iSee the Sun

Outside my Window:  A fantastic sun shiny day!  Perfect temps. Just lovely.

Pig pick-up and tagging went well this weekend. 

Above: Ben & Fox  greet their gilts and settle them into the Piggie Palace. 

Below: Sunny Girl getting to know the new arrivals.

What's on my Mind: Getting in the groove with all the outside projects and duties.  Rob has been working to get the push mower and tractor ready and running.  Fox did some push mowing this weekend.  The peas and spinach are just starting, need to get a plan for the rest of the garden.  List of tasks is to long to post, just need to take it one day at a time.

Thankful for: My awesome neighbor who has been there to help us out so many times in so many ways.

Creative Endeavors: Kind of creative....I framed out an opening in the back barn, extended the wall, and made a new door, turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Latest Project: Getting my mojo on for 4H Camp and coming up with some fun stuff to make campfire time more memorable.

My 3 Sons: Fox is taking the AP Psychology exam today and doing some grade clean-up before it's too late.  Can not stress the importance of GPA to him when it comes to applying for college and scholarships.  The last track meet he only ran the 1-mile and was dealing with some shin splints still.  Meeting with the doctor later this week to see what we can do to help him through these training pains.

Ben is having a great time playing soccer with his school buddies and the team does really well together.  They have two strings that take turns playing and both are very strong.  This is the best passing team I've watched play in a long time.  So far they've won one and lost one.  Ben had several goal shots this past weekend but none went it.  Doh!  Hopefully today's game he'll put some in the net!

Ethan did a great job getting sponsorships for the Swine Department again, not sure if he'll win the prize this year but he was glad to help out and generate some funds to go toward all the expenses at Fair.  His first baseball game will be on Wednesday, he's not a huge fan of his coach right now but I'm hoping things will turn around.  When it comes to rec sports and volunteers it's like a box of chocolates....you never know what you're going to get. 

The first Born: Not much on her lately, she's just looking forward to having a week long PAID VACATION in July....going camping with the Grandparents.  It's tradition!  Nice to see her and the bf at the LCCC "Cinema Sinfonia" concert yesterday.

Employment News: Nothing new on my end, have been getting a decent amount of sub jobs, was in the high school three days last week.  Fox and Ben are going to get two more weekends in at the Vineyard which is great because that means they can totally fund their swine project themselves and keep all profits after auction.  Ethan is already thinking about where he would like to work when he is a bit older, while he was out procuring sponsorships for the Swine Department he kept in mind that these would be good contacts for references and possible employment.  That kind of mindset makes me smile.

Hoping to Improve: My leadership and delegation skills now that, by default, I have become the President of the Lapeer County Concert Choir board.

Food for Thought: Every time you eat according to your natural instincts, it is an act of love and respect.  When you begin to recognize your body's needs and take the utmost care in satisfying them, the feelings of self-connectedness can be awesome.  ~Ten Habits of Naturally Slim People

Last Words:

X + Y = Zen

We set out on a gorgeous day with perfect, end of the summer Michigan weather, what I technically refer to as not-to-hot-not-to-cold. The sky was clear, there was a slight breeze, the air was full of delicious smells; fresh cut grass, brush burning, wildflowers, grilling. Our goal was to forge the Paint Creek Trail, starting at the Rochester Hills Public Library and heading toward Lake Orion. If we made it all the way it would be 8.9 miles. Ben, Ethan and I were on bikes while Fox took the time to get his daily run in. We all started out together, Fox running along rhythmically, the rest of us cruising by the fields of Joe Pye Weed, Queen Anne's Lace, golden rod, and swamp bamboo (I don't know the real name, that's just what it looks like to me). There weren't many on the trail, we stayed together for a while, I gave Fox a 3-mile heads up (using my handy dandy odometer) and whizzed past him to catch up with the little guys. When biking with kids I try not to set any mile goals, on the Paint Creek you've got cross roads every mile or two so we can decide whether to continue or turn it back around.

First photo stop. Playing around with sun placement.

the teenager was too cool to be snapped today.
you may have noticed in the other photo i had to keep him in dappled shade so as not to be recognizable....







Second photo stop.

Victory is ours....let's go all the way was the concensus at every cross road so we kept the wheels a-rollin' except for to quench yer thirst, or just have a break to act like a big hambone!

We had several deer sightings throughout the ride, staying for a while to admire this one that was just helping itself in someone's backyard garden. A fairly large doe wandered right out onto the path and crossed between us and Fox.

Pulling into the CVS parking lot in Lake Orion the feeling of victory was in the air. The boys ate the rest of their lunch by the bikes while I ran in for some more cold water and an energy bar. Now that I'm in the flow of riding more I'm trying to resist rewarding myself with ice cream, it's really tough on beautiful days like these. But I was a good girl, energy bar only. I'm also limiting my Starbucks Peppermint Mochas: 1 every 3 weeks, instead of 3-4 a week! Yikes.

The boys groaned as we began to set off for the row back "now we have to ride all the way back." (add a little bit of whine when you say it). No worries, I assured them, "it's always faster going back." As we made the return we crossed paths with Fox again who was now just walking. He made it up to Adams Rd. and then had turned around. When we pedaled a while past him Ben realized how close we were to the park and exclaimed "man, it is faster going back!" "Didn't I tell ya!"

Fox was now moving at a far slower pace so we had time to rest those tootsies in a sweet shallow creek. Ethan made no hesitation, pulled his socks and shoes off and waded on in.

Ben, however, was a bit reserved about the whole experience. I knew he was dying to, but this is a kid who will not take his socks and shoes off if anyone is around because people might see his feet! Still haven't got a full explanation from him of why it bothers him so....

However with maturity comes boldness and when I turned around after oogling over some ducks and taking a few snaps, he threw caution to the wind and took the hard way (over the rocks instead of the sandy beach) in. Don't you love the umbrella in the background.

Pokey, McPokester finally meandered his way to the end of the trail and I loaded the bikes on the rack while the boys ran into the library for a pit stop and water refill. We made it. Over 20 miles logged, from trail to tooling around the park. Good times. Very relaxed, not on a schedule. We averaged about 8.2 miles an hour, I kept it on low gears the whole trip. It didn't feel like much of workout but my thigh muscles gave me what for later in the evening! I took an Aleve, put some Tiger Balm on, went to sleep; good as new in the morning. It must not have been too much of a push for the boys either, Fox went out for another walk on the property that evening plus Ben and Ethan had soccer practice and didn't miss a kick. Guess we'll just need to up the anti next time (nudge, nudge). I did get in a good ride around Imlay City while the boys were at practice last night. I only did 8 miles but for the start of the ride I kept it in a high hard gear and then toward the end of the ride I took some long incline stretches and finally had to pop it to lower gears. Felt like a good work out on that run.

Hhmmmm, where else can I venture with my beautiful blue bicycle........???

Variety du Parton

I found a new program (well to me anyway) on my computer, Picassa, and started playing around with it. To my great delight I discovered it has a collage feature that pops in as many photos as you select and resizes them to fit various templates. Very cool.

The boys have finally got a week to chill at home, and now that they're stronger swimmer I've lifted the ban on pond swimming so Ben and Ethan have been spending parts of everyday floating around on tubes and jumping off the dock. We're also getting projects together for Fair and finding last minute editions to some collections (leaves, wildflowers, insects, and rocks). They also spent a fair amount of time playing old Playstation 2 games and had a Harry Potter movie marathon, watching them all from beginning to end.
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Fox is in a teenage boy body-building phase and is always asking about exercises to build different muscle groups. He's also very conscientious about what he eats. He walks everyday, long runs one day, does sprints the next, and then bikes a bit on the third day plus does weight lifting each day. And he never stops eating! Cross-country practices start in a couple weeks, I think he'll be ready for his jump to the 3-mile race.

Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park


Big Sur, California

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4H Mystery Clue Camp was a big hit. It started off extremely hot the Wednesday of drop-off and not many slept that night because even with fans the cabins were extremely stuffy. Thursday was high temps and humidity as well and an extra swim time was added in. The kids still had a great time doing crafts, experiments, solving a murder mystery in the woods during the Nature session, and of course swimming at the lake. The big time fun was their huge slip-n-slide, I've never seen one so long before. Thankfully things cooled down Thursday night and the kids were so exhausted from a full, fun day everyone slept like babies. Friday started off pretty tolerable weather-wise but did warm up by afternoon. Science was contraption day, we made catapults, wobble balls, and more. They also had crafts and a lesson on train safety. In the evening for group activity the kids played Predator / Prey where they are omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, and a couple humans and they all vie for food and water beans. Both boys had a great time and are planning on participating next year; I would like to be involved again as well.

Alex has been working 3rd shift all summer which has put her on a very odd routine. She's still supposed to take a couple placement tests before finalizing her enrollment for the Fall semester at Mott. She has one class she is retaking for a passing grade (part of the academic probation clean-up), a second guitar class and she needs to get her math and English credits squared away. Supposedly her manager is moving her back to days next week, which better happen so she can get back on a normal schedule before classes start!

I am going to be returning to school myself in the Fall through Mott Continuing Education, which excites me very much. They are online classes which is optimal for my busy life, I can still substitute teach without scheduling problems and get the boys to their activities. The classes I'm interested in are about starting a 501c corporation, writing grants, and fundraising. There are many ideas I have for supporting academics through artful endeavors and it's getting to be time to put all my experiences together in a cognitive form and start branching out.....but first, I've got a lot to learn. ;)

Robert is also heading into a huge shift as far as his employment goes. Not going to give it away yet but our family routine will adjust drastically, in a good way, very soon.

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