Chore Saturday

Usually I do all my chores on Sunday, but Becky had to go to her sister's bachelorette party, so that left me with a lot of down time.  Given all that down time I ended up throwing the Office on Netflix and "watched" all of season one while I did my weekly chores.  I got all the laundry done, and the house generally cleaned up.  This was very urgent as working and just getting back from vacation had the place in a bit of a messy state.  By 11 I had the place in a pretty good shape, which was helpful.

We spent a lot of time over visiting my gran today too.  She is getting a hospital bed for my aunt so my uncle and I had to help move the old bet to one of the other bedrooms.  My aunt fell our first week of vacation and ended up in the hospital.  She apparently tried to go upstairs while my gran was taking the trash out and fell backwards and hit into the cabinet.  She fractured a rib and collapsed a lung.  She was in the hospital a few days and has been in a rehab center since then.  She gets out on Wednesday, and the new bed is arriving this Monday.  My gran also had us eat dinner with her, so we ordered some Chinese.

The other cool thing was that while we were moving we got to see some pretty cool planes.  The big air show is this weekend and we aren't too far from the airport.  So, the planes while their waiting for their entrance or when they are getting in formation often do so right over the house, or at the very least right in view from the front yard.  We had an F-22 basically circling the house.  Sal found it pretty interesting since she likes planes.  She waved, and then said "bye-bye" and blew it kisses.

The summer is quickly coming to an end.  I can't believe it's only two weeks until school starts, and three weeks until my EMU classes start.  It's about to get really busy really quickly!  For now, we're still working through to-do lists and trying to get things in shape.

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Sending mommy goofy faces while she's out.

Completed!

Today is the end of my NTO experience.  I'm glad that it's over just because these things are outside of the general routine and I like my routines.  I also found a lot of the stuff redundant.  I fell like they should do some of this stuff for people who have already been working in their schools.  There were so many people who started after last year's NTO and had to come to it even with an entire year of experience.  If you've been working a year I don't really feel like you need to have their behavior system or terminology introduced to you, so that's a bit of a waste of time.

What I really enjoyed was that over half of it turned out to be stuff in your content area.  So most of Thursday and Friday and then half of Tuesday we spent with a group of other social studies teachers.  They had us looking over standards, doing activities where we talked about assessments and lesson planning.  Today was about longterm planning and a lot about state testing.  It is crazy that we take our state tests at the beginning of April, two months before the end of the year, and basically have to cover everything we need by that point otherwise they'll be tested on stuff they don't know.  Though since the general passing level is abysmal, perhaps it really doesn't matter much.

So, overall I think it was a useful week.  I wish they'd tailor it a bit more to people who have more experience in their schools to remove some of the redundancies.  I'm also glad that they do this.  Rather than just throwing you into a classroom and assuming you can figure it out they take the time, resources, and money to make sure you have a basis for what they expect and let you know that you have resources.  So, good week, glad it's over.  Next week is more training, but also time in our rooms to start setting up and prepping.

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Just some snuggle time.

Role Play No Way!

Ugh, today was filled with role playing, and as you may be aware, I can't stand role playing.  I especially dislike doing it in teaching senses where you have adults acting like children because it's never representational of real teaching.  Adults don't act like students, have the same motivations as students, and I really don't find it at all helpful to role play situations like that.  This is especially true when one of the students is supposed to be the "problem student" because no one wants to really give the other people a hard time, so it's just kind of phony.

We also had to role play shaking hand and greeting students.  This one fell in the category of things I've already done and really don't need training on.  In fact, when the content area lead stopped by to watch us he asked how long I'd been doing this.  However, as we were doing it, it was clear that no one wanted to be doing it, so it was all very half assed.  This is probably another reason that these things are a waste of time.  No one owns it because we all know it's balderdash.

One more day to go!

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Yeah, this was the average for my 40 minute drive home from training. This is pretty amazing given that I was on the highway for a good portion of it!

Half Way!

I am now halfway through the new teacher orientation, and I'm pretty glad about that.  It's not that the training is bad, but I'm not sure how useful so far it has been as I have spent time in a NHA school.  Now, if you've never set foot in one of their schools and don't know the things that they do, then this would be totally helpful.  It is also pretty helpful in allowing you to network with other teachers in your subject area.  The thing about teaching in a small school like this is that you are the only teacher that does your content for the most part.  There may be another teacher that does another grade, but if you teach 7th and 8th or 6th and 7th, you are the only person in the school that teaches your subject.  So it's nice to be able to meet other people that will be teaching what you teach and to make connections with them.  That way you do have some peers that you can talk to if you need to.

Today was interrupted a bit during the lunch session because the fire alarms went off and we had to evacuate.  We were outside a long time and then heard a fire truck.  Then after standing outside for quite a while longer they finally let us back in.  They said something was smoking in an unused classroom but it must have been minor because nothing smelled smoky.  The nice thing was they also had to cut short one of the sessions that I didn't find helpful because I already knew about what they were covering.

So, that brings us halfway to the end of NTO.  I'll be glad when it's done because a lot of it is stuff I'm already aware of and I haven't find all that helpful so far.  However, perhaps the next few days will be a little more helpful as we spend a bit more time in our content area groups.  We also had the "team building" tonight, which turned out to be just letting us loose in a Dave and Busters.  I wasn't sure how the games worked, and ended up losing some coins trying to figure out how the card worked.  I ended up playing this wheel of fortune game, and then a lot of pacman, but they also had this Star Wars flight simulator sort of game where the screen kind of wrapped around you and you sat in this pod sort of thing.  It was way too loud, but was mildly amusing.  I ended up letting General Leia's ship get destroyed, and I didn't know how it worked so I didn't get to pick the level.  Basically it was a night of me not being able to figure out how things worked.  The food was super late so I ended up leaving before I ate and went home and picked up Yotsuba with Becky.

Two more days left of training.

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They didn't tell us what happened but something in the school was legit smoking.  That school should be careful, or it might end up with lung cancer.  Plus, think of all the money it could save from not smoking.

A Flood Of Annoyance

Well, we've had another flood.  This time the sump pump decided that it didn't want to work when it decided to finally rain.  The flood wasn't as bad as the last time, probably on account that it didn't rain too much.  However, it was enough to leave puddles all over the basement where the drains are located.  The wood in my office is all warped and messed up now.  The annoying thing is that when I took the cord and jiggled it the pump turned right on and sucked out all the water.

I'm not amused by this in the least.  Despite the pump turning back on and seemingly working again, we still decided that we'd just replace the old one.  I'm sick of having this issue, and it's happened once really bad, and then a few times it wasn't able to keep up with the water and resulted in a bit of moisture.  So, we picked up a new and powerful pump and installed it tonight.  That should take care of this problem once and for all.  We also had some people come out to give us estimates to fix the issues from the last flood.  One was reasonable, one was outrageous, but we'll see what insurance says, and we know they'll pay for some portion of the repairs. We'll see how it turns out. However, I'm about had it with water and flooding and unexpected annoyances.

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I didn't get to post this picture and figured I'd post it.  This is a view of the dunes on Lake Superior.  This is mostly because I didn't get a picture taken today due to above.

First Day!

Well, here we have it, today was my first day of work!  I think I can count this as a major new experience because as of today I am not a paid, full time teacher.  After all this waiting and working today was my first day on the job.  Of course the kids aren't here yet, and won't be until after Labor Day, but today was training.  This entire week is actually going to be training, but today was training at my actual school with all the other new teachers.  When I arrived they had me sitting with the other new middle school teachers.  I discovered that the entire 8th grade team was new.  The most "veteran" was the math teacher who got hired in March of this year, but all the rest of us are new to the school.  The ELA and science teachers are from other NHA schools.

The training was mostly just a get to know you and get to know some of the things that we'll need to know for the school year.  We were supposed to get some time in our classrooms to start moving in and whatnot, however I guess with the rain there was a little moisture and that led to some mold. So now we have to have the rooms cleaned out to get rid of the mold.  This means that we don't get to get into our classrooms until that's been taken care of, which they hope will be by the end of the week.

The other thing we did was in our teams we had to go on a scavenger hunt around the school, and also around the nearby businesses.  Our team came in last place, but it was pretty amusing.  We also were taken to lunch at this place near the school that they raved about.  It was decent, though I think the potato soup was over hyped.  It wasn't soupy enough.  They also didn't label the sandwiches so I had to try and figure out what to get.  I ended up with turkey, but they didn't say what was on it.  It almost seemed like it had coleslaw on it.  I mean, it was tasty enough, I just like to know what I'm eating.

I'm not sure what I think about my coworkers.  They seemed kind of friendly, but they seemed to click together with each other better than with me.  We'll see how it goes.  Tomorrow will be the official New Teacher Orientation for all the new teachers in the company.  They say it's great, and it's nice that they do that to help teachers. It's a total of four days, and there's a "team building" dinner on Wednesday at Dave and Busters, and I'm not looking forward to that because I'm not great with the whole small talk thing. But, they do give us some cash to play games, so that could be fun.

So, off to more training tomorrow!

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When I arrived they had this lovely bag, gift bag, and little note ready for me.

Garden Update

Well, being gone for two weeks was not good for the garden.  Parts of it are suddenly totally overgrown.  The pumpkin plants look like they've all died at the base, though some of the vines still seem to be alive and flowering.  I've got a couple of pumpkins that are getting orange, but they're a little weirdly shaped and I'm not sure if they're going to get any bigger than they already are.  The tomatoes aren't doing well at all, most of them seem to be rotting.  The corn is doing ok, which is good, and we got some off of it and ate it tonight for dinner, and I have to say it was delicious.  The cantaloupes are getting ripe and I've picked one and it was tasty.  The onions have been overrun by grass in some areas. The zucchini also seem to be about dead too.  The watermelon seem to be doing well, and I think one or two maybe ready very soon.

I think what I've learned is that we needed a bit more space than we had.  Things got a little too crowded and I think that's messed up my tomatoes.  I also think some things should have been planted sooner, especially the melons.  Also, a few of the items needed a little assistance to hold up the plants, such as the peas, which ended up overrun with grass because it grew into it and it was super hard to separate and weed.

The good news is, that I think simply in zucchini we were able to get our money's worth to make the garden profitable.  Add in all the corn we're getting now, and the tomatoes we've picked up, the melons that are about to be ready, and the onions, we definitely are going to come out with this being a better investment.  Plus, it's been a fun hobby and it's nice to pick your own produce.

So, with the garden winding down I won't have too much more to update.  We've got some corn, onions, and melons still going, and we'll see how the pumpkins turn out.  I've learned a lot for next year, and I think we'll see better results.

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Yeah, after cleaning all that poowater, I'm just sitting around watching some Olympics.

A Literal Shit Storm

I am not amused.  As I was working on my to do list and get things taken care of to get the house in order after the trip, I had to take some papers downstairs to file however when I turned on the light and walked down the stairs I saw that there was a significant amount of water on the floor in the basement.  This is odd because it has been crazy dry.  It didn't seem to make sense that it would be the sump pump, which has happened in the past.  I also noticed that it smelled bad.  I looked toward my office and saw that it looked try over that way and was wet back toward the theatre company storage area.  So, I have no idea where the water came from.  I got some old paint cans and used them as stilts to get around and try to figure out what the problem is.

After some investigating it became clear that the water was sewer water, but we still weren't sure where it had come from as there was no evidence of entry.  It wasn't come out of the toilet, or tub, or drains.  Eventually we found that it was from a drain access point.  So, Becky's dad happened go have a giant snake and was able to snake out the drain and get rid of the blockage, which was helpful for us so we could suck out all the water with the wet dry vac.  We then had the task of cleaning all the floors that were saturated in disgusting.

We're checking into to see about getting it professionally cleaned and to see about any water damage.  We've also contacted insurance to see if they can help out with that.  It basically has derailed an entire day and all last night from when I discovered it.  I also feel like even with the heavy cleaning we've done I still feel gross about the floors. Like, if I walk on it I'm going to get shit cooties on my feet.

Ugh. What an annoyance.

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How I feel about today.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, after two weeks away (minus about a day and a half in between trips) it's good to be home and to start getting back in the usual routine. It's also very nice to be back in my own bed, because not all of the hotels we stayed in had very good beds. It's also nice to have some different food options like a variety of fruits.

The trip was pretty good, I got to visit some places I haven't been before like Salem, the UP, Fishtown, Lake Superior, and Pictured Rocks shoreline.  I also got to go wine tasting, which is something that I've never done before, and was pretty cool.  I got to try some new wines that I didn't even know exist (and bought some of them too).  I'm not sure how to count this on my new experience listing.  I think for sure the wine tasting is a new experience, and usually I count going places as well, and I think Salem for sure and lump everything we did there into one, and then Lake Superior and Pictured Rocks goes together.  So, should that count at three new experiences? I think I already had one or two for the year, so that would take me to 4 or 5, which is nearly to the goal.

It was a nice trip, and I enjoyed being able to stop by Wellsville to help with my family history project, and to do some cool things in Rhode Island.  It was fun to take Sal to the ocean, even though she wasn't really a fan, and to visit Salem.  I'm sad that things weren't calm and we didn't get to see the cliffs at Pictured Rocks, but we did get to see some nice stuff like the Lake and hike in the forest.  So, it was a good trip, but it's also good to be home and get back to the normal routine.  I've got a list of things to get in order in the house before Monday when I start training for the new job.

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This morning we got to pick up Sal, and she was quite happy to see us, and ready to come home.

Island Time

Today was our final day of vacation and I'm kind of glad to be home now since we haven't been home for the most part over the past two weeks.  I think part of what was getting me ready to be home was that we were in an area with not a lot of choices for food, and so we're stuck with what we have available which is generally options that I'd never pick (things on the scale of like a Ponderosa--only less classy)..  I've found that I'm actually craving fruits and vegetables and my own dinner.  Today's activities included driving down in the morning from Pictured Rocks and stopping off at Mackinac Island since Jasmine had never been.

We weren't in a very big rush this morning since we only had our one activity and then driving home the rest of the way.  We ended up getting down to the bridge by about 11 and debated if we should eat before or after we go to the island.  We decided before, though in retrospect we probably should have waited.  We ended up at a place called Darrow's based on Yelp reviews, however it smelled like a Banquet microwave turkey dinner's gravy.  The food was solidly marginal.  After we finished our "meals" we headed over to catch the ferry, which was quite enjoyable.  We got to see a bunch of boats including a very larger shipping ship and this absurd looking yacht that looked like it costs more than my lifetime salary.  Fancy!

Once we were on the island we walked up the main street toward the fort and then took a path up to Arch Rock.  Unfortunately as we were walking it started to rain, which incidentally was not in the forecast, much like how the weather yesterday wasn't as predicted.  However, the path was in the woods, and the rain didn't really get us and it seems the worst of it passed to the north of us.  The island seemed pretty busy with tour groups.  It didn't seem overly busy but everyone was in a group that was being driven around on horse trailers.  This high level of horse traffic is probably why the entire main street smells like poop. Once the trailers left the area was pretty empty so we got a nice time to see the arch.  We then took the stairs down to the lake shore and got a view from the opposite side of the arch.  It looked a lot higher up from the top than it did from the bottom.

After our hike out to the lake we walked back into town and went through the shops and stopped by the Grand Hotel to get a view of it.  From the pictures of the inside rooms I feel like the outside is a bit nicer than the interior turns out to be.  Perhaps it's just because I don't care for the decorating style.  We of course then purchased some fudge before we caught the ferry back to the mainland.  Overall, I wasn't in love with our trip to the island.  Perhaps if we rented bikes and went around to the far side of the island I'd have been fine with it, but even then it's mostly just a tourist trap. The shops sell cheap trinkets, and the fudge is good, but mostly I'm not overly sure what the draw is other than the novelty of staying on an island with no cars.  However, if you want to do that perhaps go to Venice instead.  The food is better, the shops are better, and it doesn't smell like horse turds.

So, that concludes our trip, we are now happily at home and I've got to do some cleaning before I start work on Monday.  It was a good trip and I got to mark off some new experiences, which was fun.

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A view from the bottom of the arch.

How About No

Today was the big day for our trip and kind of what we had planned everything around.  The main attraction is the shore and rocky cliffs at Pictured Rocks, and so to see them well we had a few options.  The first is that they do boat trips where you get on a boat and it goes up and down the shore for a couple of hours so that you can get a nice view with probably 100 other people on a ferry style boat.  They also have a sunset cruise that does the exact same thing but does it at the end of the day so you get a nice view of the rocks as the sun is setting.  Conveniently they charge a bit more for doing it at sunset.

The other option was to go on a kayak tour where you and a small group paddle out with a guide for a couple of hours so you can see the rocks up close and in a more natural setting rather than on a giant boat with a ton of other people.  With these options, we decided that the best way to see it was to go with the kayak tour, and it fits into our previous trips like the canoe trip, or the glacier hike.  So, we booked a tour for this morning because the weather was supposed to be sunny today and tomorrow there is rain in the forecast.  We had to get up pretty early so that we could check in and get directions to the parking location and then drive there and catch a bus to the park.  There were a lot of people there, and I overheard one of the staff say that they had over 120 paddlers (though not all of us were going on the same tours, as they have a couple different tours).

Once we made it to the park where they launch from they got us outfitted with paddles, kayak cover things that keep water out of the kayak, and life jackets. Then, after everyone was read and had gone to the restroom (it was a 4 hour tour, so you better be good because there is nowhere to go), we headed down to the beach. The guide asked how many had paddled before, and said we were getting a real Lake Superior experience.  When we got to the beach we could see what he meant because the waves were really crashing, and the rather than being sunny it was cloudy and kind of sprinkling.

The waves were really large, and it wasn't a great day for the trip, but everyone was super excited.  I wanted to do the kayaking, but as we were getting into the kayaks I was a bit uncomfortable and when I finally got in I figured I could work through it, but physically it was not the tops.  We got all situated and the guide told us after we launched to paddle straight out into the waves so that they don't bowl you over or really thrash you around and that once he had launched all of us he'd meet us and we'd start going.  Now, as I'm sitting there looking at the waves I'm feeling that this is not that great of an idea and that we are totally in over our head.  Well, just as he was about to start launching us they get a call saying that the waves were 4 foot out at the safety boat that follows tours and that they were calling it on account of weather.

I'm not going to lie, as I was sitting there watching the waves I was relieved that we weren't going to go today.  It was a little scary and I can't imagine being out on waves like that for half a day.  So, they got us all out of the kayaks and bussed us back to the parking lot and I had to go either reschedule or get a refund.  Given that  we were leaving the next day we decided to just get a refund.  So, instead we ended up going hiking longer than we originally expected.  We started at the far end of the shoreline and worked our way back.  We spent some time on a very rocky beach and I put my feet in the water, which was very cold, and I can't imagine actually being in a kayak as it seemed like you could easily get knocked in the water and it was so cold.

The first hike was past the Sable Falls on our way to the lake.  The second hike was a lot longer from this beautiful river that flowed right into the lake to the Au Sable lighthouse.  Because the hike was so long we ended up not being able to go to one of the areas that I really wanted to visit.  I guess the theme for the day was that the plans were not going to pan out.  Perhaps it's also the theme for the trip in general because we also had to call the trip short because we were planning to go to the dark sky park to see the meteor shower, but it's going to be cloudy so there's no point.  And, because of the changes today we don't need tomorrow to go hiking which means we're going to cut it short in the UP and drive down so we can still manage to fit in Mackinac Island.

The most striking area we hiked around was an area called Miners Castle.  Of the areas we got to see it had the most cliffs and color.  I really loved this area and I'm sad we didn't get to see it from the water.  Also, as you can see by the picture the sun did eventually come out and the waves seemed to die down quite a bit.  Perhaps we should have gone with the afternoon tour instead and perhaps we could have gone.  Or perhaps the waves just seemed smaller from here than it actually was.  There was also a nice beach connected to this area, which was where we were supposed to launch from this morning.

Once we'd spent the day hiking all over the parks we decided that since there was nowhere to eat in the city we were staying we drove to Marquette where we ate at a place called Casa Calabria.  It was not too bad.  I got some lobster ravioli and a salad that came with a huge and insanely buttery piece of garlic bread.  Overall I'd say it was probably somewhere around the quality of an Olive Garden, however that was lightyears ahead of anything that was located in Munising, where we were staying.

Tomorrow we head to Mackinac Island and then will drive home a little early since we can't do the dark sky park.

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Logan was hanging out on this rock and kept getting really close to the edge and then moving when the waves come.  After watching this a bit we decided to head back to the car so we headed back to the path in the woods to the parking lot, and as we got out of sight we heard him scream and then Jasmine cackling.  Apparently he got too close and got hit by a huge wave and was soaked.

Wine Time

Today was Jasmine's big surprise birthday gift.  We started the day by heading all the way up to the end of the peninsula to visit the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. From our hotel it was about an hour and when we arrived we shot a few photos and realized that the camera wasn't taking photos, and that everything we did the day before was lost.  This was unfortunate, but we were able to figure out what to do going forward, but I'm very sad that we lost all our dune photos.  Back to the point, the lighthouse was quite pretty, though it seemed like it was a bit far from the water.  One thing I was looking forward to was the exhibit on the carriers that were used during World War II right off the coast used to train pilots how to land on them, though it was a bit overwhelming especially based on the hype.

The water was very calm and beautiful and I decided to walk in a bit to enjoy the water.  It was actually pretty warm, and there was hardly anyone around except for a few people swimming a little bit down the coast.  We also took a little time to skip some stones across the water, and teaching Jasmine how to do it, since she'd never done it and wasn't sure how you did it.  We also saw a few sailboats out on the horizon and that made me really want to learn to sail because it seems like it'd be great to be on the water and to let the wind propel you across it.

After the lighthouse we headed back down toward Traverse City but made our first birthday stop, which was Leelanau Cellars tasting room.  That's right, we took Jasmine to go wine tasting in honor of her 21st birthday.  Leelanau Cellars was ok, their wine is very inexpensive and so the tasting was free because it's crazy to pay to taste something that only costs like $6 a bottle.  I wasn't blown away and we didn't stay long before heading off to the next stop, which was called Forty-Five North, and I have to say was my favorite stop of the day.  This is a bit surprising because when I was planning all of this, I really wasn't overly interested in going here, and even considered not bothering going so that we could save time and get to the UP a little earlier.  Glad we went, because the experience was great!

First, the tasting room location was super cute.  It had this kind of rustic look, which is not something I'm usually a fan of, but in this setting and how they did it worked really well.  When we went in there was really no one else there and the guy working at the bar was super friendly and had us sit down and explained how the tasting worked and the cost.  He also kind of explained a few of the wines and made some suggestions while we figured out what we wanted.  The tasting was $5 for 5 tastes (though a few others were an extra cost).

Looking at the list I decided this would be a good place to do the tasting since I wasn't going to do all 4 as I was the driver.  I ended up trying the premium tastes, which was a good choice because one of them was really good.  So good that I decided to buy my own bottle, along with two other bottles.  We ended up getting a riesling that Becky liked, and then a Cabernet franc that was excellent, and then one called a lemberger, which I hadn't hear of .  I also really enjoyed the guy that was serving us.  He was very informative, friendly, and seemed to enjoy our group's banter.  We also ended up getting a cheese plate that was delicious.  They had this really good fig jam that went really well with the swiss.  They also had this really good cheddar that I'm going to need to buy.  By far this was the best experience of the day.

We also stopped by 2 Lads, which I was looking forward to, but left disappointed.  The service was bad and the guy was kind of a snob.  The wine wasn't good either.  It was very aggressive in flavor in a way that isn't pleasant. The next stop was Chateau Grand Traverse, which was a nice location though the tasting felt very corporate.  We made a final unplanned stop at a place we saw way up on a hill that looked really cool (see left), but Jasmine wasn't impressed with the offerings so we didn't try anything and began our journey to the UP.  We didn't actually get dinner as there isn't much to stop at on the way to Munising.  Jasmine ended up ordering a pizza once we arrived but I just went to bed.  It was an excellent day over all, and I was very impressed with 45 North.  I think in the long term they are going to end up with a lot of my money.  Tomorrow is kayaking and hiking on the Pictured Rocks National Shoreline.

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A group picture at the lighthouse.

Sand People

Today was the first day of our part two trip.  We started off by dropping the booty princess with Becky's cousin.  She seemed like she was having a good time, but just to be safe once she was busy we slipped out to avoid any meltdown.  We then began our drive up to the Traverse City area.  I think we've only been up there twice back when my sister lived in the area.  I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed, though once was in the winter, and once was during the Cherry Festival they have up there, and neither time blew me away.  So, I've never understood the big draw for this area, however today was pretty good and we got to see a bit of a different side to the area.

We ended up first in Leland so that we could visit a place called Fishtown.  Leland is a small town and right along the small river that leads into Lake Michigan there is an area that is known as "historic Fishtown" which is where a lot of the fishing industry was located.  Now, it's basically a lot of touristy kind of shops that sell little trinkets and things you find in tourist trap kind of places.  The shops on the main street are similar though they did have a few cute places like the bookshop or this home decor store.

Following our time at Fishtown we decided to go see the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  I've never seen them before so it was pretty cool.  We got to the dune climb trail and started climbing them.  Becky decided F-that-S and went back to the car. Logan was all, "ewww, cardio" and literally stopped and took a nap.  Jasmine and I decided to keep at it and went a good ways further up another dune.  However, someone coming back said that we still had 45 minutes before we'd make it to the lake and decided that we'd gone far enough.  So, we turned around and walked back to the car and then drove to an excellent overlook that was 600 feet above the water.  Unfortunately we ended up without any pictures of this because the memory card decided to not save any of the photos from today, which is a huge disappointment.

On our way to our hotel we decided to stop for dinner at a place called Bella Fortuna North in Lake Leeland.  The Yelp app said that it had good reviews, and they said it was casual dress.  When we arrived it wasn't as casual as we were dressed.  However, it was also a kind of strange place.  When we walked in they asked if we had reservations and when we said no they said they'd see if they could fit us in.  Incidentally, the restaurant was mostly empty.  The owner asked how we heard about the place and when Becky told her that we found it via Yelp she thanked us for coming in.  She also sent us over a free tiny glass of prosecco.  I ended up getting the mushroom risotto on the recommendation of the waitress.  It was excellent. Becky got a garlic cream pasta with shaved truffles that was also delicious.   For dessert I got a blueberry sorbet, but I got to try Jasmine's crème brûlée and Becky's tiramisu, both were delicious.

It was a busy day, and by the end it felt like everything we had done took place over multiple days.  Tomorrow is Jasmine's secret birthday present event, which should be good.

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As we were coming down from the dunes I snapped this photo Jasmine and my shadows.  This was basically how we felt after our partial hike up the dunes.

Go For The Gold

It was nice that we were able to get home late on Friday so that we ended up having a full two days at home between our trips.  The trip out to Rhode Island was nice, and it was fun to get to see some things that I wanted to see or visit places that I haven't been before.  A nice addition to my new experience list (which we will add to this coming week on our part two trip).  One thing that sucks with traveling right now is that the Olympics started on Friday.  We tried to watch the opening ceremony from our hotel room but it kept skipping  and was being a total pain in the ass.  The good news is that with the extra time at home we've been able to catch up a little bit, and got to see the opening ceremony.  I was a little critical of parts of it, such as the tinfoil looking thing they did with the giant balloons.  However, some other bits were pretty cool such as the call out to how slavery has shaped Brazil, and the focus on climate change.  So thumbs up for that.

People who know me, and probably those who don't but have somehow stumbled upon my blog and have been paying attention may notice that I don't really talk about sports.  That's because I really don't care for sports. Occasionally I'll watch a baseball or soccer game it it's the World Cup, or some major event.  I've been to a Tigers game, and we'd go watch Jasmine play soccer, and we used to work UM Football games and I'd watch the game on the television screens.  But, clearly, I'm not really that into sports, it's just not really my thing.

Except, the Olympics.

I love the Olympics (especially the summer Olympics which are my absolute favorite whereas the winter are less exciting).  I will have the television on 24/7, TiVo everything. Flip between NBC and CBC to see what is going on in each station (p.s. CBC coverage I think is a little better.  They seem to talk less and show more).  I will watch any sport.  Soccer, sure!  Basketball, let's go!  Volleyball, get 'em! That's not even counting the things that I freaking love like gymnastics, beach volleyball, swimming, track and field.  I even get into rowing equestrian, archery, or rugby.  Basically, if they show it, I'll watch it because I freaking love the Olympics.

I'm not sure what it is about the olympics that I'm super into.  Perhaps it's just that it's like the best of everyone and they all are competing.  You get to see people from all over the world, and of course you are all about your country winning, but even if they're not you can totally get into it and cheer for winners doing things that no one else can.  And then, when they break a world record, it's the best!

So, I'm totally bummed that I'm traveling during the Olympics, since it only comes around every four years.  However, I'm going to be watching everything I possibly can.

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Saw this in a store and apparently this describes me.  Though, I guess I can't disagree when you see how I plan vacation.  However, as long as you tell me what you want so I can plan it in, then I am totally flexible.  However, once we have a plan you can't just go an change it on me.

Roadtrip Warrior Sal

Well friends, we made it home today!  Yesterday morning we were trying to figure out how to plan out our return trip.  We originally tried to plan to do something and take it easy on the way home kind of like how we did on the way out.  However, given Sal's aversion to being inside, and the fact that there isn't really all that much conveniently we weren't really sure what to do.  After a bit of a conversation we decided that the best plan would be to just start the drive and to go as far as we could before Sal couldn't take it anymore.  We figured that might get us a good distance and we'd just find somewhere to stay.

Well, Sal was a freaking beast and made it the entire trip!  She did so without really getting angry or throwing any tantrums.  She had a few angry periods when she told us "poop" and we thought she was faking us out but she had some hiding poop in that diaper, so her anger was justified.  However, the first nine hours she played with her books, she colored, we had a few nice games of boo, and she did some good napping.  We stopped a couple of times and let her play outside at some rest stops. The final three hours or so were a little more rough as she was getting bored. However, even then she was just kind of grumpy, not pissed off.

We ended up taking 14 hours to get home, which is about two hours longer than we usually take to get home. I'm so amazed at how well Sal did and that we were able to get home in one day instead of two.  So, thus ends part one of our trip.  We've got a day off tomorrow, then Monday we head up north for a tour of Michigan.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
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After a while coloring it got very quiet and I looked back and saw her eyes rolling around.  A few minutes later I looked back and she was totally out, while still clutching a colored pencil in each hand.  A few minutes later she dropped both.  She was so tired she didn't even wake up at the toll booth.

Blueberries For Sal

Today was a pretty low-key day.  We didn't have anything specific planned for the day, and Wendy and Josie were available starting at 11am or so.  We decided that it might be fun to go pick blueberries since we've never done that because we were never out here at the quite the right time.  We tried to figure out how tomorrow is going to work with the start of our trek home, and then once that was figured out we headed over to Target to pick up some more sunblock for Sal, and I ended up picking up the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child script that came out a few days back.

After that we still had a little bit of time to try and kill before Wendy and Josie were going to be ready so we decided to visit the dairy and bakery in Woonsocket.  We did a quick walk through the bakery first, and there were a number of delicious looking things that we could buy.  We ended up getting a cannoli, which wasn't bad.  We also picked up some chocolate milk for us, and regular milk for Sal (because she doesn't like chocolate milk for some reason.  We also went to take a look at the cows.  They had a few young calves that were really close, in fact close enough that you could pet them if you wanted, though a sign said to do so at your own risk.

Once we met up with Wendy and Josie we decided to head out to a farm nearby that did you pick berries.  The people there weren't all that helpful in telling us exactly what we had to do.  They had a bunch of jugs that are used for apple cider (they also do apple picking and cider there apparently), so we grabbed a few and had to find someone to ask where we had to go.  They helpfully told us that we just go outside.  We walked over to the blueberry area and determined we just had to pull up the netting and go under it to get to the blueberry bushes.

Sal was very helpful at picking the berries, however she was less helpful in that she would just grab a fist full of berries and pull them all off the bush ripe or not.  However, when I told her to only pick the blue ones, she would pick the blue ones, and as long as I kept saying, "only the blue ones" she did a good job.  As she was picking them and putting them into our container I don't think she realized they were blueberries like she eats at home.  Finally I asked her if she was going to eat one, and so she at one and then seemed to realize what it was and then started reaching in and eating them just as quickly as she was picking them.  I think by the end of it she had eating half a pint of what we had picked.  We decided not to pick raspberries on account of the sun getting really hot and feeling like we were getting burned.

After picking berries we decided to get some lunch and headed a bit further south so that we could get lunch and take Sal to the park.  The place we stopped looked like something straight out of Mad Men probably on account that it hadn't been renovated since it was built most likely.  They had little jukeboxes at each table, though Josie had a little trouble with the one at our table because it had very sensitive buttons and she ended up playing the wrong song three times before she was able to get the one she wanted.

After eating we headed to a nearby park a little bit south of Providence so that Sal could have some time to play and be out of the car before our long drive tomorrow.  We decided to go as far as we can before stopping and see how far that gets us without having to stay over like on the way out.  She had a great time swinging with Josie, and then running around the jungle gym.  She played a nice game of "I'm going to get you" where she'd run away from people and when she got to the end of the equipment she's say "Again!"  Once she'd had a good amount of time to play we decided to head out.  As we were about to leave a band started playing and all these food trucks had opened up in the parking lot.  I guess every Friday they do this.  Becky ended up getting a crepe and we both got these delicious frozen blueberry lemonade drinks.

We ended the day hanging out and watching the start of the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics, but had to cut it early so Sal could get a bath and get to bed so we could head home the next morning.  We figure we'll drive as far as we can tomorrow and stop when we can't go any further.

Picture(s) of the Day: 
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As we were packing up I noticed the hotel had a washer and dryer.  I went to take a closer look and the machines let me know that they would wash my clothes but they'd need about three fifty (treefiddy). Well, it was about that time that I notice that washing machine was about eight stories tall and was a crustacean from the protozoic era...

Sun, Sand, and (Window) Shopping

Today was the only day that we really had specific plans before we came, and those plans were to go to the beach.  There are many beach options available here, and we ended up going to a calm sort of beach on account of Sal.  She really wasn't sure what to make of it all.  She wanted to see the water, but she didn't want to touch the water, or go too near the water, or for other people to go too near the water.  At first she was just all kinds of pissed off, but then we convinced her to make sand castles, and she seemed quite amused that when you poured water on them they would melt.

After a while she stopped getting pissed off if she got wet, and seemed totally fine when she dumped most of the water from the watering can she had on herself.  So, we decided to see if we could get her closer to the water.  It worked out pretty well if one of us held her and then went out closer to it so that she was safely being held and not in danger of touching the water.  From there I tried to get her excited about the little waves by saying, "HERE THEY COME!!!!"  And she started to laugh when they got near and ask for more.  That's a super good sign.  Then we got her to actually touch the water and splash.  However, then the water splashed her in the face and the crying started again so we had to go back to the digging.  At one point I got her to come with me to the water to fill up her watering can, however as the wave came in and touched her feet she freaked out and ran away.

Now, we're not talking bit waves by any means, this was a very calm beach and the waves were maybe a couple of inches tall at most.  Not even half as tall as Sal at their biggest point.  So, we clearly are going to have to work with her a bit on getting used to the water, we can't have a kid afraid of the beach, that'd be no fun at all.  The cutest was when I got her to walk up to where the waves were coming in, very small waves, but as soon as the water touched her feet she ran away screaming.

After our time at the beach we decided to head over to Newport since it was only about 30 minutes away.  We walked down the street looking for food before we settled on a place called the Red Parrot.  The serviced was absolutely terrible, and I was annoyed when they added gratuity to the check because the waitress did not deserve what she got.  The food was mostly bland.  I was wholly unimpressed with pretty much everything that everyone ordered, especially given the prices.  I expect more if you're going to charge me a ton.

After dinner we decided to stroll down the streets and popped into any shops that looked interesting.  There were a few that had some stuff that would make really good artwork for the guest room, and had some funny trinkets and signs and such.  We also ended up stopping at a gelato shop for a little snack, I felt rushed so I just got some vanilla, which was good, but perhaps there was something better.  But there was a line forming and the counter guy seemed impatient.  I was very tempted to buy some popcorn from the store next door that had all sorts of flavored popcorn like caramel, cheddar and then a bunch of other crazy flavors. It was a pretty good time.

We ended the day early so Sal could have a bath.  Tomorrow is our last full day and we're thinking we'll do some blueberry picking.  After tomorrow we start to head back to Michigan, and perhaps we'll make a stop or two along the way if we can figure out something interesting to do.

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Sal got pretty good at the whole shovel the sand into the bucket thing.  It was a little confusing at first, but she really got the hang of it.  The beach was a love hate relationship that we will have to work on.

Esther Day

It seems like every year Esther Day just sneaks up on me and I look at the calendar and it's suddenly August 3rd.  For anyone who happens to stumble across this blog and are confused what in the world I'm talking about, Esther Day is a holiday celebrated every year on August 3rd by Nerdfighters.  We are people who fight against world suck and try to make things more awesome.  We are connected to various degrees thought an online community connected to John and Hank Green.  The holiday itself honors a fellow Nerdfighter named Esther Earl. Esther was very involved in the Nerdfighter world and involved in a lot of the message boards, as well as the charity activities that Nerdfighters are involved in.  Esther also had cancer, and in 2010 at the age of 16 she died.  To commemorate her birthday John and Hank wanted to honor her wish that there be more love in the world, and for people to value those closest to them.  So, on Esther Day we reach out to those people in our life and we let them know what they mean to us, and that we love them.

I love this holiday and what it represents. I'm glad there is a day where we express love for others that isn't romantic.  To tell people that they are important in our lives and matter.  Sometimes we go too long without saying that, or we feel uncomfortable or feel like we're going to be seen as a weirdo if we say it.  This gives us a good day to not feel weird and to be sure we let people know that they are important to our lives.

It also gives us some time to remember Esther.  I think about her often as I wear a This Star Won't Go Out band and put it on daily.  The band is part of the This Star Won't Go Out charity, which helps provide support to families that have a child with cancer.  If you have the ability I highly recommend donating to it.  Also, take up the spirit of the day and tell the people in your life that you love them and appreciate them.

DFTBA

She Changed Me Into A Newt!

This morning we had another huge success in terms of how late Sal was sleeping.  She again slept until just about 9am, which was really good news because she was very tired.  This was planned, or perhaps not really planned, as a very low key trip so we really didn't have much on the agenda for the day.  Jenna didn't have to work, so we picked her up and decided that we were going to visit Salem.  In all our travels out here we've never visited, so it seemed like a nice idea.  Plus, my uncle and cousin have been doing a lot of family history and apparently we are decedents of Sarah Osborne, who was one of the first people accused of witchcraft in Salem.  So, that's pretty interesting.

The drive took a lot longer than expected on account of the worst traffic ever.  Google said it should only take about an hour and a half, however it was closer to two hours and 15 minutes or so.  When we arrived we found parking near the visitor center and we got some maps of the area and listened to a guy talk about things we could see.  We didn't do any of the super touristy things like the witch museum.  However, we did visit the memorial to those who were killed for being witches.  There were 19 in total, all of them were hanged but one, who was crushed to death.  The memorial is a nice area with a green area in the middle surrounded by a rock wall and benches for each of the victims with their names inscribed on them.

After that we walked down toward the old wharf and then on to The House of the Seven Gables.  I'm not a Hawthorne person, in fact I don't believe that I've read anything at all that he has written.  But, the guy at the visitors center said it was a neat place to go, so we gave it a try.  Again, Sal was not having any of the going indoors thing.  So we traded off where Becky and Jenna did the tour then I did the next one.  Their tour guide was apparently the worst.  Mine was one of those girls in high school that loves anime and probably has cat ears at home and is way too old for that sort of thing now.  But hey, she was super enthusiastic which is a plus and I guess I got a lot more information than Becky and Jenna did.  So I suppose that was a plus.

After the house tours and some more walking we decided to eat at a little place called The Lobster Shanty.  This turned out to be a really good choice as it was outdoor seating, and that made Sal happy as a clam.  The food was pretty good, and I especially was impressed with their clam chowder.  Once we were done with lunch we had to head back so that we could see Josie in her Karate class.  Again, the commute was the worst ever and it took us over 45 minutes longer than anticipated.  It got to the point where I wasn't sure if I was going to get us back in time, despite the fact that we left three and a half hours before the class we needed to see.

Luckily, we did make it back home in time and got to see Josie's class.  She got to do the warmups, and was a bit brutal making the students crawl across the floor dragging themselves with one arm.  After that there were some exercises and a kind of choreographed thing to see how much of it they remembered.  Then they had some sparring. It was nice to see what Josie spends so much of her time doing, and she seemed to be having a great time.  It reminded me of years ago when we'd come out and go to Jenna's dance classes to watch her dance.  We ended the day early and headed back to the hotel so Sal could get some sleep.

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What can I say,  I'm a rebel.