Yesterday, Syndie and I had a nice day in downtown Detroit. Syndie had a mid-morning appointment at the Dept. Homeland security for her US Citizenship application. She was scheduled for a face to face review of her application as well as a English language proficiency test and a US Civics Test. Everything went well with the review and she passed her tests with flying colors! After we were all done at the Dept. of Homeland Security we went another 10 minutes to the Renaissance Center and parked our van in a garage and set out on foot to do some exploring. Below are some highlights from our beautiful afternoon. We both commented to ourselves how nice the River Walk and Campus Martius were! So often you hear only negative things about DT Detroit but we were pleasantly surprised.
Syndie with her paperwork from Homeland Security recommending her for citizenship
Last week when I came home from work I had a message from a Detroit News reporter wanting to talk to me about the new curbside recycling program in Westland. I called her back and answered all of her questions about recycling in general, our family practices, as well as my opinions about the new curbside program. Today that article is in the Detroit News. You can see the article here.
We were hoping to plant a garden this year in our backyard but we were not able to make all the necessary preparations for a full fledged garden so we opted for a “bucket garden”. Below are pictures of how things are shaping up for us.
Yesterday we had a nice picnic in spite of the summer rain in Jackson, Mi at Cascade Falls. Later as it got dark the temperature dropped down into the 50s. Below is a slide show of our pictures.
Yesterday I had the privilege of officiating a wedding at Mc Courtie Park near Jackson, Mi. The best part was that Syndie was able to come along with me for the afternoon! It was a beautiful ceremony but I think my lovely wife was even more beautiful!
Today is my last day in California. I leave bright and early tomorrow morning. I have to be to the Sacramento airport by 5am Pacific and will be back to Detroit-Metro around 4:30pm Eastern time if all goes well and I make my connections. I really hope I do not have any problems like Syndie did when she was coming back from Florida this past February.
Today I am hanging out with Rob and Cara’s boys. I am doing laundry and trying to squeeze everything back into my suitcase. I have also helped out with a few chores by planting a landscaping shrub and going underneath their house in the crawl space to see if there was anything I could do to fix a bad air conditioning duct.
This afternoon I think I might be making one more trip out to Old Sac which is a very cool place. It is also very nostalgic because I used to go there on school trips growing up.
Last night I stayed later than I have in a very long time watching a couple of real good movies. The first was, The Boy In Striped Pajamas, and the second was the,Freedom Writers. I am eager to watch them with my family and see what type of discussions ensue.
It has been a great trip! I have seen some awesome nature/wilderness that really charged my battery plus I have been able to see a lot of old acquaintances and catch up on what has been going on.
I have posted lost of pictures on my Flickr site if any are interested.
Sacramento is having a cold streak! Yesterday the temperature high was only in the mid-8o degrees. The low temperatures are supposed to continue for the rest of the week while I am here. Normally it would be in the 100 to 110 area for a typical July temperature but I am not complaining.
My trip is off to a great start. I arrived on time in Sacramento to cloudless blue skies. My friend Rob took me to his workplace(Job Corps) and gave me the grand tour. We also shot some hoops in the gym while were waiting and I beat him 2 out of 3 in a game of H.O.R.S.E.! When work was over we came to Rob’s house unpacked and then went to work out at his local gym (California Family Fitness). After dinner I had my first experience to eat at a Chick-fil-a! Great food! I botched my Facebook update and made it look I was looking for chicks, but I have the worlds best wife back home so I am not looking for local chicks!!!! After dinner we came home for a bit and then decided to go out for frozen yogurt at a local place called (Yog Yog). The younger person working there heard it was my first time and asked where I was from. On hearing I was from “back East” assumed that I had never been able to have frozen yogurt because it would be to cold to sell frozen yogurt there! After we came back home we stayed up and watched the movie, Taken, on DVD.
Today I slept in and I am having a lazy day at Rob’s house to myself while he is at work. Tonight I am going to go watch him play softball and hang out with his family.
Tomorrow we are taking off to spend a few days up in the mountains at Lake Tahoe! This will be awesome!
I am typing this post from American Airlines Flight #497 seat 26F.
I am en-route to Dallas where I will change planes and then fly into Sacramento.
I was up at 4:15am and was to the airport by 5:15.
I have not been overly impressed with American Airlines seems to be very “old school”, but we will see.
I am excited to spend the week in California. I found out yesterday that there are having a freak cold spell so the temps will be in the high 80’s instead of the 100’s.
I am looking forward to lots of long conversations with my long time friend Rob Lane and seeing lots of natural beauty.
Currently the” in air” wi-fi is not working so this post will be up when I have access to a signal.
I will be using PingFm to update while I am away so you will be able to be my most up to date information on Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr.
July 29, 2009 | 
WP Themes