Squirrel's Don't Like Rain

Allison and I haven't been doing to much lately except for raking leaves. I have raked the yard 3 times now and it seems like 20 mins later they are back. The picture below is what our yard looks like today, I raked every single leaf on Saturday. I can't wait for the snow! Speaking of snow we are forecast ed to get some late next week. The meteorologists here in Michigan don't know their butt from their elbow so we will see what happens.  Work has been pretty slow and I was going out of my mind but today I started a tiling project at Station Grand Haven. I have tiled before but this time I am working with a guy that did it professionally before he joined the Coast Guard so he is teaching me some tricks of the trade. When Allison and I finally buy a house I am going to be a remodeling master, that'll be our little secret though, if Allison knows all that I can do I'll never get any rest haha. It has been pouring rain here every day for about a week and a half and today sitting outside our window was a very melancholy looking grey squirrel covering his head from getting wet with his tail. I have never seen anything like that. Allison and I got a good chuckle. Allison is 38 weeks on Friday, everything is going good and the Dr. said it could be any time now. I guess we play the waiting game now. We can't wait to meet baby bean. Katie and Justin having their baby has made us jealous and we don't want to wait any more haha. I guess we have no choice. Hopefully we will have more exciting news to post sometime soon!

The Croteau's Were Stir Crazy

It has been raining here all weekend. Allison and I were going stir crazy today so we decided to brave the pouring rain and go for a walk. We had fun walking through the rain and it felt good to get outside.

Opening Day

        Friday night Allison and I went to a Whitehall high school football game. It was a lot of fun. The town we live is is pretty small so the football team didn't have many players but the ones they do have are pretty good. We saw quite a few nice runs during the game.
        Saturday was opening day of duck season here in Mich and I have some stories that I won't soon forget. It was pretty cold out this morning and there were a lot of hunters in the area I was in. After I was all set up I was sitting waiting for legal shooting time when all of a sudden I here someone coming down the river. I was grumpy because I thought someone was trying to get in my area, I stood up and threw my hands into the air only to find out it wasn't a person at all. In front of me was a big 6 pt deer and he was marching all through my decoys. I watched him for a little while before he noticed me and took off. It was pretty cool to be that close to such a big deer. It was a slow day for ducks but I did shoot one real nice fat Hen Mallard. After I shot it I threw it next to my gear on shore. About a half hour later I heard the bushes near my duck rustling but I thought the duck was just twitching. Well it wasn't the duck making the racket, it was the fox stealing my duck. My next door neighbor was hunting behind me on the river and he said he could hear the fox enjoying his breakfast. Needless to say I walked away with one kill but zero ducks in my possession. It was definitely the strangest opener I have ever had. Once I got home Allison and I had a nice bonfire and I made smore's. Alli was a busy bee and made us Cinnamon bread for breakfast tomorrow and another apple crisp for tonight's dessert. We are both looking forward to watching South Carolina beat the pants off of  Georgia tonight.

Homemade Pizza and Apple Crisp

Nice lazy Sunday. Pats won so we are happy and eating well.

Almost Time For A Baby

               Between school and work I haven't been able to update the blog very often lately. We have been keeping fairly busy. Allison has been doing great but tends to get tired a lot easier so we have to break up our activities a little bit.
               Last week work wasn't exactly stressful. I only had to work Mon-Weds. Thursday I played in a Coast Guard best ball golf tournament. It was a lot of fun. It was teams of 4 and the guys I played with made me look like I should be in the PGA. I did shoot the best ball of my life though, I was 35 or so yards from the green when I whacked my ball, I got a good hit on it and it landed on the green and rolled into the hole for a birdie. I was pretty pumped and the guys I was playing with couldn't believe it. We finished the day +12 so we defiantly didn't win but it was still a real good time. Friday my shop volunteered to paint a wall in a park in Grand Haven so that some middle school students could paint pictures of dogs on it. After we painted we had a nice BBQ and socialized for a little bit.
                Friday night Allison and I had a real nice little bon fire. We did it early so that we would still have time to get inside and watch the Sons of Anarchy before we got to tired. Saturday morning started out nice and easy. I made Allison and I some egg sandwiches, coffee, and hot chocolate while we watched some hunting shows (I think Alli likes them more than I do). We went to our hometown Autumnfest here in Whitehall, It was pretty fun. They had a little market downtown where local craftsman sold their wares. We walked away with some homemade beef jerky and a homemade teething/rattle baby toy. The guy we bought our teething toy from also makes "name trains" so we think we will pay him a visit once we have the baby. After Autumnfest we went to Lewis Farm Market www.lewisfarmmarket.com . We walked through their corn maze and I'm pretty sure set a land speed record. It was pretty large and took us about 40 minutes to complete. The market sold apples and other goodies. I got 2 pieces of their homemade fudge, Allison got a donut, and we got some delicious looking apples. Due to the drought they didn't have the option to pick your own Apples this year. Good thing we will be here for a while. Allison said she is going to make me some Apple Crisp for dessert tomorrow so I'm pretty excited for that. The farm has a petting zoo, pumpkin chunking, an apple gun that you can shoot at a target and some other fun activities for kids. After the farm we decided to drive around on back roads exploring a little bit. I had no idea how much awesome farm land is located in Michigan. Our ride was beautiful and I'm really glad we did it. Tonight we are staying in, the SC Gamecocks game is on so we will be cheering them on.
               After last weekends baby shopping spree we have put the babies room together and are pretty much all ready to bring our little bundle of joy home. I am pretty nervous but mostly excited to meet our wee one.
              Only 7 more days till Duck season, waiting for opening day has been like waiting for Christmas. It can't get here soon enough.

Corn Maze @ the Farm

Our babies coming home outfit, seeings how we don't know the sex we needed one of each.

Autumn is Here

               September was a good month. Allison went home for her baby shower. I missed her a lot but it sounds like she had a lot of fun in the Shire. I was able to get some work done around the house and get my school work all together. I was able to camouflage my new kayak and I went scouting for ducks. Its going to be a good duck hunting season until the baby comes.
               On Friday I played in a western Michigan flag football tournament. It was pretty fun, I even scored a touchdown. Saturday and Sunday I realized I am not 18 anymore. I could barely get out of bed. I am bruised all over haha.
               We went shopping for the baby on Saturday and got everything we think we need. I almost choked when I saw the final price. I suppose a baby might be expensive, who would've guessed it? Allison took me out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings where we watched the SC vs. Mizzou game. Go Gamecocks.
               Today it is cold here and we are planning to just watch football and I am going to make a beer can chicken I hope I don't freeze while I'm grilling. South Carolina has made me weak haha.
                This is the last week of my classes. I have already turned in my final papers and just have a couple of assignments left to complete before I am done. I have had a good time with these classes and can't wait to take my next one. I am going on a short hiatus until Jan 1st before my next class so that I can acclimate to being a father.

            

Babies First Concert

Last night Allison and I went to a Moe. concert at the Bell's Brewing company in Kalamazoo, MI. We met our friends Eric and Brittney there, it was a good time. It was such a small venue it was like seeing a band in your backyard. In the middle of the concert the baby was moving around and it dawned on me that we were at Beans first show. At one point Allison needed to sit down so we found a table.......there were 3 other pregnant ladies sitting there as well. I hope we have a little Jamband fan in there, daddy needs someone to listen to Phish with cause mommies not having it.

Today we woke up and went down to our local Meijer store where Allison bought me a brand new Old Town Kayak. It was a smoking deal, it retails at $350 but it was an end of the year sale and we got an extra 20% percent off so out the door it was only $150.  I am so excited cause now I will be able to Duck hunt this fall and fish next summer. I have the best wife ever.