Entries Tagged as 'ben'

Christmas Dinner at Auntie Gail’s

December 27th, 2009 · No Comments


Derek & Mitch


Tommy was tickling Kate and Kate was giggling like crazy.


Derek playing the pinball machine that’s so old his dad and uncles used to play it at his age.


Ben, Derek, Chris, Mitch – Nintendo DSi was a popular gift this year.


Chris & Kenji setting up for the adult’s gift bag swap.


Mitch in the midst of the swap


Aly was excited to win a Snuggie in the swap. Cool, because we brought it!


Aly modeling her new Snuggie


Kids are all ready to go home and to bed: Derek, Tommy, Ben, Kenji, Kate

On Christmas day we always go to Dallas’ Auntie Gail’s house in Mt. Prospect. This was the first year we had a car to actually drive ourselves out, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, but in the past it’s always been a hassle to try to get a ride.

Auntie Gail made the same dinner she makes every year: beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea/something salad. Not a huge fan of the salad but everything else was fantastic, as always.

All of the adults have a $10 gift bag exchange after dinner. This year didn’t get too crazy, except when someone took away Aly’s gift. She had her eye on one and it turned out to be a Snuggie, which she was really psyched about. And it was awesome for us because that was one of the gifts we brought. Dallas ended up getting a metal water bottle and I got a scrapbook with two $5 bills taped on it. Not sure how that works out. Aly brought it and tried to explain it to me, but I wasn’t following. Ha.

Previous Christmases at Auntie Gail’s:
- 2008
- 2007
- 2006
- 2005

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Roundarch Summer Event 2009

August 18th, 2009 · 3 Comments

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Eric

kevin
Kevin

jeremy
Jeremy

rick
Rick

don
Don

frank
Frank

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Waleed & Marlena

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Bekah, Ben, Rudy, Don, Adam

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Ronald, David, Manvesh, AJ, Waleed

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Lynnanne, Aimee, Anjum

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Shanks & Eric

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Teal

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Geoff (CTO) & Jeff (CXO)

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Anjum & Marcel

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Thomas, Sean, Gary, Jim, Shaun

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Ashish & Brian

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Jory, Mike, David, Craig

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Rossanne & Ryan

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Tony & Juan

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Tony, Fadi, Erika

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Adam

Last week Roundarch had it’s annual Summer Event, which consists of an all-night party and an all-day meeting with everyone from all of our offices in town to attend. It was great to see everyone that I work with in other offices and the party was so much fun. And the after party. The after after party, I can’t say… I went home at 2 and others were still going out for more! As for the meeting, it was actually pretty entertaining… not like the dry all-staff meetings I was used to at other places I’ve worked. Great event, Roundarch!

- Roundarch Summer Event 2008

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Fun With Sparklers

July 10th, 2009 · 1 Comment

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Kyle & Kate

At the house in Michigan, we had a bunch of fireworks to light off on the fourth of july. The older kids, Chris (13) and Mitch (10), were really into the big explosives and spraying tubes and crazy displays. Tommy and Kate, who are only 3 years old were very reserved. Their dads helped them with a sparkler, but they didn’t seem to be into it much at all.

The middle kids? All they wanted were more FIRE STICKS.. aka, sparklers. More, more, more! Light it on fire! I don’t think they even cared about the big fireworks. Just the sparklers and the snake fireworks, which they loved because they thought it looked like poo. POO ON FIRE! Oh, and those little snap things you throw on the ground. I’m afraid we may have turned Ben into a pyro. After the sparklers were all gone he just wanted to light things on fire. Have fun with that back home in California, Kyle & Winnie!

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Ben

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Derek

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Derek

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Down by the Lake

July 9th, 2009 · No Comments

ben
Ben

Aunty Peggy and Uncle Neil’s house in Michigan reminds me a lot of my parent’s house in Wisconsin. Both are situated up on a hill with the driveway coming into the front of the house. In the back, both houses walk out on the lower-level basement to a yard that slopes down to a body of water. At my parent’s house there’s a pond that is surrounded by thick woods and is home to a lot of wildlife. At Peggy & Neil’s there’s a lake with a small sandy shore and you can swim and boat.

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Kate

Uncle Neil told me he’d just gotten more sand poured recently. The kids loved this. Tommy didn’t want to get wet or dirty. He told the other kids to get him buckets of water from the lake. Then he had them set the buckets down by him and so Tommy could dump them in the dump truck. Tommy is destined to manage the family business some day!

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Tommy

Naoko and Heather were up at the house making dinner for that night. Most of the other non-golfers were just lounging around. With the kids it was actually still relaxing. It was when all the golfers got home that things got loud and crazy.

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Tommy, Aunty Peggy, Caroline, Kenji, Cory

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Aunty Laura, Aunty Glenna, Caroline, Tommy, Kate

Kenji was lounging too. This is a rare moment for him. Usually he screams bloody murder when he is not by his mom, Naoko. And not just by her, she has to hold him. It’s worse when he can see or hear her and she’s not holding him.

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Kenji

This is Trixie:

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She loves to do this:

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And remember Tommy? Who didn’t want to get wet? Trixie did this to him.

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We all saw it coming, but Tommy was shocked. Then he started to giggle.

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Kids on the Lawn

July 9th, 2009 · 1 Comment

tractor_yard

After the Camp Fukuda photos, Uncle Neil went to the shed to get out his riding lawn mower. Not to mow the lawn, but to give the kids – Mitch, Ben, Kate, Hideto, Derek & Tommy – a in the ride in the trailer that was attached.

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The kids loved it!

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I think Uncle Neil may have liked it more!

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Caroline & Mitch :: Brighton, MI

Dallas and I spotted these familiar tubes in Aunty Peggy & Uncle Neil’s garage. It was the same ladder golf game that my dad made for us. Aunty Peggy said that someone made it and gave them the game but they never played it before. Dallas and Mitch, who’d played at our house before, set the game up and we showed everyone how to play. Aunty Peggy and I won 5 games in a row before she purposely lost so that she could go refill her wine!

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Chris & Dallas :: Brighton, MI

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