Ain't nothin' like work on the weekend

Actually, isn't that song suppose to be "Workin' for the weekend"? Instead, here I am leaving home on Saturday to go to Oklahoma City for 7 days of work.

Just like that!

I had the Mitsubishi on Craig's list for all of 20 hours and it was sold.
I guess I didn't list it for a high enough price!

Labor day bridge Walk

For the first time, I did the 'touristy thing' with Rachel and crossed the mighty Mackinac bridge on foot. We were part of the 40,000+ people that crossed this year with the governor.
Of course she was gone by the time we got to the starting line at 7:19am, and a few people were in front of us.



We were watching the watchers as we crossed:


It was a most excellent day for a stroll, 5MPH wind, sun and 72 degrees:



A view behind us after we crossed the finish line 1:39 later. Of course, as the Governor finished her run in 35 minutes, 27 seconds, she was long gone.


After we found the Taurus, we found this view of the bridge:


Found some videos posted from the same day on YouTube

Took some pictures

To sell the DCM I bought last year:
http://nmi.craigslist.org/cto/829517456.html

Moving day - David is gone :(

A little trip to Ann Arbor with an overloaded van and trailer got David off to school. The balance of the family stayed in a hotel in Belleville so "we" can go school shopping tomorrow.
a rather sarcastic 'yeah'

Wow! We made it back from Disney!

Where to start? Well, tropical storm Fay dumped rain on Orlando for 6 of the 7 days were there! It was the first storm to make 4 landfalls in the state of Florida. Read all about it at Wikipedia!

Dawn posted a set of pictures on her blog too.

Tuesday was a travel day.
Everyone's at the airport on time. Adam is still pretty unsure of the whole thing.

Our tickets had us on separate planes once we got to Detroit. Adam and I had a direct flight to Orlando, that got off the ground a half hour late. Kind of odd how they made an announcement about problems with cargo, then separately looking for someone that checked a cat, then 30 minutes later an announcement that maintenance had to finish up their log before we could leave.

Dawn, David, Rebekah and Rachel had to go through Atlanta, but that leg was running late. They were told they would have to catch the next flight after their scheduled one, though it might be delayed or cancelled due to Faye's approach.

Went to the Hoop De Doo Review at our resort, which was a really great show, with our table right in the front row!

Wednesday:
Downtown Disney
Got up late and went to Downtown Disney in the tropical storm, spent the day shopping.

Ended the day at the Polynesian Resort's Luau Cove to watch Hula dancing and a Fire dancer.


Thursday:
Animal Kingdom:
Got up at 7 to ride horses, but (of course) Faye had other plans for that -- the horse rides were canceled for the day.

Visited Animal Kingdom, where we rode Expedition Everest twice, went on the Kimajamin Safari, and topped it off with 50 minute wait and a ride on the rapids.






That evening another record was set: the canceling of Epcot's IllumiNations fireworks show.


Our home away from home (in the swap!):


Friday: Epcot for Late magic hours

Laundry and swimming in the morning, after Adam saw a 4'+ snake in the pool the night before.

Ate in London, where Rachel got Bangers and mash.

A huge amount of rain where we watched Illuminations without Dawn, who had to go back to the room.




Saturday:
Hollywood studios

We had sunny weather until about 2:30, at which time a T-storm dumped on us.









Finished the day with Fantasmic

and a good old pillow fight:


Sunday at the Magic Kingdom was rather warm, and not a drop of rain was found all day:








The blurry picture doesn't do the fireworks justice for our last night in Florida:


Troops are anxious to go home, as now it is warming up since Fay has moved further north.

Pack it up, we're heading to Disney!

Gotta go, Fay is approaching our playground!

Time for fun on my birthday

Got buddies Tom and Jim to meet me for biking on my birthday, Petoskey to Charlevoix. As I rode my bike to join them, I clocked in 49.5 miles for the day, and they managed a measly 42.5. Of course I was definitely lagging at the end. I was surprised they were still at the staging area by the time I finished!

Another date nite, this time with LeAnn Rimes

Before the show we met "the Rudyard Ross'" for dinner.

Mary provided us 8th row tickets to see LeAnn Rimes in person.
She puts on a great show!
No opening band, she just jumps out there and does her thing!

Shelf day

In my own garage, I did some organizing, and put up a stereo that has been taking up bench space for several years. Now there's more room to work!

Bountiful harvest

Rachel makes a haul!

Fouth round-trip!

Biking to work takes a bit of planning, which I am poor at. Last night I rode my bike home without checking what the weather was supposed to be like -- I walked in the door 5 minutes before a thunderstorm opened up on us. Then, this morning it was supposed to be raining, but I only had wet roads, no actual rain to deal with on the way to work.

So far, 3 gallons of gas saved. That might pay for the new odometer that Dawn got for me (my old one fell off the bike last week).

It's hard to commit do doing this more, as I am supposed to be working extra at work, to get a couple vehicles completed and shipped off to Oklahoma City before we go on vacation in 3.5 weeks.

Dad's ceiling

We put the pre-finished pine on the upper walls in his upstairs bedroom, and started the ceiling. Adam and Kasey stopped by to pick me up on their way back from visiting Grandma Mary for the weekend.

No pictures were taken

Date night, with Loretta Lynn

Dawn and I got a chance to see Loretta Lynn at Kewadin's Dreammaker Theater -- awesome show!

On the way, we had to rescue Adam and Kasey, as his bike failed to make the trip to see Grandma Mary as it was supposed to. Turns out the cam shaft broke in half.

Believe it or not

Today my baby boys turned 20! I can actually remember holding the two of them, one in each arm shortly after they were born, thinking "what have I got myself into now?"

Bathroom weekend at Dad's

We put drywall on both of the bathrooms.
We also painted and applied the trim above the wallboard for the master bedroom.
No pictures available.

Believe it or not!

I actually rode my bike home from work last night, then back to work this morning. The 8.9 mile trip takes a bit over 40 minutes, and round trip saves 3 quarts of gasoline!

Beckie got bored

So, she drew on this 12' x 12' horizontal 'canvas':

Couple of Projects of my own

We've been noticing the water storage tanks and softener will get damp during the summer months. Since I put the door on the freezer room, it gets worse. So, instead of purchasing a dehumidifier I added some duct work to the existing AC system, as that will provide the same function. It is just that space doesn't have any vents, as it isn't a living space.

So, check out my handy work. I actually used the 4" duct to direct the air stream over the larger water storage tank, hoping as the air is pushed under the door, that it will do the job of picking up the moist air. Have to give it a few days to see if this will be effective enough.



Last December I insulated the garage to be able to get Adam to do that Taurus engine swap. In so doing, I had to block the stairwell so that the heat wouldn't just disappear into the uninsulated upper floor of the garage. I finally tore the blockage out (that I had made slightly too big), slimmed it down, added hinges, and Ta Da! I have a door. Now I need to acquire a couple pulleys and rope to finish out neatly.

Travel to the Sault

Beckie wanted her friend Kasey to check out the pow wow this year.
We spent the night in the Sault, where Mary made dinner for us,




then we went over the the Pow Wow: