**DISCLAIMER - I wrote this blog 11-20-2008 and forgot to post it!**
The last two weekends have been tons of fun. We first took a trip to visit Mike's cousins Chris and Emily. Then I took a quick weekend trip to Chicago with a group of girls and I got to visit with Uncle David and Aunt Jane while there. How great is that? Not sure how great that it? Well let me tell you.
We scooted down to Ohio University on Friday night after work. We went to Chris's place and then decided to get a couple of drinks at the bar across the road. Night ended with me asleep in the papasan and Mike & Chris playing beer pong. After a lazy Saturday morning I pushed Chris out of the apartment to take us on a walking tour of campus. We met up with Emily and eventually with Becky who had come to visit as well. Chris took us up to the scariest place I have ever seen, The Ridges. A very creepy place where we went to a terrifying condemned Tuberculosis Ward, where I saw dead people for sure. Extremely scary!!! Saturday night we had a dinner on the run (unintentionally) and then we saw BJ Novak do standup. It was pretty funny. Out for some more drinks and then the night ended with me asleep in the papasan and Mike, Emily, Chris and Becky playing beer pong (a reoccuring theme). Sunday we had a nice breakfast with the whole crew and then we drove up to Columbus for a quick visit with Mike's parents. Very nice to see them if only for a couple of minutes. All in all a very nice weekend!
The next weekend began last Thursday evening actually as I met up with Sarah Sageman, Jeanna, Renee and Sarah Stewart to drive down to Battle Creek to catch the train to Chicago. The train was running late so we entertained ourselves for a bit at Kmart and also picked up some alcoholic beverages at Horrock's for the train ride. The train ended up being at least an hour and a half late, but Jeanna was attracting the local drunkards while we waited at the station. That provided for some entertainment while we waited until the police came to take them away. The train ride was nice, ecspecially with the added buzz from the beer I had. The weekend was really successful. Thursday when we got in at midnight or later we all had a nice reunion in the hotel room and chatted away at each other like little girls at a sleepover.
Friday we semi-slept in, but we were all excited to go do some sightseeing in the city. We split into two groups. One group went on a free Chicago tour that included Millenium Park, several other small parks, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Lincoln Park Conservatory. It was a lovely tour with a great tour guide, Ray. Thanks Ray! The other group did a bit of walking about and went to Shed's Aquarium, where Sarah Stewart almost got the pee scared out of her! They went to a 4-D movie that was just a little bit too real for Sarah! We rejoined at the hotel and Liz and I went back out for a bit of shopping. I found Filine's Basement and H & M and a couple other stores. My most exciting stop was to the Pastorial Cheese Shop. I tasted about a dozen goat cheeses and made a few choices to take home with me. A delicious soft cheese and at least a 5 year gouda. Yumm! We went out for dinner to a fun Italian place and then went back to the hotel to get ready for the big outing. The big outing was in fact to "Coyote Ugly". Yes, I know what you're thinking. This IS the bar of the movie. It was interesting to say the least! A night filled with dancing, drinking and a few hillarious situations (Crazy ladies from Michigan!). Needless to say fun was had by all.
Saturday I decided to strike out on my own while the girls went to the Miracle Mile and I visited the Field Museum. After a quick visit there I had a curbside pickup by Uncle David and Aunt Jane! What a fun day I had hanging out with them. I got to check out the new apartment, I had a "Chicago Hot Dog" for lunch and we went to see Riverside. It was a super fun day and I am already plotting a return to visit them in the spring with Mike and Felipe in tow!
Pictures of our adventures below.
Last weekend was an eventful one. Halloween and my birthday all in one weekend. Thursday Felipe and I carved some jack-o-lanterns to celebrate and Mike helped out once he returned from his class. I think all three pumpkins were fantastic this year!
For Halloween we spent a nice night at the William's meeting the new baby and catching back up after the last few months. Felipe went treat or treating with some friends and watched OE win it's first playoff game!
Saturday was exciting for me, in that we took Pepsi and Bell up to McBain, MI to get bred. I am so excited for baby goats this spring. In about three weeks we get to venture back up to retrieve them. Hopefully they will be preggers! Saturday Mike and I had a Halloween party at Charlie & Sarah's and Felipe went to a friend's party. We had a lot of fun and I think our costumes turned out terrific. The Flintstones looked very authentic. Although everything I own now has a hint of orange from trying to replicate Wilma's hair color! At the party we also had a best costume trophy that ended up going to Marsha & Rob. Man they were creepy looking! Everyone was dressed up so nice and we had lots of fun.
Sunday was my birthday believe it or not. I choose to not believe it personally and I swear I found a gray hair that morning (Though the jury is still out. It could have just been a blond hair because I do have highlights... I hope it was a blond hair.)!! It was tragic. I blame it on Felipe, hehehehehe! If I wasn't a parent than I would still look 21 years old. Ha! We had such a fun day though. We made apple cider, played croquet (fittingly I won), had dinner with family, played an old board game (fittingly I won again) and I watched the newest Indiana Jones. It was a relaxing an enjoyable birthday day. I spent the day the best way I can imagine, with family. Then I continued my celebration of me with what I like to call the "birthday week". It's something I picked up from Christy and I personally think it's wonderful. Tuesday night I went to dinner with my friends whom I love so much. It was so nice for us all just to be together. Wednesday, I had birthday cake at work. It was delicious! A beautiful gluten free creation from A Piece O Cake.
Below are a whole slew of new pictures. Enjoy! I'll have some more pictures and something more to say later this week about our super fun visit to see Chris and Emily at OU this last weekend!
Fall seems to be a time to get back to work. All of the summer play has ended and it is time to get your act together. It's back to school time and back to schedules and work it seems. I think it should be a time to play as well. It's just not fair to make the hot sticky summer the only time to play.
We have been busy playing in the cool weather and enjoying the great weather. Although I do object to the frost we had the other day! It's not quite time for that nonsense yet!
Samone and Felipe picked some apples behind Mom's temp house and it was a first for Felipe who had never seen an apple tree before. We've had a quick shopping trip to Birch Run where Felipe got a winter coat and some new tennis shoes. We even went to the famous Tony's to show Felipe the hugemongous portions. I think that burrito lasted him a few days. The next day we had a birthday party for Miss Samone. OMG - she is officially 13, a teenager! Does that officially make me an old auntie? Yikes!
Several weekends ago we had a wonderful visit from Mike's parents. What a great weekend! We did the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, which Momma K really enjoyed. We had a nice dinner with friends and family and then biked the Pierre-Marquette Trail on Sunday morning. We went from Midland to Clare for an exhilerating 30 mile bike ride. It really got me excited for the trip Samone and I are taking next year. I had no idea I liked biking quite so much!
Mike & I decided to take an impromptu overnight in the beginning of October and we ended up going to the Hoist Lakes Foot Travel Area. We have never been and it was a delightful weekend. A great getaway that we both sorely needed. We headed out semi-early Saturday morning and arrived at the west access around noon. We met a boisterous group of gentlemen in the parking lot and we would meet up with them on Sunday on our way out and have a nice chat.
We headed onto the trail and decided to head north around the big loop. We then realized after a couple of miles we should have done a figure 8 of the trail to get the full 20-ish miles. We figured oh well and trekked on. The trail was nice and wide in most places and well marked. The weather threatened rain but held off all weekend. It was an extremely comfortable temperature in the 50's. We stopped for a little lunch where the trail heads back south and visited with the many chipmunks running about. We were surprised how many other people we encountered on the trial. At least 15 to 20 people in total. We thought we may camp down around the Hoist Lakes, but seeing the 3 or 4 campsites already there we decided to move on. We ended up at Penoyer Lake all by ourselves, which is our preferred location. Found a nice site that had been used before and made a fantastic new recipe I found for dinner, bean & chicken burritos. I will bring along some shredded cheese to sprinkle on the top next time. It was down in the 30's in the morning and we packed up after a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and oatmeal. A nice hike through the
woods back out that was a little bit more challenging but not as challenging as we were led to believe by some accounts. We had a nice stop to chat with others at Byron Lake. What an amazingly gorgeous lake. The GPS had us at 16-ish miles. What a nicely maintained area. Good job National Forrest Service!
All in all a nice little getaway and we were back on the road by noon. We took a bunch of backroads home and had a great time buzzing through towns we've never seen before, including a late lunch in a mom & pop restaurant in Standish. A couple there was celebrating being married for 51 years, certainly something for Mike and I to aspire to.
Only 50 more years to go!
I hope the weather holds out for a bit longer and we can squeeze one more fall weekend in.
Clickie to biggie
And so we move into the fall... Time seems to swirl by like the leaves turning color. The garden is producing heavily now. Tomatoes are abounding and the fall radishes and lettuces are delicious. The garden is doing really well and I seem to be a better gardener each year. I think the most exciting development for me is this years purchase of organic and heirloom seeds. The gigantic Amana Orange tomatoes are so yummy that it makes me hungry thinking of them!
Okay, so I cannot say that my stress levels will remain down. But at least for one subject they have moved down the stress richter scale. We have Felipe in a High School. Ovid-Elsie said they would take him from the beginning but we had no way to get him there. Finally on a suggestion from Sarah Sageman(Thank you very much Sarah) I looked into the Clinton Area Transit. I was thinking that this would be futile, but it wasn't! Felipe has a long bus ride, he leaves our house at 6:20 am. From our house to Suzzy's and then on to the O-E bus. But at least he can go to school and stay with us. On that note, Felipe has begun school and it has been really great. He is meeting new people and enjoying a different perspective, the rural US school life. He is taking Animal Science (Which I think is great! Go FFA!) and learning all about animals and agriculture, English, Geometry, GIE and the 60's and Beyond. In GIE, he informed me, he will be making a sheet metal toolbox. This certainly will be another new experience for him. Things are certainly moving along great.
Three weekends ago we celebrated the ending of a Dodd tradition. We had a final family get together at the Cabin. We celebrated momma k's 60th birthday (What a milestone!) and it was the last weekend before Grandma Dodd moved to an apartment in Westlake. We will sorely miss the Cabin, but what a celebration we had! Thanks in large part to some excellent wine making by momma k and some gullywash from Aunt Deb and Uncle Bob. Pictures are below.
The only other exciting news I have to date is my shiny new bike! It is a Dimondback Maravista. I have been on three bike rides since I got it a couple of weeks ago and I am excited to begin a journey that will culminate next year with Samone. Samone decided that next year for our annual trip we are biking the DAL MAC (Annual bike ride from Lansing to the Mackinaw Bridge!). What a challenge this will be. Some pictures are posted below and I will post more soon.
Sometimes it's the little things that drive things home. This morning I left the house feeling fulfilled and content. I posted my feelings on mySpace saying that I felt content today. Then I made a cup of Yogi Cleanse tea and the tea bag tab had this bit of wisdom on it, "Happiness comes from contentment". What a gem of knowledge to know that the rest of my world seems to be in alignment with me. How often do I just think of all the problems I have to face and the millions of things I am behind on? More oft than not. It's nice to see that I've slowed down a bit and have been seeing the important things.
We have had some huge news. In case you missed it Mike and I are now parents. I know, I know... you are thinking, "What's the catch?" Right? Well, Mike and I have gotten an exchange student from Brazil. He is 16 years old and he's from Natal in the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Norte. Felipe Lisboa Luz is our new "son" for a year. We are having some difficulties with school enrollment because St Johns High School refused to take any more exchange students, but hopefully it will all work out. We are excited about this new adventure we all will be on.
We also recently took the nephews for their annual Auntie-Nephew trip to Silver Lake. We had so much fun!! Friday we took off for the dunes with Ben's truck and 2 buggies in tow. Friday night we broke our buggy. Walker and Joey named it the "Red Bomber". Caleb's got named the "Purple People Eater". Saturday we hiked about the dunes and Mike and Joey tried to get us running again. We had a few short runs, but we were not destined to run that weekend. Saturday night after the boys' pool time we went putt putt golfing. It was surprisingly hard! We had fun though. Sunday we packed up and headed to Kalamazoo to pick up Felipe. We found a Laser Tag place near the pickup point and we had so much fun chasing each other around in the dark.
This weekend we will have the Community Group campout back at the pond. Looking forward to another fun weekend!
Pictures below.
I had a wonderful week long vacation to Prince Edward Island and Acadia National Park. I arrived in Portland, Maine via a very very early airplane. I was picked up three very cheery ladies, namely my in-laws Momma K, Christy and Patricia. Off we headed in the Sonata on an adventure.
Prince Edward Island was beyond description. A small Canadian province with a population of only 130,000, but it was not small in breathtaking views and nice people. We did so many things! We drove to the east point, watched sunsets, ate good food, saw some good shows, saw great art, saw Anne's house, visited a brewery and went sea kayaking. And that wasn't even all we did! It was beautiful, relaxing and full of great memories.
Then, Thursday we moved on and drove down to Bar Harbor, Maine. We drove along the coast of New Brunswick and stopped for lunch in the Bay of Fundy. (Never heard of the Bay of Fundy? Me neither until this trip. Check it out, it's a really neat place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Fundy) We arrived in Acadia and had a nice dinner at McKay's Public House. The restaurant was not really of note except I happened to have one of the best chicken dishes there that I have ever eaten, Cinnamon Speckled Chicken. Friday and Saturday we did a ranger activity, watched "What Not to Wear", hiked, watched sunrises and generally enjoyed our last days together. Back home on Sunday and the end to a wonderful and memorable vacation. PS. Thanks to my in-laws for inviting me along :)
CLICK BELOW TO CHECK OUT THE WONDERFUL PHOTOS!!!
For all who wondered if I've dropped off the planet... I have. My parents house was struck by lightening and set fire June 22 and I have been practically living in the trailer my parents are temporarily in helping with the mess.
They will be out of their house for 3 to 4 months, conservatively. The entire first floor has to be gutted back to the studs and all begun again. The downstairs and front porch have to be scrubbed and repainted. To say it was a mess is probably the biggest understatement of the year. We spent a solid week sorting through everything in a house my parents have lived in for 34 years. One pile for toss, one pile for the cleaners and one pile for the insurance claims. I've never smelled anything so gross or been dirtier.
But the worst is over, unless you count the part that my mom's home is gone as she knows it for half a year. And all of her things have to be taken from her. I know that they are just things and I'm glad they are physically okay, but it still doesn't change the fact that we no longer have a home to gather in.
We gather anyways and eat. Always eating, even if it's outside of a burned out house on a picnic table. God bless us for the rest of the year and hopefully we'll get a home back by Thanksgiving so we can gather together and eat some more.
Well summer is here and we are busy! Anyone who knows me even a little bit realizes why I haven't been blogging. I've been in the garden and in the woods. Gardening is definitely one of my passions and I am excited to say that the herb box is producing well. In the garden the lettuce is pickable and we have had radish salads the last 2 nights. Fresh radishes, yum!
Mike and I took a trip to Columbus where we did a very nice hike at Clear Creek. Then we ventured to Pigeon River Country for a hike on the west side of the State Forest. Lastly, Samone and I just returned from our annual "Auntie - Niece Trip". We went to Algonquin Park in northern Ontario. We had a glorious time. I even got to see my first moose!!! (PS. This was a big moment for me.)
I'll take some new garden pics soon, but for now you'll have to look at the beginnings of the garden this year up until a couple of weeks ago. Check the new pictures below (Click to see)...
Apparently I am not the only one that thinks that we are very busy! We talked to our neighbor the other day for the first time in several months and he asked where we are all the time. Hmmm.... He seems to caught on to our trend of always being busy. Oh well, we sure are having fun.
I've gotten some moderate gardening done and I am looking forward to more today as long as it isn't raining. The seedlings are getting big and its just about time to plant them. We are making a trip to the UP this weekend. Tiffany and Nathan are getting married. Should be a nice time.
In the last few weeks there was a double baby shower, the end of Portuguese for this year (Muito bom! Eu estou alegre.), Ned has gotten a injured leg, Joey is turning 11 and Mom successfully completed a 5k! Woohoo Mom! We've been busy.
We also got a very exciting new purchase. A handheld GPS for backpacking. We cannot wait to test it out in a couple of weeks. We're taking our first backpacking trip to Pigeon River Country. Looks to be a lovely month.
Also a shoutout to the new homeowners (Christy & Doug have just bought their first house!), "Have fun with your home improvements!!"
I'm not sure that I've mentioned yet, but my mom and I have been working out together. It has been great trying to whip her into shape now that she has lost over 100 pounds!
I gave her a big challenge that we are completing together at the end of the month. We are doing the Lansing, MI Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on April 27th! I'm so excited for this big challenge. Please think of us often and send prayers to keep mom going!
You can also support the cause by going to my race website - Becki's Page
Last night I got to thinking about blessings. I have so many lately that I seem to have lost track. It's funny how the generosity of one person can make you think about all the other blessings you have.
Little things like eggs and milk from our animals.
A husband that will help me build a beautiful home.
People who care about health like I do.
People who are generous with their time.
Ground that I can plant a garden in.
Tulips, hyacinths and irises that appear through the snow.
A workplace where I can update my blog and not get in trouble.
Great teachers.
So many things that I couldn't do without.
I can't believe it's spring already. It hasn't felt much like spring here in Michigan. It was snowing only a day ago. It is certainly been a trying couple of months. From illness in humans to illnesses in animals, we have been having a hard time at the Keenan residence. We had a very big tragedy at our small farm. Vernors, one of the Nubian goats that we received as a wedding present, has died. It was a very long horrible weekend as she withered away and we couldn't help her. We are also having various problems with Pepsi and Bell. Pepsi has a lame foot and Bell got some sort of respiratory infection and cough.
We were lucky to be able to borrow Opal, an Alpine goat, from our great friend Mandy. Opal had just had a kid when Vernors died and Mandy offered her to us for the milk. What a blessing. Opal and her kid (I named him Ned, an Alpine LaMancha cross) have been a real mood upswing to a very dismal end of winter and beginning of spring. Opal is very sweet on the milk stand and producing well. Even though Pepsi and Opal do not exactly love each other, everyone seems to be getting along. We have in the process of all this found the need to make big changes in some of our practices and hopefully they will lead to a more successful summer.
The kitchen finishing has been moving slowly as well. We found a great contractor to do our cement counter tops. www.decorativeconcretemichigan.com We are looking forward to getting him over to measure everything up and get it started! We could have had him begin much earlier, but we had a tough time deciding on a sink. We finally bought one last weekend and hopefully we can get Jeff out next week to get our counter top started! Mike and Dad have made great strides this week as well. They added 3 can lights for additional lighting in front of the pantry, above the stove and above the back cabinet. Mike also got one of the under-counter lights installed last night. It's so amazing to be able to see what you're cooking! Hopefully we can get the counter and trim done soon...
We had a great weekend with some of the Dodd family a couple of weeks ago and a quick visit from Doug and Christy. More on these in the next post. We are really looking forward to a fun weekend with Mom Keenan. She may be coming up for a visit today!
I have taken pictures of the kitchen and the goats. I will post them soon.
