Live from Tormville!

The last day of Vacation

And another vacation come to an end.  Why is it that at the beginning of a vacation I feel like oooooh, I have all the time in the world...6 whole days to just do whatever we please.  But the time flies, and by mid vacation I begin to panic trying to fit all my wants into my schedule...yet I refuse to schedule.

We had a full week.  We visited grandparents, cousins, friends, etc....  We went to the beach, chutes and ladders, and took a few walks.  We enjoyed company.   I would have loved to have done some more beach (it got cold) and it feels odd to have not gotten in at least one sauna this week....but all in all we had a great week.

I'm an organizer at heart.  The van is all packed and ready to go home.  *All* packed.  Has been for the last few hours.  If I knew I could stay awake, I could be on the road in 5 minutes.  But I'll get a good nights sleep and shoot for a 6am take off.  Wish us luck...it's me and the 3 kids.  Hubby is anxiously awaiting our return at home.

AND - I got some great news today.  I made it onto another design team!  I applied for this one...it's a monthly kit club called Paper Posies.  I'm so excited about this!!!!  I'm absolutely wowed that I was chosen out of all the applicants to be a member of this team!! I'm tickled pink. 

All for now...time to get the kids down and get ready for the long ride home.  Wish us a safe journey, a happy baby, and minimal construction.  ;)

Be good!

Who left the sauna door open??

Whew...it's hot up here in the land of lakes and saunas.  In the land where it's hard to find an air conditioner because it's so rare that one ever needs the thing.

It's hot.  95 degrees last time I checked.  So, on the second story of this old house with no breeze coming thru....it feels just over 100.  It feels like someone left the sauna door open.

But we're having fun.  I love the lazy pace, I love not knowing what day it is, I love just doing whatever the day brings our way.

Today is the only day that my mom has to work this week, so we slept in....well...we slept in until Wendy fell out of bed and hit her butt on the filing cabinet...then screamed!  We consoled her a little and slept some more until Brian loudly loaded them up to his neck. That one forced me to be a bit more awake and get the day started.

We drove down to visit my grandparents today...they live on a beautiful piece of property at the top of Houghton.  I've a lot of memories from there.  Just driving into the driveway I'm instantly bombarded with flashbacks of catching frogs, having picnics under the birch by the pond, eating plums straight off the tree, trying to bike in and out of the rocks, playing hide and go seek with the cousins, a wedding in the yard, Saturday night saunas, raspberry picking.....and so on.  LOTS of memories of that place, and I just love how they envelope me so quickly when I get there.  I want to bottle them all up.  I suppose, being a scrapbooker I could make a little book.  I'd have to be creative....I can't think of a single picture of any of those memories. 

Now we're waiting for grandma to get off work so we can head to the lake somewhere.  We went to McLains last night and enjoyed some beach time there.  Its hard to figure the weather here sometimes.  It was just 70 in town, give or take a degree, and when we got to the lake it was close to 85.  Darn good thing we brought the kids suits or we wouldn't have heard the end of that.  We had packed sweatshirts thinking we'd need them.  Whooda thunk.

Brians telling me it's time to tend to him....I'll write more later.  Stay cool!!

mmmmmm....vacation

The kids and I made the trek north yesterday.  Trek north to us means 11 hours in the vehicle.  The kids were actually pretty good this trip.  I, however, felt like I had been driving all day (which I had) but all in all it went well.

Even Brian was a trooper for his first road trip.  His fussing was very minor, and each time he did fuss it worked out well on the trip.  We'd pull over, put our feet in the lake for a bit while I tended to Brian's needs.  Totally relaxed, no rush, just livin' for the moment. 

We also had a lot of interesting conversation on the way up.  I was trying to figure out why it was moreso this trip than trips past.  I think, perhaps, it was because we had taken the back seat out of the van for bike and stroller purposes, and Allan was then forced to sit closer to the front. 

He came up with such topics as..... "we should make this trip more often so it doesn't feel so long"  "We should move up here, it's all like woodsy and nature and stuff"  "what if Brian was triplets and you were breastfeeding?"

aaaah, and so it went.

So, today we did some visiting.  It's a beautiful just above 70 degrees out.  Beautiful.  We went and saw my grandma at her new apartment, Allan went to a cousins and joined them for a dunk in Lake Superior, we went to the cemetary to see grandpa's new headstone.  We've had a full day.  Now the debate is do we just sit and relax this evening, or do we find a place to go for Saturday night sauna.

A total cleansing of the mind.  Life is good. 

I'm taking lots of pictures, but I'm not going to try to put them on this computer.  I am thinking I may have to run out and get another card.  I'll share when I get back home.

Enjoy life!!  Be good!

The No Crow Car Club

As promised...I will share some tales of the no crow car club.  Somehow, I landed a splitting headache this evening....so this may be a tad incoherent. 

But I'll give it my best shot.

You see.....anticipation is high in Tormville tonight as my dh revs up for his annual getaway.  His one longstanding, nothing gets in the way of, weekend....is the St. Ignace car cruise.  He's gone for about 10 years now, even the year that his sister chose to get married on that weekend.  Nothing gets in the way of the cruise.

Last weekend we had our first annual no crow car club family cookout.  The *club* consists of my hubby and 3 of his buddies. 

Now, the reason they became known as the no crow car club is because every year Dennis says he gonna have the ol' Nova up and running to bring to the cruise. 

Never, yet, has it been ready to go.  Every year it remains up on blocks in the garage.

So, my hubby has come up with creative ways to make Dennis eat crow every year.  There are some classics, some great memories made.  I loved that last weekend the little boys were chatting around the table about the stories as if they were there themselves.   

Now...the weekend that they have is full of routines/traditions.  They eat a certain place Friday night, they go buy cigars from another regular place Saturday, they eat breakfast at the same place, they take a boat over on Saturday, they swim right under the Mackinaw Bridge, and so forth. 

So, this leads to my favorite crow story.  One year my hubby smuggled a large stuffed crow up to the cruise and managed to sneak it over to one of the regular restaurants.  He was then able to arrange with the manager to have it brought to their table and served to Dennis as his meal.  This, I hear, went over perfectly and was hysterical.  Everyone in the restaurant *got it* as it was being carried across the restaurant....and Dennis was caught completely off guard. 

Every year there's some crow story. I Love that they have this tradition! 

LOVE this picture.   4 grown men...giddy with anticipation.  I went outside in hopes of getting a group shot.  I had hoped to persuade them to nicely line up so I could catch a memory of the club on film.  An in the car shot was *not* my idea.  *They* clambored in the car when I asked for a picture!  LOVE that! 

This car, by the way, is the one that they ARE taking up north tomorrow.

They'll have a ball.  They'll create more memories.  A part of me wishes I could tag along and just listen and take pictures....the other part is so glad that they have this time all to themselves.

Happy traveling!!

Brian

Okay....to begin with, I'm sending the kid completely mixed signals....so perhaps it's my fault. 

We don't get babies as easy as some people.  We are over the moon thankful that we were able to have this 3rd kid, our Brian.  We are so so very blessed!!

But he's not letting us enjoy the baby stage very long.  For one, he's a lunk. He's just 3 months old and he's over 15 lbs. already.  And he's long. 

And he won't stay still.  He wants to move!

This was him on 6/10.  He digs his heels into the carpet, gets a view on where he wants to go, and then he goes.  All the way across the room.  Kids got rug burn on his head like you wouldn't believe!

The kid rolls.  Over and over and over.  I showed him the book.  "KID" I said, you're not supposed to do this for 3 more months!  We ordered a baby....and we want a baby!!  Someone who will snuggle, lay still, enjoy watching life going by....   That's not what we got.

This week he's taken on scootching on his belly.  Well...can't quite call it that, it's more of a nose dive.  He lays on his belly, pulls his knees up under him....and launches.  SMACK right on his nose.  One of those things that we could see comin' but couldn't stop him in time.  But he's stubborn, he keeps on trying.

So we have this talk everyday about, "slow down kid" 

Until this morning.  This morning, there we were, just him and I, the only 2 awake.  I was drinking my coffee, reading my emails and browsing the boards.  He's at my feet in his bouncy chair, all smiling man....aaaaaaah, it was beautiful.  Then.  *BRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMP*  everywhere.  All over his clothes, all over the seat, up to his neck.  yuck.  And this is a daily thing.  And there he is still smiling ear to ear, like he's proud of himself.   So I looked him right in the eye and I told him.  "Kid, I can't WAIT 'til your potty trained" 

So it's my fault.  I'm sending the kid mixed signals. 

On another note...we have a house showing this afternoon, our first in over a month.  So we're  shining shanty this morning.   And anticipation is rising as the kids and I are packing bags to head north.

Later today I'll write about the No Crow Car Club. Stay tuned!  ;) 

Have a great day ya'll!!

Thank you!

Wow!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the emails and messages regarding my blog.  The verdict, clearly, is that I'll keep it up and running.  As always, it boggles my mind that ya'll enjoy reading my ramblings, and hearing about life in Tormville.   

So I'll continue. 

We're getting a lazy start this morning.  Nearly 10am, and all of us in our jams.  I love summer!!!

Allan spent the night at a friends last night.  I was a little nervous about him.  I called him at 8 to see if he wanted to spend the night, or if he'd like to come home.  He didn't know.  oooooh, I could so relate to him at just that moment.  You see....amongst our peers, we are a very small family with just the 3 kids.  He was spending the night at a very large families home...and I could just hear how overwhelming it was for him in his voice.  In the end he decided to stay the night, and to call me if he changed his mind.  Greg, having come from a family of 10 kids, decided that it was good for him.   Me, coming from a smaller family myself....was having flashbacks to my own similar experiences in my youth.  I'll be anxious to hear how it went when I round him up this afternoon. 

Three more sleeps!!!  The kids and I are headed to Upper Michigan in just 3 more sleeps!  We moved it up a few days.  I had checked the weather for here this weekend and it's going to be very hot and thunderstorms.  NOT good hot air balloon festival weather....so we'll skip out early.  If we're *really* on the ball we may even leave Friday, but as of now we'll head up on Saturday and stay for a week.  I'm excited.  We've not been up north since October.  That  seems like so long ago! 

So today....and tomorrow...I have to get our ducks in a row.  Greg tuned up the van  last night, and I somehow got roped into going to the junkyard today to see if I can find a replacement sideview mirror.  The dealership had them on hand for $67, Autozone could order one for $25, so we'll see if the junkyard has one for even cheaper ready to go.  I've never been to a junkyard in my life.  Should I bring my camera??

Speaking of cameras....what tips do you have for going on vacation with a digital?  This next week will be my first vacation with my new DRebel XT. My first trip with a digital.  My mind still thinks in film.   I'll remember the battery charger...and I have a 1gig card.....will that be enough?  In film it would be...but is it enough in digital??? 

Advice welcome!

Time to go get the troops dressed...the neighbor kids are pacing again.....

Have a great day everyone!!!

3 days remaining and other ramblings

LOVE summer!  It's 9am on a Tuesday, and I just woke up a bit ago.  The three short people are still sleeping.  mmmmmm.  The neighbor kids are already pacing back and forth in front of the house.  I taught them all the garage door rule this week and it's working wonderfully.   No knockin' on the door until the garage door is up.   Perfect!

The kids and I decided yesterday that we're going to head up north next week.  Six more sleeps.  They are SOOO excited.  Wendy especially.  Her bags are already packed and at the bottom of the stairs ready to go.  If it wasn't for balloonfest this weekend I'd head out already, but I really really do enjoy our hot air balloon festival. 

I have 3 days remaining on my free trial blog month.  So now I have to decide if I'm going to continue it.  First...help me out with some of this computer stuff....I'm the worst when it comes to that.  I went and checked my overview and it talks about bandwidth allotment.  I'm apparently allowed 1 gig a month, and I'm over 3 gigs.  What does that mean?  At first I thought it was how much I post or how many pictures I put up...but my diskspace  says that I'm alloted 50 megabytes and I've only used 6.024.  So that would be my ramblings stats, right?  So what does bandwidth mean???? 

And should I continue my blog??  I do confess to enjoying it myself...it's a great place to chat away, and I don't feel like I'm imposing myself on anyone who doesn't want to read it.  Anyway...I'd love opinions......

More later.....I want to eat my breakfast before the troops wake up.........

Monday

Milestone of the week:

Brian is 3 months old.  He had a bit of a fever last week, but finally started feeling better Saturday afternoon. 

He rolls over, he belly laughs, he talks like crazy and warms our hearts daily.  It just doesn't any better than that.

Have a great day everyone!!! 

Woodcarver

I live with a woodcarver.   I love that he has this hobby.  He actually just started about 2 years ago.  As it happened, I had bumped into a local woodcarver in the bookstore at a booksigning, and I took his card and told him that I'm quite sure that my husband would be interested in taking his classes.

I'm sure Stan (the local woodcarver) kinda thought, yeah sure...but obliged me with a knod, a smile, and his business card with his class schedules on it.

I went home and told Greg who was very anxious to try this out.  He hasn't stopped since.  He carves all the time.  Right here at the kitchen table, which has created a need for a time schedule now that I have moved down to the same table.  Woodchips and scrap stuff aren't a good mix....we've learned.

Anyhoo....back to lovin' that he does this.  I love that he's found a hobby that so consumes him.  He loves woodcarving every bit as much as I love scrapbooking.  This creates an understanding and a further bond.

The one thing that cracks me up tho is that he's convinced it's a learned skill with no artistic ability needed at all.  He doesn't believe that he's artistic.   He tells everyone.  He has no clue that he is artistic.  He thinks artistic means that you can draw (which he can't) or be good at picking color schemes (okay...he's lousy at this too) but he doesn't realize that artistic can mean being able to pick up a piece of wood and creating something from it.  He does a FANTASTIC job.  And he has no clue.

One of these days I'll take pictures of some of his works.  He's got quite a few now...but I have to watch him tho...he gives many away before I get my dibs in on them. 

Anyway...just wanted to share...I'm not the only one with a strong hobby interest in the house. 

Have a great weekend!  Happy doing whatever it is you do!  ;)  Enjoy creating!

Don't play with Taylor

The scene:  Tormville

The angered:  Big Al

Time:  The very first day of summer vacation

So, picture this.  All is apparently well in Tormville.  The kids are playing outside, mom's scrapbooking at the table, Brian is sleeping.  If we were a movie there would be some light airy summertime happy music playing.

And then

CRASH BANG goes the side door.  In stomps the angered (Al).  Mom (me) jumps and screws up the piece she's working on.  The baby crys.

Allan is wet.  (mom takes note.....because he was not in a swim suit, and not wet went he went out to play...this may be a clue)

The angered walks, make that stomps, straight over to our kitchen calendar mumbling under his breath.

Mom dares to ask - "what's wrong, Al?"

Al's focus is on the calendar right now.  "WHAT'S THE DATE?"  his brow is furrowed...a bit frustrated with himself for having to ask.  For not knowing this himself.  For having to talk when he is so angry.

Mom's trying to hide the fact that she's becoming a bit amused.  "It's the 15th, honey...what happened?"

Al's still focused.  Al is writing furiously all over my calendar.  "A week! I.won't.play.with.her.for.a.WEEK!" 

Now we're getting somewhere. 

I try again, "What happened, Al?"

Al turns toward me,  his fists are clenched down by his side, his brow is furrowed and a hint of a tear is peeking out the corner of his eye.

The horrid tale of Al's anger (hurt) is revealed:

"The little kids splashed me with water, and Taylor.....Taylor laughed!"

Ah, so now we know. 

****for the record....he lasted thru her first 2 attempts to get him to play....probably cuz I had let him play on the computer...but he caved on the 3rd...and laughed when I mentioned that, wow, that was a pretty short week.