Bowling!

After basketball glass on Saturday, Papa, Mom and I went bowling. It was really fun! We went bumper bowling. In bumper bowling, there are rubber bumpers in the gutters so the ball will bounce off of them and keep going. No gutter balls! Whew, my mom really needs the bumpers.

In bumper bowling, they set up a ramp for me to use. I put the bowling ball (6 pounds) on the top of the ramp and push it. It travels down the ramp and down the alley.

My mom is NOT a good bowler, not even close. Part of the problem was her ankle, she couldn't really bend her foot. Part of the problem was her nails, she didn't want to break one. But -- the biggest problem was her aim. For some reason, the ball never goes where she aims it.

I know you are all just waiting for the scores...

My papa bowled a 138 -- not bad for a guy that had shoulder surgery in September.
My mom bowled an 83 -- She switched to granny style in the 5th frame, and she started to purposely hit the bumper. Her score got a lot better after that.
I bowled a 75! -- This means my mom only beat me by 8 points! Only 8 points!

The Shark Story

On Friday, I went with GG to pick up my mom from the airport. She still has a sore ankle, and she isn't driving yet. From the minute my mom got in the car, I started to talk. I didn't stop until I went to bed that night.

On the ride home, I told her an 8 minute story about a shark. The shark was in the ocean, and it was coming to get us! I told my mom "And then the shark jump out of the water. It's comin'! It's comin to get you. You gotta jump over it, and then you gotta swim. It's comin'! Here he comes outta the water. You gotta stab it!"

I thought that was a pretty good story. My mom just kept asking me why it was coming after her.

Christmas 2009

It's been almost a month since Christmas... But, I still want to tell you about my Christmas. It was great! Uncle Butchie aka Uncle Tooshie was in town, and we had lots of fun together.

On Christmas Eve, we all got dressed up for church. But first, we have to go to Oceania Inn for Chinese food. It's the family tradition. My mom dressed me up in a black velvet number -- complete with poor boy collared white shirt, black velvet shorts, suspenders and a little jacket. Add to that white knee socks and black shoes... Oh, and don't forget my navy blue wool overcoat complete with rose boutonniere. I looked awesome! Uncle Josh says this is the last year they can put me in shorts and knee socks.

After dinner, we went to church. It's a candlelight service, and that freaked GG right out. She didn't want me anywhere near the candles. I was really good at church. I mostly just collected the candles (unlit) from everyone and passed them out, and collected them and passed them out again ... over and over. I was the candle organizer and darn good at it!

After church, we went to Aunti DeeDee's. All the McKinnons were there: Pat, Andy, Kelly, Jason and his wife Jennifer. We exchanged gifts, and then we went home.

On Christmas Day, my mom had to wake me up because the whole family was waiting on me for breakfast. I came downstairs and saw all the presents by the tree. I noticed one had my name on it, so I told my mom I had to open it because "Santa wanted me to." I bet she thought we were never going to eat breakfast, but after I opened that gift, I was ready to eat. After we ate, it was time to open presents. I had so many! Some were from Santa, some from my mom, some from Uncle Butchie and Uncle Josh, and some from Papa and GG. In fact, about two hours of opening, I just stopped and told my mom I was taking a break! I got some clothes, different Play Doh toys, a Batman toy, lots of GeoTrax toys, and a remote control Lightning McQueen!

Later in the day, the Fortiers came over. We had dinner with them, and then we opened MORE gifts. I also finished opening my gifts from earlier in the day. I had my energy back. Then, everyone went to the movie, and I stayed home to play with Uncle Butchie.

It was a great Christmas! So great I can still remember it a month later.

First the Present and then the Past

So, I'm finally back. Blame my mom again...on the road again...

This has been one heck of a week for us. She went away for work on Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, I had a low grade fever -- about 99. On Tuesday, it was about the same. But, by Tuesday night it got all the way up to 103.1 Papa and GG took me to the ER. I had a fever, but you couldn't tell. I was in a good mood when I walked in the ER. Turns out it was a double ear infection. I'm on antibiotics now and feeling good!

On Friday, my mom was at the airport to catch a flight home. She fell off the shuttle bus at the terminal and rolled her ankle. It was pretty bad, but she wanted to come home so she got help from the people who were traveling with her and from a skycap and made it to her plane.

We had to pick her up because she couldn't drive - it was her right ankle. Papa drove my mom's car home, and GG, me and mom followed in Papa's car. When we go to Papa and GG's house, Papa took me in and up to bed. GG took my mom to the ER. She made two trips in one week. The nurse who took care of me was the same nurse that took care of my mom! She sprained her ankle. She did the same thing to the same ankle two year ago. They just sent her home with an air cast.

Now, she's using GG's old cane to get around. I taught her how to use it. I'm a good teacher. Otherwise, we just spent the weekend as usual. I went to basketball class. I'm still trying to perfect the behind my back and through my legs move. I think I'll get it before class is over. We went to Target, and Papa let me get Free Willy. I watched that

More North Pole!

These are pictures from the actual North Pole. It wasn't as cold as I expected. They had everything in a building. I thought that was very smart of Santa.

The North Pole Express!

These are pictures of our train ride to the North Pole! It was so much fun!

I went to see Santa at the Rochester Museum

The Museum sponsors Papa's base ball team. They got Santa to come all the way to Rochester so I went to visit him. When I got there, Mrs. Claus said "Hi Xavier." My mom said, "X, Mrs. Claus knows your name!" I said, "That's not Mrs. Claus, that's Applesauce." My mom likes this story, but I don't know why. She said she would add something to this post. Anyway, I sat on Santa's lap. He asked me what I would want if I could only have one thing, and I told him a tree. I was hoping my mom heard that -- we have never had a tree in Midland. But guess what? Emma gave me my very own Christmas tree, and it had yellow and blue ornaments on it. A Michigan Christmas tree!!!

X's Mom's Note: Santa was being played by "Doc" Hawarth. Mrs. Claus was being played by his wife who is affectionately known as "Applesauce." I couldn't believe that Xavier recognized her voice. Thankfully, he did not recognize Doc!