Update #3 - Our Michigan Trip (part 2)

August 3, 2008 was the one year anniversary of Grandma's death. It was fitting that we were in Michigan, staying on the lake. It was the perfect way to remember her. Mom found out about an antique fair that was, according to Papa, about an hour or so away. I loved the idea of looking for antiques ("ANTIIIIIIIIQUES!") just like Grandma would have wanted to do. We all piled into our cars, and after an hour and a half of driving, Papa had us stop so we could "stretch our legs." Um. ok. Let me just say that if we were close, I don't see why we had to "stretch our legs." But what we learned was that we were still like 40 miles away. Which is another 2 hours of driving. AWESOME. At least we stopped at a fruit stand and got ourselves some fresh cherries for the drive. These cherries were soooooooooo good!

And the antique fair was pretty great, even though it was an insanely long drive to get there. Grandma would have just loved it! Liane and I both found some sugar cube tongs for our tea sets, some cute hankies just like Grandma would have loved, and I got an amazing set of HUGE 12" woodblock printer's letters. They are AMAZING. (I will show them in another post... they aren't part of this set of pictures). We sprinkled a little of Grandma at the fair before we left :)
After the 3.5 hour drive back, we relaxed a little, read a little, and then decided we would go out to Point Betsie at sunset. That was Grandma's favorite place, and we thought we should have a little memorial for Grandma there.

Papa started off by talking about some favorite memories of Grandma, of Michigan, and how much we miss her... and then we sprinkled her onto the sand. After that, each of us got a turn to share a little about Grandma and sprinkle a little of her, too.
Liane did a little "over the shoulder" chuck when it was her turn...
And even Riley sprinkled some of Grandma onto the sand. Later on, we caught Riley playing in another area of sand, shaking the sand through his fingers, saying "I've got Grandma! I've got Grandma!" hahaahaa
Carl. That's all I need to say.
Liane has apparently lived quite the sheltered life, cause before this trip she had never skipped a rock before. After a quick lesson with Papa (the reigning king of rock-skipping), she got the hang of it. Here she celebrates the FIVE BOUNCES she achieved!

I love this picture of Melinda. :)

Liane, putting into practice some of Papa's techniques. The kids had been playing frisbee when it flew into the water. Of course that didn't stop them one bit! And once one got wet, of course the other had to as well. No swimsuits? No problem. HA.

It was the perfect way to remember Grandma - a beautiful day in Michigan, on the shore of the lake in her favorite place, sharing her memories with each other. I could almost feel her there, enjoying herself right along with us.

Update #2 - Our Michigan trip (part 1)

Our big family trip this year was to Michigan - first to Crystal Lake, Papa's childhood summer home, and then to Farmington Hills for my cousin's wedding. This will be the first of a few posts on the trip, since I took so many pictures and I don't want to overload you!



We had lunch the first day at Cherry Hut, a cute little restaurant that has been at Crystal Lake forever. Papa always talks about when he was a kid and had ordered "Cherry Pie a la mode - WITH ice cream!" and we all reminisced about when we were here 10 years ago with Grandma Jane and that was all she ordered. For breakfast. Cherry Pie. And then she took another one to our house and had it for breakfast every. single. day. :)


Riley stole my camera for a few minutes and took some photos of me...
And Papa and Mama Lali wanted to have a Riley portrait too. I think I have a future assistant on my hands here! :)
We had a house that was actually steps from the shore of Lake Michigan (with Crystal Lake a 3 minute drive away), and this was our view the first night...
Sigh. Beautiful.



More soon!

Update #1 - Camping at the Beach

So a few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to see if there was any chance we could take a family trip to the beach. Rick needed to use his surfboard at least once this year, and I wanted to dip my feet into the ocean. After checking out a couple different hotels, I thought I would see if by some offchance there was a space available at one of the beach campsites. AND THERE WAS! Right at Doheny State Beach, which is next to Dana Point, there was ONE single campsite available. We snagged it for two nights, loaded the kids and the gear into the expedition, and headed out to the ocean.
The kids absolutely LOVED it! The beach was literally steps from our site. And next year, when we actually PLAN this, we will have a site right on the ocean. It will be amazing!
I loved this campsite, too. There were kids everywhere! Of course our kids made friends right away with a boy across the way. He spent most of the day hanging out with us or chasing the kids on their scooters around the parking lot. The only downside to this campground was that the train tracks were pretty close to it. That meant that at midnight and 4 am we heard the trains going by. They didn't blow their horns, at least. We fell back asleep right away, so it really wasn't that big of a deal.
I was relly surprised at the amenities the camp offered. We had a bathroom literally around the corner from us and showers just a few steps past that. Everything was incredibly clean and nice, especially the showers! It was so nice to clean up after a day in the sand.
We decided to see if we could walk to an ice cream shop that was over near Dana Point Harbor, right down the way from us...
Unfortunately, that walk ended up in a dead end! We were on one side of the harbor, the ice cream shop on the other! Violet and I tried to walk to where we thought was another Baskin-Robbins place while Rick and Riley got the car to meet us, but it turned out to be ANOTHER dead end. As you can see, Violet was not happy about not getting her ice cream. We tried to drive around, looking for the place, but both kids fell asleep in the car. We promised them ice cream the next day.

The next morning, we drove down to San Clemente where we KNEW there was ice cream! The kids were so happy about getting a yummy cone. We also stopped at the Rainbow factory to get ourselves some new sandals! YAY!
We spent the evening combing the tide pools at Dana Point looing for sea creatures. We found all sorts of fun little crabs and anenome!
We thought we were coming at the beginning of low tide, but it seemed as though the water level was *rising*... so we didn't stay long.
I don't even know what this is supposed to be.
After our fun day, we had dinner at a restaurant at Dana Point. The next day we went to IKEA before returning home. It was a perfect little quick family vacation, and I am so glad we followed our impulse and just DID IT!

Dad wants me to save this link

We are going to watch it in Michigan. So, if you are family, don't click on it. Wait till we are there. :) If you are not family and want to watch it now, just remember to turn off the music to the right first. ------------->

Here's the link unless the code above didn't work: Last Lecture

A spot of tea... with Grandma

Last year Liane organized a beautiful tea for the ladies of the family at her home...
And she wanted to continue the tradition again, this year. It was a little emotional because this is the first Mother's day without Grandma Jane. But we made sure that she was very much a part of the day. Leslie and Tish brought over Grandma's teacups, which were perfect...

And almost all of the ladies of the family were able to attend. The morning was full of lovely conversation...

Amazing treats and sandwiches made by Liane, Violet, and me...

Liane even made Grandma's special strawberry shortcake recipe, which was completely incredible and the perfect dessert!
Violet was a huge part of the tea... she designed the invitations, helped make sandwiches, and served tea. She is a wonderful hostess!
And of course, the newest lady of the family... looking lovely in her pretty ribbons :)
It was a lovely day with lovely company. And although Grandma couldn't be there... she was, in spirit... as well as in a jar. ;)

Golf Lessons

The best golf lessons are the ones where you get to ride (and even drive!) a golf cart around, courtesy of your Great-Grandfather.
Of course this is not just any golf cart - this one has been tricked out, Puerto-Rican style... complete with fancy flags and air conditioning, not to mention a cool compass so you never get lost.

A good golfer knows how to carry his own equipment. Riley's got the bag, Violet's got the balls. (insert rickdiculous ball joke here)
Good golfing is all about form and technique - here Cagui demonstrates proper grip and arm position. Note that Violet is clearly ready to play on the golf course with her regulation golf shoes.
Riley shows Violet where to hit the ball. "Over THERE."
If teeing up one ball is good, teeing up three at a time is better. And that boy can freaking HIT the ball. As you can see, Riley subscribes to the "Form-Schmorm" philosophy of golfing. He just walks up and randomly swings. And surprisingly enough, he rarely misses and usually hits it pretty darn far. Cagui also gave Riley an official Golf Hat from Dorado Del Mar Country Club in Puerto Rico to wear so he could be extra golf-ish.
After a few practice swings, Violet could really nail that ball! Here she had a particularly good hit. Awesome divot action! And if you look closely, you will see that she hit herself right out of her right shoe! Impressive.

The kids can't wait for their next golf lesson with Cagui. I am not sure if it's the golfing or the golf cart driving that is their favorite... but either way, they love it and love their great grandpa teaching them.

You know when

You start a seemingly innocent project like organizing your office, and the next thing you know it has snowballed into a rearranging the likes of which you haven't seen since moving day? Cause I do.

I am in the middle of my "cleaning the office" project... where I decided to move things around to make it more efficient... but before I could move them I had to empty them all over my clean table (which is now a disaster)... and then as I am moving I realize that i need to get the big filing cabinet out of the office and onto the landing just outside my room, which is where I have always wanted it. So I start to do that, till I realize I need to move the kids' computer desk, which is on the landing. I have been wanting to move their computer downstairs into the kitchen anyway, so we could have a computer downstairs, so that was what I had to do next. Only first I needed to make space for the computer on the counter downstairs. Which means clearing the counter, emptying the drawers, and rearranging the cabinets to make them more efficient.

Now these cabinets are in the corner of the room and are never opened, which means all the stuff that is in there has been there since the day we moved in, and I am not even sure I know what it all is. So now I am cleaning out drawers in the kitchen... and not just one, but ALL of them. INCLUDING THE JUNK DRAWERS. I seriously need an intervention here. Cause once those were cleaned out, I had to do the same in the cabinets. So I did. I found all sorts of interesting things I forgot we had... like a Jack LaLaine's Power Juicer (any takers? I think we've used it once - I have everything: the manuals, accessories, the works), an Easy Bake Oven (also going the way of Goodwill, unless someone is interested), various bowls, vases, and serving trays that were just stuffed down there.

So. The good news:
I have had a doubleshot of espresso.
The kitchen is looking pretty amazingly organized. I am proud.
The filing cabinet is on the landing, right where I wanted it.
I loaded up a HUGE box of scrapbook stuff I am taking to church this week for an art class I am teaching.
Half of my room is organized.

The bad news:
The other half of the room is not.
I am teaching an art class on Wednesday at church and I haven't started on my samples yet.
I can't work when there is chaos in my room so I have no choice but to finish my reorganization.
I am doing a photo shoot Tuesday morning so I can't finish it then.
I am meeting a friend for dinner Tuesday night so I can't finish it then.
I will need another doubleshot of espresso.

Your Box or Mine?

It Kit Studio, the awesomely great scrapbooking kit I have the honor of designing for, is moving to a new location... and the owner is having a HUGE SALE to get rid of inventory so she doesn't have to move it. Kits are priced at 10-75% off (I just bought a couple of last December's kits for 75% off!) and are definitely worth checking out. Oh and of course, you also need to check out the stamps in the current kit, born from my doodles! It's a cool little tree stamp that is very versatile and I love it. :)

Click on the picture at the top to go to the site, or click here: It Kit Studio

Rafting in Pagosa

Be entertained!
Watch where Riley's sitting...


And where he ended up after the bump! HAHAHA
This last picture is my favorite. I love how we are all laughing and Riley is off his seat.

I'm just impressed that he held onto the oar the whole time! More Pagosa later! :)

Plunger Park

I know I have to do more Pagosa photos, but I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to get blogged BEFORE vacation, so I am doing that right now (also cause half the photos are on Rick's computer which is safely at work with him).

There is a park right next to that cute little neighborhood area where I do all my photo shoots. The playground equipment is all this weird, modern, spinning things that the kids love. It looks nothing like a regular playground with a slide and swingset. All of it looks straighe from space. Including the kids' favorite piece of equipment... a chair-like thing that spins around using your body weight to keep you in perpetual motion. Only the chair looks like an upside down toilet plunger. Hence the name they dubbed for the park, "The Plunger Park."

While I was doing a quick photo session on the little main street, Riley and Ellie played in the park - under the close supervision of Liane and Sage.

After I was done with my session, I joined them and Liane and I tried to take a couple photos of ourselves...
But Sage really felt like she needed to be in the photo, so she squeezed in too...
Then I attempted to take a group shot. This was my favorite of many... I love how Sage looks so wild here. HAHA
The kids keep begging to go to the Plunger Park but it.is.too.hot. Instead we have been spending our afternoons at the YMCA outdoor pool. Today Riley accomplished a HUGE milestone there... he passed the "swim test" so he could get a wristband that allowed him use of the diving board! To pass the swim test you have to swim the length of the pool (about 20 yards) without any help... and he did it! It took him awhile, but he finally made it across! A couple times the lifeguards came up to him asking if he wanted help and he kept shaking his head so he could do it all himself. And when he got out of the pool and they placed the green wristband on him, you would have thought he had received the gold medal! He was so proud. And so was I :)