Belated Happy Mother's Day!

Monday 15, 2017

(I know I am publishing this a day late but the wishes are still sincere.)

Both of our Moms are gone but thought of, missed, and loved every day. 

Also, hope our daughter, Rachel and daughter-in-law, Nadine had a special Mother's Day! We are so proud of both of you and grateful for the wonderful job you are doing raising our grandchildren.

Plus, we hope our sisters, Cheryl and Chris and sister-in-laws, Linda and Jody had a Happy Mother's Day.

To all the mom's out there and woman who take care of children on a daily bases thank you and a belated...

I know I have been gone from "blogging" for a bit but I have a good reason. We just got back from spending time with our children and grandchildren that live down by Detroit. We had a wonderful time but it was also a tiring time. There is a reason you have children when you are younger...mainly you have way more energy. So all our energy was focused on the grandchildren and that was about all I could handle.
Now we are back in Escanaba and we just finished two days of our granddaughter's dance recital. In a few days the three that live downstate will be here to visit for a couple of days while there mother goes to a conference and their father works then has his National Guard weekend. Since, the cousins will want to spend time together and their aunt will want to see them that means we will pretty much have 6 children here, 6, 5, 4, 2, 2, and 10 months, part of this coming week. It will be hectic but fun.

We left Escanaba under blue skies and white fluffy clouds on
Thursday, May 4th. Some views of Lake Michigan along US-2
in the UP. The bottom right going over the Manistique River
it was high. In fact, all the rivers and creeks are high this year.

There are a lot of wet areas along US-2 and the reflection of the
trees in this one was beautiful.

Going over the Mackinaw Bridge. Lake Michigan on the right.
There is continuous upkeep on the bridge when the weather allows.

Lunch at Darrow's Family Restaurant in Mackinaw City. The 
food here is nothing fancy but is made from scratch and delicious. 
It is one of our favorite places to stop for lunch.

Passed a long line of National Guard Vehicles on their way
to Camp Grayling.

Once we crossed the bridge everything was a lot greener, our trees
are just starting to bud, but the sky was starting to cloud over.

Thought of several of the couples we have met from Canada as
we went under this sign. 

Once the sky opened up we were traveling in heavy rain through
Bay City, Saginaw, Flint, and all the way to our family's front door.
Google maps moved us off of I-75 sooner than normal because of
accidents ahead. So we spent the last 30 minutes on city streets.

The three little reasons we were anxious to visit.
Starting on the left Noah who is 6, Marcella who is 2, and
Jonah who never stands still and is 4.

Jonah getting on the bus to go to pre-school. He looked so tiny
getting on such a big bus. He just ran out and climbed on.
(He did give kisses before he left.) 

It was Noah's schools Spring Concert on Tuesday, May 9th.
It was a nice surprise to be able to go and watch. He is in
Kindergarten and they did a wonderful job, of course he was
the cutest.
(Okay, as his Nana I may be a little biased but he is a cutie for sure.)

Nadine and I at Noah's Concert.
While we were visiting she took me out for lunch to celebrate
Mother's Day and we got in a little bit of shopping.
It was a fun outing and nice to spend time
together, just the two of us.

Wild violets and one of the dandelions in their front lawn.

Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit.

It is a lovely old theater.

The Fox Theatre is a 1928 movie palace and performing arts center located at 2211 Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, Michigan, near Grand Circus Park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

Our son with his beautiful wife,
Nadine and their three children.

As his parents it was a proud moment for us to watch him walk.
He actually received his Master's in Industrial Engineering this
past December but because of his commitment to the Michigan
National Guard was not able to attend his commencement. So
he applied and they let him walk with the May 2017 class.

Heading home it was a beautiful day with blue skies and
white fluffy clouds. The little black flies are hatching so
along the lake the windshield started to get messy.

Crossing the bridge going north off to the right you can see
Mackinaw Island in Lake Huron.

The sunset was beautiful but there are a lot of trees along
US-2 so the view is distorted from the movement. Tom would
only stop once for pictures.

Back home in time for our granddaughter's dance recital.
Her mom took this backstage before the dress rehearsal.

Our daughter makes sure each girl, in not only her daughter's class, but in all the little ones classes, have their name and picture on their chair. Most of them cannot read and this way they know where to put their stuff for two days. She also, takes the time to put their letter and number on the chair to make it easier for all the other mothers, like herself, volunteering to watch and get them out on stage.  

Our daughter, Rachel, and her daughter, Charlotte
backstage before the first performance. 

We spent Mother's Day with Rachel and her family. We were treated to brunch by her boyfriend, Timothy, out at the Casino which was a very nice surprise.


So that is a quick overview of our last 12 days. It has been busy and in between we have done a couple of things here at the house. Today and tomorrow we are getting things ready for our three grandchildren whom we will be picking up in Mackinaw City. Then this coming Saturday and Sunday we will be just sitting and catching our breaths before we dig in again to get things done.

Hope everyone is enjoying their days and getting a chance to relax. 

If you have a moment to leave a comment we would enjoy reading what you have to say.