Memorial Day Visits

While visiting Mom on Memorial Day we took a ride to various cemeteries to view some family history.

Grandma Alice's fraternal grandparents

Grandma Alice's parents.

Grandma's only brother survived just a few months.

The cemetery where the above are located on Sielkens Rd west of Bronson.

Headstone in the Bronson cemetery for Grandpa Bruce who passed away and Grandma Alice.  No date engraved for Grandpa.  You see their wedding date in the middle.

My fraternal grandparents Earl and Cleo Redmond also in the Bronson cemetery.

We need to visit the other cemeteries to include Grandma's maternal grandparents.

We also visited Rose's parents' grave in the St. Mary's Cemetery south of Bronson

Fun Times Back in Michigan

Bob made it back to Michigan after a pleasant and incident free ride.  Erin and Mike Houghten flew in from San Diego for a few days to celebrate Mike's mother's retirement and his brother's birthday.  It was great to see them, the Denjas and then attend the retirement party at the Lake St. Clair Metropark.

I also got a chance to visit the Denja's school and see Isabel's informational presentation.  Her topic was the history of coffee...a favorite morning topic of mine.  She did a great job. 

After this I traveled to Sturgis to stay with Mom for several days before taking her back to Brighton the next weekend to enjoy Maria's 8th grade graduation.  

Maria and Carmen being kids.

Isabel prepares her display.

Mike and Grandpa Raul, to the left, made it for the informational fair, too.

It was a beautiful, sunny day for Jan Houghten's retirement party.

The Denja kids all took a walk to see Lake St. Clair and toss a fishing line in the water.

Carmen and Erin spending some quality time?

LeighAnne hams it up with Jan.

Mikey and Peter dueling on the wall.

Mateo gets in the wall action by chillin'.

Mike and Erin as the grillmasters!

On the Road...Biking to Michigan

It was time to take the Harley back to Michigan.  I decided to go via the Outer Banks.  Always wanted to see them, visit the Wright Brothers memorial (Kill Devil Hills not Kitty Hawk) and on the way north see Appomattox.  Along the way I dodged most of the rain saw a few unexpected sites, met some nice people and completed my first 500+ mile ride in a day.  No close calls, mostly dry weather and the bike ran well.  What else could I ask for?

OK all you Facebook Farmville game fans...here is the real Farmville in North Carolina.  But then I also drove through Farmville, VA.  I must say, both places were very agricultural.

Stopped at this park near Nags Head and walked out in the dunes to see a hang gliding competition.

Competitors on the hill waiting to take off.  The headed away from this view and it was the worst wind direction.  Normally they hope to take off in the direction coming at you in this view.

Just taking off

I enjoyed the Wright Brothers national monument.  Hard to believe this statement was possible.

My luxury accommodations in Kitty Hawk.  The ocean was just across the street.

The monument portion of the Wright Brothers site.  Quite the piece of work and you see the size in scale with the people walking.

I decided to get up early to watch the sunrise at Kitty Hawk.  There were three sets of these kids out that morning.  They ran down the beach, did a series of exercises then all strapped into harnesses and pulled logs in the sand.  They all stopped, got on their knees, dug by hand to bury the log then dug it out again and dragged it farther down the beach.

Sunrise!

I learned a corrective history lesson.  The actual treaty signing was in this house on the grounds and not in the court house.

Unfortunately most of the site was never preserved until the 1930s when Congress authorized the historical site, reconstruction of buildings and purchase of surrounding property.

When I got off the bike there was this loud sound all around the place.  Cicadas had emerged and carcasses were everywhere.

Appomattox Courthouse...not where the treaty was signed.

New Floor and Pool Fun

Some more May pictures of the life in Lexington, SC.  For our mutual anniversary present we replaced the very worn carpet in our bedroom with laminate flooring.  The end product was quite nice and we like the solid floor vs. carpet.  

This last week the temps have been in the high 80s and low 90s so we finally took advantage of our association pool.  Avery loves the kiddy pool and I'm sure Rose will get her into the big pool once it warms up some more.

There's also a couple random shots of Avery and plants.  The iris was brought from the Traverse City house and the cactus was from neighbors of the Coakleys in The Villages, FL.  

Rose and I ripped up the old carpet, padding and tack strips to this bare concrete floor.

Half way through the job.

The finished product getting cleaned up.

Enjoying an ice cream sandwich on the back porch swing.

New growth on the prickly pear!

Our iris is finally blooming...it took two years.

"Too cold to go in!"

"Ahhhhh!  Cold!"

Avery's one and only venture into the big, and cold, pool.

The kiddy pool is more to her liking.

Enjoying the pool.

"Cheese!"

Life and Confirmation

So far May has been a pretty active month for us.  We continue with the nanny care for Avery and made a whirlwind trip to Michigan for Maria's confirmation.  Fortunately, the visit coincided with Roger Finlan going into the UM hospital to begin his treatments in preparation for the stem cell transplant.  I was able to spend several hours with him, wife Pat and a surprise visit with daughter Kristi.  In the middle of all this we prepped our bedroom for a change of flooring.

As the title of this posting says it is about life and confirmation.  It seems fitting that this covers caring for Avery, visiting the Denjas, Roger's big life event and the humdrum home remodel.  

Avery and Grandpa Bob sharing some cereal.

Rose working on demolition of carpet tack.

The bare concrete floor is ready!

Rose made a very nice lap quilt for Great Grandma Alice as a gift for Mother's Day.

Kristi, Roger and Pat on the day of admission for the transplant adventure.

Roger catches a few zzz's in our condo.

A nice shot of Carmen and Grandpa Raul.

Grandma Rose and Grandma Paula contain Mateo.

Maria and Aunt Maeve ham it up.

Maria, Rose and Mikey pose for the camera.

The clan minus a few

Grandpa Raul, Maria and Grandma Paula. 

Mike and LeighAnne are pretty proud of Maria.

"The Girls"

A picture of the picture.

Backyard fun at the party.

Mateo checks out the foliage.

"Hop, hop, hop!"

Isabel just flips over life.

Cousins

"I'm cold!"  It did cool off but it stayed dry for a wonderful day.

Paula's wonderful fruit tray.

The fire helped warm us up.

Bundled up!

The cake.

Maria's big day.

Chillin' on the trampoline.

Chillin' on the bed.

Going for a walk.

"LOOK!"

Avery shows Mom how it's done.

Mateo had a big day and Momma LeighAnne is very colorful after their participation in the EMU Color Run that morning.

Relaxing before we say goodbye, hit the road and ride the plane.