HAPPY HARVEST FESTIVAL!!!

Getting ready to go to the Harvest festival at Zion. Dinana and Gabe pose then baby sis decides to join in.
















Princess Kara D.....(yes she is a princess too)















Cousins Drewby (left) and Jordyn (right) pose as a clown and angel (appropriately so too ;-))















Gabe really shouldn't have punched this kid - but who could blame him.........(cmon its a joke)















Hey - even mommy got on the blog this time. Gabe looks like he went as a boxer instead (where are his front teeth??)















Jackson ("Jackie") Miller celebrates his first Halloween in style (what a cute little dude)















No - she was NOT clowning around as she took FIRST PLACE in the costume contest. Great job on the costume Sonya!! (wait until you guys see the amazing school pictures taken)















Okay - not a self shot - but it made it on the blog anyway. Gabe is still thumbs up after knocking out the buckeye.....he really needs to enjoy the rivalry....geez, some people get serious about it (NOVEMBER 18th BABY!!! - oh sorry)
















Kara and friend Zaria pose while being judged in the contest.

What an awesome time we had (again) at the annual Zion Harvest Festival. It was the third year for this great event that hosts games, prizes, pony rides, petting farms, blow up slides and other fun rides/games - oh and CANDY....lots and lots of candy. We are grateful that our church puts on such sweet spectacle. There is a lot of effort that goes into it and we are so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful home church. I still can't figure out what happened to all of the chocolate..........

KALAHARI (a.k.a. Kawahawli)
































Gabe found Wheel of Fortune - one of his favorite games















Kara loved the play area - especially the zebra "marty"
















My shoulder is sore after playing this game several times.
















Before we entered the waterpark - Noelle and DD strike a pose















Where are his teeth? Gabe got me to go into the HUGE playscape. Main Dude and I had a blast shooting the bouncy balls and finding the slides.















Mini-Golf
Gabe had to play this game 5 times. We even got the ladies to join us for nine holes before dinner on Saturday night. Kara insisted on the pink ball.

























Gabriel poses with the elephant. Kara was a little freaked out by him.
















Even Noelle found her way into the playscape....

Noelle and I thought it would be a great idea to get the kids out for a mini-vacation weekend before I start my new job. So, we loaded up the van and headed to Sandusky, OH to Kalahari Resort. They had a ton of things to do in a short weekend, but we managed to hit a ton of rides, slides and games before heading home on Sunday.

Gabe thought (or was wishing) we moved there and referred to our house as the "old house". Kara really loved "kawahawli" and didn't want to leave. As for me, getting stuck inside a waterslide tunnel (on a raft) for over five minutes was no fun, but the surfing ride was a blast!

We will definitely go back there next year and hopefully be able to entice some of the cousins to join us.

WORLD SERIES - GAME TWO
Smudge-Gate
















Yes - I'm still in shock that I have two tickets to the World Series Game 2 in my hand. Wait a minute....where is Noelle? She looks a lot like Ben.....
















Still in shock - as we walked up to the gate, I had to get a close up of the tickets to remind myself that I had them....















Game ON! The Tigers start off fast with a Homer by Monroe and some clutch hitting to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning. We also found out that Kenny Rogers had "something" on his hand that magically disappeared by the second inning..... (hence "smudge-gate")















No - we are not drunk - just have perma-smile.
$15 gets you a big book of advertisements and a few articles. How can you not get one though?















Tiger Closer, Todd Jones, nearly blows a three run lead in the ninth and in the process takes a few years off of the lives of Tiger fans.......Yeah he almost blew it.....
















......But as you can see above - the Tigers take Game 2 to tie up the series at one game a piece......

In many ways I am still in shock that I was able to go to a WS game. When Noelle called me from work, on Friday, and said "So - you wanna go to the game on Sunday?", I thought she meant a Pistons pre-season game............ The lack of babysitting, the rain and thirty some degree weather while fighting a cold, kept Noelle away, but part of me thinks she wanted to bless brother Beaner (the biggest baseball fan we know) with the opportunity to go to a live WS game. It was also a chance to repay him for the invite to the ALCS game a week earlier.

The Tigers won this game, however, they lost the next three in St. Louis. In perspective - it was an amazing season that left a little more to be desired next year. I won't soon forget my first (and quite possibly my only) World Series game experience. Major Thanks to KDM/D - A dream of mine became a reality! (you are too cool)

FIFTY - YEAH FIFTY!














Uncle Leo Pat and Aunt Anna Celebrate 50 Years!!
















Pass the bread please......















Nellie and P Square share a daddy-daughter moment
















Left to Right - Me, Uncle Don (Bugs), Uncle Brian, Nolan, Mom, Adam and Beaner















Left to Right - Nellie, Cynthia, Adam, Nolan, Sonya, Nicole and Todd (a.k.a. the Cousin Shot)















Mom and Nicole (I know - they could be twins)

Uncle Leo Pat and Aunt Anna celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. That is an amazing accomplishment in this day and age. We will never forget being handed a rubber snake by Uncle Leo in our receiving line at our wedding......well he got one back in one of the gift bags (thanks to Nicole) We had a great time at the party and loved seeing all of our family that could make this event.

Uncle Leo and Aunt Anna - your commitment to your marriage and to each other is inspiring.

DISNEY ON ICE





















Thanks to our friends from Flagstar for taking a picture of ALL of us!














Beauty & the Beast (After the Spell was Broken)



Prince Gabe and Princess Kara are cheesing...












We went to the Palace of Auburn Hills to see Disney on Ice from the Flagstar Suite. The kids had a blast watching all of their favorite Disney characters twisting and twirling all over the ice. Gabe's favorite part was the Nemo skit, while Kara loved the "Princess" presentation.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPS

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?????
















WE WOULD BE WATCHING TIGER BASEBALL IN DETROIT IN OCTOBER???



















SEE BELOW- YEP BEANER AND I BOTH DID!!!! (Ask CC)

































HECK YES IT WAS COLD...But Some pre-game arm bumping got us fired up!
















HANGING WITH RUSS ANTHONY THE GREATEST SPORTS HANDICAPPER IN AMERICA (If he knew anything about soccer I would have said the world) BEANER JUST CHOMPING ON SOME PEANUTS WHILE RUSS AND I STAY WARM DRINKING OUR HOT COCOA......

What a day!!! I'll never forget it - Beaner asked me to go to Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between out beloved Detroit (Decent) Tigers and the Oakland Athletics. Due to temperatures dropping the game was moved to 4:30 p.m. So we had to get out of work early (darn)..... We got to see Kenny Rogers throw a two hit shut out to beat the As 3-0 and give the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the best of seven series. The following night the boys took care of business to put the Tigers in the World Series for the first time since 1984 (Wow that is a long time)

Saying thank you is not quite enough to express how grateful I am to have been asked to go to this game. It should be fun watching the World Series, but I'm not sure TV does justice to actually being there.

(Side Note - Claudio needs to fire up his BBQ grill and get ready for some MORE October baseball)

No Alibi Needed

Self shot - I'm getting good at these....







Noelle and I went to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. Nobie attended the "Mortgage Fraud Conference" while I played some Texas Holdem and spent quality time with my Dad. Hey it was raining - what else was I supposed to do? Plus the Tigers were beating down the NY Yankees and I HAD to watch that.

We went to see the Cirque D' Soleil show at the Mirage "Mystere". We were walking out of a restuarant when a nice man blessed us with some front row balcony seats to the show. Apparently he had extras and was with a big group (how cool). We also shared a beautiful dinner at Portico at the Venetian (where we stayed) with some attorneys from down south. Overall we had a blast but couldn't stop talking about our Main Dude and Little Princess (we missed them so much)

Happy October!!!

Lunch on the back porch is a little colder this time of year















We had PB&J but Kara added the "Cheeeeze"

After church we decided to have lunch on the porch. The kids then played with Colin and Baby Kate (not pictured). After lunch we got a chance to watch the Detroit Tigers hand the Central Division to the Twins.......No - I'm not bitter.....

HOW BAZAAR

Cruising around (and a round) at the carnival















Gabe shows off his prize from the carnival (Brian the Bear) while Kara D holds her prize stuffed octopus (Suzie) in the rain.

The kids and I went to my old stompin' grounds St. John's for the annual Bazaar. We ate some great Armenian food and got to see some old friends. Dinana stuck around with the rest of the gang while Gabe, Kara and I checked out the carnival rides and games. We had a great time and got home in time to see Michigan score their first touchdown.......(where are my priorities?)