Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

Things have been so hectic lately that we almost overlooked our annual excursion to pick out pumpkins at a local farm. Fortunately, we found time to go this week and we chose some beauties – nine pumpkins in all. We carved the jack-o’-lanterns Thursday evening and they turned out as cute as ever. Jacob had a Halloween party this afternoon, went trick-or-treating at dusk, and then entertained Adam & his visiting friends in the evening. By the way, Jacob discovered one of Jim's very old costumes in our Halloween box, and decided to dress up as a prisoner this year. I guess touring Alcatraz made an impression on him, although not exactly the kind that a proud parent would envision.

The boys at the pumpkin patch.

Jacob starting to carve.

In costume.

Monday, October 27, 2008

A Wedding, Then a Funeral

The day after we arrived home from California, we received word that my Aunt Helen had passed away in northern Michigan. My cousins planned a memorial service for yesterday afternoon, so no sooner had we begun unpacking from one trip when we found ourselves repacking for another. Jacob, Irma, Nancy, and I trekked north on Saturday. We met up with some relatives, and then stopped by our farm to inspect the trees that we had planted in the spring. Jacob was able to get in some driving time on the back forty before we retired to our hotel for the night. On Sunday, we headed to Traverse City for the funeral. The weather was strange the entire weekend – we experienced sunshine one minute, followed by wind, rain, and sleet the next. The memorial service ended up being very nice, the dinner afterwards was ample & delicious, and our drive back home proved to be uneventful.

My Aunt Helen, 95-years-old at her death, had been my very last living aunt. My mom is the youngest of eleven children and my dad had nine older siblings. Out of all of these aunts and uncles, and all of their spouses, only my 84-year-old mother is still alive. Aunt Helen was, incidentally, one of four aunts that I had with the name of Helen. My parents both had a sister Helen, and two of my dad’s brothers married Helens. That name must have been all the rage back in the early 1900s.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

We Love S.F.

Cousin Jenny's wedding on Saturday was just lovely. The weather was quite accommodating – which was fortunate since the ceremony took place outdoors. The bride was beautiful and the groom was handsome, and I would actually be able to prove that if only I had taken more pictures. Hopefully Nancy snapped some photos during the nuptials because I was so engrossed in the exchanging of vows that I completely forgot to take any then. The reception was great fun, and Jacob ended up pulling a muscle while busting some moves on the dance floor. He partied so much that he still has some lingering achiness. Who knew it was necessary to stretch and limber up prior to cutting the rug at a wedding reception?

We did a lot of sightseeing during our week in California. Besides excursions to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Monterey Peninsula (where I steered our rented minivan onto a golf cart path at Pebble Beach while attempting to maneuver out of a dead-end parking lot), and Half Moon Bay, we also spent lots of time in the city of San Francisco. Driving in that metropolis is simply crazy, with the steep hills and masses of pedestrians, yet we did it almost every day we were in the Bay Area. After Jim and Adam arrived, we toured Alcatraz Island, and Jacob vowed to never, ever disobey a law after seeing what a prison looked like from the inside. In addition, Jacob was finally able to take his long-awaited cable car ride, which thankfully quieted his incessant nagging on that subject.

We all arrived home last night; including Jacob and I, who were, in fact, scheduled to leave nine hours later than the others, but managed to snag seats on the earlier plane by flying standby. So, now it is back to the old grind, and getting re-acclimated to this cold weather here at home. Brrrrr!


Adam and Jacob on the porch where the wedding ceremony took place.

The bride holding her niece. Her brother is on the right, Jacob is on the left.

Cousin Dave playing his trombone with his band, "YOWZA!"

An Alcatraz corridor. This one was named "Broadway."

A tiny Alcatraz cell, sans bed.

Jacob and Jim on their cable car ride.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

California Pix

Here are a few pictures we have taken while we have been in California. Fortunately, Adam and his trusty laptop arrived here last night, so I will be blogging again soon!

Look at the funny rock towers people built on this beach.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

The streets in San Francisco are steep!

Lombard Street in the background.

This two-story Target store has an escalator for carts!

Jacob found a dead marine creature.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The New Candidate

Check out this video that my cousin Dave sent from California. He has my vote! We will see him soon, as his daughter’s wedding is a week from today.

Jacob, Nancy, and I fly to San Francisco on Tuesday. Jim and Adam will come out on Friday after work/school. Jenny’s wedding is at a country club in the shadow of the Pacific Coastal Range in one of the oldest wine regions in California. It sounds like a simply breathtaking setting. I plan to snap lots of pictures, not only at the wedding, but also during our various sightseeing jaunts. I’ll post them here as soon as I can. Unfortunately, I will not have access to a computer from Tuesday until Adam arrives with his laptop on Friday night, and I know I will suffer blog withdrawal! I am already sweating just thinking about it! Hopefully, as soon as we pick up Jim and Adam from SFO on Friday, we can rush back to our hotel and I can upload some of our photos taken throughout the week.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

OCD

As many of you know, Jacob has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He was diagnosed shortly after the automobile accident that killed Jim’s dad. While the accident was not the cause of his OCD, it did trigger his anxiety to develop into the full-blown disease. Unless you live with a mental health patient 24/7, it is truly hard to understand the depth of this particular illness. And while Jacob’s OCD was initially labeled severe, it has progressed to more moderate levels, and even mild levels over the years. I promise to write more about OCD in the future – like how it is so much more prevalent than diseases like autism and schizophrenia, for example, yet it does not receive half of the attention or funding as those disorders. For anyone interested in learning a bit more now, check out some of these websites:
OCD - What It Is
Anyway, Jacob eagerly agreed to participate in a pediatric OCD clinical research study at U of M recently. The child psychiatrist leading the study is attempting to determine how brain development in children with OCD differs from that of children without the disorder. See This. We went last week for an “interview” that lasted an entire afternoon, and then a few days later, Jacob went back to the campus for an MRI. He had to lie inside the machine for an hour and look into a slanted mirror situated above his head in order to view a computer that was rigged up behind him. He also had a hand-held mouse-like device that he used to respond to commands from the computer, while the MRI machine whirred and clunked around him. After all was said and done, Jacob raved about how fun the study had been, especially the MRI! He was also excited to learn that he would receive $100 in compensation from U of M. The results of this particular research will be published next year, and the ultimate goal of the investigation is to make new treatments available for kids suffering from OCD. We look forward to more and more studies occurring in the future so this OCD monster can someday be eradicated!


Jacob sliding into the MRI machine.

Jacob preparing to do his part to advance science.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

The Price of Fun

Last night we went to a Red Wing pre-season hockey game at Joe Louis Arena. Jim had four tickets for his work suite, but the company did not splurge on food for us because it was not a regular season game and we were not entertaining clients or anything. So, although our seats and drinks were free for the evening, we had to purchase our own snacks, and somehow we managed to spend a whopping amount of money on them. Ok, I do not really mean we, because Jim never once trudged down to a concession stand. Jacob and I made all of the refreshment jaunts, and I must say it is shocking how much they rip you off for food at sport venues. A family of four could easily drop, say . . . $40, on pretzels and ice cream and such, and that doesn’t even include any drinks. Or parking fees. And, if a family actually had to pay for tickets, they would end up spending $300 or more for a night of hockey. It can safely be said, therefore, that if Jim’s company did not offer their suite to us occasionally, we would never, ever get to see a Red Wing game in person. How do some families justify spending that much money on sporting events week after week anyway? They must truly be bona fide fans! Or spendthrifts. Or rich.

On a separate note, I asked Jim the other day if he ever reads my blog, and he replied dryly, “I don’t have to read it, I live it.” Cute.


Our view from the rafters, er, suite.

Jacob in the outer seating area. Jim is inside.