Chicago to Detroit Garage Sale

We only made it to the Irish Hills because of the bad weather but we still had much fun on the US 12 garage sale, an annual event that we attend. Many times this event takes place the same week as the Magic Festival but this year it was the week later so we made two treks to the Western side of the state in back to back weekends.

James enjoys this event as well and gets a chance to spend time on real farms that allow people to sell their items on their farmland along US 12 (aka Michigan Avenue). He also does a little shopping and picks up many little trinkets on the trip.

We also continue our tradition of eating the best barbecue around at the Top of the Hill restaurant on US 12 in the Irish Hills.
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Edited: August 18th, 2012

Colon Magic Festival

James got to help set up some of the booths at the Abbotts Get Together, an event which takes place each August. James has come to this festival since he was 3 and has always enjoyed it, however this is the first time he got to actually help out in the preparations. James helped out the weekend before then got to attend and enjoy the festivities the weekend after (his camp prevented him from attending during the week).

A bonus surprise was that Jame’s pet doves were used on the Friday night show (tickets were $25 each for a Vegas quality magic show but James got in for free because of the work he did the weekend before).

James enjoyed pizza in a place that had a girl floating in the window and posters from many of the past Abbott Get Togethers.

Towards the end of the event, a huge rainbow filled the sky over the magic village of Colon which just thrilled James.

The 2013 Abbott Get Together dates are Aug 7,8,9,10, this will be their 76th year doing this. We heard that some other magic shop was copying this event and putting it on a week earlier in Colon so make sure if you do attend that it is the Abbott Magic Get Together that you attend and not “the copycat” as James likes to call it.

We would truly like to thank the staff of Abbott Magic for their hospitality and kindness during this event. We all had a great time.
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Edited: August 5th, 2012

Keeping Cool In The Summer of 2012

For about the last two weeks we have had a heatwave across the midwest and USA, so James had to find a variety of ways to stay cool this summer. The following pictures were taken (in no particular order) at the Colon Park, Colon Moving Dock, Eric’s Graduation Party (our neighbor down the street), Trenton Festival (after a visit to Aunt Peg in wyandotte hospital), and of course James own back yard and basement.

During the heatwave of 2012 we were very fortunate not to lose power or air conditioning capabilities (although I am a bit terrified of the huge electric bill we will get running the AC so hard). (more…)

Edited: July 15th, 2012

Frankenmuth & Bronners 2012

James visited Bronners then went shopping on the streets of Frankenmuth. James picked up a few Mario brother characters, a hard hat with a light in it that says Frankenmuth on the side, and an Easter bunny from Bronners (yes, he went to the Christmas shop and bought something for Easter). James had lots of fun and the place was strangely quiet for such a pretty day. We had most of the place to ourselves and had no problems getting seated for a chicken dinner at the Barvarian Inn.

Highlights include James feeding a horse named Gus, flinging about 100 pennies into various fountains, and the many photo ops where you stick your head through a hole (in one James could not reach the boy fairy hole with his head so he stuck his head through the next hole which was the girl fairy). The picture is very funny looking and we all had a little laugh at the fairy pic. You can see that pic and about 100 more by clicking the ‘read more’ button below.
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Edited: June 3rd, 2012

Magic Flea Market 2012

The family went up to Colon Michigan to participate in a Magic Flea Market and Auction. We go to this almost every year primarily to look for Halloween stuff which shows up from time to time. This year was different because Mary had a Flea Market table. Mary sold some used magic, posters, and books that were supplied to her from the magic shop hosting the event and she had a great time selling and interacting with the visitors, some who came as far away as St Louis to attend this. James and I did manage to find a couple things to buy for Halloween but mostly spent our time outside at the playgrounds. They also had a flower sale going on that day so it was a very busy day in the Magic Capital Colon Michigan.

After the Flea Market we ate a buffet in Coldwater then went to the antique shops in Allen MI (From the Magic Capital to the Antique Capital). Ironically Mary found a Phantom of the Opera poster framed which we will show you once Halloween rolls around. A fun day for everyone.
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Edited: May 18th, 2012

Reading Night at Hoover Elementary

James had a fun time at the Hoover Elementary Reading night. First he met up with a couple of his class mates then got to be entertained with “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis. After that James went to his first reading destination which was Ms. Frizzle’s Castle which was read by Mrs Jent, his regular teacher. After reading a story the kids got to make tiaras, wands, and shields. James made a shield and you can see it as the last picture in the gallery. The S in the upper left hand represents what James wants to be in life…a School teacher. The K in the upper right represent his family K=Kleiber. The lower left H represents Espirit Decorp, mainly Hoover elementary, and the J represents James. The Kleiber Crest looked great on his practice sheet, however when he went to put it on his Shield he put the crest on the Titanic! A thousand years from now when they discover the Kleiber crest they will see the Titanic on it.

James second destination was Dinosaurs and Reptiles, and had several living creatures including salamanders, lizards, and turtles. The instructor talked about extinction and the idea that dinosaurs are not really extinct but live on in birds. He showed several dinosaur skulls then the kids got to pet the lizards and the animated triceratops.

Afterwards all the kids got ice cream sundaes. What a way to spend an evening!
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Edited: March 22nd, 2012

Marshall Blues Festival

This was the second Blues Festival we attended. A very very hot day, Mom went straight to the Festival while Dad and James snuck off to Colon to visit the magic shop there. Later we picked up Mom and walked the streets of Marshall listening to music. On the way home we decided to stop for Chinese at a restaurant in Jackson which we found courtesy of our phones GPS. All in all a very fun day.

The pictures below are of the streets of Marshall during the Blues Festival, however most of the shops on main street are open throughout the year and we would certainly suggest a trip to Marshall anytime of the year.

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Edited: July 17th, 2011

Town Peddler Flea Market

This is our third year at the town peddler flea market in Livonia. Mom did about as well as last year, selling material, fiesta ware, and various odds and ends. The weather was just perfect, not too hot and not too cold. The event was well attended and we all had lots of fun.

James and I would visit Mom during the day to give her bathroom breaks and lunch. It was during this time I took some pictures of the event. James stayed in the booth eating his happy meal and I stepped back a couple feet and snapped off a few pictures. James and the booth were only a few feet away from me but to a person walking up to the booth it looked as if James was there by himself.

Two elderly ladies walk into the booth and I kept my distance just to see what will happen (James was still eating his happy meal from McDonalds at the time).

James see’s the ladies approach and tells the ladies “The magic tricks are over there” pointing them to a little stand we have with jokes and magic tricks on it.

The ladies say to James “Oh, we’re not interested in magic tricks, we want to know how much you would take for this Fiesta Ware” .

James replied to them “A nickel”.

Needless to say the Fiesta Ware was a little more than a nickel. Thus ended Jame’s first day in the flea market business.
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Edited: June 18th, 2011

Mary and the Closeup Magic Festival

Here’s an interesting story, a couple years ago Mary went to a Evening Magic Show and the Master of Ceremonies was Stephen Bargatze, who grew up in Tennessee. Afterwards Mary told me she had a bus driver named Bargatze who drove her to school each day and she wondered if the two were related.

Years later Stephen Bargatze (perhaps the premiere comedy magician in America) shows up at a Closeup Magic Convention so Mary made arrangements to photograph some of the show and got to meet Stephen who said the bus driver who drove her to school was actually his Great Uncle.

Below are some of the pictures from the Convention, you can see Mary in 9 of the pics (another photographer was on the other side and took some pics) and we also included 6 pics Mary took. (more…)

Edited: March 24th, 2011

Nashville Flea Market

The last weekend of every month during the summer is the famous Nashville Flea Market. This year we got there early (Uncle Bill took us to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and bought each of us a gift) and had a great place to park. James got several toys and the flea market and even some “jerky” snacks (although the $3 soda pop did sting a bit). Mary checked out the antiques with Uncle Bill while James and Dad visited the toy sections of the flea market (and there were many). Thanks to our early arrival we were able to leave the Flea Market just before the afternoon heat (and a few rain drops) came.

Mom got Dad a wallet which was very much needed. Of special note was the gift that James picked out at Cracker Barrel which was a toy dog. The evening before we visited Uncle Bills home and he has 3 dogs which James got to play with, could James be sending us a hint?
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Edited: August 31st, 2010