Eastern Michigan Vacation

We've returned from a great vacation near Huron National Park. In the past we've gone to Colorado for our off-road and camping adventures, but my family graciously decided to head for Michigan to first celebrate Elliot's baptism before driving to the more wild terrain of eastern Michigan.

The family in Lake Huron

On our way to a trail

Ezra fell asleep on an after-supper evening ride
Ezra (green) and cousin Elijah (red) ride their three wheelers The results of Brian's first wreck

A dirty face from riding in the dust Elliot with Grandma Jan

Baptism

Elliot was baptized last Sunday and we enjoyed having family at our house following for a great Iowa meal: BBQ pork, corn on the cob (from Iowa), and of course, Grandma Ochsner salad. Becky's brothers and dad sang for the service.

Underwear Dance.

This one needs no introduction.

Northern Michigan

Northern Michigan is well known for vineyards, orchards, beautiful aqua lakes and senic drives. We drove 3 hours north of Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Traverse City area last weekend. We never made it to Traverse City, but enjoyed our time at Glen Lake, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and Bar Lake.

Below, a picture of Glen Lake. North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan is in the background. Brian hiked across this island the summer of 2006


The next three pictures are from Sleeping Bear Dunes. Ezra ran, and ran and ran. He especially loved running down the hills. Our friend brought a kite to utilize the wind coming from Lake Michigan over the dunes. Little Glen Lake is in the background.


Ezra really enjoyed the weekend with our friend, Dick L., who invited us to stay with them an evening at their cottage.

Fourth of July Weekend

This weekend we visited the Grand Rapids Farmer's Market. Ezra loves berries, especially raspberries, and as you can see in the picture below, he was very eager to eat them. We also ejoyed a pool party and BBQ with friends, and got our first few smiles from Elliot, who from my baby pictures, is looking more like me

Reed's Lake 5K

Saturday I joined some friends in running the Reed's Lake 5K. It was the first time most of us had participated in a running event like this, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the morning. I ran a few miles on Thursday and Friday to make sure I would survive the race.

Over 1700 runners participated in the 5k and 900 runners ran the 10k. A microchip sticker they gave us to put on our shoe told me online that my time was a little over 38 minutes.

I don't have a fancy ipod like many of the other runners, so I enjoyed listening to the conversations around me as I ran. Just having labored with Elliot I realized that giving birth and running have a lot of similarities. The encouragement runners offer each other sound a lot like the coaching needed in labor, "you're doing a good job," "let's get to the top of this hill," "relax your arms and shoulders." After thinking this, I even heard several women joke about memories running evoked for them of their labor experiences. So you might wonder, why in the world would you want to wake up at 6a.m. and run three miles? Because discipline and hardwork reaps great rewards, confidence and lots of celebration after completing the race!

Several dads were running with their young daughters or sons and it was fun to hear their conversations. My favorite was about a 9-year old boy, who had enough energy to run circles around his mom ask, "can I sprint the next half mile and then wait for you?"

Now I have to convince Brian to run with me. In high school he was running 400 meters in less than a minute at State and the Drake relays....if I just gave labor three weeks ago, he has no excuse!

U - Pick Strawberries

The U-Pick fruit season has begun in Michigan. U-pick strawberries are first, and the cherries and blueberries follow. Peaches and apples are ready in August and continue into the fall. We picked a nice box of strawberries (u-pick is priced at $1.25 a pound) and canned one batch of strawberry jam. We froze a few bags for later to top ice cream or angel food cake later in the summer. Yum!

And an extra picture of Grandpa enjoying a book on Father's Day weekend. We thought this picture was funny.

New Patio Project

Memorial Day weekend Brian, Ezra and I tackled putting in pavers around an old hot tub patio that wasn't quite big enough to do anything on. It is a fenced in area and a great spot for Ezra to be outside by himself when I need to be working inside. It will still work great as a hot tub patio, but for now it serves our family well as a sand box/pool/three wheeler riding area. Some before and after pictures are below.

Being 39 weeks pregnant I didn't help as much as I would have liked to, but I carried a lot of bricks from the trailer to their spots. I had it all researched out on the internet the week before to make sure we'd do the project well. I explained the whole process to Brian and he grinned and listened. As we got started on Friday night, it was apparent that he'd done this before and listened to appease me. He and Ezra worked hard at digging the river rock out around the site. Thanks grandma Jan for the red shovel!

Ezra stays cool on an 80 degree day with the water hose. The downside is that I find sand all over the house.

Birth Announcement

Spring Garden

The first snow peas from the spring garden are ready. Planted Saint Patrick's Day, they took three months to grow - through a few snow falls and quite a few freezes. The deer hit them hard in early May, so I put some fence up to keep them out. The lettuce also looks great and has been ready for a few weeks. But the spinach and radishes did really poorly. The radishes put all their energy into shooting out leaves, and produced very little root growth. I'm wondering if my soil is low in phosphorous - so I think I'll give radishes a try again this fall, but fertilize them with 0 - 20 - 0 fertilizer and see what happens.

Honey Bees

Last week while looking out the kitchen window I noticed an unusually large amount of bugs swarming underneath our grove of trees. I went outside to see what they were and couldn't believe how loud the buzzing was - they were honey bees! It was a little intimidating at first, but was able to get close enough to take some pictures (Don't worry, I have a great zoom).

I did a little research online to figure out what this unusual happening was. Honey bee "swarming" happens when a single colony of bees divide in two. The new colony finds a replacement queen bee and sends out a few worker bees to find a new nesting place. This usually happens in the spring, but occasionally happens throughout the summer season. Beekeepers often catch swarms and relocate them. Honey bees are highly valued for their aid in pollination (corn and blueberry farmers, etc). An old poem says,

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly.

After swarming, they settled in the branch of our tree and were there a few days and nights, all tightly balled up. Eventually they must have found a new nest, because they left.

Elliot's Cool Sunglasses

We had to make a special trip back to the hospital because Elliot's bilirueben count got pretty high. When Becky went to the doctor his count was at 20.2. So we get to spend the night in the hospital again. As you can see he seemed to enjoy his ride to the hospital and his cool new sunglasses.

While we were at the Hospital we learned that Elliot will have to have some IV's to keep his fluid level up...not cool...but I guess it is needed. We also learned that the helipad for the Aero-Med Helicopter is right above our room, there is only one floor between us and the helipad, check out this cool picture.

Elliot James Ochsner

We are happy to announce the birth of Elliot James Ochsner!
Born June 1, 2009 7:20 p.m.
10.0 pounds
20.5 inces long

Ezra and I the morning I went in to the hospital.

We were so grateful Jen was there again!

Grandma Jan and Big brother Ezra meet Elliot for the first time. A beautiful baby boy. There are some signs of him being a little overdue - suggesting our due date might have been off? Only God knows. We are glad he came just when he did.

The picture below is of Ezra. We think Elliot looks a little more like Brian?

38 Weeks

Now that it is green outside and feeling like summer weather I'm getting eager for the baby to arrive. Ezra is sleeping great in his new toddler bed (thanks Cassia!) in a new room, and the nursery is ready. I'm getting more uncomfortable, and feel better when I'm outside working than setting at my desk at work. I've not packed the suitcase yet, but I'm not too worried about things happening before the due date.

Iowa

Ezra and I are spending the week in Iowa and are enjoying the great April weather. Spring planting has started, and so Ezra got to ride in the tractor. He's having a lot of fun playing with cousins and learning things that Iowa kids do. My three year old nephew John rode home with us from riding with his dad (my brother) in the tractor last night. He explained that he was going to get to come to my house in Michigan this summer, and had a lot of questions about my house and going swimming at the big lake. He asked where my brothers and sisters were and if they lived in Michigan. When I explained that his dad was my brother and he said, "no, really?" This was quite humorous to me, but also frustrating. Someday I will have to tell him about how mean his dad was.

Here are some pictures of our time so far...

Cousins Ethan, Amelia and John playing on the equipment during suppertime.

Uncle Mark and John checking the seed depth.

Ezra loves the kittens.



Getting muddy.Uncle Karl power washing off our boots before going inside for the night.