...begats cellphone...

so my kid is a technophille just like her dad. and she seems to have inherited my obsession with all things cellphone lol. having played with my new phone (see previous post i.e. helio), she instantly hated her Razr *surprise surprise* luckily, her new disgust with her phone coincided with her mothers desire to no longer pay for it LOL

so... long story short...here is my daughters new phone...


and here she is enthusastically enjoying it lol its actually a cool phone, one that I would carry myself, were i not a "helion" lol its a definate texting oriented phone. virgin mobile is the company. so far so good, decent rates, excellent signal (uses verizon towers). the phone itself was only $99. i love how you can do everything online. their website could be a bit more intuitive, especially since their target market is the younger demographic, but its still pretty good. something wacky is going on with her text messaging regarding how many messages she does/does not have, but I'm sure that will be fixed with a call to customer service.

bottom line is she loves it, so i love it...thats what count right?

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Di

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Did some shopping. She won a scholarship to a week long camp, so she needed a new swim suit. MAN i wont EVEN go into the drama that entails lolOther than that we had fun. Had chinese one day and mexican the next lol I promised her Red Lobster next time. Its time for crab legs!!Oh yeah, the zoo is open! We are so there next weekend! Oh wait, next weekend s my birthday ;)

Celebrations continued....

Look at the size of her sandwich!! Its as big as her face! LOL Eating at Joe's Be-Bop BBQ in Navy Pier.
Crystal Garden in Navy Pier. Notice the leaping fountains in the background?
Aliyah getting counseling from a piece of art in Navy Pier Park.
We're dwarves!! LOL
Finally heading home after a LOOOONG day of reckless merriment and father/daughter bonding :) On the train, relaxing for the 3.5 hour ride home.

Celebrations!

Ok you've heard of the MEP tests right? If not, they are standardized scholastic tests used in Michigan to guage where your childs aptitude (is that the right word?) is. Well Aliyah took hers not too long ago and we recently received the results.

She scored well above average in just about every subject, which to be honest, wasn't a surprise. My daughter has always done well in school. What WAS a suprise is her math score. She not only scored highest in her grade (7th) but she scored highest in her SCHOOL (6 - 8th grade)!! The principle came to personally congratulate us and she received a letter from the Governor.

So anyway, to reward her, I decided to take her on a trip to Chicago, via train! Both were first for her so it was very exciting. With her about to be 13, it was her first "big girl" trip. We had a blast. Check out some photos...

This is Aliyah on a bridge on Michigan Ave? I can't remember LOL
In front of the Sears Tower of course. We didn't go up this time... line was too long.
On the water taxi, on the way to Navy Pier
Aliyah watching a group of canoeists on a tour LOL I'll post some more pics in the next post or two.

more family time...

we went to a semi-pro basketball last night. we meaning me, my brother, my daughter, and my nephew. had a total ball! the team (battle creek knights) won handily at 131 - 103 i beleive. i have never seen any single team hit so many 3 pointers in a row in my life. i dont know what set them off but the knights were "on fire" last night!

it was cool cuz they (the knights) try to make it a family, interactive affair. with lots of screaming and loud music and dancing and give aways. we didn't end up getting anything but the kids were worn out from all the screaming and dancing lol

so far this summer is looking like it will be a good one...

family

i recently got to spend time with my little brother and his son. its funny calling him my little brother since he's about 6-1" or so, and about 285 or better LOL

anyway, i havent physically seen him in about 2 years. we both been kinda all over doing whatever and it seemed like we just couldn't get together. we loosley kept in touch via phone and my Gran. no matter what seems like he always kept in touch with Gran, and so I would get updates through her. we both have gone through several cell phone numbers over the years so Gran proved to be a good resource LOL

well he has been going thru his own trials, and came to the decision that he is moving back to the hometown also. that is awesome news! he came and spent a couple days with me. we had fun. it was great hanging out with him. we've never really hung out much with each other as adults, so when it does happen, i really enjoy it. we were also able to pick up his son and spend time with him also.

so i'm really hyped about him moving back here. i hope things go smoothly for him. he's excited too, to be back in his kids life full time. i think its a win-win for everyone.

old country buffet

bout a week ago, me and the kid went to old country buffet. in case you don't have one near you, its a classic all-you-can-eat buffet with a typical assortment of food americana. i like it, she loves it. i just enjoy they time we spend together although i've never been one to turn down a chance to get my eat on LOL

i always eat too much at these places. i say "i'm not gonna pig out. just get full..." but of course they have so many freaking things i like, and you just have to taste them all LOL it's one of the few restaurants i eat at that i feel i get my moneys worth!

she always hates it when i take pics of her eating. i told her thats what she gets for stealing my hat! plus its in the dad's handbook that i have the right to embarrass her at will. which i so delight in doing LOL