A New Year quickly approaches

As we come to the end of 2021 and look forward to a new year, I can't help but reflect on the past year.  2021 had it's fair share of ups and downs, but overall we end the year full of gratitude.  While I will always remember this as the year that we had to say goodbye to Maddie, I hope that I will also remember all of the wonderful moments we had together throughout the year.  We really did make a lot of great memories in the final year of her life.  I am thankful for every minute and know what a blessing it was to have her with us for so many years.  Not a day goes by that I don't miss her presence in my daily life.  The holidays have brought back many memories and I have definitely experienced some sadness from her not being here to celebrate with us this year. 

We started the year 9 months into a pandemic and in the midst of a surge of infections.  I know that many people thought that 2021 was going to be so much better than 2020 had been, and in many ways it was, but ultimately it had its own set of challenges and many people continued to struggle.  This year brought us a Covid vaccine and hope for normalizing life a bit more, but as we all know, we're still working to get through another surge and I'm pretty sure Covid will be part of our lives for a long time to come.  We'll just need to do our best to help protect each other and find ways to live our lives in this new reality.  After all, we only get one chance at this life.

We visited several  new State Parks this year (although I don't have the number off the top of my head) and will continue to add State Park visits to our travels until we eventually visit them all.  I have really enjoyed exploring all of these new spots and finding more beautiful areas in our State.  We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful State.

We completed the North Country Trail's Hike 100 challenge (my 6th year and Peaches' 4th) and the Chief Noonday Chapter's hike the counties challenge by hiking all 119 miles in the three counties (Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Barry) covered by the chapter.  This year Vanessa joined us for all of our hikes on the NCT and we're all looking forward to starting the challenge again in 2022.  Our long-term goal is to hike the NCT from the Michigan/Ohio border all the way to the Mackinac Bridge.  We'll be starting our 2022 hike at the Ohio border and heading North through Hillsdale county with many new, unique miles for us.  It should be another great year on the trail.

This year we also officially finished visiting all of Michigan's 83 counties and we found a geocache in each of them.  I also completed a 366 day geocaching streak and, once I got there, I decided to keep going until I reached 400 days.  I'm now on streak day 392!   It was a great year of geocaching because I was able to challenge myself, find some new areas to explore, and reach some fun goals.  I look forward to another year of geocaching and finding new ways to challenge myself.  The unique and interesting spots I have found because of geocaching are a big part of the fun.  And there are so many different cache types...like the fairly rare web cam cache we found this year.  Can't wait to see what we find next year!

Earlier this year, we took a break from fostering so I could focus on making the most of every day with Maddie, but I am happy to be back fostering again.  Ruby is such a sweet little girl and she's been a pleasure to have with us.  She's keeping Peaches busy and keeping me active too.  She's got more energy than I'm used to having in the house, but she also settles down nicely every evening.  She was scheduled for her spay surgery next week, but started a heat cycle yesterday, so her surgery has now been delayed until after she is out of heat.  I don't know how much longer that means she'll be with us at this point, but I'm pretty confident that she'll find a home quickly once her spay is complete.  For now we'll just continue to enjoy having her here with us.

As is the case every year between Christmas and New Year, I have had the week off from work.  I made the decision to stay home to work on some projects around the house this week instead of traveling North.  I'm missing my annual trip to Copper Harbor to ring in the New Year, but there's nothing wrong with a quiet week at home.  I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped, but we've enjoyed snuggles and mid-day walks and just being together.  

Ruby loves to be a lap dog and get all of the snuggles she can.  Peaches also believes she is a lap dog and takes advantage of an empty lap as much as I'll let her.  This is what a lot of our week looked like.

While it has been a quiet week at home, we were excited to get out for a little year-end geocaching adventure with Vanessa today.  We walked a portion of the Lansing Riverwalk, picked up some caches, and enjoyed lunch in REO town.  It was a nice way to spend some time today and I'm glad we were able to get out for a bit...somehow I didn't take one picture of the fun, though.

For tonight, we have plans for a quiet New Year's Eve celebration at home with some snacks and a very important football game (Go Blue!).  I've never been one to go out on New Year's Eve, but I try to make it special, even if I'll be in my pajamas early.  The snacks for the game have been prepped and the girls helped with my prep work by watching to make sure nothing fell on the floor.  On the menu are some holiday favorites: bacon wrapped pineapple, bacon wrapped, goat cheese stuffed dates, Fritos with one of my favorite warm chili cheese dips, and Ruffles with Quality Dairy chip dip.  As a reward for their good work "helping me," the girls got a few pieces of pineapple and a half a date each.  They'll probably each get a little bacon later as an extra treat.  It is a holiday, after all.

2022 promises to bring us many new adventures and I'm hoping for some trips out of State to do some exploring.  While I love Michigan, I'm really feeling the need to travel and explore some new areas again.  I have a long list of places I want to visit and it's been far too long since we've taken a good long road trip.  I don't know exactly where our travels will take us yet, but I know that we'll have fun no matter where we go!

There will be some pretty big changes this year as well.  Some time later in the year, we will welcome a new four-legged family member.  I've been waiting a long time to add a puppy to the family, and have said for years that we'd get one after Maddie was gone.  So if all goes well, an adorable little GSP will enter our lives in 2022 and have many years of adventures with me.  

The even bigger news involves Nicol as she and Tyler will be welcoming a baby this Spring and I will become a grandmother for the first time.  We are all so excited to meet this tiny human and watch him/her grow (they aren't finding out what they are having...so exciting!).  I know that Nicol is going to be a great mom and I am happy beyond words for her.  What a wonderful thing it is for a parent to watch their own child start a family of their own...especially since Nicol has wanted to have kids for as long as I can remember!  This little baby will be so very loved.  

As we end another crazy year, I look forward to seeing what 2022 has to offer.  Farewell 2021 and Welcome 2022!  Thanks to all of you for following along on our journey for another year.  We appreciate you and wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous year ahead.  

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  The girls and I enjoyed a quiet day at home today.  My parents came for a short visit and the girls were excited to have visitors.  It was nice to spend some time with them on Christmas. 

We spent the week before Christmas soaking in more Holiday spirit.  It snowed last weekend so we got out for a snowy walk around campus and did a little geocaching.   

The best thing about our walk is that all of the students had left for the holidays so we had much of campus to ourselves.   It is such a beautiful place when it's quiet and covered in snow.

On Sunday, we drove to Nancy Moore Park to do a little exploring.   We had some interesting trail conditions which made some areas a little more treacherous than others.  We experienced ice, snow, and flooding on the trail, but it made for a fun walk. It was just nice to be outside in the woods.

We went downtown on multiple occasions over the week.  It is definitely my favorite place to spend time during the holidays. 

On Sunday evening, one of the local churches had carolers in front of the state Christmas tree so I took the girls for a short walk around the Capitol grounds and listened to the caroling.  It was a nice to see other people out enjoying a little holiday spirit.  And who doesn't love some Christmas carols?

The City of Lansing decorated Frances Park again this year so the girls and I drove through the park to enjoy the lights there while we were out on our annual Christmas light drive.  While it is a small display, it is nice that they make the effort to spread a little Christmas cheer. 

We saw many houses that were beautifully decorated on our drive, but it seemed that fewer people than normal decorated this year.  We still enjoyed the tradition.  It just wouldn't be the holidays without driving around enjoying all of the holiday lights.

We had a beautiful walk at sunset on the Ram trail early in the week to end our Fall.  I wish I could have captured the beautiful sky better.  It was a wonderful sunset. 

We took a drive out to Eaton Rapids later in the week to enjoy a little small town Christmas joy.  It is such a quaint little town and is always pretty all lit up for Christmas. 

The girls really enjoyed all of the new smells and meeting some new people while we were out and about.

Ruby loved all of our trips this week because she just loves to be in the car.

On one of our trips downtown, I was excited to get a picture with both girls in front of the tree.  I really do love it, even though it isn't a great picture.   

We also made our final trip of the year to our favorite taco truck.  It is always a treat to get some tacos from them for dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.  Sadly they are now closed until March 1st.  But it's only two months away...I'm sure I'll survive. 

Thursday was my last day of work for the year, and after a busy week, I was happy to get the girls out for a nice walk around the neighborhood Thursday evening and then settle in for a quiet night at home.

I also finally got around to wrapping all of the Christmas presents for our Christmas Eve celebration before I settled in for the night to enjoy the tree.  There's not much better the a tree with sparkly lights and presents.

We started Christmas Eve with a quiet morning.  I also did some cleaning and food prep.  It was a productive morning.

It was nearly 50 degrees and the girls were anxious for a walk by mid-day, so we took a really nice walk around a different part of the neighborhood. It was great being outside after my busy morning of cleaning.  

Then we came home where the girls awaited the arrival of our special visitors.

Nicol and Tyler arrived for our Christmas Eve celebration and Peaches and Ruby were excited to see them both.  Peaches knows that Nicol always brings the best gifts, and she was not disappointed.  

The bones Nicol brought were a big hit and kept the girls busy while we opened gifts and talked.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with my most special girl on Christmas Eve.  Ruby and Peaches also loved having Nicol and Tyler here.  We had a wonderful Christmas Eve together. 

Christmas morning arrived and the girls were quiet most of the morning.   I'm sure that they were still tired from our Christmas Eve fun.   But eventually Peaches decided it was time to open her presents from Santa. 

With the nice weather, the girls wanted to spend a lot of time outside today.  We were also able to get in a short walk before my parents arrived for their visit. 

After my parents left, the girls had dinner and we all settled in for a peaceful night.  While I'm always sad for Christmas to end, I am looking forward to a relaxing week at home.   I'm excited to have the time to do some baking, make some special meals, and take the time to finish some projects around the house, as well as getting the girls out for some fun.  

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas as well.  It's hard to believe we're only a week away from the new year!

Holiday Sparkle

We woke up to snow on the ground this morning as a small winter storm moved through the area overnight.  While I had big plans to run lots of errands and get so many things done today, I decided that I would really rather avoid the slippery roads and crowds of people that will most likely be out finishing their last Christmas preparation rush this morning.  It is just one week until Christmas day, and the final weekend before the holiday, so I know there will be crowds.  I don't want to deal with the extra traffic and all of those people rushing around, so I decided to spend the morning at home instead.  Hopefully the weather clears up later this afternoon and we can still get out to check a few things off the to-do list and have a little fun.

The last week we have taken advantage of the mild temperatures to continue to enjoy some fun holiday traditions.  On Sunday, our local pet store had the opportunity for pictures with Santa.  They had a photo area with props and cookies and goat's milk as a snack for the dogs after the pictures.   With the temperatures near 50 degrees, I decided that rather than drive the 2 miles to the store, we'd walk there.  I was hoping that the walk would burn off some of the girls' energy.

We had a nice walk and the girls were very excited to explore a neighborhood that we don't normally walk through.  I was thankful that there was no line for Santa when we arrived because the girls were full of crazy excitement and energy.  They did great with the pictures and I am just waiting for the final prints to show up in the mail.  I can't wait to see them!  The girls enjoyed a nice walk around the store and their cookies and goat's milk before we had a nice walk home again.  Since it was a beautiful afternoon, we spent some time outside after we got home.  It had been a nice little adventure close to home and we all had a fun day.  

Monday was another sunny day so we took advantage of the weather to get out for a mid-day walk around the neighborhood.  I really enjoy these opportunities to get out with the girls on my lunch and spend time in the sunshine this time of year when the sunset is so early.  It improves all of our days and makes my work days so much better knowing that I can get out and enjoy this time with the girls.  

Temperatures dropped a bit on Tuesday and I had a full day at work, so we didn't get out for our walk until my work day had ended.  This walk just after dark gave us the opportunity to enjoy the holiday lights around the neighborhood during our walk.  I also like to spend some time walking around the church just down the street from me.  They have a huge parking lot and a wooded area behind the church and a speaker system playing Christmas carols outside.  It makes me happy to walk around the parking lot to the sounds of Christmas music.  Peaches begrudgingly allowed me to take her picture.  

 

Wednesday temperatures were near 65 degrees and I knew we needed to take full advantage it.  So after another busy day of work, we piled into the car and headed off for some holiday adventures.  

Our first stop was Bronson Park in Kalamazoo.  I first visited Bronson Park during the holidays last year and it was one of my favorite of all of the places I had visited.  The park is full of lights and the entire downtown Kalamazoo area is dressed up for the Holidays.  We had a nice walk around downtown, did a little geocaching, and spent longer there than I had planned, but it was totally worth it.  

Peaches and Ruby got to make lots of friends during our walk and I know that they were happy to be exploring somewhere different.  I had hoped to get a picture of both of the girls with the giant Santa, but Ruby is still working on her ability to sit in public when on a leash, so we settled for a picture of just Peaches.

After a wonderful time in Kalamazoo, we started our trip East toward home with a couple of additional stops planned.  Next stop...Battle Creek.

Our stop in Battle Creek took us downtown to Friendship Park.  This area is where the North Country Trail runs through the downtown area.  It is a short section of the trail, less than half a mile, but I was happy to be back on the trail again and it was Ruby's first time on the trail.

The trail is lit up with displays from the 12-days of Christmas.  It is a nice little walk and we enjoyed it.

Just about a block from the North Country Trail there is another small park in Battle Creek that has a light display set to music.  It is another favorite spot and, with the warmer temperatures, the park was full of families out enjoying the display.  It's such a nice little display to enjoy while in the area.

As a bonus, we also had the pleasure of meeting the Grinch while we were there.  Peaches was thrilled to make another new friend.  As you can tell from the picture, she LOVED him!

After our short stop in Battle Creek, we were off to our final stop of the night, Marshall.  Every week  during the holidays, you can enjoy the Merry Mile at the Calhoun County Fairgrounds in Marshall.  I think this is our fourth year visiting this lighted display and it has gotten better over the years.  

They have some fun holiday light displays and it is a nice little drive to see them all.

And no stop in Lowell during the holidays would be complete without a drive around downtown and a stop at the Holiday house.  The light display at this house is phenomenal.   It is well worth the drive to Marshall to enjoy the beauty of this small town during the holiday season.

We finished the busy week with a trip downtown on Friday evening.  Nothing can beat a walk around the Capitol grounds with the State Christmas tree sparkling and Christmas music playing in the streets.  It is probably my favorite thing to do during this time of year.   Some day I'd love to take some trips to some of the other State Capitols around the country to see how they decorate their downtown areas during this time of year.  I just love the magic of this season.

After enjoying our walk around downtown, I picked up some tacos from my favorite little taco truck for dinner and headed home to enjoy the rest of the evening quietly at home.  Sadly, my taco truck's season will be ending soon and they'll close for the Winter on Christmas Eve.  We just may have to go back one more time before the season ends.

I'm grateful that I'm ready for the holidays.  My Christmas shopping is done and there isn't much left for me to do except wrap some gifts, do a little holiday baking, and then cook on Christmas Eve.  I'm hoping to get out this afternoon to finish some of my errands, have a little adventure with the girls, and to explore some more holiday lights this evening.  It may just be time for our annual drive through the neighborhoods looking at lights and eating pizza.  

I know over the next week many Holiday festivities will be in full swing.  No matter how you choose to celebrate the holiday this season, I hope you enjoy!  Peaches, Ruby, and I wish you all a very  Happy Holidays!