Canaan Turns A Decade!

That's right Canaan has turned 10 years old and I truly can't believe it!

So I tried to do something special for Canaan for his birthday because to me 10 is quite a milestone so I took him to a Maine Red Claws game.  He had been wanting to go for over a year and it all lined up with the game being a couple days before his birthday and my days off.  I asked him who he wanted to bring and he picked his cousin Landen.

I called the box office back in December and told the guy I was looking for decent tickets as we hadn't been before and he said he gave us the area he likes to sit.  I must say he set us up with some fantastic seats, I would gladly buy those again.

The weather held out for us and we picked up Landen just after 5pm.  Being the big spender that I am I treated the boys to some Wendy's dollar menu that we ate in the van on the ride down.  We got to the Portland Expo right about 6pm for a 7pm game time.  We were stopped at a seat belt check by Portland Police and as we were all wearing out seat belts were given vouchers for free t-shirts at the traffic safety table.  Also it was free Red Claws sock night for the first 1000 people, so we got free socks and a free t-shirt!!

My coworker Kelly, her daughter is a member of the Lady Red Claws and she spoke with her about the team taking a photo with the boys, which the did at the start of the game.

I'm not a fan of basketball but I had a really good time at the game.  The boys had a fantastic time together, which wasn't a surprise.  The building was pretty near packed and the claws have a very vocal local fan base.  Sadly they lost but it was good competitive game.  At one point the boys were on the "jumbo tron" Landen noticed and they started dancing, it was hilarious!

At half time I bought them a Red Claws Cruncher ice cream, even though I wasn't allowed to walk around with them.  Two chocolate chip cookies filled with chocolate ice cream dipped in chocolate.  The boys made messes of themselves, Landen had it running down his arm and he couldn't have cared less.

It was a new experience going with two 10 year olds instead of just Canaan.  I suddenly went from "cool Dad" to "try not to embarrass us Dad" but I guess I need to get used to it.  I would gladly take to two of them to another event again.  Canaan expressed interest in going to a Pirates game and Landen WWE.  If the opportunity arises I'll take Landen with us to an Indy show.

We are having Canaan's birthday party on the 23rd should be a great time, Canaan should love his gift that we got him.

Later readers!

Looking back at 2015

Well here we are in a New Year once again so that means it’s time for the year end blog, and quite a year it was. 

First off we had a baby!  Of course pretty much anyone reading this already knows that, but what you don’t know is that Wesley now has three top teeth coming in making him a big 5 toother boy!  I know I’ve seen it twice before, but the rapid progression of a baby is amazing with how quickly they grow, change, and advance.  Truly amazing!

Both Canaan and Addison are so happy to have a younger brother, especially Canaan.  It amazes me how much they enjoy playing with each other given the age difference. 

Canaan had a good year his 2014/15 basketball team went undefeated, his Gardiner Cal Ripken Minor League team won the championship his second in a row. He had a great season playing football, went into the 4^th grade, became a Webelo, joined chorus and started playing the recorder at school.  Canaan had just about the greatest 4^th of a July a 9year old could have.

Addison was the center stage star of her dance recital number last May.  She became a big time first grader, and is very serious about her art.  Her plan is to give her paintings to museums to display as well as family members.

Katie got a promotion at work to Branch Operations Supervisor! 

While Kate was on maternity leave and through the summer Kate and I managed some pretty awesome day trips that you can read about in my past blogs.  We went to Marshall Point Light, took a ride to Jackman stopping at Moxie Falls, the New Portland Wire bridge, and more.  A Northwestern Maine trip took us through Rumford, Coos Canyon, Height of Lane, Rangeley, Small Falls, & The railroad in Phillips.  We also hit the Railroad in Alna with the big kids, Andrew, & AJ.  Another grand day found us traveling to Grafton Notch State Park to Screw Auger Falls, a couple covered bridges, Snow Falls and more.  We really hit the highlands and western area of Maine.

I think this year we are going to hit the County again and southern Coastal Maine.  I do have a Greenville trip in mind, but it’s got to be the right time to accomplish all I would want to up there.  One other place I would love to travel to is Monhegan Island, it’s someplace I’ve always wanted to go.

With Mom and Irving we had an overnight stay in New Hampshire going to Santa’s Village once again this year.  In September Dad & Linda took us all to Funtown again for the BIW family day.  Two great days at Amusement parks. 

We had some great family social gatherings as well for holidays, taco nights, Tuesday dinners, and other grand occasions! 

I think 2016 will bring us great things!

Later Readers!