Gotta Love Me Some Leland

Allllright I apologize for the slight blip in bloggage. I got really motivated, and then all of a sudden I got really lazy...

But anyways. The first thing that happened while I was gone was a little weekend getaway to the lovely Leland, Michigan. It's just gosh darn adorable up there...and so many places to obtain ice cream (just one of those added bonuses). We had a bit of rain most days, but the one that counted was clear until nighttime.

Manitou Island. Slightly nightmarish. The hour and a half ferry ride out there was slightly uneventful...well except for the "Got Jesus?" girls. A whole gaggle of them wearing "Got Jesus?" apparel. Sadly I only managed to snap a halfway decent shot while making it very clear that I was being creepy and continually making awkward eye contact. Eek. Totally fine. Who knew they even made that stuff? I mean, I own a "Got TCF?" t-shirt, but that's for promotional purposes. It's almost as if they're attempting to advertise good ol' Hey-zeus.

Made it to land without sinking, ate some Cheese Shanty sandwiches (so delicious...pretzel bread, great invention), Maj tied her towel skirt around her waist, and off we went to find various cool things around the island. First stop, shipwreck number one. Otherwise known as a plaque with information and an orange stake sticking out of the water...not great. Onward to the giant cedars! Along the way we made friends with various toads, snakes, and also the Whacker Family.

The Whacker Family consisted of a father and his two sons. Each with a decent sized stick in hand, literally whacking every single tree they passed. This included but was not limited to:

• all fungus
• any living tree
• any dead tree (these were even better because the Whackers had the opportunity to fling broken tree debris in all directions)
• and more than likely, any animal

Now, it would be a little bit more understandable had Son One and Son Two been responsible for all of the nature beating, but Poppa Whacker was right there with 'em! Incredible.

After a couple more miles we found the cedars. I'd rate them good not great. I guess they're the oldest in the world? Which is cool. But there aren't very many and they're all mixed in with the other tree folk making it hard to actually see them and their scraggly branches. If that makes sense. After taking a family photo via the timer function on the Maj's camera (and attempting to set it on a giant mossy fallen tree) we found our way back to the main drag and headed for the dunes!

After a rather large and very steep upward climb, we realized that there were many more dunes to scale before we could actually see the shoreline. When we reached the edge...we discovered a sort of sand cliff. 400 feet nearly straight down...with some large rocks all embedded in there. Naturally, we went down it. If you just dug your heels in and kept moving it wasn't so bad...in the beginning I got a large load of sand stuck in my shorts, but after that it was alright. We reached the bottom and started hightailing it around the island. After all, we only had two hours to get back to the boat before it left...

We ended up having to put our tennis shoes back on because of the terrible rocky shore in spots...which was alright for awhile, until we reached the horrible lagoon of algae. This was one of those spots where the water came all the way up to the edge of the forest and was about a foot deep...complete with buckets full of algae. Needless to say we exited the swamp area with a few souvenirs otherwise known as chunks of slime threaded through our shoelaces and slapped on the back of our calves. Gross.

Eventually Brain and I split off from the group to go a little faster and hopefully be able to hold up the boat if we had to. The parentals disappeared from view after awhile and the Brain and I just kept crossing our fingers that we would be able to see the lighthouse from the next bend we rounded. It took a lot, a lot, of bends before we saw the shining white lighthouse of relief. At that point we deemed it safe to dive in the lake and cool off for a wee bit. The Brain failed to realize that lighthouse tours were under way and may have flashed a bit of a full moon to the younger children up top, but oh well!

A reunion with the parents, shoes filled with sand, very sweaty, and extremely tired...we boarded the boat and watched the rain clouds close in during our two hour ride back. Correction: Our two hour extremely rocky ride back. It only really ended up sprinkling for a little bit, but I was very pleased to be back on land after that ride! Yikes!

I'd say the next thing worth reporting is the dredger. I guess we chose the exact wrong weekend to go to Leland because the wondrous beach that should have been perfection was converted into a construction site complete with a yellow John Deere bulldozer and a giant floating (extremely loud) work site contraption with a ridiculous amount of pipes. At least the sunset was still pretty...even if it was framed by various construction equipment.

Dinner one night was had at the good ol' Leland Lodge. Our waiter...a male with longish very curly hair (held back by a headband) was instructed by the Maj to give us "a lot of time" because we "weren't in a hurry." We weren't in a hurry, but this dude's concept of "a lot of time" was truly a lot of time. We probably sat there for a good half hour or so waiting for his return. More than likely he was playing with his hair in front of the mirror in the little boys' room, but it's really anyone's guess.

The following night we dined at North. Some fancy pants place where we clearly didn't fit in a little ways down M-22. The hostess was outfitted in bright teal tights and a multicolored neon dress with flower print and very chipper. Our waiter...Mark...was a mature older man, one that we thought would have the whole waiting on people thing down pat since he more than likely had a little experience, and yeah, he was well spoken, but we only saw him a grand total of mmmm I'd say three times? Thrice, if you will. We kind of figured out that the older gentlemen waiters were probably the front men, and then all the younger people were actually in charge of doing the real work. Who knows. Super awkward for sure. Brain had his watch timer going to see how long it took him to come back to the table, we went for a whole meal without a beverage, and pretty much just talked about Mark the entire meal. Oh well. Dessert was delicious. Warm chocolate cake, more like a giant Reeses's peanut butter cup in cake form. HOLY moly. So good. We exited on a positive note for sure.

The Leland Lodge was pretty great. Brain and I got the bunks that folded out of the wall while Maj and Faj shacked up in the gigantic king sized bed that took up the rest of the room. Needless to say we were a little short on space. It blows my mind how every hotel room smells the same (well, except for the ones in China). It's as if there is some rule as to which laundry detergent hotels can use. So weird. Hopefully it's at the top of the disinfecting line. Anyhoo, we altered the industrial smell of that room right quick thanks to Faj and Brain. Ay yi yi. Out of hand a little bit...

Well. I think that about covers the highlights of the trip, but there's no saying I won't update with random tidbits if I think of them. Hahaha. :)

Winter, Spring, Summer, Construction...

Ann Arbor construction season is straight up killer. Over yonder in Ypsitucky, otherwise known as Ypsilanti, there are more orange objects taking over the road than one can shake a stick at. It's plenty irritating. I decided to take a wee little trip to Old Navy after depositing my charge at Eastern for swim practice just to fill the time, and boy did it. At least the drive there and back did. In normal conditions, I'm thinking that drive would take less than five minutes. But since it was 1:00 and the season of construction...it took around twenty. Yaaay!

After many a forced lane change on the way there I figured I'd be able to get back alright since it didn't look nearly as painful. Have no fear, I was wrong. It took just as long to get back to my Senior Center Recreation Park as it did to arrive at my shopping expedition. So great. It's alright...killed some time and at least I was in the Civic Hybrid and not just burning fossil fuels by the second. So handy!

Anyways...today my luck in the board game sector of life went through the roof and I killed my opponent in multiple games of Trouble, Harry Potter Clue, and the grand ol' game of Life. Beautimous. The sad thing is that I legitimately (and secretly) get really upset when I lose...even if it's a stupid board game, and yesterday was a terrible day in Andrea's Board Game Land...I left with zero victories. At least today made up for that!

Now, a message to the sky. Can you please just unleash your fury with a solid thunderstorm? I've had enough of the stupid little three second spurts of eighteen raindrops and random dark overtakings of the sky. Great, thanks.

Update On The Skinhead Cardinals

Thank you to Poppa Joel for a rather informative Facebook message about bald cardinals...sometimes I wonder if you get anything done at work...hahaha just kidding! But really...

Anyways. Apparently no one really knows why these bald birdies are in flight about the area, but that most likely they are amateurs at molting and accidentally lose all their head feathers in the process...either that, or a form of head lice (apparently head lice don't discriminate...they will attack anything with something atop its head), or I'm just going to throw this possibility out there...perhaps the poor things are just plain stressed. I hear that leads to hair slash feather loss...fuzz loss?

But anyways...he didn't come hopping about the bird feeder when I was watching today, maybe tomorrow. We shall see. We. Shall. See...

In other news...round two of oral surgery hopefully went well. Had that lovely trip last Wednesday morning with a very jolly twin brother alongside as my form of transportation. The office was locked when we got there because the person with the keys was late, then I sat in the room with the giant paper sheet draped over me for a solid hour waiting for the doctor to get there because he was stuck in some meeting, and then the drugs set in and all was just fine and dandy! Apparently I got my favorite nurse, made a few phone calls that I didn't quite remember, and asked a lot of the same questions....over and over and over and over....hehe oops.

Anyways. Now there's just a rather large ball of twine in the back of my mouth...meaning a buttload of stitches and a kind of gross looking area. If you would like to take a look I'd be more than happy to fulfill your request...it's kind of cool if you ask me. I'm taking really cool bright blue antibiotics, sleeping a lot, and working on fixing stomach issues. Neat-o gang. We get to go back to that joyous office in about a week! Can I get a 'Hip! Hip! Hooray!'?

Cardinal....Cancer?

We have a bald cardinal.

Or at least it feeds at our blue feeder that hangs off the back porch.

I kid you not, it is bald. It has zero feathers atop its fairly ugly head which is graced with the presence of black skin.

We saw one of these at the Schielke's on the Fourth of July...although theirs was a little mangier looking, so I'm gonna go ahead and hypothesize that there is a virus going around the cardinal population.

And by virus I mean terminal illness. If one loses the feathers atop its head, I'm gonna go ahead and assume the end is near. They can SEE the light at the end of the tunnel and are heading towards it.

Hope they led a grand life in bird world.

Hats off to you, Cardinals of the Eberwhite Woods and surrounding Ann Arbor area...err feathers off to you...

A Camptastic Adventure To Go Down In History

We decided to go camping, because who doesn't love a good weekend camping trip right? After some minor planning, we got our shiz together to get on the road and to the Up North region of the Mitten. We headed up in two groups...the first group didn't have to work or hang out with their grandma, so they were in Wilderness by approximately 3 p.m. We three, on the other hand, had to work slash hang out with grandma, and so we didn't peace from the booming metropolis of Ann Arbor until about 5...an hour later we got off at the Lee Road exit (in Brighton) for some sustenance of the Panera kind...only to re-enter the highway scene with a few less cars than before, but still a slow moving mass of metal. Anyhoo...onward march! After escaping that traffic nightmare, we ran into the second one. Someone had to have died on this highway because they had it completely closed it off and were re-routing traffic...so that was another thing to rejoice about. Then we received a call from one Poppa Joel alerting SWG that she might have left all of her clothes at home...typical. Yet, hilarious! All we needed was a little bit of cooperation and she would make it through the weekend juuust fine.

Anyways. After seven hours of travel we were approaching our destination in the pouring rain and raging thunderstorm, when a porcupine comes waddling out of nowhere causing all of us to start screaming. Who knew how awkward porcupines were when they walked? I guess all those needles tend to get in the way and all, but gee whiz, you would think they would have thought of a better way to get around by now, after all these years.

Ummm then we stopped at the check-in station, which was clearly empty due to the fact that it was midnight 'o' clock, had an encounter with one of the park people who drove up with a flashlight asking questions, and then finally got to our campsite. Whew!

Night #1 was tres interasante. A lot of rain in a little amount of time equals not great. We ended up with some flooding inside the tent that was the size of a small house (and bigger than my dorm room). First it was just the little tiny hole that was forming a little puddle over by someone's head, but then it started seeping up through the entire bottom of the tent due to the fact that we were actually floating on a quite a bit of water, it was inevitable. A few got up and went to sleep in the car, and a few of us braved it...considering I was only wet from my waist down, I decided to stick it out. It wasn't terrible...at least it wasn't freezing cold on top of the wetness factor! When the rain finally slowed down, we decided to check out the area...some stakes had come loose, the awning was ripped, there was a LOT of water all around, and the tent was leaning rather severely in one direction...KK and I made some necessary adjustments and then we all just attempted a bit of slumber.

In the morning...the entire place was a little sad and tired looking...it had gone through quite a beating in just one short night, but the sun was coming out and there was quite a breeze. AKA primo condition to dry anything and everything out. Checked out the beach area, watched SW strip all sticks in sight of their bark, ate some delicious cereal, and then peaced to find a public beach with a little more sand and a little less beach grass. We landed on one with a very secret driveway and set up camp. KK, SWG (whose swim suit ended up being a pair of undies and a sports bra), and I frolicked about in the waves because the water was rather warm, but sadly, no one else would join us! Harumph. I guess they were too busy in iPod land to come play in the waves. Whoooo knows. Umm wave frolicking was followed up by a dandy lunch of PB&J sandwiches, Sun Chips, and various other items. Deeericious. Then we decided to go back to the campsite, start a fire, and commence the eating fest of all eating fests.

I took up the post of Professional Weenie Warmer and prepared the hot dogs to what I would say was perfection. Heated all the way through, but not completely singed on the outside. I'd say that was pretty successful. Let's see, the weenies were followed up by some grilled cheeses, followed up by chips, lots of pop, carrots and dip, fruit, homemade pretzels (SO GOOD), s'mores, and probably some more weenies. Hahahaha. Kind of disgusting...but it was totally fine. I claimed it vacation, which meant I was going to eat whatever I wanted...although when has not being on vacation stopped me from eating whatever I wanted to eat? Yeah I don't know...makes me feel better about myself!

After a long while of lounging about the campfire, with a nap in the middle, KK, SWG, and I decided to go to the beach to watch the sunset slash enjoy the lake atmosphere. We had quite the photo shoot and the sunset ended up lasting forever and was rather amazing, so needless to say, we were pleased with our decided plan of action.

When the cold night began to set in, we started to prepare for the Skinny Dipping Adventure of 2009. Clearly I only had the honor to be accompanied by KK and SWG, the others weren't feeling the nighttime lake quest. We suited up...well, rather down...but headed out with the 2 in 1 poo and dish, a towel, and a sweatshirt...oh and the really sweet flashlights compliments of Poppa Bob and Momma Annette...complete with wristbands so it's hard to lose them! We set up our base at the shore, dropped trow, and ran for it. Slightly chilly, but all in all, not terrible! A rejuvenating blast of cold I would say...and we got to wash our hair...which was a sweet added bonus.

After heading back to camp, we attempted to dry ourselves off as best as we could, and then put on every layer of clothing we brought and hunkered down in our sleeping bags to brave the cold night. Brr! In the morning, after waking up with all limbs still intact, our neighbors (the friendliest Indianers [oof...what do you call someone from Indiana?] on the planet offered us a delicious pot of coffee (which we graciously accepted) and took a couple snapshots of the entire group. So great. The first half of el grupo peaced to go back to Ann Arbor while KK, SWG, and I disassembled the house tent and packed up the Suburban.

After leaving Wilderness we decided that we should probably cross the Mackinac Bridge and prance about the Upper Peninsula...so that is just what we did! We climbed Castle Rock for a great view, walked about St. Ignace and grabbed a pretty good lunch, attempted to go see Tahquamenon Falls...but they were really far away so that failed, and basically just explored and had fun doing it! Naturally we were followed by hockey wherever we went....with the USA Hockey supporter sticker on the car we parked next to and then the St. Ignace Saints Hockey stickers that were plastered EVERYWHERE. Who knows. WHO knows.

But yes, that was our glorious day, and then we headed back to Ann Arbor. Believe it or not we arrived home after four hours instead of seven! Huh! Who knew it was humanly possible. Granted we did leave the tent stakes at the campsite...oopsie daisy...but they called and were really quite great about it. Last I heard they were sending them via snail mail back to the wonderful Ace Deuce region.

So yes, that was that. A little late in the reporting of events, but I've been busy...playing WorldofSolitaire. Eeeek I just said that.

Thumbs Up To Greatness

My life has officially been taken over by WorldOfSolitaire.com. The amount of time I spend on the site is actually disgusting...and kind of has to do with the lack of things I need to accomplish, which is also at a sickeningly low level as of late. Although this evening I did do something of worth...filled in for the lovely Janet and coached a Rec & Ed volleyball team with the love of my life SWG.

The Tweeties were quite the group. First off, we had no idea who these girls were, we just walked into Tappan Middle School, got lost for a minor minute or two, and then stood awkwardly by the entrance of the gym just hoping and wishing that some girls would show up in the same t-shirts that I was swinging around in a plastic TJ Maxx bag. Thank heavens they did...about four minutes before the game started, but that's just a minor detail. Warm up was a free for all...we didn't have balls of our own...so we just grabbed the two random ones that were hanging out by the wall annnd it went from there. Slightly chaotic but ended alright. We beat the first team in all three games...the second team...opposite results, but I mean, I still had fun. I'm not so sure about them...sometimes difficult to read their expressions...especially due to the fact that SWG and I were so overexcited ourselves because we were in the volleyball atmosphere. Harumph. At least we came up with some good cheers...like "Thumbs up for greatness!" and "Totally Tweeties!" amongst the normal "Be aggressives" and "Team!s."

During one of the breaks we laid down the law and gave the girls a few life rules to live by...

1. Don't ever date a hockey player. Don't even go near the sport. Hockey ruins lives. It's our life motto. HRL. Learn it, love it, live it. If you do, I will personally put you out of your misery. No problem.
2. No drugs.
3. Go for everything.
4. Don't drink and drive.
5. Don't swear.
6. Know what deodorant you're wearing.
7. Always know what undies you have on.
8. Ooh I believe that was about all of em'!

P.S. WHAT IS WITH THAT NEW MCDONALD'S COMMERCIAL?! Pretty sure Michiganders are NOT that obsessed with the sport of hockey. I know I'M not. I mean, I was. I still kind of am. BUT IT STILL HOLDS TRUE that hockey ruins lives. But really, what does hockey have to do with McDonalds? They basically claimed Hockey as the God of the state of Michigan. Not even cool. I mean I realize all those hockey players have been smashed into the boards on a number of occasions from the beginning of time, which in turn has clearly caused some serious brain damage due to the lack of ability to live life like a normal person...but come on. Try a little harder. Mmmm okay yeah. HRL. That will be all.

Oh Happy Day America

It is officially the first Fourth of July I can remember where I am not at Huron Valley. Thank you Liz Hill. Hahaha gotta love the new rules out there, or not. It's not required. Anyways, besides being bored out of my mind and entirely lame for sitting around in red, white, and blue without a destination to celebrate during the day...there are a few upsides to being refused entry to my old summer home.

1. I will not be getting kicked in the face while my eardrums and lungs are on the verge of bursting so I can just get that one last penny in the coin dive.
2. I will not be disappointed if they hand out Tootsie Roll Pops as opposed to Blow Pops for the marked coins.
3. I will not feel nauseous but still want a pie after watching the pie eating contest.
4. My fingernails will not be painted ridiculously by all the little ones.
5. I will not have to take a shower to remove the raw egg that splats everywhere during the egg toss.
6. No need to worry about getting injured during the potato sack race...or the grapefruit race...potato and spoon race...etc.
7. I don't have to cross my fingers all day hoping someone won't drown.
8. Definitely won't get sunburned, and therefore reduce my risk of skin cancer...HA!
9. I won't be depressed when my (nonexistent) ping pong ball doesn't win the race down the creek...yet again.
10. Mosquitoes! Much less of those little buggers to worry about...safe and sound in my own bed.

Alright so it sucks. But really only a little bit. I was offered the chance to help the Faj wash his car, or clean the basement with Maj. Instead I finished a book, got halfway through another, and have become an avid solitaire player. Worldofsolitaire.com. It's kind of disgusting...my average keeps fluctuating in the 8% range. One of these days I'll make some serious upward progress, I can just feel it...