Goodbye October, Hello November

Today, November 1st, is Rachel's Airplane Day! Thirty-one years ago at around 12:30 AM at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and I can still see his face, a gentleman put Rachel in my arms. As he handed her over we were both laughing. He was carrying two baby girls and he had reached out the other little one and said, the....baby girl; I reached out my arms and said, and that one is the Duchaine baby girl. He said, are you sure and I said, she looks exactly like her picture. Tom was holding Thomas who had fallen asleep, he opened his eyes, put his little hand on her cheek, and said, Rachel you are finally here. At that moment we became a family of four.

It had been a very long evening. She was suppose to arrive in the early evening on October 31st and we had been at the airport well over six hours by the time she arrived. Coming from seven hours away, and not having cell phones back then, there was no way for anyone to contact us to let us know there had been a delay. We had two contact numbers one for Los Angles and one for Detroit along with information as far as when we should call them. We had called the one in Los Angles earlier in the day and that person was able to tell us that all the babies had arrived in the United States. This is the information we, along with all the other parents, held on to as the night progressed. Their next stop was suppose to be Chicago and then finally Detroit. What we found out later was they missed the flight out of Los Angles but did get on a flight that landed in Denver where they also had a delay. In the end, though, there were five sets of happy parents just after midnight on November 1st.

For the most part it was a fun evening, we were all there picking up our second child and Thomas, we had the only boy, spent the evening playing with two little girls. Plus, it seemed that everyone had extended family with them, we had both sets of grandparents with us. So there was a good size group of people waiting for these five baby girls arriving from South Korea.

The contact person in Detroit had given us the information about the later flight coming out of Denver which was suppose to land before midnight. When the greeters arrived they had information that they were on an earlier flight, turned out they were not. It ended up they were on the flight out of Denver but it was delayed. I still remember, while we stood there waiting to find out if they were on the plane, a woman coming off the plane looking at our group and saying those must be your babies on the plane. I am pretty sure there was a collective sigh of relief from all of us.

As I look back on these 31 years it does not seem possible that the time has gone by as fast as it has. Rachel is now the mother of three little ones of her own!


Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween!
In Escanaba that means it is cold, raining and or snowing. The kids
lucked out this year it was only cold. The temperatures hovered
in the 30's all day. The sun we did have earlier was gone by the
time trick or treating started.

Earlier in the day we did have patches of blue sky peeking through the clouds. As the day progressed the clouds got grayer and  the blue sky disappeared.

This is the only picture I have of grandchildren dressed and ready to go trick or treating. None of them would try again for Nana. The littlest one stayed with Tom and I, the middle one gave up after 30 minutes. I picked him up and he was sound a sleep on the couch within 5 minutes. The oldest one peeled of her costume after walking in the door. (She had a hoodie, snow pants, leggings, and a top under her witches costume.) The grandkids downstate: only 1, the oldest, out of 3 went trick or treating with a neighbor. The youngest stayed home and passed out candy and the middle one, poor thing, was sick and throwing up. Happy Halloween and no pictures...:(

I lied there is this one more of Charlotte and
Nate, our daughter took, while they were sitting
  and waiting for Nana to come and pick him up.
He had sat down and said," Nate done".

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Not much warmer today started out at around 27 degrees this morning and we did reach 43 degrees later in the day. We did have a sun and mostly a beautiful blue sky which always makes it feel better though with  a breeze not warmer.

Took a short ride, between errands this afternoon, down by our city park. It is a beautiful park right on the water.

Looking out over the lake at the south end.

Looking back at the park from the beach parking lot.

Our beach area is an island and that bridge through the trees is how we get to it.

The beach house.

This picture and the one above are the yacht harbor from Aronson Island.

On the other side of the green is the beach.

Our water tower.
Our High School mascot is an Eskimo.
This picture is for you, Patsy.

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

If you have a moment to leave a note we would love hearing from you.

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