Along Came Holly…

The 2nd annual Strong Woman Weekend (SWW) of 2009 took place this past weekend, in true Strong Woman style.  Sheila traditionally invites myself and our friends Kim and Robyn up to her ski chalet near Mancelona, Michigan for a weekend of rest, relaxation, skiing, and inevitable catch phrases.  We headed out Thursday night and made quick time to the retreat.  We quickly swung by the chalet to turn up the heat before we left for Ivan’s Restaurant at Schuss Mountain.  After a tasty dinner in which we filled in Sheila about what a Mudslide is (and isn’t), we unpacked at the chalet and watched Baby Mama (interesting selection by my peers, by the way)…

Our first Strong Women moment came when we realized that the key to open the supply closets at the chalet did not work.  While Sheila and I just eventually gave up hope on getting into the closets, Kim and Robyn, the real women of the weekend, decided that we should just take off the hinge pins on the doors and undo the doors the opposite way.  Of course, it worked beautifully!  Strong Women Moment #1, shared by Kim and Robyn.

Friday morning brought snow and a trip to Bellaire to check out a real old-fashioned themed toy store.  We enjoyed the toy store, the pharmacy, Hallmark store, and True Value to pick up a cable for Sheila’s DTV converter box.  At the True Value, we bought a True Value reusable bag for Kim’s mom who works at a True Value store in an “undisclosed location” and has a boss that’s too cheap to give all the employees one of these reusable bags.  We all signed it to commemorate the purchase.  And took a picture.  I’m sure the guy behind the counter thought we were either high, drunk, or off our schizophrenia med’s.  Strong Women Moment #2–all us women enjoyed this one!  Sad end to the journey–Kim lost her new gloves somewhere in Bellaire, recon proved unsuccessful.

We went back to the chalet, ate a yummy lunch (”Eat A Samich”, “Sheila, Want A Water?”), and watched the first movie in the Love Series from Hallmark, Love Comes Softly.  I got Sheila addicted to these movies a few Christmases ago and we have now roped Kim and Robyn in.  We decided around 5ish it was time to ski, so we bundled up, loaded up, and headed to Shanty for some night skiing (minus Robyn who stayed behind to do schoolwork).  By the time we found a parking spot, got inside and redeemed our vouchers, and figured out how to work Bob’s 20 year old skis from Sheila’s basement that I was using, it was 6ish and time to ski!!! 

It is important to note here that this is only the 3rd time I’ve ever skied and Sheila is the one who has taught me everything I know about skiing.  Thank God Kim and Sheila are teachers and two of the most patient people I know because I am not the most athletic, quickest learner on the slopes.  I bit it hard the first run down and hit my head on the icy slope–instant headache, real gracious stuff.  The happy part of this story is that I learned how to ski back and forth down a hill and not get crazy out of control.  This was named important skill #2 by Sheila (#1 is snowplow). 

The not-so-wonderful ending to the evening of cold and snow was the tow rope.  I had never used one and while Kim and Sheila gave me good instructions, I grabbed on without my skis lined up and got dragged-literally-halfway up the hill.  When they finally stopped the rope, to maintain what little shred of dignity I still had, I walked the rest of the way up the hill.  I wasn’t the only one who fell and we all maintained our dignity along with our sense of humor–Strong Women Moment #3.

The evening ended Friday night with a marathon of Guitar Hero, courtesy of Kim and Robyn.  Sheila kept getting booed offstage and soon fell asleep, so the three of us began our world tour that lasted 24 songs and a tour halfway around the world, on Easy of course.  We were so determined to keep unlocking songs, by 1am, we were playing on pure determination and adrenaline.  We woke up Saturday morning to sore ski muscles and NO band–all our Guitar Hero data was gone.  I had to be the “Mississippi Queen” once again…

We skied some more on Saturday, this time at Schuss which is my preferred ski location.  We watched the next three Love Series movies and had a Thanksgiving-like dinner courtesy of Sheila.  Sheila’s husband and two kids joined us Saturday evening, when we played more Guitar Hero and watched SNL before crashing into bed.  We enjoyed Sunday morning breakfast along with some Wii Sports before Kim, Robyn, and I called it a weekend and packed up for home.

The weekend was full of fun and laughs, and it was WAY too short.  All three of us teachers are dragging ourselves through the week due to our lack of sleep and energy, and general lack of wanting to be working versus relaxing up north.  I can hardly wait for next year, I enjoy having the time to relax, laugh, chew the fat, and laugh some more with some of my closest friends.  Sheila and I have some serious shopping to do so we can get on par with Kim and Robyn’s “gear” factor, but we have a year to get there before SWW ‘10 arrives…

Welcome the newest edition to the Rapin Clan, GR Branch…Toby, the giant black lab.  Toby is “on loan” from my sister-in-law and mother-in-law as Marie heads back to dorm life and Barb moves to Florida for a nursing job during the winter.  Toby lived with Ben’s brother and his wife in the fall, so now his care has fallen to us.  Thus far, Toby is doing just fine and is adjusting as well as could be expected to life with us.  He’s proved to be a good dog and we are readjusting a few things that are issues for him that haven’t been with Bailey–drinking from toilets, sneaking out doors not completely closed, stuff like that.   I do feel bad for him, I’m sure he’s just wondering where he’s supposed to really live–everyone had taken good care of him, he’s just lived in three homes in the past month, so I’m sure he’s confused.

Bailey seems to be enjoying having the company–he has someone else to pee, bark, and walk with.  There’s also an additional body to compete for attention, food, toys, treats, and the who-sheds-the-most contest.

Toby’s had two funny moments so far with us–the first is pictured above.  He has a security blanket much like a small child might–and there are times that he sucks on it like a binky.  We took that pic last night.  Tonight, he went and settled with the blankie on his Rapin GR dog bed in the hallway.  About ten minutes later, we heard a low dog bark–enough of a bark that Bailey woke up, became dog-alert, and was about to look out a window when all three of us realized it was Toby!  He was either having a bad dream that caused him to whimper in his sleep or he was just having a good cry.  We’re not sure which, but it was cute.  I’ll be sure to update things as his stay with us progresses.

It has been since last break that I’ve written, and while excuses do little to apologize to my devout readership (no one), the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are CRAZY at school.  Beyond the usual holiday craziness, we had to say goodbye to our student teacher, Becca.  It was very sad and sobering for me.  She’s been there since day one this year; it was an adjustment to go back to being the only teacher in the classroom.  Quite honestly, I had come to enjoy and rely on sharing the workload. 

My 1st Day of Christmas came early–snow day on Friday!  That was a nice little bonus!  I baked cookies that stuck to the counter and tasted almost as good as my mom’s.  Winter weather hit Grand Rapids full force–over the next three days, we received almost 22 inches of snow!  I attempted to finish my Christmas shopping by stalking people for a parking spot at the mall in between the 8 foot snow piles, wrapped all our gifts for family and Ben, and packed for our extended trip home.  We chose to drive through a devil of a storm to Tecumseh on the evening of Tuesday the 23rd–it took us 4 hours when it normally takes around 2.5. 

We spent Christmas Eve with my family–Jill came home from Kentucky and Todd & Jeannie came from their home in Waterford.  It was nice to see everyone and catchup; we had a very nice early Christmas dinner and we enjoyed all the gifts we received.  Of course, Wriska Christmas would not be complete without a dog incident–this time, my parents dog urinated in front of my dad’s favorite chair during dinner when we locked him out of the eating area.  I guess he was “pissed”.  

Next, we went to Midnight Mass at Ben’s former Catholic Church–it was a LONG mass mainly due to a drawn out homily, but a local doctor with an incredible voice sang ‘O Holy Night’ like he does every year, which always makes up for the windy homily.  The bad news from mass–an older man broke his ankle trying to get into the church through the icy parking lot.  Talk about a sign from God that you shouldn’t be at that mass!

We spent Christmas Day with the Rapin’s at the farmhouse.  Again, we had a wonderful meal and enjoyed all our gifts.  Again, with three dogs at the celebration, it would not be a Rapin Christmas without a dog incident.  We ate early and everyone stuck around to watch Mama Mia on DVD.  We turned off all the lights to watch the movie (Rapins like it similar to a movie theater) and when we got up and Matt & Melissa got ready to leave, we noticed that someone had dragged drops of water all over the tile in the kitchen, laundry room, and mud room.  Upon closer examination, it was doggy pee drips that all of us had already WALKED through!  It was disgusting–I was especially disappointed because I had only worn my new slippers for less than 12 hours before they’d been “broken in”. 

On the day after Christmas, Jill and I talked about going shopping, but with freezing rain, we decided it was a bad idea.  Later in the day, my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law decided to trek to Ann Arbor, so I rode along and enjoyed all the 50% off deals at Target.  I bought lots of fun Christmas stuff for next year, mainly prizes for my classroom.  I spent the evening visiting with my Aunt and Uncle who drove from Green Bay to visit and stayed with my parents for a few days before journeying back to their “Snow Bird” home in Arizona.  They are always amusing and even though I went to visit them this summer, they are my favorite relatives and they rarely come for visits in Michigan, so I enjoyed seeing them again.

Saturday was one of the highlights of my vacation–my main gift from Ben’s mom was a ticket to see the Broadway tour of “Wicked” at the Detroit Operahouse!  All of my sister-in-laws, plus my mother-in-law and two of Ben’s aunts went to see this production on Saturday night.  It was absolutely phenomenal!  Ben and I often take in musicals at the Grand Rapids Civic Theater and we always enjoy the productions, but this was a whole other level of musical and cast.  I knew the main premise of the musical, but I was not prepared for how awesomely talented the main cast members were–if I had an iota of their talent, I would not be a teacher.  Everyone really enjoyed the show and we even talked about doing it again next year.

Sunday, the 10th day, was another day at the Wriska’s–both Ben and I went to visit my relatives and watch the Packers/Lions game before we returned to Grand Rapids.  On the way to my parents house, however, Ben decided that it would probably be best that he and Matt take his newly purchased snowmobile to the Shack in the Woods that night, briefly stay over, and return Monday morning to get me before departing back home.  After a year of saving and lots of working on me, he finally bought his uncle’s 2002 Yamaha snowmobile.  So…..while I was looking forward to returning home, I spent one more night in T-town and spent a little more time with my Green Bay relatives.

After unpacking the gifts, taking down the tree, cleaning the house, catching up on laundry, doing the grocery shopping, and playing some Dr. Mario on the Wii, Ben and I headed to the Shack in the Woods New Years Eve morning to spend our final few days up nort, relaxing and snowmobiling.  There was a TON of snow at the Shack, so much so that once we got the all-wheel drive Equinox in the driveway, the snow was so deep that the bottom of the car got stuck on the snow and after digging out all four wheels, we could not get the car out!  After Ben’s brute strength and my awesome driving skill set, we did get it out, but it was a real surprise to us that it was so completely stuck.  We spent the rest of Wednesday getting settled in to the cabin, I made my famous peanut-butter cake, and Ben played on the snowmobiles, ensuring they were ready for a journey through the nortern trails on New Years Day.

Withboth of us in our 30’s now, it should come as no surprise that we fell asleep long before the ball dropped–technically, we wanted to be well rested for our journey on the snow the next day.  We were out and on the sleds by 10am (impressive for me, I must say!).  I had only driven a snowmobile once the previous winter, so needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive and certainly very rusty at driving one of these machines.  Ben was incredibly patient with me and helped me get reacclimated with how to drive a sled.  We rode several trails that were very accessible from the Shack and the more I rode, the more comfortable I felt.  We rode to get gas–got a bit turned around due to poor trail markings–and came back to the cabin for a snack and a little nap.  We head out again for the trails around 4:30 for a short ride–I felt much better the second time around, and while I was not comfortable keeping up with Ben aka “Speedy Gonzales”, I did enjoy the second ride much more.  Ben’s sled began overheating on this trip, and we again took a wrong turn on the trails, so we were out until after dark (not my choice), but it was fun anyway. 

Friday, the 15th day, Ben’s friend Mark joined us at the Shack to snowmobile with us.  Unfortunately, I was so sore from fighting the steering column on the older sled, I stayed behind while the boys ran their sleds to their limits on the area trails.  Instead, I partook in some binge reading–I read Nicholas Sparks’ book The Choice in four hours–and watched some movies on the satellite.  I highly recommend The Choice–if you’re looking for a great book, pick it up.  As you can tell from above, it is a quick read.

Today, the 16th day, we closed up the Shack and returned to GR.  I am already mourning the return of normal life and the end of vacation, which is still one day away.  One more big change took place over the holiday–stay tuned to my next post for the details of THIS interesting little development…