myJaxonIf we don’t go crazy once in a while, we’ll all go crazy. - Hawkeye

I’ve been talking about this for awhile and I’ve finally set it up. I’m going to be having a Pampered Chef party at my house on Oct. 18th in the afternoon. This isn’t the official invite, so keep an eye out for that, but please keep the date open. This will be my first one and I’m hoping we’ll have a lot of fun.

I’m really excited that I’ll be able to do this.  I’ve never had the chance to go to one before, although I have been invited, just time and circumstances wouldn’t allow it.  However, I’ve decided to make it so I can’t miss one and have one myself.  I have some of their stuff already and I love using it.

The game comes with a wheel that makes it easier to use the wii remote and even allows Ian to play the game. There are 8 different courses in Grand Prix mode, with four them being new and the other four including courses from Game Boy Advance, Game Cube, NES, and other past Nintendo consoles. All of the favorite characters are back, plus you can even use your own Mii once you get gold in the 150cc race. There is also battle and vs mode where you can team up with other characters or race against them on your own. I like the balloon battle over the coin battle, but both are fun to play with. In true Wii fashion, you can also play Mario Kart online. You can log onto the Nintendo WiFi net (or whatever it’s called) and find other people to race or if you’re friends are online, you can race them. This mode is nice because we can race Jordan and Beth in Grand Rapids without leaving our own apartment in Detroit.

The game has been a lot of fun to play. Ian actually got it for us for Mothers/Fathers day, although he may not realize that. It’s one of the few games Jesse and I can play together without getting mad at each other for running into battle and destroying all of the strategy. Plus Ian loves watching it. He’ll actually bring the game wheel to either one of us and pull us to the TV. He also loves sitting in our laps while we’re racing around the track. He even has his own character. He doesn’t race well, but likes holding the wheel and he knows which button to push to make the car go; he just hasn’t figured out that he needs to constantly push it. The only real trouble with Ian liking this game is he really likes this game and will go right up to the TV to see what is going on. He’s a definite handicap when we’re playing.

The courses are pretty fun, but I absolutely hate Rainbow Road, but I guess that is a staple for the series. I’ve done all the cups in both the 50cc and 150cc, except for the Special Cup because of that blasted course. I’ve even got gold in all the other cups, but I can’t even place for this course. I’ve even been trying to convince Jesse to play just Rainbow Road for me, I would go through the three courses before it, just so I can get past this blasted cup. No such luck yet.

Does anyone have a list of things they need to pack for when they go camping? Yeah, I should have one, but I couldn’t find the one I did for last year. I think I did one last year, I’m pretty sure I did one last year…

Anyway, my mother is just as organized as I am, if not more so, and she was looking for her list and couldn’t find it either. She did some searches and found a couple of really good ones. Here is a list for the generic camper. It’s a pretty good comprehensive list, but I will probably remove some of the items for my own. After all, I don’t think we’ll be needing Water Purifying Tablets or Water Filtering Pump for our weekend trips.  She also found this list for families. While we’re not planning any camping trips this year with Ian, I do plan on taking him at least once next summer.  We were thinking of going this year in June,  but with buying a house and Ian being the age he is, we wanted to wait one more summer.

So I wanted to share these lists and put them in a place where I’ll be able to find them again.

Okay, I’m excited. B93 announced this years Birthday Bash lineup and I’m excited to see who is playing there. For those of you who are not aware of this event, B93 (a Grand Rapids, MI radio station) hosts a huge concert event every year for their birthday. Originally it was a one day event starting early in the morning with a new upcoming act and ending with a headliner. Last year, or maybe the year before that, they turned it into a two day event. Now they have two headliners instead of two. This years lineup is going to be awesome and I’m really hoping I can talk Jesse into letting me go. The event is at the Ionia fairgrounds, which means they have camping available for a price. Does anyone want to go camping for a night? The Bash is scheduled for Saturday, June 21st and Sunday, June 22nd and the whole concert is free (but they did have reserved sitting for a fee last year, but it included all the acts and both days).

Here’s the lineup:

Saturday’s Line-Up

Billy Currington bio | music videos	Chris Cagle bio | music videos
Eric Church bio | music videos	Phil Stacey myspace
Special Guest click here	Local Act

Sunday’s Line-Up

Gretchen Wilson bio | music videos	Pat Green bio | music videos
Keith Anderson bio | music videos	Jake Owen bio | music videos
Jypsi bio | youtube

We did it again. Last year we went camping at Orchard Beach State Park in Manistee and this year we went back for another round. Brad and Erin were unable to join us this year, however, Tim and Kathie came up instead. The weekend wasn’t quite like last year, but when you mix up the crowd, that tends to happen. The weather was really great all weekend. Much better than last year. It rained on the four hour car ride to the west side of the state, but it didn’t rain again until we were taking the tents down this morning. And even then, it really didn’t rain, just hiccuped a little.

Saturday night we went to Little River Casino and I actually made money. Well, sorta. Jesse and I each took in $10 and that is what we used to gamble with. I ended up leaving with $32. That’s not bad. Jesse didn’t do so hot, but he made up for it Sunday when we went back and I ended up losing all $10 I went in with and he came out with $14. Yeah Jesse!

We didn’t check it out last year, but we did get down to the Port City Street Fair that goes on during this same weekend. There was a bunch of arts and craft tables, some live music, and a bunch of food. At one end of the street, there was a car show going on, but I think we got to it towards the end. Most of the cars were gone when we went to check them out.

We definitely learned from our mistakes last year. We didn’t do community snack foods and I don’t think we spent that much on food. Beth and Jordan brought a lot of food with them, so there really wasn’t much for us to go shopping for. We didn’t go through anywhere near the amount of wood we did last year. Granted, it was warmer this year (by a lot), so there really wasn’t the need for a continuous fire. Don’t get me wrong, we had one, it just wasn’t roaring.

We ended up getting a new tent this year. After last year’s fiasco with the rain and the leaky tent, Jesse and I ended up with a six-person Coleman tent. It was a really nice tent, but there was one thing we were sorely lacking….an air mattress. That’s next year’s purchase. We have a decent tent now, we just need to fix the sleeping arrangements.

I think that’s about it. Jesse and I have already decided that we need to take Ian camping next spring (no he didn’t go with us this weekend, he spent it with grandma). I’m trying to convince Jesse that we should go for the Lilac Festival in Mackinaw Island in June. We’ll see if I can. Oh yeah, the pictures for this weekend are here. So enjoy.