I'm a lucky lady who found the man of her dreams on a blind date, of all things, back in 1971. It was love at first sight for both of us. Here in the blog I refer to him as my Maintenance Man. If you know him, you know why - the man can do anything! The summer of 2008 we took the trip of a lifetime to Alaska. We have created this blog to keep our family and friends informed with pictures and stories. We have 4 beautiful granddaughters and one grandson. The most recent granddaughter was born 12/8/12 and I'm really trying to enjoy her more because you never know if she will be our last little one. There could be more, but you just never know. Could life get any better?
The weather prediction couldn’t have been more wrong lol. Who cares? We arrived in Shepherd MI in early afternoon and the first thing I saw at a garage sale was a horse that I’ve been looking for for Peanut. Walked over there immediately and purchased it and asked them to save it for pickup on Sunday. The whole weekend was made for me with this one purchase. Fortunately, we still had a lot more fun to come.
We talked to a couple that were parked behind us and learned a lot about the making of maple syrup. In Shepherd, all the maple trees along the local streets are tapped in March to make the syrup for the festival. This first picture shows all the trees up and down the streets. This picture shows the holes where they tapped for the syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. That means that as you’re cooking down the sap 39 gallons of moisture have to evaporate. To me that says – Don’t do this in your kitchen. Can you imagine the steamy windows?
Anyway, the rest of Friday we rode our bikes around town to the other garage sales and found a bakery in a private home that had great cookies. The weather was great and it was a lot of fun.
Saturday we got up to the sound of pounding feet on the pavement outside our bedroom window. Oh yeah, a 5K run. We just listened to them go by, no need to get up yet. When we did get up we meandered over to the school for a pancake breakfast. Yummy. There was a tractor pull scheduled to start at 11:00 so we rode our bikes over there. Sitting in the bleachers I was thinking, “I’m going to get so burned.” Then as the announcer states that the drivers have their rules and we’re going to try to get in as many runs as we can. The Sheriff has notified them that there is a storm coming in with damaging winds and it is expected to arrive in town within 30 minutes. We watched a couple of the tractors then decided to head back to camp – good thing too, because it was really windy and we had to ride into the wind and uphill to get back. There was a short rainfall from about 12 to 12:15 then it was nice again. We walked into town and watched a carver display his skills with a chain saw, found out where the pony rides were and checked out the old cars that were on display.
The real rain started at 3:00 and the kids arrived around 4:00. It rained pretty much the rest of the time we were there. It did stop a few times and we took full advantage of any dry periods. We walked over to the school and walked through the craft bizarre then headed back before – you guessed it – it started raining again. We ended up having dinner at camp and just using the George Foreman grill. I grilled some hamburgers, and cooked up some corn on the cob while my Daughter made the salads. I didn’t know it, but it was Peanuts’ first time eating corn on the cob. Talk about fun. We waited for the corn to cool and didn’t put anything on it. I held it up to her mouth and she licked it and said, “hmmm”. Then she took a small apprehensive nibble and her expression was priceless. I had her take hold of the corn herself and she went to town.
Papa took lots of pictures over the weekend and this one is totally her saying “Not now Papa, I’m eating my corn”. She devoured the whole ear of corn!! I wonder if she will stay a fan of corn or if it was just the novelty of something new?
There was a short period of entertainment found in bubbles. And we always get a giggle of her wanting to wear our glasses.
After dinner our daughter and I tried to play Yahtzee. Peanut thought this was a great time for her to learn too.
It was too funny watching here shake the dice and then gently roll them. I would call out the numbers on the dice that she rolled and she would count along with me “one, two, red”. We got a good laugh out of that. She was really good about taking her turn then letting Mommy have a turn. Occasionally she would grab for the dice, but when we explained that it wasn’t her turn yet she would hand over the dice and wait for her turn. I was really impressed with her patience when I know it was getting late and she was getting tired. I’m just glad I’ve got another game player.
The box that the Yahtzee game is in also has a bunch of other office and game stuff – and some small American flags. When she pulled those out I showed her how to wave the flag and say “woohoo”. Oh yeah, we all had flags waving saying “woohoo”. It was funny how she walked over to Papa and showed him how to wave and say “woohoo”. At times like these I wish life could be on a video. Bedtime was uneventful and we slept to the beating of the rain most of the night. Morning brought a short stop of the rain and we walked over for breakfast. I looked like most of the outside crafters were packing it up while it wasn’t raining so we just headed back to camp. I walked over to the house that was holding my pony and brought that back to the rv. I tried to get Peanut to get on it and she soundly said “No”. Okay, maybe the pony really is for me. We put the pony out of the way back in the bedroom and did a few other things. Later I asked her if she wanted to pet the pony and she was game. I asked if she wanted to ride it and she was again agreeable. I brought it into the kitchen and put her on. She immediately fell off. I was sure that the game was over, but no, she wanted back on. We figured out how to put her feet in a position for more balance and she didn’t fall off again.
I love this shot that I snapped on the way to breakfast on Sunday. Peanut loves her Papa. She's a lucky little girl, she's the first grandchild to 6 grandparents that totally love her to pieces.
I’ve got to say that Peanut made my weekend. Who would think you could have so much fun cooped up in a camper in the rain? We headed back early and got home to 80-degree temps. The evidence of downed branches told us that the weather wasn’t any better at home on Saturday. We’ll be home for the next couple weekends, but have several other camping trips planned for this summer.
I'm having a short day today because we're leaving for camping this weekend at the Maple Syrup Festival In Shepherd. We've gone to this many times in the past and have gotten all kinds of weather from blistering hot days to snowy blustry days. Glad to say that this weekend promises to be nice and sunny. Peanut and Co will be joining us on Saturday and I just love to see these things (carnivals, parades and the like) through the eyes of a child. Hopefully I'll get lots of pictures and have lots to tell next week.
This is a new one to me lol. Tammy over at Crazy Mom With 4 Boys gave me this funny named award the ZOMBIE CHICKEN award. Thank you very much!!! So here are the rules:
The zombie chicken says...
"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…" Here are my 5 nominees:
I've been awarded this beautiful trophy from Andrea over at Mom Writer Me. I feel so honored and want to honor the following 5 bloggers that are also very deserving. Don't know what I did before I blogged, I've found such interesting people.
You guessed it. I got to see the newest little bundle of joy. We drove over there on Sunday from the campground and I got to hold her for 3 whole hours. Eat your heart out Kathy. She just slept and then when I set her down again she woke up for a photo shoot lol. She is just adorable. Hard to believe that she'll just be 4 weeks old on Wednesday. She looks like a little doll doesn't she? MM can't understand why I just want to hold her.
We heard from Peanut Land when we got home. My Daughter says that she said "Bippity Boppity Boo" and Peanut said "Papa says that". How cute it that? Funny what we find absolutely adorable isn't it? I also saw Peanut on Thursday and she screamed "Mimi" and ran toward me then at the last minute she swerved away. I think she thought real fast and decided she didn't want to go in the house and that is where I would be going. Too funny. She loves being outside with the sticks and rocks. Who needs to buy toys when we have rocks?
I hate the thought of not being around every weekend this summer. That's going to cut severly into my grandbaby time. I know I'll manage, but I don't know how.
I say 'for this season' because we all know that if you own a home it is never ending. So, back in January/February my MM created a closet over the stairs, built a cupboard around the phone/message center and put up a shelf for teapots around the dining room. And after all that was done, he did the painting. Wonder why I call him my Maintenance Man? This closet provided an enormous amount of storage space that is really close to the kitchen area. I love the added wall I get in the living room. The "FAITH" wall hanging was made with products from Upper Case Living home parties. This wall in the dining area is so much neater with the message center and phone behind closed doors. Notice the new shelf going around the dining room. I love that it appears to be floating. I've always displayed lots of family photos in the hallway.
The stencil looking wording is also from Upper Case Living. You can pick from any design or phrases they have or design your own. From the words to the font, size and color. Really cool product. I was trying to decide what picture to put on the living room wall and remembered that we took some phenomenal picture on our Alaskan trip. I think it turned out really nice.
On another note. My niece made a comment about still having a corded phone. I do have a couple of cordless phones, but this one has always been there and I found no reason to replace it. Does anybody else still own a phone with a cord? Just checking.
We had a wonderful family Easter this past weekend. Our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter joined us for church. Peanut was a big hit in her Easter bonnet and then after church we picked up my Mom to join us for dinner. Peanut had fun finding bright plastic eggs filled with fun stuff. As a little something special I made matching aprons for my daughter and Peanut. Is she hamming it up or what? Peanut had gotten two Easter bonnets so she shared one with me. I could probably use one a little larger lol.
The only thing that could have made this day better would be to have our whole family with us. Maybe next year.
Well, I did it. Got a few good pictures last weekend. This one is of me and my two favorite girls. My daughter got them matching outfits that say "Thing 1" and "Thing 2". Too cute
And then one of GG and the girls.
Lil Peanut loves to grab my glasses and wear them.
She's a safe rider.... even on the front porch.
I love this one of my niece, her girls and our newest addition. How do you like the new paint job? You can kind of see it in the background. I love it.
The inbox on my dashboard at Entre Cards is packed with blogs that want to advertise on my blog. Until I figure out what's going on with that I choose not to accept any advertisements. I prefer to continue doing business the way that I have been. I buy on their blogs and they buy on mine. I'm not trying to offend anyone, it is just a personal choice. So, if you've advertised on my blog before - continue in the same manner - I like to see you there. Maybe later when the bumps are worked out I'll grow with the changes.
I'm having my two little grandbabies over tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with a new photo for my "badge" with me and both little darlings. It's going to be a fun day and I'm looking forward to it. Be sure to check back sometime next week to see if my badge changes. (Is that photo thingy called a 'badge'?)
When you were growing up where did you go for your information? I can remember hearing things on the bus and I was clueless about what they were even talking about. Talk about naive! I wish there had been computers (lol) and websites to answer questions about sex. Wouldn't it be nice to know where babies really came from instead of under the cabbage patch. And all the myths about getting pregnant.. like you can't get pregnant while nursing. My girlfriend could dispute that one. Another girlfriend can attest to the myth that you can't get pregnant on your first time having sex. WRONG!
Growing up in the 60's was totally free and uninhibited, but naive all the same. Thank God the Aids epidemic hadn't started yet. And there must have been a lot of STD's, but I never heard anything about them. Of course, people are much more open about talking about everything these days. There are still always some questions that you just don't want to ask someone face to face. To have had this kind of information while growing up would have been great.
What were your thoughts about sex while growing up? Did your Mom talk with you or did you garner all your information from your sister or friends? And finally, how accurate was the information that you got? I find that I'm still learning lol. Gotta say, some things are fun to learn.
Couldn't let the day pass without saying "I miss you Janet". My sister died in 1994 at the age of 45 from colon cancer. She was too young and fought a good fight. I know heaven is a better place with her there. She was always ready for a party and loved to entertain. She didn't live long enough to see her daughter get married or to meet her grandchildren here on earth. She has beautiful twin grandsons and a granddaughter named after her. We all miss her dearly and think of her often.
