I've been off work all this week. We were going to do some things we'd never gotten around to this week, like check out Maple Lane Market (Amish furniture & foodstuffs) which turned out to be closed on Mondays when we got there. So, we went to browse at Warsaw Furniture Outlet, also closed on Monday. So, we headed up to Syracuse to find Gropp's Restaurant because we'd heard the fish there is very good. However, by the time we got there Beth was so carsick the very idea of eating anything, especially fish, was out of the question. We had to pull over at a McDonald's so she could get a Sprite and we could feed Alex until she recovered enough for us to drive home. Tuesday, we went back to Maple Lane and found out it had had a fire at some time Monday night. Go figure. So we never did get there. Wednesday we headed up to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with Beth's brother and his family. Beth's niece, her husband and daughter were in town as well. Avery just turned a year old this month. We spent Wednesday and Thursday night in one of Ted's apartments (he owns two houses in the Kalamazoo historic district, one of which is apartments). Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, as always when Jeanne cooks. We headed back to town Friday, and that night Alex had another milestone...his first throwing up at a restaurant. All over the table, the floor...the folks at China Palace were very understanding and helpful. Saturday Beth's sister Judy was passing through Fort Wayne on the way to Michigan so we went to have dinner together, and he did it again at Don Pablo's! Bleeeah. We think there is a link between cereal (specifically Rice Chex) and barfing, because he was having some both times. Both times, he started coughing and couldn't stop until he puked so I think Rice Chex is out for now. And he doesn't like Cheerios. Maybe we'll try Kix.

Beth and I went to see "The Matrix Revolutions" Friday on date night. My review is a weak thumbs up. I liked it better than the second one but not as much as the first. Saturday, we bought a minivan. We found a '98 Pontiac Trans Sport Montana at the same place we bought the F-150 last spring and traded in the F-150. We got a good deal on the minivan plus they gave us a full payoff on the truck, so at the end of the day we're scot free on the truck and have lower monthly payments than before. Beth is very happy with the minivan; surprisingly, since when we first started looking she was totally against the idea of owning one. But it is SO much easier to get Alex in and out of the thing than the Geo or the truck. Power sliding side door and all. So, now I'm driving the Geo full time again and we'll get something else to tow the camper with next spring. The first rehearsal for the Christmas play at church was today (auditions were last week). I'm assistant directing again (third year running). Of course, we will be lucky to make it to Christmas unscathed because I may strangle some of the kids before then. My group today contained most of the unruly ones. There was a lot of yelling "settle down" or "quiet" or "shut up" or "hey! shut it!" before we were done. Someone picked "It Runs in the Family" for movie night tonight, which totally failed to hold my attention.

It was a busy weekend. Beth and Alex and I went to Fort Wayne Friday after I got out of work to get me some new jeans, which I've needed for quite a while, since both pair I own have massive holes in the knee now. We wound up getting me 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of slacks, and 3 shirts, Beth a winter coat, gloves, and a headband, and Alex 2 thermal outfits and slippers at Old Navy. We also found a very nice Italian restaurant (Puccini's) at Jefferson Pointe. Saturday, we worked on clearing leaves from the yard. I finally admitted we need a leaf blower and was on the way to the hardware store to get one when I saw my boss blowing leaves from the yard at the apartment building just down the road a bit. It turns out his father-in-law owns the building. Anyway, after I got ourselves a nice little Toro and got back home, he came over with one of those big honkin supersize industrial leaf blowers from a rental shop, which he let us use for the rest of the day. I must say it was one impressive machine. It cleared our entire backyard fairly easily, even though the pile was so big it was hard to move it towards the back of the backyard. We also bowled Saturday, which was not as good for either of us as last time. I got 105-166-137 which wasn't bad, but not 200 either. By Sunday, it was depressing how many more leaves there were on the lawn, so I cleared them again before returning the machine. The leaf vac/shred feature on the Toro is very handy, too. Sunday afternoon was auditions for the church Christmas play, which I'm assistant directing again this year (even though I won't be in town for the show.) "The Matrix Reloaded" was the movie night feature, to refresh things before going to see "The Matrix Revolutions" next week on date night. Alex had swim class again today; he still loves to swim.
The big news...Beth is again pregnant. We are going to have babies 17 months apart. Are we insane???