Michigan 2023

Family Fun

• Beach at Sturgeon Bay
• We watched Star Wars: A New Hope
• Mackinaw Island
• Picnics in Charlevoix with food from That French Place
• Stop at Kitch-iti-kipi
• Kayak down the Chocolay River
• Lakenland Sculpture Park
• Presque Isle Park by Lake Superior
• Bike and rollerblade on the Leelanau Trail
• Tall ship cruise on Grand Traverse Bay
• Lots of s'mores and fires
• Listening to the Metropolitans and The Boy Who Captured the Wind
• Games: Uno, scavenger hunt in the car, Petoskey-opoly, and Castle Panic
• Back roads exploring throughout the trip

Good Food

• Tiger Stripes ice cream from the Creamy Freeze
• Pond Hill Farm
• That French Place crepes and pastries; we love the financier
• Chris' honey and maple syrup
• Carberry's Wood-fired pizza and a delicious blueberry pie
• Mexican overlooking Lake Superior
• A delicious Michigan-made Zatar spread
• Farm Club and Cherry Republic lunches
• The Mill's coffee
• Truffles ("trufflettes") and fudgecicles from The Grocer's Daughter
• 9 Beans Row pastries, especially the blueberry scone and cinnamon croissant
• Spanglish and Left Foot Charley's
• Buchan's ice cream
• Pizza at Black Star Farms
• Produce from our hosts: wild blackberries, cucumbers, green beans, and Swiss chard
• Moomers Oreo and black cherry ice cream on our cruise!

Connection

• Time with Nancy, Sara Gay, and Till
• Running into Susan Sheehan from SCORE days; she was at Polecat!
• Meeting Marcy and Lorne and the Glen Lake Community
• Checking in with and staying in touch with family, Liesl (Atlas Obscura), Nikki, Paige, Mary Kay, Kate, and Kathleen, and Emily R. 

Z of Note

• Lots of Spy School and Malibu Rescue
• The Chocolay bears at Lion's Leap
• Steering and powering boats
• Zach can dive; he got Frank's seal of approval that he had accomplished his summer goal!
• Zach continued to complete his Bridge workbook thorough the vacation. 
• Zach is the toast chef!
• Reading jokes from his joke books (A fave: knock, knock; who's there? Little Old Lady. Little Old Lady Who? I didn't know you could yodel!) and reading Allergic
• Feeding goats
• Z's frayed knot from the Manitou captain
• A lot of bracelet making
• Told us that one of his Reston camps friends told him that giving someone the middle finger means, "You hate God." We discussed. 

F&Z: beaches, wave jumping, water play, mountain biking, pool, alpine slide, reading

S&Z: Putting green golf, time to/from art camp, alpine slide, Uno and Traffic Jam playing, bracelet-making

Susan - Fun Stuff

• Finished Looking for Jane, read Walking with Sam, finished Define "Normal," and read some of Dear Sugar
• Visited the libraries in Charlevoix and Empire and the Michigan Legacy Art Park
• Exploring new walking locales, a paddle on the Chocolay (lots of mosquitoes!), a bear siting in the UP (20 feet away), and SUPing on Glen Lake
• Lots of love for my roller blades! 

Not So Fun Stuff

• A terrible night of sleep for me and Zach on our first night. He slept maybe 5 hours, and I did not do much, if any, better
• Kitty Otis died despite a lot of heroics by many generous pet lovers
• Death of Frank's former colleague and boss at 49

Superlatives

Best activity: Tall Ship (Manitou) sail on the Grand Traverse Bay

Best sports day: Crystal Mountain (bike, alipine slide x 2) and Mackinaw (ferry, blading/biking, putting green golfing)

Best Pizza: Black Star Farms roasted zucchini, pepper, and eggplant

Most Unusual Pizza: Carberry's Wood-fired pizza's Ginger Rhubarb and savory blueberry

Best Sweets: So many, and loved blueberry pie from Carberry's pizza and blueberry scone and cinnamon croissant from 9 Beans Row

Best Unexpected Find: Michigan-made Zatar and tortilla chips

Best Coffee: The Mill in Glen Arbor

Best Ice Cream: Tiger stripes from the Creamy Freeze

100 Things to Do before You Die in the UP: Frank jumped off at Black Rocks

All photos here.

Flat Retreat!

Since my bilateral mastectomy post DCIS diagnosis, I have been wanting to connect with other women who made the same choice I did. Going "flat" - choosing not to have reconstruction after breast cancer surgery is an option that is not as well known or discussed as other options, so I was delighted on Thursday, July 27, to head north with my sister to Kingston/Lake Katrine/Saugerties, NY, for Flat Retreat Hudson Valley. The weather was BLAZING hot and humid the entire weekend, still, it was an amazing experience.

We listened to Billy Joel (Allentown as we drove by) and talked through road trip questions. We ate Cheezits, summer cherry tomatoes and made great time, and on the drive home, we stayed out in the countryside for the first part of the drive. Beautiful. 

We were both a little nervous about the retreat, so we determined that "Mawah" from an area in New Jersey that we drove through and had never heard of would be our safe word, if we needed it, but we did not! 

From the first evening gathering, the retreat and community were everything I'd hoped for and more. These women are tough, beautiful, thoughtful, generous, brave, and ebullient. In short, they kick a**!

Highlights

• Flattie hugs, real conversations; true and deep sharing about E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
• We received swag and decorated our reusable cups with affirming messages
• Photos and videos by the team to capture all the details
• Body positivity and acceptance (topless, tattoos, fashion show)
• Sexual health workshop and authentic sharing; unexpected lap dance demo!
• Dance party
• Hudson River cruise
• Grace Goddess project in full swing for those who wanted to take part

• Connection via group circle and photos
• The openness and generosity of spirit were amazing; many women brought gifts for the group
• The Facebook group has continued to be nourishing
• Once home, I received a handwritten thank you note from one of the organizers. So special.

If you'd like to give money to support this kind of experience, go to YouAreNotAloneFlatRetreat.

Emily & Susan Local Foods Fun

• We checked out Lox of Bagels, Keegan's Ales for Cherise's show, the Jolly Cow for ice cream, Sweet Maresa's 
• Kingston Farmer's Market = bountiful and there were still strawberries in late July!

Emily: Covert hydrangea cuttings under the cover of darkness

Susan: I enjoyed walks in the area and by the river in Saugerties

the land of above ground pools

End of Summer

Zach of Note

• Bridge from 1st - 2nd grade workbook has been working out very well! It suggests that we set goals, and Zach aspired to play the dulcimer for 10 minutes every day and to play soccer for 10 minutes every day. Neither of those things happened, though he did play some soccer, especially after practices kicked off on August 2
• One last summer play date with Thomas
• He got into his Harry Potter wand, briefly
• He remembered Mary Pepper’s bracelet kit and chose it as his second reward for summer reading. 
• Gamma and Daddy Bob found lightsabers, and Frank got them to work again! 
• We picked up Zach’s soccer gear for his travel team, Verona, and he picked out a Barcelona ball.

Zach’s health

He’s been very well! 

Sleep Update 

We continue to black out the windows (poster board, felt, curtains)
He still likes to sleep with me as many nights as possible. We go with Fri and Sat, mostly.
Frank sits with him to fall asleep and he comes in to sleep with me during the night…

Empathy Corner

Zach asked to buy Great Harvest French toast bread to take to Mom and Dad

Zach's Words and Music

• Listening to Spy School ad nauseum
• The audio book, The Metropolitans
• History Smashers: Pearl Harbor and The Mayflower
• Joke books
• Camp songs

Susan and Zach

Ice cream, leap frogging, visits to the store for camp lunches and snacks, lots of library time

Frank and Zach

The pool and the Water Mine; Zach learned to dive

Good Food

• Fruit was more inconsistent this year. Best strawberries, really great blackberries. Some peaches were good and some not. Same for cherries. 
• My own tomatoes and veggies from Auntie Em's garden
• Cantaloupe has been delicious
• Vegan Caesar tahini
• Beet salad with shoyu, zucchini, chili sauce, and walnuts
• Local Provisions savory melon salad and avocado toast were delightful
• Blueberry lemon curd muffins as a belated birthday treat!

Connection

• Regular catch ups with Emily and the Flat Retreat with her
• Zach and I also went with Mary and Cora to the farmer’s market in July
• Kathleen reached out
• Lunch with Mom and Dad at Foster’s Grille
• Unplanned and short walk with Susan K.
• Dinner with K, S, and V
• Heard from Deb Dammann!
• Checked in with Rae, Adrienne, Emily R., Nikki
• Met some of the soccer grown ups at Zach’s first practice

Frank & Susan

A date weekend! We watched the Bourne Legacy and ate out at Local Provisions

Fun and Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

Health Corner

• I have blepharitis - clogged oil glands around my eyes, and this accounts for my pink eye-type symptoms. Sigh. 
• My insurance has stopped covering the anesthesia services for GastroHealth. Really?! If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. 

Personal 

Fun

Putting together a 5 senses box for Judie’s birthday (loofah, Ted Lasso shortbread, a comedian’s book on “How to Appear Smart in Meetings,” Leo sticker, sachet from Michigan)

We got a Little Library in our block!

Not So Fun

Some continued poor air quality days because of Canadian forest fires

Watching

• The Summer I Turned Pretty (not a fan)
• Sweet Magnolias
• Quarter Life Crisis with comedian, Taylor Tomlinson

Reading: Looking for Jane

Listening

• Parenting podcasts - Dr. Becky has been helpful
• Podcasts on neurodivergence and imposter syndrome
• Your Insecurities Aren't What You Think They Are at https://open.spotify.com/episode/4l1mjef9p1yQ5egiNVuV5y?si=c8edbddf74a949ad&nd=1 - Introduced to a new podcast and the comedian, Taylor Tomlinson.

Professional

• Leaders Demonstrate Courage
• Delegation and promotion of values: empathy, authenticity, and diversity of thought
• Creating GoCanvas and cross cultural communication modules

What’s on my mind/Insights

Dr. Becky introduced me to the concept of working on a higher tolerance for distress. If I set boundaries and ask for what I need, others might not be happy, and that’s okay! Easier said than done.