Tag Archives: family
The quick entry about Monopoly
Some Sundays are made for playing the collector’s edition “Detroit Tigers” version of Monopoly with your cousins.
What’s neat is that as they were playing it, the adults were watching the Tigers score 5 runs in the bottom of the 10th inning for one of the most amazing comeback victories we’ve ever seen!
Monday Night Quotes and Pictures: Service
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
-Mahatma Gandhi
My wife and kids went on a Mission Trip with our church last week. They spent the week in the small town of Middleburgh, NY with about 30 members of our church. They helped with recovery efforts on a neighborhood destroyed by hurricane flooding. I’m so incredibly inspired by them, and proud of them.
The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
-Proverbs, 11:25
True leaders understand that leadership is not about them but about those they serve. It is not about exalting themselves but about lifting others up.
-Sheri L. Dew
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
-Rabindranath Tagore
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
-Barack Obama
The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others.
-Robert Baden-Powell
The Flipacabra
Just when you thought it was safe to go into the yard…
(Subtitled: The kids and I had some fun with the camera, and our dog FlipFlop…)
Tuesday Miscellaneous
It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy…Let’s go exploring!
-Calvin
Max got 3rd in his diving meet!
AND he was named Diver of the Week by the Chelsea Aquatic Club!
The set is coming together nicely for Red White and Tuna!
This is going to be a ton of fun – don’t miss it: Red, White and Tuna!
Last week and this week have been a blast, as we’re prepping for next season and getting ready for our final show of this season at the same time. Next season includes a couple of world premieres, a collaboration with Michigan State University and a co-production with the Jewish Ensemble Theatre. (It’ll be my first time directing out there, I’m looking forward to that, too – they’re good folks out there, and I love the script!) Here’s a link to our upcoming season, and very soon we’ll have show logos to share too.
Um… this is awesome, and everyone should listen…
Yes, it’s 15 minutes long. Just push play, and then keep working on whatever you were working on…even though it’s SO good you’ll want to keep watching the video! 🙂
Happy Tuesday!
Pic Post Wednesday: New Shows, New Games, Family Time!
A good, busy week!
Production meetings for the next show at Williamston Theatre, Red, White and Tuna, directed by John Lepard. Here’s a picture or two of the set model – Janine Woods Thoma is the Set Designer. This pic was right before they had a couple of great ideas and Janine tore the model apart to experiment!
In other theatre news, I’m beginning work on the next show I’m directing, boom, which I LOVE!
Had a great time with Max this evening. After Maggie and I grilled an awesome dinner (salmon, chicken, pork medallions, veggies), she and Jeanne went out dress shopping, so Max and I got some Dad/Son time: first, ice cream from Twisters.
Yes, they’re both huge, and yes his has 3 candy eyeballs on the front of it. These things happen…
Next, we wanted to play some games, and we had a new pack of expansion cards…
So we played some Munchkin!
Seriously, could that kid be any cuter?
We also played a game of Ticket To Ride with the whole family, and then the kids were off to bed!
Lastly, Maggie and I saw this bumper sticker when we went grocery shopping, and it made us laugh… and then we spent the next 20 minutes rhyming things with “peanut”…
Have a great week, folks!
Sunday Night Quotes: Growing/Playing… and some rambling
People tend to forget that play is serious. -David Hockney
My son had his birthday party this weekend, the “kids” party, where he got to invite a bunch of friends over to spend the night. He’s turning 12 in a couple of days. (Wow, those years went by quickly.) He asked for a Hunger Games party, since he’s read the books and seen the movie… so we set up a Hunger Games party!
Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. -Joseph Chilton
Our yard and our neighbors yard were the battle arena. There were about 14 kids, all using foam swords, lots of Nerf dart-guns, and foam balls to throw at each other. They each wore 3 “life ribbons” (Flag Football style), and you lost a life by getting a ribbon pulled off or by getting hit with a weapon. Of course, hidden around the yard were lots of fun things, like…
and
Also hidden, among the helpful treasures, were traps, like “poison berries” that made you lose a life ribbon if you opened the box.
Almost all creativity involves purposeful play. -Abraham Maslow
They had a blast, and played 2 games well into the night! Walking around as the “GamesMaster” was fun, because I got to watch all the action, maybe be helpful or mischievous now and then, and take some fun pictures:
The remnants of an epic battle…note the weapons, supply bag, and discarded Life Ribbons. Really hits home, no?
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. -Khalil Gibran
A fallen warrior…
As the night wore on, I watched different kids respond differently. Some were teaming up, some stayed loners. Some played with honor and fairness, some bent the rules whenever they could.
We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. -May Lamberton Becker
The thing that was the most striking was how much fun they had, while also taking it so seriously – strategizing, plotting, but also pulling details from the books and movie into the game and weaving storylines, calling each other by character names. They created drama, but disputes were largely solved by the group.
And all the while, I watched my son – who I’m pretty sure was just born yesterday – as he enjoyed his day. He was loving being the center of attention, but also gracious to his friends. He moved through the “cliques” and made sure everyone was having fun, and no one was being left out… I was really proud of him, and amazed at how grown he’s become. Sometimes I think I’m too hard on him, or I’m too strict, or I’m not patient if he’s doing things in a way that I wouldn’t do… seeing him at his party reminded me that he’s a young man now. How *I* would do something doesn’t have to be the way he would do it. The Dad part of me has to keep hoping that by example, suggestion, and hopefully more discussion than discipline, I can do my job and help him grow into an adult of good character… and seeing him be a kid of good character was pretty great.
Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won’t do that. -Walt Disney
So tonight, when I got home from work, I found him sleeping in my bed. Sometimes he’ll crawl into bed with Jeanne if I’m not home. As I looked at him sleeping there, I realized that soon I wouldn’t be picking him up anymore, soon he’ll be too big or won’t want to be lifted… and that’s a loss that I know will come soon, but one that I’m just not ready for. As I gently picked him up to carry to his room, his arms wrapped around my neck and he nestled his head on my shoulder.
And, sure, I could’ve just set him on his bed right away – but tonight, I just couldn’t bear to do it. Tonight, I just listened to him breathe, and I held him until my arms ached. This moment, this could be the last time I get the chance to do that. This event horizon that we’re on right now, we stand on a thin line and I can look to one side and see his childhood, and just a step away in the other direction is his adult life, and I know that step has to be taken, but…
I thrill at what the future holds for my kids… but I will miss moments like carrying them to bed more than I’m capable of expressing.
How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted. -Voltaire
Pic Post Thursday!
Random pictures from the random events that life throws at a guy… (not a random guy, though. Specifically, me.)
Family stuff!
Family birthday for my son: boy oh boy, he turned 12 quickly…
Here he can be seen modeling his birthday present from his big sister: Sunglasses with an attached moustache.
Since we had the whole family over, we took some family photos! I posted about family HERE, but this picture is fun: My kids, and my nieces and nephews. (Note: Many of them are wearing shirts my sister-in-law bought advertising “Crabby Frank’s Restaurant”. My dad’s name is Frank!)
My birthday is coming up… (in January). I’m also posting a pic of this shirt that can be purchased at zazzle.com. No connection between these two facts, just coincidence…
This weekend we tech The Understudy. Rehearsals have been a blast. Here’s a fun shot of the set a couple of days ago. Soon that big wooden structure will be covered with something very cool – I’ll post more later! 
Lastly, my parents stayed with us for a few days… the other night we had a great time with 3 generations of the family sitting around the table playing a lot of Zombie Dice!
A very fun game, it was a lot of fun to play with my wife, parents, and kids at the same time. What? You’ve never played Zombie Dice?! Check it out here. (And there’s an iPhone app for it, too!)
Now – more rehearsals. More family stuff. I hope your week has been as good as mine!
Monday Night Quotes… Family
In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. ~Lao Tzu
This weekend was full of Quality Family Time, and I’m very grateful for it! It’s been a wonderful, busy few weeks, especially the last two, as I’ve been overlapping rehearsals for The Understudy at Williamston Theatre and Ernie at the City Theatre. As I was driving between the two shows, and back to my house to be with my wife and kids, I was thinking about the different families we create in our lives. It’s always been one of the things I loved most about working in the theatre, the way each production becomes its own family. Designers regularly get the chance to work on multiple shows at a time, but as a director I haven’t often had the opportunity, and going back and forth between several versions of a family with different goals, values, traditions, expectations, all on the same day, has been a lot of fun. Not just fun, though, but also a reminder that in order to succeed, you have to be fully present, listening, open to the moment. It’s a real gift to have one or more “families” to call home.
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard
It was nice to take all of Saturday and most of Sunday, though, and be with my wife and kids, as well as my parents, siblings and their families! We celebrated birthdays and an early Mother’s Day, played games, ate good food, laughed and generally had a great time. We stood there, 3 generations of a family, and as we were posing for a picture I thought “Where did all of this come from!?”. We stood there for the picture, my parents in front and Dominic and Gina and I behind them, Dom and I on the sides with Gina in the middle, just like when we were kids in the backseat, and my parents were in the front seat driving us on one of the thousands of car trips we went on; singing songs as we headed to A&W for root beer floats, or a visit with cousins, or camping. And now, here we are, in that same formation… with a few additions!
It’s amazing how quickly that seems to have happened. And how MUCH seems to have happened. And yet, there are the constants: family stories that never fail to make us laugh, the same jokes about the same topics, the one-liner that will only make sense to my brother and sister and I, but send us into hysterics about a moment from 30 years ago.
I know all of this will pass. It will, it’ll pass into family lore as we all fade away… and the thing I hope most of all is that we, Jeanne and I, can give to our kids enough laughter, love, memories and stories to last a few generations past us – the way our parents have – so that even if our stories don’t last forever, the impact of them will.
Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted. ~Paul Pearshall
Sunday quotes: A Saturday full of little things
Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run… but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open that nothing worth our while shall escape us. – Victor Cherbuliez
Yesterday was one of those nice days that you thank the Universe for, and it was a great reminder that the big things in life are wonderful, but they happen less frequently: taking notice of the little things makes the difference between a good life, and a great life.
A clear, chilly morning and a great cup of coffee on the porch before heading to rehearsal.
A good rehearsal of a good show. Taking moments that are good, and making them better with the collaboration of a good team.
The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things. – G. C. Lichtenberg
A surprise text message: “Hey, you Downtown? I have a free ticket behind home plate, wanna come?” You bet! Turns out it was no problem that I would be rehearsing for the first part of the game, got there in plenty of time to sit about 12 rows back behind home plate and see 4 innings of baseball in a beautiful ballpark. Even though our team got hammered, the place was sunny, packed with fans – the mood was light, the company was good.
The evening was full of Quality Family Time: laughing over burgers, sitting around the neighbor’s bonfire for a while, relaxing on the couch with my family, grossing out my daughter with my eye (I apparently sneezed too hard and burst a blood vessel in my eye, so it looks all yucky and zombie-riffic!)
An early bedtime, listening to the Tigers win the second game of their double-header.
For the person for whom small things do not exist, the great is not great. – Gasset, Jose Ortega Y
Nowhere in there was there a giant life changing event. No big holidays, no one won the lottery. We didn’t suddenly get a new dream-job or celebrate the success of anyone’s efforts on a project. Instead, we had a day full of simple goodness: quality moments, with quality people – smiles with loved ones. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault
Tony Caselli 