Almost One

Well its official, in less then 24 hours my little girl will be one year old. This means two things, 1. Allison and I were capable of keeping Norah alive for a whole year and 2. Norah is growing up way to fast! Yesterday we all went on a family hike in the woods along the Muskegon River. It was the perfect day for it. Allison was blazing the trail with Norah and I hot on her heels. Allison lost track of the trail at one point and lead us up quite the perilous hill. I think we all had a great time. Today we played outdoors raking leaves and cleaning out the garage. It feels very good that it is a three day weekend. An extra day off never hurt anyone. Today is day 10 of my Movember mustache, I have to say it is coming in really well and I think I resemble a young Magnum P.I. My wife would disagree!

Living The Dream

It is officially Fall here in Michigan. Fall means many things to my family, we can play outside without sweating to death, I get to hunt ducks and drink Pumpkin/Octoberfest beers, beautiful colors in the trees to be followed by hours of chasing wind blown leaves with a rake. This year bring something new to Fall, Norah Mae's 1st birthday. She is growing into quite the little pip. She has her good days and her bad but it never fails to brighten my day when she looks up at me and smiles. I was at work the other day when Allison sent me a video alerting me to the fact that our little two step walker had turned a corner. Apparently Norah learned overnight how to walk around all by herself. It's quite humorous to she how proud she is to walk all over the place. Stella on the other hand is less then excited about Norah's accomplishments, now that Norah can walk there is no place that Stella can escape her. Stella is a good dog though and walks off when she has had enough. We try to give Stella some space when we can. Just in case you didn't know I am currently the resident Coast Guard Grand Haven Chili Champion, my award winning chili earned me a silly little trophy and 3 days off of my choosing.  Due to the government being what it is and the fact that they cannot pass a budget my degree is currently taking a backseat. Keep your fingers crossed that tuition assistance comes back in a timely manner so that I don't fall to far behind. Allison is doing great, she excels as the CEO  of the Croteau family. I commend her for having the stamina to do what she does every single day, I am very sure I couldn't do half the job she does. There's not much else to say, I promise to keep this updated more seeings how the holidays will give me more to write about. We miss you all.