Tag Archives: family

Hamilton Lake 2012

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I think I have decided that I am a city girl. But sometimes I spend time by a lake, out in the country, and think I could pretty much be set hanging out there for life. Eating breakfast outside, sipping my coffee, and looking out at the water. Taking boat rides on the lake at sunset. Spending hours swimming or reading or just hanging out.

All this is to say that, while I won’t be moving to the country anytime in the foreseeable future, I love vacations there. And this past weekend, my mom’s side of the family gathered at Hamilton Lake for just such a vacation. Boat rides, swimming, hyper-competitive games of corn hole, volleyball, and badminton, delicious food, sangria-making, cake-decorating, teaching our aunts and uncles to play flip cup (amazing idea, by the way), and much catching up were on the agenda. Summertime at its finest:

Aggressive Spoons 101

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(2006 – We triumphantly beat my dad.)

One of my favorite things about any family get-together is playing Spoons. If you haven’t been initiated into the craziness that is Spoons, you can read these instructions. But, really, you don’t have to. I’ve got everything you need to know right here. Ladies and gentlemen, I present: the tips and tricks that every true Spoons ninja needs to know.

Strategic Maneuvers

Though it would seem to involve little thought or strategy, spoons is not so simple. Over the years, we’ve amassed an arsenal of tricks. For instance:

  • Endeavor to be the first person at the table so you can secure optimum seating position. Obviously, sitting near the middle of the table is ideal; sitting on the end of a long table will inevitably be met with frustration.
  • Alternatively, if you are unlucky and get stuck at the end of the table, you can try insisting on a rotational system – everyone rotates seats every few games. My family, spoons fanatics that we are, actually did this during our game this Thanksgiving.
  • Go for the “bowl” of the spoon. Should you engage in a tugging match with someone over the last spoon, you have a much higher chance of winning if you have the bowl in hand. However, if you are playing with particularly ambitious (read: crazy) players, they will disregard the fact that you’re holding the bowl and continue to fight you for the spoon anyway.
  • Sweep the spoons away from your archenemies. After you grab your spoon, if you’re feeling mischievous, it can be fun to sweep all the remaining spoons to one side of the table. This can either serve a tactical purpose (sweeping the spoon away from an opponent who you want to lose) or can be purely for your entertainment. It’s fun to watch people scramble.

(2011 – an M-shaped variation on spoons. Go Blue!)

Variations on the Game

Often, due to constraints beyond your control (e.g. your grandma refuses you to let you use her nice silverware), you might not always have actual spoons at your disposal. In these cases, you can try substituting any of the following, but beware that they are only poor imitations of the real thing: plastic spoons (too breakable), forks (too dangerous), and candy bars (too meltable). Knives are obviously off-limits.

Spoon placement can also be varied to liven things up. Often, this simply consists of the players arguing about where to put the spoons to maximize fairness to all players. Sometimes, however, this is an exercise in whimsy – arranging spoons in different patterns or, alternatively, placing them in a gigantic pile in the middle of the table. Note that this last idea is actually terrible – it will devolve into pure chaos. There may be bloodshed.

The Players

Spoons is a crazy game. My family takes it seriously; we will brawl to get a spoon. I’m not saying people have jumped across tables, fallen off chairs, and inadvertently punched their boyfriends, all in the the name of grabbing a spoon. But, they have. As such, it’s not a game for kids. For years, my younger sister was not allowed in the game. Sometime around high school, she was initiated into the group (she still harbors bitter resentment about this). And, our youngest cousins are still not allowed to play. I’m not trying to be mean. It’s for their own safety.

So, there you have it. Everything I know about the wild and crazy game of spoons. If you can master these simple tips and tricks, you’re ready to play a game (or two, or fifty-seven) with my family. But, be forewarned. You will lose.

(2008 – playing Spoons after all the other guests had left my cousin’s wedding.)

Back in the Day: Little J and Me

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On the advent of her second 21st birthday, here’s a picture of me with my little sister. I particularly enjoy the fact that, back in the day, we both knew how to rock a pretty amazing bowl cut. Some other shared childhood memories:

  • Playing “school” in our basement. I always forced the poor kid to be the student.
  • My cousin and I were terribly jealous that she was chosen as the flower girl for our uncle’s wedding in lieu of us. Thus, we made it our mission to terrify her of messing up during the wedding. Nice kids, we were.
  • Making an elaborate haunted house in the basement for her birthday party.
  • Collecting beanie babies, Barbies, and American Girl dolls (she was a Samantha; I was a Molly).
  • That you could tell her pretty much anything was chicken and she would eat it.
  • And many, many more (some of which must be omitted to protect the innocent. Or not-so-innocent).

My Dog is Cuter Than Your Dog

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Yes, yes, I know, everyone thinks their pet or their child or their whatever is the cutest/best/most awesome in the world.

But I submit to you this photographic evidence that my dog truly is all of those things. And, I got to hang out with him a ton during my summer of laziness, so now that I’m away at law school, I’m missing him so much. Why oh why do I live in a pet-free zone?

So, yes, this is basically an excuse for me to post adorable pictures to make myself feel better but…so what? Holy cute!

And he didn’t want to cooperate with Janelle’s and my brilliant idea, but I still think this one is adorable anyway:

Go Get ‘Em, Tigers

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Though I always give my mom a hard time about liking baseball, I must admit that spending an afternoon at the ballpark is actually a highly enjoyable way to pass the time. Now, I may not understand baseball (I once had an argument with parents about the term “no-hitter” being a misnomer as a player can hit the ball and yet, mind-bogglingly, not have it count as a hit), but I do appreciate it nonetheless. Some highlights from our trip to the ballpark last weekend:

Gigantic tiger sculptures! Although, this photo reminds me that I still wish you could call it “Tiger Stadium” instead of “Comerica Park.” Stupid commercialization of everything!

Parents decked out in Tiger gear. Precious!

Gigantic daiquiris! I’m not going to admit that these might actually be my favorite part of a Tigers game, but…yeah, these might actually be my favorite part of a Tigers game. And, look how perfectly my nailpolish coordinates with my drink!

Warm nuts! I wish I could call them by a less awkward name but…they are what they are. And they are tasty. Get your mind out of the gutter.

A little Star Spangled Banner mid-game:

My dad had a good time at the game, although you wouldn’t know it from this photo. Some people are not very good at cooperating…

My mom, on the other hand, was happy to cooperate.

And, oh yes, we won the game. Always a good thing.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for baseball. And now, it’s playoff time. Tigers, let’s get this done.

Back in the Day: Grandma Lois + Me

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Today would have been my Grandma Lois’s birthday. She died in February 2006, and I still cannot believe that it has been five years. Five years. Seriously?

Because, as I was thinking about some of my favorite memories of grandma, I could not believe how vivid they were. As the saying goes, it seems like only yesterday…

  • Whenever I would ask my grandma how old she was, she would never give me a straight answer. Instead, she’d either say “Old enough to know better” or “Younger than springtime.”
  • When I think of my grandma’s cooking, I think of two very different things – either her chocolate chip cookies (unbeatable) or how she’d dress salads (oil, vinegar, garlic salt). I know that’s not a revolutionary combination, but nobody did it better.
  • You could tell right away if grandma had been to a place because you smelled her perfume lingering. It was very distinctive. I remember once, my mom picked me up from school, and the first thing I said was, “was Grandma Lois in the car today?” And, sure enough, she had been.
  • We used to play so many games with her. I remember especially playing Old Maid – and how delighted she used to get when my grandpa ended up as the Old Maid (this seemed to happen a lot).
  • I remember Grandma used to be completely baffled that my cousin Misty and I collected troll dolls – she thought they were so ugly! As a joke, we bought her a birthday troll doll, which she kept displayed in her fancy cabinet with her Lladros.
  • Some things grandma loved: Jackie Collins romance novels, any Detroit sports team (especially the Pistons and Tigers), and the Game Show Network.
  • Another thing Grandma loved was QVC – she was always watching and always shopping (I think she even called in and made it on the air a few times). Every year, she would buy my mom and all her daughters-in-law earrings for Christmas – and she generally ordered these from QVC in July!
  • Speaking of Christmas, Grandma loved it. She loved Bing Crosby holiday songs, and she loved the whole present opening ritual (sometimes I think she was even more excited about opening presents than we kids were).
  • She religiously played the lottery, and every night had to make sure to check her “numbers” (in Saginaw, they come on after Jeopardy, but before Wheel of Fortune). I was shocked when I recently discovered that Aggie Usedly still reads out the lotto numbers each night. Who knew she was still around?!?
  • Grandma loved to crochet. Her specialties were crocheting covers for clothes hangers and making dishtowels. She used to make the dishtowels in bulk and then give bags of them to people when they came to her house.

If I kept thinking about it, I’m sure I could recall more and more. The point is, she was a special woman, and she is missed. Love you, Grandma.

Back in the Day: Dad + Me

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I have tons of old photographs, and I’ve been wanting to do a “Back in the Day” series to chronicle some of my memories from, well, back in the day. Since it’s my dad’s birthday today, I figured I might as well start there. Here are ten of my favorite memories from my childhood:

  1. After dinner when I’d go play outside, my dad would call me over and then spray me through the window with the sink nozzle.
  2. Once I asked my dad if we could “drive through” McDonald’s. So, he drove through the parking lot, pulled back out onto the street, and then took me home. Very Amelia Bedelia of him.
  3. Dad always used to take me on “secret” ice cream runs. Shields Dairy Bar and Fuzzy’s (both in Saginaw) were among our usual spots. My favorite ice cream flavors were Blue Moon, Superman, and Mint Chocolate Chip.
  4. For Christmas one year, dad handmade Janelle and I dollhouses for our Barbies.
  5. Every night, either my mom or dad would read to me before bed. With dad, I generally read the Boxcar Kids series or the Goosebumps series. Our favorite Goosebumps book was “Night of the Living Dummy.” Remember Slappy the dummy?!?
  6. One time, my dad placed an order at a drive-through in a Yogi Bear voice.
  7. While up north with family one summer, I remember my dad buying a squirt gun at Meijer’s and then ambushing my Uncle Mark in the parking lot with it.
  8. One time, my dad cut a hole in the bottom of a plastic contain, stuck his thumb up through it, dumped some ketchup on it, and told me he had cut his thumb off. Gross!
  9. Dad used always tell me and my friends Eric and Kyle that there was a dinosaur in our basement.
  10. Dad loves roller coasters, and he made me love them too. His rule? You must keep your hands in the air for the duration of the entire ride.

Looking at my list, the common theme seems to be my dad playing practical jokes on me. You can’t say he doesn’t have a great sense of humor. Happy birthday, popsicle.

Hamilton Lake

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First, a compilation of last weekend in four instagrams.

Delicious food:

Pretty flowers by the water:

Beverage consumption:

And some fireworks:

Last weekend, my mom’s side of the family had a mini-family reunion at Hamilton Lake, Indiana, where one of my uncles has a lake house. The weekend wasn’t terribly eventful, but was a relaxing mix of eating and drinking a lot, swimming in the lake, getting a terrible sunburn from the aforementioned swim (that part wasn’t so relaxing), reminiscing around the dinner table with family members, reading outdoors by the water, and watching one surprisingly potent fireworks display put on by my cousin.

Throughout the weekend, and now thinking back on it, I felt such a powerful sense of nostalgia. Watching the little kids play endless hours of capture the flag and other games of their own invention, I felt nostalgia for my own childhood. I thought of our trips up north when I was a kid – feeding the ducks, water balloon fights instigated by my grandma, spending countless hours swimming, roasting marshmallows for s’mores by the fire, building sandcastles – and felt a powerful notion of wanting to go back, back to a time when I had no responsibilities and relatively few worries.

And as we sat around the dinner table on Saturday night, and I listened to my mother and her brothers tell stories about their own childhoods, I felt an even more powerful pang of nostalgia – that is, if you can call it nostalgia when you feel sentimental about a time and a place and a childhood that wasn’t even your own. Listening to them reminisce, I couldn’t help but construct a version of the neighborhood they grew up in as an idyllic place – where everyone had a bunch of kids, and all those kids played together, forming a motley, close-knit tribe that spanned several blocks, where the kids ran wild outside, hopping on their bikes and riding to wherever something exciting was going on, and where one half of my family got their start and so, in a way, I got mine too.