All in A Day

Yesterday was a busy day. It didn't really seem like it at the time, but looking back on it, it was definitely filled with new experiences.

It starts out with an interesting story about Snowflake. You may remember Snowflake, the ever escaping hamster that Noah got for his seventh birthday last year. Said hamster has spent more time in the closet than anywhere else in the past few months. We have always put her in the closet at night because she makes so much noise, but then brought her out in the morning for the day. But Noah has been neglecting this duty for quite a long time. So I've been threatening to get rid of her.

Well, yesterday, I finally had enough and posted an advertisement for free hamster with cage and fixings on Craig's List. At the same time, Noah had her out and was playing with her. It was actually kind of cute since he had her playing on the tree house he made at Mega Kids Camp, and was also playing with her in the toy castle (complete with dropping her through the trap door). I was feeling guilty thinking that if he was going to play with her, maybe we could keep her after all.

Anyway, we left to go to the next activity (see below) and when I came home there were SEVEN messages all from people interested in the hamster. While trying to figure out a way to tell Noah that yes indeed, it was time for her to go, Noah was making a discovery of his own. Apparently, Snowflake never made it back into the cage after playtime yesterday and is missing.

So now, I have to go back and email all of the people that, yes, I'd love to give the hamster to you, but unfortunately, she's AWOL at the moment and I will repost it when (or if) we find her. Unlike previous times, Noah seems to be in no big hurry to find her and Minnie the Cat doesn't seem to be locating her this time either. I don't think we'll find her until a mysterious disgusting odor appears in a week or so. I know it's morbid, but I think that's the end that we are facing:(

Meanwhile, we also took an interesting side trip yesterday afternoon. I really don't want to hear any political opinions based on this but President Obama was here in West Michigan yesterday to make a speech and I thought it would be interesting for the boys to go see the plane leave. So we drove out to the airport to watch it. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy so I didn't get as good of pictures as I would have liked, but it was very cool to watch the group of helicopters fly into the airport, wait about 45 minutes and then watch Air Force One take off. No matter what your opinion is, it is still an experience to watch something that official right in front of you. The only thing that comes close was watching the shuttle lift off on our trip to Florida last year.

So after we got home, yet another adventure awaited us. Through facebook, I have reconnected with a girl that I haven't seen since 1985, when I moved away from Michigan in sixth grade. We had talked periodically (she lives in Mississippi now) and she was in town. She wanted to know if I wanted to get together with her. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. I hadn't seen her in 25 years and I was worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Luckily that was not the case. It was really a neat visit and I wish she lived closer because it was clear that we would still be very good friends if she did.

We planned to meet in Grand Haven, near the lakeshore. There is a "musical fountain" that has run every night for decades and I had never taken the boys so we figured it would be a fun way to talk while having the kids be entertained as well.


Steve had a rehearsal and couldn't come so I figured I would take the boys over a couple of hours early, right after supper, and we would jump in the waves at Lake Michigan, which is right near the fountain. We had a blast. The red flags were flying (meaning high rip currents) so I put a life jacket on Aaron and we headed in. I definitely think that this is the best time to go to the beach. It epitomizes what is wonderful about living in Michigan. We jumped the waves, built sand castles, and had a great time. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Steve could have joined us. But I know we'll probably be heading back there again soon. It really was awesome.

We also managed to fit in a shopping trip to Michaels for $1 calendars, a free lunch at Qdoba from the library reading club, and a free haircut for Aaron, also courtesy of the reading club at the library. Aaron opted for gel and red hair color. It is so funny how he loves out of the ordinary things like that, but Noah refuses to ever have anything resembling "different" . Aaron was a little sad when the red washed out at the beach last night.

So as I sit here, I am remembering our day yesterday. Noah is in the process of (not so happily) cleaning his room and maybe finding a hamster, Aaron is reading a book, Lily is eating her leash that she is getting sick of wearing at all times, and I am smiling thinking about a few little things that my friend from long ago said about our time as little girls that made me realize some happy moments from my past that I didn't know were there.


All of this in one day? Wow, that's gonna be hard to beat today.