11 August 2023

Moving again, but just Digitally

So, Gmail has been fussing at me for a few months now, that my storage is almost full.  Since I download all my pictures to my computer and then upload some to my blog, but I think that maybe my blog is what is filling up my storage. = (

We've had this blog for 6 winters now, so I guess it's time for a new one!  

You can find all of our new adventures at:

https://crockstars.blogspot.com/

Same old us, new address!

Hope to see you there!  

later days

01 August 2023

The Other Part of the Day

We had an appointment in Ann Arbor, for William, Grace, and Juliet.  William's was actually a double appointment, because his orthodontist requested that he have 4 baby teeth removed before his next visit to their office!  So, when I made his tooth extraction appointment, they were able to bump his cleaning to an earlier time slot, and keep the girls at their same time.  

Grace and Juliet slept with twisted hair so that their hair could be 'curly' for the appointment.  It was certainly curly first thing in the morning!


When we arrived the parking lot was close to full, but we were plenty early, so we were able to wait for someone to leave, then we were able to park and went to check in.  Grace was able to go back earlier, since her dentist had an opening, and William's dentist was right on time.  Poor Juliet, her dentist had a patient right before her, and the patient was checked in, but in the wrong clinic.  So not only was she not able to go early, by was actually delayed. = (

William and Juliet both have to go back for treatment in November (and William will be going on a back to back Friday/Monday. = /  I may see if I can move his ortho appointment, because I don't want him to miss that much school in a row.)

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the atrium, William was only allowed to eat joghurt, so we gave him all that we brought, poor guy!  Grace found a cute little 'pig' marshmallow cookie!


After our 'detour' to the park, we headed home.  About 20 miles from Lansing, my car hiccoughed a bit, then the radio went out.  After about 5 more miles, my speedometer panel (gas, rpm, speed, etc.) also went out.  At the next hiccough, I made the decision to pull over at a rest stop, instead of trying (and possibly failing) to make it to the mechanic.

I turned off my car for a few minutes, then attempted to restart it, but it wouldn't even click over. = (

So, I called AAA, Billy, and the mechanic (in that order!)

AAA was out pretty quick, but we had access to a bathroom, water fountain and all the food we'd brought for our lunch, so we were pretty content while we waited.

Such a sad sight. =- (


Once my car was on the truck, Billy headed our way (there was no sense in him joining us to wait for the truck.)


One of our primary forms of entertainment was bottle flipping.  William got pretty accurate with his sprite bottle!



The 'pose' is staged, but the success was real in the same flip for both William & Juliet!!

All in all, I'm thankful that since my car did break down, it went out on our way home, close enough to home to be 'local', at a location with a bathroom and water source, that we didn't have a car full of camping supplies, for AAA, and for the sweet families who saw our car loaded up and made sure that we were okay and had help coming!

And while I'm in a reflective mood: a quick shout out to my sweet little garden, we had our first cucumber heartvest yesterday!!! <3


I hope the repair on my car is quick and relatively inexpensive, but Billy googled the symptoms and thinks it's the alternator. = (

later days

78 Michigan Parks: Island Park State Recreation Area #63b

Today, after our morning dental appointment for WGJ, we were heading home when construction detoured us a few miles off our regular route.  Since we were already detoured, when I saw a sign for another State Park, I told the kids "let's do it!"

It was a nice park, the kids liked the beach and playground.


Grace and Juliet liked the muddy beach, and said the water was pretty warm!


As we walked over to the playground, we saw a couple of sandhill cranes.  They let us get really close (though my picture doesn't do it justice.)  The birds were leery, but didn't run or charge, so all in all a win in my book!




On our way to Kent Lake, we'd passed a sign for Island Lake (the namesake of the park) so we wanted to hunt it down.  Well, after a long, long 25mph drive we found the Island Lake, but there wasn't a sandy type beach, just lots and lots of lily pads!


I saw a couple of frogs, but only as they were jumping.  I was finally able to point this one out to everyone, so that we could be on our way!


After a long, long drive back out of the park, I wanted to take a picture before we left.  I told William that I wanted a picture of him on the rock.  He was showing his confusion.


Then, as we approached the sign, he figured out why we were getting out of the car.

The park was a nice one, and I'm really glad we detoured from the detour to visit!

Once we got home, and I was going to add it to my checklist and blog, I found out that the checklist doubles up some of the closer state parks as a single dot.  So, this park actually shares a number with another nearby state park!!!! Way to mess up my 'challenge!' So, in order to remedy this, I've added a letter a/b to each of the parks that share a number, but I will end up with more than 78 parks!  At least I found out kind of early in the game. = )

later days

With the new numbering system, I'm renaming the posts so that they can align with the checklist, but these are the visits so far!!

Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Muskegon State Park #50*
*this post marks the start of the project, and as such, has information about what I hope to accomplish!