Trailing Michigan From Top To Bottom

Hikers, bikers, outdoor enthusiasts, and nature lovers unite!  Michigan's Governor Snyder unveiled a proposal today for a trail spanning from the bottom of our great state at Belle Isle all the way up to the border with Wisconsin.  This proposed plan would connect the state's existing trails and form one 599-mile long pathway of beauty.  view Freep article here

When I first saw this article this morning, I was struck by several things, chiefly the distance - 599 miles is a LONG way!  The second thing that I captured my attention was the terrain that was covered - this would be a terrific cross-section of our state, ranging from big city to wide open country, and all the woods and rivers in between.  Michigan is a state of many wonders - it is difficult to explain to someone who has never lived here just how many wonderful things there are to see and do in our great state.  There truly is something for everyone and for the outdoor enthusiast the fun really never ends.

Being the camping family that we are, the most exciting thing that struck me about this idea was the ability to follow the trail on foot or bike, camping along the way.  What a fantastic experience that would be!  We already love the Circle Tour of each of our Great Lakes, and never miss an opportunity to make a turn off the beaten path to wonder at these beautiful lakes - many years ago, Superman and I spent our honeymoon enjoying part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour and we loved it!  Now the kids enjoy the adventure with us, exploring the lovely cities and towns and countryside that lie beside each Great Lake.

I really hope that this proposed trail is implemented - anything that encourages folks to get out and explore this beautiful state is a great idea, and I think it would be a blast to explore it on foot...anybody know how long it would take to walk 599 miles?!

Spring Has Sprung With Wild Weather - Is Your Family Ready?

Today started out warm and wet, a lovely, if somewhat overcast, Michigan morning.  It smelled like spring, looked like spring, and the sparrows came back to nest on our front porch for another season.  Spring is wonderful, a new awakening, fresh beginnings, new life abounds.  I love this season.  

But spring also brings wild weather to our parts here in southeast Michigan, and today is no exception.  As I write this, we have just been placed under a weather advisory for severe storms and a tornado watch.  I really enjoy a good storm, but when I hear about severe weather my first thoughts turn to our emergency kit and making sure that we are prepared for any type of weather emergency.  The website Ready.gov has a great tornado fact sheet, including advice on what to put in your emergency kit to help get your family ready.

When I was a kid here in Michigan, we had frequent weather events and I remember many times being in the dark with no power, taking shelter in the basement during big storms, and even people coming to our house during long blizzards with power outages.  They came to us because my parents had supplies, floor space, and a generator.  I was never scared by any potential disaster as a kid since I knew that my parents had all that we needed to see us through.  

Superman and I have tried to pass that feeling of security on to our kids.  We keep our pantry well stocked and our emergency box full and ready.  Our emergency box has the basics:  Candles, matches, batteries, a weather radio, flashlights, duct tape, plastic, a first aid kit, etc.  Our pantry also is ready with the basic supplies to get us through an extended power outage or storm:  Plenty of water, paper goods such as toilet paper and paper towels, staples such as canned fruits and vegetables, flour, rice, sugar, cereal, soups, canned and dry milk, etc.  We also keep flashlights in each bedroom so no one has to scramble around in a panic in the dark.

We're lucky that our kids are curious about weather - we talk often about how weather works and why storms happen, and also what to do when bad weather is on the way.  These conversations have evolved as they have gotten older, with us answering all their questions in an age-appropriate manner.  Discussing and learning about all types of weather has helped the kids to not be afraid when they hear those loud thunder claps and/or tornado sirens and see that lightning - they know what it is, what it means, and how we will stay safe.

Welcome, Spring...and welcome to the wild weather!  Stay safe, everyone!

What's Doin' in "the D" this weekend?

Okay, it's Friday night and we finally have snow in Metro Detroit!  If you're looking for something to do this weekend, there's a lot going on around here, both indoors and out!


Head downtown and check out the Motown Winter Blast at Campus Martius Park.  With snowshoeing, ice skating, Taste of Detroit, live music, ice gardens, marshmallow roasting...the possibilities for all kinds of family fun abound at this fantastic downtown event.  Here is a live feed of the current action in the park ... thanks to our friends at Click On Detroit!


Looking for something a little bit warmer?  Head out to Rochester Hills and take in the fabulous children's show Fish Face at Meadow Brook Theatre.  Kids of all ages will love this musical adaption of the award-winning children's book about honesty and growing up.  It's a great way to spend your Saturday!


In the mood for a combination of indoor activities and outdoor fun?  The Detroit Zoo is waiting for you during their Wild Winter Weekends!  They are celebrating Black History Month with African drum lessons, African storytelling with David Gakure, Kenyan naturalist and Detroit Zoological Society Education Specialist. Other activities include live entertainment, arts and crafts, games and educational experiences.


Want to stay a little closer to home?  The Creative and Performing Arts department at Churchill High School in Livonia want you to come out and see their musical production of Footloose.  Great music, high-energy dancing, and lots of laugh will keep you warm on a blustery Saturday night!

As for this crazy family, we're headed over to check out the latest and greatest RV and camping goodies at the 46th Annual Detroit Camper and RV Show at the Suburban Collection Showplace (formerly the Rock Financial Showplace) in Novi.  Click on the link above for a discounted admission coupon and bring the family out to plan your camping adventure!

Whatever you're up to this weekend, I hope you stay safe and have fun!

Making New Habits

Week 2 of my personal intervention has dawned, and I'm pretty pleased with myself that I haven't gone off the deep end yet.  My accomplishments are small by most folks' standards, but for me they are a strong indicator that I am on the right path.  I have kept up with my walking buddy twice a week for these two weeks, which is a VERY important milestone for me.  If I didn't have her to be accountable to, I don't know that I would still be doing it.  So that old adage of doing something with a buddy does ring true - those times when I think, "Oh, it won't matter if I just skip tonight" turn into "Oh, I promised her I would be there...I have to go!"  And so I keep up with my promise.  I know I made a promise to myself with this whole personal intervention thing, but somehow keeping the one I made to her that we will walk together makes it much easier to maintain.

I'm also pretty pleased that I haven't gone full-bore, burn-myself-out-fast, on this whole intervention.  I've gone that road before...strict diet and aggressive exercise...and all it does is set me up for failure very quickly.  I can't maintain that pace for any amount of time, and then I'm diving back into the Oreos like nobody's business.  Easing into it seems to be a better fit for me, making small changes, little additions here and there.  This time I'm going to do it.

I figured exercise is the hardest habit for me to form, so it will be the one that takes the longest to really sink in.  There are many schools of thought out there on just how long it takes to form a habit - 21, 28, 30, even 66 days to make a new activity become a habit.  I'm not so sure I want to set a numerical value to how long I have to exercise before it becomes a habit, but I am definitely going to "keep on keeping on" and look at what I have accomplished as my personal metric for how well I'm doing.  Plus, my new habit doesn't just involve me, there are other factors that come into play which are be hard to juggle - I work full time, I have 5 kids and a husband, parents who are here much of the week, plus numerous volunteering activities likes Scouts, PTA, school, etc.  I don't care what any fitness coach says, it is HARD to fit in exercise when your life is already full.

So, like I said, exercising a little for 2 solid weeks is a big deal for me, and I'm going to take that as a success!  I can do this!

A New Direction

I’m taking a slightly new direction in our journey and shifting this blog a bit from only camping-related goodies (which I still love) to more of a broad focus on our crazy and fat life!  Working full time, having Superman (my darling husband) gone a great majority of the time, all these kids…crazy is one good descriptive word for it!  The other one is a perfect word as well, because when I say fat I mean filled with all the amazing, blessed, tender, awesome moments that come with having a terrific life and amazing family.    

But I also mean literally fat…as in I threw out another pair of jeans the other day.  They were my last remaining jeans…you know the ones I'm talking about.  The ones we all have stored in the back of the closet, just in case we over-indulge during the holidays.  The ones that are at the top end of our size range.  Maybe they are left over from that after-pregnancy weight loss, jeans that you didn’t need any more but something was telling you not to give them away.  The fat jeans. 

I’ve been wearing my fat jeans for some time now, the culmination of a painful back condition and a job that keeps me anchored on my butt in front of a computer for 8 or 10 hours a day.  Well that and Oreos.  And brownies.  And cookie dough ice cream sundaes.  I love sweets and I eat them when I’m stressed, which is a lot!  And all the while I’ve been telling myself “tomorrow I’ll eat better,” or “I am going to exercise tomorrow, definitely,” or my favorite “oh, I haven’t gained that much…”  Well, honey, yes you have.  And tomorrow is here.

It literally hit me the other day as I walked through Target and started to get the most uncomfortable feeling between my legs  (ahem…don’t go there – I know what you’re thinking!).  This feeling was very unusual and not particularly pleasant.  It was rubbing, a little burning, suddenly constricting…..it was a sudden hole bursting in the crotch of my jeans!  In the middle of Target, on a Tuesday afternoon, my go-to fat jeans failed me in a BIG way.  Thankfully my sweater was long enough to hide my shame and the moment I got home I trashed those traitorous jeans. 

This left me with one pair.  One poor pair of jeans that I stuffed my cookie-plumped butt into on Wednesday morning.  “Not too bad,” I thought.  I had a burgeoning muffin top of a belly that my sweatshirt thankfully covered but I was feeling a little smug as I got them zipped up.  Not too bad, at all.  I sauntered into the kitchen for my coffee and as I was leaning over the counter, Superman walked in.  “Hon,” he said.  “Yeah, babe?” I responded, and then he was strangely quiet.  “Um,” as he flipped on the kitchen light, “um, looks like you, um, you got something there on you.  Oh, honey did you know you have a big hole in your jeans, on the butt?”   Kill me now – not this pair, too!  Superman is so kind to me and thankfully in 20+ years of marriage he has learned how to read my expressions – he didn’t say a word, walked over to the pile of folded jeans he was packing into his suitcase, and silently handed me one of his pair.  God bless that man.

So here I sit, composing this blog in my husband’s jeans because I have none that fit, and I am hoping that this too-tight pair doesn’t fail me in a public way, too!  This is my personal intervention with myself and I need to start getting healthy.  And I invite anyone reading this to come on along with me!  I promise I won’t this won’t be a preachy, whiney, oh-God-I’m-dieting-again blog, but it will be informative, non-judgemental, friendly, and crazy.  And probably literally fat for a while longer.