Visiting Grandma

It was a rainy day, but we made the first part of the trip to Grandma's with just cloudy skies.  We spent the day with her at the Extendicare Nursing Home in Port Stanley.  She really enjoyed the album and we had a good visit with her.  Then we stopped by my aunt and uncle's in St. Thomas before our way home.  Then, at the border crossing, we were randomly stopped and had to pull over to be fully inspected.  It was no big deal, but just a little crazy in the mean time.  It was a long day (3 1/2 hours each way), but a good time!

Barry's birthday Tigers game

Our seats were by the foul pole on the left field side. After seeing the game on TV the night before, we could tell that it was going to be a cold one! Fortunately, we could plan ahead! I had on 5 layers and we brought a blanket. We both had the same sweatshirts -- we had Barry's from last October's trip to MI and mine was given as an early birthday gift.

We were right by the Tiger's bull pen. We saw Zumaya warm up and pitch 2 innings after coming back from the DL. The Tigers lost 8-6 to the Yankees (losing 2 of 3 games).



One funny thing was as we were leaving a loud siren started going off and instructing people to leave at the nearest exit. People at the gates were asking what was going on, but no one knew. I guess it was a false alarm. In any case, we were leaving anyway. We found out later that a whole bunch of people left and then the Tigers showed up and scored 5 runs. Too bad the excitement occurred after we left!

A few pics of the Scenery

Aren't these great pictures of the scenery around Alpena?!
The water is Lake Huron and the trees are white birch.

Visiting the Jassos

We went to Alpena, Michigan specifically for the purpose of catching up with Ric and Tony & Jen Jasso.  We went up Monday and came back Tuesday.  Barry used to work with them when he travelled with Women of Faith.  Ric was often his roommate.  Only Ric is continuing to work with WOF and Tony & Jen are home now with their daughter Briana.  We had a good visit with the family! 

Vacation Funny

We went to McDonald's on our way to Alpena. It was one connected to a gas station -- kind of in the middle of no where. We were surprised to find that once we gave our order, the cashier asked us for a name. She then proceeded to write it on the ticket. They would call out your name when your order was ready. Nothing like small town service!

A Look out the Window

Isn't this the most wonderful view?  It's what we can see out the window of the camper that we're staying in while we're at Barry's brother & sister-in-law's home.  We had a full day of activities on Saturday and we're off to another full day today - soccer games and a family gathering.

Grandma's Book, Part 4

Here are the first and last pages to the book.  Hope that she will enjoy it!

Grandma's Book, Part 3

I did a grown up page for each of the children and then a page for each of their children.  This was to help Grandma put the great grandchildren with the grandchild.  On each of the grown pages, I wrote how the couples met and a little about their history.  It was fun to pick out pictures that showed the changes in the families.

Barry's Birthday

It was Barry's birthday yesterday and we had a good time! We went out to dinner at the Olive Garden and our waitress was so kind to bring out the dessert with a candle and even lit on it! Barry was happy with his gifts and especially with all the well wishes from family and friends.

Big Cookies

Today is Barry's birthday. Since he doesn't care for cake, I made up a giant cookie for him to bring in. This is one of those momentous birthdays, I've been wanting to do something special, but parties are not his thing. Instead we'll be going to a Detroit Tigers' game next week.

Since the batch would make two cookies, I decided to make the other one for my work. It's Administrave Professionals Day so I shared this one with the crew on my floor. Wasn't my best work, but it worked.

Grandma's Book, Part 2

I've started working on all the pages with the kids growing up.  Here is just a smattering of the pages that I made from the beginning to the most recent ones at Christmas.

Grandma's Book, Part 1

One of the things that I'm doing to get ready for our trip to Michigan is to give my grandma a special gift using pictures from a couple albums that she had collected over the last twenty years.  Here's the beginning portion with each kids' growing up page.

Final Love Project

Here's the final piece to the project that I did for my co-worker! She had me make 5 cards still with the theme of the previous pencil cards and tags. I think they turned out just pretty dandy!

Visit in Cleveland

We went to Cleveland, TN to visit with my sister and brother-in-law. They had been doing some home improvements and we wanted to see what they have done! Since we were there last, they had updated their kitchen, painted the nursery, refinished a crib, and painted their bedroom. It's looking mighty good!

This weekend, the boys went golfing while the girls did some shopping. Then we met up and ventured out to downtown Cleveland. The pictures are of things we saw around the river front. I had been wanting a picture with the pink flowered tree and finally got one. The last pic is of the crew in Katie & Andrew's front yard.

It was a great visit! My parents, Katie & Andrew are supposed to be up for this weekend. Fun times!

Finally completed tags

There they are! 70 tags completed and ready to pass off to my co-worker today. As you can see, I covered the back with patterned paper and then used complimentary papers on the front. In yesterday's picture you saw my calligraphy pen and I wrote on each one "Love one another." I got a good deal on the organdy ribbon and I think it added the final touch to them. On each tag is the pearlized paper (like on the pencil cards) so I'm trying to keep the theme going. The last thing to do is 5 cards!