All That Was May

One of our backyard gardens, pre-mulch restoration.

Happy Last Day of May, Internet.

This month consistently ranks as one of the year's busiest, surpassed only by November, December, June and July.  As temperatures heat up, and nature itself begins to scream out for attention, one suddenly finds themselves surrounded by weekend activities (social obligations, house/yard obligations, kid-related obligations, etc.)  Every weekend is consequently filled up, and so one attempts to squeeze more time out of the weekdays, after work and school.  By this point in the school year, everyone's wrapping up shop with last-minute tests, end-of-the-year planning, and room clean-up, and being busy with all this bullshit makes time go insanely fast.

Aside from this month's previous posts, what follows are some leftover randoms from other stuff that happened around these parts during this month, the last hectic gauntlet of the school year.

Enjoy.

Tulips blooming in the front garden bed.

Some animal keeps scurrying across the black mulch, revealing the shittier light brown mulch underneath.  If I can find what ever animal is doing this, I'm going to f***ing kill it.

We have these tulips blooming up all over the dang place.

Abby had a sleepover with her friend Sophie towards the beginning of the month.  Here they're dancing along to one of our Wii U Just Dance games.

Behold the Super Nintendo Classic - a miniaturized version of the original SNES, preloaded with 32 games, 1080p resolution, and HDMI and USB compatible.  I'd been keeping an eye on this system since it first dropped over last summer, but with such a short supply available these things had a tendency of selling out in minutes.  They're only available on Ebay and Amazon at an insane mark-up (usually about twice what they're supposed to go for), but I miraculously was able to snag one during my lunch break at school one day during a flash sale, and scored it at its normal price.

Being the ever-industrious fellow that I am, I further upped the system's awesomeness by hacking into the console's operating system and uploading about 150 Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy Advance games.  Couple hundred classic videogames ready to go on a single, wallet-sized console in my bedroom?  Don't mind if I do. . .

Abby assists Alayna in. . . sooooome sort of science-ish experiment.  That I'm sure irreparably damaged and/or stained something in the house. 

We found this in one of Abby's bathroom drawers, left behind by her slightly-demonic older sister.  When asked about it, Alayna casually explained that she was just 'leaving behind a prank.'  They did that sorta 'prank' in Vietnam, people. 

Abby decorated one of Kris' coffee mugs for Mother's Day.

During one of my school's Spirit Weeks, students got to dress up as one of their teachers.  I had quite a few kids dress up like me (apparently, I wear a lot of grey and black - wasn't aware of that until this month, actually), but this girl colored a pair of white shoes to replicate my pair of Asics I wear to work.  My students jokingly give me hell for having 'horrible shoes' all the time - since they're not, like, Jordans or something - so this was definitely hilarious.

For the last month or two, my riding lawnmower has been acting weird.  At first I attributed this to a weak battery, and after charging it up in the Spring, and letting some Stabil and other fuel crap run its way through the engine,  the mower seemed to work fine.  Then, one day, I started it up and engaged the PTO, and the engine seized up.  Wouldn't turn over at all, despite the battery being fully charged, the fuel tank being full, the oil recently changed, and new spark plugs put in.  I reluctantly called a local specialist to come pick it up, and when he did so he located one small fuse that had blown, and recommended I change that first.  I did so - it cost about 20 cents and took about 6 seconds - and ever since then this thing has run like new.  I'm a f***ing idiot.

Abby's actual birthday fell on, like, a Tuesday this month, so after dinner we let Abby open up one of her birthday gifts from us. . .

She's been asking for light-up 'rollerblades' for about a year now.  We were going to pull the trigger on them at Christmas, but figured her birthday was bound to be more weather-appropriate.

After nearly 14 years of valiant service, Kris and I decided this month to finally put our old couch and loveseat up for sale.  We'd been keeping an eye out for a sale on the sectional we had seen at Godwin's a couple months back, and we finally found one that we couldn't pass up.  I was willing to frickin' give away the couch and loveseat for free (like we did with the matching recliner, about two years ago), but Kris wanted at least a little for it.  In the end, a couple typical college dudes swung by and paid us $50 for both, and hauled away our old fart-ridden, Fezzig-nibbled, kid-colored, dog-soiled memories.  After the set was gone, we had about four days of a near-empty living room (see the available seating in this pic here) before the sectional arrived.)

Unfortunately, when the sectional arrived, one of the reclining pieces was broken, and they forgot one of the inserts.  I was on the verge of calling and cursing someone out, but Godwin's rectified the situation the following morning (replacing the broken piece and bringing the missing one.)  Shown here, all we're missing is the console insert (check it out here) - which will be showing up in early June, thereabouts (they had to back order it.)

One of the reasons we got this particular sectional was the back cushions can't be shoved down like they could on our old couch, which Watson loved because it gave him a comfy seat for his window gazing.  He's pretty pissed at us right now, and sulks in this spot most of the time.

Dad and Cindy swung by our house one weekend, towards the end of the month, to give the girls their birthday presents, seeing how Dad wasn't going to be around for the girls' upcoming combo-birthday party (remember? I talked about this - the trampoline thing.)

The girls are to that age now where they don't really play with toys anymore, and have soooooo much shit already clogging up the basement and their rooms that they don't have much space for anything else.  Dad and Cindy slipped each kid a $50, which, as you can see here, went over rather well.

. . . same goes with these shirts that they threw in, too.

Birthday-ish girls.

Trying out her new light-up skates at the local roller skating rink, Roll Arena.

On an afternoon family bike ride down to the BMX park at Stratford Woods Park. . .

We didn't end up staying too long, though, since there were some pretty ominous storm clouds barreling down towards us.  We stayed about five minutes, then rode the half-mile back to our house, making it just in time before the heavens opened up and all hell broke loose.

The Sunday before Memorial Day, we dropped the girls off at Marcy's and went over to a grill-out at my old high school buddy Trevor's house.  Here's the familiar deck where I practically lived during the Summer of '97.

Meanwhile, hanging out with Grandma Jordan in Clare. . .

Kimmel and Scrunge were supposed to be around, too, but both were forced to cancel at the last minute.  Matt Lee and his girlfriend were in town, though, visiting from San Francisco for the week.

This dude cooked up a ridiculous amount of food - chicken, ribs, potatoes, you name it.

We stayed until the evening, then swung out to pick up the kids from Marcy before heading back to Midland.

The next morning, Kris, the girls, and the city's various Girl Scout troops all marched in the annual Memorial Day Parade.

(Alayna's behind the kid at the right - you can barely make out her head and sunglasses.)

Abby fails to realize this is seriously like the worst time one can possibly drop an American flag. . .

More flowers, this time on the back of the house.  No idea what these are, but I know I hate them for being Farwell colors. . .

- Brian

Miss Alayna Goes to Washingt- ...er, Lansing

Check out the inside of Alayna's desk at school.  Not surprised at all.

Hey gang.  How's May treating you so far?

I got a day off today, which was rad.  I love days off.  Getting paid to not work isn't something I'm ready to start complaining about.  Alas, my day off still involved dealing with dozens of children in a managerial role, so I shouldn't really call it a day off, I suppose:  I swapped wrangling a bunch of 8th graders with wrangling a bunch of 4th graders, on a field trip to the State Capitol and the Michigan History Center in Lansing.

They had arranged for charter buses to take the three 4th grade classrooms on the 2-hour trip, and we set off shortly after school started in the morning.  The bus itself was fine - like any other charter bus from the 1990s - but spending 2 hours in a confined area, surrounded by fifty-some 9-year-olds, is just. . . well, it's just as shitty as you'd expect.

Check it out. . .

Gettin' on the bus (that's Alayna and her friend Jazmine - there were so many chaperones going on this trip that I was only responsible for these two. . . which was totally fine with me.)

Pumped for the bus.

Jazmine sat in front of us.  Alayna brought her camera and took several pictures throughout the day, of which I included a few and will note them as they pop up (though I probably don't need to.)

Skip ahead two hours or so, we arrived in Lansing to find the entire area around the state capitol under construction.  Totally awesome.  Our bus took about three victory laps around the structure in a desperate attempt to find accessible parking.

Ready to be off the damn bus.

The Cannonball and the Capitol.

Mrs. VanHoey's 4th grade class (Alayna is in the middle row, at far left, right next to her teacher.)

Goofy picture time.

Alayna took this bizarro selfie.  I assume in the girls bathroom.

She asked a friend of hers to take this group pic with her camera.  This is in the Capitol's. . . basement, I think?  Back, ground-level entrance?  I don't know.

A quick shot of the Rotunda, as we waited along with our tour guide in one of the wings.

Tons of kids and adults, bored as f***.

No, she's not stoned.  I don't think.

This may be one of the coolest elevators I've ever seen.

I wish my stairs looked this cool.

Yeah, this happened.

One of the other dads snuck upstairs to snag a pic of the 4th graders, below, staring up at the dome.  Gotta compliment initiative.

Alayna's shot of the dome.

Decorative doorknobs in the governor's office.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The governor's office (roped off, alas, as the governor was in Germany at the time.)

Somewhat swankier than my Study.

Some random glass door.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Another door knob.  Guess who snapped this gem?

Some pretty intricate lighting in this place, I'll say that. . .

If this isn't the most horrifyingly ominous thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is. . .

. . . nevermind.

Alayna's friends, Makarra and Christina.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Alayna and Gerald.

Spooky lighting.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

The State House of Representatives.  This was the only chamber we got to take pictures in,  for when we went to the State Senate, they were actually in session.  We were admitted, got to check out the voting process on various state matters (for about twenty minutes), but couldn't take any pictures.  At one point, our state representative down on the floor (forget the dude's name, sue me) announced our presence in the balcony, and the entire Senate applauded our group.  Alayna - and the other kids - were all pretty thrilled and thought it was the coolest thing in the world.  I didn't have the heart to tell any of them that these politicians literally give zero shits about any of them.

Probably safe to say this is the closest this kid is ever going to get to politics.

I forget what this room is.  But it's official looking.

I saw a lot of ceilings like this in Italy - a hell of a lot nicer than the popcorn drip ceiling shit we have going on in our house.

This child is physically unable to make a normal face for the camera.

Outside the Capitol, on the way to the bus and our next stop:  the Michigan History Center.

When you first walk in, there's this weird enclosed courtyard surrounding a solitary White Pine tree (our state tree, I think.)

You can't really tell, but this was under water.  Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.

Some homeboys, looking fresh as hell.

A big piece of. . . metal.  I don't know.

This is, like, a two-story entrance to the museum.  We had to wait here for about ten minutes while kids finished going to the bathroom.  I hate kids.

The forced march through the museum's various exhibits begins.  We didn't really get a chance to stop and look at everything, because by this point we were horribly behind schedule.  Kids literally just walked past and had a few seconds to look at stuff before being prodded forward.

Scopin' out some wigwams.

Yes, I took pictures of swords.  This is patterned after a French Hussar model, and I knew that without looking at the information placard.  In your face.

A Canon and Cannonball.  This schtick never gets old.

More swords.  Civil War-era, folks.

Some pretty unique handguns, again Civil War-era.

Alayna asked her friend to take this picture with her camera.  Kids are weird.

I'd make fun of this dude's hat, but I'm afraid he'd kick my ass.

We stopped for, like, ten minutes so that the kids could watch his educational, museum-quality (pfft) video on mining in the U.P.  It was just as edge-of-your-seat as you could guess.

The Upper Peninsula's mining history.

Alayna was pretty proud of the fact that she was one out of only two students in her class who could walk underneath this giant axle without ducking over in the slightest.  That's her mom's genes, there.

Time for a lesson in ye old school house. . .

Personally, on a day off away from my own classroom, I don't want to be anywhere near this sort of crap.

Into the 20th century neck of the woods.  The walking pathway through the museum's various exhibits reflected different time era's from Michigan's past.  I probably should have pointed that out sooner.  Oh well.

Making Model T's on the assembly line, courtesy of Nazi supporter Henry Ford.

Old school movie theater ticket booth.  Kinda wish they had these at the NGC Midland Cinema.

I bet this thing was a bitch to drive through the snow. . . but it probably handled better than my Focus does.

Photobombed by Christina.

World War Deux

Firefighting with flame throwers.  I think you may be doing it wrong, fellas.

Alayna scopes out a lighthouse. . .  bulb?  

The foreword machine guns of a WW2 bomber, manufactured in Detroit back in the '40s.

Typical Michigangster house, circa 1950s.

Pastels were a big deal back then, I guess.

Continuing on into the 1950s. . .

I'd be more than fine with my dashboard looking like this.

Once we exited through the obligatory Gift Shop (surprise, surprise), we had to wait nearly 20 minutes for the bus to pick us up.  It took everything we exhausted parents had to keep the kids from staging a mutiny.

Alayna was not at all dramatic about the fact that it was starting to rain.

I bought Alayna a few things at the museum gift shop on our way out, including an arrowhead necklace (which I believe she's already lost), and this gem excavating kit.  She's big into this sort of thing.

Not my cup of tea, but whatever.

- Brian