Stacy and I had a girls night out going down to the Palace to see Daughtry and Bon Jovi. And what a night it was. I ended up working that day and got out late but after we finally got off we heard towards the Palace and decided to eat near Great Lakes Shopping Center since there is so much to choose from there. We first wanted to go to Max and Erma's but there were no parking spaces and it looked like a long wait inside. So, we went further down the road and Stacy chose "South of the Border" It was a cool Mexican place and I loved the food. It seems like the place was full of people, mainly girls, heading to the concert. I used the restroom at the restaurant as I thought it would be a lot quicker than the palace. Well, I had to stand in a short line there and everyone in there was going to the concert so we were all talking about it. Then off to the show we went. Since I have been going to the Palace so much to see the Piston's, I have come up with my own way of getting there. I take the 2nd exit that isn't labeled for the Palace and then I cut across my exit lane to another entrance lane (ya, I know, illegal but so much worth it because I can part right near the exit that puts you on 75 north) and paid the enormous parking fee. Off to the concert. Of course, Daughtry was the opening act and he was so good. He should have finished a lot higher in American Idol. He is truly a rocker and even though he was the opening act, a lot of people were there to watch and most everyone stood though his set also. He came across as nice as he did on Idol, too. After his set it didn't seem to take as long as normal to get set up for the opening act. Bon Jovi then appeared and everyone went crazy, especially when Jon hit the stage. We had seen him once before in 2003 at Tiger Stadium and we thought it was great being in the big stadium. But I think it was better indoors because of the sound. The light show was unbelievable outdoors but so was theirs last night. They had so many big screens and I never knew which to watch, the screens or the stage. Every song they do is produced like it is the encore and the goes on and on and on. And of course everyone was singing and singing. Jon really knows how to work the crowd. There was one downside to the concert........there was this high maintenance princess that was next to me and she brought her very expensive coat in with her along with her very expensive large purse. Well, she held onto them the whole time and the extra large purse was 1/2 way into my area and kept hitting me in the back. I was getting so mad but I wasn't going to let her ruin this night. Bon Jovi was on stage for almost 2 1/2 hours and everyone still wanted more. But Jon was probably dehydrated as he sweat the whole time, badly. The big picture screens were so clear, that you could see his sweat flying all over the place. It was so hot in the Palace that even Stacy had a hard time with it and she was down to her tank top. Now, off to the car and since I had crossed the roads, we were parked right where I wanted to be and near the exit we needed. Well, people we so nice and let us in and we were out of the parking lot and on the express in maybe, about 3 minutes. I don't think that will ever happen again in my lifetime. The Palace also raised a banner for Bon Jovi at the Piston's game the night before....as Bon Jovi has sold out the Palace 10 consecutive times. It was a great night and worth all the money. Check out the pics and videos!
Aenne made a trip to Grand Rapids to visit her boyfriend, Simon. It was a short trip so she wasn't able to make it to Durand, so on a day when Simon was in school I went to visit her. She called the night before to ask if I was still coming because of the roads and I didn't know what she meant as the roads were fine here. But the next morning I found out why she called and asked because as I got close to Grand Rapids, the roads were horrible. I was a nervous wreck and I was so glad that I took the suburban and not my car. Come to find out there were 200 schools closed in the area, but not Simon's. After I picked her up we loaded my GPS to get us to Meijer Gardens, which most of it is outside at the better times of the year. But what we did get to see was beautiful and they had lilacs, hyacinths, daffodils and tulips in bloom. And since it was so cold and the roads so bad, it made me long for spring time. All the plant life was wonderful and Aenne and I were fascinated by the little birds. It doesn't take much to get us excited. :-) After the gardens we headed off to lunch and a big mall area as I was sure we could find something to do around there. But on the way we were going through downtown and I had read about an art gallery there so we changed the GPS and headed to the gallery. Well, we found it and a lot of it was pretty cool, but the prices weren't even anything we could fathom. Everybody that worked there were real nice though. So, now back on the roads, the slippery icy roads and even though the sun had been shining on them, they were still a mess and there were still all kinds of cars in the ditch and accidents. But we did make it to the mall area and Aenne chose the Olive Garden to eat at as she had never been there before. And it was such a good choice. We had a great lunch and then we head over to the mall. We didn't shop much but what we did do is go to the movies. I actually had a girl with me and I could go to a chick flick. We went to see "Fool's Gold" and I really enjoyed it. I was so happy that Aenne went with me. I wish she was still here because there is another chick flick I want to go to and like me, Stacy does prefer to watch them at home. After the movie it was off to Wall Mart to find something from America for Hanna . Hanna is Tino and Aenne's younger sister who I think she is 10 now. Well, Aenne said she is really getting into cooking shows and wanting to cook so I got her a cook book with lots of pictures and some measuring utensils. I would love to be able to watch her cook with all of this. I then took Aenne home and made the trip back to Durand. The roads were a lot better but I still had to very cautious. It was a great day and I am looking forward to her return visit this summer when she is able to spend some time in Durand. And as promised Aenne, we will play Cranium. All we have to do is convince my Mom to come up and play with us. :-)
Yes, you read write, number 10, and it's only January. We have never chosen anyone so early before. And I think Jannik holds the record of the latest pick, around July 13. Joi doesn't count even though it was August, he was all ready here and we didn't plan on taking an exchange student. I think it was a good thing that it worked out so well since we are continuing on for our 10th year. So, the newest member of our family is Hokan Martin and don't hold your breath because he isn't from Germany, but Sweden. But after reading his letter, it sounds like he will fit in with all of us very well. Of course, he has the main interest of soccer, but then you could figure that out. He also likes long distance running, bandy (type of Swedish style hockey), skiing and we saw a picture of him holding a fish. He has been chairman of his class and does well in school. He favorite classes are math and physics, right up Floyd's alley. He has an older sister,21, and a brother, 25. His father and brother are engineers, his mother a dentist and his sister is studying to be a dentist. Right now Hakan has plans on going into engineering. So, if some of you are able to visit you will get to meet him. He sounds like a well rounded person that will do well here. You know how hard it is for to tell the existing student that we have chosen a new one but I did tell Simon last night. I told him it was the second hardest thing for me to do, the worst sending my boys home. I just don't want anyone to ever think I'm replacing them or maybe it's more that I don't want to replace the existing one. He told me he understood.
On another note, Jon Simon's family has started a group to raise money to build a 2 story press box with dug outs this summer in memory of Jon. It looks like we will be selling raffle tickets to a car and the drawing will be on my birthday. I'm sure I will keep you updated on this. Isn't this just the way to do things, we have lights at the field and now the press box, but what ever happened to making sure we have a good field for the kids to play on. Maybe someday. Take care and I miss everyone!
We finally were able to celebrate the third part of Simon's birthday. On Thursday and Friday, we had no school due to a recent snow storm, around 15 inches of the snow. So, on Friday we left for Mt Pleasant so Simon could try his hand a poker. We got a room which I thought I might enjoy as I took 2 books with me and imagined that I would be near the pool and read. But as it turned out, Floyd became very sick with a cold and he used the room. After we checked in we took Simon over to the casino and looked for Floyd Seder's mother as she had a couple of extra tickets to The Orchestra, formerly known as ELO. We had a nice visit and then Floyd took Simon to the pitch table, which is one deck black jack. Simon picked up the game very quickly and they finished ahead. So, Simon's first experience at gambling was successful. We found the poker room and signed Simon up to sit at the $1-$2 blind tables and but didn't realize that the bets were unlimited. We made sure he was set and Floyd went to the room and I found Other Floyd's mom and sister. They were at the pitch table and the dealer there told me that wasn't the right table for Simon to be on due to the unlimited bets so I got very nervous for him and I went to talk to the people at the poker room front desk. They also told me that wasn't the best place for him to be and I didn't know what to do because I didn't think I could go in and talk with him. But the guy told me it was no problem so I went and got him. He was happy to get off of that table and we signed him up on the list for the $3 and $6 blind table. We had enough time to get him a sandwich and then it was his turn to play. After I while I went to check on him and he saw me and he waved and gave me a thumbs up sign and I was happy for him. I was so trying not to to embarrass him the whole time but you all know how worried I can get. He was still playing when I went to the concert so I gave him a ticket in case he wanted to come after he was done. I have seen ELO in the past but it was almost 30 years ago and I didn't know what to expect, especially since it wasn't many of the founding members, but it was very good and I really enjoyed it. There was an older couple sitting next to me and he tapped me on the shoulder and ever asked me if I had heard of the band. He said that since it said orchestra, they thought it was going to be something like Tommy Dorsey. After a while, they got up and left. I hope Other Floyd's mom was enjoying it because his sister and I were. I had texted Simon and told him that there weren't many people sitting around us so he could come when he was done and he wrote back and said he was coming and I was glad I did. He was there for the last 35 minutes and got to see all the old people up dancing, clapping and singing. I'm sure it must have been a sight to see. All in all it was a very good day and night and Simon said he had fun. All I know is that I slept on the floor as I thought Floyd had pink eye and he was running fevers and I wanted no part of catching any of that. Simon insisted that if anyone was going to sleep on the floor it was going to be him but I didn't tell him that I was going to. There was a law from the fire marshal that the room we were in couldn't have a roll away, boo. But it was still a good time. And right now, Floyd is starting to feel better.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Jakob's sister, Janna had a friend flying into Detroit Metro to visit her for 2 weeks. A couple of days before she was suppose to pick her up, her friend from Central told her she couldn't take her so she called me. So, on Sunday at 1:45 pm I left to go up to Mt Pleasant to pick up Janna. We stopped back by home to pick up Simon's friend, Simen to drop him off near home after Simon's party the night before. So, we got to Novi and Simen's host sister met us there to pick him up and at the same time Janna got a call from her friend's mother and said that Annika, her friend, had missed her connecting flight to Detroit as her plane from Frankfurt was late. The next plane to Detroit was in 5 hours. So now, instead of her coming in at 6:30 pm it would now be 11:30 pm. We were right by Twelve Oaks Mall but since it was Sunday and 6pm it was closing. So, we drove around the area a little bit to decide what to do. We ended up eating at Potbelly's and then went to see the movie "The Kite Runner". It was such a good movie. We both cried and laughed, I'm so glad we went. When we found the theater, we had never heard of many of the movies and we were a little confused but when we got in side we saw advertisements for Indian movies and Indian businesses. After the movie, we went to an Irish Pub nearby and sat near the fireplace (Janna wanted to get warm) and we watched the end of the Super Bowl. It didn't end the way I wanted but it was fun seeing the exciting finish. Poor Janna was trying to understand it all. I think that will be one American thing she won't get used to. :-) It was finally time to go and get Annika and everything seemed to be going good now. But that thought was soon vanished as when we were near Lansing we hit bad weather. The driving became very slow. It was snowing so hard it made it hard to see and then when the crazy semi's went flying past, it was like a white out. But we made it safely to Janna's and I made it safely home, at 5am. It was a long day but it was fun to spend the time with Janna and it was like she said, "A Girl's Night Out."Thanks Janna.
With a lot of help from Eivind, we were able to pull off a surprise party for Simon and he says he had no idea what was going on and was really surprised. It started out with me asking Simen, his friend in Novi, to ask Simon if he could come and visit on Saturday and Simon told him no. We were busy all day Saturday with YFU so Simon thought it wouldn't be worth the trouble for such a short time. (During our meeting on Saturday, Simon texted Simen and asked him if he still could come up and Simen told him he was busy. Ha, Ha.) Well, we put another plan in place and were able to get Simen here so that was also a surprise to Simon. Simon came down the stairs and saw his friends and he had the biggest smile on his face. They were able to play a little poker and then we left for soccer zone so they could also play some soccer, two of Simon's favorite, soccer and poker. And after soccer, they came back to the house and finished their poker and ate. Simen, Eivind and Trevor stayed the night and I guess they played poker until 5 in the morning. I was long in bed before then. Now, all we have to do is finish the 3rd part of his birthday and that is going to the casino. We had such bad weather on Friday, we weren't able to go. But I know we will get him there. I'm sure this wasn't a traditional Norwegian 18th birthday celebration, but an American one and Simon did say he had a good time. :-)
