Patoka Lake '08

This is Colin and Tiffany.

So. I've been waiting to blog about our camping trip to IN where Trav and I met up with Colin and Tiffany. I worked with Tiffany at Vanderbilt (who, by the way, is 4-0...college football...keep up with me). Tiffany, a fabulous speech-language pathologist, and her husband Colin were kind enough to drive up and meet us halfway for T's and I's first AduLt OnlY weekend since Adalynn came to be. I was waiting until I got the pictures off of T's camcorder. Which unfortunately broke as soon as we arrived at Patoka Lake...the display was showing everything in mirror images. But. It still gave the appearance that it was working, so we tried using it. However, the pictures and video never recorded onto the SD card, so they are lost. Forever. And now we only have limited pictures of the trip...but, that may be a good thing. The jury's still out.

We met in Clarksville, IN so that T and I could pick up a tripod grill. And we were so glad that we did. We never knew how much this great piece of equipment would change our lives. Or how hard they are to find at the end of camping season. So. If you ever get a chance, we recommend the purchase of this product.

We camped at Patoka Lake State Resevior, which was beautiful, but a Very Long Way from the highway. Next time, we are choosing a place closer to the highway. I can't handle the stress of driving forever in places I'm not familiar with on backroads. Or the stress of Travis driving on backroads he's unfamiliar with. It's not pretty.

The park is secluded and beautiful and restful and everything that a mini-vacation should be. And the bathrooms were Clean. Minimal to no bugs to be seen. It was amazing.

Patoka lake is Huge. And it was just a short walk from our campsite.

Trav and I napped each afternoon, something quite out of our normal routine. We biked forever, ate funky mexican food, and kayaked. Our last dinner we ate at a ma and pa place named "Jan and Jim's". We never did meet Jan, but Trav met Jim up close and personal when Jim yelled out "Travis" loudly to return his receipt. Poor Jan. Looked like she had quite the guy to keep up with.

Oh Jim. We might have to return just to see if you're still there. We had quite a time trying to figure out what happened to Jan. Even got Tiffany snorting.

Tiffany has a lovely snort.

In addition to the daytime activities, we also played a lot of Catch Phrase. Which, Colin can be amazingly good at...or bad at. There is no middle. How many phrases can you think of with the clue "A lot of people are there....birthday ______...." Evidently, a lot. Bash, Rave....those never came to my mind, but Colin, you have claimed the position as Travis' walking thesaurus. Congrats.

Colin and Tiffany also introduced us to Cha Cha...a wonderfully grand service made by people who have waaaay too much time on their hands. Have a question? Text "Cha Cha" and ask it...you'll get a text back with someone's answer. Very interesting, the things you can ask and the answers you will recieve. By the way, Trav, yes. You do have wierd habits. But I love you anyway.

In conclusion, Thanks Colin and Tiffany for a great trip. And thanks Dad and Linda for watching the Sweetest Pea Ever so that we could have some "alone" time. It was refreshing and fun.

I'm 10 Months Old TODAY!!!!!

and I am COOOOL stuff.

i know it.

cause my momma tells me so.

and i rock HeR and DadDyS world.

and i know it. can you tell? i've got them chasin' me all over. and talkin? they're starting to learn my language, so i've gotta be careful. they understood me when i held out a piece of food to rockefeller at dinner tonight and said "here, Rocky". i'm really gonna have to be more careful or i'm never going to take over the world! i think i can outrun now them though. as long as i'm holding on to the coffee table...we're close, Pinky. very close.

Happy Belated Birthdays...

Sorry. I have some "Happy Birthday"s to catch up on.

July:
Happy Anniversary Amy and Henry.
Happy birthday Heidi.

August:
Happy Belated Birthdays to Mom and Dad (otherwise known as Grandma and Grandpa) and Ed (Grandpa Ed) and Kelly.
Happy Anniversary Dad and Linda (Grandpa and Grandma Linda).

September:
Happy Birthday Amy.
Happy Birthday Travis!

Sorry if I missed any!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

This Labor Day passed by at the Jacobitz Cabin in Manistee, MI with John, Rennae, Karla, and Maximo. Our dear friends, Heidi and Scot, met us up there on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday. Aimee and Eddie also visited with Keagan on Saturday. We played Apples to Apples until quite late on Saturday night. Good times, I tell ya.

We took a lot of walks on the beach...Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday morning...searching for Lucky Glass. and Rennae found a lot of psuedo Petoskey stones. Don't let her fool ya into thinking that they are real ones. (haha, just kidding)

Here they come...

...there they go!

Sunday morning Travis, Adalynn and I took Scot, Heidi, and Mason out with the dogs.

While I carried a content Adalynn in the sling...

Mason, being a busy 18month old wanted to explore.

There really isn't too much more to say except, Isn't he just adorable?

This trip was our last summer expedition. Seeing the amount of trips that we had taken this summer, we felt very blessed to have traveled so safely.

Till we were driving down 31. And a Grand Am/Prix was passing us in the left lane. And it swerved left to miss a fold-up chair in the road. Proceeded to curve off the road to the left, overcorrect right to get back on the road, spin, and hit my beloved F250 in the grill. All while traveling at light speed. (k, maybe not. it felt like it though. maybe more like 55mph-ish?)

So...needless to say...if a Grand Am/Prix (whatever it is) meets an F250 head-to-head at above mentioned speed...the F250 wins.






Thank God, and my husband's quick thinking and excellent driving skills, no one was hurt. The dogs traveled in the back of the truck through the entire accident and Adalynn slept. We are very blessed! Now, if only my truck would return in pristine condition. I miss my baby!

Ode to our New Deck

Once upon a time

stood an old deck.

It's poor design

Was not very kind

To see with the eye.

It stood alone in the dark.

Without doors to enter

or Stairs to conquer

could no men come park.

So new owners moved in

and decided to mend
to make this new deck

rock and roll like heck.

To this deck they added

more stairs but not padding

more lumber for traffic

to this deck the husband added.

And now stands this deck

Bigger and proud

and filled with respect.

The husband now grills

since the cutout was added.

The daughter now plays

without fear of crashing.

March of Dimes Dinner

Now it's time to play catch-up. This dinner actually occurred on Monday night, August 18, 2008 on the 5th floor of St. Mary's Cancer Center. We captured outstanding views, tasty drinks, and ate delicious morsels in 10 seperate courses. And subsequently traveled away thoroughly stuffed.

The initial view was outstanding, looking across Grand Rapids we viewed change taking place. New buildings and renovations of older buildings are slowly transforming the skyline.

As night fell, a stunning sunset fell across the sky.

*

We consumed this brushetta as part of our second appetizer. While socializing we tasted tuna, steak, crab, and other delicacies carefully arranged.

The salad. Completely edible - except the plate.

After salad arrived soup, (insert anything I've forgotten to list here), scallops with polenta, steak with potatoes, a cheese sampler, and dessert .

And boy, did we love that dessert.

Normally I'm not a big fan of pastries, but this chef baked (is that what pastry chefs do?) gooood.

This was NOT your typical hospital food!

*

So in addition to eating we...

socialized.

stood satisfactorily for pictures.

assembled to meet new friends.
Naomi rather liked Chef Will Read.

I'm thinking they shared that feeling.

Thank you, John and Rennae, for such a fantastic and filling time.

(and thank you, dad and linda, for watching adalynn so we could have such a fantastic time!)

My School Kicks A**

Way To Go

VANDERBILT.

Congratulations on beating the GameCocks!

For those who do not keep up obsessively with Vandy's progress during football season, this is the 1st time since 1992 they have beat a ranked team in their own stadium.

What did Coach Bobby Johnson say?

"It feels great. I was very proud of our guys, the way they played in the second half. We overcame a lot in the second half, and they just kept plugging away so I'm very pleased with their effort. I'm sorry I lost my voice."

And Steve Spurrier (s. carolina's coach)?

"Last year's was just as stunning, and it sort of irritated me that our players tried to say we weren't ready. We were ready to play, we just got our tails kicked. I'm sure those Vanderbilt players are wondering what kind of excuse the South Carolina guys have now. We don't have excuses, they just beat us."

G'job Boys!