The signs of Fall are everywhere. Trees are changing color, the sun is setting earlier, and rising later, and the temperatures have dropped to very comfortable levels. We have shut off our air conditioner, and been falling asleep with our windows open. Hearing the sounds of the night and feeling the ever-so-slight breeze is the best way to be ushered into your dreamland! That was until this weekend, when a heatwave hit the area! A touch of summer arrived just in time for Liesel's birthday! And we took advantage of this warm weather as we celebrated my wife's birthday weekend!
On Friday evening, for my family fun night idea, we headed for a glorious bike ride around the beautiful Westlake Recreation Center grounds.
Saturday morning was Liesel and Nathan's library date. After lunch, Nathan and I headed to his soccer team's photo shoot which was followed by their second soccer match. I was appointed their unofficial assistant coach, and viewed the game from my vantage point behind their goals! They played well together in the oppressive heat, and pulled off their second win! Nathan is really enjoying his soccer!
That evening, we had our babysitter come over, so Liesel and I could go out and enjoy a birthday meal at a local upmarket restaurant. The food was good, but it was their Creme Brulee dessert that was the perfect way to end a great evening!
I was up at 6:15 on Sunday, which is now getting darker and darker. The reason for my early rising was to get Josh and let Liesel sleep in a bit later on her birthday, as well as to get ready for Church - as it was my rotation on the worship team schedule. The worship set was awesome, and I loved being a part of it. For the first time ever, the preacher commented on how great the worship team was, which prompted the congregation to break out in to applause and cheers! It was weird to receive that type of recognition, but appreciated :) It is humbling to be part of the team that helps prepares the congregations' hearts for worship.
Since I was at church from 7:30 to 12:00pm, Liesel chose to postpone the gift opening until after lunch. She got some wonderful gifts from family and of course, Nathan, Josh and myself! To round off the birthday weekend, we headed 40 minutes west to a town called Vermilion on the shores of Lake Erie. We spent some time on the beach, playing in the sand, and cooling off from the 91 degree (33C) heat in the warm waters of the lake. At dinner time, we drove to a park, spread out a blanket in the shade of a tree, and had a relaxing picnic on the banks of the Lake Erie. After the boys had their share of food, we headed over to a playground where they could swing and slide to their hearts content! Great weekend!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
A taste of South Africa
Our plan was to have a South African-themed Saturday evening with friends, to celebrate both Liesel's and my birthdays. Liesel spent a number of hours making koeksisters and Milk Tart, which are delicious, traditional South African desserts.
We had planned to "braai" (barbecue) the meat, but unfortunately I ran out of Propane gas, so Liesel grilled the steaks and chicken kebabs in her oven.
The food (as usual) was outstanding, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! Afterward, we moved the party to the living room, where we finally got to watch Invictus for the first time! We all enjoyed the movie, until our friends had to leave 20 minutes before the end to go pick up their daughter from a birthday party. But overall, it was a evening of great fun, great food and a great film!
Earlier that day, Nathan played in his first soccer game for his U6 team! This was the first time the team had come together (no previous practices) and they performed pretty well! Fortunately, Nathan's team included a boy from his T-ball league, who appears to be a highly skilled sportsman! In T-ball, he was the only boy that could hit the ball into the outfield without a bounce, and apparently he is just as gifted on the soccer field. This young prodigy scored each and every goal for Nathan's team. I lost count of the total number of goals, but I would predict he scored at least 8 goals to the 4 goals that their opponents managed to salvage. Needless to say, Nathan loved playing soccer for the first time, especially the 10 minutes he played goalkeeper!
Friday evening was our family fun night, and Liesel's choice was to watch the DVD Hachi, It is a story about a loyal dog that would meet his master every day after work at the train station. Once the master died, this dog continued going to the train station every day, at the same time. After the movie ended, Liesel and I were wiping the tears from our eyes, when Nathan pipes up, "Can we get it out of the library again? It was so funny!!"
On Sunday, we headed to Church in the morning, and in the afternoon we got together with our bible study group at a local park! It was a good time of fellowship, getting to know each other better. Nathan and Josh loved it there, as Josh explored the nearby playground and enjoyed the huge slides. Meanwhile Nath played with the other children and made some new friends. It was a good way to round off the weekend!
We had planned to "braai" (barbecue) the meat, but unfortunately I ran out of Propane gas, so Liesel grilled the steaks and chicken kebabs in her oven.
The food (as usual) was outstanding, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! Afterward, we moved the party to the living room, where we finally got to watch Invictus for the first time! We all enjoyed the movie, until our friends had to leave 20 minutes before the end to go pick up their daughter from a birthday party. But overall, it was a evening of great fun, great food and a great film!
Earlier that day, Nathan played in his first soccer game for his U6 team! This was the first time the team had come together (no previous practices) and they performed pretty well! Fortunately, Nathan's team included a boy from his T-ball league, who appears to be a highly skilled sportsman! In T-ball, he was the only boy that could hit the ball into the outfield without a bounce, and apparently he is just as gifted on the soccer field. This young prodigy scored each and every goal for Nathan's team. I lost count of the total number of goals, but I would predict he scored at least 8 goals to the 4 goals that their opponents managed to salvage. Needless to say, Nathan loved playing soccer for the first time, especially the 10 minutes he played goalkeeper!
Friday evening was our family fun night, and Liesel's choice was to watch the DVD Hachi, It is a story about a loyal dog that would meet his master every day after work at the train station. Once the master died, this dog continued going to the train station every day, at the same time. After the movie ended, Liesel and I were wiping the tears from our eyes, when Nathan pipes up, "Can we get it out of the library again? It was so funny!!"
On Sunday, we headed to Church in the morning, and in the afternoon we got together with our bible study group at a local park! It was a good time of fellowship, getting to know each other better. Nathan and Josh loved it there, as Josh explored the nearby playground and enjoyed the huge slides. Meanwhile Nath played with the other children and made some new friends. It was a good way to round off the weekend!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Rollercoaster Rides, Bike Rides, Rhythm and lots of running
It has been another weekend in a toaster oven! At 8:30pm tonight, the temperature outside was still 90 degrees (32C)!
On Saturday, Liesel and I took the boys back to the Memphis Kiddie Park. It has been a year since we last visited this theme park that caters mainly for young children. Last time, Josh was only able to ride the train, with his grandmother. This time, however, we tried him on a few other rides. Did he enjoy it?? I guess we will never know with his expressionless face!! My youngest will make a great poker player one day. Nathan, on the other hand, had a great time and went on most of the rides. His favorite was still the rollercoaster, which he went on once with Liesel, and another time with me! A little more than an hour later, we had run out of tickets and made our way back home.
Later that evening, Nathan's family fun choice was to go for a bike ride, and then have some of our favorite ice cream at Mitchell's. Because it was drizzling when we left the house, we decided to stop to get ice cream first. Imagine our disappointment, when we found out that they recently changed their frozen yogurt recipes, which now all include eggs! Since Josh has an egg allergy, he always used to enjoy their chocolate frozen yogurt, but now that is no longer an option. So we left the shop dejected, and went on to our bike ride. Once home, we raided the freezer and had our share of ice cream, and Josh could enjoy some egg-free Chocolate Ice Cream!
On Sunday morning, I was honored to be part of the worship team and enjoyed serving with the other talented musicians. That afternoon, I headed down to the fields in Bay Village, for my weekly Ultimate Frisbee game. I think it was the hottest that I have ever played in, and had a continual flow of perspiration streaming off my head. Despite the oppressive heat, it was still good, especially since I get to utilize some of my volleyball skills in the various games! While I was sweating it out, Liesel also had her fair share of exercise, as she pushed Josh around the block in his little car, and then played Lifeguard as the she and the two boys cooled down in the pool! You have got to love the Summertime!
On Saturday, Liesel and I took the boys back to the Memphis Kiddie Park. It has been a year since we last visited this theme park that caters mainly for young children. Last time, Josh was only able to ride the train, with his grandmother. This time, however, we tried him on a few other rides. Did he enjoy it?? I guess we will never know with his expressionless face!! My youngest will make a great poker player one day. Nathan, on the other hand, had a great time and went on most of the rides. His favorite was still the rollercoaster, which he went on once with Liesel, and another time with me! A little more than an hour later, we had run out of tickets and made our way back home.
Later that evening, Nathan's family fun choice was to go for a bike ride, and then have some of our favorite ice cream at Mitchell's. Because it was drizzling when we left the house, we decided to stop to get ice cream first. Imagine our disappointment, when we found out that they recently changed their frozen yogurt recipes, which now all include eggs! Since Josh has an egg allergy, he always used to enjoy their chocolate frozen yogurt, but now that is no longer an option. So we left the shop dejected, and went on to our bike ride. Once home, we raided the freezer and had our share of ice cream, and Josh could enjoy some egg-free Chocolate Ice Cream!
On Sunday morning, I was honored to be part of the worship team and enjoyed serving with the other talented musicians. That afternoon, I headed down to the fields in Bay Village, for my weekly Ultimate Frisbee game. I think it was the hottest that I have ever played in, and had a continual flow of perspiration streaming off my head. Despite the oppressive heat, it was still good, especially since I get to utilize some of my volleyball skills in the various games! While I was sweating it out, Liesel also had her fair share of exercise, as she pushed Josh around the block in his little car, and then played Lifeguard as the she and the two boys cooled down in the pool! You have got to love the Summertime!
Sunday, August 08, 2010
The blog from experience
As I mentioned last week, I celebrated my birthday today, so am now much wiser :P It was a good weekend with wonderful weather!
On Friday evening, it was Nathan's chance to choose setermine the activity for family fun night. After a few suggestions from his mom, he decided on going to Crocker Park to play in the water jets, since it was close to 90F/33C. Unfortunately when we got there, we saw that a platform had been constructed above it, from which a band was blasting their ballads. We walked around a bit before spending some time in Barnes & Noble for Nathan and Josh to play on the train set.
On Saturday, Liesel and Nathan went on a quest to find my birthday gifts, leaving Josh and I to play. We played inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, and there was no wearing this little guy down. He even pushed his toy lawnmower half way around our block! Liesel and Nathan arrived home in time for lunch and the it was finally nap time :) After Josh woke from his nap, Nathan Josh and I spent some time in the pool and played some more outside. It was then dinner time for the boys because we were having friends over a bit later for a "grown ups" dinner. The Bosley's arrived shortly afterward, and I fired up my grill. Soon we had an elaborate spread of food to dine on! After we put the boys to bed, Liesel pulled out the dessert. It has become my favorite dessert of all time, ad it's decadent! It consists of a choc chip cookie dough base, then a layer of choc chip cookie dough ice cream. This is topped with Cookie Crisp cereal (miniature Choc chip cookies) and finally covered with a hot fudge chocolate sauce! This kept us going strong during a good game of Scrabble, that yours truly won! We had a great time eating, talking and plenty of laughing!
On Sunday morning, I came downstairs and Nathan treated me to his special rendition of Happy Birthday. It was then time for gifts, and I was thoroughly spoiled by family and extended family. The Bosley's had given me an Official size and weight Frisbee, for my new competitive sport, Ultimate Frisbee. My family gave me some clothing for work and a beautiful new backpack for my computer. My mom had sent me some delicious South African chocolates that had unfortunately met with the AMerican summer heat, but that will not stop their consumption. I also received some iTunes gift cards, a golf shirt for work and money from Liesel's side of the family. I was really blessed.
This afternoon, I headed down to Bay Village to get my weekly fix of Ultimate Frisbee. We played a couple of games, and we lost one and won the other! It's a great workout, and the challenge is to keep up with the teenagers and college kids that make up the majority of the players! It was great to have Liesel and the boys come and cheer me on again. They are my inspiration, and I can proudly say that I represented the thirty-somethings age group well!
On Friday evening, it was Nathan's chance to choose setermine the activity for family fun night. After a few suggestions from his mom, he decided on going to Crocker Park to play in the water jets, since it was close to 90F/33C. Unfortunately when we got there, we saw that a platform had been constructed above it, from which a band was blasting their ballads. We walked around a bit before spending some time in Barnes & Noble for Nathan and Josh to play on the train set.
On Saturday, Liesel and Nathan went on a quest to find my birthday gifts, leaving Josh and I to play. We played inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs, and there was no wearing this little guy down. He even pushed his toy lawnmower half way around our block! Liesel and Nathan arrived home in time for lunch and the it was finally nap time :) After Josh woke from his nap, Nathan Josh and I spent some time in the pool and played some more outside. It was then dinner time for the boys because we were having friends over a bit later for a "grown ups" dinner. The Bosley's arrived shortly afterward, and I fired up my grill. Soon we had an elaborate spread of food to dine on! After we put the boys to bed, Liesel pulled out the dessert. It has become my favorite dessert of all time, ad it's decadent! It consists of a choc chip cookie dough base, then a layer of choc chip cookie dough ice cream. This is topped with Cookie Crisp cereal (miniature Choc chip cookies) and finally covered with a hot fudge chocolate sauce! This kept us going strong during a good game of Scrabble, that yours truly won! We had a great time eating, talking and plenty of laughing!
On Sunday morning, I came downstairs and Nathan treated me to his special rendition of Happy Birthday. It was then time for gifts, and I was thoroughly spoiled by family and extended family. The Bosley's had given me an Official size and weight Frisbee, for my new competitive sport, Ultimate Frisbee. My family gave me some clothing for work and a beautiful new backpack for my computer. My mom had sent me some delicious South African chocolates that had unfortunately met with the AMerican summer heat, but that will not stop their consumption. I also received some iTunes gift cards, a golf shirt for work and money from Liesel's side of the family. I was really blessed.
This afternoon, I headed down to Bay Village to get my weekly fix of Ultimate Frisbee. We played a couple of games, and we lost one and won the other! It's a great workout, and the challenge is to keep up with the teenagers and college kids that make up the majority of the players! It was great to have Liesel and the boys come and cheer me on again. They are my inspiration, and I can proudly say that I represented the thirty-somethings age group well!
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Productive weekend: Pruning, Painting, Game-playing, Pool-play and a pulmonary workout.
It was a weekend that served up much sweat, but also had a good serving of fun!
Saturday saw Liesel and myself in the garden. I trimmed our bushes in the front yard, while she cut back the lavender and rose bushes and removed the dead stalks from the day-lilies. Josh kept us on our toes as we discovered that he can climb up the playset in the backyard, unaided! Add that to his other recent accomplishments, such as our bar-height dining room chairs, and the office chair at the computer! This helps keep Liesel and myself on our toes, not to mention getting the occasional grey hair....
That evening, our friends, the Muth's, came over for dinner. We threw some hamburgers on the grill, while the children played in the pool! It was a beautiful evening, so it was decided to eat outdoors. After dessert, the adults moved indoors to the cooler air-conditioned environment,and broke out the games. The Muth's taught us two new games, which we thoroughly enjoyed until around 10pm, when the kids needed to be put to bed.
On Sunday, morning, Liesel and I were the volunteer Sunday school teachers for Nathan's class again, so we were at church slightly earlier than normal. Being summer vacation time, we only had Nathan and four other children in the class, which makes it a lot easier for us. Afterward, we headed home for lunch and a compulsory nap for all. Later that afternoon, I headed to our church's Ultimate Frisbee game, for 90 mins of heart pumping action. It's a great way to get a much needed work out, although my feet always take a beating. It seems my calouses are getting calouses, but it's a small price to pay. Liesel was getting her own workout at the same time, as she had both boys in the pool with her for close to an hour.
By the time I got home, it was dinner time, and afterwards I heard the pool calling my name. The boys joined me for round 2 in the pool
I really enjoyed the exercise this weekend, as I try desparately to cling to my youth. Sadly, this is my last blog as a 35 year old!!! Until next week.............................
Saturday saw Liesel and myself in the garden. I trimmed our bushes in the front yard, while she cut back the lavender and rose bushes and removed the dead stalks from the day-lilies. Josh kept us on our toes as we discovered that he can climb up the playset in the backyard, unaided! Add that to his other recent accomplishments, such as our bar-height dining room chairs, and the office chair at the computer! This helps keep Liesel and myself on our toes, not to mention getting the occasional grey hair....
That evening, our friends, the Muth's, came over for dinner. We threw some hamburgers on the grill, while the children played in the pool! It was a beautiful evening, so it was decided to eat outdoors. After dessert, the adults moved indoors to the cooler air-conditioned environment,and broke out the games. The Muth's taught us two new games, which we thoroughly enjoyed until around 10pm, when the kids needed to be put to bed.
On Sunday, morning, Liesel and I were the volunteer Sunday school teachers for Nathan's class again, so we were at church slightly earlier than normal. Being summer vacation time, we only had Nathan and four other children in the class, which makes it a lot easier for us. Afterward, we headed home for lunch and a compulsory nap for all. Later that afternoon, I headed to our church's Ultimate Frisbee game, for 90 mins of heart pumping action. It's a great way to get a much needed work out, although my feet always take a beating. It seems my calouses are getting calouses, but it's a small price to pay. Liesel was getting her own workout at the same time, as she had both boys in the pool with her for close to an hour.
By the time I got home, it was dinner time, and afterwards I heard the pool calling my name. The boys joined me for round 2 in the pool
I really enjoyed the exercise this weekend, as I try desparately to cling to my youth. Sadly, this is my last blog as a 35 year old!!! Until next week.............................
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