It wasn’t really planned or begged for (her friend Sophia recently got hers pierced so she knew about it but she hadn’t asked)…but rather it was more a matter of Katie wanting earrings and clip-ons not really working well.
We tried, though. We searched Amazon together and decided on a pair. But one fell off and broke the first day she wore them.
I didn’t really have any issues with her getting them pierced so I talked to Tom about it (I had no idea what his thoughts were?!) and he said he didn’t care, so…we asked her at dinner and she said sure. So off we went!!
She wanted to take something big to squeeze in case it hurt. (She did hug it but she didn’t need to. She said it didn’t hurt at all.)
So, some of you may have heard the long and involved tale of the table I asked for. If not, the short version is that neighbors had a similar style table that I fell in love with:
I thought it would be perfect for behind our couch for added seating, a place for the kids to eat snacks while watching TV, space for party hosting, etc. So I asked Tom to “throw one together” with the thought that it only needed to last until we moved because I didn’t want to move another big piece of furniture. That was March 27 (I know because that’s the date of the above picture).
Well, if you know Tom, he can’t simply “throw something together” when it comes to anything woodworking. 😂 So he started looking for plans, searching Pinterest, and watching YouTube videos. The time slipped by and weeks passed and I still didn’t have my table…but he was working on it! (To be fair, he doesn’t have a lot of time for projects like this so it was some weeknights and weekends only.) I kept giving him grief because I literally wanted a two-hour table and it was turning into a two-month table.
I did catch glimpses of it now and again and I knew it was going to be neat—he was using wood from various parts of my life, including wood strips from my mom’s basement and wood strips from a dresser my Grandma passed down to my dad and then to me (that finally broke apart during one of our moves)—he was cutting everything into pieces and then gluing them all together. I joked that this table was going to be a family heirloom that Katie‘s grandchildren would enjoy someday.
But it was seeming to take forever and I was growing anxious. After all, we’d already moved pieces around to make room for it—but it wasn’t there—so junk started filling the area and it looked bad.
And time passed. And since the table top had been stored in the garage and it was summer and humid, it warped…which necessitated more time to fix it. And then finally…it was done! Just in time for our back-to-school party on August 17 (or our anniversary on August 18—take your pick!). Tom was literally putting the last coats of sealant on it that morning…bu we were crazy busy so I didn’t even get any photos. That said, these were the legs (which had been painted gray). You’ll notice they are Hs. 🙂
We’d been casually looking for stools for months (we had two we could use but really wanted four) and by chance we found some on NextDoor and picked them up the morning after the party. We had measured the height to make sure they fit…but neither of us thought to ask about the width. I bet you can see where I’m going with this. Yep, two stools together were just a little bit too wide and didn’t fit underneath the table…DAMMIT!! The stools were really perfect and they were an amazing deal…so we ended up changing out the legs which gave us just enough room for the stools. Of course this took more time (but thankfully not too much more).
AND NOW IT’S DONE. AND IT’S PERFECT. AND GORGEOUS. AND I FREAKING LOVE IT.
Tom is simply amazing and I can’t wait to see this in our forever house (and Katie’s forever house 😂). And I can’t wait to see what treasures he builds when he actually gets a real workshop someday…
So we decided to bring the kids today as a special treat and they were super duper excited but—as honestly expected—they didn’t want to go on one damn ride. So Tom walked around with them and I went on rides by my damn self. (I had to put my hair up because I knew it would get crazy on the rides.)
No waiting was the theme of the day. The first ride wasn’t even full. (When I posted this on Facebook, a few friends thought it said margarita hangover which I think is a much better name.)
None of the trains were even full.
This was the perfect day for this. You could literally walk up to most any ride and get right on. NO WAIT. Lather, rinse, repeat as often as you want to. Of course it would’ve been even better had I been able to ride with Tom. (And technically, we could have left the kids while we rode it—especially since there was really no wait—but I’m pretty sure Tom is an old fuddy duddy at this point and doesn’t really want to go on them anyway.)
I’ve started to lose count of all the rides that I’ve been on. But I have taken pictures. And I know my favorites. This is not one.
This. This was my favorite. New. Steel. Smooth as silk. Twists, turns, loops. It was a thing of beauty.
And then I finally caught up to where they had stopped to wait for a ride. This was the one that they decided they would go on. I’m so glad I spent $70 on a season pass for each of them for this. Granted, they did go on it about five times each…
I went on one more while we waited for them.
So, this teacup-style ride was one I was looking forward to because Owen and Katie had both gone on it before, they liked it, and said they would go on it again. Guess who decided they didn’t want to go on it?
So the only other ride that both of the kids agreed to go on? The carousel. HOW ARE THESE MY KIDS?! At least I know we’ll save money next year because there’s no way in hell I’m getting season passes again.
Tom really loves his smoker and he will try smoking just about anything, so today his assignment was fresh corn.
Olive oil, Chipotle lime seasoning, on the smoker for two hours, spritzed with water now and again since we didn’t have another extra two hours to soak the corn ahead of time. I finished mine off with another light sprinkling of the Chipotle lime seasoning. Mmmm. We’ll definitely do this again.
Wow. Eighteen years (22 if you count since day one). And there’s no one I’d rather have by my side in this crazy thing called life. 💕
So, we weren’t planning on doing anything to celebrate, then we realized today was our golden anniversary (18th on the 18th). So we decided to take the kids to The Chocolate Sanctuary for a chocolate fountain!!
We had so much fun last year we decided to do it again!!
The kids were very intrigued when Tom started using the blow torch on the ribs.
It took awhile but by the end of the night, some dads (and one mom—not me!) went down the slide. Which led us to wonder how on Earth these kids could do this non-stop… The adults got tired after just a few times. 😄
And then it was over…the cleanup aftermath. And we can’t wait until next year!!
We looooove potato chips and are always up to try a new flavor. (I honestly don’t want to admit how much money we spend on chips. It’s utterly embarrassing.) So Tom saw these at Costco and sent me a pic to gauge my interest. You can see our exchange. 😂
Fast forward to tasting them. 😳😳 Yeah, we should have really gotten 23. Holy hell they’re good. It was SOOOOO hard to put them away after a small handful with dinner, but… accountability. If I didn’t physically put them away I could have easily eaten half the bag. Plus the kids actually like them, too.
That said, I’m not sure they beat my all-time favorites Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream and Lay’s Biscuits & Gravy, but they’re right up there.
What are some of your favorite chips? Bonus points if it’s something new to us that we can source locally and try!!
Owen really wanted to go out to the raft in the middle of the harbor but Grannie and Papa were afraid to let him do it on his own because they wouldn’t be able to help him at all. I wouldn’t have had a problem with him going but they wanted to wait until Tom was there. Tom did agree to go out with him…even knowing full well that it was freezing cold water. So here is their experience.
Tom was ready to stop right here—that water is COLD—but he agreed, so…
Y’all know I love a good before and after! And if they tell me it’s formal, you can be damn sure my tiara is coming out!! (We were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Agate Harbor Land Pool.)
Time for pics since we were all dressed up!
Owen didn’t even know this was on his bucket list until we got here and discovered Liam is a distant cousin. He was giddy. Don’t feel bad is you have no idea, either—I don’t do sportsball so I had no idea either…but it’s Liam McHugh.
He is a sports announcer for NBC Sports coverage of the NHL as well as Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and the NFLNBC Sunday Night Football. He is also perhaps the face of NBC Sports Network, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France, college football, college basketball and the Premier League.
Who?! 😂 It’s okay, it made me feel like I was 14 again (which is the age I last saw some of these people)!
All we can say right now is HOLY SHIT and CHEERS to our AMAZING travel agent David Platt with Mouse Master Travel—he just found a new military and kids discount for our upcoming cruise that saved us…are you ready?!!
$1412!!
When he told me I couldn’t even breathe. That pays for all our flights…and now we don’t feel guilty about the Deluxe Beverage Package! 😂🍹🍺
Y’all remember last year when I got to go behind the bar and stick my head under the thimbleberry margarita spout, right?
Well, this year I wasn’t expecting that but I did want more of those delicious thimbleberry margaritas… The kids were at a birthday party so the four of us headed out.
But let’s start at the beginning…
Step 1. Thar she is. Thimbleberry margaritas. 💕
Step 2. Soooooo good.
Professional (me) vs Amateur (Linda) 😂 Round 2 coming shortly.
Step 3. Ask to go behind the bar to get a picture. Get told no because there’s a camera. Say “Well I’ve been back there before…” and get the response “OH THAT WAS YOU? I REMEMBER THAT! COME ON BACK!” 😍🙌
Step 4. Get a third drink because VACATION. They also aren’t that strong.
Normally I wouldn’t do this much makeup on vacation but we are having a family event at the house—probably 40ish people I didn’t know, haven’t seen in 30 years, or have seen twice in my life. So yes, there were margaritas. 😜
I honestly feel guilty being this close to Chicago and not doing stuff…but I hate all the traffic, I hate the congestion, I hate all the pedestrians who think the world revolves around them, I hate paying through the nose to park, I hate paying for an Uber so we don’t have to park somewhere else…shall I go on? 🤦🏻♀️
Yet once in a blue moon we make plans to alleviate the guilt…so today was hanging out with out-of-town friends. But first we had to deal with this. The last mile took 20 minutes.
Waiting for our friends to arrive.
Now it’s getting worth it—peeps, drinks, and brunch at The Publican. I look frightened purely because it was difficult taking the photo. I have a margarita so I’m good.
Since Ballast Point was practically right next door, Tom had to stop (it’s one of his favorite breweries out of San Diego). So we’re all here. No margaritas, though, so I’m sitting this one out.
Then it was a quick Uber to the Wendella docks for a Lake & River Architecture Tour (with drinks!). Honestly I was hesitant about this because we’d already done the Architecture Tour when we went last year, but if you recall it was so hot that we stayed in the A/C and drank and only saw the bottom half of the buildings. The weather today was much better so we figured we’d get to see all the buildings…
We were at the very front of the line so scoped out what seats we wanted—and there were six right in front that were perfect. And we got them! And drinks, of course. 🙂
Doing a thing I’ve never done before—we’re in a lock!! (Plus something I do all the time–there’s a margarita just out of frame.)
Then we went out into Lake Michigan—something or last tour didn’t do so that was cool. We might also have gotten splashed just a bit—the water was rough and we were at the front of the boat.
Then it was dinner and drinks at Beacon Tavern (right off the docks). Sooooo much good food and amazing company…
So a day in Chicago is DEFINITELY not something we want to do all the time but sometimes it’s DEFINITELY worth it.
The kids are gone so we’re hitting all the places we’ve been wanting to try. The menu at The Vine – Martini & Wine Bar said “small plates” so we ordered four dishes: Elote fritters, mushroom aroncini, calamari, and poutine tots.
Think this is enough food? Cripes. We felt like we needed to explain to the other tables that it was our first time and we had no idea.
When you learn awesome party tricks from your elders: Tequila-infused watermelon with salted limes. Aunt Rose, you rock!
The annual cousin lineup, by age: 7, 10½, 11, 12 (almost 13), 14 (almost 15).
And Nick is pulling away, which is okay since he is almost five years older!!
Adding older cousin Alex (17) to the mix (Jess was working).
I introduced Lisa to a few new products.
Unfortunately, it was a stormy day so we had to dodge rain and lightning for most of the afternoon…but, on the plus side, it wasn’t 100° with 95% humidity! My hair kinda grew throughout the day.
There was a fishing contest… Aubrey is a Master Fisher so she helped my kids. I was surprised at how long they kept at it! (Of course Tom was out there, too.)
Darrell caught the biggest one:
And then this happened…
Someone started the cooties!! (I think that will be a blog post in itself!) So for the last two hours we all had to keep our fingers crossed! We reminisced about the old days and learned Greg still has what it takes!
The big bummer? Lisa and Alex left pretty early and with the rain throwing things off, we totally forgot to take our group photo!
I love coming home to visit. Hubby and I leave the kids with Gramma and Grampa and we hit all the local shops we love—shout out to Tip’n the Mitten which is always our first stop (I love me some 100% Michigan-made products) and then it was the AuSable Artisan Village (where my mom used to sell her Pysanky…and I have bought many things) and then some fireworks (since they’re not legal where we live)… and then, last but not least, Paddle Hard Brewing where I enjoyed two strawberry margaritas that made me SUPER happy and a little buzzed.
Do you have places you have to visit when you go home?
So I downloaded the Faceapp that was going around—YIKES! I wonder if this is really what I’m going to look like in 30-40 years? I hope not, since anti-aging skin care is my new normal. 💙
So let me preface this announcement by asking if you remember what one of my business goals was? Anyone? Bueller?
Yes, it was a family cruise. (I think I specifically said Disney, but realistically any cruise would suffice.) And we hoped the grandparents would tag along—I mean, what a great experience for the kids, right? And we’d all get an amazing vacation where no one has to cook or clean, we all get to relax and have fun with the kids, and hopefully escape some yucky Midwest weather.
So we forewarned the grandparents (they weren’t quite as excited as we were but they promised to think about it) and let our travel agent know we were looking for a good deal on a cruise. But then life takes over and you don’t think about it and time passes and you know that if you don’t actively engage, nothing will ever happen. And then something happens out of the blue and before you know it, you have put down a deposit on a cruise and it’s convenient to wait a few days to tell the kids after their party!
So what happened in an instant? New friends of ours (from baseball) that we’ve been hanging around with (and the kids love) were talking about a cruise they’re going on this fall. And not having any idea that a family cruise was actually in the back of our minds, she (possibly mostly in jest) said “You guys should come with us!” So I took a breath and said “You know, that might just work!”
It was the cruise line we just went on last year (almost the same ship, too) so that was a plus. A quick check of the calendar and with Tom (who pretty much gave an immediate and unequivocal YES!), and a few quick messages with our travel agent…and the cruise was booked! (Our TA even said he’s never booked a cruise that fast before!)
Long multiple-day story short, my dad and stepmom decided to go, too, so that’s awesome and we’re super excited. (We really tried to convince my mom and stepdad to go but weren’t successful.)
In the meantime, Tom started watching YouTube videos about the ship, pretending we were just showing the kids examples of cruises. We reaffirmed that we would be going on a cruise before we moved again, but that still left us two years.
We honestly didn’t think too much about how we were going to tell them, so after the party I rushed to the basement and cobbled together a card with the cruise info on it so they’d read it and hopefully we’d get a great video reaction.
Well, as usual, things didn’t go quite as we’d thought…
Katie’s birthday is obviously today and Owen’s was back in February, but both kids love a pool party so we decided to celebrate both birthdays together! (Owen also begged for another pool party!) So we had a 7th birthday and 10.5 birthday!!
The party officially started at 3:30 but we got to the park when it opened at noon so the kids could get in as much playing as possible (and to stake out the best shade seats, as is my usual). I didn’t take many pics because, well, I rarely take pics at the pool… And once people started arriving and the party started it was crazy busy—we had 15 adults and 27 kids!!!
But first, lunch. Of course the kids hadn’t eaten lunch before we left, so they were hungry pretty much as soon as we got there. We asked if we could have some of our party food early and that wasn’t a problem, so the kids had hot dogs and popcorn! (Our party package came with 20 cafe meals but we were bringing in pizza so technically didn’t need all the meals, so we snagged them for lunch! Brilliant!)
The arrival of the pizza!
Once we got it set up it was like a feeding frenzy. You’d think these kids hadn’t eaten in days. For a moment I wasn’t sure we’d bought enough pizza as the boxes were emptying at an alarming rate, but in the end it was perfect and we ended up with about 1.5 pizzas to take home.
Cupcake time came shortly after…
Of course we had way too many. I figured with 42 total guests, 60 would be just right because some kids would have two. But apparently most adults don’t eat cupcakes… So we literally had an entire tray left! I walked around handing out cupcakes to random people then took the rest to the manager’s office (they were happy to get them)!
We left just a little bit of garbage…
Sooo happy to see these guys together again!!
Tom and I went back to the water to cool off (it was still like 85°) and relax and two of our friends snapped pics of us. 😄
Katie was actually done before Owen so she went home with Daddy a little early.
All in all a great day… The weather was hot (I think it got to 94°) but it was perfect around the pool. Everyone had a great time. No one got hurt. Well, I take that back…Tom tweaked his back a bit but he powered through. And I lost my sunglasses on the waterslide—I had them tucked in my suit but they still came out…but they totally disappeared. They weren’t in the pool with me and we couldn’t see them in the pool anywhere. It’s a mystery.
I heard about this cool mini golf course that was supposedly difficult so we tried it today…and while it was neat (with lots of moving parts) I wouldn’t call it difficult.
They had some of the coolest balls we’d ever seen!
Getting some math in while keeping score!
A water hazard led to balls in the shrubs and Tom ended up pulling out about four extra balls trying to get ours.
Even though I may complain about my kids and how much they drive me insane in the summer, I obviously still love them. But maybe today I loved them just a little bit more since Tom took them on a bike ride and let me have a good hour to myself…and then they played together—without fighting or drama—for a good 3-4 hours…and then we went to a friend’s house and they played with other kids for hours. 💕😜
Congrats, Cardinals! Nothing wrong with second place after your amazing season!
BACK: Assistant Coaches Mark, Eric, Adam, Tom, and Head Coach Jamie
FRONT: Mason, Eli, Owen, John, Aden (Old Man), Jackson, Reuben, Jaiden, John, and Wyatt
I could not be more proud of this team of boys. To be perfectly honest, they started out on shaky ground and we didn’t have much hope for the season. But then a miraculous thing happened…they practiced, they learned how to work together, and they exceeded all our expectations and ended up in second place in their division!!
Watching them play was a joy (and also completely nerve-wracking as the mom of a pitcher)!! And it warms my heart to see my boy with 10 new best friends, my girl with almost as many player sibling friends, and my husband and I with a handful of new friends as well.
Of course they were disappointed that they didn’t win (especially since they’d won the last few games by a wide margin) but they took it in stride and were great sports.
And then it was off to Culver’s to celebrate!! Yes, Katie loves being right in there with all the boys!! But she moved to the girls table one everyone arrived!!
We wanted to have a party but inviting the whole team seemed overwhelming so we just invited the coaches and team mom. And it was awesome! Everyone was able to come (minus one kid who had a sleepover already planned) and we all had a great time! The party didn’t break up until midnight!!
It’s not a margarita and I’m surviving! Go me!!
Tom making the other guys want a smoker and a flame thrower. Mark was even Instagramming it!! 😂
