Fun in the cold...

I took the pups to the park today. We didn't stay long because it was really windy which made it really cold but the dogs really needed to run for a little bit, especially Charlie. He's got so much energy and he needs an outlet.




Thankfully the snow wasn't too deep so they could run pretty well.




There was the usual sibling rivalry over who would carry the frisbee.






I don't know when we'll be able to get out an do this again as the weather next week doesn't look good, very cold and some more snow.

And only 26 days until Spring arrives. Riiiiiiight!

Still Winter...

Just in case you were wondering, it's still winter here in Michigan. All the weather man has been talking about for days was the upcoming Winter Storm Warning!! Be afraid, be very afraid.

They were predicting 4-8 inches of snow, it was gonna be bad, all day, from 7 to 7! Howard finally took his new snow blower out around 6:00 for the 2 or 3 inches we actually got!

We enjoyed our long weekend visit with Amber & Andy. Howard got many of the things accomplished that Amber and Andy had on their list. He put up 7 blinds, hung curtains and a new dining room light.


We made several trips to Home Depot trying to get just the right programmable thermostat and after replacing several he was having no luck. The darn heater just wouldn't work with the thermostat's he installed.

Then finally on the last night he was installing a really fancy one and "pop", then we started smelling a funny smell. Something was officially wrong and was not going to be fixed that night. They ended up having to call a repairman who thankfully was available by 9:00 the next morning, before we had to head for the airport. The blown transformer thingy was replaced and the thermostat installed. Apparently some wires had touched that weren't supposed to and it shorted out the transformer thingy, or something like that. Bottom line, Amber and Andy now have a programmable thermostat and all is right in their condo! Amber and I measured curtains and took the easy way out by using that iron-on sticky tape stuff. That worked great and the curtains looked perfect!


While most of our time was spent around the condo working on projects we did venture out to dinner a couple nights. The first night we were there we went into Georgetown to a place called Surfside. They are known for their made-to-order burritos and salads. Georgetown was quite crowded and it took us a while to get through town. It looked like a nice little place to go back to visit some day, maybe in warmer weather. Monday night we went to a nice restaurant inside the fancy mall. It was just nice spending time together, seeing where they live, work and the places they go. Their place is in a nice building, great location and it's very comfy and homey inside, with a nice kitchen and really big bathrooms and two nice size bedrooms. It's perfect for them!

Tuesday morning Amber dropped us off at the airport and everything went smoothly. Our flight was only an hour and six minutes. The ride on the commuter flight was smooth and I think loading and retrieving baggage was actually quicker with less people on the plane! Just before we landed I snapped these pictures of Detroit.



These two were taken when we took off from Dulles. I think the one with the river is the Potomac. It was quite long though I couldn't tell where it started or went from the air.



I love taking pictures from a plane but apparently you aren't supposed to do that as just before we landed I was chastised for not having my "electronics device" turned off. I wasn't aware a camera was considered an "electronics device" but apparently anything with an on/off button is considered just that! Oops!

So, that was our trip. Amber thought I was bored but I really wasn't. I enjoyed catching up on my blog reading and helping where I could, though there wasn't that much for me to do this trip.

Oh Tyler, Andy said to tell you he's really enjoying your glasses!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

So today is Valentine's Day. Howard and I sometimes exchange cards and gifts and sometimes we don't. My favorite Valentine's Day gift was a beautiful silver bracelet where every link was a heart. It's really pretty and I wear it every day. Today we gave each other a nice gift, a trip. We got up early and were on the road by 7:30 on our way to the airport. The weather was awful! An unexpected several inches of snow really made a mess of the roads. We were only able to go 40mph in some areas and when Howard got it up to 60mph I was freaking out. We made in to the airport with only a small window to get to the gate and get on board. We made it though and had a very uneventful flight, thank goodness. I was a little concerned when I remembered that the seats were only 3 across and it was a commuter jet!

We are already at our destination and having a great time! Ok, here it is: we are in Virginia (DC area) visiting Amber and Andy (Anaki)!! We got a great price on the airfare (under $100 round trip) and I have Monday and Tuesday off from school so we figured this would be a good time to go. When we arrived, Amber took us to AOL so we could see her office and where she spends so much of her time. Now we are at their place and Howard has been busy working and I've been busy supervising and relaxing. We were really looking forward to seeing their new place and weren't disappointed. It's really nice and they've worked really hard on it! So, here we are, having a great time. Howard has already fixed their ice maker and fridge water supply. Now he's working on the programmable thermostat. Soon we're going out to dinner! What a great trip!

Scott's at home with the pups, hopefully shoveling the driveway and taking care of things on the home front. He won't be sleeping in either because those pups will have him up early!

So, hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll write all about our weekend when we get home on Tuesday!

Day 12 - Last Day in Hawaii

Well, it was finally over. Our last day, even though our flight didn't leave until 10:00 that night! We had to be out of the house by 10:00 a.m. Our biggest dilemma was figuring out what we were going to do with the day. Amber and Andy had to leave at 5:00 so they only really had until 2:00 or 3:00 before they had to leave for the airport. We were packed and ready to go by 10:00ish. We decided to head over Waikiki because, once again, it was raining in Kailua. We shopped along the main drag in Waikiki for a while and then headed to this indoor mall area for lunch.

Andy loved these flowers growing right along the main street in Waikiki.




I loved this hotel! If I wanted to stay in Waikiki this is where it would be. The front is on the main street, complete with rocking chairs where you can sit and people watch, and the back is right on the beach, complete with a bar!! Nice!

By the time lunch was over we had to head back to Tyler's apartment so Amber and Andy could shower, change and head for the airport. After Amber and Andy left we just hung out at Tyler's apartment. We were all tired but hated to waste our last afternoon of warmth and sunshine. Howard was getting really comfortable in that chair too!

We decided to go to the Waikiki Aquarium. It was very nice but quite small. We got to see some of the fish we had seen at Hanauma Bay up close and personal! From there we went to the Ala Moana Mall and had dinner at The Macaroni Grill. It wasn't native but it was a good meal, especially for Tyler who doesn't really eat out much.

From there we headed back to Tyler's apartment to take showers and change clothes so that we could head to the airport. We said our good-bye's to Tyler and left to take the rental car back. We had no problems along the way and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Usually I don't care for overnight flights, not that I've taken that many, but this one wasn't bad. Scott and I sat together and Howard was a couple rows up. I actually managed to get some sleep and it made the long flight go faster. We had really good service on Continental, in flight movies, meals every time you turned around and no delays or bag charges.

The next morning we landed in Houston, ate breakfast and boarded the flight for Detroit. When we got to where we dropped the car off it actually started on the first try! In no time we were home and greeted by our welcoming committee of two furry pups. They were so glad to have us back home! Neither one left my side for the rest of the evening.

This trip was really wonderful and we all have some great memories and new experiences to add to our life's list. Yes, we did have a few dramas and arguments. That's what happens when you put 6 people together for 12 days, four of whom are quite hard headed and can be stubborn. I'll let you figure out who's who. At least I think we would all agree that a good time was had by all!



Aloha and Mahalo to Tyler and Hawaii!!

Hawaii - Day 11 - New Year's Day

Our first day of the new year was spent at the beach! Can't beat that! It was finally a nice day on the Winward side so Amber and Andy went kayaking out to The Mokes while the rest of us went to Lani Kai Beach. I just love Lani Kai. You have such a nice view of The Mokes from there.


Speaking of The Mokes, I just had to put these pictures Scott took of them and of Kailua and Lani Kai from the day he hiked to the bunker with Ty, Amber and Andy. The colors were just so beautiful! I wish I had hiked up there just to take a picture like these! Amazing!




We tried to see Amber and Andy but it was just too far away. It was gorgeous, not windy at all like it had been every other time we'd gone there. We stayed there a couple hours before it was time to head back to the house for lunch.

After lunch we walked down to Kailua Beach and hung out there. Scott got in his last day of body surfing. He was having a good time all by himself.

Amber & Andy joined us there later. There were all kinds of dogs up and down the beach that day. That was so shocking at first, seeing all these dogs, most off leash, parade up and down the beach with their owners.

Around 4:00 we headed back to the house to get ready to go over to Waikiki for dinner. We also needed to drop some things off at Tyler's apartment, like his new grill we gave him that we had bought to use at the house and all the leftover groceries we weren't going to be eating.

When we left Tyler's we headed down to Waikiki to this restaurant called Cheeseburger in Paradise. All the sides of the restaurant were open and the breeze was nice. The food was pretty good too. Of course, we all had some type of Cheeseburger!

We enjoyed our last beach day in Hawaii but the day didn't start out so well. Before we even left for the beach disaster struck! At least for me it was a disaster! After packing my beach bag I place it either on a bar stool or the counter, can't remember which, and returned to the bedroom for something. From the bedroom I heard a crash and a crunch! When I rushed back out there it was my beach bag and the crunch I had heard was my LCD screen on my brand new camera cracking! I was sick. I just couldn't believe it! Thankfully the camera still worked through the viewfinder but the screen was a goner! Miraculously, since then, I have sent the camera off to Sony and unbelievably they fixed it for now charge, no questions asked! It only cost me $6.00 for shipping via UPS. It's working good as new now.

After dinner we headed back to Kailua to start packing as we had to be out of the house by 10:00 the next morning. It was almost over! :-(

We're Havin' a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave...

Ok, not a tropical heat wave but the thermometer on the back deck says it's 56 degrees!

That's like a tropical heatwave in Michigan in February! And, as an added bonus, the sun's been out most of the day when they were predicting showers. Can't beat that!

I should really be outside right now going for a walk or something, but instead I'm in the house, baking bread, doing laundry, paying bills, reading blogs. I know I'll be sorry because tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 30's and by the time it warms up again, next week, I'll be back at work and stuck inside all day.

I'm not sure what else we'll do this weekend. We were talking about maybe going to another movie tomorrow afternoon. That's about it. I am going to be finishing up the posts about our trip to Hawaii. I really only have a couple left so I better get on it.

I didn't win the photo contest on iheartfaces.com. In fact I didn't even place in the top ten. This is what Zoe thinks of that!




Bummer. A cat won. It was a good picture. Charlie's boo boo is all healed up. I took him to the vet on Monday and he couldn't really tell me conclusively what the sore was or what had caused it. He gave me some gauze soaked in some type of antiseptic that I was supposed to rub on the sore twice a day but by the second day it was pretty much dried up. I'm still thinking it came from the vaccines but that's just a gut feeling. Anyway, he's back to his usual antics. The other night it was so cold outside that our house was popping and making these awful sounds. Charlie was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering. Guess he thought it was fireworks or gun shots again. Big chicken.

We had a pretty sunset last night. I was filling the bird feeders and by the time I finished it was almost gone! It was a brilliant gold though. Nice.




Have a good rest of the weekend!

Nice Weekend

We had a pretty nice weekend here in Michigan, for the end of January anyway. Friday night we had bowling. When we got there we discovered we were in a 3 way tie for 2nd place. Shock! Things weren't looking good after our first game. Not only did we have to give them 75 pins to begin with, they beat us by 106 pins! Ouch! After that we started bowling! The second game we beat them by 56 pins so we took that one. The third game we beat them by more than 50 pins. We took 3 points; winning 2 games and total pins! I'm afraid to go next time. I'm afraid we might be in 1st place. That's always tough because then everyone is after you!

Saturday morning H and I got up early to go to the Dr. for a fasting blood draw. We were a little early, actually before the lab opened, so we were first in line. After giving our blood we went to breakfast at a nice little family owned Greek restaurant that has great breakfasts! It was so nice to go out to breakfast together. When we got home we each ran our separate errands. When we got home I suggested we go to a matinee and since it was my turn to choose I picked Slumdog Millionaire. It has been nominated for so many awards I just wanted to see what all the buzz was about. It was a good movie, though not for everyone. I have to say that seeing the slums of India was a real eye opener. I thought it was worth seeing and H liked it too.

Before we left for the movies Scott noticed that Charlie had a lump on his right shoulder. I quickly called the vet but no more appointments were available but I mentioned that the lump seemed to be in the same spot where Charlie had a vaccination a couple weeks ago. The Vet felt it could be related but still wanted to see him on Monday. About the time we were going to bed I reached down to pet Charlie and his fur felt wet. Apparently the lump had ruptured somehow and was now bleeding. I managed to get it cleaned up and it stopped and the lump had gone down considerably. Now today it's still oozing and just a little swollen. I'm sure it's nothing but it seems lately there is always something going on with Charlie!

He also got sick during the night and just now also. What the heck?? For such a young dog he sure has a lot of issues!

Today was spent around the house. At least it was a sunny day and the temp reached an all-time high this year of 37! It felt so balmy when I was outside filling the bird feeders. Too bad it's not going to last. I think tomorrow is supposed to be cold again, as is the rest of the week. Spring is still a long, long, long way off!


The Superbowl has started. I'm listening to it while I start dinner. I know lots of people like to go to Superbowl parties. Amber and Andy are going to one. We used to go to them years ago but I have to say, I don't miss going. You are always out too late and then have to get up early the next morning. Plus the ones I used to go to it seemed the women would just sit around talking while the men watched the game. If the women were your friends it would be ok but if you didn't know them, it was a whole 'nother ballgame! Anyway, I'm glad I'm staying home. I'll probably go upstairs and watch a movie after dinner anyway!

Gotta go start the pizza! I'll be posting about the last couple days in Hawaii sometime this week. Have a good one!