Vacation 2009: Day 1

Earlier this month, Erich and I went with his entire immediate (and growing!) family on a vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I had never been there. Well, that's not true: my parents keep saying things like, "Oh, you've been there!" but at the time I was less than two years of age. Doesn't count! So I got to experience everything anew, and I really enjoyed what I saw.

The first day of our trip was a Monday, and a rather cool and blustery one at that. Since many of us had gotten in late the night before, we took it easy. In fact, we took it so easy, I forgot to bring my camera along, so all my pictures from this day are actually from my phone.

Except for this one, from my MIL's camera:

There we all are (clockwise from lower left: Me, Erich, Andrew, Megan, Emily, Paul, Lexi, FIL, and Michael [and Mom's taking the picture]), eating real UP pasties from the local supermarket for lunch. We had pasties several times that week, including from "as seen on the Travel Channel" pasty joints, but these from the supermarket were by far the best. And obviously, we could use the nice hearty meal on a day like this. Look how bundled up we are! And this was JULY!

After our picnic lunch, we walked over to the local lighthouse in Manistique.

Erich starts to regress a little when around his family--especially his youngest brother. :)

It was a decently long walk to the lighthouse, and then there wasn't much to see. But I liked getting my first close-up view of Lake Michigan for the season.

I marveled at how clear the water was! Little did I know this was nothing compared to what I would see later in the week.

Before heading back to the house, I froze my toes on the beach for a while, still very much impressed at the aqual clarity.

Friday Five: 7/31

1. How often do you clean your home?

Embarrassingly seldom. I vacuum up to once a week in the main rooms, and I clean the bathroom when it starts to disgust me. Same with dusting. Everything else is kind of seasonal.

2. What domestic chore do you hate?

Cleaning the bathroom and laundry. Erich is really good at laundry and always impresses me with his folding skills.

3. What domestic chore do you enjoy?

I have always like vacuuming, and I especially enjoy it since we splurged on a Dyson after we got married. It can make even the horrible carpet in our new house look not-super-bad.

4. Do you own a washing machine or go to the laundrette?

I have never lived in a place that didn't have its own washer/dryer, with the exception of my dorms in college, when the worst I had to do was drag it down to the basement of the building. But I saved a lot of my laundry for when I was home anyway.

5. Do you iron underpants and/or bed sheets?

Never have, never will. I probably iron less than once a year, and when I do it's one unavoidable item. That's what dryers and wrinkle-releasing sprays are for.

Friday Five: 7/3

This is the first halfway-decent Friday Five I've seen in a while.

Randomosity!

1. It's the last night of the world, and you've only just found out. What five things will you do in these final hours?

eat something bad for me, update Twitter with something witty, listen to Bach, talk to family, and cuddle with my hubby

2. How do you feel about our American Flag's design?

I wish they had kept the unicorns, horseshoes, moons, and other lucky charms, but it's decent, I guess.

3. What pets have you had?

Hmm, let's see. The first pet I remember having was a goldfish. We had four goldfish, for each of us four kids. I think we set them free. We got a yellow lab named Ernie (Ernestine) when I was eight, and she lived to the ripe old age of almost 13. My family got another yellow lab named Lucy when I was 19, and she's now 7. I still think of her as "my" dog, because she's the closest thing to a pet I have right now. I also had a betta fish named Henry sometime around the age of ten. He croaked. And during my freshman year of college, my roommate and I each got a goldfish from Walmart. They were both dead within 12 hours.

4. What was the last activity you wore a wristband for?

Pretty sure that was the Miller Brewery tour in Milwaukee in May. That was when we went to the Cubs-Brewers game, of which I have many photos but I never did post about it. :(

5. What song changed your life?

And this is the clunker question. It's just stupid. Can I just say music "changed my life" and leave it at that? Well yes, I can, for this is MY blog.

Happy Fourth, blogland!