They say you learn something new everyday, and today I learned that in order for Zales to properly inspect, clean, and put a new back on Kylie’s earrings they need to send them out. Apparently each back is custom to the stem, at least for the current stems on her earrings. 
I was not expecting this and so in order to let them do this we first had to find a new pair of earrings to buy Kylie so she could still wear a pair and we could send out her diamonds. So off we went to other stores and after some serious searching Kylie found these owl earrings that she liked. So tonight we got new earrings and sent out her diamonds to get cleaned and fit for a new back.
Category Archives: Family
Mad dash to the mall
Tonight after Kylie got done taking her shower we discovered that she had lost a back to one of her diamond earrings. This would normally not be an issue because she could just put in another a pair, but she doesn’t have another pair at Daddy’s house. So at 8:45pm Daddy jumped in the car and headed to the mall, which closed at 9pm, to try to go to Zales and get a new back for the earring. Needless to say Daddy made it to the mall in time and was able to get a new temporary back for her earring. The back is temporary because it is a yellow gold back and her earrings are white gold. Tomorrow we will need to go up to the mall and see about getting a new back that matches and also get them inspected and cleaned.
Boy Trouble
Looks like the “problems” that started last year with Kylie and her 
boyfriends are going to continue this year as well. Of course these are only “problems” for Daddy and they are likely to get worse as she gets older, I guess I’ll need to find a way to deal with this eventually. So what am I talking about? Well today when Kylie came home from school she was toting along a long stemmed red rose that she got from Lestat. Not sure what I am going to do about this…
Update 9/18
Here is a picture of the rose in question. Clicking on it will bring you to the larger image in the gallery.
A Great First Day
Today was Kylie’s first day of 1st grade, and as we had hoped, she woke up excited and had a great day. She completely forgot about how nervous she was last night and when Mommy got her to school she went right up to the “big doors” and found her friends. Today was a half day as well, so when Mommy picked her up after school Kylie was a bundle of excitement, talking about all the friends from last year she saw and all the new friends she made today by meeting all the new kids in her class. It would appear that the night before jitters have all been forgotten and we are in store for a wonderful year of first grade!
First Grade Jitters
Tomorrow is Kylie’s first day of 1st grade! Unlike last year, I wont be able to take the day off to head down and see her off in the morning. However Kylie and I have been talking about the upcoming start to the school year and she has been pretty excited about going back and seeing all of her friends, so imagine my surprise when Kylie called tonight to talk to me because she is nervous about starting first grade. Through talking with her and Mommy we found out that she is worried the older kids might pick on her or bump her when they go in through the “big doors” or when they are standing outside. This is a new experience for her, going in through the “big doors,” because last year the kindergarten classes had there own door into and out of the building that basically went into the school right on the kindergarten wing. This year though, because she is in first grade, she will stand out at the main doors to the school with all of the other students, except the kindergartners. She has obviously had interaction with kids in grades above her and knows some of them through peer mentoring programs and such that the school utilizes, but the thought of being with all the older kids at one time in one common spot has her feeling a bit apprehensive. Mommy and I explained to her that even though all the older kids will be there as well they will still be in their own line based on who their teacher is. Also that the teachers themselves will also be there to make sure that no pushing or shoving goes on and that everyone is being nice. After a few minutes Kylie said she felt better but was still a little nervous. We told her that it is okay to be nervous and reminded her that in addition to all the older kids that will be there, all of her friends from last year will also be there and they will have lots to talk about, telling each other all about what they did over the summer. She agreed that would be fun and then decided she should get some rest, but insisted she was still nervous. Hopefully when she wakes up tomorrow she will be to excited to remember that she is nervous.
Are you new at this?
Today was Kylie’s annual pre-start of school year physical. All of her numbers are normal, and she is now 46” tall (3 feet 10 inches) and weighs 54.5 lbs, additionally her blood pressure is 90/60 (the nurse told us that is normal and good). The funniest thing happened at this checkup though, and I include her blood pressure because that’s the funny part. The nurse was attempting to check Kylie’s blood pressure but had some type of an issue with her pressure cuff that required her to take it apart and replace the pressure bulb. She had attempted to get Kylie’s pressure twice before deciding it was time to take it apart and when the nurse was fixing here problem, and right before she tried for the last time, Kylie calmly looks at her and asks “Are you new at this?” Mommy and Daddy laughed before we could stop ourselves and explain to Kylie that that comment was not particularly nice. The nurse thought it was funny too though and told Kylie that she was not new, but that her equipment was not getting a proper seal and so the cuff wasn’t inflating properly and she had to fix it. Thankfully the nurses are all great at Kylie’s doctor’s office and so understanding of children.
At This Minute, Ten Years Past
Today is a special day, an anniversary if you will. Ten years ago today Tiffany and I were driving out in Dearborn on our way to Fairlane Town Center when we drove past Vet Select and noticed they had a sign saying they had kittens for adoption. We had been talking about getting a pet but hadn’t really made any decisions yet, so we decided that if they were still open when we were done at the mall that we would stop in on our way home. Much to our surprise, as we drove past hours later, they were still open; so true to our plan we went in. As it turned out they had only one kitten left; an approximately six week old female tortie. She was the runt of her litter (born stray in a woman’s yard who brought them all in to Vet Select) and the last one left, but she looked so cute and lonely in her cage so we asked to see her. They brought her out and set her on the counter next to us. She was tiny with very large eyes and she immediately came over and started to nuzzle up against us and meow. When Tiffany looked up at me I knew I wasn’t leaving without this kitten. I told the staff we would take her, but I needed to go next door to Pet Supplies Plus and get some items first, because we had nothing for a cat. We filled out all the necessary paperwork and paid her adoption fee, then we decided on a name. Tiffany originally wanted to call her Mischief, but I suggested Princess, and that is what we settled on. They said they would get Princess ready, they needed to take her stitches out as she had already been spayed and determine what shots she still needed, and when we got back with all her new supplies (food, water and food dishes, toys, collar, leash and carrying crate) we were all set to go home with our new addition. Once we got in the car we immediately found out that she was not a fan of car rides as she cried the entire drive home. However once we got home and in the house she was fine. We kept her secluded to a single room for the first few days, and once we opened the door to her room so she could explore the rest of the apartment the first place she ran to was behind the toilet. To this day that is one of the first places she runs to when she is frightened. Over the years a lot of things have changed, but threw it all Princess has been with me; my constant companion. Melissa tends to say that she is more like my dog than a cat because Princess will, more often than not, come when I call her and sit by me. In fact she has a way of sitting next to me and glaring at Melissa sometimes, or perching herself on the arm of the couch next to me like a gargoyle, so Melissa says she is my little guard cat. I know they say that a dog is man’s best friend, but I’ve never had a pet quit like Princess and I am not sure what I would do with out her.
New Shoes
For the Envoy that is. Today is the first time I have spent some serious cash on the Envoy… I woke this morning and decided today would be a good day to go up to Discount Tire and take advantage of their free tire rotation. I knew the tires were starting to round on the outside and seeing as I had never had them rotated in the almost two years I have had it, thought it was about time. I bought this Envoy used and am pretty sure these are the original tires that came with the truck when it was new, additionally I don’t know anything about the previous owners maintenance, so I have to assume they have never been rotated. After sitting at the store for about 30 minutes while other vehicles were worked on, a technician came out and called for me. As it turns out the tires were more worn than I had realized. All four tires were either down to or below the wear bar for there tread depth. As such I had to make the decision to go ahead and replace all four tires. I went with the General Grabber HTS tire based on some discussion with the technician. With the addition of the warranty package and tire disposal and such, when all was said and done I ended up spending $710. But hey, I got that free tire rotation! 🙂
History and Home
What an incredibly long day! We woke up this morning at about 8am local time and after getting dressed we went down to the lobby and had breakfast at Starbucks, Kylie was happy they had a very nice sized chocolate doughnut that she choose to have. After we finished eating I went and asked the valet to pull the Envoy around, knowing it would take them about 10 minutes to do so, and we all went back up to the room to verify everything was packed. We then proceeded to check out and head over to the Field Museum. We made it over to the Museum Campus fairly easily and when we came out of the parking structure we realized that we were right next to Soldier Field which was pretty cool, but unfortunately our schedule didn’t allow us time to look around there, maybe next time; then it was on to the museum. Oddly enough it turned out to be cheaper to become members of the museum (which will also get us passes to a few places back in MI as well) than it was to simply get day passes, so that’s what we did. Then it was exploring time! Currently the museum is running special exhibits on whales and horses in addition to all of their normal exhibits. Their traveling exhibit of SUE, “the largest, most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex ever discovered,” was found in the dusty bad lands of South Dakota! A fact sheet on SUE can be found here (pdf). All the exhibits were awesome as far as I am concerned, but then again natural history has always been interesting to me. The whales were incredible and seeing the skeleton of one of these large creatures was almost overwhelming. We left the Field Museum, and Chicago as a whole, right about 4pm local time and headed back home, by the time we made it here it was about 11pm. Over the course of this trip we took somewhere around 900 pictures, so in the coming days I will need to find time to prepare them and get them in to the gallery. But now, it’s time to sleep.
A Day with Fish and Dolls
Today we got up early and had breakfast in the lobby of the hotel at the State Street Bread Company, which I personally feel was very over priced and for that price the food was just ok. After eating we grabbed another taxi (which, again, Kylie loved. I am starting to think the taxi rides are going to be her favorite part of this trip) and headed over to Shedd Aquarium. We got there shortly after they opened and got our Total Experience passes which let us explore the entire aquarium, attend one of the 4-D shows, and attend the live aquatic show. The live show was pretty cool and consisted of a four Pacific White-Sided dolphins. Additionally the also showed two different Red Tailed Hawks that also live at the aquarium. We all like a lot of different parts of the aquarium but some of the highlights were the dolphins, the beluga whales (both of which we could see swimming in there tanks below the water through some very large windows). The wild reef exhibit was also really cool and Kylie was really happy to be able to see her saw nosed shark swimming around. The last thing we saw was the Caribbean Reef exhibit, and we got there just in time to see the daily dive show where one of the staff actually was swimming in the tank and feeding the fish while answering questions from the audience and telling us about the fish. The large sea turtle named Nickle that was rescued after getting hit by a boat and the 7 foot moray eel that actually came out of his hole during the presentation and swam around the diver. After we decided we were done at the aquarium (which we feel we completely explored in the almost 7 hours we were there) we went picked up another taxi (and again Kylie was thrilled) and headed back over to the Magnificent Mile, specifically to the American Girl store. We were there specifically for Kylie because she wanted to get Alissa (her doll) her very own school backpack set which we found after asking two different associates (the first told us to look upstairs, after looking for a while the second showed us where it was). Additionally Kylie also got a little surprise from Daddy and Melissa when we decided to also get Alissa a new pet, Sugar, that Kylie had showed interest in. After leaving the store we walked back down Michigan Ave, both because that was the direction of our hotel and because we wanted to see more of what the Magnificent Mile had to offer. Finding dinner tonight proved difficult for multiple reasons; the restaurants along the mile were either on the expensive side or their menus didn’t seem to offer something that all of us could eat. In the end we walked all the way back to the hotel and decided to put everything from the day away and then just eat in the lobby again, this time at their River North lounge. The food there was ok as well, but nothing spectacular, however the prices I felt were more on par with the food and its quality. The one thing I did not like was that the waiter simply stood by our table and kept engaging us in conversation as if he had nothing else to do and we weren’t trying to eat. I guess this may be because for a good portion of the time we were the only ones there, but still at least let us eat. After dinner we went back up to the room to start packing things up so we will be ready to leave in the morning. We will be going from the hotel to the Field Museum and then home from there, so we have to have everything packed and ready to check out in the morning.