Productive Weekend!

We started out our weekend by taking a bike ride from Tecumseh to Adrian and back via the Kiwanis trail, about a 15 mile round trip. It is an old rail to trail which makes for a flat ride cross fields and such. Caitlin and Herb came down for lunch at our favorite middle eastern resturant and then off to IKEA for some organizational help for the baby's room. I, Cindy, got some bamboo to put in the vase my boss gave me and I'll add it to my office tomorrow. Just in time to look civilized for the shareholder meeting on Wednesday.

Sunday found us in the garage cleaning and straightening up from the rafters to the floor. It took about 6 hours to get everything ship shape but it looks great now. We were able to get rid of several things including some old tools from Jim's dads via Freecycle. If you don't freecycle you should check it out! After cleaning up ourselves we headed to Lansing and dropped off the lawn mower to Herb and visited with Mom and Dad before they left for Norway. A busy day to be sure.

This morning we took off on our bikes into Manchester. Jim wanted to know how long it would take him to ride into work and back. It took us 28 minutes to get to the bus garage with a slight headwind and 34 minutes to get back with a real stiff headwind down Pleasant Lake Rd. We both felt real good when we pulled into the drive. Jim's plan is to drive in the morning with the bike in the back of the truck since it is still dark when he goes in. Then he will ride the bike home for the middle of the day and bike back for the afternoon run at 2:30. This way he will be in his truck during the heavy traffic times. He is really stressing about the high price of diesel ($4.89/gal) and it takes more than $100 to fill his tank now. He finally found a place that doesn't click off until $100 but it is not a positive thing when it clicks off and you are still not full!

There are only 2 weeks of school left and they are busy weeks for sure. Hope your weekend was productive and event filled.

Cindy & Jim

Weekend

Well this weekend my whole family worked hard outside doing lawn work. Ayla didn't play in her soccer game cause she just didn't feel like it so we made her work since she let her team down. So we all felt very accomplished by the time we were done although her are some pics of the tow members in my family not helping out much yet you wouldn't know it by looking at them at the end of the day. 

Ashleigh's Visit

We have been busy with all sorts of activity while Ashleigh has been home. She has spent some time in Ann Arbor visiting Andrea and lunching at some of her favorite spots while also putting in several hours of work on upcoming bike tours and the like. We visited the new REI store and picked up my new bike, dreamed about future purchases, and bought a few things. Of course our meals have been awesome - I need a full time dinner chef! We tried a cauliflower curry from the new cookbook Caitlin and Herb got her for her birthday which was quite yummy! and made the whole house smell wonderful.

The pictures below are from Caitlin's shower on the 15th and a couple of our (Ashleigh and me) weekend in Chicago.

Caitlin getting ready to eat the entire cake. Stop! You have to share.

Grandma, Aunt Sue, Katie, and Laura competing in the diaper, dress, swaddle your Puffalump contest.

Ashleigh on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago prior to the Green Fest which was our purpose for being there.

Me on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. The views were awesome!

(the view)

Baby Nursery

Here are some pics of Mckenna's crib all made up. It's just perfect I can't wait to see her in it

Beautiful Weekend in PDX!

Well, truth be told, Saturday wasn't all that beautiful. Sunday made up for it though. On Sunday, it was so nice that the whole neighborhood smelled like lighter fluid. Everyone was in the backyard grilling. There were puppies everywhere, too. I guess it is that time of year!

This is my Saturday farmers' market haul: crimini mushrooms, parsley, baby bok choi, potatoes and lavender infused raspberry chipotle jam.

On Sunday, I went to a yarn shop sale (!!!) in lovely Sellwood, my former neighborhood, which I miss. I also got a delicious vegan cupcake at the Sellwood cake shop. MmmMmm.

I moved forward with my spring cleaning, too. Post bath kitties:

Event filled weekend

So we had a busy weekend here. It was a great surprise that it wasn't rained out as predicted. Saturday I spent most of the day in Lansing at Jim's sister's. She threw a baby shower for Caitlin. Everything went really well and Caitlin received lots of neat stuff. Cindy was thrilled to be able to have the shower at the house and have her family there. It is hard to believe that a year ago the house was inhabital. I have added a picture of the cake from the shower which was very yummy and adorable too. The other picture is of the bookshelves that Ashleigh left behind and we took over to Cindy's, loaded with the items for the memory game. The little onesie on the top shelf was a big hit. It says "I survived 9 months in solitary confinement."

The other picture shows how we spent the day on Sunday. I have been wanting a new bike and have been doing lots of research on exactly the right bike for the kind of riding I am interested in doing. This was the day to go out and ride some of the bikes and hopefully make a decision. Actually I did find a bike but it was much more than I had anticipated spending so I decided to think about it at least overnight. But as they say "You snooze, you looze" and you can see who came home with a new bike. I made him ride it the last 2.4 miles home but he MUST get a helmet before he heads out again.

Happy May Day

It is an old fashioned tradition to hang a bouquet of wildflowers on the door knob or bed post on the first of May. I picked Dad a bunch of violets of varied colors to have at his place for breakfast. Sharon phoned and that was as good as a bouquet of flowers. I think the deer ate most of the trillium but there are a few adding to the beauty of our woods. We wait so long for spring and it passes too quickly.

Anothe tradition is spring cleaning! My it is amazing what a closet or drawer holds. I have made contributions to the Salvation Army store and the Open Door Ministry at church and we still have plenty. Vacuuming drapes and washing windows are also on the spring cleaning list. Dad is expert help. What's on your spring list? Love, Grandma/Mother