Live from Tormville!

Twenty-Seven

1. This evening we performed the annual inspection of the hot air balloon, inside and out. 
2. It was while on the way to the inspection that I remembered - our anniversary isn't Saturday. It's TODAY! 
3. Sigh. 
4. I opted out of the crew dinner and came home to out of town company and a dozen roses. 
5. We found out yesterday that Ken and Sherry, Greg's brother and sister, were coming to town for the weekend. 
6. Text between Wendy and I this morning: 
   Me: Hey Wendy - can you sleep at grandma's so Ken can sleep in your room (because the only other option is the couch, and we all wake up between 5-6) 
   Wendy: Sure, no problem, and I even changed the sheets and made the bed like a good little niece. 
7. Half day of school tomorrow, Friday. Our first of the year. 
8. I'm not a superfan of half days. They end up being SUPER busy office days. By the time I finish attendance, the kids will be on the bus going home. 
9. This week's warm fuzzy came from two fifth graders when I was putting up pictures on my bulletin board: Mrs T, you take SO many good photos! 
10. On deck for this weekend: Another 5K, soccer, laundry, family, and maybe some cider mill donuts. 
11. Super random fact: Sometimes I practice playing the spoons. 
12. I'm not that great at it. 
13. I think I mentioned that Brian challenged for seats in band. 
    He didn't win a new seat, but A for effort. Now he just has to figure out how long before he can challenge again. 
14. Mark had a school fundraiser, with one of the prizes being to be the DJ for the day. 
15. Of course, that's the one he aimed for. He's been busy writing down song choices. The kid has a song for every occasion, and at least once a day I hear, "Hey mom, wanna know what song is stuck in my head?"
16. I went straight from work to a haircut appointment today
17. Hairdresser: What are we doing today? 
    Me: Shake it up - do something different. My yearbook photo has been the same for three years. Just DON'T give me the same cut as you gave my mom. 
18. I like my mom's haircut, I just don't want to be her twin. 
19. Even tho twin day IS one of our spirit days next week. 
20. Psst...hey mom, Tuesday's Spirit Day is Character Day. (No masks) 
21. Mark is currently learning Amazing Grace on the fiddle. 
22. Both boys are in the Homecoming parade next week - Mark in band (with the trumpet, not the fiddle) and Brian for archery. 
23. Wendy started a new job at Target recently, but has kept her old job as well. 
24. Rumor has it the oldest kid has started a new job too. Not in the field of his degree yet, but something that will pay the bills while he keeps submitting applications. 
25. I'm enjoying all the Hockeyville posts coming out of Calumet this week.
26. My stationary bike didn't sell at the garage sale, so I threw out a chair and put it in the living room. And have begun biking in the morning. 
27. There. 27. Now I can go catch some zzzzzz's. 

Be good! 

Monday Catch-Up

So. I'm a tad behind on blogging. 
It happens. 

Things get busy around here once school is back in session. Archery season starts a week from today, and then things get even busier with this guy still coaching, and Brian trying out again this year. 

Yesterday we headed down to Greenfield Village after church. It was very quiet at the village. I think everyone else must have been cider milling. It was a beautiful fall day. Greg has been busier during the week with his new(ish) position, but we're thankful that he's home on the weekends now. 

The weekends fly. 

Friday night was supposed to be ballooning for me - but there was NO wind to speak of at all. Some of the crew went out to eat instead, but two of us quickly switched gears and headed up to the high school football game. 

Friday night also had Brian out being social. BRIAN! I had mentioned to him on Wednesday that there was a bonfire for his confirmation class. On Friday, I came home from work, laced up my ballooning boots and told him that dad would be driving him out to the bonfire. "What?!" he exclaimed "I didn't actually say I wanted to go!"  It's hard to yank him out of his books. When we all gathered back at home after our Friday night events, I asked him if it was as horrible as he expected. He smiled. "No. I actually had fun"  Happy Momma Sigh 

Saturday morning I ran the 2nd of this year's 5K's. I'm still not where I was at last year, but I'm looking forward to improving my time over the next couple months. While I was running, Mark was playing soccer. There are still a few weeks left in soccer season. 

Saturday evening, mine and Wendy's schedules finally meshed, and just like that - we found ourselves at the mall for a successful shopping outing. 

We had lots of music in the house over the weekend. Brian is in the high school band now, and has learned about challenges. He has initiated the first challenge, and it's on the calendar for Tuesday. Lots of saxophone practice along with Mark's fiddle and trumpet. 

And that's about it. Things are always moving, projects are talked about, and I've been on Greg to get some ornaments made before November. 

In his free time.  

HAPPY MONDAY! 

 

 

Whiting Forest/Dow Gardens

School may have started already, but I give ourselves until Labor Day to work on our summer manifestos. 

Today's adventure came from mine. We've actually tried to get to the Whiting Forest Canopy Walk a couple times, and each time - something else came up. Today I was determined. Because tomorrow IS Labor Day.  We left early enough that I felt confident I'd make it back home in time to pick up my mom for this evening's wedding. 

Note: This place was WAY bigger than we thought. We pulled in our driveway just five minutes before the wedding started, and while we were at the Forest and Gardens for over three hours, we don't feel like we saw everything. We wished we'd packed a lunch. I also packed the wrong lenses - I brought my fixed 50mm and my zoom lens, and then spent most of the time wishing I'd brought my wider angle. I resorted to my phone quite a bit. 

So glad we went. Very cool. The boys are hoping that someday we'll see something like this closer to home, like at Kensington. 

Greg is always learning and studying how things are made and put together. Inspirational for sure. 

Both the net and the glass bottom floor are 40 feet up if I read the brochure correctly. (Correct me if I'm wrong. They are up there) 

After the canopy walk, we took the walk over to the Dow Gardens. I put over 4.5 miles on my fitbit on this outing. 

There was a paved path that went everywhere, but there were also man meandering woodchip paths that went through the woods. So much exploring to be done. 

I have to remember to get on the photo side of the camera every now and then.  Here we are - 27 years this month. 

The bubbles were an interactive part of the children's garden area. 

We ended on an 'OM'

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And yes, we got Mark's swim in this morning - Day 84, 58 degrees and raining, and he was out there swimming laps while I was snug in the van with the heat on, sipping my coffee. I'm starting to feel like I have to plan something for Day 100. 

It's been a busy four day weekend. We had a garage sale Friday evening and Saturday morning. Lots of laughs, and much stuff went. 

Friday evening was our Goddaughter's wedding. The boys are dog sitting this weekend, so we left them home and just enjoyed the wedding and visiting on our own. 

I have CPR training this coming week, which means that after this post - I need to sit myself down and do the pre-class work online. 

Tomorrow is a project, house cleaning, bill paying, lawn mowing day. 

And maybe ballooning. 

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!