"Auntie" Glasses

For those of you who didn't get the cell phone photo, here is a shot of Taylor in her new "Auntie" glasses. She rarely wears them because she also got contacts, but I forced her to let me take this shot.

Before Pictures

Me again! I missed you all, but life has been busy and I haven't replaced my camera after dumping water over it in Thailand. Anyway, I took a few cell phone photos of my house this morning before I left for work. As you remember from old photos, we have been under construction in almost every room in our house (but the bedrooms and bathrooms) for over a year. Well last week, we lived through a TON of drywall dust, but finally got everything drywalled, mudded, sanded and primed (I am now on antibiodic for a sinus infection and cough syrup with codine by the way)! Yesterday the weather forcast announced rain, which means that the painters were able to move us ahead of their outside painting jobs. I am hoping that when I get home tonight, I will be able to post "after" photos of newly painted walls. Here are a few terrible shots of the primed walls (they primed in gray to prepare for my darker colored paint). The living room and kitchen will be a spice color (burnt orange), the hallway and stairwell will be a brown color, and the new game room (no before photos today) will be a steely purple color.

The north end of the living room (we also ripped the molding out so that it could be replaced with a lighter color)

The south end of the living room and kitchen. The cedar beam that goes over the fireplace is waiting patiently out in the garage, but is ready to be hung.

The hallway going up the stairs.

After the painting is done, then comes the new carpet. We are definately wiping out our savings on this one!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I want to tell you a story about a young girl (I believe that she was in 4th grade at the time) who was on a road trip to Florida. At one point in the trip, she was forced to use one of those scary gas station restrooms, where you have to go throught the "Employees Only" door, treck across a storage room to the small dingy bathroom at the back. Now this girl hadn't yet reached the independence she achieved later in life, and so she had her big sister go along with her (which right now is going to prove to be a mistake). Not wanting to catch any germs from the toilet seat, this girl squatted over the toilet and dropped a log right on the back of the seat. She then immediately proceeded to gag and dry heave, and ran out of the bathroom refusing to do anything about her droppings. Now this little girl obviously did not have the same reaction as her mother, but I guess that there are some things that you can never change!

Juneau is Here!

Here is the newest Nelson, born within the last 10 minutes. All I know is his first and last name, but I'm already a proud Aunt CeCe. I can definately say that I believe he has Willow's mouth. Look at that!

Labor Day in Mackinaw

These posts are terribly out of order, but that's what happens when you're trying to catch up on a month's worth of posts at the same time that your sister-in-law is giving birth to the next Nelson! So, have fun jumping between stories! We again spent our Labor Day holiday in Mackinaw and walked the big bridge. My friend Jenny Mankel (Myers) from high school joined us with her four children Keenen (I can't spell it right), Kortney, Kyleigh and Kameron. We had a great weekend eating out, playing in the water and on the boat, picnicing in the tree fort (this was the kids) and walking the bridge. All 6 kids (mine included) walked the 5 mile bridge along with Jenny and I!

For a couple of minutes, Tay found another 7th grader from Shepherd Middle School, and they walked side-by-side comparing their upcoming class schedules for the 1st day of school (the next day).

Please look carefully at Kyleigh's arm (she's the one holding hands with Tay). This is my kind of girl! She carried her purse with her everywhere, including on this 5 mile hike.

Poor Jenny gets the most credit for the walk. She had one kid or another on her shoulders for more than 1/2 of the way. I guess all of that firefighter training is starting to pay off.

We all made it safe and sound to the finish line!

Susu, you would be so proud! The kids went back to the old method of catching crawfish by using a hot dog on a stick and wading into the water to catch them with their hands. After everyone went to bed, they finally called it quits and had me boil them up. Taylor, Keenan (I know I'm spelling it wrong) and Walker took turns getting them out of the pan, took a mini lesson on peeling off the tail shells (sorry Kirk & Derick, but they wouldn't suck the brains), and they each ate at least one!

During our two hour boat ride, we saw three barges up close!


Jenny and the kids

It was finally dry and warm enough to have a summer fire down in the beach fire pit.

We're Having a Baby Today

Well, ok it's really John and Danielle, but I consider all of these neices and nephews mine in some sense!

Danielle was scheduled to be induced this morning (Sunday). When I saw her yesterday she compared a scheduled inducement to knowing that you were about to give yourself a paper cut! She looks pretty happy here, but this was before they hooked up the pain causing drugs!

Meanwhile, Bear played in his first flag football game this afternoon. My mom, dad, Tay & Walk got there to catch the end of the game. My dad said that Bear's team came in 2nd and the other team came in next to last.

Things look like they are definately progressing!

Mackinaw in early August

We dropped the kids off shore on the west side of Mackinac Island and they swam up to the state park concession stand to get lunch.

After, they walked and treaded water out to the boat with a hot dog and slushie for Kevin & I.

A very long boat ride that started with the kids playing under the bridge, then to the west end of the island, around the island, down the south length of Bois Blanc Island, to the lighthouse east of Cheboygan and back to Macinaw City.

Even Max went along!

Dad and Kevin went fishing. Obviously a good day. Actually a good year on French Farm Lake, even though the locals say that there are no fish!

Kaylie finally made it to Mackinaw this summer! In one boat trip, she swam, tubed and waterskied under the bridge!

Kaylie and Walker tubed together.

Friendly Faces

I ran into Walmart this afternoon after work to pick up a few quick items when a person with a very familiar face stopped me to say "hi." Of course I couldn't quite place that very familiar face and the obvious follow up to the "hi" was, "you don't know who I am, do you?" I regretfully admitted that I was still trying to come up with a name, and the very friendly non-stranger started telling me a story about when my brother Bryce and his very best friend Jason snuck off on their bikes as children to the river near our house. Now this story happened to be one of my children's favorite bedtime stories when they were young and I instantly realized that I was talking to Kathy David (Jason MacDonald's mom). She admitted that she follows the links to other blogs (starting with Jason and Stephanie's to Carol's or Bryce's, to mine, etc.), so is actually aware of what is going on in my life. Now if my husband would actually read the blog he might actually see some of my Thailand pictures! Anyway...Hi again Kathy (and Don), and it's fun to know that you're reading!

New Slideshow!

Ok, so I'm done with the posts of photos with the dorky (I know that's a word from the 80's) captions. I figured out how to post a slideshow that will start running from the time that the blog is opened. Problem is, they start from the beginning each time you open the page. Oh well, there's several hundred there if you're ever bored and have nothing better to do!

Of the 4 bathrooms in the pastor's house (where I stayed), this was my favorite. It was the one I used whenever it was available and was the one that I was locked out of each night (at which point I had to use the squatty).

This is the shower and scoop used to flush the toilet.

It looks pretty normal, but it doesn't flush (you pour the bowl of water down it) and you can't put toilet paper in it. Note the "butt" sprayer hanging from the wall. I elected NOT to try this method and instead brought my handy roll of toilet paper with me each time I did my duty. I got pretty good at tucking the roll under my chin while I was busy so that it didn't get wet from the floor.

This hole in the floor drained directly outside of the bathroom into the grass. All of the water from the sink and from taking showers (and any other liquid on the floor) drained out of this hole.

Some of the youngest students!

This is one of the poorest schools that we visited.

The students at the afternoon assembly.