School Picture Time

Walt Disneyworld

As the Lions were beginning their new losing streak I decided to try to get my new version of Roxio Videowave to work. After I installed the program about two months ago I discovered that I did not have a powerful enough video card to operate the program. In the process of trying to upgrade my system I fried the motherboard on my primary computer and was forced to move everything to an alternate computer. I upgraded just about everything on that computer and was finally ready to try to work on video production, only to discover that there was a bug in the system that caused me to get a buffer overrun error every time the application was loaded. I played around on the support board long enough to determine that they did not have a "fix" and their temporary solutions were all over my head (I try to not mess with the startup routines on the computer because I don't know how to undo any damage that I might do).

That was all a long introduction to say that yesterday I found a new hotpatch on the support site for Roxio. It worked perfectly and now I am able to create videos. There are a number of advantages over the prior version that I was using (that I won't bore you with). I played around for just a bit and was able to generate this video from our most recent (last January) trip to Disneyworld.

Cats behaving badly

Annual Tradition

Every year we try to take the girls to a cider mill for cold, fresh, apple cider and delicious, warm, cinnamon sugar donuts. We decided to try a place out in Poplar Grove that we had heard about. The girls had a great time playing in the playground, navigating the maze, seeing the animals and riding the ponies.

Lacey and I posed for some shots too. Fortunately the prices were reasonable and there was plenty to do. After a couple of hours of fun we headed home so that I could watch the Tigers clinch the American League pennant.

Frozen Flashlight Tag

Last night we had the Bixby and Metras families over for a game of flashlight tag. We'd been promising the kids that we would do this for some time and finally got around to doing this in mid-October. Little did we expect that the weather would make it a game of frozen flashlight tag.

I was quickly reminded (again) that while my mind may want to take my body in a certain direction, my body doesn't get that message until much later. I think there was only one game where I wasn't tagged. And, in one unfortunate incident, I had to literally throw Reagan from my arms to avoid falling on her (and judging from the pain in my shoulder this morning, it's a good thing that I didn't use her to break my fall).

Today we are going to try to go to the apple orchard before having friends over for a state of Michigan double header (Tigers at 4:30, Michigan Football at 8).

Autumn Colors

I looked out the window the other day and saw this beautiful tree. I decided that I would use this as an opportunity to get some pictures. The girls and I love this time of the year for all the colors it brings. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't capture all of the beauty. Still, we thought we would share some of the pictures with you.

Even KC decided to get into the act. After I finished taking the pictures the girls got out a rake and made a pile of leaves to jump in. It struck me that sometimes we go through great lengths to do things that the kids will enjoy (American Girl, Disneyworld), when they can find joy in the most simple pleasures.

In case you were wondering what Peyton's been up to

Anniversary weekend

Peyton and Reagan looked forward with eager anticipation for this weekend all week. Peyton knows her days of the week, so she knew when the fun would start, but Reagan kept asking if it was "this day". We had the privilege of watching Patience while our Pastor and his wife celebrated their anniversary this weekend (it wasn't their anniversary, but this was when they were able to celebrate it). We had planned all along to go into Chicago to visit American Girl for Emily's birthday party. Patience, Reagan, and Peyton each had a picture taken with Emily. They also played jacks with Emily and worked on a craft.

As I stood in line at American Girl while wearing my University of Michigan pullover several of the mothers commented on what a good sport I was to give up my college football to spend the afternoon with my daughters at the American Girl. My pride got the best of me and I didn't let them know that Michigan was playing a rare evening game that day. Instead I gladly accepted the accolades. After all, given all of the things that I could be doing in Chicago, standing in line there was a bit of a sacrifice.

When we arrived in Chicago we were hungry, so before going to the American Girl Store we stopped for lunch at Ed Debevic's. It was Patience's first experience with the sassy wait staff, and once she caught on she thought it was funny.

Once we left American Girl, it started to rain. Not knowing how long that would last, we decided to make our way back to Crystal Lake on the Metra train. This allowed me to be home in time to watch Michigan beat Minnesota on ESPN.

Our weekend actually started a bit earlier than that, when we went into Itasca with the teens and young adults (and a few others) to see the performance of Flame of Fire by Overshadowed Productions. It was an excellent production of a very compelling story of Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Peter Fleming, all of whom were martyred as they attempted to take the message of the gospel of Christ to the Auca Indians. You can read an excellent review of the play here.