More Birthdays

Back home again, another weekend has passed, we worked, we sweat(ed), we attended a family party, and had a great time, we are planning our next vacation, we are sweating some more.... and so it goes.
I'm working on the tada! finish of Evan's quilt, and I'm already knee deep in ideas for more.

 A baby drinking seltzer

 sisters catching up

 lovely smiles from lovely people

 the party on the deck, welcoming family to New Jersey, they held the party

 and a little pre-celebration of Evan's 3rd birthday,

part of the family won't be able to be at the party on Saturday, 

but no one minded having to eat ice cream cake 

a week ahead of time, funny, that!

Evan decided on the pirate costume after 

having tried out at least 2 other costumes.

Sunday we went to our favorite State Park in NY State to hike.  It was very hot and humid, in the low 90's here when we left, the high 80's when we got there.  We hiked for hours, swam, and ended up walking over 15,000 steps, which doesn't sound like all that much (about 4.5 miles), but it was hot, humid, and very hilly.  Not easy meandering/walking.  Hey, I want credit!

We were so tired that we couldn't fall asleep that night - probably overtired.  We caught up on our sleep last night, so all is well.

I miss writing here on a regular basis, but will try to get back to it, I promise!

Still away

It seems I find more time to write when I'm away from my daily routine.  We are still in MI, and enjoying our time here.  The week had been a lot cooler then it was back at home, and it finally warmed up.
I hope you all enjoyed your Fourth of July!  Ours was great, we had a leisurely morning, ate lunch, then walked along the shore of St. Clair Lake in Grosse Pointe, and admired the view and the mansions, hard to decide where to look.

We got ready to go see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the fireworks in Deerborne, MI.  It threatened to rain, but it held off, and it was wonderful to sit right in front of the orchestra, listen to the 1812 Overture, including the canons!  Awesome!
Then the Sousa Marches were played to the fireworks - so patriotic.

 Look at the crowd!

 fish eye view of Karen and I

 sunset with the stage

 The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

And the final event

Michigan, or on the road again

It's been a while, and I apologize.  Between smart phone and iPad I get all the info I need, plus checking facebook and instagram is my interaction/checking on others point, it seems I am neglecting the blog big time.

Last weekend we went to Maryland to help Noah celebrate his birthday (I am so sorry, no pictures, I have a new memory card in the camera, and left the other one at home), and we had a great time.  Sue outdid herself with the cake again - photos to follow.  And it was fun hanging out with the family, and the kids.

We hustled our way through the week - lots of work - and on Saturday morning left for Michigan, a small town above Detroit.  I loved driving through Pennsylvania, a state everyone groans at the thought of having to drive through, but traffic was light, we hit no delays, and it was just like driving on the Autobahn at home.  The scenery is lovely, I love woods and mountains, with rivers and valleys, it was great.

Once here, we are visiting with family - Michael's sister Karen and husband Robert, and they are great hosts, we got a tour of Detroit, and we attempted to go to a balloon festival, we spent all afternoon there with a midway, but in the evening it was still too windy for  the balloons to take off, so we were a tiny bit disappointed.  But it was fun nonetheless!
Here are some photos:

 Yup, we went on this, if only to take pictures from the top

 The entire midway, with a cloudy, windy sky, that prevented the balloons from taking off

 sky divers, bringing down the flag for a national anthem singing.

 and a walking tree

The next day we got to tour Detroit.  My most glaring impression?  The difference of a bustling city like NYC, and an almost empty Detroit.

 We ate Coney hot dogs in Detroit,

and I noticed this office worker in the window

 A cool indoor fountain, and art on a deserted building

 We went in the lobby of a building called The Guardian

And I think I reached the limit of picture uploads, so I will have to create another post.  Tomorrow!  I promise!
Now we're off to go see Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes.

Still here

It's been a long time since I blogged last.  I apologize!  It's so much easier to just snap a photo in instagram or post it on facebook (in instagram I'm under newjerseyoma), and move on.  The laptop gets taken out for work, and to upload pictures from the camera.  That's it anymore!  And as I said before, I don't like typing on either the smartphone or the pad.

Aaaanyway, it's all good.  We are having mixed weather days, today being a rainy, chilly day.  Yesterday was great, tomorrow more rain, and the weekend is supposed to be nice.

On the weekend we walked, but this time in the Storm King Art Center, which I had wanted to revisit.  We stepped out of the car, and there was this huge, immense, LOUD  noise all around us.  What could that possibly be?  The Thruway is close by, but not as loud by a long shot.
Cicadas is what we suspected, and and then confirmed.  I finally after all these years understood all the hoopla about the cicadas!
Yes, we saw them, took pictures of them, and loved our stay in the park.  All of it is just beautiful, the sculptures in the meadow, the hidden sculptures, the meadows, the woods - well, here, judge for yourself, only a few of the things we saw:

 Cicada and their discarded or molted remains

 mirror fence and one of the meadows

 three-legged buddah above

More Birthdays

We had the family that lives here over for a combined birthday celebration with hot dogs, grilled pork ribs, hamburgers, potato and macaroni salad, and corn.  And an ice cream cake for dessert.  

We had eight children as guests, and nine adults - a pretty big party for us!

It was a lot of fun, and since the weather was a little cooler, we enjoyed being on the deck.  

We all held Andrew, one at a time of course, and we sang 'happy birthday to you'.

Michael and Jessica's  actual birthday was yesterday, and Jackson will be six years old in a couple of weeks, but he will be off on vacation then.

So here are some photos of the party, plus I can never resist showing photos of the amazing peonies showing what they can do right now.  So I'm out there, mostly early in the morning, in my pj's, with a camera, the iPod, the smart phone, whatever takes a picture and I adore.