Visiting With Children and Grandchildren Downstate

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

September 18, 2017

When I posted the first day of school photos I did not have this little guys available. This is Jonah waiting for the bus on September 7th so he can head off to his first day of pre-school.

His mom said, the dandelions in his hand he
picked for his teacher.

September 15, 2017

We headed downstate around noon on Friday to spend some time with our son and his family.

This sign just keeps standing even though the restaurant burned
down several years ago.

The leaves are beginning to show their color in the UP.

Driving along Lake Michigan the water was a beautiful
blue green today.

You are on a curve coming down a hill when you first
spot the Mackinac Bridge.

Crossing the bridge.

Surprisingly we saw more color below the bridge.

I do not know how many times over the years we have went by
this sign. It is just past Gaylord, MI. I finally remembered to
have my camera ready and snapped a picture.

September 16, 2017

Our grandchildren playing outside on a beautiful Saturday in
September. It was 80 degrees.
(Noah (7) in the orange shirt, Jonah (5) in the blue shirt,
and Marcella (3) )

September 17, 2017

On Sunday we went to mass at St. Margaret's Catholic Church the parish they belong to. It is a beautiful church and is certainly family oriented. At their 10 o'clock mass they have a nursery for the little ones and a Catechism class for pre-school and kindergarten age children. Plus, they have a children's liturgy of the word during mass for the younger children.

A prayer area at one of the entrances
into the church.

The Altar

The Tabernacle in a prayer area next to the altar.

Baptismal Font

September 18, 2017

Today was Nathaniel's first day of Early Head Start.

Waiting for the bus on his
first day.

"Life is short.

Do stuff that matters."

~Siqi Chen

We are glad you took the time to read our blog today. 

Comments are always enjoyed and welcomed.

Stinger B is Getting Ready to Travel & First Day of School

Praying for those experiencing the devastation in Texas from Hurricane Harvey.

Praying for the safety of those in the path of Hurricane Irma.

Praying for those who have lost everything in the fires out west and those still in danger.

You are all on our minds and we pray you stay safe.

September 5th, 6th, & 7th, 2017

On Tuesday, the 5th, after going through our travel check list Tom started to back the Stinger B back towards the highway. I stood watching the traffic and when I said back out now Tom backed the Stinger B out onto the highway in front of our house.  Though he had backed our 5th wheel, the Crusader, out several times this was the first time with the Stinger B. I would just like to note that from where I stood it looked like it was a lot smoother back out and when I asked him later he said it was. 

Today's trip was just a few miles down the road to A&E Truck and Auto Repair for an appointment to have the oil changed etc...

The Stinger B waiting to be pulled into the bay.
Tom talking to the owner about what he wanted done.

The clouds over head. In the top one the sun is trying to peek out. It was one of those days rain on minute sun the next.

When we pulled back into the driveway I noticed someone, not mentioning who, had forgotten to move the Welcome carpet. What that someone said, to me, was he wanted to see how close he parked it back in the same place. Quick thinking on his part I will have to admit.

While waiting for the call to come back and get the Stinger B I went on Facebook and enjoyed seeing all the first day back to school pictures.

Charlotte and Noah

Ukiah, Nolan, and Aden

Top Row: Landon, Spencer, and Ben
Middle Row: Jack, Gabreille, and Claudia
Bottom Row: Trent and Eli 

Caleb on the left
Top right, Chase and Bottom right, Bentley

As we walked out the back door to go move the Stinger B
to its next destination we could see the faintest of rainbows.
In the picture it is about and inch above the roof line.

Parked for the night at Hilltop RV. Tomorrow they will
install a new water pump.

A small nostalgic side note: This is where we purchased
the Crusader.
The bottom picture is our first time boondocking
on Plomosa Road in 2015.

Back home and the contrast between the dark clouds and
the blue sky was beautiful.

Wednesday, the 6th, the clouds were big, fluffy, white and grey 

as we ran errands today. 

It feels and looks so much like fall.

Today, Thursday the 7th, in the grey and rain we picked the Stinger B up to bring it back home. It now has its oil changed, it has been lubed, it has all new filters, a new water pump, and the propane has been topped off. The basement and inside has been re-organized and purged. It is ready to go when we are. All we have to do is put our personal stuff in and back out. (We did not top off the gas tank we are rolling the dice and hoping prices will go down by the time we leave. Though Tom says we have about 7/8ths of a tank. So we are good.)

Parked back in the driveway. Almost right on...:) (I was in
front and tell him to pull forward a little more so that may be
why...LOL) Even though the blue was trying to make its way
through the clouds it was not meant to be today. It is raining.

On a bright note when I was standing there Tuesday waiting
for a break in the traffic I looked down and spotted these two
dandelions in between the leaves. I know many think weed
but I thought pretty yellow flowers enjoying the fall.

As I added the pictures of our grandchildren and great-nieces and nephews to this post I remembered this quote I had saved. It is so true. It feels like the time between these children going to school and their parents' first day of kindergarten went by in a blink of the eye.  (In case you have not guessed, yes, I am a collector of quotes.) 

We are glad you took the time to read our blog today. 

Comments are always enjoyed and welcomed.

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

Purging

August 19, 2017

So the fun begins. Actually it started this past Monday inside of the Stinger B. Even though my knee is not ready to go up and down the stairs here in the house it is able to handle the stairs into the motor home so we are getting rid of stuff in the Stinger B. We started by emptying out all the cupboards, wiping them out, and putting back only the stuff we actually have used. Then we went through everything under the bed and the booths. I had already gone through the cupboards in the bedroom when we first arrived at the house. It is amazing how much stuff we really do not feel the need to haul around anymore. Every year we leave more and more behind. We do have one storage unit where we are putting the stuff from the house and motor home we want to keep. Looking at the excel sheet we can already see things that will be coming out of there probably next year. Our plan from the beginning has always been one storage unit and what does not fit we do not need. I am finding the more we live in the motor home the less we need to live happily. This year it was particularly hard to move back into the house. To much stuff and more space then we need.

Anyway, we had planned on starting the "basement" purge tomorrow. The prediction was for rain today then sun on Sunday and Monday but this morning that changed to sun today and Sunday rain on Monday. So we decide today was the day. When we bought the Stinger B back in December we took one day just to move everything out of the Crusader into it. Nothing really organized just getting it in and then out of the way for the service people to get the work done while we headed north for Christmas and New Years with our children and grandchildren. When we got back we did take another couple of days to organize and put things away inside. We also took everything out of the "basement" and tried to organize it but it really was still a mess. We knew where the things we really needed where but otherwise, like I said, a mess.

As of the end of today we have eliminated two containers and have seven containers packed and inventoried. Once we finish going through the rest of the stuff, we have under there, we will make a final decision as to what stays. I am thinking we may eliminate at least one of those seven.

Tom pulling out one of the many containers. 

One bay vacuumed and wiped out.

More boxes and that last bay on the passenger side will be
tackled tomorrow.

Looking up, the sky was a wonderful blue with lovely white fluffy clouds floating by this afternoon.

One more summer birthday. Aden turned 13 on Thursday, August 17th. I guess some could say that technically he is not our grandson but he is our grandchildren, Nathaniel and Adelaide's, big brother so in our book he is our grandson.

This was taken last October and he has
grown several inches since then. In fact,
I am pretty sure he is taller than I am.

Not that we are counting but 53 days, give or take a day, until we back our of the driveway and head out for winter. Having said that I realize the days will fly and we still have lots of things we want to accomplish before then. Hope everyone is taking the time to enjoy the summer.