The big city....

Scott and I road tripped over to Kate and Gary's for the weekend to shop and see some Northville/ Novi Sites. What a cute town Northville is , kind like Saugatuck! Scott and Gary headed out to the golf stores and sporting goods stores and then hit some golf balls at in in door arena. Kate and I hit the outlet malls and a few other stores but traffic was CRAZY so we quit about 4 and headed back to the condo.

We did find some bargin luckily!

We had a great weekend and will have to make a plan to head back in the spring to see more of the area!. Thanks Kate and Gary for hosting us!

Not so sure about Santa

Every year we get the Santa out of the basement and plug him in for kicks. He swings and hips and dances and says HO HO Ho, and we watch Cameo go beserk! It is so funny. Sometiime in the middle of the summer she forgets he is in the basement and has a barking fit until I remind her it is "Ok " it just Santa!! As long as he is still and quiet, all is good and she will actually bring him a ball to throw as if saying" well if your just going to stand there play with me big guy"!

She can be such a blonde!!!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Sunday was Scott 48th birthday, we celebrated with the gang at our home in Saugatuck. Grissens, Baarmans, Vandeburgs, Gillettes, and the neighbors Dick & Pearl, and Grandpa Bill. Ann and Chad brought the new addition "Sunshine" along to play with Cameo. We had dog toys all over the place. Poor Mackinaw hid under the bed for most of the night!

Sunday , Scott, Abbey, Cameo and I toured to Fennville to cut a Douglas Fir Christmas Tree. Cameo had a great time running around in the snow with me chasing her. We ended up with a 10 ft tree and now we have to Keep Mackinaw away from the lights and ornaments. It looks great , even if I don't like the holidays.....

Snow time!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Tom and Louise Vandeburg at the cottage. My first Turkey turned out great! Tom cut the bird while Louise burned the buns in the oven. Who could ask for more??? Thanks guys for joining us. Make next year we can do this will all our kids too!

Friday during the day I road tripped down to Fremont area to meet my Friend Annie and her sons Kyle and Taylor to see a rescue dog. I found the lab/goldnen Mix on petfinder.com and she was a perfect fit for them! It was love a first sight for us all . Sunny traveled home with them and has taken over the home and hearts of them all. She will be a great companion for Cameo at the cottage when they visit...Heres the one I wanted to take home but Scott would have killed me! Full blood, registered St Bernard named Xena if you know anyone iterested call me. She is a real lover!

Friday Night we all ventured to the Oasis for Pizza and JJ did a great imitiation of Kid Rock for us. Thank goodness they like us there are we took over the side bar starting with qty 7 , add 2 , add 2 more, move some tables, add 4 more... etc...By the time we had everyone at one big ol table you could hardly move around the room! We end up back at Jalvings to play cards and watch the race....

Saturday was a relax day and Sunday also. Scott worked a bit on our new entry way log and peg shelf that will be installed soon and I shopped , watched movies and walked in the snowfall.

Happy pre Turkey day

We kicked off the holidays this weekend with the Javling Family in downtown Holland on Saturday night. Tammys cousin-Christina is here from Germany, so to help her experiece Traditional American Holiday cheer we headed to Downtown Holland. We started at the Brew pub, but soon the moved on to 84th East Pasta to enjoy $2 beers and 3$ Martini's .( yummy) Downtown Holland was all lit up with trees and and luminaries so had it not been 19 degrees we would have stolled the shops a bit more. (Believe it or not I can not shop in extreme colds!) Thank Tammy and Jeff for including us in your Family night! It was great fun! Fa La La!

Sunday afternoon the kids and there perspective others ( Rob and Chelsea) came over for pre Thanksgiving. After catching up the latest with Scott Mom and Dad ( Tom and Eve) , we played Apple to Apples for a bit and then enjoyed a great meal. Hard to beleive it will be December 1st . We ae looking forward to a short work week and Thanksgiving day at the Cottage with the Vandeburgs!

I know many of you will not agree with me but ....

THINK SNOW! -- DEC 1 STARTS THE YEAR RIDING SEASON!

Hunting season

Once again we headed north for the weekend to hunt for "trees". All the girls except for myself stayed home or had other plans. Scott, Dave, Austin , Shane, JJ , Jordan and Shasha headed out Saturday to get two more trailers of wood . ( Cameo to much of a wanderer to go along) . It was a beautiful day and by nightfall we had a lot of wood cut, split and stacked again.

The leaves are still falling and Saturday while Cameo played/dug in the sand I vacuumed them up with the mower. I've offically decided yard works sucks but I needed the exercise!

Saturday afternoon I headed into town to get some supplies and house bombs for Dave and Pam Swift. They have a serious yellow jacket problem at their cottage and we can not figure it out! We resorted to catching them with the shop vac!

We'll be up again in a few weeks for opening gun season. Some of the guys hunt, but Scott and I are planning on getting some projects done inside the house. We're actually looking forward to a weekend home for this weekend with the kids and friend from around home.

Running with Chain Saws

This past weekend was our annual wood cutting weekend for the Walhalla gang, We cut 6-8 cords of wood every fall and then let it "season" for the year so that we have fuel for the woodstoves/fireplaces and campfire wood. Scott and I were entertaining my brother Scott Slagh from North Carolina Friday and Saturday am, so we took him out on the snowmobile trails in the tracker and up to Na Ta ka for a cocktail/beer. This is one of our typical trail stops with the group when we are out snowmobiling as it is about 20 minutes from the cabin and has great food. .Friday night we did our usual Oasis Tavern thing and headed out for pizza with the gang. We took Scott with us and then afterwards headed to Pam and Dave Swifts for a campfire. It was a great fall night and thanks to a borrowed coat from Tom Vandeburg my "southern" brother did not freeze.

Saturday am we all had "garage breakfast" at Javalings thanks to Tammys griddle. The guys "tweaked" all the chainsaws ( 5) and we headed to the Manistee Nnational Forest with maps and permits in hand. We cut two huge trailers of wood Saturday, split it all and then stacked it all at each families home by dark ( ish). We were never more than about 20 minutes from the cabins. Sunday am a group went out again to get 1 more trailer full . This sounds like a lot of work be we had a great time. Even the dogs had a good day! Heres some more photos :
(Oreo team: Shasha,Cameo Lexee)

Londi, being in "one" with the woods.

Moving crew taking a break

JJ and Dave ( aka wood junkies)

Tom V multi tasking with chain saws

Trailer 1 full and ready to split

Punkin time

What a great fall weekend in Michigan. It was probably our last of the 70's temps for 2008. You never know through. I recall one christmas day in the 80's that was quite warm! I am hoping for another one next weekend so Kate, Emmy and I can do a great color tour. We of course being snowmobilers start to "think Snow". Scott and Spencer went the the snow show/grass drags in Hastings this weekend with some of the other Walhalla guys to get supplies and some new gear. Abbey worked most the weekend but came by on Sunday to hang with us. I tried to get a nice picture of her and Cameo but Cameo was being camera shy or was it just she was being her usual pistol mode??? Any way heres what I was able to manage.


Saturday I did some organizing and cleaning around the house and made some banana bread and pizza crust with a no wheat flour that actually tastes good! I have entered back into the world of "bread Products" due to Flax seed flour! I finally feel like I have won the battle with my wheat allergie issues! My test products look good and taste good without falling apart. Not a big deal for most of you but give up bread and pasta for 4 years and see how it goes..... Now If I could only find a no wheat beer that tastes like Rolling Rock......

T2 day 2008

It was a beautiful Saturday this weekend and after we had mowed the lawn, winterize the Searay and took The "TOM Tune" and Swifts "Party Craft" out for the year :-( we decided to go tree hunting/ two tracking. We met Swifts, Vandeburgs + Lenea, Neiboers a about 4 pm with koolers and snacks in tow to scout out dead trees in the Manistee National Forest in anticipation of our Wood Cutting weekend in October. The trees are just starting to turn color and the trails were a bit dusty but really not bad. Two tracking is not a clean "sport". We had a great time and stopped at a overlook of a swamp for a quick break. Great day and we found lots of trees. Now if we can just find them back in a few weeks!

Heres Davey making a plan for the gang, He rode sidekick with Austin Driving and Spencer in the back.

Happy Birthday to Tammy

Last Saturday night we met Tammy and Jeff Jalving in Charlevoix to celebrate Tammys birthday. We had a beautiful night and walked out on the pier to watch the sun sets with our husbands. Afterwards we walked downtown to Mainstreet pub for some cocktails and grub. We all finished the night up at the Hotel Hot tub with champange!. Awesome night with some of our awesome freinds. Maybe we should do this for everyones birthday..... I love champange!

Ten years......then and now

This past Friday, Scott and I were married 10 years.

I was looking back at the photos and couldn't believe how young the kids look. Andrea and Kate were also in the wedding and they look like teenagers!It was a beautiful day in 1998 and again in 2008.

Guess i picked a good date.! We celebrated our anniversery with a trip to the Porcupine Moutains, Munising Miners Castle and Charlevoix Pier.

We had great weather and saw some awesome color in the trees already

The last homecoming....

Hard to believe that Spencer is a senior this year! Gradution of the Class of 2009 will come sooner that we think! Zeeland East had a really early home coming this year and between the down pours of rain, we took a few pictures of Spencer and his date Chelsea. The rain stopped long enough for them to get to dinner and the dance for a great evening.

Scott and I also headed out for dinner with some friends we only see when we are home for the weekend. Next week, vacation for the week in Wisconsin and the UP. Photos to follow....

Great endings for summer......

It's hard to believe that Summer 2008 is coming to an end. We had a great weekend in Walhalla, Kate and Gary came to stay and we had so much fun I have a partial voice today. Too much laughing and singing I think at the "Vouz" The weather could not have been better and even though Scott and Kate beat the crap out of Gary and I in Euchre three games in a row ( kate was on FIRE with the cards) we totaly enjoyed hosting them for the holiday weekend. Cameo got some extra loving, Mackinaw had more people to investigate, Scott had someone to golf with and I had someone who I love dearly to hang with!! The sunning on the pontoon boats during the day and the Kareoke and dancing Saturday night was an added bonus.

Another Great Weekend

Another great weekend at the cottage! Friday was a bit on and off with the weather and sun but the day ended well and we all went to the Oasis on Friday Night for our Traditional fish/pizza/beer night. This week we had 4 guests from Germany who are Tammy Jalvings relatives so we had a big group. Their english was much better than any of our German abilities! Luckily the bar is always most accomodating to our gang and afterwards we did campfire and star gazing at Jalvings beach. Saturday it rained most of the day so I slept really late and Scott caught up on the local news with Mackinaw and then worked on small projects around the cottage and Shed. About 4 pm it cleared up and we took a pontoon ride with Swifts and Monica and Londi's boats and then did a German cook out at the pavilion with us all. ( complete with sourkraut /brats/ and cheesecake??) Pam Swift's son Shane and girlfiend Jennifer were up with her year old son Cameron. What a cute little guy he is... He would have a ball with Logan Brink!

Looking forward to the last summmer holiday for 2008.

Disco /Dog Fever

Who would have thought that my 70 year old neighbor guy/doggie day care dude would be such a resource for my love for disco! Almost every day he takes my love Cameo out for the day, playing in the yard, doggie pool, yard work, etc.. until late afternoon. We have dubbed him Grandpa Bill. Cameo absoulutely loves him and his wife Carol Any way he was playing this great Barry White CD last week in his garage that is cleaner than my house ever will be, and I asked him " what else ya got...." Much to my suprise he had a 4 disk CD set of the Best of Disco. I was so excited I almost tried to do a cartwheels( not a good idea with a bad back and hip so I thought twice) My friend Louise will be thrilled to hear Gloria Ganers " I will survive" on a cd as that is her signature Karoeke song at the "Vouz" up north. Anyway hears a photo of my source Grandpa Bill in our driveway playing with our dog......

The Search is on.....

Another geat weekend up north, we decided the air is just cleaner and has more excellorant so something??? as once again Monday came to early. We enjoyed the weekend with our dear friends Chad and Ann who are potentialy looking for an investment property somewhere north. We did an all day lake tour /visiting /exploring day which was somewhat successful but not completely. We saw some interesting construction to say the least.

It cracks me up that they are looking "up north" as when we first met Chad I'm not sure he had been down more than a couple dirt roads and the whole "nature " thing was kind foreign. After taking his motor home two tracking a few years back, he started to get the up north bug and now it has grown into a complete swarm of delite! (Even though we forgot to put the steps up on the motor home and "clipped them off on a tree) ( sh*t happens)

Saturday night we convinced him that a late night stroll with a cocktail to the lake to watch for shooting stars would be fun but even he admited it all ended good with a stop at Swifts bonfire and then some shooting stars on the way back down the hill to the cottage. It will be very exciting when the find a place, but I will miss them staying at ours with us..... Next weekend BIG kayak trip on the Pine, and hopefully another float fest... Photos to follow

Ladies of the Lake

The Walhalla girls, but missing Marge and Louise, Next time we all have to be there!

Float Fest

Another wonderful weekend at Walhalla, The lake is about 80 and so we decided to do Float Fest, 2 pontoon boats, 1 speedboat, 1 sea doo, 4 rafts, 10 water noodles, food and some adult beverages later, we headed to the sand bar on the lake and parked it for the day. With the help of the black cherries brought by Monica we had a cherry spitting contest and Londi win the prize! A big thanks to Jordon for all the running around he did all day and Jenna playing photographer!

Two Track Golfing

Scott, Spencer and I took a much needed weekend of Vacation starting Friday and headed north to the Cottage. We decided to road trip up to Chestnut Hills golf course Friday after lunch at the Heide Hoff in Freesoil. We arrived at the course after an hour or more drive to see a club house that look more like a abandon home with a snack bar. There were golf carts in all sorts of status everywhere, no wheel, no engine, no back end, but we decided to give it a whirl as the weather was perfect! We played learning golf to help Spencer and I get a better feel for the game. All I need in my bag is a 1 iron, 3 iron, 9 iron and putter. The rest is just for show. I am still using tees that Andrea gave away at her wedding!( Guess maybe I should play a little more often huh? It was a great day, even through on hole # 8 we kept hearing this unbeliveable buzz and realized there was a bee hive farm around the corner. Yikes as we did not have an Eppi pen with us and Scott is allergic to bees. The Cart path at this course was so washed out that it was almost like going two tracking all day! We ended the day with pizza and beer at our weekend Friday hangout the Oasis with some Walhalla freinds. Saturday we attended a wedding on the beach at Big Star and then some tubing with Spencer and his friends on Long Lake. The lake is really warm this time of year and it was big fun. I think all the kids were sore on Sunday but the fun continued through Sunday.

Walhalla Fourth of July

The weekend of the fourth we had a "crew" at the cottage, Ang & Kevin and the boys, Kate and Gary , Abbey & Rob and Spencer. Luckily we had enough room for everyone to camp and the weather was wonderful. Chase and Logan were so much fun and they did great with Cameo and Mackinaw. Laurie and Ned Karsten who stayed at Big Star , (due to lack of any additional lodging at my cottage) were in and out all weekend. The whole weekend was great and I hope to have everyone back soon!
I ate too much, drank to much and slept to little. I need a nap.

By sunday night I was not ready to come home :-(. I never am. My second home is my first choice!

Five questions.....

I was tagged by my Niece Andrea for these interesting things...


5 things under $5 I couldn't live without:
1. Coffee and Lattes
2. chapstick
3. a decent pen/markers
4. hair gel/spray
5. Dog treats, not for me obviously but for my sanity

5 Favorite Movies:
1. Turner and Hooch
2. Hitch
3. the Sound of Music
4. Fiddler on the Roof
5. The great outdoors with John Candy

5 Dog names i like, Never really thought about kids names sorry
1. Carob , for a choc lab
2. Button, as in cute as a button
3. Trucker
4. Coach
5. Sunshine, aka sunny

Songs I Could Listen to Over & Over Again:
1. I can't Drive 55 , Sammy Haggar
2. Jump, van halen
3. Brother Brother , by Marvin Gaye
4. Aint no moutain high enough, Diana ross
5. Not sure......

5 People Who Have Influenced Me in a Positive Way:
1. My perfect husband Scott
2. My Wonderful sister Laurie
3. My Crazy Gal Karen Grissen
4. My Back to Earth Girl Ann Baarman
5. My step kids Abbey and Spencer

5 Things That are Always in My Purse:
1. Wallet
2. Calendar
3. Cell phone
4. Hand sanitizer
5. Pen leaking ink

5 Dates That Changed My Life Forever:
1. September 19, 1998 Wedding
2. January 26,??? Birth of my niece Andrea
3. Feburary 14,??? Birth if my niece kate
4. March 13, 2004 Death of my first love Cody
6. June ?? 1985 Start working of HMI

5 Obsessions That I Have:
1 Talking to the dog/cat
2. Getting my nails done
3. Picking weeds from my yard, I hate them!!!
4. Over scheduling my weekends
5. Making a fool of my self on the dance floor up north!

5 Places I Want to Go:
1. Anyplace warm during snowmobile season
2. Greece
3. East Coast/Martha's vineyard
4. The Keys with my Girlfriends
5. Utah skiing again

5 Kitchen Appliances/Tools I Can't Live Without:
1. coffee maker
2. dishwasher
3. fridge
4. a good knife
5. can opener

Abbey

Here is one of Abbey Graduation photos from 2007 . She is a great young woman She has (all) her parents work ethic and a great sense of humor. She shares our Family's love for animals and will be a wonderful wife/mom/career girl some day! You go girl!