Emily Bloss

I have many fond memories of camping trips. Bill Ross with his boat, and his wife cooking the fish we caught that day. Kayaking and water skiing in Patagonia Lake. Making fires, whittling sticks and roasting marshmallows. Card games. Scrambled egg breakfasts. Cozying up to the fire on a chilly morning. Enjoying all that nature had to offer!

Here’s a picture from our recent vacation to Tucson. We’re at Kennedy Park, a place I spent a lot of time as a kid. I have very fond memories of catching crawdads, exploring, going to Brownies and hanging out with my friends here.

Today a movie from 1986 came on TV and they showed $.86 for a gallon of gas. We wondered if that was accurate, and a Google search revealed this result:

1980s Flashback

What a great site! I put in the year I was born and looked at all the stuff that happened – crazy. Gas was $.33 per gallon! I took the polls, too… you get to vote on the best song from each era. I enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. How ’bout you? 

We went up for Tia’s high school graduation – it was fun! We flew in to Detroit and drove to the Lansing area on Friday. On Saturday we went to visit family in the area, and on Sunday we went to the graduation ceremony. Here’s a pic of me and Trav at graduation:

I’m trying to get better at taking pictures like this one – with the camera at arm’s length – so we can have both of us in more pictures.

We had a great time driving halfway across Michigan on Saturday (some of our best memories are of spending time in the car togther, just talking and talking and talking). On the way we stopped at place called Dublin Jerky Company and bought a ton of jerky… they’re really nice there and will give you a sample of any kind you want. We tried a whole bunch of them – including crocodile and pheasant! We ended up with venison, kangaroo, beef, double-smoked beef, double-smoked elk, applejack beef (marinated in apple cider vinegar and Jack Daniels) and honey ham turkey jerky. Oh and we got a bag of jerky chew, too (it’s ground up into little bits). Some of the jerky had just come out of the smoker and it was still warm. MmmmMmMm delicious!

Our visits with family and friends were fun, too. It was really good to see everybody and share a wonderful meal. The other “vacationy” part of our trip was spending some time in the hot tub and pool at the hotel… very relaxing.

And of course there was the whole reason for our trip – to see Tia graduate! She looked so proud when she saw her Dad down next to the student’s seats, taking a picture of his now-not-so-little girl. We also got a video of her walking up to get her diploma and of the students throwing their hats into the air at the end. Very fun! I especially like the ending of the hat video because the picture first gets blocked by people leaping to their feet, and then it gets jiggled by the roar of the crowd and the stomping of feet on the bleachers. You can hear me cackling with delight right before the end. I tried to post it to YouTube but it failed… I’ll try again soon and update this post with the link.

In all, an excellent trip. Leisurely travel schedules, no lost luggage, and the best travel companion I could ever ask for. It’s good to be home, though, and I can tell the critters missed us a lot… they’ve been demanding my attention – which I’m happy to give – all night. And it will be good to sleep in our own bed, which I’m going to do right now! Nitey nite.

Bleys found a great site – freerice.com – where they donate grains of rice for every vocabulary word where you can choose the correct meaning. It’s great fun! Hard, too. The most recent word I tried was ameliorate – I’ve seen the word but got it wrong…. ameliorate = improve. I’ve made it (briefly) to level 44 so far.

This made me think of being a kid and calling myself Emilia Bloka, when I was learning Spanish. Which makes me remember getting a Spanish dictionary for Christmas! I believe my parents have a film of me showing off my spiffy new dictionary. I love those films!!