Another year, another fair

Well, the Ann Arbor Art Fairs are here again.  While many townies might boast of avoiding the insanity at all costs, or even of pointedly leaving town on that same week every year, we have a tradition of attending the first day of the festivities, rain or shine.  This is a tradition we come by honestly, one that was passed to Jon through his family and his family's family.  Though the size of the group has dwindled over the years (the first year I attended the shindig we were upwards of 15 people  for lunch in the basement of the Cottage Inn on campus, this year we were only 9), its persistence has not.  Calvin's day was made in the shade.  His Gram dropped us off one block away from the annual rendezvous lunch spot, and after he'd enjoyed a fantastic pizza lunch to the tune of so many people loving him up, she picked him up again to take him home for an air conditioned nap while we stayed behind to make our way through the crowds like driven cattle.  In ninety degree heat we perused booth after booth, each coming away with our own treasures - jewelry for some, posters or shirts for others, or items snatched off the sidewalk sale tables that businesses lucky enough to abut the thoroughfares set out.  Most of the art we truly enjoy, we truly cannot afford.  Before Calvin was born we bought ourselves two pieces of actual fair artwork, both of which keep prominent places in our home, but now if we stop to look at anything with the intention of bringing it home it's more family oriented (we're partial to wooden toys and to kitchen items).  And, thanks to shopping under grandparental influence, Calvin came away with two Art Fair pieces this year - a wooden tractor and a reading tent - all while sleeping comfortably in a cooler clime.  That's as many pieces as we have to show for all of our years of tradition.  Lucky boy.

The tastes of summer

We celebrate many tastes throughout the summer, but one of the best and earliest is arrival, in early June, of the Michigan strawberries.  Sure, the California berries that are imported year round (albeit at a price) are pretty decent themselves, but put an imported berry next to a Michigan berry and there really is no contest - the deceptively small Michigan berry can look pretty scraggly next to its beefcake California counterpart, but inside its much deeper red color is an equal depth of flavor that beats the California berry hands down.  They aren't available for long, so we have to take advantage of them when we can and last night we did just that, enjoying our first summer taste alongside homemade shortcake and topped with homemade whipped cream.  Yum.

More than just tulips.

Tulips are in full bloom everywhere that they've been planted that the squirrels haven't found.  Though the bulbs we planted at our old house never really did us the favor of growing buds, our new garden surprised us with several different kinds and colors of tulips this spring.  But if we can see tulips anywhere, then why do we have a tradition of driving two hours to the city of Holland, Michigan, to attend the annual tulip time festival?  Well, there is the fact that there are few places closer to us where one can find so many tulips in one place.  And part of the answer has to be the annual offer of a free place to stay right on beautiful Lake Michigan, which makes for a great mini vacation.  But to get to the heart of the matter, you'd have to know that Calvin is about as Dutch as a little (over half) Dutch Boy can be.  Heritage, genealogy, tradition - all of these things are very important to us, and the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan is more than just a celebration of those pretty flowers;  it is a celebration of the Dutch heritage that is still strong in the area.  On Monday we visited Dutch Village where we fed goats, tried on wooden shoes, watched a Klompen Dancing demonstration, then tried our own feat at it, and enjoyed a traditional Dutch meal.  Monday evening, after walking the beach, we spent in Centennial Park enjoying not only the beautiful flowers but also another Klompen Dancing performance, this one by high school dancers from the area who filled the streets surrounding the park.  Calvin loved the dancing, and we loved seeing so many young men and women involved in keeping this part of the heritage alive.  And today we spent in Windmill Island Park where we climbed to the top of and learned all about the country's oldest working authentic Dutch windmill, De Zwaan, tiptoed through rows and rows of beautiful tulips, ate another authentic Dutch meal, and listened to the street organ while playing on the wide lawns of a replica Dutch village.  The weather was fabulous, and the crowds low thanks to it being mid-week, all adding up to a great mini-vacation.  The only downside?  Our garden of tulips looked suddenly quite modest upon our return home.

A profusion of Tulip Time pictures can be found in that album. 

Vacationing in Ann Arbor.

A little over a year ago you might remember that we came home one day to find our ceiling leaking.  Even if you don't remember, we do, and the paint and drywall damage to our ceiling was a daily reminder that just would not let us forget.  So finally, with thoughts of trying to join the already flooded housing market this spring weighing on our minds, we got around to doing something about this eyesore.  We'd been toying with the idea of attempting to do the work ourselves, but that plan lasted all of the five minutes it took Jon to get the instructions for such an undertaking from a skillful friend in our choir who does this stuff for a living...and then we hired him.  So instead of spending several days bumbling our way through an extremely intricate process we spent the whole of last week, and a bit more, on what felt like a mini-vacation, staying in Cortney's childhood home thanks to the good graces of her parents (who were also staying there, as they do all of the time since they happen to live there).  We think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed the time.  Jon and Cortney certainly enjoyed being so much closer to all of their day to day activities and needs, and Calvin clearly capitalized on the constant doting attentions of his grandparents.  We moved back home today (to a much cleaner and brighter ceiling) feeling like we'd just been on a week-long vacation, and having the laundry to prove it.

More pictures - in the February 2008 album. 

Back to (anything but) routine

It has been a whirlwind two weeks, starting with good friends visiting, then visiting good friends, then Christmas, then family visiting from afar, then visiting family afar... basically we have not been on our routine for over 2 weeks now because we either weren't at home or we had guests at home with us.   Over the course of those two weeks Calvin went on two 2 hour and one 5 hour car trip (adding up to 18 hours of driving), napped in two different cars and four different houses, and spent the night in two houses other than his own (amounting to more nights away than at home), ate in six different restaurants, six different homes, and one car, and attended three different parties packed with strangers, and during all that time nobody lost any of their sleep or sanity.  In all actuality it would appear that Calvin was born to travel and party.

So what was the best part of the holidays?  Seeing friends and family that we see only once a year is always very special to us, and marked our season with a special joy.  And Christmas itself was truly magical this year with Calvin being such an active participant, ripping open packages and squealing with delight over every new gift (even the socks).  We spent the last week of the holiday season in Harbor Springs, our favorite vacation destination, and in addition to our usual enjoyments (such as visiting family, a Mackinaw City trip, local restaurants, and putt putt) we were treated to a week of nearly constantly falling snow (starting with the 10 inches that fell during a snow storm our first night there), giving us a vacation that was beautiful, serene, and oh so fun for a toddler who is learning to sled.  It was exactly what we needed for a strong end to our 2007-2008 holiday season.  Well, that and the fantastic football game we enjoyed from the edges of our seats in our snow encompassed lodgings (think Citrus Bowl goes to Michigan). 

Yes, it has been a magical two weeks, and we were ready to return to our routines today, if only that had happened, but is anything ever really that simple?  What started out as a normal day quickly became muddled by a dead car battery that threw everyone's day for a loop, and an odd evening of mishaps, which included Cortney absent-mindedly mistaking Calvin's soap bottle for lotion and having to start his bath all over again.  Fortunately, whether due to the recent weeks of escape or something in the air (perhaps the beauty of the recent 11 inch snowfall here at home), all three of us remained in good spirits in spite of the frustrating disruptions.  Maybe tomorrow will be more routine, but nobody's holding their breath.

Pictures from Christmas are in the Dec 22-28 album.

Pictures from New Years are in the Dec 29-Jan 4 album.