The Magic of Holiday lights

This week has mainly been spent quietly at home.  The weather has gotten colder and the days have gotten shorter which makes it more difficult to get out for many adventures after working all day.  We have spent several evenings walking through the neighborhood at sunset enjoying the Christmas light displays on all of the houses.  I am looking forward to continuing to take those walks through the rest of the month and just making the most of the Holiday season.  As we get closer to Winter, the nights are going to seem longer and longer, but I'm glad for now that we have some sparkle to help make our walks a little more merry.

  

Now that I have a vehicle again, it's nice to be able to get out of the neighborhood and change up our walks occasionally.  After work on Thursday, the girls and I made the drive to Fenner Nature Center for a nice walk during the golden hour and sunset.  We love Fenner and hadn't been there in over a month, so it was nice to get back there for a walk.  It is crazy how much things have changed since our last visit.  While we weren't able to spend a long time there, we did have a really nice walk and the girls enjoyed all of the new smells.

For the weekend I had plans to get out to enjoy some of the Holiday events throughout the area.  After work on Friday, I loaded the girls into the car and we headed off to Albion for the kickoff of their multi-day "Holidays in Albion" event.  We arrived in Albion with time to take a short walk around the Albion College Campus as well as a short walk on the North Country Trail.  The girls were so excited to be on campus with all of the new smells.  It was also good to get back to spending a little time on the NCT since we haven't been there in such a long time.  

After our time on the trail, we loaded up in the car again and got in line for the event that had brought us there, the Albion Reverse Parade.  In an effort to keep people safe in our current world, all of the floats and displays were set up on the sides of the street and we were able to stay in our cars and drive through town to enjoy the sights.  Since the weather was mild, I had my windows rolled down so the girls could look out and watch the happenings.  It was short, but it was a good start to our weekend.

I then decided that we would drive to Marshall, since it is only 10 miles away, and partake in the Merry Mile-a drive-thru light display that they have there every year.  We've been there once before and I was happy to see that the light display had been expanded this year.  We wove the mile through the fairgrounds enjoying the lights and Christmas music.  It was a quiet and enjoyable event.  

Before heading home, we also decided to take some time to ride through the festive downtown area of Marshall and to check out some of the houses that were beautifully decorated.   It was a beautiful Friday evening that we all enjoyed.

While we had a slow start to our Saturday, we had some fun plans for Saturday afternoon.  Vanessa was going to join us for a trip to Lowell for a little hiking and geocaching, and finally, for the Drive-thru Lighted Santa Parade that they were holding in town Saturday evening.  We headed out for Lowell mid-afternoon and arrived ready for a nice hike along one of our favorite sections of the North Country Trail.  As has become our norm, we took a slow meandering hike down the trail walking along at Maddie's speed and adding in some geocaching along the way.  With the daylight slowly fading, we headed back to the car completing a 1.6 mile round trip hike.  It was nice to see Maddie going strong to the very end.

Before it got dark, we had plans to pick up another geocache before heading to get in line for the Santa Parade.  We found the cache and then headed toward the fairgrounds for the parade.  As we got closer, we noticed the traffic back-up from every direction.  Unfortunately, the way things were set up, they were not allowing people to wait in line until the start of the event.  Instead, in order to keep traffic moving, they were not allowing anyone to stop and wait, so we had to continue on without entering.  We planned to circle around and try to come back a bit later to see if we could make it into the event, but the lines did nothing but get longer and so we decided to get out for some other adventures instead.  After a drive to Ada to pick up some Salted Caramel hot chocolate, we headed back to Lowell to try our hand at finding some nighttime geocaches. This was my first experience with caching after dark, but it will not be my last.  After our first successful find, I was excited to find the second.  

The second cache was hidden along a portion of the North Country Trail close to town.  I was pretty excited for a nighttime hike on the trail and I was not disappointed.  We headed out on the trail with flashlights in hand and I have to say I think it was one of Peaches favorite walks ever.  The air was crisp, the ground was crunchy with frost, and the sky was clear and full of beautiful stars.  We even saw some eyes glowing in the distance, and while Vanessa was convinced they belonged to monsters, I'm pretty sure they belonged to some deer.

After a nice walk down the trail, we successfully found the cache and headed back to the car, completing another 1.6 miles on the trail.  Maddie was a trooper and did a fantastic job, but she was definitely done when we got back to the car.  After lots of fun adventures, the girls were down for the count and we had a quiet drive home.  It had been a great night of fun, we had seen some pretty lights in town, and had found some really fun geocaches.  

I started Sunday morning off with a nice breakfast of sourdough toast from homemade sourdough bread from Vanessa and farm fresh eggs from Katelyn.  Yum!  I then spent Sunday morning at home doing some boring stuff around the house before heading out in the afternoon to run a few errands.  The last stop on my list was at Chastity's house to pick up the homemade chicken tamales she had gotten for me and some fresh baked cookies that she had just made.  Those two things made for an amazing late lunch.  I have some pretty awesome friends!

I had one last Holiday event to partake in before the weekend was over, the Toys for Tots event at the Wonderland of Lights held annually at Potter Park Zoo.  Every year I buy a couple of toys to donate in exchange for admission to the Wonderland of Lights event.  This year's event was different with mandatory masks, social distancing, one way travel through the Zoo, and all of the exhibits closed, but I made a quick trip through to enjoy the light displays on a cold night.  It is tradition, after all.

It was a  busy weekend full of Holiday fun and I am feeling very festive as I sit here tonight enjoying my own Christmas tree and some holiday movies.  We are less than three weeks from Christmas and we will continue to enjoy the season as much as we can.  I have some more holiday fun planned for this week and look forward to sharing that with you next Sunday.  I am really enjoying the holiday season so far and I'm glad to be making the most of it.  I hope you can get out and enjoy some holiday magic too.

Giving Thanks

It is so hard for me to believe that the month of November is nearing its end and we are only about a month away from a new year.  I hope you all enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving weekend.  I know it was different for many of us this year, but what better time than November and Thanksgiving weekend to remember to be grateful for all that we have.  I have made a point this month of finding moments to be thankful every single day.  From silly things like tacos to more abstract things like perspective and the arts, to the most important things like my girls, I have so much to be thankful for every single day. 

This week was a quiet one for us.  I did work early in the week, but was happy to have a long weekend.  The weather this week was mild so we were able to get out for some nice walks every day and Peaches was happy to snuggle up on my lap while I watched the annual Gilmore Girls marathon on UPtv each night. 

It's become our nightly ritual all week long for her to climb into my lap and she's loved every minute.

The work week flew by and Thanksgiving arrived.  With no family gatherings to attend this year, I cooked a small dinner.  But before dinner we got out for a nice walk.  

The girls were happy to help me with meal prep and of course I shared some cauliflower and brussel sprouts with them.   Since I didn't need a huge meal, I only prepared a turkey breast with mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, and the veggies for the meal.  I was also thankful for an easy day of meal prep!  

We ate a quiet dinner. and after I was done. I had a nice call with my parents and with Nicol and then settled in to watch The Wizard of Oz.  It was a wonderfully peaceful day and I enjoyed it very much.

After a quiet day at home on Thursday, I had some fun plans for Friday night...but first I had some things to check off the to-do list.  Friday morning was spent cleaning up my Fall decorations and starting to decorate for Christmas.  Also, a month after my car accident, I finally got a vehicle thanks to the help of my awesome car guy, Chuck.  It's a temporary car to get me through the Winter and to give me time to find the perfect replacement Jeep for me.  While it's not a Jeep yet, I'm certainly thankful to have a car in the event that I need it.

Finally Friday afternoon arrived and Vanessa picked us up for some Holiday fun.  The girls and I jumped into Vanessa's car and headed off for a little geocaching on the way to the Magic of Lights event at DTE.   After a stop for some salted caramel hot chocolate, we arrived at DTE and enjoyed our drive through the light display.

As we were driving home from DTE, we decided to make an additional stop at Crossroads Village for the Christmas at Crossroads Holiday Magic Drive Thru.  It was only slightly out of our way so why not add a little adventure to the day?  We arrived at Crossroads Village and got within a 1/2 mile of the entrance before coming to a complete stop.   It took us over an hour to make it to the entrance, but we were glad that we had stuck it out and made it in for the light display.  

The light display at Crossroad Village was excellent and we enjoyed the Christmas music playing through the village as we drove through.  Thanks to the mild weather we were able to roll the windows down and take it all in as we drove through the display.  We were definitely not disappointed with our detour.  

On Saturday, I was excited to be able to get together with Katelyn, Emmalee, and Vanessa for a walk with the girls.  Emmalee was in town for the weekend and we don't get to see her much, so we always try to make an effort to get together any time she's home.  

Of course, wherever Katelyn goes, Arlo joins as well.  We were happy to see him too.  Poor Arlo was the only boy to join our group for the walk, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

It was a beautiful day, mid 40s with sunshine, for our walk along the Riverwalk and I even got to walk without a dog for a bit.  That is a rare occurrence, but Emmalee was happy to walk Peaches and Maddie always prefers to walk with Vanessa.  We had a great walk and the girls were happy to see all of their friends.

On our way home from our walk, we picked up our fresh cut Christmas Tree and some tacos from the taco truck so we could settle in for a nice evening at home.  I got the lights and garland on the tree and enjoyed my tacos while enjoying the sparkly lights and the wonderful smell of the tree.  

The weather today was near 50 and sunny so we were able to spend some quality time outside.  I was able to mow the lawn one last time to help mulch the leaves in the backyard and do a little additional yard clean up.  The yard is definitely ready for Winter now.  I was also able to do a thorough cleaning of the new vehicle and take the girls for a nice walk at dusk to enjoy some of the neighborhood Christmas lights.

I spent the rest of the evening continuing to decorate the house for Christmas.  I still have a couple of finishing touches to make before I'm done, but I'm officially ready to enjoy the Holiday season.  The next few weeks, we have plans for some fun and safe Holiday adventures, but I am also looking forward to the peace and quiet of the Holiday season at home.  I hope that you all enjoy our upcoming Holiday season too. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you.