To Michigan and back

As usual, we headed up to Michigan for the 4th of July week. This year we drove and leaned heavily on digital entertainment for keeping the girls quiet and happy during the 10-plus hour drive. I decided that portable DVD players and iPads are like epidurals - though generations previous never had them and got along fine without, if they could do it over again, they'd take the DVD player ... and the epidural.

I'm happy to say the girls did wonderfully in the car. In fact, I think they even have been whining more at home this week than they did in the car. What's that all about? Isn't there some kind of "everything is new again and I'm going to be happy and easily entertained at home for a least a week" thing that's supposed to happen when you get home from vacation?

I guess not. Anyway, here are a few snapshots of our week:

This was taken almost as soon as we arrived - we simply moved Anna Kimball from the prison that was her carseat into an almost equally torturous lifejacket ... and she didn't mind one bit! So happy to be outside and on the water I think.

Chairs are a BIG obsession these days ...

Stopping for a sweet treat ...

On this cool, rainy afternoon I went down to the little beach Matt's parents have set up by the lake and found Emery in nothing but her underwear singing "Jesus Loves Me" to a pile of sand. Totally normal, right?

Our bottomless pit adored our favorite restaurant in Fenton, demolishing her french toast faster than you can say "We love Michigan in the summertime!"

The water table provided plenty of entertainment and also helped Anna Kimball with standing and sitting on her own.

All of us!

Other highlights of the trip included Anna Kimball learning to climb up and down the stairs, and then realizing she would rather be carried since all that climbing is too much work, finishing strong in the Fenton Firecracker 5K only to be bested by a high school freshman who sprinted past me at the end, getting an overnight with Matt at the Detroit Athletic Club, enjoying my first cronut and eating way too much ice cream. Or wait, maybe that's not possible?

The top five things

Well, we just returned from a fantastic long weekend in Charlottesville, which has me missing the East Coast a bit more than normal.

So, here's what we do about that ... we make a "Top five things about being in Michigan right now" list!

1. The weather is awesome. Even better than VA and MD. No humidity,and steady temps in the 70's and 80's.
2. Local produce will soon be exploding and my summertime meals will surely benefit. Hopefully my yet to be planted garden will, too.
3. It gets light very early and stays light very late, making waking up in the morning less painful and the evenings seem a lot longer.
4. It's golf season, and since last season got cut off unexpectedly early due to my foot injury, I'm feeling a new sense of gratitude for the ability to enjoy this sport. Also, we often play on Friday nights after work, and finish off the night with sausage and green olive pizza from our favorite pizza place - a perfect way to end the work week in my opinion.
5. Summertime also means that we have a couple of trips to look forward to in the next several months that will bring us back to the East Coast.

I'm not sure if the last one really counts as a top five for being in MI right now, but I'm running out of time and ideas, so it will have to do!

Asparagus!

Have any of you ever seen the moving Waiting for Guffman? For those of you who haven't, it's a mock documentary (or mockumentary). It chronicles a community theater in Blaine, Missouri that is putting on a musical called Red, White and Blaine. If you enjoy parody, it's worth watching.

If you enjoy unintentional parody as well as asparagus, then Asparagus! Stalking the American Life is a documentary you won't want to miss. Matt taped the movie and we just watched about 20 minutes of it. We couldn't believe how similar it was to Waiting for Guffman, except for one important detail - it's for real.

There really is a Mrs. Asparagus. There is an asparagus song and everyone knows it. The ladies in the town are seriously excited about asparagus dishware, sweatshirts and other spear-headed paraphernalia.

The documentary takes place in Oceana County, MI, the asparagus capital of the world. However, this could all change very soon due to the U.S. war on drugs, free trade and a fast food nation.

I'm not a huge fan of asparagus, but I think by the time I finish this movie, I'll be just a little more passionate about the green spears that our state depends on.

For more information, check out the documentary's Web site http://www.asparagusthemovie.com/

And as they say in Oceana County, "Our tips are tops," so buy Michigan asparagus!