July 28, 2009

Since my honeymoon in October 2007 I have waited patiently to travel. This year was Eric's family reunion in Grand Haven, Michigan. The Griffin/Meyer reunion is once every 3 years so you have plenty of time to plan and you better be there! When the people I work with discovered I was using my vacation time for my spouse's reunion, they laughed and felt sorry for me! I explained to them that this is something I actually look forward to and enjoy more than anything, being part of something great. We stayed in the main cottage right on Lake Michigan. The weather was comfortably warm during the day and crispy cool at night.

Here are some of the family enjoying a fantastic meal...



Eric (aka EGG)

Me
Following the sunset

Enjoying a fire on the beach


Following the weekend, we celebrated the life of Eric's mother, Mary Anne, who passed away in February of 2008. Her ashes were sprinkled in Lake Michigan where she had always wanted.

Eric's brother Mark is holding her urn, when out of nowhere, a beautiful monarch butterfly flew up to greet them. It flew back and forth from Eric to Mark. In my head I heard Natasha Bedingfield's song "Pocket Full of Sunshine" in my head.

There's a place that I go that nobody knows
Where the rivers flow and I call it home
And there's no more lies, in the darkness there's light
And nobody cries, there's only butterflies

It was quite an emotional day so we hit the beach for some fun. Boys will be boys!

Group family photoOn the same day that evening, we took a sail boat ride on Lake Michigan to celebrate the lives of Eric's Aunt Bonnie and her brother Frank, who had passed recently as well.Eric and his son Drew

A glimpse of Grand Haven from our boat


Leaving the channel that goes from the Grand River to Lake Michigan
Another view of Grand Haven from the boat

Eric hoisting the main sail

Drew plays captain

Eric's brother Mark and his wife Carla

I don't recall ever seeing the sunset so mesmerizing.

Bonnie's grandchildren sprinkle her ashes

Returning to shore

On the plane returning to Texas...
Undoubtedly, a piece of my heart was left in Michigan.
For Mary Anne, Bonnie and Frank, TTFN.

July 1, 2009

My Day Off...

I decided that today would be a perfect day! Have you ever woke up on the RIGHT side of the bed? It was my own Disney movie. Birds were sitting on the windowsill singing Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins. My chihuahua slithered out from under the covers with alligator legs and burrowed into my neck with delicate snarls. My toes went exactly into my house shoes and I twirled around the bedroom in my white satin nightie like Cinderella.

I poured myself a superior cup of coffee, did a heel kick and turned on Regis and Kelly. I recorded The View and rushed to our neighborhood swimming pool hoping to outsmart all the housewives that wouldn't come out until The View was over. As I pulled up to the pool, I saw a mini-van and began to tense up for fear that my perfect day was going to be sabotaged by fun noodles, Marco Polo and shrill screaming. Fortunately, the four children that were swimming around were not completely rotten and actually quite entertaining. One child screamed, "I'll cut your throat and stab you with my gun!" while his opponent declared, "You can't do that! I'm a zombie ninja!"

The best part was when one of the boys took off running around the pool (without scissors for the love of God) and wiped out over a folding beach chair and his mother glanced at me and busted out laughing. The boy was trying so hard not to cry and then yelled at his mom, "Stop laughing at me Mom! It's not funny!" After they left I had the pool all to myself for about an hour. It was pure Heaven.

So now I'm going to curl up on my giant red chair with my chihuahua and a good book while digesting the perfectly steamed asparagus I had for lunch, and relish in life.