"Last Posting of Abigail's Birthday Party......"

After lunch and birthday cake, it was time to get cleaned up so she could mingle.......

Clean up took a little more time than usual after that birthday cake! Thankfully, Abigail was patient (probably satiated/comatose from the the cake!) and sits nicely while Patrick makes sure she is squeaky clean. Notice the envious look towards Owen who is playing with a balloon?

Finally.....she seems to be looking forward to being social. ;)

Abigail and Julie chat with a co-worker of Patrick's, and his son (unfortunately I do not know their names).

Now we're talking! Another entertaining balloon!

The balloons were a hit with quite a few people! Here is Uncle Sean helping with creating electric static so that the balloons would "stick".

"It's time for him to play with me!"........"No it isn't....he stays with me!"

Changed into her party dress, Abigail and Julie "mingle" once again.

Time to open birthday presents! Abigail does love her cards!

And another balloon! YES!

Don's iPad was a hit with Uncles Sean and Jim.

Hmmmmmmm......playing it accordion style?

Jim preferred the one handed flat style. The iPad also entertained everyone with a slide show of family photos, then went on to specific albums, too.

A somewhat tired Abigail says goodbye, thanked everyone for her wonderful presents, and for helping celebrate her special day.

We all had a very nice time! Cheers for many, many more! ;)

"Balloons, Cake, and a Balloon, Oh My!"

Uncle Sean brought over several balloons to occupy Abigail after she was finished eating her lunch, giving Julie a little time to get Abigail's piece of birthday cake ready. Grandma and cousin Owen look on.......

Oh yeah.....he has her attention. Owen looks quite disappointed that the food is gone from her tray. :)

Got one!

This one is MINE!

Forget the balloons.....Mom has something for me!

Did you see any hesitation on her part? Absolutely none!

Hummmmm........I think this is going to take both hands........

Yeah......I have it now.

Ummmmmmm.......Yep, this works!

Oops.......paw in the mouth!

This paw is pretty tasty!

Yeah.....let me concentrate on this for a bit.

Ok....enough of the paw, let's see what this other stuff is........

"What did you say?"

Sorry....can't answer right now, my mouth is full.

And I'm going to keep it that way, too. ;)

Well, maybe if you give me a balloon, I may play with that, too.

It wasn't eatable before, but since it has butter cream on it.......

Oh Yeah! THIS is GOOD!

Yep.....She is my granddaughter! ;)

More party to follow........

"Back to Abigail's Birthday Party....."

Here I am joined by Abigail's other grandparents.......Char and Jim. Obviously, we are grinning about something Abigail is doing. ;)

Grandma with Abigail. They have a very special bond.

Grandpa Jim checking on Uncle Jim's grilling. ;)

Julie's sister, Rachel, and Abigail's cousin, Owen.

Great Grandma, Grandma, Mom, and Abigail.......

To be continued.........

"Another Trip to Michigan....."

Those of you who are frequent readers know that Don and I just visited Michigan a few weekends ago. I decided to drive over and visit once again this past weekend. I had been watching Craigslist daily, looking for a nice, older camper, which could be used as a "guest house" to set up somewhat permanently on Patrick and Julie's land. I found one that seemed to fit the bill and made the trip last Thursday. It is a remodeled 1973 Fleetwing.

I bought it on Thursday and Patrick, with me as co-pilot, drove back to Muskegon, MI on Friday to pick it up. Thankfully, he has a full size pickup so I didn't need to find someone else to haul it up to Brethren for me.

It is very clean and quite spacious inside. The person who did the remodeling took out the furnace, refrigerator, and toilet, which is why the inside has more room than normally found in a camper. In a camper of this age, I would be somewhat concerned of using the furnace, so its removal didn't bother me. Not having a refrigerator didn't make any difference to me either, as I would basically only have used it to keep creamer cold so I could have it for my morning coffee. ;) The toilet would have been nice, but in reality, it could only have been used when the weather is warm and would have had to been winterized for a good portion of the year. I can always buy a Porta-Potty if I feel the need........

After setting the camper up and leaving me to begin doing inside set up, Patrick drove to daycare to pick up Abigail. She approves of my purchase. ;)

Now a few photos of the interior of the camper. The kitchen/dining area. The gas stove worked nicely to boil water for my morning "French press" coffee. I brought along a small cooler to store my creamer in. :)

Another view of that end of the camper. Also included in the camper was a microwave, a small DVD/TV, and an electric heater. The heater seen here is not the one that came with the camper, but one that Patrick had. This one has a thermostat and worked beautifully for me. The cabinet which all of these appliances are sitting on is where the refrigerator, furnace, and toilet were prior to their removal. Patrick will be working on small things that need to still be completed, like taking out the furnace pipe, and adding trim to a few places.

The rest of the camper. Both seating areas can be used for sleeping.....I used the couch and was quite comfortable. Having something long enough for me to stretch out was another "must have" when looking at campers, too. ;) The plastic tubs now hold the bedding which will stay in the camper. Patrick also donated and mounted the corner extension lamp for me, too. Now I have my comfy corner for reading or knitting. :)

I had a very nice visit. Unfortunately, Friday was the last of the non-rainy days, so some of our plans for the weekend didn't take place, but we still had quality time together. :) Having the "guest house" will allow me to visit more often now. Those poor kids, eh? ;)

"New Baby in the Hood!"

Griffin Roark, our long awaited little neighbor (born last Sunday), visited us yesterday afternoon while we were out on the deck having coffee. Lonny had taken him for a walk and stopped to say hi on their way home. The plan was that while Lonny took Griffin for a walk, Charlie would try to get some sleep. We aren't sure if that happened or not. ;)

I practically had my arms out, reaching to hold Griffin, as Lonny ascended the steps. ;)

Finally, I had to hand him back to his Dad........sigh.

Proud Papa Lonny and Griffin.

So cute, isn't he?

Rob timed coming home from work perfectly and came to pay his respects, too.

Babies in the hood.......we love it!

"Prep Continues and then theParty Begins!"

"Grill Man" Jim did a bang up job with the burgers and dogs. He would have worn his official "Grill Man" outfit, but we were afraid (with so many party distractions) of the cape catching fire........

Prep and "catch up" continue inside as "Grill Man" does his job outside.......

While I take a MUCH more distressed Abigail for a spin.......I "strolled" her right over to Mom Julie after this was taken. :)

Mom calms Abigail down (her face a lovely shade of pink/red, don't you think?) while they greet a co-worker of Julie's. Unfortunately, I do not remember her name but we had a nice conversation. She lives in Traverse City and we were chatting about Don's and my future move to TC.

Believe me, Julie is a terrific daughter/sister in law. She put together an "Abigail's First Year" photo book for Sean, and one for Don and me. Such a cool gift!

Sean helping/distracting Abigail to overcome her distressing mood. You can see by her face that he has done well. Can't you just see/hear her mind working, wondering......."What IS that on Uncle Sean and Mommy's head?" ;)

Julie knew of someone who bakes/decorates custom cakes and made sure she was able to have a horse theme for our little jockey Abigail. A tasty treat of chocolate or white (yellow?) under that frosting, too!

Sean also baked Abigail a cake. His was "butter cream"! It, too, was VERY tasty and made an especially big hit/splash with Abigail......as you will soon see. ;)

Abigail's Birthday Party to be continued........