Bugs Palace!

MINI has been coming along nicely. I sold a couple parts from it (JCW intake and exhaust) and replaced them with a DDM Works intake and Milltek catback. Sounds AWESOME now, and the mid-range is much more crisp feeling. Couple more tweaks and she will be perfect.

Valentines day has come and went. Shannon and I went down to Detroit for a Maroon5 concert. Show was pretty damn good. Wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I really dig M5’s music and they sounded fantastic live. Between the concert and a quick trip to the Outback, it was a great Valentines days. Love you wifey. Glad after all these years, you are still my valentine.

Need to wish my niece Reese a very happy 2nd birthday. Cute little bugger is getting huge and quick. Watching her with my kids has been wonderful. Hopefully the 3 of them are always as close as they are now. Love you Peanut, hope you had a great birthday.

With Reese’s birthday comes family day. We got a bit of a double shot. The 1st shot was at Donna and Grants place for a birthday dinner / birthday party and 2nd shot was at Erie Beach in Port Dover. The family rented the room and had a beef/perch buffet. With the exception of Joey getting a massive goose-ache and nearly splitting himself open it was really nice being with everyone. Was especially nice for my Grandpa who has been talking about going to Erie Beach since he had his stroke a year and a half ago.

Shannon has officially killed the washing machine. So, after a couple years with a flakey machine we went out and bought a new Samsung washer and dryer.  They should be delivered one day this week.  On top of getting new appliances, I took the time to finally paint the laundry room and bought a new wall cabinet. Room looks pretty good. Will be nice to see the room complete looking again and also nice and fresh. Next up on the home renos : finish basement bathroom, hottub wiring, and some furniture being moved around the house. Lots of work, but will be worth it in 4-6 weeks when everything is done.

Cooper is coming along nicely. The huge JCW spoiler is off and the more subtle stock wing is back on. Looked good before, but I prefer it with this one. More ‘me’.  Working on a couple upgrades for it by selling off the stock parts. Hopefully by the end of the month the exhaust and intake will be sold and replaced with more ‘audible’ versions. What can I say, I like the noise.

STILL waiting on Bug parts. Shop is swamped. Thankfully I’m not needing the part till March as I simply don’t have any time to tinker anyways. Not to mention its far too cold to be laying under the bug for any length of time.

Katie gets her new house in 2 days. Pretty exciting stuff. Going to be a TON of work to get where they want it, but it will be very much worth the hassle. Very nice house to start with. Just needs some cleaning up and modernizing.  Congrats K&B! Looking forward to another house in the block. We’re slowly taking over the area!

As the winter rolls on, Shannon and I are starting to get a case of the winter blahs and looking forward to spring — desperately. With Shannon getting her Jeep last summer, she is finally understanding what I mean by ‘itching for riding the bike’. For her, its a top down ride in the jeep. Not exactly the same but close enough. Once you feel the wind in your hair while driving/riding it gets into your brain. HOPEFULLY we have a nice early spring like last year. Its to be said for riding a motorcycle in February daily.

Happy birthday to my fur-babies. Chewie (Jan31) and Bekka (Feb9). I love these pups. Without question, the best thing I have ever bought. Period. Unconditional love, lots of cuddles and just a sense of completeness with them underfoot. Love you pups! Here is to Many, MANY more.

Lastly, but of course not last is my non-fur babies. Shannon and I have been trying to break the kids of needing us over night. I have to say I am very proud of my kids. The first week we still had the kids ‘calling for us’ but have been able to avoid laying down with them. Shan or I would go to them, tuck them in and go back to our own bed. Then we had 1 relapse night, and amazingly since then, they have been sleeping all night with out having to call for us. They are finally settling themselves back down, and putting themselves back to sleep without the help.  Also, Abby got her SK report card this week. HUGE thumbs up kiddo. Pride doesn’t even come close to the feeling I get reading it. And Joey is turning into such a little man before my eyes. It seems like he went from momma/dadda directly to saying complete sentences over night. And the bugger is FUNNY! Love you guys

After the nice 15degree days at the beginning of the month, these -15-20 degree days/nights have really felt cold. Thankfully I haven’t had to spend too much time outdoors.

Got the winter tires mounted up on the Cooper. Now if/when the snow returns I should finally have some decent traction again. And while we’re on the Cooper, looks like I’m gonna need a new windshield. Not 3 weeks after getting it, a nice stone hit the windshield and a nice crack formed within hours. No chance to fill it. If memory serves me correctly, I am pretty sure the same thing happened right after I got my first MINI. Also, nearly finished the stereo install. Actually, it`s fully installed at this point, just needs some additional tuning (which requires pulling the seat back out) but otherwise it sounds pretty good. The old box from my Subaru fit nearly perfectly. A little beat up and should be rebuilt from scratch, but this will hold me over till warmer weather.

Still no updates on the bug other then it’s in the way 🙂 Really can’t wait to get the suspension on so I can move it closer to the wall during the winter months. I`m ignoring it for now. I will be emailing the shop Feb 1st to see whats up. As long as I get the parts before the end of February, which gives me 1-2 months to tweak and tinker to make it all work again, I will be happy.

Kids are doing awesome. Joe is talking more and more like an adult. My baby boy somehow has morphed into this little dude who can have actual conversations. Very, very strange. And Abby has really excelled in SK this year. So proud of her. Last week, she also lost her 2nd tooth. Tooth fairy is gonna go bankrupt at this rate 🙂

Brain is numb from the cold for now. Things on the horizon : Katie and Brian get their house in 2-3 weeks, 4 weeks till Spring training starts.. and eventually warm weather will be back long enough to ride the bike. A nice early mid-february spring like last year would be AWESOME.  Here`s hopin!