Our First Christmas Tree

It looks a bit empty, but I am sure we will get more ornaments over the years to actually fill the tree.

I don't know if it's just me who does this, but I can't stop moving the ornaments around.

Wickham Park

Last week we went to a park called Wickham Park. We drove by the entrance a couple times on our way to other places and Sean would always say how beautiful it was and we should go one of these days. So last Wednesday we decided to go. He was right, it is very beautiful. I looked up the park history on line and found out most of the land had been owned by Clarence and Edith Wickham. They left the land and a large portion of their estate to fund the park. The park is over 250 acres. I know you are probably thinking "who cares where the park came from". Well it turns out this couple met in Europe but he was from Connecticut and she was from Michigan. In June of 1900 they were married in Muskegon, Michigan! Her maiden name was Edith McGraft. McGraft might sound familiar to those who know Muskegon because it is a name of a park. She donated money to build the community building at McGraft park and when she died she left money to the trust for the park funding.
We had a great time walking around taking pictures. I tried to capture some of the colors of a New England fall, but with the little rainfall we had this year I am told the color is not as great as it normally is. I still think it is beautiful.

Happy Birthday Dad

Tuesday was my fathers birthday. I wanted to be able to give him a hug, but the distance makes that extremely hard to do. To those of you who are able to give him hugs, please give a big one from me.

I love you dad!

1400 Sky Miles later....

This weekend we went back to Muskegon for a long overdue visit. Kelly was incredibly excited to see everyone that she has missed so much since moving here. I was also pretty excited, but I'm sure it paled in comparison. The night started out with a dinner at Mom and Dad Corbin's. Ryan, Angela and Maya showed up as well and we had Musaka... musuka... we'll just call it Mufassa (from Lion King). A great Greek dish that lived up to it's hype; I've been hearing about it for a year.

On Friday, we had the opportunity to see some of Kelly's friends, and that evening we went over to Ryan and Ang's new home near the airport. We had a great dinner and desert. Mind you at this "feed on demand" schedule, I've already eaten enough to allow most large mammals to hibernate for a season or two, so any talk of food hereafter after implies the feeling of being incredibly stuffed.

Saturday morning, we went down to the Heritage landing for the Irish music festival. The "opposite of July" would explain the temperature that day. We huddled in the tent to watch some great live music and gorge ourselves on Irish Stew (again, stuffed!). They also had a great arts and crafts area, and an outdoor stage were we saw an amazing fiddling band. That evening we went to see Katie's new place. She was kind enough to entertain us with a book about a bearded lady and her elephant-man boy friend. I guess you had to be there...

Sunday, unfortunately, was our day to say goodbye. We met at Rafferty's for brunch where we had a waitress who did everything in her power to remind us that tipping was strictly optional. When we asked her for a kids cup for Maya, she brought us a Styrofoam container and offered to stick a straw through it. Her logic was truly mind boggling. We said some goodbye's after brunch, and some more at the airport.

The flight was uneventful, which is the trademark of a good flight. When we got home though, we discovered that Maya had left us a present in our luggage, as you can see on your right.

Newport, RI

Thought I would post a few pictures from our day trip to Newport. We did take more, but it seems I have somehow deleted them from our picture program. I am not very good at this.

My Turn

I thought it might be about time I actually contribute to this blog. Sean has been doing such a great job (except for the wrong order of events), I haven't felt the need to add anything.
We had our party here in CT this past weekend and it was very nice. His family is wonderful, I have been blessed with great in-laws. My parents even came for the weekend. I had been looking forward to seeing them since the day we left Michigan.
On Saturday we took a trip to Mystic. My mom and I enjoyed the shops while the guys tagged along. The weather was beautiful.
Monday morning I followed Sean to meet my parents to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. This time I didn't cry until I got in my car and drove away. This time was worse because I don't know when I get to see them again. I spent most of the day trying not to think about it. Sean came home from work and brought dinner (a whole lobster) and these flowers. He wanted to make me feel better. He did.
Last night we stood in the kitchen and he held me saying I could go home to visit soon. I told him my home is where he is, I just miss my family.

Shawn uses Cheap Child Labor to conduct House Move

Shawn Schulze, in a shameless display, decided to go with cheap child labor to conduct his home move. As these slides show, only the kids under age 10 are working. All adults were in "supervisory" roles. This reporter for instance had thought he even heard the familiar cracking sound of a whip.

Shame on you Shawn Schulze

Bet-ur L8 den Nev-ur

Or "Better Late than Never" if you prefer good grammar. Anyway, although I am reminded that the postings of pictures should be in some sort of chronological order (i.e. Wedding pix before Honeymoon), that isn't how it turned out. Some day's you just put the left shoe on the right foot.

Anyway, without further ado (I've never known what that term really means) here are some pictures from the wedding!

Stay tuned for Shawn moving pictures. I'm going to try to get Kelly to post those, although she informs me that her position on this blog is purely that of management (slave driving if you will), so I suppose that makes me the peon... hey, it's just like our marriage!

Illegal Border Crossings

Well, The lovely wife and I have returned from our Honeymoon! It was a great time. I think we enjoyed the ship more than Cozumel however. When we got there, it was 100 degrees.... in the shade... in an air conditioned room even. The cruise was a great time, unfortunately, we found a way to take advantage of all the free food, so now the guilt has laid in. This blog-guy for instance looks as though he may be celebrating his second trimester.

Thankfully, Carnival doesn't charge by the pound!

The O'Connor's are coming!

Actual Family Portrait ----- >


We're all looking forward to our trip to Michigan for the wedding. In truth, I feel the entire situation has the possibility of erupting into a really bad Ben Stiller sequel - Meet the Corbins - but I'm hoping my side behaves... for once... please!

So here's the plan Stan:
1. Give Shawn and Travis bad directions
2. Spike my sisters drink with Nyquil
3. Hire actors to play my parents

Finally add one teaspoon of olive oil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, and it's going to be a great wedding!!!!

Seriously though... they all cant wait for August 2nd.. the big day?

The rule was NO SHOWER GAMES

This is a picture of Kelly (looking great) at her first of two showers. Kelly made it very clear to all in attendance that any shower games would be met with involuntary decapitation. Come to think of it... I've never heard of voluntary decap. I think that would be a short lived sport on ESPN... but I digress!

It was a great time (or so I hear) that was enjoyed by all. We even got our matrimonial snickers bar... I dont think I will ever call it that again... like ever.

A New Schulze

Congrats to Robyn, Shawn and Ryan on their newest edition... Nathaniel Alexander Schulze!

My Homework

I forget who said it, but somebody said we'd need to start a blog so everyone from Mich can keep up with us. Anyway, this is part 1 of that homework