More Houghton pics

Shawn posted some other shots of the house, there is summer scene of the house too...Let us know if any one want to take a UP tour this summer! It could use some visitors!!!

See-sters!

Aenr't they ccute together?? THis is Shawn and Shiela on the way back from Chicago after seeign The Jersey Boys at the old Shubert theater in Chicago. They had a great time. Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valie and The Four Seasons - I'm sure my sisters would be singing all the old songs afterward too!

Sister Sally asked about the side door to our Houghton house.  I told her it was a gnome size door.  It's plenty big to fit a gnome, even when he is riding on his trusty frog steed.   We got this guy on sale at sears last fall and it looked like the perfect lawn ornament for the Houghton house. 

THe college kids don't think it's too cool - BUT WE SURE DO!!!

The boys and I went to see Ironman tonight.  It passed the "no-sleep"test  (and I was really tired!)  It was pretty good - I told the boys I'd give it a solid 6.5 out of 10.  (Spoiler alert - This WAS NOT a true story!)

I Had 3 tasks to accomplish today.   1) Relax; 2) take a bike ride; 3) do a quick mow on the lawn.  Done, Done and Done cats!

Remembering my Mom

We had a beautiful Memorial service for Mom today.   Sally,  Gabe, Lori, Nancy, Joe, Sue, Ron, Shawn, Walt, Matt, Aunt Beverly, Jerry, Joyce, Marsha, Harry,  Patty, Gary Haller and me!   It was a very nice service, Gary read scripture, We sang "Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden", Sally read a great tribute to Mom, Sue and Nancy added some great words.  

Sue presented Aunt Beverly with a nice present - a large charcoal drawing of my Dad.  A perfect way for her to remember her brother.  Sue also brought photo albums for all the families.  They were assembled from pictures that my mom had collected and filed by family.  There was a few misplaced baby pictures - but it made it all fun!

Afterward, Sally broke out a bit of a surprise.  She had the posting we put in a "time capsule" that was created when we were together for Christmas in 1999.  It was fun to see the prediction we made.  I don't remember filling them out, but it sure was fun.  In my post, I asked if Walt was eating pizza 7 days a week!  Ha!

I am blessed to be part of such wonderful cats!!

  

Riverbank Run - The rest of the story...

My poor knees!!! I tried to run today - 5 days after the long run on Saturday. After about 1/4 mile my knees asked politely if we could do this later. I agreed - the old boys are getting old. :-( In an ironical (I like that word) twist, my bad knee is good and my good knee is bad. All this is just observation by the way - I am not complaining! Guess I need to switch to biking or swimming for a while.

Walt and Matt got back from Alaska yesterday. They had a fun trip - so much to see there. It sounds like they saw enough moose that it became no big deal. That's a pretty cool thing. Thanks Aimee and Brian for being great hosts! Now I'm all geeked up to try Mooses Tooth pizza...

Fetch me the Ben Gay cats!

Fifth Third River Bank Run

On Saturday I ran the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids. The last time I ran it was in 2003. It felt really good to be able to get through it this year. I ran it in 2 hours 15 minutes. I was happy with that. I had been doing a lot of cross training (more biking and elliptical machine) and that was able to keep me sufficiently trained – with out putting too much stress on my old joints! That worked good - except for my feet! They don’t get much training on the bike and they were barkin’ for the last few miles. A few goals came and went, but over all I felt like I gave my all and I did not have to walk (It’s hard to start running again after you walk a little!).

Shawn was there to cheer me on for my kick to the finish line - it was sure great to see her big smile and give me that last bump to the finish! I was pretty happy to cross that line!

Thanks for the support Cats!