Winterfest Fun!

One of my very first posts was about the cardboard sled race that Grand Haven has during their Winterfest every year.   This top picture is a collage of several of the sleds that participated this year (click on it to see the full collage). This time we decided to be a part of the race!  My hubby's friend came up for a visit and joined in on the fun.  We didn't want to spend much time or money on our sled, so we built the "Dutch Wonder".  (We live in Dutch Country and the Dutch are known for thriftiness.)  We didn't win our heat, but we had a good time, despite the cold weather!

Later we took our friend out to the pier; it's a must-see when you come to visit us!  It was a sunny day but the temps started out in the single digits and got up to the mid 20's by the afternoon.  We wore lots of layers and managed to keep from freezing.  I actually got warm, hiking over all the ice at the pier!  The week prior to this had seen strong winds, and freezing temperatures, so waves from the lake created an ice spectacle on the pier.  Here you can see Tim having fun rolling a big ice ball into the lake.  He likes to say that he "created a glacier" (albeit a small one)!

Winter in Michigan

My friend came to visit last weekend.  It was a sunny, but cold day.  Sunny days are a rare winter occurrence for us this close to the lake.  We took advantage of it by taking a walk.  We bundled up and bravely made our way out onto the ice covered pier.  I hope you enjoy these photos from our adventure.

 

Happy 2010 and F.R.O.G. Anniversary!

Today marks the second anniversary of when I started my blog.  Unfortunately this past year I posted even less than the year before.  Other things were just more important and urgent I guess.  Maybe I’ll do better this year.  My husband finished his MBA degree, so I might have more access to our computer, we’ll see.  I hope you enjoy this picture I took on the way home from a New Year's Eve party last night.  A home in our neighborhood has done this for a couple of years, but this was the first time we were able to get a good picture of it.  I love the tree and their sculpture work is great!  As you can see, it was snowing out, we had a white New Year's Eve and Day.  May your 2010 be a blessed year!

I'm still here!

It's been awhile since I've had time to post anything. I don't have much to say, but I thought you might enjoy this picture. It's a Monarch Butterfly on a Butterfly Bush. How appropriate! I captured it last Sunday as my husband and I took an evening walk.

Happy Birthday!!

Today is my husband’s birthday!  I think he’s had a good one so far.  Here’s a sweet birthday tribute from my aunt, “Gratefully Grammy”J

Happy Birthday to the one I love!!

Cherry Blossoms Welcome in Spring

A few weeks ago I went to visit my brother in the land of Cherry Blossoms. Spring comes much earlier there than here. Our Cherry trees are just beginning to bloom now. Here are a couple of pictures from my trip. EnjoyJ

The Cat's Drinking Water

Do you remember the "Kitty Cat Buffet"? At the same vet visit we were advised to give Bert distilled water to drink. Apparently he had crystals in his urine and it can be a very serious thing and distilled water should eliminate them from forming. So we bought him some distilled water. Bert often liked to change things up a bit and had generally been interested in drinking water from places other than his water bowl, even if the water came from the same place! Any puddle he could find was fair game, even water from the dish under house plants! He felt he must have a water dish in the bathroom (since we refused to let him drink toilet water!). We gave him a soap dish and he would let us know when it was empty, even if his other dish in the kitchen had plenty of clean water. Here is a picture of him drinking out of his "fish bowl" water bowl his grandparents got him. It was a pretty exciting bowl to drink out of! This other pic is the dish he insisted on in the bathroom!




When we made the transition to distilled water he was not pleased. It took Bert a while to get used to it and he was still under the assumption that the water in the bathroom was better, even though it came from the same jug as the water in the kitchen. He did eventually get better at drinking his water. One of his favorite times of night was when we would add water to our humidifier. When the water tank was removed it left a reservoir of non-distilled water for him to drink from and it wasn’t in a kitty cat bowl (so of course it tasted better). He would be in the other room and hear us remove the water tank and begin filling it in the bathroom. This would cause him to bolt into the bedroom and drink as much as he could until we came back and shooed him away by replacing the water tank. We attempted to video him doing this, since it was so cute and funny. He seemed to know that something was up and was not as quick to come running, but here is the best one we shot.