Summer in Michigan

When Geoff left for Germany, I had to move from our house in Virginia. Because I had to wait on orders to allow me to move, I was homeless. I knew exactly where I wanted to go: Michigan. I spent a few summers there as I was growing up and have tried to get up there as often as I could, but it never seems like a long enough visit. So, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get my fill of all that Michigan means to me. I now know that there is never enough time; I will never reach my fill of Michigan and all that remains there.

I had an amazing time doing nothing at all. Of course we did stuff, nothing spectacular, but still very special. What made it more fun was that my brother was there, so we were able to spend the summer together and relive our childhood summer vacations by playing wiffle ball, drinking Gram's sweet sun tea, and sitting on the back porch. We played many games of Rummy, in which Gram almost always beat us, ran on an awesome trail, went to fish frys, hung out with a dear friend from my first German tour, saw the Detroit Tigers win at home, learned to sew pillows-lots and lots of pillows, picked vegetables from the garden, ate cherries right off the tree, learned to make fried bread, fried apples, chicken 'n dumplin's, and whipped cream, ran some more, played with my crazy younger, and older, cousins to include those that are just a few years younger than me, went horseback riding, spent hours in the hot tub with Gram, drank many cups of coffee with Gram, went to Saturday morning breakfast and shopping with two great shopping partners, ate, ate, and then ate some more.

Here are a few pictures that highlight my great summer.

Me with my horse, Shameless and that he was!

Watching the Tigers win with my brother and my cousin, Travis.

Gram's fried apples= True happiness

Gram's fried bread

Bellow are pictures of the nest a sparrow (I think) built in my Gram's hanging flower basket. My Gram and I watched every day after we discovered four eggs inside. We watched even more intently once one of the eggs hatched. I took pictures of the first bird to hatch every day to document its growth. On my last day in Michigan, the momma kicked the oldest bird out of the nest. Unfortunately, my evil cat was outside and took advantage of the baby bird and killed it. R.I.P. baby bird

Learning to make chicken 'n dumplin's-I'm sure mine won't be nearly as good.

Kaden, almost 5 at the time, showing his bicycle tricks.

Mackenna

While swimming in the pool, my cousin Travis, the big one, got the great idea to have a chicken fight. Apparently we should have explained to my younger cousins, what this means because all they heard was "fight". I haven't laughed that hard is a very long time.

My Aunt Colleen and I

Grampa, Gram, and I

Some of the Cooper Clan