Changes in the Air

Andy and I went away the Thursday before Easter for our first ever weekend away without children.  Yes, we've spent an occasional night away from our kids.  They stay at Nana and Papa's, or one of us is away for work overnight, but we've never gone away to just get away.  Andy's been after this for quite some time, and I will admit, it's been quite overdo.  He's always envisioned us on a cruise ship in the Caribbean for at least one week, but the mommy in me can't leave her little ones for that long, nor that far away.  The compromise was Lakeside, Michigan.

On the beach of our hotel.

We stayed at a quaint historic hotel called Lakeside Inn that was built in the 1800s.  It was true to its period time.  We got the feeling of being at a cabin or lodge more so than the beachy feel, but we enjoyed the atmosphere.  I found myself quite happy they hadn't modernized the place.

Looking down the beach.

The shoreline

The hike back up to the hotel...around 115 stairs total.

The hotel is a National and State recognized historic site.

Since they kept with the historic charm this photo above was the most modern technology in the rooms.  For those of you unfamiliar with what that is, it's an AM radio built into the nightstand.  That meant no television, which could have been grueling for Andy, but we found lots of things to go and see around the area, so he didn't miss his TV too much.

This is me standing on the ice at the beach in New Buffalo.

We hit the casino in New Buffalo for about one hour.  Andy was just quitting on one slot machine, when I suggested he not quit yet.  He put his ticket back in, won $195, and then I said, "We're done!"  It's not hitting the huge jackpot, but I love math and know the odds of winning more were not in our favor, so we happily collected our winnings and left.

Three Oaks, MI boasts the home of The Journeyman Distillery.  We ate a light lunch there on Friday and sampled a few of their spirits.  Afterwards we stopped at two wineries, but after sampling at the first winery, I had to pass at the second winery.  I'm too much of a lightweight when it comes to drinking.

Looking into the barrel room at the distillery.  

After all the libations we hit up Michigan City for some retail therapy at the outlet mall.  We made some purchases and headed back to the hotel.  One thing Andy and I loved about our trip away was the food.  Good cuisine, and we NEVER saw a fast food restaurant.  If you are looking for a fun quick get away in southwest Michigan I highly recommend the area we went.  Saturday brought us home to see our sweet daughters faces once again.  We had to get back so we could spend Easter with our family.

Another huge change in our lives, is that Andy has officially made a career change.  Starting in April, he is working for Triple Y Farms as a full time farmer and loving every minute of it.  This is the farm he's been doing the fall harvest for the past two falls.  They offered his a salaried position that was too good to pass up.

Mia with her Build-A-Bear-Workshop monkey that she was able to make courtesy of Uncle Aaron and Aunt Christy's birthday gift to her.

The girls love going to the farm and riding in the tractors with their daddy.  There are definitely times we won't see much of him with a farmer's schedule, but he is happy and we can go pester him at the farm when we miss him.

Some of Andy's new gear he gets to use.  I have no clue, but he could happily tell you all about it.  

A New Budding Artist

So every year since Olivia was in kindergarten she has been chosen for the school art show to have one of her masterpieces on display.  This year she is in a new school, Eastwood and informed me she was selected again.  I never saw an invitation like in years past, then one evening I saw a friend's post on FB of her daughter's artwork at the Art Show for Eastwood.  I then asked Olivia if she was in it, which she still thought she was.  The show was the next evening, and Andy and I would be out of town.  So I took the girls to Great Lakes (they host the art show) to get a drink before school and check it out.  There are so many pieces to look at, but Olivia knew it would be one of two pieces.  She looked in those areas and didn't see it.  I think she was a bit disappointed, but didn't let it bother her.  But guess who was selected for the K-2 Art Show this year?  You guessed it, Mia was.

Posing below her work of art that was selected for the art show.

Mia's art show was this past Friday, April 17th at The Open Door Gallery in Sturgis.  While walking into the gallery we saw Olivia's art teacher.  She asked why we didn't come to the Eastwood Art Show.  She informed me that Olivia was in it.  I told her we stopped and didn't see any of her pieces.  She also told us some fell down before the show so they rehung them that night.  Olivia was happy to learn she was in it, but now I feel bad that we did miss her art show.

Mia and Mason (his work of art on the right)

Mason is Mia's best buddy at school this year.  They are so cute playing together.  They crack me up with the size difference between the two.  He's a sweet kid.

Mason picking up Mia before we headed out for the night.  It was a great show to see all the art talent of our K-2 students in Sturgis.

So now we have not one, but two artistic daughters in the family.

UPDATE: Mia and I were at Great Lakes for a meeting this evening and look what we found!  Great job Olivia!

Look Out World...Mia is 6!

We celebrated Mia's sixth birthday on Sunday, March 29th, two days before the actual "big day."  It was a celebration fit for a superhero.  The Doyle Community Center was hosting a Marvel Comic Super Hero party that Nana graciously took the girls to attend.  Aunt Jen had given Mia this Captain America costume a couple weeks earlier and she was eager to wear it to the event.  It matches her Captain America Build-A-Bear that Aunt Jen took her to get too.

Posing in her new attire.

Aunt Jen couldn't let Olivia go without a costume, so a Wonder Woman costume appeared at our house a few days before the event.  Aunt Jen and Nana sure do spoil our girls, but the girls love them both dearly for it too.

Once the girls returned from their Super Hero party Mia was anxiously awaiting her birthday party guests to arrive and get the festivities under way.

Opening a tractor.

Her new dress from mommy.

Dumbo from mommy too...Baby Mine is our special song.

Olivia hooked her up with sugary goodness.

Nana and Papa bought her a beautiful jewelry box that plays "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Papa got her a stash of her own coconut granola bars that she loves to steal of his.

A cowhide looking blanket (No cows were harmed in the making of this blanket) from Aunt Jen and Robert.  She's been sleeping with it every night along with her "Taylor blanket."

Elizabeth and Tina were in attendance.  I'm so glad the Randalls were up on their spring break so they could help Mia celebrate.

Abe and Mia doing who knows what.  I think they were dancing.

The kids being silly.  

It was a terrific party that wore our almost six year old out.  Thanks to all who remembered our Meatball's special day.

A photo taken her last day as a five year old.  Why must time pass so quickly?

Date With Grand"Dad"

Since Mia was a babe in arms, Andy has been taking Olivia, and then Mia when she was old enough to the Doyle Community Center's annual "Date With Dad."  This year it happened to land on the weekend of Andy's state swim meet when he was away in Detroit.  So I called Grandpa and he gladly came down for the night to take the girls out.  

The girls all dressed and ready to go.  Oh, and Olivia now has glasses!  That is pretty big news in the world of a nine year old.  

Grandpa with his dates for the evening.

The girls decided on Applebee's for dinner, but after arriving and seeing a long wait, they opted for Culver's.  Then they were off to dance the night away.  Patty treated me to a delicious dinner at Davinci's then we enjoyed each others company back at home until the party goers returned.  Mia was tired so they didn't stay out too late.  All three said they had a fantastic time.

Grandpa and Grandma were headed to Florida soon after visiting for a few weeks.  Each year around Easter the girls color eggs with them, so we did them a bit early this year since they were going to be gone.

The finished product.

Mia dyed just as much of her fingers as she did the eggs.  

Andy's swimmers did "phenomenal!"  He hates when people use that word, but they truly did amazing.  Every swimmer he had there set new personal bests in their events, some broke team records.  Sturgis finished 13th in the state overall, which is huge considering some of the big powerhouse schools they were up against.  

Interviewing My Girls

It's been a long time since I did a round of interview questions with my girls and got their current trending answers.  Olivia suggested I do an updated blog about this topic, so here it goes.  These are the same questions I asked them in June of 2012.  Some answers have stayed the same, while some have changed.  

Olivia

What do you want to be when you grow up?: Pediatric Surgeon at Riley's Children's Hospital

What is your favorite color?: Neon Green

What is your favorite food?: Filet Mignon

What is your favorite TV Show?: Liv and Maddie

Who is your best friend?: Quinn and Brooke

What was your favorite part of today?: Eating dinner as a family

Thankfully I think (fingers crossed) the above photo is the last picture I will have with all that white stuff for quite a few months.  I do love snow, but am ready for spring.

Mia

What do you want to be when you grow up?: An artist (this just recently, like in the last week, changed from a chicken nugget, which it has been for 3 years)

What is your favorite color?: purple

What is your favorite food?: popcorn

What is your favorite TV Show?: Spongebob

Who is your best friend?: Macy and Abe

What was your favorite part of today?: Recess

A Month of Hellos and Good Byes

Again, I've neglected my blog.  Time continues to excel at an increasingly rapid rate on by us.  February was a busy and stressful month.  I chaired a huge Boys, Beer, Brats, and Bingo charity event that had me stressed to the max, I took a long weekend trip to Chicago to be reunited with my dear friend Vivien's, we said good bye to Griswold, our rabbit, I attended a few hockey games for my nephews out of town, swimming season rapped up for Olivia, drama at Olivia's school because they wanted to disband her entire class and send them to new rooms, the 20 year anniversary of my mother's passing came and went, and we heard the terrible news that our dear Papa Dave would be returning from U of M Hospital for Hospice Care.

Now a quick story on Griswold for those who don't know.  We found this adorable little guy just after Christmas at Nana and Papa's house.  He kept hopping up to their back porch for a couple of days.  He definitely is a domesticated bunny, and a terrible cold front was heading in.  We couldn't let him freeze, so with the help of some friends, we took him in.  

We weren't in the market for a pet rabbit, but couldn't find his owners either.  The girls and I gladly took care of him and loved him.  Andy's stance was always that we would find him a new home.  Well, it just so happened we were at the pool one day and one of the stingrays swimmers was talking about going shopping for a rabbit.  It all worked out, so Griwsold has a new home at friends of ours, and we get to rabbit sit when they go on vacation.  It was a good compromise for all of us.

Of course the girls were still sad to say good bye.

I was thrilled to get away from all the chaos and stress of life for my first ever girls' long weekend.  I was heading out from school a little early on Thursday, February 12th.  Then came a call from Tina at school that day.  I knew it wasn't good news when her number appeared on my school phone caller ID.  She was calling to inform me that Papa Dave was coming home and Hospice was being brought in.  She assured me that he would hang on until I got back from Chicago and that I  needed to go and have a good time.  With a heavy heart, I drove to South Bend and boarded the train bound for Chicago.

I was ecstatic to be reunited with "my Vivi!"  The last time I saw her I was pregnant with Olivia, so it had been almost 10 years.  We've both had two children since seeing each other.  Every time we get together we pick up right where we left off, like no time has passed.

It was bitterly cold, like -20 degrees before you added on the wind chill in the understandably nicknamed "Windy City."  We didn't care.  We walked almost everywhere since we are both cheap.  We did some shopping, went to a movie, ate at some great restaurants, went through The Museum of Contemporary Art, and got lots and lots of miles walking in.  Our hotel was a historic building from the 1800s called the Congress Plaza Hotel.  We loved that they kept the historical charm and hadn't modernized it too much.  Mainly we just spent time enjoying each other and catching up.  I didn't take my camera out ever because it was too cold and cumbersome.  So the photos you get are us being us in our room.

A view from our hotel window while we waited for Vivien shuttle to take her back to the airport.

I miss Viven already, but we had a wonderful and much needed weekend together.

I was anxious to get home to Andy and my girls, and my heart never stopped focusing on Dave.  Thankfully he was in pretty good spirits and feeling well enough for our company upon my return.  I went over by myself first to evaluate the situation and determine if the girls would be able to handle seeing him.  He was still his cheerful self and cracking jokes.  He wanted to see my girls, so Andy stepped up to the plate and took a half a day off of work, pulled the girls from school and headed to the Smith's house.  They all had great conversations with Dave, Sharon, his kids, and the grandkids.  Dave and Sharon have always treated me like family and to no surprise, did the same with Andy.  Also, no surprise, was Andy took three additional kids home with him that night, when the Randall kids (Tina's kids) wanted to come over.  It was a time that we won't be able to get back so I am so thankful they were able to have that time together.  I continued to pop in and out and do what little I could do to help over the next couple of weeks.  I received a call from Tina fairly early on Saturday, February 28th that Dave had peacefully passed from this earth and entered into the arms of his Lord and Savior.  His celebration of life happened one week later and is one I or anyone in attendance for that matter, will ever forget.  The music was lively and beautiful.  More upbeat than sad and solemn.  The words spoke by Dave's loved ones shared many humorous memories and heart felt mementos.  Some unexpected harmonizing of some of Dave's favorite hymns at the end, followed by a surprisingly beautiful version of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home," all per Dave's request.  But if that wasn't enough, the children were asked to leave first for a special surprise Papa had arranged for them.  The children all headed out to let go of numerous colorful balloons, while fireworks erupted in the skies above them. He wanted it to be a celebration and that is truly what he gave us.  Many tears have been shed, but he will always hold such a special place in my family's heart.

An old photo of Papa Dave and Mia.