The day after Christmas we woke up before the sun and got a move on, hoping to make it to Michigan before the snow hit. It was a long trip. It always is, but this one seemed to drag on forever. The kids were restless and Cole owes me a whole roll of quarters for asking, "How much longer?" every 30 minutes.
Upon arriving both kids were excited to hear that Grandma had planned a mini-birthday celebration for Cole. There was pizza, cake, presents and cousins. What more could you ask for?
The next day there was more playtime, more gifts, and more happiness - everything Christmas should be.
Clearly Cole is serious about his legos. Do you see that face? Thank goodness he had an assistant.
Isabel also had a partner in crime.
Although her cousin wouldn't help her scare away the geese.
But Isabel is fearless when it comes to these things.. and apparently oblivious to the cold as well. I would just like to state that I didn't let her out of the house like that. *cough* claydidit *cough* I would never be so irresponsible.
We had many days of fun with family while we were in Michigan. Next up, the kids first ball drop.
Hi Everyone!
I'm happy to say that Clay and I are back in K-Town after a long 10-day trip to the motherland for an academic workshop and some much needed time visiting family. The kids elected to stay with their grandparents for another week (oh darn), so now I'm ready to catch back up on my blogging.
The summer has been good to us so far. Our first week out of school we attempted to beat the heat by hanging out with some good friends, eating ice cream, swimming and blasting each other with water guns.
The second week brought a long car trip back to Michigan. After dropping Clay off in A2, the kids and I headed to Alma to spend time with my family.
Hooray!
We took advantage of the nice weather and went for a long canoe ride/picnic one day. It was beautifully picturesque on the river and we saw lots of wild life.
Here's a picture of Cole at the front of the kayak we were in...notice how much work he's (not) doing. Thank goodness for my ability to just keep paddling.
Grandma made the most delicious chicken salad sandwiches I've ever tasted, but the kids opted for ham and PB&J. Go figure. We ate, the kids played on the playground and much laughing ensued.
The paddling portion of the day ended up being a lot longer than we expected, but everyone made it back home eventually. Next time we'll have to remember to pack a tow rope.
Needless to say, all the adults were exhausted and all the kids were fine.
Isabel, for one, was quite pleased with the trip.
More adventures to come.....
If you read my post on Petoskey, MI you probably remember that we visited the American Spoon Cafe. Well, we also visited the American Spoon store right next door.
As you can see, the store sells jams, chutneys, relishes, sauces, salsas, etc. They have everything available to sample with crackers & chips and the nicest people are on hand to help you out. We went in specifically looking for some jalapeno jelly to spread on top of crackers and brie cheese and came out 4 jars later...
We each picked something out. Cole went for the Marionberry fruit spread for his PB&J sandwiches. Isabel picked out Milk Caramel to eat with apple slices. I wanted the Jalapeno jelly and Clay picked out the Dill and Caper relish (which makes awesome tuna salad). It was certainly pricier than buying Smuckers from the grocery store, but the taste is worth it. Plus, we were on vacation and we chalked the purchase up as a souvenir.
If delectable spreads aren't your thing, consider giving a jar of something tasty as a gift to someone you really like. They'll thank you for it.
You can check out all the possibilities at
www.spoon.com
Back in college the Chapel staff created something called Deep Thoughts by Jack VanHandey. Of course they were mimicking the famous quotes of Jack Handey the humorist. Perhaps you remember his one liners on Saturday Night Live?
Anyway, every so often something happens to me that brings back these hysterical memories of sitting in Chapel listening to the most recent Deep Thought by Jack VanHandey. For example, a while back we were walking the kids to school one morning whenl I saw a squirrel eating a full-size round donut.
Seriously.
The donut was bigger than the size of the squirrel's head, but he had it clamped between his little paws and he was going to town stuffing that thing into his cheeks.
And as we walked along, continuing on our way to school, I realized that I was waiting for the tranquil sound of elevator music to start and to hear a soothing male voice echo down from the atmosphere to relate some witty one-liner that summed up what I had just experienced.
A squirrel eating a donut.
(That was the first moment in the past year that I have regretted not having a cell phone. Because if I did, I would have a picture to post so you too could have flashbacks from college.)
Now, maybe college just instilled in me a fondness for squirrels, but I would like to think that's not the case - since the black squirrels in Holland, MI are crazy, scary. Instead, I like to think that those moments in Chapel instilled in me the ability to see humor in life.
With that, I'll leave you with this....
Picture the tulip, and while you're doing that I'll be over here going through your bag.
Yo quiero Deep Thoughts by Jack VanHandey
Thanks to all of those people who have continued to check my blog despite the fact that I haven't posted anything new in days. It's nice to know that there are people out there, somewhere, in the world who may actually find me entertaining. Here's my excuse for my recent blogging laziness.
We traveled to Michigan for the weekend. It was a whirlwind trip with lots of time spent in the car (blah). However, it was totally worth it to see my beautiful cousin get married. The ceremony was at my parents house and my dad married them. No, he's not ordained - the county they live in doesn't require an official officiant. The whole thing was light-hearted and funny and sweet all at the same time - and absolutely perfect for the bride and groom.
Clay managed to snap a couple pictures of the kids dressed in nice clothes which happens next to never in our family. And he even managed to catch me all dressed up. Of course, he got me at a really flattering moment - I think I'm messing with table decor or cleaning up or something. Unfortunately, we have no photos of my handsome professor dressed up in his best academic outfit, complete with bow tie.
Don't I look like I'm going to bust out into a rap or something? What am I doing with my hands? Oh well, blame the camera man.
Other highlights of our weekend?
Clay got to meet ex-Pacer point guard, Vern Fleming. Apparently, he lived next door to the groom's family while they still lived in Indianapolis, so he was at the wedding. Pretty funny. Also in attendance was Bob Wood, former U of M football kicker.
Speaking of U of M football, did anyone watch that spanking they laid down on Minnesota? I did and that was another highlight of my weekend. GO BLUE! To round it off, I got to watch the Tigers play the Yankees. The first game wasn't all that pretty, but we got them back yesterday. Keeping my fingers crossed for tonight's game.
All-in-all, the best part about the weekend was being back in Michigan, surrounded by family. Congratulations to my cousin and her new husband (one of the funniest guys I've ever met) and thanks to my parents for putting up with us for the weekend - again. Love you guys.
Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up on some sleep this week because right now, I'm exhausted.
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