We're Back... with Congratulations to Give

(Please find the links to more pictures in the post below.)

Michele and I spent the weekend (October 20 - 23) in the Washington DC area.

The morning before we left, we found out that Melissa and Steve had their baby boy! Jack Stephen was born on 10/20/2006 at 3:03 am. He weighed in at a MASSIVE 9 pounds, 4 ounces at 22 1/2 inches long. Melissa ran a fever during her 22 hour delivery, so there were a few issues, but everything seems to be better now, as Mom, Dad, and their newborn toddler are all at home in Brighton.

The first person in our house to find out that Melissa had her baby was Jen. Jen and Bret came into town late Thursday night so that we could all ride to the airport together fairly early on Friday.

So, why did the four of us decide to visit our nation's capitol? Well, that's where the second set of congratulations come in. Francesco and Tiffany tied the knot on Saturday, October 21. They had a beautiful wedding in a small chapel followed by an intimate lunch at one of the groom's family's restaurants. It was a great day and it really seemed to fit their personalities. After some people caught some quick naps (and Michele and I made it to Church) a few of us got together to watch the Tiger's game. We had some trouble finding a sports bar, and when we finally did, we were bummed by the Tiger's loss, and even more bummed by the crappy service we got at the bar.

Sunday found Bret, Jen, Michele, and I taking the Metro train into Washington DC to do the amount of sight-seeing that lesser people might take a week to do. We saw all of the following: The Air and Space Museum, The National Museum of Natural History, the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. We visited all of that even with taking some time out to grab lunch and watch part of the Lions game, and end the day at The ESPN Zone in time for the start of the Tiger's game. When the wives started to fall asleep in the booth, we decided to leave the restaurant in the 6th inning and made it back to the hotel in time to see the end of the game. Luckily, even on the underground train system, my Verizon phone kept a data connection and I was able to keep up with their win through the mobile version of MLB.com.

On Monday, we got up and drove into Arlington. We visited the Marine Corps War Memorial, and spent the rest of the morning in Arlington National Cemetery. In the early afternoon we headed back to Dulles to catch our flight back to Detroit.

It was a great, long weekend that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. The only thing that might have made it better is if we could have taken our son along with us. Jake still had some fluid in his ears, and we decided it was probably safer to leave him home than risk the flight along with being in a strange place in the event that he might need to go to a doctor. GnGT got to watch him Friday through Saturday and Meme and Papa got him Saturday night through our return on Monday. While you might think it's unfair that one set of grandparents got 2 nights while the other got 1, I think they'd disagree (probably not out loud though). Jake had a bit of trouble getting to sleep and did not keep to his usual bed time of approximately 6:30 pm. His bedtime, instead, swung from 9:30 to as late as 11:30. Other than that, it sounds like he did very well being apart from us. It was awesome to see the expression on his face as he saw us when we got back on Monday night.

The Most Postponed Post

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

I started to type this post on Monday, and here we are late Thursday night. This will be short and sweet as we're packing for a short trip (more on that when we return).

I celebrated my 28th birthday last week. Michele's parents stuck around for dinner (and delicious 4 berry pie) on Wednesday of last week after watching Jake for the day. My parents then brought my grandma down and met Mark and Kelly at our house for dinner the following Friday. We ordered PF Changs take-out and it was DELICIOUS. The picture above shows most of the gifts I received. I got a gift card from the Troko's so I'll still have to figure out what to order from Amazon. On Saturday my dad helped me put up a new shed which you can see if you follow the picture link above.

Other than that, Jake is nearly over his cold, as are Michele and I. I'm anxiously awaiting the World Series to see whether the Tigers can cap an awesome season.

Hopefully there will be another post up early next week (Tuesday or Wednesday). See you then.

Another Week Has Flown By

(Please click on the photo to see more pictures.)

OK, either I'm getting old, or having a child really makes you realize how fast time flies by. I can't believe it's already been over a week since my last post.

Everyone in the Anderson Household (Livonia Branch) has been sick - INCLUDING Jake. Yes, he got his first cold which led to his first ear infection which led to a trip to the doctors which led to antibiotics and decongestant syrup. That was a lot of "led to's", but that's how it happened. He seems to be doing better now while Michele and I are not so much.

Last weekend we headed up to Grand Blanc for our 10 year high school reunion. While I wasn't looking forward to it, Michele convinced me that we'd have fun. It was nice seeing a bunch of people that we hadn't seen in ages. A lot of our old classmates are in a similar situation with new kids, so that was pretty cool too. Maybe if we do a 15 year or our 20 year reunion, families will be a part of something. Then again, by then, I'm guessing a night/weekend away from the kid(s) will seem like a blessing!

The main reason I wasn't looking forward to going to the reunion was because it happened to fall on one of the biggest sporting days in the area. We didn't get to see the Tiger's move on to the ALCS which was a huge bummer. Then again, we also didn't get to see MSU fall to UofM 31*-13. While it really didn't matter in the end, I added the asterisk because that first counted touchdown for Michigan was NOT a touchdown. It also helps to consider that single botched call broke the Spartan's spirit which eventually led to their loss. Of course, that's probably not true, but whatareyagonnado? Maybe they'll pull out a miracle this weekend and beat Ohio State. Not only would it possibly help John L. keep his job, but it would work well to tick off the UofM fans that are hoping to meet an undefeated OSU team in the last week to decide who goes to the national championship (also assuming they make it past Penn State and Iowa, of course).

Also, there's some more big news today. Anna (a former co-worker of Michele's) and her husband, David, had a baby boy today. He was born at 1:30 pm and weighs 6 pounds and 11 ounces. They have not decided on a name yet, but hopefully we'll post that with some photos. Anna and David recently moved WAY up to Alpena for David's job. Maybe their living up there will help us get up to (and then through) East Tawas more often.

Lastly, it looks like the Herman clan is enjoying the fall. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Lots of Updates

(Please click on the photo to see many more pictures.)

Before you shake your head and rub your eyes, this is NOT a picture of Jacob. This is Jessi and Harlan's daughter, Isabelle. Even if the Spartans can't beat the Fighting Illini, it looks like she still sticks by them. I'm sure that won't always be the case, so it's good we caught it on camera.

On Saturday, we left Jake with GnGT while Michele and I headed to East Lansing for MSU's Homecoming. We tailgated with Dan and Lynette, Craig and Kari, and Mike and Dana. This is our third or fourth year tailgating as a group. We started off in a parking lot by Grand River, and then made our way to BW3 to watch the game. Een though the Spartans lost (first time Illinois has won a Big 10 game since 2004 - very depressing), we managed to have a good time. In fact, here are a few pictures and here are a few more.

After the game Michele and I headed to Charlotte to see Jessi, Harlan, and Isabelle. Jessi and Harlan seem to be adjusting quite well to being new parents. Isabelle is an angel! It's amazing how small she seems next to our growing 6-month-old.

On Sunday we headed down to Dan and Lynette's to celebrate Colin's 3rd birthday! Lynette made him an awesome train cake. He also got a lot of cool toys including a Leap Pad and several activity books to go along with it.

Today, Jake started going to day care. He is going to The Learning Tree. It seems like a very cool facility and they have a structured lesson plan even for the infant rooms. He seemed to do really well today, so hopefully that keeps up. While we didn't get to see it, we heard he got to do some art today. I guess it's just moving any object around with paint on it, but it's something he's never done at home. Maybe he can continue practicing at Meme's house. We would have never been able to paint in the living room as kids, but maybe Alison has softened her up enough so that she'll let Jake!

Lastly, here are a few videos that I finally transferred off of our video camera.

When in the right mood, Jacob laughs at pretty much anything. Here, all I had to do was breathe in loudly, or say his name and he was off!
Make sure you have your audio up!



Jo and Elle were over, and Elle shows us her new trick (while Jake continues to laugh in the background).