Here are pics from the day we spent at St. Joe which is another town nearby the dunes and campground where we stay. We always walk out on the pier after a day of browsing the shops, and then head down to the beach for a swim. There were some decent waves to play in that day, although they can get MUCH bigger than this.
Lindee walking out on the pier
Chris and I gazing at the water
Carter and I checking out something on the skimboard.
Siler enjoying the stroller ride
Lindee and Si
Asher and Shannon playing in the sand
Carter getting ready to skim
Waiting for a wave
HIS GRANDPA
By Edgar A. Guest
Who thinks that we are too severe?
His Grandpa
Who thinks the modern doctors queer?
His Grandpa
Who takes him walking down the street,
And shows him off to all they meet,
And buys him stuff he shouldn’t eat?
His Grandpa
Who will not let the youngster cry?
His Grandpa
Who slips him candy on the sly?
His Grandpa
Who scoffs at every law we make
To save him from the tummy ache
And fills him full of chocolate cake?
His Grandpa
Who thinks that we are silly fools?
His Grandpa
Who mocks all hygienic rules?
His Grandpa
Who laughs at all his wilful ways,
And thinks him cute when he displays
His temper to the public gaze?
His Grandpa
And yet who was it once was stern?
His grandpa
Who made his son obedience learn?
His grandpa
Who was it once pronounced the word,
Which now he says is most absurd,
That children should be seen, not heard?
His Grandpa
The pic above of my grandson Asher and my husband Chris walking with their sticks, was taken last Thanksgiving at my sister's home. It seemed perfect for this poem by my favorite poet:-) As with most of his poetry, the words are fitting also. It's pretty self explanatory. I remember thinking this same thing about my own dad when he became grandpa to my first daughter (Asher's mommy). Here is his pic below with his first great grandchild, also Asher, taken that same weekend.
As a matter of fact you could also fill in grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. in place of grandpa in this poem, and that would give a good idea about how everyone feels about little Asher. We all spoil him!
We had a wonderful time of fun in the sun in Florida and are home safely, sporting tans, and trying to adjust to the cold temperatures again. Thankfully it's warming up now, and supposed to be over 60 degrees tomorrow. The first few days of temps below the teens were very hard to take after taking off on a day nearing 80 degrees in the Sunshine state.
Here are a few pics we snapped while there...some are from Shannon's camera which doesn't take the greatest pictures. I still have to upload the ones from Carter's camera.
We always spot some dolphins while boating in the inland waterways:
And catch some interesting creatures while fishing:
Enjoy the beach and the ocean:
Search for shark's teeth:
Asher called the pelicans "ducks":-)
Asher loved piling sand on his head and calling it a hat!
These past couple years we've taken to flying for our trips to visit our parents, because the kids all have jobs and money to pay for their own tickets, and choose to do so. It's so nice to hop on a plane in Michigan and arrive in Florida less than 3 hours later!
Back at home, now, Chris and Carter have been working on a huge closet in the attic space off of the boys room. Carter has been having fun digging around in there finding old papers and things that were left by previous owners. Landon has had a bad case of the flu and not been up to helping, between that and trying to keep up with college.
Shannon has been babysitting the last couple days and sewing some more of her patchwork purses. She's planning on entering one at the fair this year. Last night we brought our female cat, who is due to have kittens, into the house, and she is staying up in Shannon's room. Shannon loves having her in, and she's a really sweet kitty. She's the one who was dumped here last fall and is mostly blind and deaf. I wasn't successful in finding her an indoor home, so she has been living in the barn and on the porch. I was not expecting her to go into heat during a cold Michigan January. We have never had that happen before. We're all looking forward to seeing the kittens, though:-)
I've just been trying to get things organized again after our trip, grocery shopping, and cooking some fun meals for the family. I've been making some things without our venison or chicken the last few nights, which is a treat around here. Carter had corned beef at his grandma's in Florida and really liked it, so I made reuben sandwiches for them last night. The night before, it was creamy potato, veggie, and bacon soup, with homemade bread, and we had pizza the night before that. All of this has not agreed well with my stomach! I'll be making venison BBQ tonight, along with broccoli slaw. The next few meals will be around venison meat loaf, roast chicken, and chicken and brown rice soup.
Carter had his soccer tournaments on Saturday and indoor soccer is done for the season now. He'll be starting his outdoor spring season soon. The tournament games were all very exciting, and they both went into double overtime. We parents were having a great time cheering them on! They ended up coming in Third.
Tomorrow we'll be back at co-op for the first time since our trip, and are looking forward to catching up with all of our friends there.