And She's Eight!

It's hard to believe that it's been over eight years that our lives were blessed and forever changed with the arrival of our sweet Olivia Jane.  We celebrated on Saturday, October 19th, technically the day before.  Although not by much.  I can recall very clearly arriving at the hospital around 7:00 a.m. on the 19th eight years prior to be induced, but she didn't make her debut until after midnight. 

Mia making her pumpkin

The Nazarene Church in Sturgis for many years had hosted a fall family fun day that we have taken full advantage of many times.  They have pumpkins to decorate, crafts to make, a puppet show, great food, inflateables, hay rides, and horse back riding.  It's a terrific time and completely free for anyone.  It always seems to fall on the day we have Olivia's party, and this year was no exception.  The day was already stressful to me since, Mia and I participated in an Out of the Darkness walk in Coldwater that morning in memory of my dear friend Adam Lackey who took his life two years ago.  After the walk I promised Mia we could go to Great Lakes to get a drink to warm up since it was raining and freezing out.  I kept thinking of the food that needed to be made, the house that needed cleaned, and the list went on, but I also remembered I need to take time for my girls and make memories.  So we found one hour in the day to get some fun in at the Nazarene this year.  My coworker and good friend Liz's family had their horses their too.

Olivia riding on Misty

Mia on Trixie or Pixie, we can't recall

Both girls going down the slide together.

Usually, the girls' birthdays consist of just family and the occassional close friends.  I decided to let Olivia invite a few friends this year.  I'm glad I did because almost all the family had prior plans, or if they could make it, it would only be briefly.  Her friends, however, they all made it.

Olivia and Paris sporting their newly accquired facial hair that comes with turning eight.  Paris' birthday is exactly one week before Olivia's.

We managed to sneak Jane over for the event so Mia could have someone to play with as well.  Even though they aren't eight yet, they were given mustaches for the evening too.

Mia sporting her Hitler 'stache

Nana and Papa had church the night of Olivia's party, but they can never stay away so they stopped over early.  Olivia is modeling her new jacket from them above.  Nana and Papa could have stayed longer, but decided to let Olivia enjoy a "friends party" for a change.

Daddy giving Olivia her birthday spankings, and one to grow on.

Andy getting Callahan all riled up too.  Andy's such a kid himself.

Olivia starting in on her gifts

Showing off her new bow she got from daddy


The kids being wild. Let me just say, I'm glad we stopped at two.  It was a fun evening, but eight year olds are exhausting!

The entire crew being silly.  We have Citori, Taner, Olivia, Paris, Callahan, and Hunter being stepped on.

I know Olivia loved her party and all her gifts. 

On the actual birthday we got up early and met my Uncle Jere for breakfast, along with Grandma and Grandpa McNeil.  They had a surprise for Olivia's birthday and were taking her to Disney Stars on Ice, the 100 years celebration.  She came home that evening only talking about how "amazing" everything was.  I went as a child and am thrilled she got to experience it and love it as well.

So eight years of joy, some tears, constant entertainment, a pinch of screaming, attitude, creativity, ear piercing volume, surprises around every corner, endless talking, and love that grows more each day, and that would sum up our life with Olivia.  We can't wait to see what the future unfolds for her in our lives.

The first snow fall of the year was pretty neat to see as well!

We Dream in Color

So, I continue to neglect my blog.  Rarely getting out a camera.  And then if I finally think about doing a blog entry so many things have come and gone and it seems odd to overlook big things like photos from our new house and do something trivial, such as a blog on a package that came in the mail.  But that is what is current, so I am going to try and keep us up to date.  We may back track later, but today's entry is hot off the press. 

 

Olivia and I signed up to run the Dream in Color 5K put on by the Doyle Community Center in Sturgis.  It's one of those races that you get blasted with color throughout the race.  It was meant to be a fun race, so it went untimed.  I thought this was perfect being Olivia's first 5K and as much as she'd like to think she's a runner, she's not.  The same goes for me.  Yes, I've done a few 5Ks and a triathlon, but I'm just not cut out to be a runner.  I haven't been to the gym in over six months, and done no running in that time either.  I was happy Olivia was with me.  It would give us some fun bonding time, plus she gave me an excuse to slow it down and maybe need to walk every now and then.

 

pre race picture

 

We started out strong, and then I noticed Olivia huffing and puffing quite a bit.  I started realizing how much shorter her little legs were than my stubby legs and continued to encourage her on.  It wasn't too long before we got blasted with our first color station.  That gave her a little boost and we continued on.  I kept on with my words of encouragement, and was truly proud at how she kept running and didn't even ask to walk or slow down.  Around the first mile mark, my shoe came untied.  It was slowing me down (or that could have been caused by me being out of shape, but we'll blame it on the shoe) so I decided to stop to tie it.  Olivia was pulling away from me at this time and looked back.  I waved her on and said keep going, to which she did.  I could see her up ahead of me for most of the rest of the race.  Sometimes she even was out of sight.  I am used to hitting a wall in running, then barreling through it until I get my second wind.  The walls kept coming today, but the second winds were short lived little gusts that dissipated about five seconds after their arrival. 

 

Olivia upon completion of her first 5K!

 

I wanted to stop and walk numerous times, but kept reminding myself, my little girl is up ahead of me.  I can't walk now.  Then I remembered also that my fast walking pace is quicker than my lethargic jogging pace, but I kept the jog up the entire time.  I knew at this point Olivia was going to finish up ahead without me, and that thrilled me and filled me with pride.  At the same time, I wanted her to know her mommy didn't quit and start walking so my stubby legs kept up their slow jogging pace.

We did it!

 

As I rounded the corner and could see the finish line up ahead a few hundred yards, I saw this petite little girl with black pants and a shorter hair do crossing the finish line.  I'm so glad I was able to see her finish.  It motivated me at that time to pick up my pace.  For the last fifty yards or so, I had a good sprint (well, good for me) going.  It took me a moment or so to find Olivia with Andy and Mia through the clouds of colored chalk and mass of runners, volunteers, and spectators, but I did.  Olivia had a terrific time and overly surprised both Andy and me.  I guess I can't say she's not a runner any more.  I'm glad she proved us wrong.  Although the race was untimed, Andy said Olivia finished in about 34 minutes which we think is terrific!  That had to be a record for me as well. 

 

It was a blast of an event, that I'm sure we'll do again.  Both Olivia and I had many friends that ran in it as well that added to the fun.  Happy running and remember to dream in color!

 

McNeil Family Pictures

So let's rewind to the beginning of summer.  My sister and I decided to have family photos done as a birthday gift for my dad's 60th.  The session was done by my friend Lauren Cypher on Father's Day at Timberly Tree Farm.  We had a fun time.  Enjoy the pictures.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not many pictures, but lots of updates....

Well, this blog entry is well past due.  What can I say, but it was an extremely busy summer.  I know in the last post I said I'd add more photos from Alpena.  Maybe I will, but for now this is going to be more words than anything.  We closed on our new house located at 1321 Carlton towards the end of July.  It is a definite fixer upper, lovingly referred to as "the stinky house."  Thankfully, it does not smell all too stinky anymore, but the name remains.  With the new house came a lot of demolition.  We spent the first two weeks, gutting the basement, bathrooms, and kitchen.  After lots of sweat, pain, and time, we started putting her back together again.  Most of the walls have had many coats or primer and paint applied.  At this point in time, we have the kitchen cabinets installed, approximately 1/3 of the hardwood hickory floors laid, Olivia's room almost finished, including carpet, and the main bath tiled.  We still need to install toilets, paint some more rooms, and a lot is yet to be done on the master bedroom, but it's coming along.  We haven't had any luck at selling our house yet, but were fortunate to find a couple moving here from Germany in need of a place to rent until they find somewhere to buy.  So we now need to be out of the Electric Ct. house we've called home for over ten years, and into the stinky house within three weeks!  We can do it!


Mia and Myah all dressed up playing Just Dance.


A midst all the chaos of a renovation, we also managed to have a little fun.  The girls played with friends and cousins a lot this summer.  Our one trip to Alpena was it though.  We also managed a weekend away to Toledo where we went to the art musuem, stayed at Splash Bay Water Park Resort, played miniature golf (Mia was the only one with a hole in one!), went to the zoo, and had a visit with Andy's Grandma.  Both girls are now excited about moving.  One of Olivia's good friends, Tori, lives a block away, while Mia has loved the independence of living on a cul de sac road that she now can ride a 2 wheeler up and down.  She's also loved making new friends with some girls down the street.

Mia continues to love tractors and construction equipment.  Road construction has been taking place a block over, and Mia's highlight of her day is when daddy gets home from work, and he takes her to watch the tractors.  They also did a little road repair on the street that runs along side us, so Mia sat for a couple of hours and just watched in awe.  Andy's so proud because she can decipher between a backhoe, excavator, front end loader, etc.  I don't know all the correct terms, but if she were here, she could tell me.

Also, hard to believe, but I took no before and after photos of the house.  So many people can't believe it, since the house will be completely new when we're done with it, but I don't care to remember the old.  And from my memory, no one really wants to sit down and look at photo albums of a renovation when the come to visit either.  We'll just enjoy it when it's done.  So the camera stayed in the closet for the majority of the summer.  We also sold my sweet little Mini Cooper, to be able to afford two mortgages.  So the girls and I biked our tooshies off this summer (sadly, mine is actually still very prominent), but we got our exercise, non the less.  I could go on and on with more details, but we'll save that for another time.

Another Independence Day up North

Another fun family filled Independence Day has came and went.  We went to Alpena on Wednesday, June 26th this year.  It was later than originally planned, but we decided to buy a new house (more on that in a later blog post), so we decided Andy working a little more would be in our best interest.  Our mosquito magnet Mia was bitten immediately upon our arrival at the property.  Her eye was swelling by our next morning there and looked even worse by Friday, along with a swollen, red, warm foot, so we headed into the Dr.'s.  At least after last year, we knew where to go and they had a file going for her already.  The Dr. was more concerned with her foot than the eye, and put her on some antibiotics and steroids.  She's always a trooper through it all.
 
Mia actually laughs more about being funny looking.  After all, she's our comedian in the family and I think she knows it adds to her stand up act when she looks that way.  We did manage to make it the rest of the 10 days there and the return trip home without any another Dr. visit!
 

One part I love about being on our property besides the quiet nature and laid back lifestyle is how our girls get along and use their imagination.  At home, Olivia is constantly saying she's bored and asking what she can do.  Remind you she has oodles of books, toys, games, puzzles, arts and crafts, etc. right at her finger tips at home.  Up north, I rarely here, "What can I do?" or "I'm bored."  Instead they go out together and create their own little world.  The photo above is their homemade teeter totter they developed.  The dirty sand pit behind is also what Mia dubbed, "The Compost Site."  She was the compost site worker and now wants to do that when she grows up.  Each girl made their own house on the property and would invite each other over on a daily basis.  Fighting between them is kept to a minimum.  It's not completely extinct there.  We have the occasional fighting over a toy, or during bad weather (rain and mosquito mobs) when they're forced to stay in the camper, but for the most part they are friends enjoying each other's company.

Mia lounging at Olivia's pad.
 

Olivia being the supreme hostess that she is.

As far as progress on the barn goes, we are happy to report we passed our final inspection!  Andy put the windows in, framed in the last wall, installed the garage door and put up the soffit and fascia.  It may not look like much, but he got a lot done in a short time.  We have no plans to do a lot more to the barn this year, but hope to start working on the inside of it next summer and maybe get it sided.

This year we were blessed to not only have Andy's parents and sister come up to spend time with us, but also Andy's grandma, and Aunt Doris and Uncle Gary, along with Robert.  Nana, Papa, Great Grandma, Aunt Doris (or Diva as the girl's lovingly refer to her), and Uncle Gary all made their grand appearance Monday evening.  The next day we headed to Ocqueoc Falls just west of Roger City for a short day trip.  I had never been, but remember my cousin Erica going regularly as a teen, and always wanted to see for myself.  Ocqueoc Falls is the longest (distance not steepest) waterfall in the lower peninsula and the only universally handicapped accessible waterfall in the U.S.  You can actually get into the waterfalls and walk up and down them.  They have a smooth ramp to allow for easy access to the falls or you can hike the rough terrain to them.  The area also boasts camping, and various lengths of hiking and bike trails.  It truly was beautiful.

Mia dipping her toes in.
 

Olivia scaling the falls.
 

The girls and I atop one part of the falls.  The falls kept going on behind us beyond the river bend.  Olivia, Andy, and I all ventured to the very top of the falls.  Andy and I decided we will remember water shoes next time. 

I took a step and it was a little deeper than I thought and got my shorts all wet.  Oh well.
 

Olivia absolutely loved exploring the falls and us giving her the freedom to do so.  She's getting braver as she continues to grow up on us.
 

Mia holding Aunt Diva's hand as we headed back to the cars.  Ocqueoc Falls is definitely on our family's to do list again in the near future.  After the falls we drove in to Roger City for the world famous Plath's Meat Market and picked up some food for a cookout, ate some lunch at a cute little restaurant, drove through the awesome and enormous rock quarry, and then hit the Old and New Presque Isle Light Houses.  Andy's grandma is amazing.  She's turning 84 soon and climbed all 130 stairs up to the top of the new light house and back down.  130 might not sound like a lot, but I have done it a few times now and get winded every time myself.  I think they said it's the equivalent of climbing to the top of a 12 or 13 story building.  It was terrific to be able to have so much family up with us to celebrate our country's independence.  My dad and Patty also were up to add to the family fun.  I of course forgot my camera this trip, so I only managed a few photos on my iPad which is what you see here today.  Not having my camera allowed me to enjoy all the fun and not be so worried about taking pictures and keeping my camera from getting broken.  Andy snapped a few on his phone too, which I'll include in my next post.