Trolls

Michigan's Lower Peninsula (beneath the Mackinac Bridge) isn't the only place you can find trolls; did you know Seattle has one too? He's known as the Fremont Troll, he lives under the Aurora Bridge, and he's big.

Big enough to grab a Volkswagen Bug from the road.

Both of the kids loved exploring his domain. Luckily he was very amiable and quite happy to let the kids climb all over him.

Ying Ying, Allen and I, were happy to just spend some time together. It was so nice spending the day with her!

Vacation!

Way back in 2000, we were lucky enough to host an exchange student from China. We fell in love with her and have kept in touch all these years.

She and her husband are living in Seattle these days, and we were lucky enough to get an invitation to spend a week with them right after school got out.

Seattle was such a neat city, but visiting with Y was the best part of the trip!

Progress

The "Teacherage," as my husband has taken to calling it, is coming along nicely...

Memorial Weekend

Over Memorial Weekend

we stayed in one of our favorite

little cabins. But we also:

watched Michigan's largest Memorial Day parade,

practiced the finer points of baggataway

at Fort Michilimackinac,

 and made mom happy by making sure the

weekend included just a little bit of learning.

Except for the mosquitoes,

 it was a great unofficial start to summer. 

(It has to be unofficial since our last day of school

isn't until Friday.)

Kid's Fishing Day

Yesterday I saw a sign for Kid's Fishing Day, and I realized, I'd never posted about the last time we went. It's only been three years, right?  Kind of the story of my life lately...

The kids thoroughly enjoyed Kid's Fishing Day over in St. Ignace. We often visit Castle Rock Ponds, but we'd never made it over for this event. Kid's Fishing Day is actually part of Free Fishing Weekend - put on by the State of Michigan. During those two weekends (one in June and one in February) adults can fish without a license (kids under 17 never need licenses in Michigan.)  

The kids loved the free hot dogs, the giant catch and release trout, and the unending prizes. Both kids were thrilled with what they won - S took home a new fishing pole and a tackle box and K won a sweatshirt. K won at the last possible prize - you could see the worry of not winning melt away as the announcer called her name. This year they both won gift certificates from businesses in St. Ignace.

Big thank yous to Gustafson's Smoked Fish, BC Pizza and Bentley's for supporting this event. S & K were thrilled with the prizes and gift certificates you donated!

S was much more interested in the other non-fish critters in the pond. Instead of showing you yet another photo of the frogs he's caught, I'll share this little guy:

S was so proud of that tiny little turtle! (It's shell was about the size of a silver dollar.) Of all the things S has caught over the years, this was the hardest one for him to let go...

Kid's Fishing Day, this year, is Saturday, June 10th.

Rereading

I can't remember when I first read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale,  but over the years I've read it four or five times. If you're not familiar with the story, it revolves around a woman living in a not too distant future. A future in which the US has been replaced by a Christian theocracy  which forces the few remaining fertile women  to bear children for the ruling class. It's challenging for the main character to embrace this new life because she remembers the life she use to have with her husband and daughter before the regime change. Plus, her new life kinds of sucks...

Thursday I stopped at the library so I could read it again  and I found the original checkout record in the front of the book. 

The Island's copy was first checked out in May of 1986 (the year the American edition was first published) and had only been checked out 18 times until I picked it up last week. The last time it was checked out was in May of 1995 - 22 years ago. I suppose I should be thankful the library decided to hold onto it.

I thought it was time to reread The Handmaid's Tale since we started watching the Hulu series based on the book:

I must admit, the series is good, and quite well done. Without giving anything away, I feel it stays true to the voice Margaret Atwood gave her main character (in the book, we never learn her real name.) And while Hulu did make changes, I think they work. If you have access to the show, I highly recommend it. Though, given the nature of the subject matter, you'll want to watch it after the kids have gone to bed...