playing catch-up

Michael had a b-day last month. He's a legal adult now! But still likes Legos...

Easter 2017 - Skippy wandered into center stage just before I took this. It was kinda funny...

And Adrienne was sealed with the Holy Spirit at confirmation last night at the Cathedral of St. Paul. I should say Agnes, the name she chose...
 

Michael was her sponsor...

Interdimensional Compassion

Cool article at NWF:

New Wave Feminists: Interdimensional Compassion: Ben’s the baby of the family, but don’t try calling him that. Even with a limited vocabulary he still knows how to clap back. “BIG DUDE” he’ll insist, referring to himself. Then the follow-up under his breath: “POO,” -a curse word ‘round these parts - which we usually humor with a dramatic gasp. He loves it. Of course, the effect is more impactful if everyone in the room stops what they’re doing to be collectively offended.

Having someone with Down syndrome in your life is like having stepped through an interdimensional gateway. Things are different here. Before I arrived, I was aware that people with special needs were “out there” but they were probably being cared for by someone infinitely more benevolent than myself -- like angels or something, the kind with fluffy wings and halos. They lived in a separate place that I could only imagine. I always just thought, “Good for them!”... (click link above to continue)

3 teens!

Nicky turned 13 over the weekend, giving us 3 teens at once, for a couple years anyway. Seems a little scary, but only 'cuz the years fly by so fast. We don't have obscene amounts of melodrama in the house or anything. I think it's mostly unfair that teens get a bad rap in that respect. Anyhoo, he got an amp for his electric violin and some other cool junk like a gyroscope and drawing/painting supplies. And an unresponsive yoyo. I didn't know what that was until recently - a yoyo that needs CPR? Nope.

He chose a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard Cake from DQ for his dessert. Yes please.

Valentine's Day homework

Zach was told to make a Valentine box at home (as a Family Activity) to bring to school for the 3rd grade party next week. I generally prefer that the kids do that sort of junk at school because I am lazy. Especially given that the box had to have a theme based on a favorite book or set of books or character from a book or whatever. Too much thinking involved. But Zach brainstormed a bit and mentioned the I SURVIVED series of epic disaster type books, of which he has read several. Hmm. Yes. I thought that idea had promise.

I told him to give a grumpy shark look for this photo. It looks extra scary with his uncombed hair:

Frosty in the moonlight

In art, Zach recently worked on shadowing with chalk drawings. Thought this snowman was kinda cute. These days they start learning actual art concepts in elementary school, unlike we did in the 80's. Not till junior high in the 90's do I recall junk about perspective and the horizon or whatever that was we learned.

Oct. 2016

Minion Zach turned 9 last month:

It's been a mostly lovely autumn so far, which means bugs galore. Yesterday we enjoyed some fall color in a secret location. See if you can decipher it:

There was a pillar near the river with flood stages marked on it. Adrienne was born in '01, and is 22.00 feet tall.

Nicky is king of hay bale mountain...

M and Z on the ride to the corn maze at an orchard near the Wisconsin border...that's a sucker stick in Z's mouth. He didn't take up smoking.

August b-days and school begins for 2016-17

Nate and the kids on his b-day in early August...

And Adrienne's b-day later on, number 15 - her Quinceañera:

August had the typical back to school events for the kids, plus ortho appointments for Nicky, who's going into braces soon. Yay. And marching band is in fall mode now (only Adrienne is in it this year). Over the summer they worked hard on getting their field show ready for the first football game, which was last Friday - pictured below. They'll still practice about 5 hours a week through early November, perfecting the show for the 3 remaining home games, two competitions, and several homecoming week performances. Band geek alert!

This was during the zombie headbanging portion of the show. Yeah, it's a cool show. Here's a snippet of it I'd taped during a rehearsal run-thru that parents were invited to:

Nate threw together some super spiffy Adirondack chairs and a 'lil table over labor day weekend:

We got rid of the old swing so the birds would have something new to poop on.

And finally, a back to school pic. Only Nicky was ready to go out the door in this shot, cuz it was before 7 a.m. Zach is still in his pj's and the older 2 are sopping wet. Michael is a senior (gasp), Adrienne's a sophomore, Nicky's in 7th, and Zach's in 3rd.

Michigan vacation

Just got back from a fun trip to the UP and lower peninsula of Michigan. Lots of photos here, and I'm keeping 'em large for this post.

Our hotel room in St. Ignace (north side of the straits) had a cool view of the Mackinac Bridge...

The kids were surprised to learn that MN doesn't have a monopoly on the Paul Bunyan/Blue Ox myth. Michigan's Blue Ox sticks his tongue out:

We took advantage of the option to ride a ferry that goes under Mackinac Bridge. So before we ever drove over the bridge, we got some cool views from around and underneath it...

Mackinac Island was very pretty, despite the odor of horse poo. Cars are not allowed, ergo buggies, bikes, and walking are your transportation options. It was in the upper 80's - toasty but not horrific, though Zach protested the relatively modest amount of walking we did by slapping his feet on the pavement in a grumpy manner.

Think this was called Arch Rock. The only problem with this vacation was the crowds of people trying to squeeze into small areas for photo ops. I had to snap this and run away to avoid the stampede.

There were carriage companies that gave tours around the island, but we opted for a drive-your-own carriage.

We were lined up with Babe the Percheron and given driving instructions and an exact route to follow. Babe knew the route already anyway and insisted on a terribly leisure pace.

And so, we paid 108 bucks to look at a horse's butt for an hour. I don't have much experience with horses. This one always whinnied loudly before passing gas. I had never logically considered it before, but I suppose if you combine such a corpulent animal with a diet of oats and grass or whatever, you have flatulence galore. There go my romantic notions of the horse and buggy era.

We spent about 6 or 7 hours on the island, and that was enough. We forgot to buy some of the island's famous fudge while out there, but St. Ignace had a shop that sold Murdick's Fudge. Fudge ain't really my thing but the kids liked it...

The next day, we finally crossed the bridge we'd been staring at for a day and a half.

We made our way another 2.5 hours southwest to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, about 20 miles west of Traverse City. It has cool views of Lake Michigan and tall sandy dunes you can run on.

Below: hard to tell, but the sandy hills would plateau and go up again - this was on the top of three tiers:

3, 2, 1, go!

The final leg of our journey took us back up to the UP and briefly to Sault Ste. Marie to check out the Locks.

Things move at a snail's pace in the Lock and Dam, and I was bummed that the terrain is flat, making it harder to see the (slow) action. This freighter, the Lee A. Tregurtha, eventually crawled out into Lake Superior...

We could have hung around longer but drove another hour or so up to Whitefish Point to see the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

The bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald is inside this building. The ship sunk 17 miles northwest of Whitefish Point.

We toured some of the lighthouse keeper's buildings and read some spooky tales of shipwrecks, and then went to the shore to take a pic. Lo and behold, the Lee A. Tregurtha was chugging by, which we had seen leave the Soo Locks over an hour before and several miles away:

The next morning we made our last touristy stop at Tahquamenon State Park to see the waterfalls.

Huh? What waterfalls. Who cares.

We finished up with a hotel stay near Wausau, Wisconsin that had some fun indoor water slides.

Whew, that was a long post. Anyhoo, we're glad to be back home. Nothing like sleeping in your own bed. And not driving several hours a day. But, we made some fun memories.