We left bright and early Saturday morning (Labor Day weekend) and returned the next Friday evening. Our vacation spot – Glen Arbor, Michigan – a trip that takes about 11 hours of drive time. Oh my aching tailbone! We slept in most mornings, then hit the beaches and the water, sand dunes, hiking trails, lighthouses, local shopping, and cruising the M22 (the ever popular highway that stretches up and around the Leelanau peninsula) – making sure to catch the sunset on the beach each night. It was an amazing time. And Sarah was right, Sasha loved it!

Day One Up North included walking the downtown area, hitting a few local shops, and grocery shopping for the week. Always a must, is stopping in at the Cherry Republic – sampling their chocolate covered cherries and other cherry goods, and picking up a case of their Boom Chugga Lugga soda pop. Good stuff!

We visited MANY different beaches around the area. Below is the beach at The Homestead Resort. Sasha found himself a big, round rock he was fond of. Before I could snap this nice picture of him, first I had to get Mr. IT off his phone, then he had to get his karate moves out of his system…such a character.

We hit the beach every day, if not just to watch the sun set. With the summer weather being so warm, the waters of Lake Michigan were warm enough for a swim. A typical day at the beach included Sasha skipping rocks until his arms and legs hurt…and Sarah combing the rocks for Petosky’s, of which she only found two itty-bitty ones.

On Thursday, we took a hike…..up, and up, and up through a wooded area filled with awesome birch trees. We LOVE Birch trees…also called Breza in Croatian. I heard this over and over from Sasha as we made our way up the hill. “Look! Breza! It’s called Breza.” – as he hugs another Birch tree. Once you make your way to the top, the wooded area opens up to stunning blue skies, blue water and you notice your standing at the top of a big old sand dune with a steep drop off! Turns out, all of Glen Arbor is considered a sand dune.

There were several other groups of people sitting and enjoying the dunes. They were speaking German. Sasha was able to understand some of what they were saying. They were comparing the beaches of Glen Arbor with the beaches in Wisconsin.

On another day…I think it was Tuesday….we took a road trip in search of a roadside taco stand that Sarah read about in Edible Grand Traverse magazine. We were headed to Cedar, Michigan. Once in Cedar, we had no idea which direction to go. We found a sausage shop that Sasha just had to stop at. While there, we asked the lady behind the counter if she knew of the taco stand. Oh yea. She did. Didn’t seem too excited about it. She said the tacos were good, but not like your typical taco with ground beef and all. Ha! We knew they weren’t like Taco Bell. These were supposed to be authentic Mexican tacos with all natural, locally ground produce and meats. I’m telling you….these tacos were ah.maz.ing! And the Wild Bill’s Orange Cream Soda we had while there…YUMMY!!!

While up north, visiting Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, one must not forget to visit the Pierce Stocking Overlook and the 450 foot sand dune. People climb it, I (Sarah) have done it several times years and years ago, but I don’t recommend it unless you’re in good shape. It’s one tough climb! I did NOT even consider climbing it this time.

Zoooooming in to see the people….

There was so much to see and do…this post would go on forever if I showed it all…so here is just one more photo. It was a wonderful vacation.

Once we got there, the clouds took over and before we knew it….rain! Sudden, heavy downpours of rain! It was so nice! We bought a big ol’ jug of honey for $25. Yay!

Rain or shine….we decided to do a little more road trippin’. Before we left the house, we grabbed the cooler and a bag of ice just in case we came upon other local goodies being sold at roadside stands. I was hoping for a dozen farm fresh eggs and some good lookin’ tomatoes. We had our own tomatoe plants growing in our garden, but with the drought this year, we simply did not get a good crop.  Disappointment.

We grabbed our phones and mapped a route from the “honey house” to Labadie, Missouri. The rain would pour for a bit and then we would get hit with crazy bright sunshine. The drive, which took us along the Missouri River, through old country farms and newer, fancy horse ranches was breathtaking. What a gorgeous day. However, we only came across one roadside stand….of which we chose not to stop. We won’t stop for just any roadside stand.

Happy to have our local honey, I was still insistant on finding eggs and tomatoes. We knew of one local stand (one that we stop at frequently) near Washington, Missouri not far from Labadie, so back on the road again! Before long we were at the roadside stand at Todd Geisert’s Farm. While we didn’t purchase any of his tomatoes, we did get our eggs and some others goodies! It was nice weather when we pulled up….started sprinkling when we got out of the car….and then crazy, hard downpour. Thank goodness for Todd’s covered stands! In a matter of minutes, the rain cleared out and all was nice again! Crazy midwest weather.

Here is our “haul”….honey, watermelon, eggs, onions, jalapeno peppers, cayanne peppers, and two packages of meat sticks. If you notice, one of the packages of meat sticks did not survive the drive home….Sasha! All in all, it was a wonderful day. Sunday drives are the best!

We insisted Dad take a turn at the wheel.

A couple weeks later, we spent a saturday canning peaches.

My job was “blanching” the peaches. Dip them in hot water, then in cold water. It helps to make the skins slide right off.

Once the weather got a bit cooler, Sasha and I decided to head to Meramac Springs Park. It was a gorgeous day.

The spring where the crazy cold water actually comes up out of the ground.

The trout love this water.

This is down stream a bit. I tried putting my feet in the water here, but holy cow that is cold!

People spend all day here trout fishing.

The water we brought with us got warm real quick with the warm temperatures. At one point, I sat near the water’s edge and held the bottle in the ice cold goodness. It was chilled in no time. Not even kidding!

So, as I’ve said before, we try to stay busy…keep our mind off the adoption process. And it has been a busy month or so.

We attended a Baptism for our little nephew. He did great! I just love their Church.

We had a barn/garage sale out at the farm. What a gorgeous day! Sales were not great, but we had fun just being together.

Jozi won second place in one of the competitions Sasha ran her in. We are so proud of her! She ran against some other really amazing dogs, and impressed a lot of people. Judges too!

We also attended an absolutely gorgeous wedding for our friends, E and J. We were not able to stay very late due to early plans the next morning, but we were so honored to be there with them to celebrate this happy event! Congrats again E and J! Happiness always!

And then there was the kitchen….Ohhh, the kitchen! We only get to work on it in our spare time, so it’s taken us a while to get to this point. It’s not totally finished…still need to finish a few small details, but it’s mostly there. Although……now we’re thinking (mostly Sarah is thinking) new cabinet doors would be nice (oh yeah!)

Sasha laying the tiles. Little hard on the body, but he says he actually enjoyed it. I handed him the tiles in the order I thought they should go, and the direction I wanted them. Kinda like art directing!

Sasha grouting the floor. Messy job. I followed after him with the sponge and bucket of water. Cleaning as we go.

We also decided to add new trim work around the doorway. There wasn’t any to begin with, and we thought this would make a more impactful entrance…a little architectural detailing if you will!

Here you can see, the board and batton on the walls is not yet finished, but it was time to take a break and make some yummy low-fat oatmeal cookies. It’s always time for cookies!!!

Finally the reveal! See the before and after – how it looked several years ago when Sarah moved in and how it looks now. We are finished with the floor (originally old vinyl, now ceramic tile). The board and batton on the walls and new trim work is mostly done. Still need to get behind the refrigerator and touch-up some spots with paint. Don’t you agree new cabinet doors would be SO much better…to tie in with the simplicity of the board and batton walls?! All in due time.

The oak dining table was made years ago by Sarah’s grandfather…one of our many treasures. The chairs were a surprise find at Crate and Barrel – the Delta chair. Awesome! They’re made out of aluminum so they are sturdy, but also so lightweight. Sarah’s mom says they look like old style hospital chairs! Ha!! We love them…very comfortable. The pictures on the wall, of course, are Medi and Jozi.

Our nephew doing his monkey-man crawl across the new kitchen floor. He is FAST! Knees not necessary. Funny kid.

Our nephew clapping his hands and laughing to show his approval on the new kitchen. Thanks buddy! Come over any time. You’re always welcome at Aunt Sarah and Uncle Sasha’s house!

Mr. Stinkerpants was smiling and giggling as soon as we sat him in the crib. He and the neighborhood gang (Mr. Bunny, Mr. Giraffe and the Hippo) all had a great time together. Mr. Giraffe even played some of his wind-up tunes.

After a while, Mr. Stinkerpants was on his belly showing us his amazing feats of strength. He showed off his push-up skills, his downward facing dog pose, and then he showed us how he can roll from his belly onto his back. Amazing! Then he would laugh and giggle. It was a great time.

Then it was time for snacks. Mr. Stinkerpants had a bottle of milk. Drank it all! Aunt Sarah had some orange slices. Before long, it was time to pack up the diaper bag and to head home. Mr. Stinkerpants had such a fun time – even had to have an outfit change – but now he was ready to go home and take a nap. He was exhausted!

We will see you again Tuesday night little man. His momma and papa have Baptism Class to attend. Mr. Stinkerpants does not need to attend, and the classes are during his ni-night time, so Aunt Sarah and Uncle Sasha will come stay with him till class is over.

Till then little man….

After Mr. Stinkerpants left, I went back in the Baby-to-be-Room to tidy up, and it just felt empty. It felt so odd. Made me a little sad. Having Mr. Stinkerpants there made the room feel alive, real and full of love.  Hopefully, one day soon, we will have a little one to fill the room with giggles and smiles….a little one that will call the room his or hers. Until then…we wait, we pray, we hope.

We started our weekend with dinner, Friday night, at Bandana’s. “Love that smoke!” Then had a few errands to run.

Saturday morning, Sasha was up before the sun, drove across the state in the rain to run Jozi-pup in a derby competition. The derby was, of course, delayed due to rain. (Too bad the rain didn’t wash away all the allergens out there!) They were up and running by noon. Not all the dog owners showed with their pups though, making them one dog short of an eligible competition. Since they all made the trip, the pups ran the derby just for fun. Jozi did great, but no ribbons were handed out that day. Booo. Sasha and Jozi were back home by Saturday evening.

We have a huge family garage sale coming up. It’s going to be held at the farm, so we’re calling it our barn sale! While Sasha and Jozi were on the other side of the state, Sarah stayed home and gathered items all day for the sale. By the end of the day Saturday, we were all completely zonked!

Sunday had us on the road to Sarah’s home town. First up…the Grand Opening for the newly renovated library. While studying Environmental Design in college, Sarah had come up with plans to renovate this very library for her senior thesis! So what did we think of the new library. Gorgeous! And yes, they even had some of the same ideas Sarah had in her plans. Great minds think alike!

After the library, we drove down to the riverfront – one of Sarah’s favorite places while growing up. It was a nice day, so we decided to take a quick stroll on the riverfront trail (allergy alley!)….and watch a couple trains go by.

Then it was time for momma’s birthday party! Sarah’s brother and sister-n-law hosted a birthday dinner for mom and had us all over. It’s always good to see the family!

After the party, we had to race back to St. Louis to try and beat the tornado warning, heavy rain and wind headed our way. We had recently purchased one of the Emergency Weather Radio’s they keep talking about on the news. Sure enough, shortly after we arrived home, the alerts started sounding. Thankfully, nothing too severe happened in our area, although the news later reported that many in our neighborhood were out of power. Who knew?!

Kitchen Update: Sasha decided to get to work and finish thin-setting our new subfloor. Wonder if he really knows what he is doing sometimes…..

What’s a blog post without pictures of Jozi?! Crazy dog ALWAYS wants to play. She never stops. Never!

And finally, an update on our gutter garden…..the lettuce and spinach are growing like crazy!

Our nephew on Easter Sunday. Seems he was tired of the paparazzi.

What do you do when the adoption wait has you feeling down? Attend an event held by an adoption agency that is not your own, of course! Good thing? Bad thing? The jury is still out on that one, but it really got us thinking!

One good thing most definitely came out of that night for us. There were several speakers at this event. One of the speakers was a teen who had been adopted as an infant. It was a closed adoption. We got to hear about his emotional struggles brought on by the unknowns of his adoption story, his attempts at finding out the who’s, what’s and why’s that led to his adoption, and finally the healing process that has begun for him. We also heard from a woman whose life was touched by adoption, both as a birthmother herself, and as an adoptive mother of two. Eighteen years after placing her son for adoption, the two made contact and got to know each other. She wanted to make sure that he knew he was loved by her, and that she thought of him often. Today, they continue to have occasional contact.

All of this got us thinking – a lot – about our decision for an open adoption. The more we dug into the subject, the more we realized how wonderful open adoption can be….not just for the adoptive child, but for the birthparents and adoptive parents as well. Open adoption has the ability to create one big family out of what started as two individual families – much like inlaws! A study from March 2011, done by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, shows that only 5% of today’s adoptions are closed adoptions. The other 95% are broken down into open (55%) and mediated (40%). What an amazing and wonderful change over the past several decades, in the way we now think of adoption!

Our continued research on open adoption led us to a series of YouTube videos by yet another adoption agency. Again, not the agency we belong to but definitely worth taking the time to listen too. I think they have a total of 52 videos online. Eleven of those videos are all about open adoption. They talk with birthmothers, birthfathers and adoptive parents. These videos were so wonderful to watch. We sat up late one Friday night, watching video after video, until we saw all eleven. We encourage everyone who is touched by adoption, or curious about open adoption to watch these videos. They touched our hearts.

Videos:  Open Adoption and Family Services

Hopefully, one day, we will have the opportunity to grow a family similar to those in these videos. Until then…..we wait.

Last fall, Sasha and I took a drive through the countryside to attend a Chestnut Roast at Forrest Keeling Nursery.  While there, we made a few purchases from the vendors, one being a bar of goat’s milk soap from Sweet Spirits Farm in Hannibal, Missouri.  I am here to say, I LOVE that bar of soap!!!  ….made of all natural products and good for your skin. I recently decided I needed more, so online I went! I placed the order Wednesday afternoon and by Friday, I had a mailbox filled with the lovely scent of Rosemary Mint. The ordered was filled that quickly! And so, being the very happy customer that I am, I must give a very big shout out to Sweet Spirits Farm in Hannibal, Missouri – www.sweetspiritsfarm.com – check them out!!! (Note: They also sell their products in several brick-and-mortar stores if you don’t want to purchase online.)

On another note, a little backyard update. We have ONE sprout of spinach shooting up out of our Gutter Garden….and many, many, many sprouts of lettuce making their way out into the sunshine to fill our gutter! So exciting. The strawberries still are not planted. It’s been a busy week/weekend.

Lonely Spinach sprout in our Gutter Garden.

Lettuce growing in our Gutter Garden.

Also, a photo update on our lovely Columbine  - and happy to report, the Peony is looking much better with even more buds!

Columbine - Missouri Native Wildflower (in our backyard)

Columbine - Missouri Native Wildflower (in our backyard)

Our Peony looking better and doing great!

Filed under: Gardening, Just Because, Our Fun Times Tagged: gardening, Missouri, Missouri Natives ]]> http://blueskyhappy.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/shout-out/feed/ 0 soap-1 blueskyhappy soap-1 Soap-2 spinach lettuce columbine-1 columbine-2 peony http://blueskyhappy.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/its-all-about-control/ http://blueskyhappy.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/its-all-about-control/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:27:55 +0000 Blue Sky Happy http://blueskyhappy.wordpress.com/?p=344 ]]> Those of you who know me are already aware of this, and those of you who know me pretty well will not be surprised by this, but for those who don’t know me….I am admitting openly…I am a control freak!!! Oh yes.

Sasha started working on our kitchen floor again last night….without ME! Ohhhh….I do not like that, but I had no choice and it needs to be done. I have a dinner to go to this Friday night and had to hem my new pants. They are much too long. Well, I was able to get them pinned up and they look pretty good, but I decided to finish sewing them up tonight. I just couldn’t stay out of the kitchen. [What is wrong with me?!] I simply had to make sure that Sasha didn’t need my help. As if he is not capable, or something! He was doing a great job, and I knew it, because I kept running back and forth from my sewing room to the kitchen. “Sasha, do you need my help?” … “Sasha, are you doing ok?” … “Sasha, Sasha, Sasha?” Did I mention the guy has a lot of patience?! So the Hardi Board subfloor is finally all down (dry-fitted). Good job honey! Up next, the thin-set. In the meantime, I hope to get started working on the dining room walls. Never a dull moment.

Earlier in the evening, while watering the plants, I snapped a few photos from around the yard. Enjoy!

Jozi sitting - the impossible photograph.

Sasha installing our gutter garden.

We planted lettuce and spinach seeds in this level.

Upper level of the gutter garden where strawberries will be...but for now is home to our growing tomato plants.

Blueberry blossoms.

Columbine about to bloom - Missouri Native

Wild Geranium just bloomed today - Missouri Native

Our baby redbud tree, planted last spring, attacked by cicadas last year, scarred but survived and blooming!

Peony not looking so good, but has buds on it. Hoping it does better.

Mr. Hooters watching over things.

These trails got me thinking and next thing you know, I was googling St. Louis Bike Trails. To my delight, there are actually a lot of bike trails through the St. Louis area. My preference, when it comes to these trails though, is to be out in nature…away from all the cars, and the noise and busy-ness of the city…so we’ll have to be choosey as to which trails we ride.

However, before we can ride any trails, I need a bike! Actually, I have a bike…but it’s a men’s bike…a really nice men’s mountain bike that my brother-in-law had custom built. I’ve had that bike since before Sasha and I were married, and now it’s in need of new tires and inner tubes. Easy enough fix. We’ll fix it up and make it Sasha’s bike. The bigger task will be finding Sarah a new bike. Any suggestions? Advice? Keep in mind, we will be financing an adoption, so price is an issue!