New Shoes

It may be mid August but you wouldn't know it by the weather.  Yesterday's high was in the upper 50s and it looked just like a Michigan fall had arrived a couple of weeks early so we did what all responsible parents do at this time of year - we took our kid shopping.  He may not be ready for "back to school" shopping just yet, but he has obviously outgrown all of his cool weather clothing from last year.  In fact, comparing Calvin this fall with Calvin last fall is a bit like comparing a German Shepherd to a Chihuahua.  So we fished out the one warm outfit in his drawer (thanks to his Aunt Patty and her kind family who saw fit to prepare him for the hockey season ahead of time) and hauled ourselves to the mall with all the other families of young children who needed a place to go on this wet, cold, dreary day.  We fought tooth and nail to get in the doors at JC Penneys, then waded through the mobs of families in the mall corridors, and finally found a wide opening right down the center which allowed us to make the final dash into the little tiny Stride Rite store, which was itself jam packed with parents and children of all ages.  Calvin had a great time playing in their little toy corner while we waited for some professional help (of the salesperson kind, that is), and he enjoyed the attention that was lavished on him as said professional measured his foot and then tried a couple of shoes on it.  And then, after one good look at the price tag on said shoes, we did the other thing that all responsible parents do at this time of year - we went and bought the shoes for half the cost at Marshall's.

Shhhh!

Our weekend was dedicated to drying out our basement and reorganizing and boxing our stuff while sorting out what was valuable and what was to be donated.  By the end of the weekend we found ourselves needing a break from life:  a break from the wall to wall, ceiling to floor boxes; a break from the constant drone of the 3 humidifiers and 8 industrial grade fans; a break from the lack of peace and order, and the knowledge that even with so much work behind us, a mountain was still ahead.  Tonight we decided to take a break and get out, and where better to go for a sense of restored order and calm than a library?  The rows and rows of neatly ordered books and the gentle quiet of the air did go a long way to calming our frayed nerves.  Jon picked out a book for himself and three for Calvin, who was far more interested in the magazine rack, and we did our best to cause only a minimal disturbance while we took our milestone recording photographs.  It was, after all, Calvin's first trip to the library.

A wet welcome

Before leaving on vacation we made sure to change the beds, vacuum, clean the kitchen, do the laundry... all the chores that we didn't want to have staring us in the face the day we returned from up north.  The plan, then, was to ease back into real life somewhat slowly, but that plan did not include stepping into a huge puddle of water at the foot of our basement stairs first thing in the morning the day after our return.  It didn't take long to realize that the water was not just at the bottom of the stairs but had puddled in several areas throughout the basement.  We moved things to dry spots and a few phone calls later we decided that sump pump failure was to blame and within the half hour the plumber was on his way.  Not long after, as we were breathing an unfortunately premature sigh of relief, we spoke on the phone with the water restoration specialists and watched a rather threatening bank of clouds coming in from the west.  As soon as the storm hit we knew we were in trouble.  The previously inert puddles in our basement were now advancing with determined and visible speed across the floor, aiming directly for all our possessions.  While Calvin took his morning nap we started hauling everything upstairs - boxing movies and books from bookshelves and putting them in the garage, then lugging each shelf up, all of the Christmas items, all of the outgrown baby clothes, the wrapping supplies, the stored toys and winter clothes, the childhood memories we'd never been able to part with, the computers, the office equipment, more shelves.  The plumber came and replaced the pump, Jon's mom came and occupied Calvin (both jobs being vital to the saving of our stuff) and we just kept running down the stairs and trudging back up, arms loaded with our personal items.  By mid afternoon the carpet in the office was soaked through, the floor throughout the basement under an inch of water, but all of our stuff was safely piled in the garage, around our bed, in the kitchen, and in the hallway.  Our basement may have been upstairs, but it was safe.

Things could definitely have been a lot worse.  The plumber said our pump was old and likely hadn't been working correctly for several weeks, but it had been such a dry summer that we hadn't noticed.  If the torrential rains that came down the night we returned home had hit just a day earlier we would have been out of luck.  If Jon hadn't gone to the basement to feed the cats first thing in the morning we might not have noticed the puddles before they advanced and took over the basement and we might not have rescued our beloved things.  Yes, our basement might be in our upstairs, the noise of industrial fans enveloping our whole house, and our muscles and minds aching with fatigue, but we can't help but be thankful for the way things turned out.

Did you miss us?

Probably not, but we just got back this evening from a week long trip to Harbor Springs, Michigan.  Harbor Springs and Petoskey are our favorite summer getaway:  The bay is just beautiful, the towns are both quaint, and the beaches are relaxing, not to mention that we have family and friends there that we love to get to see.  This year our trip had more family in it than usual because we kicked off our week with Cortney's cousin Pauline's Western Wedding, including a rehearsal dinner on Friday and an event wedding on Saturday, and we do mean event!  The wedding was held on a family member's farm and following the relaxed yet elegant western style wedding itself there were "pony" rides (Calvin's first time on a horse!), hayrides, horseshoes, roping, and an open fire for roasting corn and other fun things.  We had a blast, and so did Calvin, who was amazingly well behaved for all of the five hours we spent hanging out with family, and then went to bed really quickly so we could continue our party with a bonfire back at Lonnie's.  It was a great chance for Calvin to meet some far flung family members, like Cortney's cousin Abby from California and her aunt and uncle from Washington, and we spent as much time as possible with them before they left on Sunday.

With the wedding behind us, though, we returned to our normal vacation activities, such as putt putt golfing at Pirate's Cove (Calvin loved the varied terrain of the course), lunch at the Noggin Room, and walking along the pier and beaches in Petoskey.  And while the highlight of our week was really the wedding, a close second was our trip to Mackinac Island.  We had both been longing to go for a number of years, but were never able to take the time because we could only leave Diamond alone for 6 hours during the day, so in a tribute to her memory we decided to go.  Calvin, unfortunately, did not share our enthusiasm.  Though he thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride over he did not enjoy riding around the island in the bike trailer (something he was very vocal about) and quickly tired of being carried around as we toured the city.  After a short nap in our arms he cried most of the boat ride back, breaking only to flirt with a very nice lady sitting across the aisle from us.  We really enjoyed the trip, but we'd have to say that it was exhausting, so for our last full day of vacation we kept things a little more low key and took Calvin to play on the Sturgeon Bay Beach in Wilderness State Park.  That was a far greater hit than the Island had been and he enjoyed running in the waves and digging in the sand.  He also enjoyed the baby sized ice cream cone (really frozen yogurt) that he got after dinner in Harbor Springs, and feeding the deer at the deer park. 

We had a really wonderful time, but we are, admittedly, glad to be home. 

And, of course, there are tons of vacation pictures in our August Vacation Photo Alubm.

Ewwwww..... you ate what????

A big bug.  Seriously.