Bus Buddies

This is our last week riding the bus together.  I'm going to miss this next year!

Milestone Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to Kevin!  We didn't take any pictures this weekend, but we did manage to take this video at the minor league hockey game in Kalamazoo against Kevin's hometown team, the Fort Wayne Komets.  Kari and Bryce were ecstatic to get on the jumbotron, and evidently so were the media guys in the background.

Spring Fest With The Cousins

Great weekend with Abby and Sydney.  Lunch at Dog-n-Suds, giant (friendly) cockroaches, and cricket spitting.

Kari kicked off the weekend with horseback riding with her Brownie Troop:

Easter Weekend

We're wrapping up a really nice weekend- nice weather, nice family time together and fun things going on. First up was Saturday morning at WTFD for the annual Pancake Breakfast fundraiser.  Kari and Bryce invited some families to join us.  It was super crowded and it was the best turnout in WTFD's history!  Kevin was behind the scenes slinging batter for most of the morning and calculated he was making 8 pancakes every 90-120 seconds; they served 533 people and could hardly keep up. The highlight of the morning, though, was Kevin getting to ride in the IU Health Lifeline helicopter. Kevin has been on probably a dozen calls involving Lifeline, but never more than helping load the patient in.  This time he got to ride from the Purdue airport over to WTFD!  Because he was facing backwards, he couldn't orient himself in time to take a picture of the neighborhood overhead, but got some other neat shots.

Just taking off from the Purdue Airport, overlooking Purdue Village

(The third kiddo running up is Bryce's good buddy, Andre.)

Saturday afternoon Kari and I had a date at the bowling alley with some friends from her Brownie troop and others around town.  We had a great time doing the rock-n-roll bowling and being with some of her best friends.

Kevin was fortunate to be invited down for the Final Four game to watch Duke stomp all over Michigan State.  There's no denying he was in his element- 2nd row behind Press Row!

Sunday morning couldn't get her fast enough; it wasn't much different than Christmas morning- up at the crack of dawn, chomping on the bit to come downstairs and see what goodies had been left behind.  The hit of the day were these Sumo-type wrestling balls.  I should probably double check on our umbrella insurance policy with these things around.  They are fun though!

Big events!

Whew!  We've had a lot happen in the last few weeks, and each of us has had something pretty special to share.

We'll start with Kari who had a weekend she's been waiting for, well, for a longgg time. She went to American Girl Doll store in Chicago for lunch with Grammy Pammy and Dale. It's a special birthday present that Grammy has had on the schedule since she took her other granddaughters years ago.

Needless to say, the reality lived up to the hype created by our daughter. She got "Kate" this lovely blonde doll who now seems to accompany us every where. Complete with hair accessories and earrings (yes, they were pierced that day on the doll), Kate is a staple in the Keckler house now.

Kari also took her birthday presents from friends to a local charity as a donation. Lafayette Urban Ministry was thrilled to receive a clothes basket full of towels and homemade blankets to help out in this extended cold winter we've had. We're quite proud that Kari continues to come up with ideas like this instead of getting presents.

Bryce has had a loose tooth now for many weeks, but refused to let anyone so much as touch it. Daddy tried numerous times to pop it out like the first one, but it was a lost cause. Until this past week. I was gone on a brief overnight work trip when B said I could pull it out when I got home. Little did any of us know that chance would never occur.

As I went to pull it out the next morning before school, it was already out. He lost it in his sleep, which led us to believe he pushed it out while sucking his thumb - or even worse he might have just swallowed it in his sleep?

We looked everywhere before we had to leave to get to school, and found nothing. We looked again when we got home and nothing. We were then brushing teeth before bed and he felt something sharp in his tooth brush. What do you know? When he brushed his teeth before bed the night prior, it was stuck in the bristles!

Before you criticize, we have a second toothbrush he uses in the morning in the downstairs bathroom, thus he didn't truly find it for 24 hours. Anyway, we've got a two-gap space in the middle of this guy's mouth now!

One of the many fringe benefits I receive through my work relationship with Coach K's camp is tickets to a home game each year. I was specifically told 5 years ago to never ask or even hope for tickets to the game vs. UNC at Cameron Indoor Stadium... that even former players get turned down for requests.

Well, the request was never made, rather it was offered to me. The idea probably stemmed from me mentioning I wanted to bring Holly with me this year instead of a guy friend. To say we were beyond grateful and fortunate is an understatement.

The game was amazing. It started with a memorable moment of silence for the legendary UNC coach Dean Smith who recently passed away. Coach K and Roy Williams planned it before the game - both teams would gather at center court arm-in-arm and show that the rivalry will never be bigger than those who helped make it just that.

Once the game started, Duke went up by 10-plus points in the first half and the stadium was rockin. Carolina battled back and was similarly ahead in the second half. In fact, Cameron Indoor was rather sullen as the Blue Devils were trailing by 7 with just 90 seconds left.

But all of a sudden the home team stormed back, somehow forced overtime and ultimately came out on top in the extra session. It was an unbelievable game, experience and time with good friends/clients.

 Campus unusually covered in snow

Can you believe we were only feet away from the famous "Towel Guy"?

A Rockin' Birthday Party

Bryce and Daddy just got home from one of the most unique birthday parties I've ever heard of.  One of the little boys in Bryce's class invited everyone to a musically-themed party at Elliott Hall.  A drum presentation and Purdue Pete topped off the event.

The kids were all jaw-droppingly mesmerized!

Grandparent visit

This past weekend we headed up to Fort Wayne for an impromptu visit to see the great grandparents. We're not sure who was more surprised!

A Frozen Birthday Surprise

I totally forgot to post about this!  The last weekend in January Kari and I went up to Chicago with Amy and Taylor to go to Disney Frozen on Ice.  Taylor's birthday is only four days away from Kari's, and Amy and I had been planning this surprise weekend since this summer.

We decided to make a full day of it and drove up shortly after breakfast.  A brand new skating ribbon at the new Maggie Daley Park had just opened.  Because we arrived before lunchtime, we beat the crowds and were able to get right on.  The skating ribbon is a unique skating experience.  Unlike a traditional rink where you go around and around in a circle, this was truly a winding ribbon of a path, probably 20 feet wide.  Additionally, it had two places where there were small, but noticeable graded inclines and declines.

It didn't take long for the ribbon to get torn up with all the skaters and the Zamboni was out resurfacing the rink for more than an hour!  By this point, the line to rent skates was some 50 people deep.  We skated a little bit more before our toes, ankles and legs were begging to stop.

Lunch/early dinner was at the original Lettuce Entertain You- RJ Grunts in Lincoln Park.  This is home to the first salad bar in the country.  The restaurant was tightly packed, but the salad bar was impressive so Kari and I both gave it a try.  She particularly liked the pocket-sized apples.

Afterwards we still had about 90 minutes to kill before heading over to the United Center.  We drove around a bit and ended up settling in nearby DePaul area and finding a dessert and cupcake shop. Even though we were still stuffed from RJ Grunts, we pushed through and each ordered some dessert. Kari and Taylor both ordered iced Valentine's cookies.

Finally it was time for the show.  We were thrilled to discover that parking was included in our tickets.  By luck of the draw, we ended up on the Blackhawks side and pulled right into a prime parking spot only yards away from the entrance.  We found a short line and had hardly any wait outside before the doors opened.  We were surprised once again to find that our seats just a few sections over from our point of entry.  This day was running almost TOO smoothly!  I caved and allowed Kari to pick a small something from the sucker, ahem, souvenir stand.  If you've ever worried that the economy has still not recovered from the housing crash of '08, let me assure you, the money was flowing like liquid gold at that place.  It was really quite overwhelming from that standpoint.

After the show, we hustled straight out to the car- no waiting- and hopped right onto the Eisenhower, just in time for the beginning of the big snowstorm.  We made it back to Glen Ellyn in no time and headed to bed.  We woke up Sunday morning to about 8" on the ground and more steadily falling. We knew we didn't have much time to waste before getting on the road, but we did make a few necessary stops and took our time heading back to West Lafayette.  A great weekend we will always remember!

Half Way To A Driver's License

We realized this scary thought yesterday morning over a birthday breakfast.  We kicked off Kari's #8 with opening presents and cards from grandparents and family.

 Shortly after breakfast we headed over to the Purdue Memorial Union for a bowling party.  Kari invited five of her closest friends from school, many of whom are in Brownies with her, too, and Bryce also invited a friend.

 Bowling was super casual- the bumpers were up and no one was concerned about keeping score.  The kids bowled a little and when the pizza arrived, they took a short break to eat before returning to the lanes.

 We wrapped up with the traditional star cake, thoroughly decorated by Kari.  We once again thank Aunt Laura for keeping Kari supremely stocked in all things cake decorating!

Kari once again chose to forego gifts from friends in lieu of collecting donations for those less fortunate in our community.  The last two years she had selected school supplies but went in a different direction this year and collected blankets and socks.  We'll plan a time in the next week or two to deliver them to Lafayette Urban Ministry.

The remainder of the afternoon included phone calls with grandparents and then settling in for a movie with carmel popcorn served with orange juice and sprite last night.  A very good day, indeed!

And out comes the tooth

It wasn't quite as bad as I anticipated. Bryce, being ever stubborn and steadfast in his own vision of how it would feel, finally relented and allowed me to carefully remove his first tooth. It had become quite wiggly of late and, well, tonight simply felt like the night.

The initial fight was strong, as he was convinced pain would ensue. However, his sister provided some tough love and told him he'd be fine. When the girls went out to work on homework, Bryce and I had a man-to-preschooler talk. I truly put the salesman in me to work and tried all conceivable angles.

"It won't hurt, I promise", "Let me see just how loose it really is...", "Your sister has had EIGHT teeth removed, surely you can do ONE"... Eventually, after talking a matter of 10 minutes, he caved and said he was willing to give it a try.

Sitting on my lap, I tried unsuccessfully with my first attempt. It was pretty slippery in there, and I told him it must not be in the cards tonight. But I tried again, this time with a kleenex as an aid, and with a quick shift back there was a pop.

I wish I had Holly video recording the moment after it came out. NO tears, just a strangely quiet look. He had no idea if it was out fully and he was supposed to cry or whether I still didn't get it out. When I showed it to him he was in disbelief. I called the girls out to show them.

He smiled at Kari and she couldn't believe he said OK to me. Then Holly saw it and was so proud of her little boy. Just a minute later he was crying hysterically at his new situation.

Finally he calmed down after assurance that a bigger tooth would indeed one day grow in its place and he could rest easy. 30 minutes later he was pretty proud and requested Mommy leave the following note for the Tooth Fairy:

"Dear Tooth Fairy - my Dad took out my tooth and I was really strong. Have fun and good night!" - Bryce Keckler"

Seems like a proper way to end the evening.

The Dizzy: Post Christmas Blur

We've done our bit of traveling for the holidays was back in WL for New Years eve.  We shared Bruno's with the Clawsons and Bryce, Kevin and I were in bed by 9:30.  No fanfare here- just a perfect night to go to bed early and sleep in the next day.

Meanwhile, Kari stayed with Grandmo and Grandpo this week after we came home on Sunday.  She has thoroughly enjoyed having them all to herself and was not shy in asking us when we'd be heading home...without her.  She had good reason to get us out of her hair- she had places to go and things to do!  They saw a Broadway quality Mary Poppins production in Aurora on New Years eve.  The other big highlight of the week was finding a time to go swimming at the Y.

Prior to the Chicago visit, we had Christmas at home.  We managed to stave off the kids until about 7:30 AM, so we couldn't complain too much there.  First up, the obligatory picture on the stairs and a double check to see if Santa did indeed make a stop at our house.

And then as many of you know, the rest of the morning was pretty much a blur, as much as we tried to slow down and take our time.  Santa hit a home run for Kari with a new laptop, but it didn't hold a candle to the full rainbow array of Sharpies.  It was definitely a moment of where the box was cooler than contents inside!

Bryce finally upgraded to an off-road boys bike after riding around this summer and fall on Kari's hand-me-down pink princess bike.

Since then, we've been relaxing and catching up on sleep.

Merry Christmas

Special Lunch Date

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