What a Week

It has been quite a week at the Bisonet house. . . some good moments and some bad ones. Wednesday, as I was driving to work, I hit a deer with my Mariner. It was awful! Since I was going 55 mph, the deer died instantly and my car was pretty smashed. I am so thankful for Brook . . . he immediately drove down (even though it was before 7am) and handled the sheriff dept and tow truck. Everyone we dealt with that morning was very kind and helpful - from the police officer to my wonderful insurance agent. And luckily, I don't have a deductible for broad collision. So, Ruby is at a local body shop and hopefully will be good as new in a few weeks.


The other, much better news, is that we had our home inspection this week and there were no major concerns. So, we are scheduled to close the week of June 15th. We can't wait and have been scoping out Menards for grills, patio sets and other items for our new home.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Concord again for 2 graduation parties and Sunday celebrating my birthday with Brook's family at our place. Busy, but we wouldn't have it any other way! :)

Weekend at the Lake

We had a great Memorial weekend at my parents' cabin near Tawas. Carey, Brook's brother, also came up. He is a great guy and we're glad he decided to come. After quite an ordeal to get the net set up, the guys and Hannah played water volleyball and took the jet skis out. I wasn't brave enough to go in the water yet - a little too cold for me! Sophie had her first visit to the cabin. I can't believe how big my little god-daughter is getting! She is smiling and talking and screeching. She is developing quite the personality and I miss not seeing her as much. I digress . . . we sat around the fire at night, took naps (well, I did) and relaxed. It was a perfect weekend!

The Volleyball Gang

Hannah's showing the guys how to do it

"Sittin in my Bumbo at the lake!"

Brady likes to lay in the sun with his mom

House Pics

I am probably jinxing myself by posting these pictures and getting so excited, but oh well. If it's meant to be, it will happen, right? Here are some pics of the house.

Family Room

Another View of the Family Room

Open Kitchen (which overlooks the Family Room - above)

Another View of the Kitchen

One of the bathrooms

Living Room

Backyard, with Patio

Pics

Since so many people requested some pictures of the house, I tried to find the MLS link, but it is no longer on-line. Our realtor must've removed it. The inspection is on Wednesday and I will try to remember my camera.

Kate - The house is on the corner of Sheldon and Terrill.

Does everyone have fun plans for the long weekend? We are going up to my parents' cabin near Tawas. Veronica and her family are also coming up. Should be a good time - I just wish it was going to be warmer. I get pretty cold watching the guys put the dock in in such chilly temperatures! :-) (Thank goodness for husbands!) I am looking forward to a lazy weekend at the lake and hope all of you have a great weekend, too!

The Latest and (very) Greatest

No, we are not expecting, BUT we are in the process of buying a house! OMGoodness! Last night, we put an offer in on a house in Grand Haven and after some negotiating, the offer was accepted. Some of you may know, we were thinking of building, b/c we couldn't find anything we really liked. Well, this home came on the market a few weeks before our wedding. It is an amazing location - within walking distance (1 mile) to Lake Michigan and downtown Grand Haven - and has been totally gutted and remodeled.


We are now in the process of scheduling the inspections. If everything turns out to be OK, we will close on the house in a few weeks. In the meantime, we have stopped unpacking boxes. :-) To be continued . . .

Settling In

We've been married 3 weeks now and got back from our honeymoon about 10 days ago. The wedding and honeymoon seem so much like a dream . . . it all went by way too quickly. We have moved into our condo in Grand Haven and are slowly unpacking. It's hard to go from a 3 bedroom home, plus Brook's stuff to a 2 bedroom condo. I think a lot of things are going to stay in boxes. We are settling in nicely . . . enjoying Grand Haven and enjoying each other. I really love being married to Brook and never knew it could be this great! I am also settling into my new job at Consumers and really think I am going to enjoy my new responsibilities. I found out last week that the Plant I am at is going to a 4/10 work week. 3 day weekends!


We are travelling to Jackson quite a bit. Last weekend, we had a 1st birthday party to attend and celebrated my Aunt and Uncle's 25th anniversary. Congratulations Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jeff! Here's to many, many more years together. Sunday (Mother's Day), we went to Mass and breakfast with my mom, then had Brook's family over for dinner. What a busy weekend!

The Happy Couple - 25 Years!

Last night (Friday), we went over to Tyler and Line's for dinner. (Tyler is one of Brook's partners.) They are a great couple and we are glad they live so close. Thanks for a wonderful dinner and lively evening you guys - we were still talking about the hot cocoa this morning! Today, I am in Concord to see Hannah go to prom. She looked gorgeous (as always) and Maria was absolutely taken by her. She loves Aunt Hannah and as the pictures were being taken, asked me, "I go to prom, too?" So, Veronica, Jaime and I are going to crash prom with Maria. Hope Hannah doesn't mind. J/K. Hannah wanted us to stop in. We told her we were all going to wear our wedding dresses. Haha. Poor Hannah. I am excited to see it, b/c they are using our wedding decorations.


Brook went back to GR tonight for Trent's 30th birthday party. Happy Birthday Trent! Sorry I couldn't be there, but hope you enjoy the treats I made for you. :) Brook gets husband of the year award, b/c tomorrow morning, he is driving back to Concord to a pick me up and attend my cousin's 1st Holy Communion in the morning. I volunteered to come down by myself; so, he wouldn't have to drive so much, but he insisted on coming. What a guy!

With her date

Hannah and cousins Nicholas and Matthew. What studs.

"I go to prom, too?"

Last Night in Italy

We took the train from Venice to Rome, to spend the last night of our honeymoon. We were flying out of the Rome airport early the next morning. There were still some places we wanted to see and we wanted to savor our last night together in Italy. Being good planners, we immediately bought train tickets to go to the airport tomorrow. After the purchase, I ask what time the train left in the am (it was supposed to leave every 1/2 hour) and the woman says, "6am." Hmm . . . our flight leaves at 7:20 and it takes 30 minutes to get to the airport. Oh well, we will figure it out.

So, we check into our hotel . . . it's raining pretty hard, luckily we don't have to walk far and Brook is doing great at navigating the winding streets. One place I really wanted to visit was the church of St. Cecilia's. She is the saint I chose at Confirmation to be my patron. So, we hop on the bus and go south, across the river, to Trastevere, which is a neighborhood in Rome. Just as we get to the church, the rain stops and the sun comes out. (Thanks, St. Cecilia!) She was martyred in the 3rd century for being a Christian. After they attempted to behead her, she lived for 3 days and legend has it that she died holding up 3 fingers, signifying the Trinity. The church was built on the spot where she was buried. The church is one of the simplest churches we have seen on our trip, but still very beautiful. Outside, the roses were in full bloom and it was quiet - also very different from the other churches!

After St. Cecilia's, we walked up to the Pantheon, one of the oldest buildings still standing in Rome. Wow, those ancient Roman engineers were something else! It is incredible that they could construct something so massive with such mathematical preciseness. We then went to St. Peter's Square, for one last view. . . I didn't want to leave . . . with so many other things to see in the world, who knows if we will ever be back?

Brook in front of the Pantheon

"Good-bye St. Peters!"

It was getting late, though, and we wanted one last good meal. So, we went to a restaurant we had enjoyed earlier in the trip. They have the most amazing bruschetta! Now, this in something I have not mentioned yet on the blog; I don't like tomatoes but LOVE bruschetta. Strange, I know. We have indulged in 2 things while we have been here - gelato and bruschetta. If a restaurant doesn't have bruschetta, we don't go there! (What am I going to do when I get home? Luckily, there is a shop that sells gelato in Grand Haven and we rec'd the topsy turvy tomato grower for our wedding! Crisis solved. Phew! :))))

Anyway, we have a nice dinner, but I am still thinking of what the lady told me about the train time - 6am? With a 7:20 departure time, that doesn't give us enough time to check in, go through security and get on the plane. I thought the train ran every 1/2 hour? So, after dinner, we go back to the train station to double check. Sure enough, the train runs every 1/2 hour until 11pm and starts again at 6am. This is not going to work for us. Our other options are to take a taxi ($105) or a shuttle ($60). Brook then says, "We could spend the night at the airport." Yes, you know what we did. We spent the last night of our honeymoon at the airport. I wanted to cry. But my husband, always the optimist, says, "It will be a good story." I guess that is one way to look at it!

We checked out of our hotel (quite an expensive baggage deposit!!) and hopped on one of the last trains to the airport. I had seen a Hilton attached one of the terminals, so we stopped there to see if they had any rooms available. They didn't. We found a seat and tried to sleep. Tried being the key word. It was a long night and we were glad to board the plane in the morning. I guess spending the night there made it easier to leave - I was definitely ready to come home and get a good night's sleep!