Christmas 2021 - Photo Recap

Christmas 2021!    

The big gift was a spring break trip to go skiing!

The first Christmas with a cat hanging around!

 

A Lazy Christmas Afternoon

Watching Christmas Vacation….

1972 Christmas Snaps!

Bill sent snaps of these Christmas shots from 1972.  He was only 1 month old!  Other observations include our tree which seems a little sparse and the famous "buggy seat" in the top left of the 2nd pic.  Note the popcorn garland on the tree too.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Finds

Curiously, these were hard to find this holiday season!  I scored the stamps at Office Depot of all places.

Elle Turns 11!

Elle wasn't feeling great so we had to postpone her party…but cake was still made. An Oreo cake featuring a crumbled cookie center!  Puff, the elf, broke out his birthday attire as well.

Go Gators Christmas Lights

Celebration Point includes some nice Gator themed Christmas decorations.

Merry Christmas from the Solo family!

Ready for Christmas Dinner!

Here's a pic from Elle last year anxiously awaiting Christmas dinner!

Pete and Christmas Toy

This Christmas toy has lasted way longer than you think.  Mom gave it to us years back and the beagles, especially Kodak, loved triggering it to sing an obnoxious version of Jingle Bells and run through the house with it.  Years later, the kids did (and still do) the same thing.  Now Petey enjoys it just as much.

COVID Vaccine shot #2

In the books!

Elle did much better than her Dad after the 2nd shot!  Actually, everybody in the family did better than Dad after the 2nd shot.  Could it be I got Moderna and the rest got Pfizer?

Merry Christmas!

Looking forward to a mask free holiday this year!

Take that COVID!

Vaccinated!

Ready for a walk!

Pete is sporting his new sweater!

Cousins at Chimney Rock!

Here's a classic from the late 70's perhaps?  Chimney Rock, Nebraska!!!

Pentwater, Michigan

More evidence that it is tough to be a nice summer day in Michigan!  We were in Pentwater for dinner - which ended up not working out due to a knife injury in the kitchen but that's a different story.  Here are pics from our walk about Pentwater, MI!

Veteran's Day @ Oak View

Happy Veteran's Day to our Veteran!

 

Halloween 2021 - Watch out for the Robbers!

Elle and friends were Robbers!

The 2021 Halloween Haul!

The 2021 Halloween Haul was mostly earned by Elle.  Jack and I were working the "haunted cave" we made in front of the house!

Western Day!

Elle rocked Western Day at school thanks to all her horse gear.  The downside of the horse riding is all the "horse dirt" that gets into our cars.

Petey Enjoys the Dog Show

One of Petey's highlights at Thanksgiving is the National Dog Show!  Here is is last year, eyes glued to the TV.

The Tail of the Dogs (as told by Jack Roy in ~1990)

The Tail of the Dogs

Well the dogs they had a meetin'
And they came from near and far.

Some came by automobile
and I'll be damned if some didn't come by car.

Before they could go in, or even take a look.
They had to take their assholes off and hang them on a hook.

After they were seated, each mother son and sire.
Some dirty hell of a son of a bitch came in and hollered fire.

They all ran out in bunches and didn't think to look,
they just grabbed any old asshole, hangin' off any ole hook.

As can be expected, these dogs were kind of sore,
because they were wear'in an asshole they'd never worn before.

So when you see two dogs on the street alone,
they'll smell each others assholes and hope to find his own.

This famous poem was oft recited by Jack Roy and other Camp / Program directors at Camp Cedar Valley / Pine Trail Reservation.   There are numerous variations that emerged over the years as the poem wasn't written down.  One of these was, "Some dirty hell of a doberman pinscher came in..."    another was "mighty sore".

I served as the program director in the late 80's and Jack came to visit and we talked for a while in the cook shack.  Upon request the above is the version he shared.

Minnesota Comes to Lincoln!!!!

Minnesota football has a nice rig!  Hopefully the 2021 season will be a little more normal.  And here's to a new team winning it all!

Beans! They are what’s for dinner!

The kids were quite amused to discover Grandpa eating a can of bans for lunch!

Shopping in Downtown Muskegon!

We had one trip into Muskegon to visit Uncle Duck and also did some shopping downtown.

Hurricane Elsa!

Elsa caused mostly water related damage with less wind than expected.

Leaving work - was happy to have the Subaru with 8.7" of clearance!

Country Dairy in New Era Michigan!

Didn't have time for the tour but scored some great ice cream and some great cheese curds!

Lake Michigan Sunset!

Lake Michigan on the evening of July 21, 2021.  Elle and I walked down and were rewarded with some pretty skies.  The moon as rising on the opposite side!

Italian Bracca

We ran into an Italian Bracca in Asheville. A friendly pointer styled hunting dog.  This was at 12 Bones....

Hangin’ with Uncle Dave!

We had a fun day with Uncle Dave at the Grand Rapids Museum and Planetarium.  Elle scored this good selfie and we saw some super cool things at the planetarium.

North Carolina - 12 Bones BBQ

Quite good with quite a following.  Long lines even in mid-afternoon.  Widely acclaimed by Obama so the lines probably trended Democratic!

Rick and Barb at the Stony Lake Inn

We ended up eating here three times! Great perch and walleye! Jack had a lot of steak…

North Carolina Update - Connor Adopted!

 

Coffee from a Glass Pot!

The VRBO we stayed at near Shelby, Michigan featured an almost all glass coffee pot.  Cooler than it is functional it still functioned reasonably well and made good coffee.  It was hard to pull out the hot metal coffee innards the held the ground coffee before pouring.

Rick’s Childhood Home!

Anytime we happen to be in North Muskegon swinging by Oak Avenue is a must!

2221 Oak Avenue in Muskegon

North Carolina Dance Practice

Clogging fun!

North Carolina - Day 7

Friday was our last day in Asheville so after a little more tennis we packed up and checked out.

The lobby was cool including a large connect 4 game, Conner - the dog up for adoption, a pool table and a bar.

We scored a bit more BBQ before skipping town.  Bear's was decent but not as good as 12 Bones.

Poor Conner still hadn't been adopted but I'm sure he will be soon.

Back on the road with North Carolina staples.

After dropping Bill off in Charlotte I headed to Waynesville which is close to Jack's Camp Daniel Boone.  You can also note another W city, Weaverville just North of Asheville.  Asheville has gotten to be a pretty expensive city from a real estate perspective with lots of Charlotte and Atlanta people, in particular, choosing to retire in it.  If the prices seem too high in Asheville the local realtors encourage prospective buyers to "Think Weaverville"