Clifford is enjoining the warmer weather.

Zola found some sunshine.

App idea: a reminders app for homeschoolers. Parents can use Apple reminders, while kids get an app where completing tasks (school items) moves their player in their app up a level.

📍United States Post Office | Almont, Michigan

I’ve been using T-Mobile for about a decade now, ever since flying back from some trip and seeing that WiFi was free if I had T-Mobile, then finding out I’d get half off for being a veteran. My mom wanted to keep Verizon though, so with my work discount we just kept it in my name. It worked out for her and at the time I think she was paying about $40 for 2 GB and then unlimited talk & text. Fast forward a decade and that plan kept going up, with essentially the excuse of “if you want to keep this legacy plan, there’s a fee”. It now cost about $62 a month and anytime she went over on data another $15. This week I checked into what an unlimited plan would cost and with autopay and the veteran discount, plus taxes and fees I was able to get her at around $61.50. It isn’t the fastest 5G (according to the Verizon page) but for what she uses her phone for, I think it will work just fine.

Also, right now Owen and I are hanging out at a nearby coffee shop - I’m doing this and reading on my iPad and he’s playing Minecraft on the Switch. We’re both glad to get a little quiet from Levi’s current raptor stage 😂

I picked up a lot of the toys that don’t get played with to prepare for moving later this year. I made the mistake of not putting a lid on it though.

Buon Appetito Italian Cuisine for dinner. Our favorite Italian spot near our current home.

Looking for the neighborhood you want to live in, in a state you don’t currently live in is __________ ?

Cheeeeeese!

Currently reading: The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim 📚

53 degrees out this evening, so we went outside to walk to the store for a snack. Before winter, Levi had to go in the stroller. Now he walks/runs the entire way.

Yesterday, Rachel had a follow-up biopsy to check her cancerous nodule after her RFA procedure she had done in New Orleans. As the physician’s assistant was looking at the ultrasound and getting ready to poke her, she started getting confused about why she was there. I was thinking she was worried that the spot she needed to biopsy was going to be too hard for her to get to. She ended up taking off her gloves and saying she’d be right back. She came back with the radiologist and another doctor (that never talked), and I thought - uh oh. The radiologist confirmed that there was no longer any nodule - it was completely gone ! We were thrilled. She didn’t have to get poked again, and the nodule is not there to worry about. We got out of there, and we’re so excited for that news !

Also, it shows that the decision to do RFA (which is normal in other countries), instead of taking out her thyroid and having to be on meds the rest of her life, was the right decision for her.

Owen was telling me at bedtime what he would do if an intruder came to our house - let’s just say if you don’t want to be attacked by legos, a stuffy cannon, and a painting from his wall - stay clear.

We were bored tonight, so took the family for a drive to get our favorite pretzels from Art & Jake’s.

We’re up with the birds this morning in the parking garage.

My wife and I have been on a mafia kick lately after putting the kids down for the night. We started off with Get Gotti & now we’re on Fear City: New York vs The Mafia. This is a change from our Gilmore Girls binge.

Levi loves going on walks, but hates walking back home (I can relate).

Every couple of months Owen and I go to get pancakes before school starts. Every time, I miscalculate how long it takes and we end up at the school drop off about 35 minutes early 🤷‍♂️. The plus is more one on one time and a car movie.

I know this isn’t proper coffee etiquette, but a time saver for me in the morning (during the week) is to make it the night before, put in in the fridge and then microwave it. 😬

“Hey!!! Pell” translation: “Hey, Siri” (he thinks all smart speakers are Siri), “play ‘Do the Propeller’ by The Wiggles.”

My nephew, Damian graduated from USMC bootcamp in sunny California this past December. Originally we talked about all going down, but with Levi not being a great traveler quite yet it made more sense to have just me go. Then about a month or so after I used miles to get myself a ticket, we decided it would be fun experience for Owen to see and we added him to the flight.

We were able to take advantage of a lounge at the Detroit airport with one of my credit card rewards and that got us some nice breakfast, coffee, and a place to relax since we had some time before our flight.

Owen always does a great job with traveling, he knows what to expect and brings his travel must haves- headphones, Nintendo Switch, and an iPad loaded with shows.

We made it to California the night before Josh, my parents, and Jon & Miyuki so we ended up staying at The Grant Hotel (I had a free reward night so figured we should go somewhere nice). The hotel was nice and most importantly the bed was comfortable! The next morning we got breakfast at the hotel, grabbed a coffee for me at Blue Bottle and then went to meet up with everyone.

The first day, we went to a briefing where they explained what the recruits went through during bootcamp, shared some history, and talked about what they could or could not do during the next couple of days.

Afterwards, we were able to go down and see them marching, before they released them to see their family for the day. It was pretty sunny out, so here’s a pic where we are squinty or just not looking at the camera.

The morning of the ceremony, since the time zone change was in my favor, I woke up around 5AM and had text Josh I could take him whenever if he wanted to leave early. This ended up being a mistake, because I thought we would get there in plenty of time, but we ended up being stuck in traffic for about 3hours, because the base was searching every car that came through and created a hold up. When we got to the base, last minute I told him and Owen they should just get out and walk because they would probably beat me going through the car search, so they did and were able to arrive to their seats right as it began. I ended up being 45 minutes late, because a car in the lane I was getting searched in had brought a gun on the base, so they made all of the cars back up and go to another lane while they figured out what to do with him. This wasn’t a quick process. However, I made it before the end and was able to see him officially graduate. Later on I saw the guy that held everyone up, so my guess is he had a permit and just didn’t realize you can’t bring a gun on a base - not the brightest move.

It was cool to get to see my nephew graduate bootcamp, and to have my uncle there who saw me graduate from bootcamp 20 years ago.

It was also nice to have one on one time with Owen and get to have him experience this with me.

My mom arrived on Wednesday and as is our custom, we went straight to Holy Cannoli.

We also took a walk around my neighborhood since it was still warm out for this time of year.

Drove about an hour to Frankenmuth, where she had lunch with Rachel and Owen. Levi was sleeping hard when we arrived, so I just hung out with him so he could get his nap. He woke up right about the time they were done, so we walked to the toffee shop in town.

Went to church on Sunday morning. Then Rachel and my mom had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant. I took her to a veteran owned winery, which turned into an adventure since the location close by closed about 2 minutes before we got there. We ended up in Port Huron.

Finally Owen and I took her to the airport and ended up getting to walk her to the gate since Detroit allows a limited amount of non flyers to come in. It felt like the 90s, when my uncle would visit and we all got to go to the gate with him.

I would like to say we all had great sleep from Levi sleeping when he was supposed to, but there were a couple of all nighters. Ha.

Another Halloween for the boys. This year they both started off being Stitch, but last minute decided he liked Owen’s old Buzz Lightyear costume. Armada definitely knows how to do trick or treating. When we first moved here and our neighbor told us to expect 600+ kids, I thought he was exaggerating. He was not. So many kids and so much candy to go around from everyone in town.

Owen filled his bag up in about twenty minutes after just going down our street. Levi was loving the inflatable shark costumes, thinking it was baby shark.

I love that this is my backyard right now. Especially this time of year before it’s completely dead, you can still see the colors and you get to peek into the woods and see the sunrise. I still can’t believe they didn’t put the main bedroom on this side of the house though 🤔both boys get to wake up to an excellent view and we are looking into our neighbors driveway 😂

My Dad drove for a visit and brought along my nephews, Nolan and Dallas. They got in on Friday, at the perfect time since I just had taken the steaks off the grill and was starting to cut them up when they walked in. Levi was a little suspisious of everyone at first, but by the end of the night he was already trying to take snacks from my Dad on the couch and run with the other boys. While they were in town, there was a Halloween festival in my downtown that the boys got to dress up for. My dad and I took all the older boys to Lexington, Michigan while Rachel stayed with Levi so he could nap. The boys got to see Lake Huron, do their kites on the beach (apparently my dad just keeps kites in the back of his trunk… just in case) and then hit up the candy store. Sunday, we went to Activate which was a mix of games that light up on the floor or patterns you follow around and try to solve with others. That one actually looked like a lot of fun to do with just adults as well.