Academic Gardens: MRM Graduation (06.15.2006)

It's hard to believe that we are leaving the Academic Gardens family! Minnie's graduation from Begindergarten to Kindergarten made us happy, but sad at the same time. No more hearing, "Michael! Michael!" over the brick wall behind the house. It's been a great four years for our family.


Anita & Minnie at the doorstep of Central Middle School and the Academic Gardens sign.


Minnie: Class of 2019!


Awww ... sniff, sniff.


Front row: Savina, Ryan, Minnie, Caleb, & Connie

Farrand: End of School Party (06.14.2006)

The school held many end of year parties for students. There were veggies, fruits and lots of baked goods all over the school grounds. Yummers teacher walked with me to where the kids were playing and informed me that "Anita was very smart and very polite..." and went on and on. Well, that's an awful nice thing to say ... boosted my ego up a thousand percent. :O)


Anita and her Room 12 classmates are in line to get their tattoos painted.


Anita posing with her watermelon "tattoo."

Last Soccer Game (06.10.2006)

Saturday was the kids last Soccer game. They ended up losing the game, but we had a fantastic BBQ after our game where the kids played against Michael and a couple other dads. Uncle Tien was there to root for our team as well. Michael volunteered to be an Assistant Coach to Ben this Fall. Team 7 went 3 W, 3 L, and 1 T. Not too bad for the team!



Anita, Minnie, Nick and Yona on the sidelines ready to go in!

The Kids and the Nashville Peonies (06.08.2006)

Continuing with the flower theme ... We brought these peonies back from Michael's parents house last year. This year they had the largest blooms. They're gorgeous! Hope y'all are doing well!


Anita and one of the Nashville peonies.


and here's Mimi!

More Rose Pictures

Holy crap! Our Eureka rose is AWESOME! See the picture at the bottom. The other rose pictured below is doing wonderful. Roses are amazing things. :O)


This rose was at the house when we moved in, and it has done very well without much maintenance.


Wow ... The Eureka rose is certainly very pretty!

MRM's Kindergarten Orientation (06.07.2006)

Tonight was Minnie's orientation for Farrand's Kindergarten program. It was informative as usual. We're pretty excited for Minnie to begin Kindergarten in the Fall, and for the kids to be in school together again. Can you believe that next Thursday is the last day of school? (Neither can I! :O))


It's all about Minnie tonight! :O)


Min and Anita posing in front of the Kindergarten rooms.

First Basil Batch of the Season (06.05.2006)

It was time to harvest the basil plants that we purchased from this year's Eastern Market's Flower Day. So, Dad and the kids brought out a silver bowl and scissors and started trimming leaves. They brought the leaves in and prepared the pesto in the blender. Finally, Dad tossed the pesto with chicken and pasta which was delicious.


Anita & Minnie with our first basil of the season.

The Gator Express (06.04.2006)

It is a beautiful day today. While we spent the time cleaning out the garage again, the kids put together what I called "The Gator Express" with Anita driving and pulling along the Radio Flyer wagon (with Minnie in it) who was pulling Bug in the smallest wagon. It was cute! :O)


Here comes the Gator Express!

The flowers have bloomed!

After the continuous days of rain and scorching hot days, the flowers have finally bloomed around our house. Check out some pictures. No pictures of the Eureka yet as it has not bloomed ... I'll post pictures when it does. I included a bit of history about the roses we purchased at Great Lakes Nursery here.


The first peony bushes from Nashville have bloomed! Beautiful, aye? They are four - five inches wide!


Our William Baffin producing beautiful blooms.


One of our two Polaris rose bushes producing awesome white blooms. They smell great!


Our Souvenir de Mal Maison roses took a beating over the Winter. However, there are still some beautiful intricate light pink blooms.


A bright red Redwood bloom!


One of the mutant purple / yellow irises that mysteriously appeared in our front yard!

Memorial Day Weekend: Day 4 (Monday, 05.29.2006)

We started off the morning at the Plymouth Memorial Day parade. It was fun, but very short. Auntie Marilynn, the cousins, grandma and grandpa left soon after for the 11 hour journey home. After they left, we set about doing our scientific experiment. This was setting afloat four balloons and a postcard to see how far it will travel. There is a picture below of dad and the kids standing on the unfinished site of the Daisy Square Condominiums. We hope it goes far and comes back. Also, Anita was feeling especially silly and dressed up as a Super Hero. Very cute. Notice the U of M headband and the baby blanket cape fastened with hot pink mini hair clips. Cute, indeed. :O)


Getting ready for the Memorial Day parade! I have no idea who the other old bloke is behind the kids and Auntie Marilynn.


Wonder what that guy has in the Jim Bean box? ;O)


Groom Gram, Granny and their grandchildren!


Dad and the kids preparing to release the balloons and postcard for the scientific experiment.


Here is Superyummers ...


and Net Head Boy!

Memorial Day Weekend: Day 3 (Sunday, 05.28.2006)

We took it easy on Sunday. Otto was very instrumental in transporting and transplanting some flowers from our old neighbor's house. We have decided to name this garden, "Otto's Garden," and will have a sign to designate this distinction shortly. :O)

Later on, we went to Lifetime to cool off in the outdoor pool.


Amelia and Otto on the Gator transporting Lillies of the Valley to the tree area.

Memorial Day Weekend: Day 2 (Saturday, 05.27.2006)

As part of our scheduled itinerary that Michael and I prepared, we went to the St. Mary's Polish Country Fair which deems itself as "America's Largest High School Festival." It's held every year on the campus of St. Mary's Preparatory School where Michael went to school as a young lad.

It was very hot during the day, and we arrived a half an hour after they opened. This was very fortunate for us 'cos when we left at about 2.45 PM, there were streams of people walking in as we were walking out. The kids rode on the carousel, cars, ponies, jumped in an inflatable island, and ate a delicious Polish Hot Dog lunch.

When we came home, Michael started up the fryer and we had a wonderful fish fry dinner. After dinner, the cousins had a sleepover at our house. A great way to end a very busy (and HOT) day!



Michael went to this school when he was a young lad. It's still a prep school.


Witamy on the first full day of the St. Mary's Polish Country Fair.


Is Roger the one of the door prizes?


Anita, Min and Otto had a great time going down the giant slide. They did this twice!


Michael next to the Farewell sign.

Memorial Day Weekend: Day 1 (Friday, 05.26.2006)

Michael's parents, sister, Marilynn, and her kids, Otto, Olivia and Amelia all made the trip from Nashville to Michigan for a Memorial Day visit. It was a short but very eventful weekend filled with an afternoon at the Compass Cafe, ice cream at the Dairy King, movies, grilling out, a sleepover, St. Mary's Polish Country Fair (AKA "America's Largest High School Fair"), Saturday Night Fish Fry, swimming at Lifetime Fitness and capping it off with the Memorial Day Parade.


Minnie looking suave with the leopard skin hat ...


and Olivia looking rather stylish with the same hat!


Cousins, Hands Up! Otto, Olivia, Minnie & Anita.


Cousins, Look Up!


Cousins, Look Left!


Cousins, look at the adults and laugh!


On our way to the Compass Cafe: Min, Olivia, Amelia, Anita and Otto.


Three generations of Michaud women (- I love this pic! -): Auntie Marilynn and the two Anitas.


Olivia & Anita on the Gator. Boys are looking for bugs in the background.


Otto and Minnie are in full bug-collecting action!


Anita ending Friday night and showing off her newly removed tooth with Min and Olivia. Minnie bonked his head against Anita's mouth and loosened up her lower tooth to the point where she pulled it out. Phew! :O)

Flower Day @ Eastern Market (05.21.2006)

We went to our second Flower Day at Eastern Market. (Read last year's entry.) Unlike last year, it was sunny the entire time we were there. However, it was almost as chilly as last year! The sun provided a wee bit of warmth.

We did really well and snagged some tomato plants (Big Boy, Early Girl and two patios), basil, parsley, cilantro, shallot and rosemary. These are already far along where we should see some good results in the next two weeks. Hurray --- fresh pesto for the kids' favourite, pesto pasta!


It was a sea of colour today ...


The kids and our well-loaded wagon.


It's Meeplie!


Minnie planting basil, cilantro and parsley.


"Job's all done!"

Bruce, Jenica, Braelynn & Morgan come vist: 05.20.2006

To cap off a day that included a soccer game, lunch at the park, checking out the Dog Jog, and panda research at the library --- Michael's cousin, Bruce, brought his girls over to our house yesterday for a wonderful way to end the evening. The girls were a bit shy at first until Michael pulled out the Gator. That was a really good icebreaker! Minnie and Anita gave the girls rides in the car.

I went out to get items for dinner, and while I was out, Anita played the piano with the kids singing "Jingle Bells." Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ... how cute! :O) We had Turkey Dogs, Turkey Pesto Burgers, strawberries, crisps and topped off the evening with S'mores. The girls were really sweet and very very polite. We're looking forward to the next visit!


Front Row: Jenica, Braelynn, and Morgan
Back Row: Yummer and Minnie

Mother's Day 2006: 05.14.2006

I had a wonderful and oddly enough laid back Mother's Day. Michael's mum and dad were here, so that was a nice enough present in itself. I received six cents, a Breaksfast in Bed bag and flowers from Minnie, a necklace with pastel-coloured beads and an ultra-cool bookmark from Anita (see below). The kids also were thoughtful enough to make a Breakfast in Bed bag for Granny, too -- including toast strips! :O) If you're a mother reading his, I certainly hope you had an equally brilliant day. (and if you're not -- I hope your mum had a nice one, too!) :O)


On Yummer's bookmark: "Moms are as sweet as a watermelon." and then ... "Girls Rock!"

Farrand Music Program: 05.17.2006

Anita's class and several others have been practicing different songs for their music program. It was very entertaining. Anita was selected to fold cloth in time with one song and direct the other students with placards. My favourite song is the one with lyrics that went, "Each of us is a flower, growing in life's garden ...." :O)


Caitlyn and Anita are posing before the music program.

Farrand Ice Cream Social (05.04.2006)

The family went to our first ice cream social at Farrand. Prior to the social, we decided this was the most opportune time to install the new Butterfly Garden sign. Dad and Yummer actually built and painted the sign last Fall. They decided to wait until the weather was warmer to install the new sign. As you can see, it turned out beautiful, and Principal Kuhn liked it, too! :O)

Oh yeah --- the social was fun, too!


Anita & Minnie with the newly installed Butterfly Garden sign.