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. 

1st Ever Sturgis Youth Triathlon

This past Saturday was the first ever Sturgis Youth Triathlon.  Of course Olivia jumped at the opportunity and it didn't take much convincing to get Jadon and Titus to participate as well.  With this being the first triathlon Sturgis has put on, we didn't quite know what to expect.  Around 50 youth ages 6-13 turned up for the fun event.  Olivia's age group was first and she was in the first heat.  She also competed against Titus, and her good friend Taner.  Due to the athletes needing to exit the pool and run through the lobby to get on their bikes, you had to decide if you were in the pool watching the heat, or outside watching the transition to the bike.  Andy, Elizabeth's family, and Nana and Papa were in the pool to watch Olivia and Titus swim.  My dad and Patty and I stayed out to watch her transition to the bike and so I could assist her getting dressed.  I was surprised to see her all of a sudden outside, not actually realizing the event had started.  She took no time at all getting her gear on and heading off on her bike.  As she was taking off on her bike the rest of the kids started making their way outside.  Titus, not being the strongest swimmer, was last out of the pool, but raring to go. 

And she's off.

Titus getting geared up.

Can it be?  She's back already.  Olivia was back on her bike from the 1/2 mile course in no time, with no sight of other participants.
 

She's off on her last leg of the race, the run!
 

Titus and Taner coming in side by side on their bikes.  As you can see Titus fumbling a bit in this picture, he wiped out pretty hard right there.  He got up like it was nothing and kept going.  He was such a trooper.
 

There's Olivia running back in on the left, while the others are all heading out still.  The 6-7 year olds only had a 1/4 mile run.
 

Crossing the finish line as the first in her age group!  Way to go girl.  She finished in 7 minutes and 24.  The race wasn't actually timed at all, but Andy had his stopwatch going for our own knowledge.  They wanted to keep the race fun and not make it a competition with the children.  Getting kids interested in exercise rather than the usual competition was the main focus which we understand and respect. 

Taner and Titus finishing strong!
 

Cousins and buddies proud of their accomplishments!  We are very proud of both of you too!
 

Jadon, being in the oldest age group was towards the end of the event.  I actually got to be inside to see the swim portion for his.
 

Swimming hard.
 

Headed out on his bike for the 3 mile ride.
 

Sprinting to the finish for the last of his 1.5 mile run!  He made up a lot of ground during his bike and run.  He's quite an athlete.

Jared with his fellow triathlete sons.  I know it's not the best picture of Jadon, but he was actually smiling.  That is something we rarely can capture on film so I had to post it. 

Overall, it was a family fun event that went by very quickly.  I am amazed at how well organized and smoothly everything ran, especially with it being the first year.  We will definitely be participating in the future years. 

June 11th Celebrations

June 11th is a very special day for our family.  Not only is it my father's birthday, but it's also my niece Jane's birthday.  This year my dad turned the big 60, while sweet Janie turned 3!  The evening of their actual birthday we celebrated at our house and had a backyard cookout.

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Grandpa and Jane blowing out the candles on their ice cream cake.
 

Everyone digging in to dessert.
 

The boys enjoying some ice cream cake too.
 

Mia being Mia.
 

Grandpa with all of his grandchildren. 
 

My dad and his daughters.

It was a terrific evening full of stories shared and memories made.  We're blessed that we can all be together to celebrate these special days.