Family Vacation Anyone?

     The Leary kids have been asking if there are any plans for Schickedanz Family vacation in the
near future.  So, because I hate myself, I am throwing out at least one idea for now and then another when I get the information together.  Is there any possible interest in doing a ........ wait for it..........
nostalgic and super affordable camping vacation next summer at Wilderness State Park on Lake Michigan?! $29 a night for prime lakefront campsite.  The hearty and strong could tent it while the soft and weak could rent an RV.  This seems like a good solution to the ongoing problem of finding a place big enough for everyone and then dividing the cost in a fair way for everyone.  We also would not need to commit to a full week rental with the freedom of doing a full week or a long weekend.  This also allows for flexibility in cost of flights because you could fly cheapest days.  The beach is beautiful and the sand dunes are amazing.  This would require everyone to take ownership of their individual "camp".  We could coordinate meals as we have in the past however there will obviously be an awesome simplicity to them due to primitive kitchen situation.  For those of us who remember the early morning waiting in the car for the campground office to open so you could get a site, relax.
We can make reservations online ahead of time.  I'll be honest, I'm going back and forth on this idea but interested in at least getting some abusive feedback from my siblings when you revisit memories of good old Wilderness Campground trips.  I'm still working through my own.  The bathroom/shower situation is the one that rattles me most.  Can't unsee that.  Even 40 years later.
The other option is uncertain but I will let you know what I find out when I find out.  Otherwise, maybe one of you defies all rational levels of self-loathing and wants to take ownership of organizing something for the family.  The older grandchildren really want to do it and the younger grandchildren need the memories so that someone keeps this going in years to come.

WELCOME HOME JACK!!!

So happy for the DeBaltzo family who are thoroughly enjoying Jack's return from Brazil.
(Max and Corey are on Facetime on the phone Sam is holding :)

Families are forever.....
Love, Mom

Fathers Day

What joy you have brought to my heart, Abigail!!! Thanks for your newsy blog and the pictures of all the improvements you are making in your home. Love the one of you and Ben, and so happy that there is such love in your home.

Today we watched The Spoken Word  ( a weekly broadcast from Temple Square with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and it was particularly moving when they sang "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler.
Made me think of Ben and Abby's wedding, but more than that the truth to the lyrics. Life does speed by, and moments that I thought would last forever of our children growing up passed by way too fast. I bask in (most!) of those memories and love you all so much. Today I am particularly grateful that I had the good wisdom to choose such an outstanding man to be your father. He is really something special. And he loves you all so much.

The other thought I am having today is of all of the fantastic fathers we have "spawned" and the others that have blessed our family by marrying our daughters! You -- Sean, Brian, Dennis, Andy, Greg and Luke -- have exceeded my hoped for dreams of fathers for our grandchildren. I hope you each have a day of basking in the love of your families.

Last night we went to a Dave Stamey concert out on a farm in northern Utah. Great fun!

Love you --- and thanks for sharing your lives on the blog :)
Mom

the latest from the 8th

latest from abby and ben is that we love summer, i'm so glad the sunshine is here, we can go to the pool, and my friday work day ends at 2 pm so it's almost like 3 day weekends all summer long. Almost. I took some golf lessons in May and now i know the fundamentals of how to hit a golf ball. Not quite at execution stage, but Ben has me out practicing every Saturday and we even went out this Wednesday after work, love it! We can do that now because Ben and I finally have the same work schedule! We knew he'd be done working weekends when we moved to NH, but having him home every night at 7 is even better and i've quickly adjusted to having him around more often. We are also doing some work on the house, this phase of construction is wrapping up as we speak. We added a side entrance (where there used to be one before and it got closed up at some point in the last 200 years), so we can access the house from the driveway and enter into a casual space rather than dropping right into our LR.

Then we knocked the wall down between the Kitchen and this room that we haven't known how to use, so it will be a big open kitchen/mud room/sitting area....one day! It brings great light into the Kitchen and makes for a more modern/open living space. Some pics of it under construction....

Now we just need to be patient for a bit until we can launch into the next phase of some kitchen upgrades and a mudroom solution. work is great for me too. i'm off to SF this week for work, so get to see the SF schickedanzes and can't wait. i was in nyc last week and have had to work a few days in boston as well, but no complaints from me....its good to get away from my computer screen, off my phone and out of my pajamas atleast a few days a year. loved seeing those photos of telluride.....ben and i got to know each other at that blue grass festival 8 years ago....such a beautiful place and can't believe how time flies! not great pics, but they're the most recent i have.....ben and i on our way to see david gray in portland, and ben and his real true love, andy rourke, christening the new fire pit - both from last weekend.

alright mom, i hear your call to action....not sure the last time i've blogged, so i'm on it :) Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's in this great Family....and especially to the best Dad of all....Love you Dad. xoxo

Monday Morning Eden

Beautiful here! The green keeps getting greener, although no rain forecast for the next couple of weeks. The lake is almost full, my peonies are blooming magenta and pink in the front yard, and the sun is shining.

These next few weeks are really busy for me -- I am trying to get "re-activated" in real estate by working at the office everyday, hoping to find a client who would like to buy a house :)  .... plus Brandi has 3 homes in the Parade of Homes here, and I have to sit at one of the houses (6 hours at a time) in the evenings next week. Maybe I'm too old for this? This means that Daddy is a bit stranded here at home, but I'm sure I can find some projects for him.......

Last Saturday we had a lunch here for Amira. She was in town helping Imagin (her daughter) move into an apartment in Sandy, so I invited them, Mary and Richard Cook, and Richard Webb to spend the afternoon with us here plus lunch. In true Amira style she brought a LARGE pot of stuffed grape leaves, and other stuffed vegetables which were delicious. Besides some baklava that she had bought at a special Middle Eastern pastry shop in Troy. Amira shared wonderful memories of our family, and of Kay-Kay and Wa-Wa with us all. She asked about all of you, looked at the pictures in our anniversary album, and was so pleased to see all of your families.  Her son, Angel, lives in Troy near her and is married with 3 children, and Martin (a little older than Abby) is moving out here with Imagin. Imagin has a great job here in SLC, and is just delightful --- smart, great sense of humor, and very kind like her mother. What a story that family has of their lives, leaving Iraq in the late 80's. It needs to be written up.

Hopefully you all will start checking the blog again (and hopefully contribute to it :) because I am going to post about our life here in Eden. I feel very far away from you all ---- and am! ----- but I want to have a format to share life experiences. Yes, yes, I know about Facebook, but this is far more personal.Pictures would be great to add, but the commentary about your individual lives is precious now and decades from now.

I love you!!
Mom

The Wishful Revival Blog

Hi Family,

We had a great little spring trip to Moab and Telluride a couple weeks ago and wanted to share some pics! We have been experiencing a ridiculously rainy and stormy spring, so Jake and I decided to head toward the desert for the beginning of our trip. We drove out to Goblin Valley State Park where we took a hike and camped. The skies were clear that night and we could see millions of stars from our uncovered tent. The next day we drove back in to Colorado and down to Montrose where we spent an afternoon at a fairly new National Park, The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was impressive, deep, and eerie. The weather was rainy, so we enjoyed scenic overlooks and listened to a ranger speak about the geology of the canyon. The canyon has a beautiful lavender haze with light green sage colored shrubs on the canyon surface. Afterward, we headed down to Telluride. Years ago, Jake and I enjoyed attending the bluegrass festival with Ben, Abby, Ashleigh, Andy, Brooke and Luke. We hadn't been back in seven years, so it was a treat to spend a few days there this time. While we were there, Telluride was hosting its annual film festival. All of the films were sold out. We didn't do any film-watching, but engaged in prime people-watching. Telluride seems to be somewhat of a blend between Boulder and Aspen. We ate delicious meals, rode the free gondola up to Mountain Village, lounged around in terrycloth robes, and did some sight seeing. I got a kick out of walking through the town and checking out the combination of historic mining-era Victorian homes and contemporary expensive real estate. 

Last weekend we took a short trip to Glenwood Springs, CO, west of the continental divide where we met up the Hamburgers. Jake and Nate played golf on Saturday while Allison, her boys, and I enjoyed the hot springs. The hot spring pools are very large and well attended. Maybe a little too well attended. The next day we got an early start to hike up to Hanging Lake which is located in beautiful Glenwood Canyon. It was grueling hike 1000ft up in 1 mile. The reward was algae-filled lake that looked like something out of a fantasy novel. The colors were vibrant and the setting serene. It was a hike we had wanted to check out for years, so we were happy to enjoy it with Nate and his family. 

Back to reality. The rest of June will be filled with regular work and extra freelance custom paint work for myself. Looking forward to seeing Max and Corey in a couple weeks as they will be in town attending a great concert at Red Rocks. We feel rested and blessed. We love you all and hope that this will serve as a blog revival because we miss seeing and hearing from all of you! 

Happy Easter from NH!