A Quick Visit and Fall is Starting to Show its Colors

August 30, 2017

Thirty-three years ago today we were at the O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois waiting for a little bundle of joy. Tom and I left Escanaba as a couple and returned as parents. Our son, Thomas Yong arrived via Seoul, South Korea, Tokyo, Japan, and landed in Chicago, Illinois where two extremely excited parents waited along with four grandparents. It was a moment of pure joy when the lady who carried him off the plane handed him to me. For the life of me I cannot remember giving him to Tom to hold but I must have at some point. It is hard to believe how quickly 33 years went by and now he has a lovely wife and three beautiful children of his own.

Speaking of Thomas, this past weekend he and our daughter-in-law, Nadine, along with their three children left home on Friday around 5:00PM and arrived here at 12:30AM. There was a dinner Saturday evening out at the casino celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Boy Scout Camp, Camp Hiawatha, that he wanted to attend. He not only attended this camp as a Scout but was also on the staff. It was a packed 41 hours but we did enjoy having them here. (Not to mention they left with a van full of  "stuff" from this house that belonged to him.)

What follows is pictures from the weekend.

Left to right: Noah, Charlotte, and Jonah
Looks like they are watching something on one of the phones.

Left to right: Noah, Charlotte, Nathaniel, and Jonah
Hiding under their great-uncle's truck.

Nadine and Thomas dressed and ready to head out,
without kids, for a fun evening.

There is a school playground a couple of blocks from us.
Rachel thought if she took them over there after dinner
we would have an easier time getting them to go to bed.
It was a good plan it just did not work...:)

The top picture is Noah (1) and Charlotte (about 5 weeks)
Bottom picture they are now 7 and 6. 

The top picture is Marcella 3 and Nathaniel is 2. She is 5
months older. the bottom picture was taken the
summer of 2015.

Papa and Marcella

Nate was picking a flower for Marci but was not fast enough
so she picked her own. These two are cute together but, as of
right now, she is definitely in charge.

All six of them sitting, smiling, and looking pretty much the
same way!
Left to right: Nathaniel (2), Noah (7), Charlotte (6) holding
Adelaide (1), Marcella (3), and Jonah (5)
Charlotte, Nathaniel, and Adelaide are our daughter, Rachel's
Noah, Jonah, and Marcella are our son, Thomas's

Yesterday we took a ride up to Marquette for an appointment. When we turned North on US-41 we started to see that some of the leaves are starting to turn red and gold. (The pictures from yesterday were taken through the front window of the Jeep and that window does need to be cleaned.)

The day started out grey and cloudy.

About half way the cloud cover departed
and the sky was a beautiful blue.

Once we left the clouds behind the color was more vivid.

In my opinion this is one of the best views on US-41
between Rapid River and Marquette, MI.

Unfortunately, Lake Superior was shrouded
in fog this morning. 

The fog was hiding the tree tops as we rode along the lake.

We took a different way home. This is M-553 which at
one time brought us by the K.I Sawyer Air Force Base.
What struck Tom and I was not that many years ago both
sides of the highway in this area had been clear cut.

Lots of beautiful fluffy clouds to be seen on the way home.

Color on M-35

Spending time with family in St. Clair Shores

Yesterday's drive was long and very windy, at times the gusts hit around 40 miles per hour. For about 128 miles, just below the Mackinac Bridge, the road was snow covered and icy as well as snowing. So with the wind, we were mostly in whiteout conditions for that part of the trip making our planned six and a half hour journey into just over eight. This is not unusual for winter travel in Michigan as was mentioned in our last post; it was just exhausting to travel through.

Bottom left, part of the ride in the UP.
Top left, Lake Michigan  looking cold and beautiful against the clouds.
Top right, approaching the Mackinac Bridge.
Bottom right, A view of Lake Michigan over the railing
of Mackinac Bridge.

I 75 just below the bridge.

The three pictures above are examples of how beautiful the trees look in a snow storm. At this point in life though, I would be content to just look at pictures and not see them up close and personal.
(I was taking these out the side window so if you click on them to enlarge they may look blurry.)

The sun did try to make an appearance.

Just past West Branch, MI the snow all but disappeared.

The sun starting to set, behind the clouds just before Bay City.

The drive was totally worth it because we are now safely in a warm house with our son, daughter-in-law, three grandbabies, two dogs and cat.