sweet dreams

2012-05-23T19:42:00.003-04:00

Mel getting ready to fly the dragon kite she made!

2012-01-18T10:59:00.002-05:00

Snow from last week.

Stats as of today:

20 inches on the ground,

102.5 inches fallen to date as of 1/18/12

A Bearded Dragon

2012-01-09T15:30:00.000-05:00

Melody received Sandy, a bearded dragon, for her Christmas present.

It was a total surprise to her. She is a dragon drawer, collector, reader & obviously, a lover.

Sandy now has his own Blog.

We invite you to come join him.

We hope you love him as much as we do!

sandythebeardedragon

2011-12-25T18:53:00.001-05:00

Melody & Dale

Christmas Day

Lake Superior.

It was windy and frigid!!

2011-12-06T15:17:00.001-05:00

Melody playing outside while waiting for the school bus last month.

Snow Stats

Snow fall to date: 38.5 inches

On the ground: 9.0 inches

Melody's Birthday fun

2011-09-26T17:50:00.002-04:00

Melody turned 9!

Dale & I sang to her.

We picked up Burger King then took it to a playground.

It was very windy but she ate her meal in a slide.

Everybody knows Mel is fascinated with dragons!

Ta da!

Just so happens this park had one.

day at the beach

2011-08-11T16:07:00.000-04:00

Summer fun

2011-07-23T23:49:00.000-04:00

We were on vacation visiting our families.

Swimming at auntie Trudy's & Uncle Tom's.

On the way to go swimming at auntie Rhonda & auntie Julie's home.

Yay- summer bob!

I like to watch cooking shows and..

2011-06-23T03:37:00.000-04:00

I like to watch Food Network Star on hulu.com and

what I found odd & rather unsanitary is the contestants cooking without

their hair pulled back!

I think to myself

"pull it back, pull it back!"

A 51 year old marrying a 16...

2011-06-22T06:03:00.000-04:00

51 year old Doug Hutchinson married 16 year old Alexis Stodden. GROSS!

Yes. It's legal but seriously?

I do believe her parents even signed for them to marry.

Oh no way.

He has a dirty nasty disgusting mind to marry someone that much younger than he.

How can that be normal?

It boggles my mind.

Ewww!

source: people

Is it selfish to consider having a child when...

2011-06-21T23:29:00.000-04:00

We once had neighbors who were a young couple with two young children. The father found out he had Huntington's Disease. It is a terrible disease which affects balance, cognitive functions, depth perception and more. These symptoms get progressively worse throughout the disease.

These neighbors went on to have two more children! This is a hereditary disease. The average life expectancy of the patient once the disease has been diagnosed is about 15 years. 15 YEARS!

In good conscience I could NOT bring an innocent child into this world with a risk for this disease.

Now to my question:

Would you have a child if you or your partner had Huntington's or another hereditary disease?

genome.wellcome.ac.uk

10 Crazy things I learned about Alaska

2011-06-20T23:21:00.000-04:00

I watching Alaska State Troopers and was wowed by the state of Alaska. I decided to share some fun facts.

1. Alaska is twice the size of Texas, meaning that if Alaska's land area were divided in half then Texas would become the third largest state, rather than the second largest in the USA. Woah!

2. Dear Minnesota, I know you're proud of your 10,000 lakes. There are more than three million in Alaska. Sincerely, me

3. In 2007 the Alaska State Troopers based at the Bethel post made 898 arrests – that’s more than the two previous years combined. Good gosh! What is going up there in??!

4. Of approximately 200 rural Alaskan communities, 136 are “dry,” meaning it is illegal to import, produce, sell or drink alcohol there. HUGE fines & jail time time, too!

5. A bottle of whiskey that sells for $10 in Anchorage will run $300 in a dry Alaskan village. Forget the snowshoes I was planning to buy. I am saving for a bottle of &%#*@ whiskey!

6. There is no road system in Western Alaska, so traveling between villages and cities is possible only by aircraft, watercraft, 4 wheelers & snow machines!

7. In some parts of Alaska it is REQUIRED State troopers have a flying permit. They then travel between villages by air to do their rounds. Awesome, right?

8. In Alaska, there are thought to be over 30,000 grizzly bears. It's no wonder they have a no permit required CCW.

9. Alaska came in #1 with the highest rate in suicide: 22.1 suicides per 100,000 with New Mexico coming in second. Yikes!

10. In the northern slopes of remote Alaskan villages or even on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea you can be expected to pay upwards of $15 for a gal. of milk and $5 for a loaf of bread. Should I keep going with the grocery list?

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Alaska State Troopers

insidermonkey

defenders.org/wildlife

wiki.answers

Baby arrival

2011-06-14T06:15:00.000-04:00

My brother & his wife had a baby girl the other day. They delivered Ava about a month early due to complications. I have seen pictures & she is adorable. Unsure when she'll get to join her family at home. She is still in the hospital.

Melody

2011-06-12T01:46:00.000-04:00

Melody gets to go to 3rd grade!

Also, on the last day of school she won this

Hula Hoop in a drawing.

Melody

2011-06-09T22:35:00.002-04:00

I swear. Everytime we are out & about someone knows Melody.

For instance, today a girl at the parks says "Hi Melody."

Mel asked her how she knew her name. lol

Anyway, there were a few kids on the merry go round & Melody

proceeds to tell them all where we live.

What house. The color. How to get there in great detail.

Goodness!

Then she begins telling them about her scooter

and how much it is worth vs. how much she paid for it.

She is such a talker. I just sit back & observe.

She is quite amusing.

Here is a pic from the beach other other day.

and this is from the park.

project

2011-05-28T22:34:00.000-04:00

I saw this rocker in my parents Florida room aka sunroom.

I told my mom I had been wanting a turquoise rocker.

Then she said I could have it!

It originally was varnished.

This is the final product!

Mel was my chair model!

Melody

2011-05-27T22:29:00.000-04:00

A walk through the woods.

Melody playing in her tent.

Melody

2011-05-27T18:12:00.000-04:00

Melody came home from school crying.

REAL tears.

I am thinking "oh great, what now?"

She lost her two toy frogs on the playground!

I told her I was sorry and that we can go back to the playground & have a look around to see if we can find them.

She comes over to hug me and says

"You are the only one who seems to care."

Awwww.

This is a pic of her crying about 6 years ago.

So cute I had to post it.

Rant

2011-05-26T01:19:00.000-04:00

I try to keep this blog postive. However, I need to rant.

Good riddance Oprah's show is over!

Am I the only one who thinks this???

Quite a few years ago I was watching her show(at one time I did watch), when I realized how "cold" she was behaving towards a guest. She wasn't being genuine. It was then I decided I didn't care for her.

this and that

2011-05-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

This is a painting I did.

Melody at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum with her auntie.

Pics from the cold north!

2011-04-28T01:07:00.000-04:00

Melody. This is a huge rock out in the woods.

Footprints we found.

Momma & me muckers.

eagle cam!

2011-04-20T19:18:00.000-04:00

Check out a bald eagle with her 3 eaglets on u stream!!

eagle cam

Spring Break is over

2011-04-04T20:13:00.000-04:00

Mel went back to school today.

She is waiting for the bus in the snow that dumped on us over night.

On the flip side she had a nice spring break. Plenty of relaxing and t.v. time.

Her & I had a sleepfest in the living room for 5 nights. Stayed up late watching movies & eating snacks all while cuddled up in our bed we made on the floor.

Her cousin came over for one night then Mel went over to her house the following night.

This is our spring.

2011-04-01T01:46:00.000-04:00

Mel playing on a stream.

We could see the water flowing underneath.

Things are thawing more everyday! Makes me happy.

...and then she fell into the stream. Oops!

I didn't have my camera ready in time.

wordless wednesday

2011-03-23T01:28:00.001-04:00

I know everyone is over snow. However, this is my sight outside.