Simultaneous Bass

When I returned home from my hair appointment last night, I found Kev and the boys fishing down at the beach. Kev fishes A LOT, but he rarely lets the boys get their rods out (because that takes away from Kev's fishing time). So, I grabbed the camera and headed down to join them.

Not only did BOTH boys catch and reel in their own fish, they each caught a little rock bass at the SAME time. I was running back and forth across the beach to get the "perfect shot" hoping that the fish wouldn't die before I got there to take the picture.


Owen couldn't hold his rod still and kept slamming the poor fish into this rock and that one and against the sand....laughing that infectious giggly laugh the whole time. He was so excited. We all were! Like father, like sons.

Fried Lobster Denied

Kevin and I had Monday night ALL to ourselves. Jordyn was in Grand Rapids and Nee Nee asked to keep the boys over night (OK, twist our arms).

Since we both work in the D, we decided to stay downtown for some beverages and dinner after work.

First we went across the street to Tom's Oyster bar for happy hour. From 4-6, M-F, their house wine, draft Labatt (which is what Kev drinks most of the time), and their well drinks are $2.50. That's right, TWO dollars, and fitty cent. If I would have known THAT, I would have reserved us a room at the Marriott and spent the night downtown!

So, Kev had a few of these.

And I had a few of these.

Then we decided it was time for some dinner. We had been wanting to use our gift certificate to Sweet Georgia Brown's to get some of their signature fried lobster (sound gross, but it's DELISH)so we headed over that way. We got seated at a table, had some water poured, and then the waitress came over and asked for our drink order. To which Kev replied "What would you recommend with the fried lobster?" She said, "I'm so sorry. We don't have fried lobster today, the truck didn't come in." WHA? So.....we left. That's right, we upped and left. We came there specifically for the fried lobster and just couldn't imagine ordering anything else (especially not at THOSE prices!)

So, we went here instead. A very hipster place.

I had one of these to start. MMMmmm

Then moved on to this delectable scallop dish.

Then finished off the night by sharing this yummy dessert, our FAV!!Some pretty good things can come out of being denied fried lobster.

I'm getting hungry again!

Beach Bum

This weekend was the epitome of Lake Living for me.

I wish every day could be spent exactly how I spent Saturday and Sunday….basically being a beach bum in my own backyard.

Living on a lake has been more enjoyable than I ever thought it would. I just wish I could enjoy it this thoroughly every day…but I'll take what I can get, and with the summer quickly dwindling away, I'm on a mission to spend as much as time as possible being a bonafide beach bum.

The enjoyable lake living actually started on Friday night after our softball game and subsequent trip to Casa Real, Kev and I retreated to the deck to sip on some adult beverages and relax in the anti-gravity chairs watching the moon dance across the water. It was lovely.

Saturday brought my cousin Lisa and her daughter Rochelle visiting from California. My mom and my sister's four kids also came out to enjoy the day. Owen had been asking for days when he would see Bella again and as soon as they got there, he ran out to the driveway to greet her and immediately said, "Bella, Bella, Bella! There's no girls allowed in my room!"

But, back to the whole Beach Bum theme of this post... Immediately following my mom's great lunch, we went down to the beach where we stayed for nearly 4 hours, during most of which, 10-year old Rochelle rarely emerged from the water. We don't see her very often (once every 3-4 years), so it was a special treat watching her interact so effortlessly with my kids and my sister's kids, who, Lisa and I decided, are like her 3rd cousins. Or her first cousins twice removed. Not really sure how that whole relationship thing works! It doesn't matter, it's still family. The kids had fun swimming, retrieving dive rings, hauling rocks out of the water to add to my on-shore rock collection, jumping off the paddle boat, and watching Kevin catch a decent size bass.

It was also fun for me to catch up with Lisa who does lots of really interesting things….she homeschools Rochelle, plays really tough word games (REALLY well), takes lots of different types of dance lessons, scuba dives, participates in square dance calling. Fun conversations. Too bad the top of Lisa's head got sunburned (darn those parts!)

Saturday evening brought Pat & Maria from Grand Rapids and their two girls plus my one girl (who spent last week in GR at Gramma Carol's and Grandpa Don's getting tremendously spoiled). Pat and the girls stayed home with Kev and the boys while Maria and I met up with Aimee (home visiting from Tennessee for the month) for dinner at Sagebrush and then dancing at Overtyme. Not an overly wild and crazy time, and completely un-beach bummy, but I sufficiently got my dance on. Just like our old dancing days....while at the same time nothing at all like our old dancing days!

Sunday morning, we went down to the beach immediately after breakfast with Maria, Pat, their girls, and my boys. Allison swam all by herself for the very first time (with the assistance of her Dora life jacket) and Rachel played in the sand. Such cute girls! They left to head back to GR (too soon) before lunch (taking Jordyn back with them for another week).

After saying goodbye to them, I returned to the beach for pretty much the rest of the day…. reading one of my favorite magazines, catching some rays, catching some ZZZs, pulling weeds in the water, and feeding my rock fetish. The boys were in and out of the water, back and forth at the beach, roaming from front yard to back yard: swimming, playing ball, playing Pokemon, and swimming some more. Once Kev was done watching the Tigers avoid being swept by the Indians, he came down and we took the paddle boat out so the boys could jump off the back. Owen doesn't really jump, he uses the ladder, but he's pretty brave for a 4 year old, out there in the middle of the "deep end", swimming and giggling, and getting increasingly further and further away from the boat.

Around 4pm, Kev & I retired to the hammocks where Liam fell asleep lying next to me. Ahhhh, perfection.

I can't wait to do it again!

My Batteries are Dead

The other day after dinner, Kevin and I sat chatting at the table (drinking our wine) as the kids got up and went about their evening business.

Owen robotically made his way towards the stairs making a methodical beeping noise with each step.

Step. "Beep!" Step. "Beep!" Step. "Beep!" Step. "Beep!"

He reached the stairs and beeped as his landed on the first step, and then the second. By the time he reached the third step he stopped. He stopped walking. He stopped beeping. He stopped moving.

Then, with out moving any muscle other than his mouth, he said, "My batteries are dead."

Oh my gosh, I nearly spit my wine out across the table I was laughing so hard.

A smile creeped across Owen's face as he realized we were laughing at him. He looked at us sideways then looked back in the direction in which he was heading.

"I need new batteries."

Pause, Pause, Pause

"Beep! I got new batteries."

And then he kept on going up the stairs.

"Beep!"
"Beep!"
"Beep!"

Unplugged

Wow!

It's been nearly a MONTH since I've created a post. For 10 of those days, I was completely unplugged and did not log on to the internet at all (access from mobile phone excluded). I was on vacation and had no reason to turn on the computer. For the last 7 of those days, I logged on a little bit, but primarily for work as I took some web-based training from home last week.

But now, I'm back to work, back to my computer, back to cyberspace, and basically plugged back in.

Which means I need to catch up on (and comment on) all of my friends' and other favorite blogs, and I need to update my own blog….which is what I'm doing now.

Let me tell you though, I really did not mind being unplugged at all.

I actually LAID OUT in the sun for an entire day (and burned my butt in the process). I spent time at the beach with the kids. I spent time hanging out with family and friends, mostly at our house but some in Traverse City and some in Clarkston. I spent time getting my house organized (playroom, arts & crafts cabinet, de-junking the junk drawer). I spent time relaxing in the Adirondack chairs on the back patio, watching the sun set, drinking some wine, and listening to some tunes with Kevin. I spent time puttering around in the garden, watering my pots and pulling weeds- which is actually relaxing for me. I spent time feeding the birds (I've got some HUNGRY birds in my hood). I spent time scrapbooking, and exercising, and golfing, and playing softball.

AAAAaaahhh, I could really get used to leading an unplugged life. Guess I better get me a Mega Millions ticket tonight!

OK, back to my plugged in reality...