October 10 with Kaity-kins

Thursday:  I haven't seen Kaity in an entire week because my brother was here from Florida and last Saturday was his LAST day to be here--so I cancelled Kaity's Saturday afternoon (which I rarely ever do) to spend some extra time with David. Kaity went to Chris's football game at Olivet (where I would have been also had it not been for my brother's visit)--and Olivet WON big time! Yay.

I picked up a few games while at the toy store out in Grand Haven this week. I can't trust myself to go back inside that store for anything! I spent money that I really should NOT have last week; however, in my defense, I did put back a darling puppet that I really really wanted. Anyway, I tried out the new stuff on Kaity tonight.

Kaity beat me three games in a row in "Battle Box"--she was quite good at this! 

We also played with the new trampoline pong set-up and we did quite well. We just volleyed back and forth; but didn't try any tricky shots with each other. We just tried to get the feel of how wide and long the "table" was for future game purposes.

Kaity was very fun to be with tonight. She seemed happy and was quite talkative. We drove over to Altitude and brought Kenzie with us. Kaity and Kenzie have lots of friends over at Altitude, so there were lots of different "games" going on between all of them. 

Kaity is growing up so fast! She looks so much older than TWELVE in these pictures--more like 14. I am super glad Kaity doesn't mind being tall. I never liked it at all! Kaity would really like it very much if she grew to be 5'10"! She is a very good trampoline jumper! She was showing me some "new" skills tonight. She is naturally athletic, and has always loved to run; so this is a good place for her. What a nice deal to have a membership at this super convenient location. 

When I was picking Kaity up this afternoon, their neighbor was following us up the street and Scott noticed that my brake lights were essentially OUT. I am very thankful he saw this so that I could get them repaired before tomorrow (I do a lot of driving on Fridays). Thanks, Lord, that Scott was able to notify me about my brake lights tonight!

October 5 Return to Grand Haven

Saturday Afternoon:  David spent the majority of Friday doing odd jobs over at Ruthanne and Terry's. He had planned to do a whole lot of power washing--and he did accomplish their entire porch area and sidewalk in front of that--but he had also wanted to do other power washing, except the washer kept shutting off on him. David explained the reason why about this, something about a circuit being interrupted by too much water (or something like that). Anyway, we parked the power washer and hoped it would dry out by this morning so that David could finish up power washing a few areas on the other side of my house. BUT the power washer was still malfunctioning; so David put it away in my nice clean shed, and gave up the idea of any more power washing during this trip. He did manage to trim a very annoying pine tree on the rear side of my house that had limbs hanging all over my house. He got up on a ladder and snipped off every single limb! You can't believe how different it looks back there now!

It was a beautiful weather day Saturday, and after having a mini-conference about what we should do with the remainder of our day (our very LAST day), we agreed that driving out to Grand Haven and taking a nice relaxing walk would be just what was needed. We'd had a nice big breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (yum) early in the morning; so we figured we'd lunch out near the water somewhere--perhaps at Snug Harbor!

It WAS perfectly beautiful--what a relaxing place to spend a few hours. We walked probably four miles, all along the boardwalk, out to the end of the pier and back to where we'd parked. It was sunny and in the upper 60's--so nice. There were not many boats--but the ones we saw were super nice.

Before we walked the pier, though, we stopped in at MACkite Toy Store. Yikes. I'm going to have to avoid that place in the future. They have so many nice games and toys ... and puppets. I nearly bought another darling puppet, but finally talked myself out of it. I DID, however, by something called a trampoline ping pong table. It's very nice, and I hope to get a lot of use out of it. I also got two more table games to play with the kids. Like I said, I'm going to really have to avoid this toy store! 

David and I got super hungry walking around; so after we had walked the pier, we stopped in at Snug Harbor, only to find their prices were very unreasonable for what we would actually eat; so we quietly slipped away from our table (before making any orders or promises to our waitress) and drove down to Culver's to eat. We had a delicious meal, and then David drove us back home. We played some games with Ruthanne and Terry over at their place before coming back here. 

We leave for the airport tomorrow morning at about 4:00 in the morning ... so we went to bed early and did just fine getting to and from the airport. But now ... David is gone back home and has landed right in the bull's eye of one of the most massive hurricane's Florida has been hit with in 100 years. We are all a little tense for David and all the people in the path of this storm. Praying that the storm will lessen in its power and ability to damage property and take lives. Please Lord.

October 4 A very busy Friday

Friday:  I picked Cal up from Kelly's work place this morning at 11am. We drove on over to my little place, ate lunch, played with everything available (almost) ... even decorating my little fake heater with magnets (which we've never done before):

We also read a few books, had snacks, played with a ton of little cars, etc. I sat Cal down at about 2:30 to watch a video while I put toys away and washed up our lunch dishes. We drove back to Cal's house in time to get the kids off their bus. Kelly promised them chocolate popsicles when they came home from school today, so that's what they are consuming in these pictures:

Aidan was boasting to me that he could ride his bike AND eat a chocolate popsicle, so he demonstrated his skill to me ...

We played outside as well as inside. My favorite time was reading "Calvin and Hobbes" on the front porch with Brendan. He is such an excellent reader and has such a wonderful sense of humor. I love to laugh with him.

Dylan and Kelly were home in time for me to leave at 6:00 tonight. I had plans to meet Ruthanne and Terry and my brother for dinner at Buddie's Pizza--everything worked out just fine. I need to, in future weeks, stay with Dylan and Kelly more into the evening so that I can chat with them a little bit too; otherwise, we don't spend any time together and I miss out on their company. 

October 3 KT meets David

Thursday:  David worked his regular job today until 1:00, at which time we enjoyed a nice lunch together before David returned to his re-vamping of my little house. David is incredibly hard-working. We went back to Menard's and purchased more cement edging blocks and David "trimmed" my back patio (by the shed). It turned out super nice. He also finished up a bunch of other "odd" tasks like doors that wouldn't close correctly, etc. 

I picked Kaity up from Jesse at 4:00 and brought her over here (as usual). This was the first time ever that Kaity met her "great" Uncle David. I wasn't worried about how it would go with Kaity--mostly because David is so good with people of all ages, he used to administer entire schools, and is super fun to be with. We ate a good dinner together and then we took Kaity over to Altitude. Her good friend, Ayden, was there too.

Kaity and Ayden like to wrestle each other. They are quite intense about it too. I've tried to re-direct their energies to JUMPING (since this IS a trampoline park) instead of wrestling--but they actually do a lot of each. So far, they haven't permanently injured each other. !!!

They enjoyed a fun hour hanging out together. Kaity has a lot of good friends, and I am very thankful for that.

David and I did a lot of sitting, talking, and laughing at all of the antics that were surrounding us. It was a good time, though!

Thank you to David for hanging out with us tonight. As we were bringing Kaity to Diana, we were able to say "Hi" to Matthew for a minute too--which was a very nice bonus. I introduced Matthew and David to each other. We didn't stay long because we were quite exhausted from our busy day--but I am glad Matt and David got to meet each other.

October 1 and 2 More home improvement!

Tuesday and Wednesday:  David worked a full eight hours (remotely) on Monday (8-5:00), but the next 3 days he works from 9-1:00 pm. SO ... that meant our afternoons were free to do more projects around the Beach House--David did ALL of the work--I was just kind of there in case he needed anything "fetched" from my very messy tool drawer. I took a few pictures along the way--but I really need to do a BEFORE & AFTER post to really show you the positive impact of our projects. 

This is our handy power washer. David put it together and operated it--I have zero clue as to how he connected all of the hoses and cords ... so I am super thankful he knows all about this kind of stuff.

Look at the picture below: see how GREEN the skirting looks on the Left compared to the Right?

David also plans to power wash my entire driveway. He has a bleach solution he uses for the toughest dirtiest places--which works amazingly!

We also cleaned out my shed Tuesday and Wednesday. This is all of the trash we hauled out to the street for the trash dudes to pick up Thursday morning.

Can you see the difference in the driveway where David is standing--compare it to the bottom half of this picture to see how grossly DIRTY it was. Plus--see the cement edgers David placed around the perimeter of the driveway? Doesn't it look SO MUCH BETTER?!?!?!

It just has a nice, finished look to it now and I am so pleased.

And look at the back patio!!!!! The lighter color is where David has power washed and the dark stuff is all the crud that will be removed once David is finished. We also decided to line the perimeter of this little patio area with cement blocks, and it really improved the appearance so much.

David is a regular work horse. Goodness sakes! He's like that battery that never dies! I could not keep up with him, but I surely was thankful for his energy, his resourcefulness, his confident and capable execution of every job on my list. Wow. What a guy.

September 29 Grand Haven

Sunday afternoon:  We went to church this morning, had lunch with Ruthanne and Terry over at The Score, and then since the day was completely and perfectly beautiful, David INSISTED (!!) that we drive out to Grand Haven and enjoy the rest of our day. Yes, yes, YES!!

It was not overly crowded out on the pier today, which is always a plus.

This is only the second time I have been to the Lake this summer--the first time, I was there with David too--just a few weeks ago!

Grand Haven goes way back in our history--both David and I love this place. It's on our "Happy Place" list, for sure.

We drove across to the North Shore to view the sunset. We walked to the end of that pier as well and then just sat down and took it all in.

We watched the sun sink down, down, down ... and felt the temperature get COLD quite fast afterwards!

It was such a lovely time walking and talking with my brother tonight. He wonders why I don't come out here more often--and I would--but it's a bit lonely all by myself. I wasn't one bit lonely tonight with David. How blessed I am to have such a dear brother.

September 28 My brother is here!!!!

Saturday:  I picked David up at the airport last night at about 9:30. He took a direct Allegiant Air flight from St. Petersburg. Hurricane Helene did massive damage throughout Florida, Georgia, N. and S. Carolina, and even into Tennessee. We were a little uncertain whether air traffic was back up and running, and I am so thankful that David made it here safely and that all of his family remained safe throughout the storm.

David is staying with me until NEXT Sunday when I return him to the airport by 4:30 am. He tells me he will be back to his place in time for church, and then he has a big project going on with Andrew in the afternoon.

Speaking of projects ... David asked me to make a list of DIY stuff around my little place so that he could work on the list when he wasn't working his regular job. David is able to work remotely anywhere he can connect to his special network. He has worked his job in camp grounds, up at Rachel's (Georgia) -- but would it work in Michigan? Thankfully--YES!

I ordered a power washer off of Amazon and got a very nice price on it too--it's exactly the same model David has at his home in Florida. Saturday, he power washed the first half of my house--what an amazing difference it made! My house looks NEW!! 

I am posting mainly BEFORE pictures in this post, just to show you how dirty my little house was! It turns GREEN with yucky dirty mossy stuff on it.

I'll post "AFTER" pictures once he has finished doing the house. David is probably the hardest worker I have ever met. He just keeps going and going!! Wait until you see how nice this driveway looks in a few days ...