I Love My Husband!

I know that I have a great husband but sometimes things happen to remind you just how great a person is. So this week has been a little rough for me. You would think it would have been great but for some reason it just didn’t work out that way for me. Tuesday afternoon I get a call from Sam’s teacher between school letting out and the bus arriving home, warning me that school had been closed until this coming Monday due to the high absentee rate. Of course it is being assumed as H1N1. (Note: we were just one of maybe 10 or so districts in the area to close at some point last week) Anyway, Sam was really upset about it and his teacher was worried and wanted me to have a heads up. Turned out OK, he must have let it soak in on the short bus ride. That was the first cancellation in a series of additional cancellations and changes in expectations that continued through the week. I began to dwell on what could have been with a completely open 5 day weekend, even though I didn’t learn until 2 ½ days into it that it could have in fact been completely open. I couldn’t help but think of the lost potential to take off and visit my mom who is now doing so much better from her broken neck injury from June. That among other little things just seemed to get to me more than I expected. The week should have been full of energy and productivity. But I found myself more and more tired. On Thursday I found myself so tired by later afternoon that I actually sent Nick an email at 5:15 pm and said “I’m exhausted and I’m going to take a nap, wake me up when dinner is ready”. I really didn’t expect him to do what I was asking but guess what, he came home and did just that. His sweet and sour pork from scratch was is a favorite and I really enjoyed it!

Then today I spent several hours at The Story Festival on campus where we had a museum presence. I was able to help since our other event for today at Make A Difference Day was cancelled due to its highly hands on nature with so many children. During those several hours I felt I had made some great contacts and the time was well spent. But my feet were tired and I just wanted to sit down and relax for a bit. Arriving home I open the door to the house and what do I smell by a lovely wafting of fresh homemade bread. Sure enough Nick was baking two loaves of French bread. He found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and it is AMAZING. Of course he let us try some when it was hot out of the oven – the BEST I have ever had. He usually makes dinner on Saturdays but again, a lovely meal is waiting for me and we are having fresh homemade bread with it. What a guy - I love my husband!

A Birthday Drive

Inspired by the latest “Pure Michigan” travel ads (see all four of my personal favorites here-1, here-2, here-3 and here-4 but don't forget to pres the BACK arrow to get back to the blog after viewing) I had one big wish for my birthday. I wanted to take in a bit of Pure Michigan. I knew the best I could likely do is take a drive somewhere but not too far. I fall asleep too quickly when I’m driving - especially when I’m on my own and since the family would all be in school or work I knew it would I would have to stay close. I tried keep the day unscheduled so I could not feel guilty and give myself permission to do any of those things that I normally feel guilty for, if I take time during other days. Among other things this would include leisure reading and shopping for myself. Although the day filled up with some fun and not so fun morning activities I still had the afternoon to spend as I wished. The drive was top priority. It was a perfect fall day as well, crisp and a bit overcast. I took the camera and got in the car with little plan other than to explore. I admit I didn’t get too far from home as time was a small issue. But I had a lot of fun paying attention to the fun scenery. I took pictures that journaled (is that a word?) the variety of things I saw of interest. My pictures might not be nearly as moving as my favorite Pure Michigan ads. But sit back, turn up the volume (if you didn't already to that to view the links above) and enjoy my birthday drive by following the link below. However first I will add an apology as to view the slide show it requires an account on Snapfish (which you can setup for free if you don't have one). It was what I had at the time and will try to make a different slide show but not sure how soon. I will post pictures on my shutterfly photo album. Sorry to be so complicated.

My Birthday Drive

FYI - the pictures were of whatever I happened to notice and although rough roads in need of repair aren't particularly lovely I couldn't help but make you all think that all roads in Michigan look like the one I showed you. I'm thinking that this might be why we have so many dirt roads, they are often in much better shape than those that have been patched 10 times and are still in bad shape!

Inner Beauty

Tree update 10/12/09, the tree that was blooming color from inside first is now so beautiful on the outside (see picture on right).

The leaves are changing which just puts me in the best mood. Not far from home is a tree that has been fascinating to me. I drive by it multiple times a day. It has become a reminder to me of things we should not forget. Normally it seems that the cold air creates leaf changes beginning with an outer branch here and there and then the color works its way through the whole tree. Well the tree I have been admiring this year (so far) worked slightly different. The color started from inside the very center closest to the trunk and has been slowly working its way out. The affect is lovely, definitely inner beauty. I wish my photograph did it better justice but it was kind of gray and misty out the day I took this.

Yesterday I went to the farmers market and bought a bunch of peaches to freeze. I love peaches and although hated the fuzzy outer skin as a kid I have grown to like it too. But for freezing I of course did not want peach skins left on. So I was going through the process of blanching the peaches and then pealing back the skin. I love when it just falls off. Anyway, each peach was this gorgeous reminder once again about inner beauty. Have you looked at the colors of a freshly pealed peach lately? The colors are so rich and blend in and out of these beautiful hues of yellow, orange and red. These aren’t even my favorite colors but I couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful these colors were when blended together like that.

At least 2 frogs have taken up residence on our front porch. They come and go but when they come I find myself really wondering just why they picked that spot to sit all day! One frog is smaller than the other and is more green. The other is a bit more gray. They each have their own spot, not even near each other. They are curious little guys. I was beginning to wonder if I needed to find an inner beauty story from them as well. Hmmm still thinking and I don’t think my 8th grade dissecting experience counts! Is anyone looking for a prince charming? Maybe he is waiting on my front porch for you.

NOTE: The smaller, slightly more green frog has the bubbles on him. Think of it as a bubble bath. Sam had his bubble blower out and thought it would be fun to blow bubbles onto the frog.

It’s just a pair of glasses…

First day of school: I forgot to be sure that Sam had his glasses

Second day of school: Remembered the glasses and they were still on him, albeit quite dirty, when he got off the bus! But, still just so happy to see them!

Third day of school: Emptying backpack, realized he wasn’t wearing the glasses (or had his lunch box) when I saw the glasses in his outer pocket. OH are these his glasses they look different. Yup, no lenses (they were in the pocket too – just loose) and the frames, well they have seen better days…and worse. Although not sure both lenses have been popped out. It is hard to tell from the picture but the oval part of the frame is actually not true to its proper shape. Also if you look closely at the bridge one lense is pushed back further than the other.

Fourth day of school: Do I send the expensive pair of glasses on him or not…..?

UPDATE: Took glasses to WalMart today. They took one look at where the lenses are supposed to fit. You can't tell in a picture but in person - its really not true at all. He said "um WHAT HAPPENED?!" I simply pointed to Sam and said - who knows, I have heard three stories. I have seen them in worse condition but the lenses were still in tact. He pulled off a new pair of frames to match and simply replaced them under warranty! On a saturday afternoon I was in and out with a new pair of glasses, free in less than 15 min! I give WalMart a bad rap for MANY reasons. But honestly I didn't pay for a warranty, this is just their standard service. Darn you WalMart, you are making me have to appreciate you - but thanks! Ahh, next week its back to Pearle to get his first pair refitted so they are backup. They were lots more expensive and so we don't use them as much. But the warranty I have on those were well worth it as well. I have lost track of how many times we have had both pairs repaired so far this year.

Gems from Sam

I decided to document a days worth of gems from Sam. He comes up with so many off the wall comments. Actually I know I missed some as the idea to keep track of them occurred part way through yesterday. I’m still laughing about the last one and will for a VERY long time. Although I must say, what an ingenious idea! I hope he figures out how to make it happen and then keeps it a family secret.

Mom, mom I'm going to tell you the number between 5 and 6. DERF!

Someday when I grow up I'm going to make a Cheerio sandwich. It will have salami and eggs too!

Hey, don’t you wish you could have a scoop of ice cream as big as this? He was pointing to the 9" white balloon he was playing with.

Mom, I made a new website today called nowork dot com slash robots, you gotta check it out. It will show you what types of robots can do all your work so you can get enough sleep!

Mom, mom do you ever wish you farted money?

OK this just in: Dad, some day when I grow up we are going to make chocolate cheese together, out of chocolate milk!

24th on the 25th

Again a beloved holiday has come and gone. One of my favorite celebrations and one that brings back fond childhood memories is the 24th of July, Utah’s state holiday celebrating the arrival of pioneers. The memories are filled with parades, chuck wagon pancake breakfast (that we would stand in line for a LONG time), fireworks, the rodeo and family celebrations. Besides family and friends it is one of the few things I miss about Utah. Since moving away we have tried various ways to celebrate. Some have been more grand than others. This year we celebrated the 24th on the 25th because Dan and I both had other commitments. Our celebration this year was not super grand but was simple and enjoyable. We saved up some fireworks that we bought on the way home from our trip out west. Then our friends Becca and Steve (not to be mixed up with my niece Becca and her new husband Steve) who are probably the closest thing to family here came over. Bindy came too! Bindy is our part time dog. We love to watch Bindy while Becca and Steve go places. So this is kind of her second home.

We had BBQ, corn on the cob, fresh fruit all typical summer fare. We then made homemade sweet cream ice cream. Steve picked some black raspberries and made some topping from it. WOW was that a great combo, fresh ice cream and black raspberries! Then came the fireworks. We did sparklers that don’t have the nasty hot metal at the end! There were some loud fireworks and some that went pretty high - did those really leave the ground? My favorite was a fountain that shot bright red that reminded me of lava. It was a red white and blue combo alternating between the colors and then doing all three at the end. Aside from my 20 mosquito bites, despite the 2 coats of bug spray, we had a good time.

As a side note we didn’t have a rodeo. However, this past week we enjoyed our own wildlife show. We had some cute fawns play in the backyard at lunchtime and also went to a fun new petting zoo, Martin Family Fun Ranch in Clare County. Rodeos were kind of interesting the few times I went but I think going to a petting zoo with the kids or watching our backyard wildlife can actually be much more entertaining than watching people getting bucked off fast moving animals!

Happy 24th, celebrated on the 25th, written about on the 26th and blog posted on the 27th.

MARTIN FAMILY FUN RANCH

MORE BACKYARD FRIENDS

13 States, 19 Days, 9 Stops

Since we live in the central part of the states and our families live at opposite ends it provides interesting opportunities. Last year we drove East to New Hampshire for a family wedding. We tried to vacation along the way and fortunately remember the good times. This year Nick had a conference in Montana and there was a family wedding in Utah the same week. It just happened that his half brother lives less than an hour from the conference. So we felt there was sufficient reason to make another big trip and try to vacation along the way. Hopefully we will eventually remember only the good parts. I cannot condense the trip any other way than giving brief points of the highlights, interesting things and funnies.

It will still be a long list but keep in mind this list covers 13 states, 9 different overnight (or longer) stops and 19 days.

For those interested here are the states: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

Just days before the trip my mom had a fall and broke her neck (2 vertebrae C 1 and C2, same as Christopher Reeve’s injury). Everything was put on hold to find out if we needed to change plans. Fortunately her surgery went well. It changed things a bit once we arrived in Utah as we could go visit her in the rehabilitation facility rather than hanging out at the house. Our visits were short. We are grateful she is progressing although it must feel like forever for her.

We drove through horrible rains getting out of Michigan June 18^th to begin our trip, white knuckle driving!

Just about got killed on the expressway going through Chicago with some strange traffic and a car stopped in our lane ahead of us but no visible warning as we rounded a corner and were blinded by the semi to the one side.

Saw a barge up close on the Mississippi just after crossing into Minnesota, at the welcome center.

Saw a stray peacock wandering along the side of I-90 in Minnesota.

Stopped at our first hotel dying to swim but pool was closed due to potential dangerous weather. Just when they called to say the pool was opening the power went out. Tornadoes touched down east of us in the city we had passed through just prior to where we were staying.

We were entranced with the HUGE wind turbine farms. Dan must have taken over 200 pictures. We were trying to figure out just how big they are. On the way home we saw two semis carrying a blade each for a wind turbine. Not sure if we just missed the third semi or what. These blades were longer than one semi bed more like two and easily as wide as the bed. It was overwhelmingly HUGE. I just looked up on Wikipedia and it says they can be anywhere from 65 – 130 feet. I’m guessing these were some of those larger end ones. Just found a picture of something similar to what we saw. The angle doesn’t make it look as large but you can tell the width and also notice the extension on the truck bed!

South Dakota gets the award for most billboards! Wall Drug gets the award for hogging most of the billboards. Yes, we got suckered into Wall Drug but when you have seen billboards for over 300 miles for something you gotta find out what its about. We must admit it was kind of fun.

Had fun seeing Mt Rushmore. Tip for anyone planning to go there. Go first thing in the morning at 8:00 when they open. The place gets extremely crowded by 10. We were glad to be the smart ones who were early. We left soon after the crowds began pouring in!

Montana gets the award for stupidest road construction planning and communication. Huge dips in the road unannounced. Exiting a work zone speed changed back to 75 and no lie, less than a min later we were back to 45 for another work zone. Um, we hadn’t even gotten back up to 65 when we saw the next sign. This is only one small example.

Had a great time visiting with Nick’s half brother Ryan, his wife Sadie (Sarah) and daughter Rosie, and mother Sally (Sarah) – yes three Sarah’s in the room. Also Nick’s half sister Erin flew in from Maryland to see us. That was so kind and what a reunion. I had never met this part of the family and Nick hadn’t seen them since they were little kids. That is well more than 2 decades.

Played in Big Sky MT and managed to have the pool with the 90 foot water slide all to ourselves for a total of 6 hours between two days. It wasn’t the fanciest indoor pool setup but it was just right for us.

Went to Yellowstone for Sam’s birthday with my sister and brother in law, without Nick. Nick attended his conference, did a poster session and a bit of networking.

Enjoyed some wedding festivities for Joseph (Sarah’s nephew) and Marie. Discovered Red Butte Gardens and the cool children’s gardens.

Spent a little bit of time with family for little bits here and there, catching up. Had to visit mom at the rehabilitation facility, which is very nice. The house was SO quiet!

Visited Angel’s grave, fixed our letterbox and also took pictures of every page in our log book. WOW so many people have visited Angel’s grave this past year. So fun. Also got to see the grave stone that was placed next to Angel for my dad.

Of the 6 days we spent in Utah 4 of them were without our car. We were blessed that it made it to where we had help and access to another car. A seal for the transmission blew. Fortunately we got it to the shop before all fluid was gone - barely. There was just enough to not kill the transmission totally. But that fix along with several others found along the way were enough to double the cost of our trip. Heavy sigh! At least the car is working and none too soon. We picked up the car from the shop about 12 hours before we headed back home.

Tortured ourselves with a drive through Wyoming on I-80 until we reached Cheyenne, then headed South to Denver. A gas and potty stop well before Cheyenne was at the most desolate place I have ever seen. It was also the windiest place. There were permanent signs indicating high winds for about a 5 mile stretch. I could only see this gas station. No other civilization in site besides cars traveling.

Kansas wasn’t my favorite place either but aside from our scary experience in Chicago – which is almost expected, I HATED Kansas City. If you want to simply stay on I-70 and drive straight through its kind of like being a mouse with a piece of cheese (the occasional I-70 sign) dangling just barely ahead of you directing you to this lane or that lane. I found myself closing my eyes and chanting “I love Mt Pleasant, I love Mt Pleasant”. We made the mistake of NOT skirting downtown St Louis and doing something similar. At least this way the kids got to see the arch again. Not that they haven't seen it before. But I guess it has been a few years.

We stopped on I-70 in Illinois, east of St Louis for lunch at a place called Blue Springs (I think) home of the mile high pies. They were huge and must admit the lemon meringue pie was quite heavenly. But upon returning to our car it had been taken over by little jumping spiders. There must have been more than 100 of them. It was a bit creepy and I HATE spiders!

Arrived home or to our old home of Champaign, tired and weary but excited to be back in a familiar place. After checking into our cool hotel, the best deal of the trip, we headed straight to the library to finally see the new library that began construction while we lived there. WOW we loved it. Best part was walking into the Children’s area and having the librarian recognize us and show excitement to see us again!

Spent the rainiest 4^th of July I can ever remember making the rounds and visiting with several dear friends. Unfortunately we also missed visiting with several dear friends as well. Sometimes timing just doesn’t work out.

Arrived home on July 5^th so excited that we had to take a picture of the house from the car when we pulled in. Home Sweet Home!