Fish, Legos, and Voigts

Hey guys,

We hadn't anticipated doing anything out of the ordinary in the week between Christmas in Clare and New Year's Eve - that's generally that span of time where you don't know what day it is and all you do is graze on Christmas leftovers and slowly get fat. 

Well, out of left field, our old Florida (and College) friends, the Voigts, reached out and let us know that they were flying up for a week in order to celebrate the Holidays with their extended family in the Detroit area. Now obviously they're one of those couples that we drop everything for, so once we figured out that a visit with them over the Holidays was doable (they had one unaccounted day in their crammed itinerary they could fit us in), we made it a priority to make it happen.

We showed up about an hour before the scheduled meet-up time with the Voigts (at the Legoland entrance) so we could grab some lunch in the Food Court.

Kris and Lindsey landed on the outlets at Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, kind of in the middle of where we were and where they were (45 minute drive for them, about an hour and a half for us.) The wives thought Legoland and the Aquarium might be fun to check out, too (not for our kids, of course, but for the Voigts' younger kids, Jackson and Ella.)

So here you go, gang - a random, non-Disney hangout session with the Voigts. Enjoy. . .

This Food Court is pretty bad-ass - lots of options to choose from.

Kris and I got our usual Mediterranean grub, while the girls grabbed some Chinese chicken fried rice. All these portions were absolutely nuts, so no one finished their food and we consequently had leftovers to snack on on the drive back home later in the evening.

After lunch, Kris ran the leftovers out to the van, and the girls ducked in to a couple stores (where Abby tried on Mr. T-ish necklaces.)

This isn't a full-sized, legit theme park (obviously), but a 'Discovery Center' - a smaller attraction that can fit inside malls like this one.

Abby, at the entrance into the attraction.

We met up with the Voigts around 1:30pm, and had to wait around a bit for Adam's sister to arrive. Eventually we got in and went straight towards the first ride (which was a knock-off of the Buzz Lightyear attraction at Magic Kingdom.)

The queue for the ride (since it was one of those shooting rides, I didn't have a hand free to take pics/video of the ride itself, but I suppose if you were really hard-up to see what it was like you could look it up on the ol' Internet.)

Exiting out into a Lego-version of Detroit. . .

Jackson, Ella, and their cousin, checking out Detroit (which was pretty frickin' impressive.)

The Little Caesar's Arena (and, if you look closely inside, you can even see the Red Wings playing. . .)

After mini-Detroit, you exit out into this mini-attraction/food court area. There was a play area, a spot where you could get snack food, and a few other smaller 'rides,' all geared towards super little kids. It became clear to us, at this point, that this 'Discovery Center' was geared towards kids aged 3 - 8, and that our kids were waaaaay too old for something like this.

Detroit vs. Everybody

We stood around for, like, an hour here, waiting for Ella and her young cousin to finish playing in this play structure. 

Alayna got a pretzel and played around on her phone, and we spent the time catching up with the Voigts. 

After awhile, Abby and I went in to check out a Lego Movie '4D' attraction (kinda like the Muppet 4D attraction at Hollywood Studios), which was about ten minutes long and pretty funny.

Just look at all the fun they're having.

This is what Legoland thinks of when they hear 'Famous Michiganders.' 

After Legoland, we walked through the mall over to the Aquarium. On the way, the girls pleaded to pop into some boba tea place so they could get their usual Asian specialty drinks. Kris - who also grabbed one - wanted a pic with the girls and all of their teas, and Lindsey decided to photo-bomb.

This aquarium was a nightmare. It was warm, dank, and waaaay too crowded - far more people were squeezing inside than there was room for, so you couldn't really move about freely to check out fish, you were just herded on through, anxiously looking for a free spot to step off into so you could catch a break. It was miserable.

Adam, as you can tell, wasn't having fun, either. There was a little more breathing room in this particular part of the aquarium - some shallow pool where you could touch coral and starfish and crap.

(Our girls are at center, petting. . . something.)

Underwater viewing areas.

The decor throughout this walk-through aquarium was pretty cool, more on par with Sea World than Disney, but definitely not bad for the Midwest. Still, I could've done with, like, half the people in terms of crowd size.

How festive.

This area had some breathing room, too - it was some digital fish aquarium where kids could design 'digital' fish and let them swim around in the water. 

My fish says 'FART' on it. 'Cause I'm awesome.

This tank held creepy-ass eels in it, which Alayna was enamored with.

Entering the Shark Tunnel. . .

(One of the girls took this one.)

(. . . I think these are supposed to be jellyfish)

Checkin' out more sharks.

Sooo this giant head - is this supposed to be like an alien or a mermaid or what?

Once we got out of the aquarium, Kris grabbed a pic of the girls inside this. . . tube?

The best part of the day (despite what Abby's face might lead you to believe), was when we ducked into this large bar/restaurant a short walk away from the aquarium. Apparently there was like a two-hour wait time for a table, but the whole place was empty. We soon realized that this was because they only had three people working that shift, so we just sat at a table and Adam and I made trips up to the bar to grab beers whenever the need arose. Eventually, a server was able to bring over a few appetizer and we killed a couple hours just sitting around and catching up.

Afterwards, the Voigts hit the road, seeing how they had to fly back home to Florida the next morning, so we let the girls hit up a couple more shops that they don't have at the mall in our neck of the woods. Alayna stumbled upon a K-Pop album section in some random store, but didn't end up getting anything.

After an hour or two of shopping (and not buying much) we headed back towards the parking lot, and, along the way, Alayna grabbed one more tea for the road.

So there you go, folks - a short, impromptu reunion with the Voigts. Next time will probably be down in Florida, doing the Disney Parks in the Summer of 2024.

- Brian

Happy Birthday, Big Baby Jesus

Merry Christmas, Internet!!!

Wanna see what our Christmas was like?  'Course you do.

Enjoy.

The one thing Abby wanted for Christmas more than anything this year was the Lego Rapunzel's Creativity Tower.  She saw it in the Lego Store a few months back and has remained unwavering in proclaiming her desire for Santa to bring it for her Christmas morning.  To say this kid was happy opening this particular gift from 'Santa' is a definite understatement.

Alayna didn't fare as well with her list from Santa.  She asked him for a drum set, a Penny Ling (from Littlest Pet Shop) stuffed animal, her own cell phone, and a 'real bow-and-arrow' (that she could 'shoot bad guys in the face with,' no less.)  Our parenting is often questionable, but we're not that bad. . . so Santa brought her the stuffed animal and some other crap.  Fortunately, she was cool with this.

Santa also brought them the gigantor doll house (at left) and some new 'grown up' umbrellas, to replace the old battered ones they've nearly ground into ribbons.

What little girl doesn't want an ole timey pocket watch in their stocking. . . right?

It's the stocking stuffer that keeps on giving.

Watson enjoyed Christmas immensely.

Of course this happened.

Carnage.

Some of my stocking stuffers.  Kris Santa knows me well.

Also off Abby's list to Santa - a Zarina doll from Disney's The Pirate Fairy.

This is completely impractical, but damn it. . . she wanted it.  She saw it at a local Halloween City back in October, and really wanted it, so the next day I swung by and picked it up.  It's too big for her, and way too hot for down here in Swampville, but I guess she'll grow into it. . .?

The Cannonball's becoming a fan of bad guys, monsters, girls with 'edgier' looks, and also Barbies.  We picked her up two of the Twilight series dolls - because you'd think that'd satisfy all of the above requirements, wouldn't you? - and she loved the first one.  This one?  Hell nope.

I bought the wrong kind of bacon this year.  As you can imagine, it nearly ruined Christmas.

Opening some of my gifts from the girls. . .

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but every Christmas we give each of the girls $5 and let them pick out a gift for Kris and I.  The results can be hilarious, but this year wasn't too bad.  Abby got me a keychain version of Anakin's lightsaber that lights up, and Alayna selected this keychain light-thing that projects the Imperial insignia on a surface.  It was a Star Wars kinda Christmas.

Abby bought Kris a green earring/necklace set.  She had that picked out before we even set foot in a store, so when we found it at Target that was it.  Now all Kris has to do in order to be a good mom is wear the shit out in public.

Once we had opened up all of Santa's gifts, tackled stockings, drank a pot of coffee, and eaten a fatty breakfast, we poured some mamosas and turned on Skype to share Christmas with the Hough side of the family.  Skype now allow you to group chat with multiple users simultaneously, so we were able to have the girls open their gifts from Uncle Bryan and Aunt Lyssa, who live out in Vegas (as you'll recall, we already had our Christmas with Dad and Cindy.)

Bryan and Lyssa hit two homeruns this year with the girls - a make-up kit for Alayna and a princess doll set for Abby.

The girls also spent $5 on each other this year, something we haven't done in the past.  Abby bought Alayna the exact same stuffed rabbit that Watson shredded last year, and in return Alayna got her yet another miniature puppy stuffed in a purse. . . 'cause that's what sells around these parts.

Yes, Kris loves Dunkin Donuts.

. . . AND cheap, gaudy jewelry (the bracelet's from Alayna.)

The gift-opening and Skyping raged on into the afternoon - here the girls open some more plunder from Grandma Jordan.

I spent the majority of the day putting Lego sets together.  I can think of many worse ways to spend a day.

Breaking in the new digs.

Not a white Christmas this year in Florida.

The girls enjoy making up their own games.  Pictured here we have some kind of soccer-esque game that requires the player to run with the ball in their hands around 'cones' (we forgot to buy them, so the girls improvised.)  Clearly they inherited their athleticism from their old man.

To be fair, though, Abby's really taken a liking to soccer lately, playing it regularly at school.  Alayna... enjoys playing with sticks.

More Christmas Skyping.  This time, Mom's side of the family.

Photo courtesy of the Cannonball.  Mom and John bought the whole family Nerf guns this year.  I can't imagine these things being misused AT ALL.

Abby 'helping' me with building another one of her Lego sets. . .

Watsan, as usual, spent most of the day sleeping.

Later on into the evening, as the gift-opening wound down and we had filled our Skype quota for the day, we ate some more leftovers and kicked off a marathon session of Christmas movies we hadn't yet watched.  Who knows how we let A Charlie Brown Christmas slip by us. . .

Another version of A Christmas Carol, courtesy of the Muppets (I was hoping for this one last night, but was out-voted.)

One of the stocking stuffer-ish gifts I picked up for Kris this year was some Pumpkin Spice Kahlua.  She's not a big drinker, but enjoys the occasional White Russian. . . and she loves Pumpkin Spice.  A no-brainer, right?  Well, she also loves peppermint mocha, and the bottle you see to the right there was a stocking stuffer-ish gift from last Christmas she's still working on.  I'm sure we'll be seeing that Pumpkin Spice a year from now. . .

Aaaand that's it.  Time for bed.

364 days and counting, everybody.

- Brian