The Blues

I am so disappointed. This attack of sciatica is just darned inconvenient! I have pictures that Dick took of the last two days of activities of L,C andD (tubing and geocaching) but I can't go upstairs and put them on the blog. Sitting in that desk chair is just too uncomfortable. I'll post them when I'm feeling better.
I saw the doctor yesterday - he has prescribed 3 different meds for me, and one combo is working for about 2 1/2 hours at a time. So I just kind of zone out for a while. But later, moving around is still very uncomfortable. Tomorrow everybody is leaving for Mackinac Island, so I'll have plenty of time to rest.

Went to Doc

Darvocet didn't agree with system - went to get substitute. Now trying parvocet.

Back to Old Mission

At the Old Mission Lighthouse, Laurie, Chip and Dylan walked way, way out in the water. It stays shallow forever.




We found a very pleasant spot in the shade to read, people watch, and wait for them. The breeze was heavenly.




Here's Mr. D. after walking in the shallows.




A blast from the past - drinking Faygo Red Pop at the Bad Dog Deli. We ran into Rathergohiking and the Waypoint Kid there, and met the rest of their family.

Day at the Dunes

And there they go - up the Dune Climb for the Big Adventure.
Here's Laurie returning from the hike to the Big Lake.
When Dylan got back, there was a lot of sand to dump out of his shoes!
Chip and Dylan gave each other a High Five when they got back from the Big Trek!
Chip timed the hike so we would know exactly how long it took: 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 17 seconds.
Ice and cold beverages waiting at the end. This was a good time to hear all of the stories!

Laurie, Chip and Dylan decided that this year they're "dune" it - walking from the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb over to Lake Michigan. The hike is 3.5 miles round trip, but it's mostly through sand, and there are four or five dunes to climb on the way over. We researched it, and talked to the Rangers and everything. They said it would take 3 to 4 hours to complete the hike, but our guys did it in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 17 seconds! They're massive! They took water and snacks, and while it was difficult, they were none the worse for wear when they returned. Dylan suffered a minor loss of energy on the return trip, but he bounced right back when they took the rocks out of his pockets! Luckily when they got back, we were waiting with a cooler full of ice and cold drinks, and also luckily it was a relatively cool day, although there was lots of bright sunshine.

Here is Dylan's hiking guide:

How To Get to the Lake Through the Dunes

First you go up the hill and up the hill and then down the hill and up the hill and up the hill and down the hill and then up the hill and down the hill, and then down the big big big hill and then you go straight for a while, then you climb up the big, big, big hill out of the valley. Then down a little hill then up a hill and down a hill and up a hill and down a hill then go straight for (it seemed like) 250 billion miles, then you go up the hill, down the hill, KERSPLASH - you're in Lake Michigan! Pick up some pretty rocks in the water, put them in your pocket, and do the whole thing in reverse with rocks in your pockets, which is about 6 pounds extra.

What You Need to Go Hiking in the Dunes
You need a walking stick, some Chewies, and seven bottles of water.

Safety Tips in the Dunes
1. Do not eat the berries alongside the path
2. Do not jump into the poison ivy somewhere along the path
3. Do not do somersaults down big hills
4. Most importantly, when you're going up a steep hill do not let go of your stick
or you'll fall over backwards and go tumbling backwards down the hill.

P.S.
Do not do this in the summertime!

After everybody cooled down and re-hydrated, we went over to Glen Arbor to Art's Tavern for lunch. The food was excellent, and we were really proud of everyone! We had such a good time. After lunch we drove over to Leland to look at the boats in the marina - always so enjoyable.



Everybody enjoyed looking at the boats and yachts.



The Leland Marina is a great place to stretch your legs and see some great watercraft and just enjoy the day.

Dylan discovered a school of fish. They were quite large - not minnows - but I don't know what they were.

I really enjoyed the Marina - the boats were interesting and beautiful.

We had a lovely long leisurely drive through Leelanau County, and ended up at Moomer's for dessert. The perfect ending for a perfect day!

Last Class

Dylan's College for Kids class is over. He's very happy with it, and he says that he would do it again every summer. He really did enjoy it. Today was the day that the kids presented their inventions. Here is Dylan with his two inventions: Super Shoes, and Slow Motion Ball. In the classroom shot, you can see Chip in the background.

We all met for lunch at Bubba's. Then I came home, and everybody else went to play mini-golf, and ride go karts, and take in Friday Night Live downtown. I think everybody had a very good time. Right this minute, Chip and Dylan are having a campfire.

I'm having a bout with sciatica for the first time in 25 years. I'm doing everything I can think of to not irritate it further, and to make it feel better fast. Next week we plan to go to Mackinac Island, and I want it to be better by then. Right now it is quite uncomfortable!

Pirates and Inventions

Dylan's assignment is to come up with an original invention. He's really been brainstorming. His first idea was a flying beach ball which then turned into a slow motion ball. His second idea was Super Shoes which can't get stuck in the mud. He produced both of them!

Rathergohiking has a Pirate cache out in Yuba, and the guys went searching in the Maple Bay Natural Area to find it. Dylan found some pirate treasure!

Laundry

Dick and I stayed home to get some jobs done. He worked outside straightening things up, and I did laundry.

Laurie and Chip took Dylan to class, and then spent the rest of the day looking at subdivisions and houses and such. So far they haven't made any down payments (just kidding).

Hoosier Valley

Dylan's second day at "College". After dropping him off, we went again to the Omelette Shoppe for a great breakfast! Dylan seems to really like his Inventors Class.

In the afternoon, we went geocaching in Hoosier Valley. ABXGuy has put out a series of 10 caches over there, almost in our back yard. Laurie and Dylan were first to find on all 10 caches, so it was a very successful outing. It took us from 2 p.m. until 5:30.

College for Kids

Dick signed Dylan up for a class this week. It's a class about Inventors for kids in grades 1-3, so it was perfect for Dylan, who just finished second grade. It will meet every morning this week from 10-12. Laurie, Chip, Tom and Dick delivered Mr. D to his class, and then went to the Agency so Dick could see if there was anything pressing there for him to attend to. Everything was OK.

Chip and I went to the eye doctor to have his eye checked out. He had gotten something in his eye while weed whacking on Friday. It turned out to be nothing to worry about. We all met up at the Agency and went for breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe. It was great to have a chance to visit with Tom in depth - we really didn't get much of a chance to visit all weekend.

The septic pumper had already finished his job by the time we got home, so the washing machine is back in business!

Tom's plane took off at 3:11 p.m., and then he had a 3 hour layover in Detroit, poor thing. He arrived home safely. We were so glad that he was able to get away even for such a short time!

Everybody but Dick went to see Pirates of the Caribbean at 5 p.m. We enjoyed it - it was entertaining. Everything was fine in the theater, but outside we were having a big storm. Trees were down all over on the way home. The traffic signal at South Airport Road and US 31 was out, and when we got home we had no power. In the theater we didn't have a clue what was going on outside!

A Shower for Amy

The picnic is over - long live the Shower! Barb, the hostess, changed the venue from her home to an air-conditioned restaurant. We met at 11 a.m. at South City Limits for Amy's Bridal Shower. It was just charming. There were eight of us who all survived GenFest together, and were ready for brunch: Barb, Sharon, Melissa, Shelly, Laurie, Melanie, Amy, and me. The private room was blessedly cool, and the brunch was the best I've seen in a long time. The company was great, the gifts were fun, and it was a good time.

Then it was time for the Concord Place family picnic - Mom was proud to have the biggest family group in attendance - Dick and me, Chip, Laurie, Dylan, and Tom. The food was OK, the games were stupid, but we all hung in there. Laurie and I were full from the great brunch earlier, but the men enjoyed the hot dogs and beans and such.

Afterwards it was time to go home and put our feet up and relax after our Big Weekend.
We had to ration water use - no washing machine, etc. because of the septic failure yesterday.

July 15, 2006

GenFest is here at last! Odette and Jana were the two who couldn't make it this year, and they were missed all day long. We had Tom, Laurie, Chip and Dylan, Sharon, John, Derek, Kevin and Amy, Barb, Jim, Melissa, Peter, Autumn, Brooke, Adam, Melanie, Lydia, Shelly and Chris, Doug, Dave, Beth, Lauren, Sue, John, Kris, Molly, Roger, Megan, Fay, and Jackson, Dick and Nan for a total of 34.

The dining room table was groaning from all of the delicious dishes. John and Adam were the intrepid cooks laboring over hot grills in 95 degree heat. We couldn't have done it without them.. Thank you John and Adam!











The food was delicious as usual, and I think everybody got what they wanted, even Lauren, who didn't want grill marks on her hot dog!

My favorite picture of the day was the father/daughter Lichtenberg picture of John and Kris.

The coolest spot in the afternoon turned out to be the umbrella table because of the breeze and the shade from the umbrellas. It started out to be a hen party, but then others joined us to enjoy the coolness.

We didn't get any pictures of all of the activities. Tubing and canoeing were popular because of the heat. The river temperature is always refreshing to say the least! The trebuchet was a lot of fun - we lofted quite a few water balloons and it worked perfectly. The activity soon turned into a water balloon fight though, which was really quite predictable! Nobody enjoyed it more than Dylan.

Volley ball was great fun - people played until the game was called on account of darkness. The volley ball observers gallery was fun, too. The kids had fun playing with the old fireplace and the spring water - they pretended they were cooking. That bodes well for future reunions, don't you think?

I didn't go to the campfire, but I hear that there was one and that it was good, and some people went home to put the kids to bed and then came back! That means it had to be good!

So another memorable GenFest is over. I think I'll remember this one especially because of the heat. It has to be the warmest on record (if we had records).

Set Up

This is the day before GenFest - when the rubber hits the road! Merry Maids came in the morning.

We had all kinds of last minute things to do. In the evening, family came to help set up for tomorrow. Dick and I left to go pick up Tom at the airport. He's sporting a big blue cast on his broken arm. He says it will come off in two more weeks. Tom's luggage did not arrive with him, and is scheduled to arrive around 11:30 p.m.

When we got back to the house, the folks had the tent halfway put up already.
We had pizza for everyone as we usually do, and I had a great time watching everyone else work hard moving tables, etc.

(In actuality, the luggage arrived at midnight, so I didn't really get my beauty sleep the night before the big event.)

Inaugural Blaze

The first campfire of the summer happened last night. Adam came out, and he and Laurie, Chip and Dylan had a great time burning old stuff like a ladder, a table, a bench, and pallets...quite an inaugural blaze. After Dylan's bath and bedtime, Laurie went back out to the campfire and nobody came back in until 2 a.m.

Shelley, Autumn and Brooke came over around 10 a.m. to play with Dylan and Laurie. Dick and I went to the hardware store for flag brackets, and to GFS to get the burgers and brats for the picnic. When we got home, the kids were playing in the river. Laurie fixed hot dogs for everybody. She wasn't feeling very perky, so after lunch the kids watched Hoodwinked, and Laurie took a nap. I went to do recycling and to return cans and bottles.

Dick is valiantly trying to finish the trebuchet with Chip's help. They've been working on it for a couple of hours now, and so far there's been only one trip to Menard's. My job is to make the sling/pouch - I think I've found the perfect fabric.

Chip has found a house he loves 4 miles away in Mayfield. He is totally excited about it - Laurie seems less than thrilled. She's concerned about where Dylan would go to school, etc. They have just gone to take a look at it.

Cousins and Then More Cousins!

Dick painted everything in sight - all decks and porches and even the dock! Chip and Dylan washed and scrubbed and disinfected (not really) the playhouse to prepare for all of the little girl cousins who will be coming on Saturday or before.

Laurie and I made brownies for the Official Brownie Competition this Saturday - she used a heritage recipe from Mother for her famous frosted brownies. I made brownies from a recipe titled Knock You Naked Brownies. We ate some, but we kept our clothes on. In the first unofficial taste test, Dylan liked his Mommy's better than mine.

I went to Glen's and ordered little sandwiches for our evening meal on Saturday. We did that last year too, and it was a big hit. Bought some stuff for Mother, and went to visit her. We cleaned out her sock drawer - thrills a minute! She's fine.

The Gillespies went to the Bounce Arena with Shelly, Autumn and Brooke. They had a great time. We met them for dinner at the Mongolian Barbecue. The kids were all flushed and had wet hair from bouncing for an hour and a half! Dylan said that Mommy was a wimp because she didn't go on the Space Bounce-a-tron. (I don't know, either.)

Adam met us at M.B. just for a drink and a visit and plans were made for a campfire tonight! More plans were made for Shelly, Autumn and Brooke to come over in the morning to play and maybe have hot dogs for lunch.

The Chipster

Chip is here!! Hooray! His plane landed shortly after noon, and they all went out to lunch at Apache. I was at home helping Uncle Danny, the handyman. He is doing odd jobs around the house, inside and out. He's very handy I must say! He'll be back on Thursday to finish up.

When they got back, I went to Glen's and did the big shopping for the rest of the week and for the picnic on Saturday. I got all the stuff for brownie-making and for Laurie's black bean salad. Thursday we'll go to GFS and get the meat.

We finished the Nancy Drew game, and we're starting on Syberia. Dylan seems to like it just fine, but he's still disappointed that we can't load EverQuest.

We all went for a ride again to look at subdivisions and houses. Laurie saw a green one that she liked quite a lot. Some of the new houses are absolutely huge!

Dick did steaks on the grill, and Laurie and Chip made a great salad.

Superman

Grandma and Dylan love to play games on the computer. I don't know which one has the most fun!

In the morning, Dick worked at the Agency, and Laurie and Dylan met Shelly, Autumn and Brooke for bowling. It sounds like a great time was had. After bowling they went to McDonald's Funland. What could be better than that?

In the afternoon, we finished the Old Mission Tour - yaay - . Here is Laurie's log (they are Sharkie Crew): .

July 10 by sharkie crew (101 found)
It's our 100th find!! I think Grandpa planned it that way!
We took two days to discover the clues. The smallest member of sharkie crew gets grumpy after awhile in the car. Our group had lunch at Bad Dog Deli, very yummy sandwiches. We had fun finding the cache and listening to Grandpa's stories. Small sharkie enjoyed driving past the cherry place where Grandpa once worked. We love you Grandpa!!

Then we stopped in at the Old Mission General Store for ice cream. Dylan was having trouble deciding between Mackinac Island Fudge or Superman, so the scooper gave him a little taste test, and Superman won, hands down.

Back in town, we drove through a couple of subdivisions looking at houses for sale. It happens every summer!

We've been playing the Nancy Drew Secret of the Old Clock PC game, and it's a blast. It has many puzzles and games need to finish the whole thing. We've all been stretching our brains over this game! Dylan is almost always at the controls, of course. He's a very good thinker and problem solver.

Bad Dog

We got a good early start on the Old Mission Tour. Dylan figured out all of the clues, and we had a great day. We didn't do it all - we saving the grand finale for tomorrow!

We had lunch at the Bad Dog Deli, a new favorite of ours. Everybody really enjoyed it. Dylan had fun drinking root beer out of a bottle.

We stopped at Haserot Beach to see if he would enjoy swimming there, but the water was way too cold for him. He says, "You know, I'm from Florida!"

He did want to get in some beach time, so we called it quits and went to East Bay Park where the water is shallow and warm. I think he was in the water for an hour!

We all trooped up to see Mother - she was anxiously awaiting us. She was happy to see us all.

The Arrival

Laurie and Dylan arrived a little after noon today. They had good flights, and we were so glad to see them! They both have a case of the sniffles, but we're hoping that it will be temporary! Dylan chose to bring Sheepy along on the trip - Laurie said that he had to dig Sheepy out from the bottom of the toy box where he's been for months! I think he associates Sheepy with us. Obviously.

We went to Scott's for lunch - it was a gorgeous day, but quite windy, so we sat inside - it was great.

We planned to do the Old Mission tour tomorrow.

Just For Fun

This meme was totally stolen from friend Mitchy in the UK ("Scribblings From the Mitchy Side" - see link above). I'm absolutely thrilled to be Wuthering Heights. Give it a try!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

On the other hand, I was stunned to find out that I'm emaciated! I'm willing to be emaciated of course, but in reality.....not so much!

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Laundromats I Have Loved - NOT

Since our washer flooded the laundry room floor last weekend, the laundry has been piling up. Max's can come and fix it, and they should come Thursday or Friday. But laundry waits for no repairman.

So off I went in search of a laundromat. I nixed the one by Tom's 14th as being too much in the middle of Festival traffic. Aha, I thought, there's one on Garfield over by ex-Oleson's. Well that one was full of men for some reason - not just any men, but toothless men with long scraggly oily hair and dirty hats - at least seven of them. I didn't want to spend a hour with them - call me picky.

There's a "nice" laundromat by Tom's East Bay. It was not bad at all, unless you count the three screaming children who kept running around the place, and in and out of the door. They would run out, and open their car door and get things to play with. The problem was that I had inadvertently parked next to them, and their door was occasionally hitting my car. I said, "Please don't bump my car" in a very pleasant voice, which is when I found out that they didn't speak English.

I think the last time I was in a laundromat was in 1991 in Sydney Australia. We carried bags of our laundry through The Rocks area and walked a long, scenic way to the laundromat. Those were the days when I was still a walker! That laundromat was owned by an Asian man, and was OK, but not much.

On our trip out west we went to many laundromats, but two are memorable. One was in Coos Bay, Oregon, a fishing community. The whole town smelled like fish. The laundromat was particularly fishy. I was afraid that our clothes would never be the same. In actuality, it was fine, and our clothes did not have aroma-of-the-sea.

The other memorable one was in Yellowstone Village, in the national park. I couldn't believe my eyes! The sign said we could leave the laundry and pick it up tomorrow washed, dried, and folded. Oh what a deal - we were planning on staying in the area for five days or more - I was in paradise! The next day we picked up our clothes in paper sacks, very nicely laundered. It was a vacation inside a vacation!

When we were living in Belleville, I was teaching full time and we had three kids who each insisted on using one towel a day. I was overwhelmed with the laundry. I could handle the teaching, cooking, shopping, taking kids to activities, the dog, the cats, yard work, etc. But I just couldn't keep up with the damn laundry. Then I discovered that the Monarch Laundry in Romulus would do it for me! I would drop off a huge laundry bag full every week, and pick it up the next week. It wasn't perfect - they didn't do much sorting, and the folding was iffy, but it really saved my bacon. We did that for almost three years.

Looking back, I guess that laundry has always been kind of a bugaboo for me. I enjoy it much more in retirement! I still hate laundromats.

The day began with two hours of sitting at the computer trying to satisfy the requirements of Sony/Everquest technical help so that we can run EverQuest when Dylan is here. I've tried everything to get it going, but I keep getting error messages. After the first help letter didn't help, I asked again and the second letter had a list of information that they needed to figure out what the problem was - find some obscure files and then zip them - such a pain! It took me two hours and it'll probably be days before I get a response.

Then I went to get a perm at BoTangles, and to visit Mother. I took her a couple of different types of lotions for itchiness. She seems in fine fettle.
On the way to the laundromat, I stopped at the cemetery to check on our geraniums. They were in bad shape - totally dry. I was generous with watering them and I'm sure they'll revive.

Meanwhile, back at 888, Dick was cleaning out the garage and taking chuddah to the dump, closely followed by mowing the entire yard. So we're in great shape - we feel like we each accomplished a lot today.