Roller Coaster Loving Cousins

Yara, Maria, Bridget & Annelise, August 2008, Michigan Adventure

Yesterday, John & I had the opportunity to take our 2 nieces from Venzuela to Michigan Adventure with our girls. We soon noticed that these 4 girl cousins with the same last name are fearless when it comes to roller coasters. We did them over and over again. When John, Maria & I rode the Thunder Hawk, their newest ride where your legs dangle and you see them several times up against the blue sky during the ride, I couldn't help but think how much trust we put in the roller coaster people and the mechanical devices that hold us in against the forces of gravity which are always there. When we rode the corkscrew, John & I were in the car ahead of them, so we could run ahead and get some photos of them during the ride.




After several hours on the roller coasters, we hit the water parks. I found my happy spot, as Sharon would say, on the Lazy River. But then I went and ruined it when we rode a couple of stomach churners - the Tilt-a-Whirl and something I only remember as the Barf Boat.

Art in the Park

At the very same park where the great mother daughter picnic took place, our church sponsored "Art in the Park" last Sunday evening. A friend at church talked me into face painting and I discovered that I had a latent face painting ability. It was exciting. I got a kick out of a girl from Guatemala who very seriously asked me to paint her 2 little strawberries on her cheek and red star with a black dot in it on her forehead. They turned out really good except that the star looked more like a poppy. I didn't do all of these, but here is a sample of our work:

Kid's Games

July 2008

I've been taking photos this week at Kid's Games at Coit Arts Academy downtown where our church is helping out. Bridget & I have also been helping out in the Ping Pong track, or as Bridget calls it, "Whack the Ball". It has been great fun.

Chicago

After taking Maria to the airport, John & I headed downtown to spend the evening. We stayed at the Millenium Knickerbocker Hotel which is right off of Michigan Avenue near the John Hancock Building. We had Chicago style pizza at Gino's and went down to see the fireworks from Navy Pier.











When we were walking around downtown, I must have been in a daze because John squished me in a revolving door. I thought I was a goner, but I later realized the only damage was that the filter on my lens was shattered. See below. John later said that he thought his fully grown wife could figure out how to walk through a revolving door. Har-har. He is so funny.

Adventures at Sea

Today,,, I walked along the beach between the ocean and the shining people who were staring at the beauty and I felt their joy. It was amazing.

I later saw the dolphins jumping just off shore and the pelicans swooping low and beating their wings in perfect rhythm. That was amazing too.

I went out into the ocean with John in search of the sand bar to play catch, and with the water over my head for too long (we couldn't find it) felt pulled by a rip current. My body started to feel unusually weak and I was even a little scared. I yelled help to John and he looked a little worried, but something in his eyes told me to relax. I laid on back and floated as best as I could and kicked with my weak legs. After what seemed like an eternity of being sucked into sea with my weak muscles helpless against the force, I could finally touch my toes on the ground only to be hit several times in the back by great waves. I struggled to shore and then walked about 200 yards, gasping, to my chair. I told everyone that they almost lost me. John was so funny and calm and maybe I was a being a bit dramatic, but he said when I was waving my arms and saying help, he thought I said, Throw me the football!

This is amazing too.

Twentieth Anniversary

June 11, 1988

Things in their most basic form
are the hardest to put words around:
the winged tail of a shrimp.
a freshly washed pillow case,
growing crisp in the autumn air.
The late winter sun
quenching itself on a bowlful
of snow. The half moon
resting, always,
in your right thumbnail.
What I mean is this—
after the long ride home
when the grass is wet, and the dishes
have been dried, and the wrinkles
have begun to set themselves
in lines more broad
than fine, there will be you—
asleep. Your head in its infinite state
of undress. Each hair
set upon another
wrestling against the grains,
that by some unwritten rule,
must form in your blue eyes.
There will be you, again.
You.
Alight, aloft, adrift,
in my arms alone.
There will be you
and me
and we will be
at home. - M.C. Boyes

Happy Memorial Day

Waiting for the parade (actually 4th of July last year)

What is Truth?

I actually remembered when I woke up yesterday that it was April Fool's Day so I was on guard and it was working out good for me. John told Bridget she could go back to bed because school was cancelled and I quick blurted "April Fool's" because I don't like to see people be disappointed.

Bridget came home from school at 3:35pm and excitedly told me about all the jokes that were made in school that day in the name of April 1. I was amused. The truth is, on this day, watch out or you'll be fooled.

Oh, remember that picture of me eating a donut that was in the Brian Diemer 5K brochure? Today a friend wrote to tell me it is on their website this year. I thought this was pretty cool so I sent the link to John. He called me later in the afternoon to tell me he also saw the picture on a billboard on 68th street on the way to work. I was so excited at the thought of a bigger than life picture of me out there - I don't know why, I just thought it would be funny. He told me it was that billboard by the railroad tracks and I couldn't picture it, so he said it was that one that says April Billboards at the bottom, so I said what side of the road is it on, and he said you see it when you're driving TO school. I was all, why do they like that picture so much??? I still couldn't picture where the billboard was, so he told me it's the one that says www.aprilfools.com. I finally got it.

Sometimes We Are Out Past Our Bedtime

Josh Ritter on stage
photo by John taken with Palm Pilot, a time I wished I had my camera


The other evening, John and I went downtown to the former Ladies' Literary Club to see Josh Ritter in concert. This old historic property was donated by the club to Calvin College to carry on their tradition of lectures and music for the community, and I have been wanting to go there. John had heard that Josh Ritter was like a new Bob Dylan, so I was expecting something more melancholy and out of tune, you know, but what we saw was a very exciting, high-energy concert. He was so funny in between songs when he would make references to the Bronte sisters and Wuthering Heights or Jane Austen and said he was used to playing in places with names like Doc Willoughby's or Elixir. Anyway, it was fun, but a little late for old people on a school night.

Note to Netherlands readers: Josh Ritter will be in Groningen on March 23!

Retreating

Yesterday, we left for a retreat with our dear friends from church. I didn't take pictures there, but Bridget did take a few on our afternoon cross-country ski trip.


Today's Guest Photographer

Maria seemed to thrive on cross country skiing leaving John & I in the dust...

...or snow as it turned out to be.

Soon, we all had the hang of it. I was feeling one with nature and hardly felt the skis anymore. It was a perfect, sunny afternoon for it, and I was so thankful for this time. Tomorrow, I am hoping to blog about a cool thing we did at the retreat.

Flash Back Friday 56

The Blogger, 1968

This past week Mom (aka the Queen Mother) sent me this picture along with the story of the beautiful emerald green coat which Oma Bouman bought for me with the black fuzzy hat and matching geen tights.

We went out shopping with Oma and went to lunch in a nice restaurant at O'Neill's Department Store. I was wearing the coat and looking very smart (see above) when I spilled a chocolate milkshake over the coat. (I don't remember this though I remember the story of it.) Mom remembers it vividly though as Oma was not too happy, while she calmly marched me in the bathroom to clean it all up. Fun times.

So I Got My Hair Cut Yesterday

Oh, it's not as startling as the headline sounds. Just my usual bi-monthly inch. Every 8 weeks, it's inevitable, my hair grows out and I need to get it cut. Thankfully, I have a great stylist, Shari, who will cut it when she's almost 9 months pregnant and then again, 8 weeks later when she has a 7 week old baby so I keep on schedule. She's cut it for probably 10 years and I love that I don't even have to tell her what to do. If I ever even hint that I ought to try something else for a change, she says, no, your hair is best this way. And I know it's true. I always have a very fun, relaxing time at these haircuts - probably because Shari has created such a fun, relaxing environment in her basement as you can see.


Now she's doing it even when she gets a haircut...

Self-portrait Challenge

Slightly out of focus, but that must be because I'm excited! I took the self-portrait challenge from this blog.

Waiting for Santa?

The Blogger having Chrismas coffee with the Queen Mother


I get about a D minus for packing for this trip to Celeryville, but that's what I get for being woken up and rushed out the door yesterday to beat the storm. For the first time in about 27 years of coming to Celeryville for Christmas, I forgot my underwear! I think my Aunt Michaela would be more than amused to learn that I was able to get a 3-pack from Drug Mart for $2.99! This morning, I discovered I had also forgotten my deodorant, hairbrush and blow dryer. I must have thought I was going for a hike on the Appalachian trail or a 5-star resort where everything is provided. I was able to find everything I needed here, so I'm not exactly roughing it.

Christmas Cookies, Part 2

Maria decorating Christmas cookies

Ok, so now I remember why I don't make Christmas cookies every year. It's a big production! Maria & I worked on rolling, cutting, baking, and frosting them for 3 hours yesterday, and much to my dismay, I hardly had the energy to photograph them. We made Edward take some to our neighbors. One of them called and was impressed. I said something about feeling like a grinch at the moment, and we laughed over the story of it all. Wasn't life hard enough in the olden days when they used to make these? Since my Christmas cookie cutters were pretty worthless, we made the rest in heart-shaped-Christmas-love cookies.

Body Double

This past holiday weekend, I've had a little time to explore the MyHeritage.com sight which can analyze a picture of your face and tell you who you look like. I blogged about this last year, but to review, I looked the most like Jacki O.



They now have a feature which allows you to see how you morph into someone else:



So now when people are staring at me trying to think of who it is I remind them of, I can say, well, I do have a 78% likeness to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I just need a brunette hair-do and oh, a string of pearls which I do have.

I tried a different picture of an older 45 year old version of me and now they say I look like the ever-perky Katie Couric. I think the mouth is really off on this one!



It's kind of fun. You should try it.

Feeling Vestive

Bridget, the Blogger, & the Queen Mother

It's hard to believe it's the time of year again where you go out shopping for Christmas. We realized that we were all wearing vests while we shopped and feeling quite festive about it so of course we wanted to have our picture taken. Even with shopping, it has been a very relaxing Thanksgiving vacation

The Day I Turned 45

So yesterday since it was Saturday, John said we could do whatever I wanted.

"Hmm, I said, let's go for a hike and then go out to the Macaroni Grill."

The fall trees were still beautiful, unusual for November 3. We set our departure time for 4pm so the kids could do their Saturday stuff and we could too. Maria drove us down to a big state preservation area where we could hike deep into the Michigan Woods. We were alone in that woods.





We walked for about 3 miles through deep leaves and bumpy terrain. We enjoyed the sights and the girls even loved looking at their big brother. Maybe they do this for fun.


On the way home, John said, "That was a good hike." The whole hike thing took longer than we projected, so on the way home we decided to order pizza and have cake at home.


Since last year's Geek Gift, the external hard drive, turned out to be such a hit with me, John repeated the stunt with a Colorimeter with calibration software and a 2GB flash drive. Ok, I did request these - they will make life easier.

Still Alive at 45!

We are having a good day. Pix tomorrow I hope!

Flash Back Friday 35

The Blogger, 1981
What was she thinking?

Salutations

I was talking to a friend of mine after church Sunday and somehow this conversation innocently came up:

Me: I was Salutatorian of my class. That means I was second, you know?
Heather: I know, I was Valedictorian.

This was so funny. The greatest thing, I have found, about being the Salutatorian is that you can say, I was the Salutatorian of my class.


Me with the Principal, 1981

Me & Mr. Teddy

When we were at Camp Conger a few weeks ago for the family reunion, HRH the Queen Mother had me pose with these new additions to camp. A local sculptor donated some time to the camp and carved these bears in an old fallen log. I'm thinking they will make quite an impression on the kids who come to camp there.

Happy 19th Anniversary to Us

John & the Blogger, 1988