Sunday, December 29, 2013

CHRISTMAS 2013

Happy Holidays to our Friends and Family
 We gathered in Traverse City this Christmas and had a great time with the grandchildren.  Finnley is 16 months and Seamus is 7 months.  Both are not quite old enough to really enjoy Santa and all the fun kid activities of Christmas but we enjoyed the children at the holidays.  It is the first time that they had met and Seamus had his first trip to Michigan.  We spent the weekend before at the cabin and then came back to TC in a snow storm where we had to tow Timothy and Casey's car on the unplowed back roads.  Exciting!!
 Finnley is a ham and such a sucker for the camera.   We were on our way to story hour at the Library.
 So here is Seamus...the smiling and laughing fellow who has his serious moments also...he studies you  and is not always sure of new people.  It was so wonderful to see Timothy and Casey as new parents.  They are doing a great job and enjoying every second!

                                                      Grandma and Grandpa with Seamus Patrick

                                                      Seamus hanging out  with the boys
                  Casey's mother , Kym, joined us for the holiday..how great to have                                                                                  two grandma's to spoil Seamus!
 The Christmas outfits before we got into dinner...they are so adorable!!  Seamus was not sure what to make of Finnley's fancy hat.   He looks so much like Timothy at the same age that is is spooky!  We are very blessed to have such healthy and beautiful grandchildren.
 All our best wishes for a great new year.        Kathy and Michael
                                                                     

Sunday, December 1, 2013

November 2013


Greetings from a snowy Michigan.  We have  had tons of snow in November.  The view from the deck at the cabin looks like February.
 Nov 15th was the opening of deer season and the ten year anniversary of our fire at the cabin.  Hard to believe..I hope no one has to ever go through something like that.  Not fun.
We have spent weekend  time at the cabin this last month and were lucky to have the family out for Thanksgiving Dinner.
              Mike deep fried a turkey and Patrick did the carving...a good looking bird and boy!
                Grandma Deb (Heather's Mom) with Finnley...she is such a flirt...Finnley I mean.
        So who is laughing harder..Finnley was very entertaining all day and thinks Grandpa is really funny.
 Some  down time with Daddy and her favorite book.  She had not been to the cabin for awhile and so it was all new and exciting.  The dinner was wonderful and with  help from all it came off without a hitch.  We were so glad that Deb and Duane could join us for the day.  December is upon us and the Holiday season has begun with our first Christmas party to attend tomorrow!!  We hope this Thanksgiving finds you healthy , happy and spending time with your family.  Love to all   Kathy and Michael

Sunday, November 3, 2013

October 2013

 It has been awhile since I have written a blog.  I guess not that much has been happening.  That is good is some ways and not good in other ways.  We returned to Michigan in mid September in good shape from our trip out west.  Easy drive home with the feeling of fall happening as soon as we got to the UP of Michigan.  We had several beautiful sunny warm fall weeks and then a few rainy weeks.  November is here now and there are days when you can feel winter coming.  That is what Mike and I love about Michigan...the changing seasons.
We have raked lots of leaves and picked up thousands of walnuts from the trees in our back yard.  We usually have lots of walnuts, but since we installed a sprinkler system several years ago they have increased, but never as many as this year.  Some people say that means a hard winter, a long winter or a short winter.  Who knows...we are just glad they are all down and picked up.  The squirrels loved it.
Halloween is always a big holiday at our house.  We decorate with enthusiasm and love to scare the little ones with Mike's skeleton that he drops from one of the trees out front using a pulley.  Lots of screams and laughs.  We had rain, rain, rain this year and the numbers were down a bit but the costumes great.  The best was a group of Halloween carolers who sang original "scary songs".  Very original and entertaining.
Here is the pumpkin patch family.  Finnley was not too sure about the whole thing and it even  started raining again as they stood there.  She trick or treated for a block or so in the rain and then was done.
                                 She loved my witches pot that I use to hand out candy.
I have not seen Seamus since August but Timothy and Casey post pictures on Flicker which is wonderful.  I finally figured out how to get them into my computer and had to include this one from a month or so ago.  He is a happy baby who smiles and laughs a lot and looks just like Timothy!!! We can't wait to see them at Christmas.
Mike has been on a mission to plant trees at the cabin.  We saw a story about Ginkgo trees and were fascinated by the history and endurance.  It is a Japanese/Chinese tree that dates back 270 million years ago according to fossils.  It is fairly disease resistant and grows tall with yellow leaves in the fall.  It grows well in poor sandy soil and develops deep roots. Seemed like a good fit for the cabin.  We found one at a nursery in TC, got a good price since it is the end of the season, and decided it was our Christmas present to each other this year.  Planting  a tree makes us feel very positive about the world.
Mike is going steelhead fishing tomorrow..his third trip this fall.  I get to play with Finnley tomorrow.
Life is good.  We hope all is good with all of you.   Kathy and Michael

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Big Sky the Home



We arrived in Big Sky and joined the rest of the Nolan's in relaxing and enjoying each others company.
We first gathered here in 2011 and have almost every year since so we have lots of history and stories.  It is a great place that lends itself well to large groups of people.  Beautiful view and great place to have killer card games.
Patrick and Michael fished many days with Patrick's drift boat and had some luck..but not great luck with catching fish.  Still they had  great "brother" time.
We did lots of reading, some sewing, and lots and lots of relaxing and eating. Many great Cooks!!
We were joined by friends of Pat and Lynn...Steve and Brook from Seattle for part of the week.
Then friends of Kathy and Mike..Bud and Della came for a night on their way back to Michigan.  Great fun
 Dinner on Thanksgiving dinner night...who is missing??  It must be the guy below with his nose in the Mad magazine!!  HARRY...dinner is on the table!!!

                                                              Beautiful sister Fran with Harry
 What are they doing??  Mike, Bonnie and Patrick taking pictures of each other for their I phones, such kids!
                                                           Happy Hour on the deck.





We went into Yellowstone Park one day...the day it turned cold and rained of course...and did some fishing on the Fire Hole River.  It was great fun because even though the air is cold the water is warm due to the hot springs and hot pots etc of Yellowstone.  We saw Bison, Eagles, and the Elk are gathering up in herds..Those males are really bossy and bugle at the females all the time...what nags!
Bonnie looks like a million bucks and had a great time fishing...She could be on a magazine cover!!


We headed home on the 14th of Sept and drove
it in 4 days.  North Dakota is beautiful in its remote way but it is also a LONG state.  We stayed in a campground in Glendive Mt that has risen to our number one most awful..it was next to the train tracks and they loaded and unloaded cars all night.  Too many train whistles!!!  We went to Bessemer in the UP and visited Mike's mothers grave...found it right away which was good.  Found the bakery in Wakefield that Mike remembered and got pasties for dinner...baker remembered many Ahnen family members.  We spent the last night out at a wonderfully QUIET campground and then headed across the Mighty Mac..it was good to be home!
We were gone a month and both of us feel that was about the right amount of time.
Saw Patrick, Heather and Finnley last night and Skyped with Timothy, Casey and Seamus.  The babies have grown and all seems well with their parents.
Love and Hugs from the travelers....Michael and Kathy ...and of course Riggs

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Fishin in Montana


 We have been out of internet range for the last week so this has lots of pictures and stories to tell.
We fished for three days in Twin Bridges with Matt and enjoyed the hospitality of Don and Marsha.  Great meals and great conversations.
The weather was beautiful even though we had a rain storm each afternoon while fishing.  The fish did not seem to notice and cooperated by taking our caddis or the famous tar baby fly.  Lots of fun and laughs!!
 Kathy caught this big boy on the first day...20 inches as is the one above that Mike caught.  Beautiful brown trouts that gave us a fight and lots of smiles
 Matt, holding the trout plate, Don, Marsha, Mike and Kathy...Great people...like family!
 After much discussion with Matt and Don we settled on fishing at Rock Creek near Missoula.  It is a beautiful river with one terrible very  narrow road that runs up to Phillipsburg.  Mike and the boys fished here about 17 years ago and camped up at to top end.  We could not drive the RV past the 23 mile mark and so stayed there two nights with no electricity...quiet and beautiful.  Mike caught two big fish and I caught lots and lots of little ones. But who is comparing inches. Lots of fun and laughs.
 Rock Creek from the bridge above.  There was a fire near us but on the other side of the river which is all the smoke you see in the picture above.  The fire fighters were just watching it but it  made everything very smoky.
 We next traveled to the Madison River and stayed at the Campfire Lodge, where we have stayed before, and is a funky place from the 30's era.  They have campsites right on the river as it rages by.  We saw two osprey nests and I got a good shot of one standing guard on the nest below.  Beautiful birds.  Fun to watch them fish in the river.

 We next traveled thru Yellowstone National Park to camp at Fishing Bridge.  It is the only campground in the park that has electricity and was very nice.  The picture above is Mike on the bridge that is over the Yellowstone River where it comes out of Yellowstone Lake and heads to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We saw wildlife...Bison, deer, and mountain goats.  This guy held up traffic for quite awhile with his females and their babies.
 Our favorite spot is Yellowstone is the Lamar Valley, the picture below where the Lamar River, the Soda Butte River and Slough creek make for wonderful fishing.  We were very sad to  find them muddy from rain and we were not able to fish them.  So we headed up the Yellowstone River/Paradise Valley to Livingston.  Mike has gone fishing today with a guide and I have relaxed with Riggs and done some sewing.  We head to Big Sky tomorrow to meet the Nolan family and spend a week with them before heading home.
Kathy and Michael

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Faces and beautiful places

 So we went to see the faces.  Mt Rushmore in the morning is a great time to go...not crowded and cool temps.  The walkway up to the presidents is flanked with the flags of the states.  So all of you in Michigan need to use your brain and figure out when Michigan became a state...Mike said 1939 ...I said 1937.. we were both wrong ... 1936!!  Fun to go to the  visitor center, see the movie and go to the museum.  Learn about the pine trees dead from from the pine beetle. We saw lots of those dead trees on the hills.
We stayed at the KOA campground we stayed in at 2001..at the time of 911.  It is now a KOA on steroids  with pools, splash pad,playgrounds and a great place for kids. Had the pancake breakfast.   We then traveled the back way out and went to Deadwood to check out a cigar store Mike had heard about.  Little did we know it was the classic car show festival weekend!!.  Tons of people, beer,  concerts and nice people...not to mention all the classic cars.  A great little town that was fun.
                                                         1957 Chevy...beautiful car!!
 Mike and I then went on to Devils Tower in Wyoming.  A great place that has lots of rock climbers and you can see it for miles and miles and miles.
 Saturday night we made it to Bozeman and got to visit with Pam and Dennis..friends from Traverse City who were at the same campground and in Bozeman for a wedding and fishing.  They borrowed a little camper called a Scamp...that they call "little Debbie".  Fun to get together and compare notes.
Just arrived in Twin Bridges and have had ice tea on the porch with Don and Marsha and caught up on all the news.  We will fish with Matt tomorrow and hope we have great pictures to share.
Michael and Kathy

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Badlands

We made it to the Badlands of South Dakota today and enjoyed the driving tour of such beautiful country.  The oldest  layers of the tall mounds go back 78 million years...makes you feel very small in the scheme of time.  Each layer brings a new climate and type of land along with some ancient animals and fish.  We stayed last night in Sioux Falls South Dakota after a long long day of driving...about 500 miles.  But it got us into South Dakota which was the goal...We stayed the first night in Rhinelander Wis.  Not the best park we have ever stayed at and the weather was very hot and humid!!
 Mike and I posed with the use of my tripod for the camera...not a bad picture.  Riggs is doing great...he is a good traveler and has not given us any problems.
                                          Such great vistas and a picture does not do it justice.
                                                         Picture taken out the window..such great colors!
  The Big Bad Boy and the bad boys at the Badlands...ha ha.  We came upon a prairie dog community..very fun to watch and they scolded us for being so close.  Not letting Riggs out at that stop for sure!  We are staying at the KOA, on steroids, at Mr Rushmore tonight.  We stayed here in 2011..the night of September 10th and woke up on Sept 11th to learn of the twin towers in New York City.  It looks very different..a campground that is a destination for fun...especially if you are 10 years old.  Plan to join in on the pancake breakfast tomorrow...all you can eat for $2.50.  Not bad.  Weather is cool and nice up at this elevation.  We head to Sturgis and then Devils Tower tomorrow.  On to Bozeman on Saturday night..Kathy and Michael