Camera Critters ~ Doggie Friends

We've had some doggie friends stay with us the past two weeks over Christmas while our friends were out of the country. They are often called our "god-dogs" they are like part of the family. Our dog will stay with them when we are out of town. It makes for a small house when you have three herding dogs around...err...underfoot! It is hard to get them all in one photos so...I used food!

Now Tucker is going to be 15 this May and he has been by himself (in the dog world) for a long time. He is used to these visitors though...


...but they do go through his toy basket and take out all his toys, and tear them up and leave the all over the house and yard...

Roxy has settled in just fine, she's the youngest, and the center of everyone's attention.

We were able to get the "old man" out of the house and take him with us to a restaurant. Ah...it's good to get some attention again.

Flash loves to watch the pool filter, and is sometime timid about walking past it to go outside. Then he sees a squirrel climbing the banana tree and he's over it and outside he goes.

Roxy will go anywhere, anytime and is always in your face as well as the other dog's face (which Tucker despises) but he tolerates it. She will also lay on you snuggle with you and listen to anything you say!

This is usually the way I can get a photo of all three when they are sleeping, and often in the same room near each other or us. Monday they will be back in their own home when the owner returns...

...and Tucker will have his futon back all to himself!

Take a look at more wonderful creatures at Camera Critters! Have fun checking them all out.

Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland!

Maranda's first snow. Well, she actually has seen it before when she was two years old on her birthday in November over Thanksgiving, but she claims not to remember that!



We usually make it up to Michigan to visit family each year. Working in the school system I have the summers off too, so it's easy to travel at that time. Plus Michigan is so beautiful in the summer. My sister has a cottage (they call it a cottage, it's more like a summer house) in Traverse City. We were up there one summer for the Cherry Festival. My parents used to have a boat out at Grand Haven. Lots of things to do and see.



This year Maranda said she wanted to see snow, and decided Christmas would be a good time. We both had two weeks off from school. Wade was able to get the vacation time since he didn't go to the Jet Ski World Finals in Lake Havasu this year. By the time we could figure this out it was too late to buy air tickets. Maranda wasn't too excited about driving up, she has always flown, but we made it. We stayed the first night at a friends house in the mountains in North Carolina. As turned out with all the winter weather this Christmas, and airports full of people and delays....it was a good thing we drove. What clinched it for Maranda was when Wade told her we wouldn't get sick, like you do when you fly.



So here is the snow highlights of the trip.

We first spotted it in the mountains in Tennessee. Just a little dusting. It was funny, at one stop for lunch we made she said "look, snow droppings" pointing at a little patch of snow that had not melted yet. Then when we were driving through Ohio it actually snowed. Wade told her to look out the windshield, and she said "oh snowdrops". Okay, so I had to teach her "snow lingo". I told her they'd think she was a Florida girl or something. She said "I am a Florida girl"


She didn't go out and touch the snow right away, she did wait until the next day. On mom and dad's back deck we even got to see icicles!

Wow, they were even low enough where she could grab one.

I took photos from her phone camera too so she could send it to her friends.

I was telling her to be careful when she grabbed it in case it all broke off and fell. Which she was careful, (I think it's her middle name) when her aunt reached out the door and just grabbed one and ripped it off!

She finally picked up some snow. It was not the packing kind on this day. Just wait a few days after the rain. It snowed after the all day rain on Christmas and it packed good. She wouldn't through it at anyone though (she's so nice).

Her next winter adventure, ice skating!

My sister told us we should go downtown and skate! She needed a little help from her cousins.
But I give her credit for going out there when it was so busy and snowy! It was funny how you could catch a snowflake reflection with the flash!

She wasn't the only one hanging out around the edge of the rink. Of course mom, Karen and I were just watching. Someone had to take the photos!

It was chilly, but fun!

I had to show her how the snow was collecting in her hood. After skating we walked over to Friday's. We were all wet when that snow melted. There was even a bicycle taxi dropping someone off in the snow! Brrrr...

The day after Christmas we went to my other sister's house. First time that I've seen it since it was finished. It was pretty as a picture!

Across the street they had a hill, so Maranda got a chance to go sledding for the first time ever!! It was a nice small hill for her to start on.
There she goes her first ride down!

She was not sure about this at all. I wish I could of captured the panicked look her face.

Oh, you mean I have to walk up the hill?

Every one did join in, they all weren't just standing there. It was fun I even went.

Maranda with her cousins, Jessica and Kendra.

We did end up having almost everyone going down the hill. It was nice because we just went across the street and we could go in and get something warm to drink and sit by the fire.

But before we went in Kendra did get Maranda to make a snow angel! Everyone was asking if she's made a snow angel yet. Again, she still wasn't sure about laying in the snow!
Kendra's snow angel!

Let It Snow! Thanks all for looking!

Christmas in Michigan

As you all probably already know we drove up to Michigan to spend Christmas with family. This was the first time Maranda has spent Christmas at grandma and grandpa's, and with the whole family (well most of the family). Also the first time she saw snow. I will split the pictures that I took in different posts, so you won't be overwhelmed.
I wanted to get a picture of Mom and Dad's house before the snow melted.

I found out that I didn't have to hurry. We were supposed to go to Wade's dad's Christmas Eve which is an hour north, but there was freezing rain so we waited until morning. Christmas day it rained all day, but was warm enough it didn't freeze.

There are a lot of Amish farms around where his dad live. They work the farms with big plow horses. All of the Amish farms are kept up really nice. They were all going visiting, we passed around 8 buggies going up there and around 12 on the way back.

The roads were slushy, and slippery for what we were used to.

The passengers in the buggy have a barricade up in front of them where just their heads peak over the top and a hole where the reigns go through. I guess it keeps some of the weather off of them, burr. We passed a group of young people walking, one was pulling a sled with baked beans riding on top.

After we visited up at the farm (Wade's dad live on a dairy farm) we had Christmas with my side of the family. It's funny because we never had to worry about that before, where to spend Christmas, Christmas eve with who and when and where. We usually spend Christmas with our friends who are originally from South Africa and they don't have family in town either. So we make our own traditions, a little South African and a little American.
The food was already when we got there. One nice thing about coming in from out of state, everyone else did all the cooking.

Mom fit us all in. Of course the kids table was mostly adult kids :) not so bad for Maranda.

Our family, Sarah was in California and baby Ruby was sleeping, otherwise we're all here.

The first time my car had snow on it. In North Carolina where we stayed the night on the way up it was all frosty! It snowed after Christmas and became really nice snow. It wasn't the crunchy kind you usually get after it rains then snows. I think they ordered it that way so Maranda could see a little bit of everything.

Oh, I slipped this photo in the wrong spot. Karen got us all some fuzzy sleep pants to wear Christmas Eve. Just like when we were kids we got the matching PJs.

I don't know where Karen was in this photo though. Just us and our cousins at Grandma Bouwman's on Christmas morning. Fun, fun, fun!

Sea Urchin Ornaments

We like to walk the beach often and when the weather is cooler we go more often. You never know what you are going to find. I don't know what it is that "dumps" certain sea life on the beach. The weather, time of year, currents, I just don't know, maybe I'll look into that. Anyway last January when Wade was running on the beach he told me that there were a ton of sea urchins. So when we went to the beach that evening for sunset to collected some. Then Maranda and I went the next week in the morning to collect some more, we couldn't believe how many were there. When we get them they still have most of their quills on them, so we look for the ones that most have fallen off. They are already dead, so we have to take them and clean them up. I make sure they are dry by letting them set in the sun. Then it easier to work with them. I do use bleach to make sure they are nice and clean.



When they were setting on the tack box drying, Maranda noticed the sizes and put them onto snowman. So the idea to make them into Sea Urchin Snowman came into play.




First I use some watered down glue and paint it on the shells, then sprinkle with snow glitter. Then I get some small ribbon and thread it through the natural holes in the shells. I put a large bead that will hold it inside the bottom one so it won't slip through. Using beads I glue on the eyes and nose. Glue the three sections together, and add a ribbon scarf. I am still trying to figure out what to use for a hat.












On the tree in action! I gotta find him a hat.



A preview of the next sea urchin ornaments, jellyfish!