Saturday, January 19, 2019

Ann Arbor 1-19-2019


We are in Ann Arbor with some of our favorite people!
 Mike and the kids picked us up from the airport, and we had suckers for them...


 Nora and Miles were willing to lick the suckers...Not Dex, he is just going to keep his!

There was a huge storm that hit the Mid-West to the East Coast.  The freeways were snow-packed.  It was a very slow ride home from the airport.  Amanda has been in Baltimore, and flew home Saturday evening.  Her flight was only delayed about 30 min. 

 The snow was so pretty!  This is Amanda's front yard, and back yard.
The temps were super low, like below 0 at times!  The high was only 11!

 There were some home renovations going on, and Mike is actually reading the instructions.  The rooms they have finished are awesome!  This upstairs bathroom is almost done.

 We decided to go outside and go sledding down the front yard hill.  Their yard is perfect for that!
 Nora helping Miles get ready.




 Their yard is huge, and the hill is perfect for sledding!






It was so cold outside, that my phone kept shutting off.  I thought something was wrong with my phone, but Dean's would do the same thing!  Believe me, it was cold!!!!

 Sunday night there was a "super wolf blood moon".  It started at 11:41 pm.  The kids got to stay up and see it because the next day was MLK day, so no school.

...and it's DEMO day!
Above is Nora, right in the middle of the demolition.
  Reminded me of demo day in Helena 2 1/2 years ago!

That wall has to go!





Wednesday, Mike and Amanda got a call saying school was cancelled.  That seemed really weird, since the storm was over the weekend, then there was school on Tuesday...and now that it's warming up, supposed to be in the 40's, they cancelled school?  Amanda's work also wasn't opening till 10 a.m.
Then we looked outside!  Pure ice sheets!  5 cars off the road, just in front of Amanda's!  I guess what happened, was it had been so cold, and then it warmed up and started raining.  When the rain hit the cold land, it turned into ice!  You couldn't walk on the streets or sidewalks!  Walking on the snow was fine.  Standing outside trying to help was fine, and warm, but too slippery!  You couldn't do anything to help!  I have never seen anything like this!


...but it was warm!  Perfect for a run! The trail had been salted, so it was totally fine to run on.  They take better care of the trail than of the roads!
The trail runs right along the Huron River.  It was beautiful!  
Wednesday night Mike got another call saying school was again cancelled.  And once again, Amanda's work wasn't opening until 10 a.m.
This is great!  Since we have been here, the kids have only been in school one day!

I'll post more pictures as this trip continues...

Sunday, January 13, 2019

The Jensons meet Bracken! 1/13/2019

We had a fun weekend meeting my new niece!  Her name is Bracken.  33 years ago, we said goodbye to a little baby girl when she was placed for adoption, never expecting to re-connect.  This has been an exciting and very interesting experience.
Standing in back:  Dustin, Tad, Janna, Dan, Riley, Trevor, Dianna, Jeff, Krista, Cristian, Deena, Curtis and Hillary, Derek, Jaxon, Braden and Jordan.
Sitting:  Beau, Drew, Coco, Kass, Kendra, Bracken, Julie, Hanna and Livy.
Floor sitters:  Teri, Ari, Erika and Dean
Wayne and Dorleen and Michael left before the picture was taken, and Rex fell asleep in another room.



 We had a question and answer period, which was very entertaining!  Bracken is a strong and beautiful person.  So glad she found us and was brave enough to meet all of us.

















 There was a lot of Backgammon played!  This makes me so happy!

 After most people had left, Bracken's parents came.  They were great!  Sharing funny stories of Bracken growing up!  
Fun weekend with so many cousins!