Back to Work Again

After 30 days of vacation, it's time for me to go back to work again. But this time it will be 4 months before I get another vacation. I had a great time only wish it could be longer. Maybe in 4 years or so I could make it a permanent vacation, if you know what I mean. it was great getting together with you. If you were not one of the ones I got together with on my vacation...I'm sorry and I promise to do better in October on my next vacation.

I'm not getting much response to my trivia questions....are you shy? I will try one more time to peak your interest. By the way the score is Lauren 2, Denise 1 (and she did not cheat) Everyone Else 0.

Interesting Fact #4: There are only 2 days of the year in which there are no professional sports games played....meaning the NBA,MLB, NHL, or the NFL.

The day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game

Question #4: In the expression "Mind your P's and Q's", what do P and Q stand for?

Good Luck and see you in October

Whale of a Good Time!

Lucas and Kim treated Denise, Grandma, Aunt Debbie Coon and me to a whale watching excursion and a trip to the Aquarium when we got back on shore. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of whales after going 20 miles off the coast. Someone didn't want to go because she gets a little seasick... so she says. We won't mention names... Debbie Coon. It was nice to have her with us and never once did she feel sick, she was so amazed at the whales and the beauty of it all.

We also brought a blow up doll with us in this orange jacket who looks just like... Debbie Coon and it didn't get seasick either. So next time Deb Coon tells you she gets seasick don't believe her and let her get on your boat.

Other news from our trip was a visit to Kim's workplace. Grandma and Aunt Debbie couldn't believe how big and nice it was. When we arrived, Kim was playing Deal or No Deal with the residents who were really happy to see all of us. We got introduced and then Kim went around and told us all their names and what they did when they were younger. To top off the night we spent 3 plus hours at a furniture store. It wasn't your typical furniture store at all. Here are some pictures to prove that.

There was a Fudruckers, Ice Cream place, Jelly Belly place, a place to learn how to do Trapeze tricks, and Liquid Fireworks (water show with color lights done to music).

As for the reason we were in the Boston area...Luke's graduation from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. We went to his Baccalaureate on Friday night. And then there was the actual graduation on Saturday morning with 290 graduating.

Then we just went back to Luke and Kim's apartment and relaxed. Luke made us his famous pizza. Luke and Kim's friends Joel and Allie Schellhammer came over to help us celebrate.

On Sunday morning we all went to Westgate Church in Weston, MA where Luke is now working as Associate Pastor. Luke introduced all of us. But first told the congregation that he said good things about the people at Westgate so he expected them to be on their very best behavior. That received a good hearted laugh. After the service we went downstairs to their fellowship hall were we visited and had a bite to eat. Then we went upstairs to see Lucas's new office.

After church we went back to Luke and Kim's place in Watertown, MA and had a lite lunch before heading into Boston for a day of sightseeing. But to get there we had to go by subway...something Grandma had never done until this trip. (She had never flown in an airplane either until she flew out to Nebraska for Luke and Kim's wedding.) Grandma and Debbie got tired on the sightseeing trip so they tried to hitch a ride on a donkey.

We capped off the day by going to to an authentic Italian restaurant in "Little Italy" part of Boston. Luke treated his mother to dinner on Mother's Day and I treated Grandma.

Seems like eating had a big part in our trip because we also went to an authentic Mexican restaurant Thursday night. The rumor is true some ice cream got eaten, too.

All in all it was a fantanstic trip. Our hosts were were great. Thanks for everything Luke and Kim. We can't wait for our next trip out to Watertown.

And now for the fact and question but first...the question is.....Is Lauren that much smarter than the rest of our readers or.......is she the only one playing. :-( Right now the score is Lauren 2 Everyone Else 0.

Interesting fact #3: 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Question #3: What are the only mobile National Monuments?

On Our Way

We are on our way downstate today with mother-in-law in tow. Tommorrow we grab Aunt Debbie Coon and fly out of Detroit Metro to Logan Airport in Boston. Maybe we will be able to post some pictures while we are out in Boston so keep checking the blog.

Also, apparently my question was too easy so I will have to find a harder one for you to ponder until I return.

But first... interesting fact #2: Coca-cola was originally green.

Now for question #2: What was the first novel ever written on a typewriter?

I'm Back Home

Well, I am back home after 42 days of work. One of my shortest work periods ever. In recent years I have been taking an August vacation, so this is very early for me. But there is going to be a special event this May that caused me to take an early vacation. As most of you know, my son Lucas has been attending Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts.

Lucas will be graduating May 12, 2007. In recent years, I took one week's personal leave to attend Loralee's, Kim's and Logan's college graduations but with the added travel to the Boston area that would be unfeasible.

Traveling with Denise and me will be Lucas's grandmother Dot and Lucas's Aunt Debbie Coon. Lucas's grandmother promised me that she renewed her driver's license, so we will not have wait for her to be thoroughly searched at the airports. Grandma Dot's first plane trip was to Lucas and Kim's wedding in Nebraska and apparently she posed a potential security risk due to a piece missing on her driver's license.

After we get back from Boston, we are planning on going to a Detroit Pistons playoff game with... da Bulls. Detroit leads that series 1 game to none with the 2nd game tonight. So, I'm sure we will be watching the game on television tonight.

I will be home for the rest of May. Denise is still working every day but she has the week-ends off. If you would like to get together with us just give us a call.

I will give one interesting fact and one question for all viewers of this blog site to respond to on each of my posts from now on. I will come up with some sort of a prize for the first correct responder.

Interesting fact #1: Each king in a deck of cards represents a great king from history.

Spades: King David; Hearts: Charlemagne; Clubs: Alexander the Great; Diamonds: Julius Caesar

Question #1: What is the only food that does not spoil?

Good luck to all of our readers.

Back To Work

First of all, sorry about no new posts for quite awhile. I guess we just felt there was not anything newsworthy to write about. Second, it is now time for me to relunctantly return to my job aboard the steamer Arthur M. Anderson. I always enjoy my time away from ther ship and look forward to the day I can retire. But I don't like to dwell on that. I will only be out on the Great Lakes until the first of May as I will take a May vacation to fly to Boston to attend Lucas's graduation from Gordon-Conwell.

Then I will go on vacation again in October to do a little bowhunting and attend John and Bonnie's daughter Kathleen's wedding.

I am not sure I will have internet capability aboard the Anderson. In our last contract we negotiated, we were awarded high speed internet connection IF the company could purchase it at a quoted price in the contract. But I will have the world's only floating post office visit me as we travel by Detroit. But I still will have cell phone capability if you would like to call or text me. I will be standing the 4-8 watch. See you in May.

Pinning Ceremony for Shannon

Last Saturday we went down to Flint to witness the pinning of Shannon becoming a RN. Shannon is my brother's daughter who went back to college to get a nursing degree. The ceremony took place at Riverside Tabernacle Church. Shan stood up in front of everyone and did a reading and they had a slide show of the students. The nurses were upstairs in the balcony and they all carried a candle and came down the stairs on each side of the room to the traditional graduation song. An interesting part of the day was when we discovered not only Shan was getting her pin but someone we knew from our past was getting a pin also. When we moved to Rogers City back in the day.... our next door neighbors were the Cornett Family. They had a daughter, Jill who used to babysit our kids. Her daughter Amy was in Shan's class and they were friends but didn't know the connection until Saturday at the pinning. I (Denise) walked into the church and ran right into Amy's grandma Lamb who I've known for years. I asked her what she was doing there and she said she had a granddaughter getting pinned. In fact she was pinning her because she was also a nurse. Shannon and Amy had no idea that Amy used to live next door to us here in Rogers City. It was a bonus to see Amy get pinned. She was the youngest student getting her pin. She is just a little younger than Logan. Logan used to play with Amy and her sister Jenny when they were little. What a small world. After the pinning ceremony we went back to Uncle Dave's & Aunt Deb's to play some cards until the party started. The party was at a small hall and Aunt Deb Dunsmore was the cook. Lots to eat and fun was had by all. The best part of the evening was when Aunt Deb Dunsmore did Karaoke. She was pretty good when she was being serious. Then she started to sing gospel and with her hands high, praised the Lord. Needless to say, at that point she got a little carried away. Kim would have appreciated it from remembering her at our 50th birthday party. So the moral of the story if you're sick give... NURSE Shanny a call!!

First Post

Well, here it is....our first post. Lucas helped set up this blog when he was here for Christmas.We just got up to speed by getting wireless high speed internet yesterday. Welcome to the 21st century, right? We will be able to get rid of that annoying Callwave answering service and be able to be on the internet and still receive a telephone call.

The rush of the Christmas doings is over and we are back in our daily routine. Denise is back working everyday and I am in the process of going through the files and throwing out anything that is dated before 2000. Got rid of about 30 pounds of paper so far.

We had a great Christmas. All the kids were here for Christmas and for the day after Christmas... aka.....The Dunsmore Family Christmas and Reunion. This was the 19th annual party. There was a good turnout but still missed Jeff & Lauren and Rachel & Jesse. We did things just a little different this year. We had a few games sorta organized to play instead of a lot of card playing. I hope everyone was O.K. with that. I did come to the conclusion that there are a lot of competitive people in the family. Maybe the Personal Scavenger Hunt with Best Poker Hand was a little too intense.

We had a great week with Luke and Kim. It all started out with Grandma's legendary Gleasons for Luke's birthday. It was probably the highlight for Luke and Logan as they stuffed themselves to the point of being sick. Christmas eve was spent with Pat & Darleen and Grandma & Grandpa and the kids. Christmas day was spent mainly relaxing after the big breakfast of our favorite food....venison. Took Luke & Kim to Petoskey to see a good holiday movie called "The Holiday". On the way home we happened upon northern Michigan's version of Sasquatch or Bigfoot as something described as a mix of lion, horse, elk, and even cougar was sitting on it's haunches on the side of the road. What makes it a nice tale to talk about is....we did not turn around and go back to make sure of what we saw. So the stories will get bigger and better as the years go on. Exaggeration will abound.

We wrapped up their visit by traveling to the Palace of Auburn Hills to see the Pistons play the Indiana Pacers. This was unique being that 8 of us went (Dan, Denise, Lucas, Kim, Loralee, Rosey, Logan, and Mindy), but 4 sat on one side of the Palace and 4 sat on the other side of the Palace completely as far away as possible. We picked the tickets out of a hat to see where each person would sit and with whom. By the way, the Pistons lost by one point right at the end of the game. It was exciting nonetheless.

So... that was our first post. Please write a comment and let us know how we can improve or areas of interest you would like to read about or anything at all. Let us know what is going on in your life. We are not the expert bloggers like Lucas and Kim but with your help it could be interesting reading.