Up North

Last week we attended a family reunion in the north-west corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan, at Boyne Mountain.  Boyne Mountain is a ski resort in the winter, and it has some fun things to do in the summer, as well.

Tuesday we went to Castle Farms, which is an old show farm, which has been converted into a "castle."

It was very pretty, and the kids all enjoyed exploring the gardens. 

There was a fun garden maze, with miniature trains running through it.  We spent lots of time there.  The kids even got to meet the "engineer."

We also saw many of the rooms.  The farm was originally a show farm for the head of Sears to show off all their cool farm equipment, and they had cattle and horse barns. 

I'm standing on the top of where they made the ice cream.

Daniel outside the farm manager's office

After some period disrepair, it has been restored, and the barns have been converted to reception halls, and I'm pretty sure a couple more have been added on.  Castle Farms now does tours and hosts weddings and receptions.

We had lots of fun, until Emily fell for the third time in less than an hour, banging her head pretty bad.  Then we all left.  Dan and I had to fill out an accident report.  We kept an eye on her on the way home, even stopping to make sure she would still wake up and walk around (she fell asleep right when she got into her carseat, possibly from the two hours or more of walking around we had done that day).  We got to take a ferry on the way home, which I had never done before.  Emily completely missed it, since she was zonked.

The next day we went to the beach in the early afternoon.  The water was about air temperature, which was just above 70 degrees. 

The kids got in the water, I got in the water, and Pappy got in the water.  Most people complained about how windy (and thus a little chilly) it was, and we eventually abandoned the beach for a heated pool. 

But the water was great at the beach.  Once you got out about 10 feet it was just soft sand underfoot, and the water didn't get deep; I wadded about 40 feet out with a couple girls, and it only got to my knees.

Thursday we went to a discovery center, which had, among other things, reproductions of ancient sites, and reptiles the kids could get to hold.  Emily loved the gecko.  It wasn't nearly as horrible as the snakes.

This monument has stones around it, that have dates, or months on them, and times. 

A reproduction of how people walked through swamps in ancient England.

The kids also loved playing on the playground at the resort, and I got some things at a couple local towns, including Petoskey, which is a beautiful town, right on Lake Michigan.  It had an awesome downtown, and a JCPenneys, and a Lowes. Oh, and a JoAnn Fabrics.  I think I could be happy there, except for how far it is from everyone else.  And Emily really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with all her cousins.  Between our trip up North and all the time we got to spend with cousins here at home, I think she is all caught up for a while.  Although, she did ask for her cousin Jill today.  She sure loves to spend time with her friends!

Travel Bags

For my trip to New York, I whipped up some bags to make my travel a little easier.  Well, I could have used plastic zip-lock bags, but these were much prettier.  But as I was packing, I decided I needed some travel bags, so I whipped some up.

The yellow bags were based on the instructions found in my craft sewing book "The Liberty Book of Home Sewing," which my sister bought for me for Christmas.  Or my birthday.  They are only a couple days apart, so sometimes I forget which one I get stuff on.  The book is based around the Liberty of London fabric line, which is gorgeous, and they use the prints for the projects in the books.  I used regular old quilting calico, and my bags turned out great.

The smaller drawstring bag I used for my chargers.  The bigger one was for laundry.

The purple bag I came up with on my own, and I actually sewed it first (the night before flying out, instead of the day I flew).  I'd seen the idea somewhere else, I'm pretty sure, but I used what I had, and came up with this.  There is batting between the layers of the purple fabric, and I folded it up at the end to make a pocket for my earrings.  I sewed lines across to facilitate where it folds, and I sewed on some ribbon to hold necklaces and bracelets in place.  The whole thing fastens with velcro.

I didn't actually wear any of my jewelry while I was there (I forgot about it until I left the apartment on Sunday).  But it was safe in its own little holder.

For Me

Here is a rundown on what I bought for myself in New York City.

1. A couple maternity shirts.  Since my first two kids were born in the colder months, I am finding I don't have much to wear this summer (plus I purged my maternity clothes of anything I didn't like last time).  So, I've been hunting for more shirts, and I found a couple cute ones.

The green shirt is from Gap; it was on sale, and they had a discount on sale stuff that day, so I got it for less than $8. The collared shirt is from H&M.  I had no idea they even had maternity.  It was less than $20, and it is really light.

2. Fabric.  We had to go to a couple fabric stores while I was in New York.  The first store we went to, Purl Soho, was aimed at quilters and knitters, and I got some quilting fabric.  They also had Liberty of London fabric, that I looked at longingly, but couldn't justify spending most of my budget on (it's about $40 a yard).  They have a craft blog that has fun ideas, and it was really fun going somewhere that I've read about online.

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I got a half yard of fabric to use for the quilt I am making for the baby.  I also got some fat quarters I loved.

The second fabric store we went to was Mood, which is the store they always go to on Project Runway, a show Jeanie and I like to watch.  I didn't know before I looked up the store on-line, that it was a discount fabric store.  Which makes sense, since the show producers want to stretch their budget.  It was awesome.

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It is actually three floors; you come in on the main floor, in the middle (which you have to take an elevator to get to, which elevator is operated by a person, since it is an old elevator).  The main floor has most of the apparel fabric.  I noticed "silk" on a lot of the signs.  There were lots of pretty patterns, and I found their selection of tie silks, which was exciting, but I didn't get any.

Next we went upstairs, which is where they have their suiting fabric.  I ended up picking out some soft wool, in a purple herringbone.  I got just over a yard, enough to make me and Emily skirts.  Next we went down to the main floor, to the ribbon section.  I got some purple velvet ribbon to trim Emily's skirt (and some extra, because it wasn't very much a yard).  I also picked out some pretty pink ribbon, and I got some cotton tape, which I plan on using to make into tags for the back of the clothes I make, like I saw on this blog.

The bottom floor was upholstery fabric.  I looked longingly down the stairs, but didn't go down there, since I knew I would want to get something if I did, and I was spending a bunch (the wool fabric was pricey).  They also gave me a discount card.  Which is pretty awesome.

3. An umbrella.  I really like my umbrella.  I bought it off a guy on the street, and paid less than I would back home at Wal-mart.  Of course, it quickly became apparent that my umbrella was not great quality, but it kept me dry while it rained most of Monday, and Tuesday morning.  And it is very pretty.

4. Hair pins.  I found these at Forever 21, which does have a maternity section (which I learned about a month ago, from another blog), although we never made it to the store with the maternity section.  The one we did go to said it had one on its sign, but when we asked, we found out that they were getting a maternity section, but didn't have one yet.  But, I found these cute hair pins, and they only cost me a dollar a pair.

I wore the white ones to Jeanie's graduation on Sunday.  When I took them out of my hair, I slipped them onto the neckline of my dress, and forgot about them.  And then washed my dress.  So a little of the paint chipped off in the wash, but they started out looking like the other two pairs.  Jeanie got matching ones.  So we can be twins.

New York Trip

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I flew to New York City last Friday.  The flight to New York was rough for me, since I usually get sick on planes, and I didn't think I could take my air sickness medicine because I was pregnant.  Plus, the plane was just a little commuter plane, and I got pretty nauseous when we were landing.  By the time I made it to the baggage claim, where I was supposed to meet Jeanie, I was shaking.  She came and found me, and then we waited a little until I felt better.  But, I did get to see the Statue of Liberty as we flew over it, which was neat, especially since we never made it to see it once I was on the ground.

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We took the subway from the airport (which is all the way on the East side of the city) to Uptown, which is on the northern half of Manhattan, near Central Park.  Our cousin, Melissa, lives there with her husband, Anthony, and two little boys.  Melissa is actually finishing a post-doctorate at Harvard, so she and the boys are usually in Boston most of the week, but she was home last weekend.  It was really great to see my cousin again.  I haven't seen her since my brother got married, which is probably about 9 years.  Her two little boys are very cute.  The oldest has curly blonde hair, and liked to sit next to me and give me things.  He was just the age Emily was when we moved into our current home, and it was fun to see what he was like and remember Emily when she was so little.  Their second little boy is about 7 months old, and very skinny.  He liked to be held, and didn't seem to mind at all being held by people he didn't know (like me).

[In Central Park, with the Cleopatra Needle behind me.  The Cleopatra Needle features in some books I like to read, by Rick Riordan.]

Saturday Jeanie and I went to Central Park.  We saw the castle, and the boat pond where little kids sail their remote controlled sail boats.  We would walk until I got tired, and then take a break and just talk for a while.

[Jeanie and I sitting in a turret on the castle in Central Park.  The castle used to be a weather station, now they let you wander through it, for a small suggested donation.]

After Central Park, we went over to Union Square, which is on the southern half of Manhattan.  There was a dance parade going on, and we sat in a cafe and watched it when I got tired again.  We also walked through the farmers market, and I looked at the wool some of the farmers were selling.  And we went shopping, since Union Square is one of the shopping centers.  I'll fill you in on what I bought in another post.

[The subway station near Radio City Music Hall.  We loved the Art Deco look of the building and the subway pole.]

After Union Square we headed back up to Uptown, and stopped by a burger place that my cousin and her husband had recommended.  They just happened to be having dinner there, too, so we walked back to the apartment with them.  Their two year old wanted to walk with me, and his dad very sternly informed me that I needed to keep a tight grip on his hand.  Anthony was very diligent about watching out for his boys.  The oldest would sometimes follow him around the apartment, wanting to be with his dad.  Very sweet.

Sunday was Jeanie's graduation, which was taking place at Radio City Music Hall.  Jeanie was supposed to get there at nine, so I went over with her, and stood outside until they let in the guests at ten.  I got a few comments from people who didn't think a pregnant lady should have to stand for so long.  Apparently they let in old people about half an hour before the rest of the guests, but they never told me where I was supposed to go to get special accommodations, just that they did offer them.  Jeanie made a point of asking for me when she left me with the rest of the people waiting to get in.  So, I stood for almost an hour, but I sat for a long time inside, so I didn't feel too bad.

Jeanie graduated with her LLM, or Masters in Law.  And she graduated Cum Lade.  I was very surprised to hear them announce it, and later Jeanie told me they hadn't told the LLM students that they would graduate with honors.  Most LLM students are international, so they announced the country they got their first degree from when they called their names.  Jeanie wasn't the only one from the United States, but there weren't many who were.

Jeanie's good friend, Sonny, came to the graduation as well, and we sat together.  After the graduation, the three of us went over to Jeanie's school, where they had a reception.  After the reception, Sonny took off (he was tired, poor thing, he usually sleeps in until the afternoon on Sunday).  Jeanie and I walked over to the Lincoln center, and I took pictures.  Then we went back to my cousin's apartment.  We had a nice dinner with my cousin, and then watched her kids while she and her husband went to hear one of her former professors talk somewhere.  They put their baby to bed before they left, so we got the older boy to bed, and then didn't have to do much until they got back.  I called Emily and Dan on the ipad; Emily gave the phone lots of kisses and hugs.  She does that to people on the regular phone, but since we were video chatting, I could see what she was doing.

[Jeanie at the Lincoln Center, which is very close to her school, Fordham.  This is where they do Fashion Week in New York City, and where the final runway competition on Project Runway takes place.]

Monday Jeanie and I slept in late, and then left the apartment after noon.  We went out to eat in little Italy, to celebrate Jeanie graduating.  Then we went shopping again, in the garment district.  And we took pictures in front of the giant needle and button statue.   Monday evening we went out to Brooklyn so Jeanie could see an apartment; it ended up being a great apartment, and she will be moving there soon.  The girl she will be rooming with is getting a PhD in English literature, and she is 28.  They hit it off right away.  And one of Jeanie's friends from law school lives just a couple stops away on the subway, so Jeanie will be close to her as well.

[The Manhattan LDS Temple.  It looks really short compared to the other buildings, but it is actually pretty big.  It is also right across the street from the Lincoln Center.]

Tuesday I mailed a big box of baby and toddler clothes my cousin had given me, which was mostly stuff someone else had given her.  Jeanie took the subway with me until my last connection.  They had cancelled the subway train that we were supposed to take (multiple trains run on the same track; they split onto different tracks later).  So, we waited and waited, for about 40 minutes, until Jeanie saw a subway worker, and asked him what was going on.  He suggested we take a different train and try to transfer later, and then once we were on the train, they made an announcement about what to do to get to the airport.

[Standing by the needle and button statue in the Garment District.  Across the street is Parsons, a design school, where the competitions for Project Runway take place.]

Jeanie got me on the right train to go to the airport, and then I transferred to the airport shuttle by myself (it only went one way from that station, so it wasn't hard to do).  I got to my terminal, checked in, and got in line for security.  Then they announced that if we wanted, we could walk to a shorter security line, and a bunch of us followed them.  They had us walk most of the way around the building.  After I got through security in the new location, I had to walk all the way back through the terminal. Apparently the first security line was right next to my gate.  I got to my gate about 5 minutes before we were supposed to board.  But we didn't really board for probably about 20 minutes.  I decided to try to board early, since I was pregnant, and when I flew out to New York, I was all the way in the back, and I think I almost hit people in the head with my carry-on.  The aisle between the seats is not big, and I am.

[Jeanie in front of the needle and button statue.]

The gate attendant turned away a couple people in front of me, who I guess were trying to board before they were supposed to, but he didn't bat an eye when I gave him my boarding pass.  The flight back was great, I felt much less sick, maybe because it was a bigger flight.  I didn't have any problems landing, which was wonderful, and we actually got to Michigan about 35 minutes ahead of schedule.

Dan mixed up what time he was supposed to pick me up, so he called to tell me he was in the cell phone lot, right after I got off the plane.  He had brought Emily with him, and we all went out to dinner together on the way home.  I really enjoyed my time in New York City, and seeing my sister, but I also loved coming home.

Down in Cincinnati

As I mentioned last week, we went on a trip down to Cincinnati.  We drove down on Thursday.  Emily was very excited to go see Jill.  She got herself all ready, and then kept on encouraging me and Dan to get ready as well.  We got the car packed, got inside, and then Dan and I realized neither of us had taken Emily to the bathroom yet, so we had to get out and go back inside.  Plus, we had forgotten to get directions.  Ten minutes later we were back out in the car, and ready to go.

The trip down took longer than we expected.  We ran into stopped traffic on the freeway before even leaving Detroit.  We detoured around it, but that took some extra time.  Emily fell asleep after we stopped for lunch, and napped for quite some time.  When she woke up, she told me she wanted to go to Jill's house.  She remembered where we were going, which is a new thing for her.  I told her we were going to Jill's, and she seemed happy with that answer.  As long as we were on our way there, she would wait.

Emily kissing Jill; they are not actually sickly, that was the camera

 We got to Cincinnati right before dinner time.  Jill welcomed us at the front door, watching us through the glass storm door until we made it inside.  She was just as eager to see us as Emily was to see her.    "I have a present for you, Emily," she said when we got inside.  Jill is a couple months younger than Emily, but she probably talks more than Emily does.  Emily, her GranB has noted, likes to wait until she can say things right; Jill just likes to talk.  Both are fine, and it is interesting to be around a little talker like Jill.

Emily was less happy to see her little cousin, Danny.  I don't think she knows what to make of just one-year-olds.  She didn't like him following her around, and she didn't like him trying to grab her stuff.  I would watch her struggling to deal with Danny, and think of how it would be different with Tabitha there.  Emily would probably be used to grabby baby fingers, and having a little person trying to join in her fun.  And Danny adored his big sister.  He would lean his head against her while at the dinner table, his face full of joy.  Tabitha loved Emily so much, and I could picture her doing the same thing, so happy to be with her sister.

Danny at the open house

Danny is the cousin closest to Tabitha's age.  They were only three months apart.  I think that I will always watch him and think about what Tabitha would have done.  But I do that with other babies, too.  I see them and think about what we are missing, about my sweet angel baby.  And before Tabitha passed away, I would watch Danny to see what she would be doing next.  Danny has just started walking, and I would have started watching Tabitha to see if she was going to walk soon.

On Friday we stopped by JoAnn's.  I wanted to get some fabric for a quilt; a friend of mine is having a baby in a couple months, and I have something awesome planned.  (Well, yes, I could shop at JoAnn's in Michigan.  There are two near my house.  But it was payday, and we were going shopping anyway.)  Later that day, Jill was getting into my fabric, and I told her it was for a baby that hadn't been born yet.  "For Tabitha?" she asked.  I explained that Tabitha was with Jesus; this was for a different baby.  Her mom had mentioned on her blog that Jill talks about Tabitha still.  Daniel had brought Tabitha's little bee pillow, which he likes to sleep with.  Jill asked about the pillow, and I told her it was Tabitha's.  She seemed to accept that, to file it away in her brain.

On our last morning in Cincinnati, Danny followed Emily up the stairs to the hall outside the bedrooms, which overlooks the living room.  She stood by the railing, and he tried to be like her.  It made for some cute pictures, very much like the ones I got last year.

Danny and Emily

Jill and Emily last year

On the road again

We are down in Cincinnati, visiting Dan's sister, Mimi. Dan and I both didn't have to work after Tuesday this week, and Dan's cousin is getting remarried and having an open house this weekend. And really, Emily loves her cousin Jill. How could we not come. We told told her we were coming down the evening before we left. She got her backpack all packed with books and toys, and told Bubbles goodbye. "We going far away, bye-bye, we miss you." Don't worry; I brought my camera. We can get some awesome shots, just like last year.

We are home

Last week my mother-in-law, Vickie, and I loaded my two kids, lots of groceries, toys, and clothes into her pick-up and took off for a week in Hersey, Pennsylvania with all the daughters, daughters-in-law, and Jeanie, my twin sister.  It rained just about the whole way there.

Three hours from our destination, we hit bad traffic.  We sat, without moving, for at least 3 hours.  At first, Emily was asleep, but Tabitha was fussing.  After about half an hour, I got Tabitha out to nurse her, figuring I would put her back in her car seat if the car started moving.  About an hour later, Emily had woken up and was protesting having to stay in her car seat.  I took her for a walk through the drizzly rain, and then she joined us on the front seat.  I nursed Tabitha again, and we waited and waited.  Finally, I got out to get something from the back seat, and I could see cars moving between the lanes way ahead of us.  I quickly got the girls back into their car seats, and we only waited about 30 seconds before traffic started moving.

We checked into the hotel around 9 that night.  (Our original arrival time was about 4:30).  The parking was under the building, which was great.  We were able to unpack the car without getting wet, since it was still raining.

It continued to rain for the next three days.  Sometimes the rain came down hard, and sometimes it just barely drizzled, but it never stopped.  On Wednesday, Vickie took the oldest granddaughter to the store to pick up a few things.  She couldn't get back, because the roads between her and the hotel had flooded.  She drove all over the area, and finally made it back late that evening.  We had seen it rain for a couple days, but had no idea that it was about to flood.

The rest of us spent the afternoon in the indoor pool.  The hotel had an awesome kiddy pool next to the full sized indoor pool.  It was about a foot deep, so even the little just-barely one year old could walk around in the water.  The kids either played in the baby pool or floated around in inner-tubes in the big pool.  Besides playing at the pool, we also went for walks at the outlet mall across the street from the hotel.  It finally opened on Friday, so Jeanie, Mindee, and I were able to shop, but before that it also made for a nice covered walk in the rain.

We stayed in suites, each with two bedrooms, and a nice sized living room, dining room, and kitchen between the two bedrooms.  The hotel provided high chairs and cribs, so we were all set for week with babies.  The kids all really enjoyed spending time with their cousins.  They didn't seem to mind that we didn't get out to seem much of the area.

Hersey is just East of the Susquehanna River, which flooded, creating a national disaster.  The creek which flows through Hershey also flooded, rising to over 20 feet; it floods at 7 feet.  When Vickie and I left Saturday afternoon, we could see where the local area had been flooded.  We passed on fast food restaurant that looked like it had been flooded pretty bad.  There was thick mud in the parking lot and they had a trailer in the back that looked like it had tipped over into the building.  Just up the hill, next door, there was another fast food restaurant that had been cordoned off, and next to them there was another fast food place that was doing business.  When Jeanie and I went shopping, on of the sales people told us Hershey had never been affected like that before.

But up in our hotel, which was apparently on a hill, we couldn't see any of the flooding.  They did close the hotel on Friday, and told us that we could stay until we were able to make it home.  One of the maintenance men had his kid stranded with him at the hotel.

When we crossed the Susquehanna, it was still very high.  It was a little ways below the freeway bridge.  There was an island in the middle of the river--you could tell because there was a building on it, that was partially visible.  The island itself was completely covered.  The river had crested Friday night, so it had been even higher then.  On the news, officials were constantly telling the public not to put themselves in danger, thereby risking their own life and the lives of those who would have to try to save them.  People were asked to stay home, so that those who needed to evacuate or rescue personnel would be able to travel quickly.

Our trip home was pretty uneventful.  Tabitha cut her second tooth, quite possible on my finger, since I was letting her chew on it because she seemed so fussy after our first stop.  Both the girls slept a couple times.  Emily used the potty both times we stopped.  One of the rest stops had a farmers market, and we got some pumpkin butter and elderberry jam.  It was a great end to an eventful trip.

Photos from our trip

Here are some photos from our recent trip to Nebraska.  As I mentioned last time, they were taken with our iphone. 

We had a great time.  Emily tried to stay behind, as she has decided that Aunt Amy's house is HER house.