Sean the tuckered out Pup

Trick or Treating 2011

Pedro Party part 3

Kelly Peacock Rose receives Booby trophy from Carol.

Pedro Party part 2

Sean wore out having so much fun!

Quinn, Katie Peacock Ripstra's daughter, played her own card game.  Mckenna in background.

Doris visits with Margaret and Dick.

Pedro Party 2011

37 attended today's party at Chris and Dick Peacock's home.  Young and old had a good time.  There was plenty of delicious food and friendly rivalry during the card games.  When the scores were added up Dave was the Champ (by 4 points over Jerry) and Kelly smilingly accepted the Booby trophy. 

I'll find the rest of the photos and try again.

Trunk or Treat Andrews Chevy Mason

News from Chicago

Tonight there was an after work event for the management staff at United. I went and was treated to an evening on the 99th floor of the Willis (Sears) Tower. It ended up being a very exciting evening. The view was amazing, meeting some more of my co-workers was good, and to top it all off, I got to personally meet the CEO Jeff Smisek. It was pretty cool to be able to meet the guy in charge of it all and almost surprising for him to ask me who I was and what I did at United.

I'm using my flight benefits for the first time this weekend. Nothing major, just traveling back to Lansing, but it is important to be in the running for the Pedro Championship. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who will be there and some good homecooked family food!

Halloween 2011

Sean as Gus

Big Bad Gus oh wait is that Sean

Grandma and Repanzuel (Mckenna was very happy I don't know why she looks sad in this pic, Grandma might have a better one)

My beautiful Princess Repanzuel AKA Mckenna

Cookie decorating

Mckenna and Grandma hard at work

Tasting the hard work

Yes she was growling at me about taking her pic

Sky Diving!

Well, sort of... we went to I-Fly, an indoor wind tunnel.

Another Great Day to be Outdoors

Sunday was a great day in Sunol Regional Wilderness.

More photos here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwAeg43

College to Cookies

Sunday afternoon my cousin Marge Harvey and I attended an MSU Evening College Class at Eagle Heights, the Tudor Manor House W. K. Kellogg called his cottage.  We are pictured with a docent portraying W.K., the Cereal King.  The magnificent stairway took 2 years to hand carve.  We toured the house and Marge was asked to share some of her knowledge about Mr. Kellogg.  Our Grandmother knew him but was better acquainted with his brother John who owned the Battle Creek Sanitarium where Grandma was the hostess for many years.

 W.K. Kellogg's cottage on Gull Lake.

 When Sean woke up during our Halloween cookie baking, he kept busy in the play kitchen.

 Mckenna had a good time decorating the ghosts--some had more decorations than cookie!

Mckenna chose the witch costume and mask from the box of decorations I'm ready to give away.  She had fun playing Halloween in this simple (by today's standards) costume that her Grandma and Aunt Sharon wore!!  Without a doubt it is time to empty some of those boxes in the basement.

It was an expensive day!  I backed out of the garage without putting the tailgate down.  The crunch was loud!  Dad is off this afternoon getting an estimate which he expects to be $2,000+. 

Another Week in Chicago

So this week was a little more interesting. I got to work on a few different projects and was even given a few of my own to work on. I have really enjoyed the past few weeks working with United. Everyone I work with is very good at what they do and its interesting to see how much work and expertise go into making an airline run smoothly.

I didn't do any Chicago exploring this weekend because I went home to see Karli. We had a good weekend watching Michigan State win! I took the train because flights were packed to Grand Rapids but this weekend I might try and take advantage of the flying benefits that I get. If anyone has any good suggestions of places to go, let me know and I will keep them in mind! Hope all is well with everyone.

A few more weekend highlights

 Cynthia finished crocheting projects.  Mckenna's dress flares when she spins around.  Cynthia's scarf is a very nice accent.

On the shore of Lake Huron.  Rene, Audra, Addie, Matt, Heidi, Doris.  Zack is the brave one out in the lake, Matt joined him soon and they got completely wet, head to toe.  Molly, the mermaid, is sitting on a rock further down the shore.

 The porch was built around the tree but there was little growth room left so it was cut down.  There were some anxious moments but finally Jim's 4 wheeler and chain pulled it the right direction and it fell just where it was supposed to.  The stump was cut off at stool height, a table top may be added to it later.

Don did all the splitting, a HOT job on an 80* day!  Stacking will wait for deer season and cooler temperatures.  It proved to be a wonderful Jessup family reunion with 21 there.  Cynthia planned the meals which were just right . The young crowd enjoyed 4 wheeler rides and getting to drive one too. Dave's blind had blown down but with all the manpower to help it was quickly repaired.  The brakes on Dave's 4 wheeler froze but Don and Jim were able to make temporary repairs, then loading it on the truck it broke the back window out!  Many bushels of apples were taken to the woods, shooting lanes were brushed out. Games of Pedro, Oh Heck, rummy filled the evenings--one Pedro game until 11:30p.m.  We missed those of you who couldn't be there.

Hunting Recon + 21 people

The whole gang

Mckenna running to catch falling leaves

What is wrong with this picture? NOTHING says Gus!

Nana let me out!!!

We had an interesting time with so many people there at once. I do have 2 other group shots but for some reason this is the only one it is letting me download.As you can see it is a very warm weekend!

Weekend Exploring

Well this weekend I decided to do a couple of touristy things while I'm in Chicago. I got up bright and early to go to the Chicago Marathon. I watched at about the 10 mile mark and all of the runners were going strong and looked pretty calm.


After the Marathon I had plans to go to the Chicago History Museum, but it didn't open until noon. I spent the rest of my morning in Lincoln Park and went to check out the zoo. The zoo was free and I wasn't expecting much, but it was actually one of the better zoos I have been to.

This week the weather was amazing in Chicago (which I'm sure all of the family in Michigan knows) so it made this weekend a great weekend to go adventuring in the city. Hope everyone is doing well!

A Great Day To Be Outdoors

First week coming to a close

Well its been about a week and I feel like I've really settled in. United has been a pretty good place to work (barring the 8 hour, super complicated software training Wednesday). I get to start on my own project tomorrow, which will be a change of pace from what I've been doing. On another note, I'm looking for something touristy to do this weekend. I was thinking maybe going to watch the Chicago Marathon on Sunday morning . If anybody has any suggestions let me know, but I am going to wait on heading to Shedd's Aquarium and the Field Museum and wait for one of the weekends Karli is coming out.

Settling In

Well yesterday I moved to Chicago and I have finally settled in and have taken a few pictures of my room so I thought it would be as good a time as any to share my first day in Chicago.

All my stuff is moved in and put in its proper place (for the time being). Mom, dad, and I went to a little sandwich shop down the road from where I live at the suggestion of my roommate Errol and it was pretty good. Then we did a dry run of my commute downtown, which is a little long but will become everyday routine for at least the next three months. The neighborhood is really nice and safe and full of old brick row houses. I guess that's all I really have for now but I'm sure I will write something after my first day tomorrow.