August 2012

Well - it's been quite some time since we wrote last.  The summer time always seems to fly by.  We did enjoy our first anniversary celebrating with a variety of "paper" ticket concerts throughout Michigan.  Eric has written about them on his travel blog which you can read HERE.  Now that he has that going, I'll let him tell the world about his/our travel adventures and I'll just post the monthly updates for our family here.

Also this summer, we enjoyed a lovely two weeks with my Jodi's parents who came up to visit from Florida.  That included a wonderful three days in Caseville and Frankenmuth spending time with them and Jodi's grandmother.

August was back to school for Jodi and a lot of outside work on the house for Eric.  Yes, we are still working on the house...what a long project it has turned out to be.  I had hoped it would be done and up for sale by now but it looks like it will be closer to the spring/summer of 2013.  We have made some major progress though and we do enjoy pulling in the driveway and seeing new siding.  We're looking forward to hosting some more family get-togethers so they can see all of the work that has been done (and maybe help us with the rest, lol).

Good-bye summer - Happy Fall!

March 2012

March 2012 was an adventurous one for the Kramarczyk family.  A big change was in story for Kaleb as he changed schools mid-month.  The change has been great for all and Kaleb will be a better student because of it.  We're excited for the opportunities he will have with his new school.  He's adjusting well, meeting new friends and doing well academically.  We're proud of him!

Jodi and Eric had different spring break's this year so Jodi took an opportunity to travel to Italy with her high school as a chaperone during her spring break at the end of the month.  Jodi had an amazing time visiting the cities of Verona, Venice, Florence, Siena, Assisi and Rome.  The inner photographer came out and Jodi came home with 1500+ photos of her journey through the Tuscan sun.  No surprise there though. We're still waiting for them all to be fully edited and available for others to see.  In the meantime, here are a few sneak peeks.  We hope everyone had an enjoyable start to the "spring" season!

February 2012

Hey Friends!

February has been a good month to us.  The Michigan weather has been mostly cooperative and we've been able to have a little more fun than we typically do in the winter.  Jodi finished her competitive cheer season - her team finished as League Runner-Up, District Runner-Up and a Regional finalist.  Eric also finished his girls' basketball season.  Kaleb has kept busy at school wrapping up his second trimester.  We're still waiting for the report card - hoping for good results :)

A long President's Day weekend this month allowed us to spontaneously get on a train for two-night's in Chicago.  We made the decision around noon on Saturday and about 5 hours later - we were on an Amtrak train to the Springhill Suites by Marriot in downtown Chicago.  We arrived pretty late on Saturday but we're beyond thrilled with our hotel accomodations - a full recommendation to all of our friends and family.  We got a good night's rest and were up early on Sunday to take to the town.  We spent a great deal of time on the Magnificant Mile shopping, enjoying the sites and sipping on hot chocolate from Ghiradelli's.  We then made our way to Millenium Park for some pictures and ice skating.  From there we tried to make a trip to Shedd's Aquarium but the line was beyond long so we taxied to Navy Pier for site-seeing and lunch.  The weather was beautiful for February - little wind and temps in the 40's.  Nothing a pair of gloves, hat and winter coat couldn't handle.  Kaleb was a trooper and never complained about all of the walking.  After a couple hours at Navy Pier we made the treck back to our hotel for some time in the pool and hot tub (the pool was on the 27th floor which Kaleb thought was "so cool").  With our bodies warmed up and relaxed, we headed about 4 blocks north to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.  The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and getting a good night's rest before our early morning wake-up call on Monday.  Our train was scheduled to leave on Monday just after noon so we got up early in hopes to make it to the Skydeck at the Willis Tower.  Unfortunately, the line was so long that we had to delay that adventure for our next trip to Chicago - hopefully this summer/fall.  Overall, it was a really nice trip for not having any ahead of time plans - made us think spontaneous planning is the way to go next time. 

We're looking forward to March and April when spring break arrives - there will be lots of stories to share at that time when Jodi travels to Italy - stay tuned :)

January 2012

January has been a busy month for the Kramarczyk family.  Eric has been making the most of his 8th grade girls coaching season.  It's been a challenging one in terms of victories but he's enjoyed his time with the team and feels good about their daily progress.  Kaleb has enjoyed watching his Dad coach and spending time at the games as the "team manager."  I don't think he enjoys watching them play as much as he enjoys playing on their iPod's - or at least that is what he tells us.  Jodi's cheer team has continued their climb up the ladder, earning many top scores and a win at one of their invitationals in mid-January.  With practices, games, competitions and more - it hasn't allowed for much family time.

The little time that we did have, we celebrated our niece Alli's first birthday party, Jodi's mom's birthday, and a cousin's baby shower.  Then there was the distress of a broken down truck, a broken iPad, broken wedding dishes and the continuing agony of when our home furnace will no longer work.   As fast as money came in - it went right back out.  What a start to 2012.

We have a lot to be thankful for, despite all that - we've enjoyed a wonderful winter ... including, clear, safe roads for Jodi's 45-minute commute to work.  It almost feels like spring on some days - making us anxious to begin some renovations on the house and get it up for sale - looking forward to blogging about a new home in our future.  We hope that everyone else in enjoying their start to the new year, wishing you all lots of time with family and good health.

December 2011

The beginning of December flew by as Eric and Jodi wrapped up the final weeks of school before Christmas break.  Eric wrapped up his 7th grade boys basketball season and began to prep for the beginning of the 8th grade girls season.  Jodi's competitive cheer team competed in their first two meets of the year - finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Kaleb turned 10 on the third of December.  We celebrated by taking him out to see Puss in Boots at the theater.  It's hard to believe he is already growing up so fast.  Before you know it, Eric will be teaching him how to drive.  Oh, the scary thought that is!

The Christmas decorations went up early and all three of us were counting down the days until our trip to Florida over the Christmas break.  Just before we left, we met up with Jodi's sister Jamie and her nephew Brycen for a quick dinner at Applebee's in Marshall to exchange Christmas gifts and share some time together.  Jodi presented Jamie with a new "Noel" sign (memories from their childhood) and is still anxiously awaiting her new "video".

On December 21, we were up and away ... long is the dead grass and blistering cold.  A welcomed feeling of warmth and palm trees all week long made for the perfect vacation.  Our first night we enjoyed a home cooked meal, mom's stuffed cabbage (Eric's favorite) and some down time to catch up.  Our second night we went putt-putting at Congo River Golf in Kissimmee, near Old Town.  What a fun adventure!  If you ever have the chance to putt one of their courses - we highly recommend it.

Our third day was spent at the Disney parks.  We started off at Magic Kingdom and finished our evening at Hollywood Studios.  Eric and Kaleb's favorite part of this trip was the Fantasmic show at Hollywood Studios.  It really was a great day.  The parks were not packed and the weather was beautiful.  We even got Kaleb on a few "big kid" roller coasters.

The weekend was low key as we celebrated Christmas eve and Christmas day with family.  Dad had the days off from work so it was nice to spend more time with him.  The Boehringer tradition of matching Christmas PJ's were in full force and the whole family got involved.  Eric especially enjoyed that (Hee Hee).

On Christmas eve we opened all of the gifts from my parents.  Kaleb liked all of his gifts and showed that we was one special grandson for my parents.  Santa was especially nice to us this year.  Kaleb got his Nintendo DSi XL - it was so fun to watch him open that!  Eric and Jodi both got iPads.  Wow are those things neat!  The three of us went to Old Town and Fun Spot USA on Christmas night.  There were lots of Go-Kart races and fair rides for all.  It was a good time.  

Our fifth day was spent shopping.  Florida puts a whole new definition on traffic and crowds.  Not the most pleasant experience but all three of us walked away with a few new items.  Our last full day was spent at Downtown Disney.  We enjoyed dinner at Planet Hollywood and then walked around to the different shops.  Eric has been craving his turkey leg for an entire year.  Lucky for him - they still had them.  Dessert was turkey for the boys and Wetzel Pretzel cinnamon pretzels for Jodi.  All in all, it was a very fun time.  

We flew out on the evening on the 28th.   The weather turned a little chillier that day so it made it a little easier to head back home.  What a great end to the month though!  We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas vacation.  Here are a few of our other favorites from the trip.

The last day of December was spent with Eric's family.  His sister Janet hosted Christmas for their side of the family.  We enjoyed yet another yummy meal and gift opening with all of the kids.  What a wonderful way to end 2011.  

We wish everyone the best in the new year.  Here's to some wonderful memories that we look forward to sharing with you in 2012 - cheers!

November 2011

November began with playoff football.  Jodi's high school team made the MHSAA football playoff's after finishing an undefeated regular season and being ranked #1 in the state in Division 5.  The Cougars won every playoff game leading them to the State Final game at Ford Field on Thanksgiving weekend.  Unfortunately, the Cougars came up short but what an amazing experience it was for the school, community and Jodi's cheer team.  Cheering at Ford Field in the State Championship game:

Competitive Cheer tryouts also kept Jodi extremely busy as she balanced coaching two sports and taking on some major projects at school as they began phase two of their Heritage Campaign to raise money for some new additions and renovations to their school building.  Eric started up his seventh grade boys basketball season and it wasn't long before there wasn't much "family" time.  Kaleb wrapped up his soccer season last month so it wasn't long before he was filling his free-time with games and friends.

In the blink of an eye, Thanksgiving came.  We hosted dinner for both of our families for the third year in a row.  It's always such a wonderful time to be able to get everyone together. We hope everyone enjoyed their own Thanksgiving time with families and friends!