Help the Bella Boomers Chicago Canine Rescue Team!

Next weekend, I'll be in Chicago and Katie, Bella and I will be participating in the Chicago Canine Rescue Organization's "Mutt Strut" on Saturday. (Carol, your work with the rescue greyhounds and then our kids' love of animals has really helped to make me more of a real "animal activist!") Our team is called the "Bella Boomers" and if you feel compelled to donate to this very worthy cause, here's a link to our team website:

http://www.gifttool.com/athon/MyFundraisingPage?ID=1531&AID=801&PID=95087

For more about the organization and what they do, click below.

http://www.chicagocaninerescue.org/

Ally on TV!

Ally has been on TV in Chicago! First, click link below:

http://www.wciu.com/udog.php?section=vote

Scroll down page - you'll see "Vote for Top Dog" - scroll until you find "Meet Ally from Wicker Park"

Click on picture of Ally to view video!

You will see that she is a fan of the "Everybody Hates Chris" show. That's her running thru the picture at the end, too. What fun.....

Treehouse Island Vacation Wonderful and Relaxing....

Need I Say More?

Just returned from a wonderful week on our "private island", where we spent a relaxing and fun time with Katie & Bella and Rachel, Dave & Ally. Occasionally we went to "the mainland" on our pontoon boat, which we joked about, because it was a 5-minute water ride to reach the shore. Bella learned some very good swimming skills and will be giving Ally a run for her money in the near future. I'll let the pictures do the talking, because I think you can get a good feel of our trip from those. Suffice to say, Katie & I made one terrific canasta team, (to be fair, Scott & Rachel did too; Dave, trooper that he is, was the dog sitter during our matches), and so we are now ready for all takers. The hard part is always coming back and getting back to it. It was so great to be all together for a week that now I miss my kids more than ever!

First Church Softball, Art in the Park, etc...

I had taken a picture at one of the boys' 1st Church softball games, of all the Nykerk's who were there that night to root them on, which I totally forgot to post, so here it is, better late than never. What an exciting tournament game it was last week, with the team coming from behind for a BIG win! Looking forward to the action this Wednesday evening. I've included a few other shots of scenes from the games....

Art in the Park was yesterday, and it turned out to be one of our best shows of the summer, even though a lot of the artists (including us) left around 3pm because of wind and rain (the morning was beautiful). It is always fun to see lots of people we know at the show, some of the locals that we sometimes only seem to see at that particular event. Brenda stopped by early, on her way to Colon with Keith for the adults to spend the evening there together. Dave and Jannelle Geertman happened to stop by just as we were beginning to pack up for the day, and they were kind enough to help us wrap up pictures and load them in the truck, etc. Scott actually sold two original paintings yesterday, which was very nice, and of course Tiger Stadium and Wrigley Field continue to be of interest to people.

I'm also posting a couple of pictures of our trip to Traverse City with Lynne and Dave Hall (prior to the pneumonia incident - they are now back home and Dave is doing better), and our grandpuppy, Bella, who has been lots of fun to have around. Katie is busy packing for her move, and looking forward to having her baby back home!

Life Always Seems to Throw a Curveball......

Without going into a lot of detail, sorry I haven't posted in a long time. We unexpectedly went to Chicago the weekend before last, and ended up bringing Bella home with us. (Sorry we missed the family breakfast!) Katie has decided to move into a bigger apartment, and will have a roommate - a guy this time. His name is Justin, and he works in the suburbs (I think he's an engineer?). After meeting him and his current roommate (a girl) who has known and lived with him a long time, she feels very comfortable that he is a laid back, nice guy. The only reason this girl is leaving is she lost her job and feels she needs to move back to Georgia. Katie will enjoy not having to pay full rent by herself, as it's so terribly expensive to live in Chicago. The apartment is actually pretty much in the same neighborhood where Rachel and Katie first lived together - a couple of blocks south of that. It is further from Dave and Rachel than her current one, but still within a 15 minute walk. All this moving wears me out just thinking of it, but Katie will be packing over the next couple of weeks and having a moving company actually move things for her. In the meantime, we will have Bella with us, and we are enjoying her company!

Then, last weekend we had an art show in Traverse City, and our friends, Dave and Lynne Hall met us up there. We were going to spend a couple of days in a B&B and enjoy each other's company. Let's just say things did not turn out as planned. As you know, Dave had a kidney transplant 3 years ago, and although his health has improved overall since before the transplant, he is always very vulnerable to disease and illnesses of any kind. Unfortunately he developed pneumonia while we were up there, and had to be hospitalized. Scott and I still managed to do the show on Saturday (which wasn't very successful anyway, but whatever....), but the rest of the time was spent getting Dave to the hospital (on Friday nite) and comforting Lynne, who was very concerned about the whole thing. He is still at Munson Hospital in Traverse City. One bright spot was that the owner of the B&B, a wonderful lady named Judy, is letting Lynne stay there for free (other than the nights we had originally booked), so that is great. I'm sure we'll hear within a day or two when he'll be released and returning home. As you can imagine, it's always so much harder to be sick when you are away from home.

I'm also worn out from all these art shows. Suffice to say, next summer will be very different. We have not had the chance to be home and just enjoy the summer. Just thought I'd better send a quick update; I've been reading all of your posts and enjoying the pictures, too. Didn't want you to think that we had fallen off the face of the earth......

Summer Flying By....

It's been a busy and fun summer so far; last week was the best because Haworth closed down for the week, Scott took a few days off and we were home just enjoying life. Scott finished his shed, now he just has to move things from the garage into it. It will be nice to have more room. My friend Lynne and I were just discussing last night how the older we get, the more we enjoy downsizing our lives, getting rid of clutter and making less work for ourselves!

Speaking of Lynne, Scott and I are delighted that she and her husband Dave will be joining us in Traverse City July 24-26 while we're at Northwestern College for an art show. We're going up a day early and staying until Sunday to enjoy some time with them. They also have a love of that part of the state, since their family has gone to the same resort - "Chimney Corners" in Beulah, for like 20 years or more. Reminds me of when Bill and Renee and their kids used to go to Northaire Resort every year. Ahhhh, that's what family memories are made of. We'll be staying at a nice B&B called Yorkburg Manor - http://www.yorkburgmanor.com/. The more we go up to the Traverse City area, and especially Glen Arbor, Suttons Bay and the Old Mission Peninsula, the more we love it up there. If you ever have the time, check out a couple of these places when you visit:

The Old Mission Tavern: http://www.oldmissiontavern.com/the_tavern.html

Great restaurant, with an art gallery attached. Try to go in the spring, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom....drive the whole Old Mission Peninsula up to the lighthouse for some beautiful sightseeing. Remember to stop at the Old Mission General Store, complete with pickle barrel. More info: http://www.oldmission.com/.

Black Star Farms: http://www.blackstarfarms.com/

Wine tasting and cheese making; large working farm with beautiful grounds; horses. Only downside is you have to pay for their wine glasses (then free to refill whenever you come back, like remembering to bring your wine glasses along is ever going to happen); but I digress. Still fun to visit. But for free wine tasting and excellent prices try Leelaneau Cellars, just north of Suttons Bay in Omena.

The Cherry Republic: http://www.cherryrepublic.com/

In Glen Arbor. I think most of us have been here; if not, a trip up north is not complete without it! I love their cherry chicken salad sandwiches and cherryade for lunch.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

This weekend we'll be in Pentwater on Saturday (I think maybe we overdid the art show scheduling a bit for this summer! - we're doing 8 in all; this will be our 4th one). All of the kids are attending a wedding in Manistee, and so thanks to Brenda & Keith for watching little Bella on Saturday. (Ally will be at our house, but she's fine by herself for the day.) Then, on Sunday, dad and Scott's parents will join us for lunch at our house, where they'll have a chance to see the kids and meet their new great-grandpuppy! Katie is really enjoying little Bella, who sleeps with her every night. They are becoming fast friends...

Looking forward to our family breakfast at DeBoer's next Saturday, 8:30am. Be there or be square!

Baby Bella!

Just a quick post for those of you who aren't on Facebook (where more pictures are posted): Baby Bella has arrived and is as cute as a button! Proud Mama Katie is over the moon with excitement - looks like this one is a definite keeper!