Thursday, August 27, 2009

Bell

This is where I grew up.

In the backyard, just out the back door next to the deck, there was a bell. An old, cast iron school bell to be exact. My parents bought it at The Grosse Pointe Greatest Garage Sale, which sadly doesn't exist anymore. For my entire youth the bell was there. I have memories of my Mom calling my brothers and I in for dinner by ringing that bell. When the new house was built up here and the old house was sold Mom and Dad tried to bring everything that was 'memorable' to us.

Like the old stone horse...


Well, the bell was forgotten. There have been many times over the past 5 years when I've heard my mom say 'I wish I'd brought the bell!' especially now that their grandchild tally has grown to 5, and someday they'll all be big enough to go exploring in the woods or down to the beach. It would be nice to have a big, loud, clear bell to call them all home.

SOO... This summer I finally got my courage together. I called my friend Peter who is doing some work for the new owners of the old house. I asked him first IF the bell was still there. IT WAS! So I called the new owner, Laura. She was incredibly nice and one day I took John with me over to my old house. I went on a short tour of the house I grew up in, some things are the same and some are completely different. I choked up a little when I watched John run through the rooms just the way we did growing up. But the memories are ours, we took them when we sold the house. I had to keep moving forward, and I'm glad I went.

Long story short. Peter met me there and we were able to saw through the 4X4 piece of wood the bell was bolted to. I managed to get it back to my parents' little house and hidden in the trailer before mom noticed. I had planned on waiting until it was mounted to show my surprise, but I couldn't hold it in! The morning after getting back to the 'real house' we carried it into the kitchen, mom was so happy, I think there were even some real tears..

This past week we got a new post dug into the ground and cemented in. The bell stands proudly just outside the back door, where it belongs.




John is also having a blast ringing what he calls 'mine bell'
Thank you Jeff, Peter and Laura for your help in pulling off the surprise!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Photo Shoot

While we were 'downstate' John's cousins (at least thats what he'll tell you). John had a blast with Ari and Parker, in fact he is still talking about it! I wish it would have worked out to see them more, but I promise we'll be back!!
The best part for me was that Kristen is an AMAZING photographer! I had hoped Jeff would be there too so we'd get some family shots, but pics of my boy will have to do for now. It was about 90 degrees out, and I dressed John in jeans and a long sleeved shirt, poor boy. He was a trooper though- I'm not even sure if he knew photos were being taken! Here are just a few...



Tuesday, August 18, 2009

We left John with my parents the other day while we went sailing down in Harbor Springs. When we got home, mom showed me the photos of John's afternoon...







Lunch in bed, with PopPop (napping) while watching Thomas... Oh boy, don't get too used to it Johnny!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Uncle Conor's Cabin

I'm about a week late with this one, but better late than never! We visited the Moore family cabin in Centeral Michigan last week on our way south from CV. We were so glad that Conor and Shannon were going to be there and we'd be able to catch up! John (obviously) loved the visit, especially the pontoon boat and swimming in shallow water. Oh, and he loved hugging Uncle Conor too :)

















Monday, August 10, 2009

Cousins

John now has 4 cousins, and he LOVES playing with all of them! A little montage of photos of the highlights of John and his cousins. In order of age: Ariana (7), Parker (5), Owen (3) and Julian (3 months).











Monday, August 3, 2009

TRAINS!

This morning with PopPop. They were in the basement for a long time, it got a little too quiet so I went down to check on what kind of mischief was up. It turns out they were dancing to the train!

A New Beginning

We live on a boat and have cruised (part of) the world. We get SO MANY questions about our 'lifestyle' so I have started (or re-started) another Blog about our adventures sailing. It is a work in progress, and as a busy mommy I don't know how well I'm going to be able to keep it up! Check it out, and don't forget to leave comments because it really is a good motivator!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Cool Dudes

John and PopPop, two of the coolest guys I know!