I have a great husband. He drove me to Minneapolis for the conference knowing he would be on his own for two days. He assured me this wouldn’t be a problem for him. He loaded up his bike into the trunk of our car along with the bike lock and maps. He snapped a few images of the the town for me since I was at the conference the entire time. This is the bike trail. He rode 20 miles both days. I would liked to have done that too!
This is a shot from one of the bridges over looking the Mississippi River.
And this shot is on the beach. It’s so clean compared to what we see here at home. By the time it reaches us the water has picked up a lot of dirt.
I’m finding cats to be as individual in their play time desires as humans! Cleveland (black) loves to play fetch. He runs after that fuzzy, crinkly ball and then drops it at your feet, over and over and over! Wendell however prefers strings and boxes.
A ten hour car trip –one way, is the plan. What do you like to to snack on when you travel?
For Ed and I it’s all about the licorice and cinnamon almonds. The almonds are a recent find. We discovered them at Target and the only time we get them is for a car trip. They are so good!
If you aren’t the driver how do you pass the time? I knit. I’ve been knitting squares that are made into small quilts for kids with cancer. I enjoy the simple stitch and I can work with lots of different colors.
What a great night at my parent’s home. This is the first time I’ve been successful at getting firework photos. Most of the time I end up with black sky or just a glowing ember. Sparklers are a favorite for us, Sara dubbed us, The Sparkler Girls a few years ago and it’s a title we hold dear. We tried hard to make the letters J and A for Josh and Andy who were missing from our gathering this year. We missed you guys!
I hope all you had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was a bit subdued since we were missing members of our family. The food was spectacular as always. My brother-in-law loves to cook, and he does it well. He made three turkeys and there were only 18 of us! He was also well prepared with takeout containers for all us.
My youngest son came home from college for the break. It’s been good to have him home. The funny thing is while he is gone our home is a healthy home. The minute he comes home we forget about health. The cookies are made or bought, chips, and cinnamon rolls fill our tummy’s. Life is fun! But tomorrow he’ll go back to school, and we will return to salads in preparation for the Christmas break.
Those two words seem at odds for me. There needs to be another term to describe your children when they move out and become adults and yet they will always be my children. If any of you have a better term please let me know!
This past weekend we went to a restaurant where my son, Andrew works. Andy is an amazing artist and a musician. He’ll soon have a degree in fine arts. Right now he’s supporting himself by working a chocolate bar as a cook. He wears a black chefs jacket and a huge smile. He’s happy creating chocolate desserts. I would be happy too working around all that yumminess but that’s another blog posting! I find it difficult to see him working in a kitchen, mixing ingredients, washing dishes as needed. I wish I had tapped into that talent when he was living at home. Maybe I can convince him to make desert at Christmas this year? Andy are you reading this? What do you think?
Josh drove himself to school this year, didn’t need mom and dad at all! It didn’t matter that we might need him! 🙂 Actually he was being very sweet trying to save us the expense of the trip. So we let him go but the next afternoon we drove up with all the things he couldn’t fit in his car, the necessary things that a college student must have…t.v. and guitar!
He seems to be so happy and I’m sure it’s becasue we were there and not because we had the t.v. His dorm was experiencing problems with the internet and wouldn’t be fixed until Monday. So even though there is an entire city to explore there wasn’t anything for him to do!
On Sunday we took him to his choice of breakfast dining. He proved to us without a doubt he is a true college student. We went to Denny’s where you can get the Lumberjack special, according to Josh it is the best deal in town.
We had a nice time but what struck me the most was the lack of my tears when we drove away. Last year I cried all the way home–six hours! Okay, I took a break to eat licorice and drink a few Diet Dr. Pepper’s but mostly I cried. This year I knew Josh would be fine, he would find food, friends and pizza. It’s a good feeling to leave your child behind when you have confidence they are doing the right thing. And the trip home was considerably drier!
Josh drove himself to school this year, didn’t need mom and dad at all! It didn’t matter that we might need him! 🙂 Actually he was being very sweet trying to save us the expense of the trip. So we let him go but the next afternoon we drove up with all the things he couldn’t fit in his car, the necessary things that a college student must have…t.v. and guitar!
He seems to be so happy and I’m sure it’s because we were there and not because we had the t.v. His dorm was experiencing problems with the internet and wouldn’t be fixed until Monday. So even though there is an entire city to explore there wasn’t anything for him to do!
On Sunday we took him to his choice of breakfast dining. He proved to us without a doubt he is a true college student. We went to Denny’s where you can get the Lumberjack special, according to Josh it is the best deal in town.
We had a nice time but what struck me the most was the lack of my tears when we drove away. Last year I cried all the way home–six hours! Okay, I took a break to eat licorice and drink a few Diet Dr. Pepper’s but mostly I cried. This year I knew Josh would be fine, he would find food, friends and pizza. It’s a good feeling to leave your child behind when you have confidence they are doing the right thing. And the trip home was considerably drier!
There is nothing like a good vacation. One without stress or to do lists, where cell phone service is sporadic. We went to Luddington, MI for a few days of rest and as goofy as it sounds we discovered each other again. After spending a year working on rehabbing a house it was nice to talk about things other than nails, grout and paint remover!
Big Sauble Light house
We walked the beach to get here one rainy afternoon and decided to come back the next day on our bikes. They had three families living at this lighthouse at one time. I hope they all got along!
Sunset on the beach at Luddington. I could watch this God action every day of my life!
I tried being artistic with this shot. Oh well, I can say it’s different right?
Later in the afternoon the wind rose and sent waves crashing over the walkway! I didn’t walk out to the end but of course Ed did!
In light of all the stress this week it was a joy to listen to two of my three sons quibble about hair. I snapped a few shots and decided to scrapbook the event.
