New month - new attitude.

August is here....

July has gone by so quickly I'm unsure of where it went. Between the kids and the in-laws it seems like everyday is just filled and goes by and another comes with it's challenges.

One of the funnest things I've done this summer was the week spent at the Mackinac Island Scout barracks cooking for the Boy Scouts who serve on the island. #3 is a Boy Scout and almost an Eagle Scout. #1 is an Eagle Scout but at 20 is no longer involved.

Mackinac Island is such a charming place. The path to get there includes going accrossed the huge suspension bridge that links Michigan's upper and lower penninsulas. Then there is a 30 minute ferry ride to get over to the Island.

There are no cars or golf carts allowed on the Island so the transportation is all about the horses or bikes. The horses that pulled all our luggage and food up the the Scout barracks were amazingly strong. I loved hearing the clip clop of there hooves on the cement. They often leave a mess on the road, but there are people with shovels that take care of it right away.

Mackinac Island was having their annual lilac festival the week we were there. The lilacs were beautiful and smelled even better. This view is from the Mackinac Island Fort Ramp, the downtown area is off to the right.

The Boy Scouts put the flags up at 9 AM and take them down at 6 PM. There are quite a few flags around the Island and they are all taken down at exactly the same time, after the evening cannon booms. This view is of the fort ramp, the flags are from a variety of countries. #3 is behind the flag pole. The boys also have many posts around the Island where they stand and answer questions for the tourists or give directions. Two of the Scouts pushed a handicapped person up and down the ramp so that they were able to see inside the fort. It was a very proud moment to hear they volunteered to do that. There were quite a few proud moments that week as the boys really went above and beyond what was expected of them.

My cooking partner and I spent from 6:30 AM until around 8:00 PM at the barracks cooking and preparing for the next meal. My favorite thing was making brownies, cookies & rice krispie treats. LOVE feeding those hungry teenage boys. Saturday we went home and I was exhausted. I went to bed 7 PM Saturday night, slept in until 10:30 Sunday morning and then took a nap Sunday afternoon.

This was my second year and it is my hope to go back again next year.

Florida in February

Mom and I left to Florida about 36 hours after Mic and I got back from Mexico. We flew through Atlanta, GA into Key West, FL. I had been to Key West several times but had never flew in their airport. The airport is tiny and being rennovated. There is only one belt for luggage and it's about 30 feet long as it snakes in and out of the building. You can pick up your luggage outside, how cool is that? Love these pink taxis!
We were coming back to Key West later so we got our rental car and headed to Marathon. This is part of the Seven Mile Bridge. It's such a beautiful drive and the sun was shining. The bridge pictured here is the old part that is no longer in use. The lower level is train tracks and the upper level was for cars.

Mom and I took this very seriously and made sure we had Key Lime Pie every night for dessert. We did find that we liked the Publix Key Lime Pie better. I have a receipe to make the pie with but was too lazy to make it while we were on vacation.

Papantla Flying Men

Here are the five Papantla Flying Men after they have climbed up the pole. The man in the center goes up first and keep the ropes winding around the center. The men attach the ropes to their ankles. The square starts to spin and the men leaning out and start to "fly." The fifth man in the center stays where he is and plays flute music while the others spin.

They go around and around and hold their arms and bodies still.

The Mayan people did this to promote a good harvest and fertility. If one of the men crashes to the ground it is said a natural disaster will occur. (I imagine it doesn't end well for him either.)

They go around the pole 13 times for the number of months in the Mayan calendar.

They make it down to the ground and are released by another member of their team. The guy at the top just climbs down the pole. Fascinating! Then they pick up tin cans and tell you that you owe them 40 pesos (about $3) for taking their pictures, I paid, just watching them was worth the $3.

Ruins at Tulum

The ruins at Tulum were a 45 minute drive from the resort. It was interesting to see how the Mayans lived. We had a tour guide that gave us a walking tour, he was great and explained to us how the Mayan people were like the American Indians in so much as they had their native lands taken over by the Spanish. The big building in the back was their temple.

This is a view from the temple, the big building to the right was a public building. Many of the people lived in the surrounding wooded areas and would come to this area to trade and socialize.

The water color here was unbelievably pretty. There were about four different shades of blue and turquoise. The little building in this picture was built for the god of the sea.

Huh? Apparantely the Mayan people also had ATM's!

Next up, the Mayan's idea of a swing set/maypole/merry-go-round.

Paradisus

Paradisus is decorated in an Aztec style. The buildings are all thatched roof and there are no walls in the main buildings. They do have fabric panels that can come down if it rains. It did rain one day for about 15 minutes.

There were many of these around the grounds, all different. I really liked this ones poncho and jewlery.

This was one of the seating areas for one of the restaurants. The walkway in the background went all the way out to the pool. All of the main areas were surrounded by water. We wondered how many people fall into the water after having a few. Paradisus is an all-inclusive resort and there were people that didn't seem to recognize when they had enough.

These little huts were great because when we were ready for some sun you could pull them from under the huts. We were glad there was plenty of shade as the sun was really hot. I really like the way the grass shows which way the breeze is going. The sand is fine white sand and there was a machine that looked like a lawnmower that came through several times a day picking up the seaweed. I expected to fine seashells, but there weren't any.

The swim up pool bar was really fun. I took this picture about 7 AM in the morning before walking on the beach. Later in the day it was much busier.

The cement chairs under the pavillion were great fun, we got drinks from the bar and then went and sat on one of those. On the right are more cement chairs which is also where the bar is. On Saturday night there was a wedding reception in the white dome in the background, the wedding had been on the beach at sunset.
I took this picture near the white wedding dome. Here is another row of the cement chairs in the pool. They were so fun and they were really warm from the sun so when you sat on them you had to wet them down but the warmth from them felt wonderful.

Next up....a request for a picture of Kate's hair do. She won't put it on Facebook but I think she looks really cute. She is going to be in Thoroughally Modern Millie next week, as Lucille who is Millie's friend. All the "modern" girls got their hair bobbed, so cute!

Mexico

This is the airport in Cancun, Mexico. The airport looks like it's out of the 70's. They have three luggage belts, but strangely they only use one. There was so much luggage on the belt that they announced that they won't be putting any more luggage on until people start taking some off. The resourceful American started rearranging the luggage so there were empty spots on the belt and they started it back up. Mic and Steve went in and fought the crowd while Lizi and I stood talking.
Once we got our luggage we went over to stand in the customs line. This was a pretty efficient system, they just looked at our passports and asked where we were staying. While on the airplane we were asked to fill out immigration forms, which we did. They wanted to know if you were carrying any firearms, illegal substances or more than $10,000. Then in BIG letter that said were to declare if we had any fresh fruits or plants we were not going to be allowed to bring them into Mexico. I guess the other stuff was negotiable.

We started peeling off our layers of clothes as it was about 80 degrees in the airport and about 85 degrees outside. That's when Mic told me I wasan't allowed to complain about being hot.

When we got on the bus we saw this;
The sign below it said that if the bus entered water or caught on fire to use it to break the window. The bus only had two speeds, fast and slamming on the brakes. The drive took the speed bumps so quickly that you came right out of your seat. It only took about 30 minutes and we arrived at Paradisus.

Up next, a tour of Paradisus.....Until later

Teenager no more!

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years and this baby turned into a man. Mic and I spent the day in Kalamazoo taking Jack to lunch and a trip to Meijer for groceries. He's such a wonderful young man, I'm really lucky to have had him in my life. He's always brought such joy and fun.

This is me 20 years ago February 28. The really fun part is that Mom and I were in Florida over that time period and we stayed in the same house we stayed in for that visit. Thanks Jo! It's weird to think that it was only two weeks later that I had him. All 9 lbs. 6 oz. of him.
Here's to the next 20 years!
(Tomarrow I start blogging my travel adventures). Until later, Karen

The view is great - the internet, not so much!

I'm back from Mexico and am now in the Florida Keys with Mom. Having quite a time with the internet. Probably the fact that I'm at the Marathon Public Library on their wireless.

Blogger won't allow me to download any pictures to my blog. It says "could not contact Blogger.com" and I have no idea what that means. Mic is not here to help, now what?

I'll try again tomarrow.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Look what I got for my birthday! After seeing an infomercial for the mini burger maker my kids thought that's what I needed, and I did! I made burgers for dinner tonight and they were great fun. They were smaller than I though they would be, but they were so fun.

Christmas Flood

Last week we got an incredible amount of snow. Then on Friday it started raining and the temp went up to 50 degrees on Saturday. All combined it made a huge amount of water and the stream in the back yard became a river. Saturday the stream flooded over to combine with the lake and overnight it rose to an all time high. We only have around 5 foot of grass showing in the back yard before it would start to flow into the downstairs garage. Sunday morning and into the afternoon several of the neighbors were filling bags with sand to hold the water back. They were not on as high a ground as we are. Several had water in their downstairs despite their efforts. Mic and #1 and #3 went out and helped sandbag. They had a great workout and the best part was delivering the sandbags with the pickup truck. We are praying for dry weather.

Right now it appears that the water not rising so hopefully it will receed as the night goes on. Our floating dock left the dyke and started floating until it hit the huge ice chunk that is still on the lake.

I really like the first picture beause I can't believe how close the water is. The only part of the picnic table you can see is the top. We're lucky that didn't start floating away too. I like the second on because it looks like the bridge to nowhere.

This is the view to the left of our back yard from the deck. You can see our floating dock between the trees in the neighbors yard. Mic is going to take the kayak and go get it tomarrow.

Niagara Falls!

Mic and I watched "The Bucket List" movie a few months ago. When the movie was done we talked about some things that were on our lists. One of them on mine was to see Niagara Falls.

This weekend Mic made that happen for me. It was beautiful and breath taking. Watching the water rushing over the falls and feeling that mist mezmorized me. I stood there for quite a while watching the water fall and swirl. There is a walk that over looks the falls that we walked twice. I really enjoyed seeing the many nationalities that were represented and listening to the variety of languages that were spoken. We were foreigners too,as we were on the Canadian side of the falls. The US side of the falls does not have as good a view,the Canadians definately got the better end of that deal.

We took the "Maid of the Mist" boat trip that takes you close to the falls. It was a great, but wet trip. They give everyone blue rain coats (that resemble dry cleaner bags) to wear during the trip. Thank goodness for the blue coats, you get wet when you get over by the falls. It's like a very heavy mist. I kept my hood off and faced the falls relishing the mist covering my face. The roar of the falls was an amazing sound and the power of the water is awe inspiring.

A Proud Day

Son #3 and 11 of his fellow Boy Scouts and football buddies came together on Saturday to assemble this. It's for his Eagle Project on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout. They took down the old swing set that had 3 swings on it and was in very bad shape.

Then they re-assembled this new one in about 5 hours. The really great part of this is that it's on the grounds of a domestic crisis home. There are 40 women and children currently living in the house. It was great, the kids were looking out the windows and coming outside asking how long before we were going to be done. It was a beautiful thing to see the kids playing on it before we left.

#3 solicited donations and raised money for the project. He got a big break when we were in Costco and he asked one of the managers what they did with the display play structures when they were done with them. #3 is VERY charming and when he explained what he had in mind the manager said he could have it, if he disassembled it when they were done with it. He came walking up to me and said, "yea, they said I could have it in 2 weeks." A $1400 play structure! He had raised money for the wood chips and gravel he needed, so he was ready to go.
Two weeks later we took it down at Costco and two weeks later, it was assembled by a bunch of teenagers.

They had adults there if they needed any consulting , but the kids really did the work. I did the donuts and sloppy joes, etc. It made me really proud of my son and his friends. They had a great time and did a great thing.

Rain Rain Go Away!

In the past three days we have received so much rain that our stream has started overflowing into the lake.
We are not in the flood plain, but it sure feels like it from my living room windows. The bridge on the left is so far underwater that the ducks come swimming in the current and smack into the bridge. Good Sunday afternoon entertainment.

Swan Lake

This group of swans stopped by our lake today to rest. They made quite a bit of noise as they flew over the house and landed in the middle of the lake.

As soon as they landed I grabbed my camera bag and sat on our dock to watch them swim. Sadly, I only had two lenses in the bag and neither was my "stalker lens" so this was the best pictures I could get.

They were in two groups. They had stopped the honking they were doing when they flew over the house, they were quiet and at peace. The swans separated into two groups, one was the older swans and the others were the younger swans that still had some brown on their necks. Some of them curled up and slept and some just floated.

It was a great break in my day. They stopped by to rest and I sat and watched them for about 30 minutes. I am reminded that each day I should stop for 30 minutes and recharge, quietly.

Sadly, one of my neighbors decided to go kayaking and the swans decided to fly on. I could have sat there for another half hour.

Now I have to figure out where I left my "stalker" lens.

(If you click on the picture to see it larger, the younger swans are on the right.)

Scout & Big Red

This is Scout, he's our black lab/springer spaniel mix. We got him when he was 6 weeks old and 8 pounds, he's 9 years old now and 50 pounds. You'd think he would have grown up by now. He still has a lot of puppy left in him.

He's a great dog.

He swims in the lake just about every day and chases the ducks off the property. The ducks just make a mess on the grass, so we love it when he does this job for us.

When we were getting ready to leave for the cottege last weekend he jumped into the truck and decided he would be the one to drive. #4 was excited and immediately called "shot gun" and jumped in too.

This is "Big Red" a Ford F-250. It's always been this ridiculous size. It looks like a serious machine until there is a black dog driving a 14 year old girl around.

I don't drive "Big Red" regularly. Husband Mic does, he loves it and doesn't seem to have a problem finding parking spots for it or getting it into said parking spots.

Sophmore Year is much easier on Mom

This year's college experience for me was easier than last year. Here I am from last year, sitting with #1's stuff while he went up to his dorm room. My emotions stayed in check while we were bringing stuff up to his room and organizing. When it was time for me to leave he was doing great with his roommate and gave me a hug and kiss and told me he'd call. There were so many people around moving their kids in that I distracted myself watching them on my way out.

I did great until I got to the highway and heard a song that set my tears off. Then I got home and made myself a drink and went into his room and sat in his chair and cried some more. It was a few days before I could go back into his room with feeling an empty sadness.


The change in our relationship has been good for both of us. My relationship with him has changed in a positive way. I keep reminding myself that this is what I want for him. The fact that he is confident and independent makes me proud. When he came home he was so much more thankful for clean laundry and food and he didn't hesitate to tell me how much.

Today #1 did some laundry, cleaned his room, asked if he could take some food from the cupboard and packed his car. He gave me a hug after discussing when I would come and see his apartment. Then he got in his car and with a wave drove off.

It was still like a hunk of my heart was driving away. I'll miss his daily presence in my life, but I am grateful that we had this summer.

I also still miss that IKEA chair he took.

Sometimes early can be good

To say that a I'm not a morning person is an understatement. Whenever I have to get up early I just lay there and wish I could sleep just a little longer.

It doesn't help that I've been staying up late watching the Olympics.

This morning I woke up to this sunrise. It almost made it worth while getting up.

This is my back yard and this morning even though it was early, it was beautiful.

Summer is Short

It is hard to believe that in two weeks school will start and summer will be officially over.

Our home life is about to change again and this time I'm ready.

Last year when #1 left for college I was grieving for the loss of his fun presence in the house. He worked 45 hours a week this summer while he was home. Work along with his social committments didn't leave him much "home time". What I will miss is all of the kids and fun he brought into the house. Our relationship has changed and I really like it.

#2 will be starting his Senior year at an alternative high school. In April last year it became clear that he could no longer graduate from regular high school. My heart was broke. Along with the other bad choices he was making, this reality was just one more blow. He has been unemployed all summer and driving me crazy. If he is not successful at this school, he will
need to leave our household. This would be painful but in another way a relief. He is about to learn being 18 is not as easy as he thought it would be.

#3 is starting his sophomore year in high school. Football practice has been going on most of the summer and is now in high gear. #3 loves his sports and all the fun that goes with it. I am always amazed how committed he is, never complaining or trying to get out of anything. This July he got his drivers licence and this has really cut down on my running him around town. Everytime he leaves I say to him "Be sure to look both ways" and he says "just like on a bike."
This boy will always be my baby, no matter how big he gets.

#4 is starting her freshman year in high school. She is ready, her mother is not. It is hard for me to image in 4 years she will graduate. She is a fine young lady that has such a positive attitude and spunk, she'll be fine. Having three big brothers has shaped her into one of those chicks that understands boys.