Congratulations!

Thanks! I wish we had our wedding photos digitized. I would post a couple. But, we have never scanned them. We really should. We have all the proofs, but only one enlargement because money was super tight, and my folks could not afford to pay for any photography. Mark's didn't care to have photos. They were only willing to hang paintings. Ha ha, like we could afford to sit for a portrait! It would nice now tot take the time to scan them, and then actually have a few printed.

With my own mother in law, whose tongue had become quite unreasonably sharp and unfair, I don't cross her and bring it up because it does no good. But I also do not volunteer to do things for her, she has to ask, and my conditions are that she does not comment if she wants them done, and I don't volunteer much conversation except very innocent topics like my garden, her flowers, what we are doing for Mark's birthday, just really easy, innocent things. I answer questions carefully, and do nor volunteer much information that would be anything she could get upset about. Because of that tongue of hers, we made her hire housekeeping four hours a week. It took pressure off me, and she is actually more civil with her housekeeper than with Mark and me. There just isn't any point in taking up the argument or the hurt feelings. Just let her make as much of the plans she needs for help without interfering, and if asked to do something, do exactly only that one thing, no comment, no volunteering to do anything else even if you see with your own eyes that other things should be done or a better way of doing it. There seems to be a need at the age in life to be highly controlling, and often times not at all grateful for the help. I keep making mental notes of how NOT to treat my kids when I am that age.

Here is part of the table arrangement for the weekend.

My mom designed and made my dress. She bought an extra yard and half of the bodice lace in case she made an error so I turned it into a table runner, a pull it out on anniversaries when we plan to stay home instead of eat out. Our table topper is a funny story. Neither of us wanted one. Everyone we knew in the 80's had one of those cheap looking bride and groom plastic things on their cakes, and we didn't like them at all. Our cake was a simple 4 tier cake with butter cream frosting, simple edging, and then primarily decorated with flowers. That wad all we wanted. Heavily decorated cakes were so expensive, and my parents couldn't afford a huge, elaborate cake. But my mom and paternal grandmother just got really snarky and insistent that it wasn't going to be a true wedding cake unless it had a topper. So since mom was slaving over my dress, and my grandmother was making all the bridesmaid dresses, I decided to humor them with conditions. Whatever we picked went wherever we wanted it, and not necessarily on top. No opinions from the peanut gallery on what we chose. One weekend Mark and I were walking around a quaint town near our Alma Mater, and saw a ceramics store and thought maybe we would find something in there. Sure enough there was a tasteful, bride and groom about 4" tall maybe 5 at most. We bought it, prepped it on the spot, had it glazed and fired in ivory, and picked it up a week later. Mom and grandma were delighted when they saw it. I have never seen anything like it in any cake store/bakery since, so I think it is pretty unique. Between tier two and three, there was a set of pillars to raise up the other 2 tiers. We nestled the figurine among the flowers there, and left the top the way we wanted it with a floral arrangement.

That is a really smart idea! I am always in awe of how amazing search and rescue professionals are.

Our grandsons have their own room at the Bama house where we do most of the visiting. But when they do come here, they like to camp out with us. So we pitch a small tent in our bedroom, throw sleep mats in there with blankets and pillows, and they love it. We get up quietly in the morning, sneak out, and drink coffee, start our day. It is going to get crowded when Toby is big enough to sleep with them because it is a small pop up tent that fits in the bedroom. We have other bedrooms here so it would not be an issue. But, I think we or you, maybe putting the older two in a campout situation in the office, and keeping the toddler in the bedroom with you in the pack and play might work. You could put a baby monitor in there, sneak out to the kitchen in the morning, and then go about your morning listening for him to wake up. Maybe? Without a floor plan of your house, I am not sure if this would be practical or not.

Awesome! Congrats!!

Saturday: Beginning of our anniversary weekend so health isn't necessarily our thing until Monday! 😁 Breakfast - Java Jive and scones Lunch - Salad with bacon dressing Snack - homemade pecan shortbread cookies and specialty tea Dinner - filet mignon, gruyere mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, crimini mushrooms in a cognac reduction, and homemade specialty lemonade laced weigh lemon vodka to make it slightly bubbly since we didn't have any champagne in the cupboard. So not exactly our normal attempt at eating healthier.

Apparently, there are some cheap rates here to Orlando. LOL, I have never looked at them because that isn't where we want to go. We have no desire to do WDW or Universal or any of that. We need to fly into Miami and then rent a car. Dry Tortugas and the Florida Keys is our destination if heading to Florida. In four years, dd wants to take N to Harry Potter/Universal for his wand. But, I still don't see us flying because we will go to the Bama house first for his H.P. themed birthday party where they will give him his letter. So I think we will be loading up and driving because it will be too many people make flying economical, and Universal is a different set up so I think we will need vehicles when we get there anyway. I don't think we will be getting any kind of park/hotel combo. But maybe I am wrong about that.

I know! It is crazy. We love rail travel but it is priced so high. I want to do some sort of Rockies rail tour, but the prices are just insane and the cabins are so tiny, and from the reviews I have read not that comfortable. So it is a no go with Amtrak. There is a different company that does them, and doesn't have sleeper cars. Hotel accommodations at each stop are included in the price. I think IF we ever do it, that will be what we book. I suspect we never will. The reality is we can drive it, and make all the stops and see all the things for less.

And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. We are not doing anything special. It has been such a whirlwind of activity since Baby T was born premature, and then losing Baby A, and then volunteering at American Rocketry Challenge, then pulling off a wedding in a week for honorary kids, that we decided we were too tired to add something else to the schedule. We have a nice North Carolina vacation coming up in July so we will do some celebrating then. Last night we cooked together, made a very scrumptious meal, and I set the table with left over lace from my wedding dress, our cake topper, two silk flower arrangements from our reception, and the commemorative glass we have from the restaurant where Mark proposed. Now we are eating quiche, and watching a movie. He is still my very best friend.

I think one of the most important things we did with our rocket team when traveling was to teach them to use public transportation. It isn't a thing here in our rural area, and many of the kids we had on our team over that ten year period had never traveled to a major city, a large number of them having never been more than 50 miles from home. So when going to D.C. and other huge metropolitan areas, it was important to us to park the van, and give them new experiences. By the time they graduated high school, they had all used the train into D.C. numerous times, could figure out the maps and stops, purchase their own tickets. They had taken the bus in more than one city. Wee even taught them how to hail a cab, and calculate tips. Several of them have graduated college and gotten jobs far from home in large cities, one of our first rocketeers lives in Chicago now. We had to just do it though. We didn't publish using public transportation as part of the itinerary of the trip because parents here were so fearful. We just arrived at our destinations, parked, and "Hey kids, we will be taking the train into the city. This is how you determine your stop. This is how you purchase tickets. Let's discuss train etiquette." Their parents who were so fearful would hear about it after the fact, and then often were a bit incredulous that it was so easy, and not fraught with danger. One of our rather not-afraid-to-speak-his-mind teens said to his mom, "You shouldn't watch anymore Die Hard and Mission Impossible movies. That stuff doesn't happen, mom!" I just about choked trying not to laugh! 😂😂😂 We had a STEM engagement speaking engagement in Chicago one time so we took Amtrak with them. They loved it! If Amtrak would beef up departure/arrival times to more than once per day, and have another route besides Chicago from here, we would take it a lot. I wish there were more investment in rail. Honestly, with as popular as Lake Michigan is with out of state folks if they offered some sort of scenic rail tour from Chicago to Traverse Bay, I think it would be very popular.

I swear these things are conspiring against me!!! Thanks for the info.

We do this too. Friends in the burbs, train into the city. Parking w car in downtown Chicago is, in my book, and exercise in madness!

Down to AQI 51 today. Happy.

Also, my Amish paste have scolliosis. Sigh. I have caged and staked them, and they still insist on sagging like toddlers refusing to go to bed at night. Is this normal? I am seriously questioning my sanity in growing the dumb things. My mom thought she was buying Amish Paste but accidentally grabbed Early Girl, and darn it, those things look magnificent. I want to shame my tomatoes, "Look at this photo! Look at it! Why can't you be more like your sister?" They are making me bonkers. Everything else is really coming along, and my cherry tomatoes are making babies. But these stupid paste tomatoes.....

Oh good grief! Now I just want to yell at them a lot! They are going to be the death of my gardening experience. The water meter still says there is excess moisture. Not as bad. It was 84°F today and sunny so it used some of it up. But since the meter still seems to indicate that they can't handle the soaking that is coming tomorrow, we rigged some structure around them, and will put tarps over before bed time and tie down, then uncover as soon as the storm has passed.

We have opted to create structure and tarp the beds. It is all ready to fix and we will cover it before bed, and then uncover tomorrow after the storm clears. We have 8 more baby snow pea pods, and a bunch if blossoms. Those peas are my happy plants, and I appreciate them so much.

Muskegon State Park, further north has yurts. Really super nice park. But to be honest, this is a very late time to plan for accommodations in our state parks. They are very popular because they are so nice, and generally from Memorial Day to Labor Day all the popular ones are booked solid and months in advance. Even for more rustic Warren Dunes, we booked our sons' campsites this year six months out. You may just need to stay vbro or ABB if you can find something and day trip into the park. The day use area is quite nice.

Three Oaks is very close. There is a massive field outside of the town proper where we launch high power rockets. It is handy to I-94 both US and Business (Red Arrow Highway). The reservation system for the DNR is like all things government. Spent too much money for a product that is crap! 😡 I know the campground well and can tell you with confidence that there are only 3 mini cabins. No yurts, the cabins are sleep in but no amenities so you still need to use the campground shower house and bathrooms. The bathrooms are well kept. Warren Dunes is NOT touristy. It is very much a wild place, and meant to remain that way. If you decide to camp there, drive by campsite 132 and say Hi to Ziggy and Roy who are the two Twinkie marshmallow addicted raccoons that live at that site despite all the humans. Our sons named those two and go back every year, stay in the same site, and deal with them trying to get into the tent. They come out in the evenings to terrorize camp even when the boys are awake, and will actually sit on the ground, next to their chairs, around the campfire ring, and beg for crumbs when they make smores. They are ridiculous, and there will be footie prints all over the table every.single.day. they will come into the tent and take up residence if you leave the opening unzipped. They will enter your camper if you leave the door open. They are the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure frat boys of the wildlife world. So tell them we said, "Hey!" 😂 Also, there are some quaint shops in downtown Niles, Mi. And Pizza Transit as well. I highly recommend Pizza T. They have very good pizza, a bazillion combinations and are family run. They also work with the local jail to provide jobs to non violent offenders recommended by the sheriff, and have given many a reformed person a new start in life. Truly great people! St. Joseph's river runs through Niles, and the downtown park is nice for a respite from walking around or to have a picnic. When it is very busy in Pizza T., we often order to go, and then go sit in the park. It is kind of our go to place after a long day searching for rockets in a 1 square mile field.

Yes. and if you want to stay on the island, there are actually nicer places to stay than the Grand Hotel. It is worth walking up to the lawn and seeing or even paying for the lunch buffet. But it isn't the most comfortable and convenient places to stay. It and Mission Point are both a long way from downtown. Mission Point is actually more updated and has more amenities. There are some lovely homes converted to inns on the island and near everything. Very, very nice and sometimes less expensive than rooms at the Grand.

Paras get used for substitute teaching if they have 60 credits, and in other capacities. If they have the college credits, they can get an out of profession teaching certificate which allows them to do long term subbing such as when teachers are on maternity leave, take sabbatical or long breaks. My sister in law was promoted from parapro to a permanent signing position for the district which gave her a better salary and full benefits. A lot of the no college parapros are part time, no bennies, contract pay.

Yes, if the fall color is on, it is absolutely lovely! So much better than summertime.

I really wish we had better Amtrak options! I like rail travel. But it only goes west to Chicago from our nearest station one time per day. No other options. If we could go south and then east, I would be booking with them.