Spring Break

Well, we made it to Michigan for spring break. It was hectic with 4 kids and now I think I need a vacation from our vacation. We all had a good time. We left Friday around 2 pm and drove all the way there. We got to my father-in-laws about 10:30 am. The kids were into everything and we were exhausted. We took it easy on Saturday and just hung out with Dad. Sunday, Uncle Rog and Aunt Lee came over and we visited with them for awhile and then their daughter, Jamie and her husband, Jim came over. It was nice to see everybody and spend a couple of hours visiting.

Monday, we had a playdate with my friend Cindi from Chicago and her little boy, Charlie at the McDonalds in Jenison. It was great to see her again. Her youngest, Ben, was at home sick with Grandma and since I never got to meet him and we were planning on going to the mall to see Andy's cousin, Melissa, we decided to stop by there. I took a huge fall at her house (and I was holding Baby J) and I was humiliated and embarrassed. I so didn't see a strip of wood that she had going across one of the rooms and as I was trying to step to the side so that Andy and the girls could get into the house I lost my balance and fell over it onto my back. Baby J landed on top of me. Andy said I just missed hitting my head on her marble table. I'm just thankful I didn't break anything as I'm sure the decor in that room wasn't cheap. I'm glad that I got to meet Ben too! After that, we went to Rivertown the see Melissa at work. It was great to see her again. She's getting married Labor Day weekend. When we were driving home, Racheal called. She was too excited that we were there and couldn't wait to see me (we had plans to go over there Tuesday night) and asked if we could stop over for awhile. So, we wound up going over there for a couple of hours. It was a great time! Her girls have gotten so big! Deidra spent the night over there with the girls and she was in all her glory.

Tuesday, we woke up and found out that Deidra had stayed up until 4:30 that morning giggling and talking with the girls. I told Racheal they were going to be just like we used to be and Racheal said that's what she was thinking too. Rach and I have been friends sine 7th grade and I can go months without talking to her and yet when we talk again, it's just like we talked yesterday. I have a friendship with her that I don't think I could ever have with someone else. We've always wondered if the girls would have the same closeness that we have. We went and visited Andy's Aunt Lori for a few hours and then we went over to have dinner with Racheal, Tony, her Mom, and her girls. We hang out that night and the kids all played together outside. Rach cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, cole slaw, and baked beans for dinner and it was all so yummy. It was kind of neat to watch the girls all playing altogether. I thought Deidra was going to cry when she had to tell the girls good-bye and Andy thought Abby was going to cry when she hugged Deidra good-bye. I guess when we left, Abby did cry. Makes my heart break.... they are talking about writing each other letters though and Deidra has asked if she can start calling them once or twice a month. I told her I think we could probably find time to do that.

Wednesday, we took the kids to the Children's Museum which was a lot of fun, and then we took them out to Grand Haven to see Lake Michigan. They all loved seeing the beach and all the water, but we didn't stay long as it was so cold. We stopped by to see my Grandpa after that and it was good to see him again. He's not so sturdy on his feet anymore which was hard for me to see. The kids got kind of rowdy too so Andy and Deidra took them out to the van and I stayed for a few more minutes to talk to Grandpa and Rose before I headed out. I cried a few tears after we left. We went back to Andy's Dad's house and had dinner and Little E wound up breaking one of his lamps. We put the kids to bed and Andy and I decided to go up to Grand Rapids Brewing Company for a drink together and we stopped at Meijer's to buy his Dad new lamp shades to make up for Little E breaking the lamp shades. His Dad was mad that we bought them but whatever. It's the least we could do...

Thursday, we went and got new tires for the van and then went to lunch with Andy's Dad to Culver's. After that, he drove me down to Racheal's so that I could spend the day with her. We took Jackie (her youngest) to the ENT and then brought her back to her Mom so we could go have a Mommy's Night Out. It was a much needed night out and we had a blast. We went to Rivertown for some clothes shopping as Rach needed more spring stuff. Then, we went to On the Border for margaritas and dinner. Mmm! After that, we wound up looking for a Nextel store for a replacement part for her hubby's phone and then we wound up at Starbucks. We got kicked out as they were closing and we didn't know what else to do. She was driving me back to Lowell and I was 3/4th of the way home and she said that she didn't want to say good-bye just yet and asked if Lowell had a bar where we could sit and talk. I said they did, but when we went back to go there the bar was already closed. Her sister-in-law called us back as we were trying to find a karaoke place to go to earlier and the place I remembered, Racheal thought had closed. Racheal talked with her and found out that the place still existed, it had just moved. So, we drove back into Grand Rapids and went to the Village Inn for drinks and karaoke. We had a blast and her sister-in law, Debbie, and her other aunt-in-law who is really probably closer to another sister-in-law, Kim met us there. It was fun and I giggled and giggled. Rach kept getting me drinks as she was the one driving me home and I kept looking at her as I only ever have one drink. She got 4 drinks down me that day. lol. Anyway, she finally got me home around 2 and it was hard to tell her good-bye.

Friday, we got up and went to go get the brakes fixed...we thought it was only going to take about an hour. They had a mishap with getting our parts there and so we had to sit there for about 4 hours. I was pissed. But, what can you do? It wrecked our plans though as I was going to go to my old Home Depot and to the one that Andy's Dad works at as he works with a girl I used to work with at Cracker Barrell. Then, we were going out to the cemetary to put flowers on my Mom and Grandma's graves. However, with the brakes taking so long we didn't get to do that. Andy's cousin, Jamie, wound up coming to pick up Deidra to take her out to lunch and Deidra really enjoyed that. They brought her to Culvers. She really misses Melissa and Jamie so I'm glad that she got to go do that with her. Anyway, we wound up going back to Andy's Dads so that the kids could take a nap and I could lay down for a bit as I was going off of 3-4 hours of sleep at that point. When we got up, it was time for Playworld. Some people that I used to work with at Home Depot came, along with some of my family, and Andy's friend, Joey, who he used to date in high school. I really liked her...she's been through a lot sicne then...she got in an accident after high school while riding a horse...she hit a tree...spent 7 weeks in a coma, went through a lot of rehab and therapy, and my heart just goes out to her. She's a beautiful person, really sweet, and is married with 4 kids now. I looked at her accident pictures and I just wanted to cry. I can't even imagine what all that she's been through. Ok, I'll admit that I was a bit jealous too as I know how Andy used to feel about her. But, I was all good once I met her. She's very sweet. We hung out there and let the kids all play together for 4 hours and Deidra was thrilled that she got to see her cousins. It was a fun time!

Saturday, we packed up to leave after eating breakfast. Andy's Dad made us french toast...it was yummy. I can't remember the last time that I've even eaten french toast. My Grandma used to make the yummiest french toast ever...I've never had any even close to how good hers was. I can't eat french toast without thinking of hers. Anyway, We got back home around 6:30 am on Sunday morning. It was a great trip!

Some things that I am very grateful for...

That Andy had a good review at work.
That Deidra got all As and Bs on her report card.
That my Dad's surgery went well.
That I have great friends who believe in me.
That I get to go on vacation next Friday to MI and see family and friends that I haven't seen in almost 3 years.

Places I have lived...

You may be wondering why I have all these posts of cities and all the fun information. It all started from a friend. We went to high school together and she forwarded me the link to the fun facts about our town, Jenison, where her and her husband met as well as Andy and I. Interestingly enough, we all met up again in the Chicago area where we all lived in the area. Anyway, it got me interested in looking up fun facts about other places I have lived and so I thought it would be fun to post them. I've lived in quite a few places growing up.

I was born in Grand Rapids, MI and lived there until I was in first grade.

In first grade, my family moved to Dutton, MI where I attended Dutton Elementary and then went on to Caledonia Junior High where I only attended for a couple of weeks before my family decided to move.

Shortly after 7th grade, my family moved us to Wayland, MI. It was a cute little town and we had the cutest house. We were all really happy there, but 6 weeks before the end of my 11th grade year my Dad got the itching to move.

So, right before my end of my junior year we upped and moved to Jenison, MI. I hated it at first and I'd come home and cry because I missed my friends and it was an awkward time of the year to try and meet new people when there was only 6 weeks left of the school year. If it wasn't for band I would have been lost...all my closest friends and my first boyfriend came from band and the fact that we were always together helped me to form friendships that bloomed. That was also where I met Andy although we were nothing more than friends then. He used to pick me up for band practices, competitions, and football games and he lived right around the corner. My senior year of high school went very well though, but I owe it all to the friendships that I formed from band. Unfortunately, my parents hated it there and my Mom still says to this day that everything happens for a reason and that move was for me to meet Andy. I owe some really good friendships to that move as well.

In 1996 my parents moved to Red Oak, TX, but I didn't want to come down. My Dad was pretty upset with me for it as I was really already supposed to be down here. I had talked to the Air Force recruiter and was supposed to go to boot camp in San Antonio in 1996, however I needed to lose 20 lbs first so they wouldn't take me. After the fact, Andy and I'd relationship really started and I didn't want to move.

So, on my best friend's wedding day, we went to her reception and I got an emergency phone call saying my parents were leaving for Texas....they weren't waiting until the next day like they said they were...my Dad had the itch to get on with it and since all their stuff waas packed they were on their way. I stood crying in a pizza parlor and came back to my best friend's reception that had just started crying. She was sweet and took me into the bathroom with all the other bridesmaids tofind out what was going on and when she hugged me I got my mascara all over her dress. My Dad wanted me to leave the reception, but I wasn't going to leave her since I was in the wedding and the reception had just started. So, they left and I didn't see them for a good couple of years later.

I started out living with my Aunt and Uncle in Jenison, MI and later moved back to Wayland, MI to live with my friend and her Mom.

In June of 1998, I moved to Chicago, IL, to be near Andy. I had a little studio apartment that he found for me in the Gold Coast so that I could walk back and forth to work. I paid $549 for my little studio apartment. I worked at FAO Schwarz on Michigan Ave and got to see some famous people, Noah Wylie, Anthony Edwards, Dennis (I just forgot his last name...but I thought he was rather rude), Oprah, and there's a couple others I can't remember. We also saw movies being shot and an episode of ER being shot. It was fun, but I was in major culture shock and I didn't like being alone much. Andy was in his last semester at Columbia so he used to come over after school all the time and he used to come get me from work so I didn't have to walk alone. On the 4th of July, he proposed to me on the way back from fireworks in the rain along the lake. We married on September 12, 1998.

We moved up the street to get a 1-bedroom apartment and we paid $1075 for our 1-bedroom. We stayed there for a year and then moved a couple streets over.

We wanted to get a nice 2-bedroom that we found. It was $1250 for our 2-bedroom plus parking and we had the hardest parking spot to get into of all the cars. Andy actually got us wedged in once...we laugh about it now, but man was that spot stressful.

When we found out we were expecting Deidra, we couldn't imagine trying to raise a child in the city, so we moved again. We bought our first house together and moved to Hanover Park, IL. A few months after Deidra was born, Andy's company was bought out by another company and he was laid off. It was very stressful to say the least and he had a hard time finding a new job. A good 7-8 months later he was able to find work again, but the job didn't pay nearly as much as what the other one did and so we were still really struggling. A bunch of stress and a bankruptcy on our record, we chose to move to be near our families as we really felt we needed the extra support with everything that we had been through.

So, in October of 2003, we upped and moved to MI. Andy's dad had built a new 2-story house and since he was hardly ever home he offered us his lower level to stay in. He was exceptionally generous with letting us stay there, but I was anxious to get back into a place of our own after a year went by and it was hard to discipline Deidra and so forth with trying to keep her quiet so his Dad could sleep in the afternoons and after the first year of staying there it became hard on our marriage. We also wanted to add to our family and Andy began looking in Texas for work, although I didn't know that at the time. A few months later, he told me and we put a plan in place to move. We needed to line some things up first. My transfer with Home Depot went through alot sooner than I originally thought it would. It took less than a week to go through.

In April 2006, the day after Easter, Deidra and I drove down to Texas to find a place for all of us to live. My Mom found a place in Waxahachie for us that was close to the church we planned on going to and we met with the landlords and we took it. I spent the rest of the time cleaning the house and getting it ready for us to move in. I flew back to MI on the first of May to help Andy move down and Deidra stayed with my Mom. We really enjoy living here.

In May 2007, we decided to build the house that we fell in love with the floorplan of. We put money down on our lot and they started building a couple of months later. October 11, 2007 we moved in. We don't plan on moving again. We really love our little neighborhood and the people are friendly and Deidra has more kids to play with here than she knows what to do with. We always have a yardfull of kids. :-) We're very happy here and really enjoy it.

Jenison, MI

This is the place where I graduated high school from and where I met Andy. And we were in band of all things. :-)

Jenison, Michigan is not so much a city, but a business district within Georgetown Towhship, 15 minutes west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. the district proper is actually just a small triangle of land on which rests a post office, and two shopping plazas, dominated by a Target and McDonalds.

The rest of "Jenison" may lie in Georgetown, but it may actually be a sub-division of limbo.Maps can be very confusing things. What is certain is the presence of the quasi-township in the Guiness Book of World Records. Or at least one of the streets. Baldwin Avenue is listed as having the highest concentration of churches per-via in the world.

It can be argued that these churches make up one of Jenison's two chief exports. Religion is the favorite pastime of the residents. There are well over 60 oficially registered churches on the street (although some are merely internet churches). Many are small store-front affairs, sharing building space with local orthodontists and Little Ceasars Pizza Parlors. Most are variations of the Christian Reformedchurch (or as non-members sometimes call them, "a bunch of uppity Dutch Christian Conservatives").

The other export of this tiny hamlet is the local high school marching band, a cult unto itself which commands the allegiance of a huge portion of the teenage population of the townlet.

Sadly, since Jenison is fully landlocked between the big city and corn fields, and virtually all available land within its limits is already developed, expansion is impossible. This is not a major concern for residents however, due to local belief of the village's invincibility. The legend, kept alive by the youth of Jenison and Carl Jautakis, runs thusly: Jenison is a bubbletown. To most this means a safe little place isolated from all its neighbors, where life is boring for the youth, but is still the kind of place that later, in their adulthood, they all admit is perfect for bringing up children and they can't imagine for the life of them why in the world they ever tried so very hard to get away from.