll. We loaded up and headed to the Holiday Inn on Third St and checked in. While Laura tried to get Kaden to sleep, Whitney and I scoped out the surrounding area on foot. We found a "Party in the Park" (band, food, kid area) being set up a block away and Racquet's Bar and Grill for dinner later on. After a little time in the hotel lounge with some free appetizers and drinks, we headed for the park and then onto the bar and grill for pizza. Yum!

Saturday morning brought gray skies and rain. Along with that, temperatures that only flirted with 70F. No beach for us. We hit some McD's for breakfast and then onto Target for some last minute gift and clothes shopping. We got back to the hotel for some pool/steam room time and naps.

After naps and showers, we got dressed and headed to the church for the wedding. It was between Muskegon and North Muskegon right off SR31. It was a nice, quick wedding with the biggest bubble tunnel I've ever seen. Tyler and Tasha looked great. After the ceremony, we headed to Rafferty's for the reception. We had some drinks, appetizers and then the main meal once the wedding party arrived. After all the food, we did some dancing and then headed out around 930p. Kaden was tired and so were we.

Sunday morning was more low clouds and more cold. We packed up and headed to McD's (again) for breakfast. We all went our separate ways - dad to Toledo then home, mom to Fort Wayne then home and us to the airport. (The weather by Toledo was more red than I liked.) We emptied the car, paid for the tie-down ($10/night) and then filed IFR back to Bluffton. Upon looking at the RADAR images again, I saw a big hole of no red between there and here so we blasted off for home. One hour and fifteen minutes later, we were wheels down. We did a good amount of IMC and some good tail winds. Also, the views were amazing at times, between cloud layers. Sweet. (More nasty cross winds in Bluffton as shown in my landing video. Yikes!)

All in all, a long, stressful weekend punctuated by moments of fun. Would I do it again? Yeah. Do I want to right now? No, I need a nap.

Check out ALL the photos by CLICKING HERE.




Here is a video of us flying in and out of some IMC over Michigan:

Belly Update

About 21 weeks in...

River Run 5K - 26:15

This morning I ran in another 5K that I signed up for a few weeks ago. Since I bailed on last weekend's Square Fair 5K (about $25 to run) for the 3v3 Soccer Tourny, I made it to this one, sore back and ankle and all. I was solo, so I didn't get any photos except for the official run shirt and the shirt I wore with my number -- 151.

I ran this one a bit faster than the Freedom 5K, but only by about 10 seconds. We started by the YMCA on West Street and ran west on North Shore Drive. We ran by Faurot Park to Woodlawn and turned around. Back down by Faurot Park, we turned right and ran down the river walk to the YMCA.

It was hot and muggy and I was glad to get that one done with. I ran the first mile a hair under 8 minutes, but the second mile included the steep hill by Faurot and it slowed me to a nine minute mile. The remaining 1.1 miles must have been around 8:20 or so since I ended up at a 8:26/mile pace. Ugh -- I'm slow.

More dNeero Action!

Here is some more dNeero action...

Columbus (1/2) Marathon

Well, I finally signed up for something else I swore I'd never do - a half marathon (13.1 miles). I'll say now that I'll never do a full marathon! (Heh heh.)

The run is the Columbus Marathon in Columbus, OH on October 21st, 2007. I'll be in the run with some friends from Lima and hopefully I'll make it. The longest I've ran so far at once is 7 miles which was one hour. Time to work the schedule I found online to be ready in 12 weeks.

Wish me luck!

3v3 Soccer Tournament

This morning, Justin, Jon Y, Michael C and I were in the Adult Rec league at the 3v3 Soccer Tourny at Shawnee HS. We played three games (9am, 11am and 1230pm) and ended up winning the last one -- 12-9. I ended up with one goal and a few assists.

I also came out of the game with a nice, twisted ankle. I did in the third game, about halfway through the first half. Ouch! I stood out for a few until it felt better and then played the rest.

It was a lot of fun! I hope to play some more soccer one of these days. It's been too long.

Check out all the photos by CLICKING HERE.

2006 Masi Gran Corsa

I bought a bike today. It's a 2006 Masi Gran Corsa and I bought it from J&D Bicycle Shop in Wapakoneta, OH. Joyce and Dennis are great people and are very helpful. I went over on Thursday to look at the selection and, with not much in stock, saw this one. It is a model year old which made it a few hundred bucks cheaper than the 2007 model (less carbon fiber) and was my size (53).

I went back today and did a test ride on it of about 10 miles - north out of Wapak to Buckland-Holden Rd and back on Dixie Hwy - and clocked it right around 30 minutes. Not bad! I can only get faster, as far as I can tell. I added a Cateye Velo 8 speedometer and two water cages. I am going to keep the pedal cages and all the stock items for now. I'll upgrade slowly, as I learn more about everything.

Anyway, here is a photo of the exact bike I bought, but taken by someone else for another blog.


(I'll get my own photos soon.)

It's A Girl!

We just got back from the doctor's office and the ultrasound says -- IT'S A GIRL! We got a few new ultrasound photos and then you can see some others from the office.






After the doctor visit, we had lunch at Captain D's and then headed to J&D's Bicycle Shop in Wapak. I test rode a 2006 Masi Gran Corsa and Kaden tried on some helmets. It's getting about time to get him a bike!