RELAX

Off to Traverse City to relax. Tiffany and I thought we would get away for a couple of days and go to my parents house.

We arrived about 3:00pm on Friday. We decided to go to the Music Fest in Traverse City. The people in town were a little wild. At one point I thought I was back in New York. There were people in strange clothes, from pig suites to underwear. There was even a bubble blower in the street. After some great music and good food to bed we go.

While in bed at 3ish in the morning the dog starts to bark. Clearly try to tell us about something, we just wanted her to stop barking. she continued to let us know for a while longer that something was no good outside. (to be continued....)

Saturday we got up early so we could go to the Farmers Market and garage sales. Before we left we loaded a cooler and walked out by the garage (that my parents are building).
Then the rest of the story....
Their lays a dead rabbit that a bobcat must have caught at about 3ish in the morning. Poor thing, after a small funeral we hope the poor rabbit is resting in peace.

At the sale we found some great deals. I bought this cute tepee for work, and a floating cooler for enjoyment.

On one of the roads we went down there was the coolest street sign. No one would believe me if I told you about so I took a picture.

Now that we had a floating cooler it had to be tested, so we went tubing. What a trip!

There is always something with the Brethauer's. We took two cars so we would have one car where we got in the river and we would park one car at the end where we would get out of the river. Low and behold there was a snag in that great idea. Dad locked his keys and wallet in the car at the beginning of our trip and his van was the one at the end. At least we were able to get in the van so we would not have to carry the tubs, however we did have to walk back to the start so we could get the keys.

After tubbing it was just a day to chill out, a few yard games, barbecue, ice cream and a nice walk so Tiffany could ride her scooter. I love these kinds of days, fun filled but not exhausting.

Sunday rolled around fast, it seemed like we just arrived and it is time to go home.

We ended up going to Aden a little city out side of Travers City for and Art fair type thing, that was over before we arrived. So we did a little shopping in there little shops. I found the collest flip flop ever (Twice)! The first coolest ever were called Switch Flops and the second pair were call Hotflops. (Check out the links and guest witch pair of sportsflops Tiff ordered.)
Then to finish our small road trip, we stop at some little parks just to see if they were worth retuning to in the future and then to Tiff's favorite restaurant (bd's Mongolian Barbeque).
The Dog liked the Bessy River the Best and looks forward to returning soon.

After such a great weekend of no stress, I returned home to a dryer that will not turn on.
So I started my week with the thing I like to do best, fix something with my husband. When it comes to working together Mike and I are always like oil and water. No matter how much you work it, it just does not come together. However after lot of hatefulness I have a working dryer!

Calgone take me away!

Putting on a good front!

Life is not treating me so swell lately.
It seems when I’m stressed one thing after the other falls a part.
I won’t bore you with all of the details, but I will share a few.

1. I have been having this pain in my hip for few weeks now. I have been taking a lot of medication to help. It seems all this medication is having some side effects. I come home everyday from work and sleep.

2. Do to all my sleeping, house work is building up and I’m just behind in everything.

3. I decided to ask for help. I like to blog and really want to blog about everything. So I ask Mike to help me with the Forth party write up. (No help!)
(Now I’m really behind.)
I now had to blog about the party, the building, softball, and a family gathering. (Just this is enough to stress me out!)

4. So I ask my sister Donna to help me out with the blog. (She comes through) She planned on coming over after I got out of work. So I decided to remove the pictures from my camera and upload them onto photo bucket, so we could make a slide show. Seems during this process I deleted all of the softball pictures. (More stress) I had some great pictures.

5. I had a Doctors appointment today to see what is going on the my sometimes painful, sometimes sleeping leg and hip. I came home and had a little time before I had to leave and fell asleep, missed my appointment. Now I can’t get in until next Thursday!

So here is one of my big solutions blog is going to get the shaft, with a boring write up. I’m going to stay up late, clean my house and then chill out on the couch.

I’m so upset about the softball pics I could cry.

Softball up date:

Sod farm fell apart Sunday and lost our first Game. Season is over.

We plan to play Fall Ball. I’m looking for a new Fall Sponsor!! Wish me luck with that!

Steven’s softball team has lost every game this season. Sunday they really needed to lose there first game. The whole team had plans, most of the team was going to the Kid Rock concert, one had a baby shower, Steve was still helping out with the last touches on the building project.
They WON the first game by forfeit.
The Kid Rock group decided to leave a little late to play game two. (I think they really planned on losing, after all they had never won) I was needed for this game, and it went well.
WE WON.
Now for game three and a possible Championship.
For this game we would be missing some players. We ask my Hubby, and three girls from Heritage to help. Low and behold we took home the trophy.
What a great time!
Sorry NO pictures:(

As for my family gathering. This was with the Beebe side (My Mother’s side.). My cousin Steven is in town from California. He and his wife own a producing company, which keeps them busy and we don’t get to see the vary often. However after a long day of softball we were late and I’m sure missed all the fun. It was still fun to catch up with the Family.

Talk about stress my Steven didn’t go with us, he was sick for to much sun. So he stayed home and watched my parents dog.
Mom and Dad should have left about 5:00 or so to get to my uncle house on time. However my sister’s truck had a dead battery and was blocking in there van. Needless to say we all got to my Uncle’s house about 7ish.


Storm on the way to family gathering!

Steven and his wife Brianna

Spitting duck!

Left to right:
Dad, Mom Uncle Raymond, & Aunt Shirley

Glad to get through one more busy weekend!

House work here I come!!!!

Saturday through Jill's Camera and Donna's Verse

On June 6th there came a great wind
that knocked down trees and giant limbs.
Mandy and George stayed out of the way
but sadly, they lost their garage that day.

Jody called in the troops to clear the debris,
got a big dumpster for an even bigger fee.
Terry brought a doozer, we thought things would go fine,
but we wouldn’t be that lucky due to a bad hydraulic line.
So we tackled the job with shovels, hammers, and an ax,
while Jan did extreme yardwork despite our pleas for her to relax.

On Saturday, July 19th the rebuilding began.
Dad showed up that morning with ladders tied on the van.
Mom brought matching aprons so they could build in style.
They had the walls together in a surprisingly short while.

Even Audrey drove some nails into a 4x4,
while Harry, Jeff, and Terry tried to see who could get hammered more!
Steve was a work-horse, he was such a sight to see -
until he leaned on the fiber board and broke it with his knee.

Jody used a lot of muscle, Dad used a saw
Mildred used us all without even lifting a paw.
Donna used a sharpie and Aunt Jill and Elden used a chair
Jan used her mad-skills to keep the kids out of our hair.

Harry and Steve held up a wall until the rest of the crew was ready,
Dad and Terry hammered in temporary boards to keep the whole frame steady.
Jody called in a pizza order and she let everyone have a rest,
Jessica sat around shyly because that’s what she does best.

They got back to work, the tiny trusses are lifted
Which way is up? The neighbors must think we’re gifted!
Harry claimed a level that used to belong to dad.
Dad decided to get even instead of getting mad.

The ladder held up Georgie while he hung roofing sheath,
The house might have fallen down if it wasn’t held up by Steve.
Mom, Dad and Harry cut and rolled out the tar paper
While Roy and Jeff totally destroyed the hammer-stapler.

The clouds rolled in, here comes the wind, time to call it a day.
Jody, Jill, and Donna put the lumber and tools away.
One thing about our family - you never go hungry or thirsty,
so the boys filled up on Busch Lite and everyone else on KFC.
We really all come together when there is a job to be done,
and the togetherness is entertaining, maybe even fun.

Fourth of July Party @ the Muylle's

Every year for the last 7 years the Muylle side of the Family has a forth of July party.
It is a lot of fun there is fishing, swimming, boating, food, family, friends and fun. While almost friends, Mike and I don't invite any of our friends, however we should it is great.

Here is Mike, George, Amanda and Addison watching the commotion in the water.

I don't get many of these pictures any more!! Steve and Taylor playing a game!

Here is Tiffany and Karly showing off there mad boating skills.

We popped a hole in the trampoline so the group is helping fix it ,so they can get back out in the water.

They all made it out! From Left to Right :

Two boys we don't know, Courtney, Steve, Jessica, Tiffany, Mitchell resting, and last of all Taylor slowly getting on!

After a long day in the water everyone must lay down for cheese ball fight!
Finally the Fireworks begin, what a great show this year, every year it gets bigger and better. I think they lasted almost 40 minutes. (I will one day add video to you tube!)

Softball

Sunday we had our last softball game before the playoff tournament.
We were short several players, so we had my son Steve and his girl friend Jessica come and help us out.

Come to find out the other team did not have enough players either and had to forfeit the game. Nice easy win for the Sod Farm!

Thought I would post the schedule for next weekend for those that were not at the game.





By the way, does anyone know how I got everything underlined? How do I remove it? (Boy am I having issues!!)

Great weekend!

OK, for the Chicks with Sticks game, I was named MVP for the white team. As a gift they gave me 4 passes to the Saginaw Fireworks. They were awesome!! We were able to park on the Island, eat dinner and have the best view of the fireworks (for no cost at all). For those of you who do not get to see them here is a little view.

We also got a couple great new toys. One toy being a game that you play by tossing 2" washers into a box. Inside the box is a cup. 3 points if you make it in the cup, 1 if you get it in the box. I will not bore you with all the details, just wanted to give you a quick synopsis. The other toy is a 7" water trampoline to be used at my in-laws. I just thought I would share a few pics of the toys.
One amazing picture was the first one that as taken. Mike was taking a picture of Taylor and I with the new toy on the lake, while Tiffany and Uncle J were playing on land with the other new toy. Somehow he got both toys in one picture. No, that is not a halo over Tay's head, that is one of the washers that were being tossed that was captured!

He seems to think it is a great shot! I seem to think my @$$ is looking large!!

On the Hunt!!!

I'm on vacation and things did not go as planned, we are unable to go to Traverse City.

So Tiffany and I decided to gather my sister Donna and her three children to go on a GEO cach.
If your unfamiliar with GEO caching, it is like a treasure hunt using your GPS.

Usually you find a box of some sort filled with little trinkets . You take something and then leave something . To our surprise we would not be taking or leaving anything today. Every GEO hunt we went on they were so tiny we could only sign the log and sometimes this was a challenge. Here are some samples of our troubles today.



Now Tiffany has be challenged, we must find all these little stinkers!!!