Having fun in the snow

We are doing completely different things than we used to. Our lifestyle has drastically changed. The UP is a beautiful winter wonderland. We are downhill skiing, crosscountry skiing, ice skating, broom ball playing and don’t forget snow shovelling. A year ago this time we were sailing in the Jumentos, hungry for Pringles. Amazing to think that we actually chose this lifestyle! My folks are here and we have some grand plans for “the Compound” we are planning to build. Is it ever going to happen? I hope so. We will be very disappointed if it doesn’t.

Our finacial status has changed also. For the first time we have filed our tax return with a standard deduction. We are renters! We still have the house in Houston in case we need to bail. There are not a lot of decent properties here to rent. It is not the manner that I was accustomed to prior to sailing, but after sailing it is like the Taj Mahal.

Life after our sailing sebatical has been a challenge. Our focus on life has definitely changed. Family is more important than it used to be. We are doing more, together and with my parents. I haven’t lived near them in 18 years. It is fun to get to know them again.

The cabin/compound is on hold for the winter. Only dreams of it’s eventuallity exist now. I will try to get some pictures of fun in the snow for you.

Road Trip

Details of the road trip from Houston to follow in the next few days. I am not blogcotting, just it probably is not very interesting. I will try to make some stuff up to make it sparkle.

South bound

We are south bound this weekend to pick up all of our leftovers from our cruise. My goal is to see as many “buds” and family as possible during this week. I hope you all have cleared your schedules for me

Birthday Love

David suprised me with a little birthday love this weekend. He took me to New York city for the weekend. I thought that only happened in romance novels. Our friends Nancy and Charles met us there. Nancy was also celebrating an important birthday (will not disclose). We took in the play “God of Carnage” which was perfect for the weekend theme of “turning old”. We had dinner at a lovely jammed packed italian restaurant afterwards. It was very cleverly planned. David did not give anything away until Friday night. Sam didn’t even know about it. Pictures to follow. P.S. I even bought some Kenneth Cole boots! Awesome.

Firefly debut

Welcome to my new site. I will be relating my family’s adventures in the Upper Peninsula (UP) Michigan. We plan to build a cabin on the family land in Baraga, MI. My mom and dad built their own cabin up here a few years ago, so we are hoping to cash in on my parents mistakes and triumphs. Here is where we are so far, cleared land, built up pad for garage, cleaned up pond, started shed for tractor, made benches for the pond and burned, burned, burned. We have designed and redesigned our cabin about 20 times so far. We’ve run off a squatter on my parent’s land. We have changed our site two times.

Now we are up and running, just kidding. We are done until the spring. It actually snowed up here on the 10th of October. We will spend our time helping Mom and Dad finish out their basement (inside work).

David’s mom came to visit us. We welcome any and all visitors. We are presently renting, but are thinking are buying a small home in Houghton. I work in the Houghton, MI area, so we are living around 30 miles from Baraga (house site). David works from home. We pretty much go to Baraga every weekend to work and play with my folks.

Here are some pictures of stuff we have done so far.

Sam and Meme at the Lake of the Clouds

Home site

swedish candle aka Upper candle

Taking down the trees, look David's driving!

Sudden lake

Mom and Dad birdwatching

Sandhill cranes

Before

Sam's football team