Grand Island Marathon 2013

We were back for a camping trip in Indian Lake State Park and on Friday, July 26, 2013, we stayed at Hillcrest Cabins in Munising, Michigan.  The reason being we don't want to have to drive to Munising to catch the ferry that will bring the runners to Grand Island the next morning for the Grand Island Marathon.  As you have known from previous posts that we liked cabins better than hotel/motel rooms.  The kids and parents enjoyed our stay here.  We also picked up the running packet the same day at The Holiday Inn Express also in Munising.  Although not as glam as big city hotels and tourist resorts, there are a lot of other accommodations available in the Munising area for those interested in visiting the pictured rocks, the grand island, the falls around the area and surrounding towns.

 

This was the route for the run.   

 

On the day of the marathon, we drove to Munising High School and took the 520 bus to the dock for the Grand Island ferry at 540. 

 

 

They started and finished here.  Only 500 runners were allowed to register and it was full.  Some runners started an hour earlier.  Most marathoners started at 0700 but some started at 0600.  Half marathoners started later.

 

 There were two bus loads of cheerers and our first stop was between mile 9-10.

 

This is the view from the look out between mile 9-10.   It was misty with some rain that day but the temperature was perfect for the runners.  The rain made the trail very wet and muddy which made all the hilly route very hard and treacherous.  We saw the hubby here and most runners were smiling and some even looked out the view and snapped some pictures before continuing on.

Some cheerers were expecting to stop at Mile 16 where the hubby said have one of the best views of the island.  The drivers informed us that because of the storm and all the rain the bus can't go to that spot for this race.

Below are pictures taken from Mile 22.  I don't have a very good eye for taking good pictures but I hope to show the essence of the place.

 

We did not see the hubby in this stop.  We decided to take the bus back to the finish line to make sure we are there when he finished.  All runners that we saw were really muddy and really tired here.  Some still managed to wave and banter with the cheerers though.

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Since the hubby already did a marathon in May of this year, he decided to just enjoy the view this time.  He finished tired but exhilarated as well.  Although the wet, muddy trail was a little disappointing, the route was beautiful.  The hubby also learned a new expression "Holy Hana", cried out by one of the runners when they finally reached the peak of one big, muddy hill.  This was all our first time to the Grand Island and we all had a great time.

Sweet and Sour Sesame Tilapia

Almost any white fish will work with this recipe.  We got this from a Nutrition Action magazine. 

Ingredients:



1 cup apple juice
2 Tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
4 Tbs sesame seeds
4 small Tilapia filets
2 Tbs canola oil






Make the sauce:
In a small pot, boil the apple juice until reduced by half.  In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, vinegar and cornstarch, then stir into the apple juice.  Simmer until thickened, about 1 minute.  Whisk in the sesame oil.

Gently press 1 Tbs of sesame seeds onto one side of each filet.  Heat the oil in a large non-stick sauté pan over medium heat.  When the oil is hot enough so the tilapia sizzles when it goes into the pan, sauté the fish, seed-side down, until the seeds are golden, about 2 minutes.  Turn and sauté until the tilapia flakes easily, 1-3 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the fish.

Enjoy.

June 2013 Camping

Thursday,  June 13, first real camping trip of the year at Hartwick Pines.  The day started out with Bandit being dropped off at the kennel.  Glad we were early, dogs for grooming and boarding started showing up a few minutes after and some of them really frightened Lyn.  Vyn said "ma Bandit is the most behave dog there. 

Since it was our first camp for the year, essentials like cooking oil, butter and even ketchup were not packed.  So we went driving through Grayling town and did a little shopping and had a little picnic by the river.

 

 

We expected another round of lectures about Beavers and bogs.  But upon checking the schedule we learned that it will be about "Bats" the first night and "Owls" on our second night there.  The tour for the bog was cancelled because of flood damages.

We walked downtown and stopped by a new 50's Diner the next day.  Vyn had so much fun he said " I hope this restaurant will still be open when we come back next year".  Usually I don't buy anything during camping trips but this time, I bought, a skirt from one of the souvenir stores and a quilt kit "A Little Buggy" from the Icehouse Quilt Shop.

Grandma and grandpa surprised us with a visit.  The kids went biking and played in the playground.

 

We hiked the Old Growth Trail on Saturday.

 

We visited The Wellington Farm on Sunday "Father's Day".  It is a working history farm where everything is still in the 1930's.

 

Monday, we hiked another trail.

 

Tuesday, June 18.  Although Bandit was happy and excited when we picked him up from the kennel, he gave us a few of this look once we got home. 

Three Bean Salad

The hubby found this recipe in our newspaper and loved it.   He would asked for replenishment supply right after he finished what I have made.  To keep it different I would use different green beans, change different salad oils and vinegars.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup onion
1 rib celery, chopped
1 can green beans (or 2 cups fresh, cooked)
1 can yellow wax beans (or 2 cups fresh, cooked)
1 can red kidney beans
1 small can garbanzo beans or chickpeas

Dressing:

1/2 cup Chive Blosson Vinegar
1/2 cup salad oil
3/4 cup sugar (may use sugar substitute)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

I just use 1/2 cup sugar and don't like substitute sugar.
We used avocado oil which is the hubby's favorite and olive oil also.
The hubby made our own Chive Blosson vinegar and love its flavor and we also tried Fig infused Balsamic Vinegar.  We liked all the different combinations so far.

Drain all vegetables and put into a large bowl.  Put all dressing ingredients in a separate small bowl and mix well until sugar dissolves.  Add dressing to vegetables and toss.  Marinate several hours.  Serve well chilled.

Fruit-Tart Flag/Free Form Tart Shells

After having a couple of these for dessert tonight my nine year old said " my tummy says I am very full - but my taste buds says I want more. 

I got this from foodnetwork. The tart cookies are also from Foodnetwork Free Form Tart Shells.  As you can see from the picture, I made tiny cookies instead of the shells and I made a bigger cookie for the left side of the flag design.  I still need to learn how to easily cut tiny dough circles.  This is also the first time I used mascarpone cheese and now we realized that it is something we all like.

Great dessert for 4th of July and so far the weather here is also great. 

Serve cold.

Directions

Fill premade miniature tart shells or phyllo cups with sweet mascarpone cream (recipe below), then arrange on a tray and top with blueberries and halved strawberry slices to create stars and stripes.

Mascarpone Cream:
Beat an 8-ounce container of mascarpone cheese and 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar with a mixer until smooth. Gently fold in 1/2 cup freshly whipped cream


For Free Form Tart Shells:

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces, very cold
• 1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

In a food processor, combine the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder. When well combined, add the butter and pulse the machine until the butter is broken up into the flour mixture. Add the egg and water and process until the dough forms a dough.
Transfer the dough into waxed paper; pat it (with floured hands if need be) into a flat round and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes or until it has relaxed and you can roll it out.
Divide the dough into approximately 8 equal pieces. On a lightly floured board roll out the pieces until slightly thicker than 1/8th-inch thick. Rather than bother fitting them into tartlet shells and prebaking them, simply shape them into rough rounds (3 inches or 3 1/2 inches round) or cut them into hearts or rectangles. Transfer the free form shapes to a baking sheet and chill 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scraps can be shaped into smaller cookies.
Prick the dough with a fork (just as you would the bottom dough of a tartlet shell) so the dough doesn't puff up. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove them from the oven to a rack and let them cool. When completely cool top with whatever you like.

 

A Little Buggy Quilt

My very first attempt to make a big quilt.  This top is finally done and is approximately 45 X 56 inches.  While at our June camping trip at Hartwick Pines, we visited Grayling's one and only quilt shop The Icehouse Quilt Shop.  As we were looking around the walls of quilts, one of the quilt sample stands out to the hubby. 

We asked for the kit available and asked if this pattern would be doable for a beginner quilter and she told me it is just simple, nothing complicated.  So we bought the kit but the kids were like: mama that is huge, you think you can do it?  The top was finished last week.

Below is the backing.  I finished it today.  I used some of the scraps from the fabrics for the top.  But because I like the fabrics in this kit, I kept most of the big pieces and used the old rooster fabric for most of the backing.

 



Quilt top squares done, just needed the borders

Bandit has been so good with the quilt fabrics so far.

Arranging the fabrics for the backing

 

Memory Quilts

This went to HAWAII and is a folded card

For those of you following my quilting adventures.  Just want you guys to know, I have been doing little projects for a handful of friends who were leaving our little town.  All these leaving occurred in May and June so its been a little sad.  But life must go on and so I created a few of these memory quilt postcards with the use of the jelly roll fabric from the last quilting post and included a picture of our landmark "the tridge" and some other pictures to make it more personal.


This went to Indonesia and is like a big postcard 

 

Some of the thank you postcards I made for both Lyn and Vyn's friends. 

Bandit - Adjusting

Bandit has been house trained when he was young.  But has been living in an outside kennel for years.  He surely adjusted very well to being an inside dog with us.  He walked into our house the very first day Wednesday, May 29 and did not chew or bite anything.

Thursday, May 30,  we were sleep deprived.   I decided to introduced Bandit to our normal house noises like the dish washer, the laundry washer and dryer and even vacuumed most of the house.  He did not seemed disturbed at all.  He also proved to be a very good and alert watch dog.  He is aware of every jogger/walker and other dogs and creatures that walked passed our property. 

Saturday, June 1,  I allowed Vyn to walk with Bandit alone around our yard.   I also let Lyn try walking Bandit by herself in the backyard.  A big kudos to Sam who took care of  Bandit before us.  He was able to let Bandit become a good walker, gentle enough to allow kids to walk him.

Monday, June 3, we all had a good sleep.  Bandit did not even whimper.  He just went to bed and stayed until I got him out to go potty this morning.  He is definitely catching on our daily  not so regular routine. 

As for toilet business, he has been going twice a day, morning and night but eats only at night.  After learning that he does have a lot of walking/outside time during the day,  he decided to change his routine.  He ate only a few bites last night, Monday, June 10 and only did his toilet business in the morning.  He did finished all his food Tuesday morning but did not eat anything at night.

Bandit was scheduled for his oral Bordetella booster and heart worm prevention injection.  We heard a little complain for the injection but he was a very good dog even when they had to extract some blood for the heart worm test.  He also behaved when other pets came in the waiting room with us.

Inside the exam room

We had his previous medical records transferred to a closer vet office and learned that Bandit is officially going to be 5 years old tomorrow, June 12.

Outliers

This is my first Malcolm Gladwell book.  Thank you friend for recommending this book.   "Outliers" is  very interesting and proved to be thought provoking.  The book is a result of his research on exceptionally successful people like Bill Gates, The Beatles, Joe Flom and others. 

I was always curious about how these people become so successful at their chosen careers and Mr. Malcolm will give you the explanations that comes with their successes.  The book is not a "how to become an outlier" but it explains how some has achieved such success. 

It explains how successful hockey players are  mostly born from January to March.  That kids born earlier in the year are physically more developed and thus get noticed and given more opportunity to play and better coaching.  Bill Gates and other software tycoons were born at the right time.  They were in college when computers are just starting out.  They seized the opportunity for computer time when the computer world was just young.  Michael Jordan might be very tall but it is not just his height that made him such a successful player.  Joe Flom a good Jewish lawyer, who was practicing business takeover law when nobody else was taking those cases.

Intellect may be important but as the psychologist Lewis Terman followed high IQ children into adulthood, it shows that intellect and achievement are FAR from perfectly correlated.  That one can have general and practical intelligence but it does not imply the presence of the other in all instances.  High I.Q. kids with involved parents also contributed to their success in adulthood.

The outliers possesses the combinations of being born at the right time and place, were given the extraordinary opportunity to put in the 10,000 hour rule to practice their crafts, has vision, talent and were in the right time and place.  They were not just innately programmed to be a success, they put in hard work, lived in a community where their potentials were encourage and "luck" was there at the right moment. 

In our everyday life scenario, does it mean we should prevent our kids from being the youngest in everything they do?  Should we demand hours and hours of practice in the things they decide to play,  be it in academics, sports, music and others? 

I have a friend whose kids all have close to and even more than 4.0 GPA, all excel at the extracurricular activities they joined.  Is it just because they are genetically intelligent and talented?  Or is it because of the cultural legacy of being a second generation Asian-American?  But then, not all second generation Americans are Bill Gates in the making.  Are all their waking moment spent in studying and practicing?  I don't drive my kids around to lots of stuff like my friend did all these years, does it mean I am giving my kids less opportunity to excel?

Bandit

Our nine year old "Vyn" has been asking for a dog since he noticed he was the only one among his friends who don't have a pet dog.  We are not against having a dog, but with our experienced with our last puppy, we had no plans of getting another one.

Fortunately for us, a friend is relocating to Hawaii and since Hawaii requires pets to be quarantined plus the travelling, they decided to find a new home for their pets.  We are so honored and privilege to be given the opportunity to be the new family for "Bandit".

Bandit is a Great Pyrenees and Australian Shepherd mixed.  The combination results in a very cuddly, huge mini bear.  When I saw his picture on facebook and that they needed a new home for him, I know he is just the right dog for us.  The first time we met him, Bandit just sat and allowed us (Lyn and I) to touch and pet him.  He was calm enough that Lyn who usually won't even go near any dog was able to pet him.

I will not go through the details of our decision making process.  When it becomes unanimous that we will now have a dog included in the family, everybody was excited  and a little worried since he has been living in an outside kennel with another dog, has a job of guarding fruit trees and a huge acreage to roam around.  We don't have that space here in our place.   But I just have this feeling that he will be perfect for us and so far he is.

The day we picked him up Wednesday, May 29 2013 in the afternoon.  I picked Vyn up from school and we went to the friend's house.  Everybody was there to say their goodbyes to him.  We got information and tips from them and have Bandit jumped up the back of my car.

His very first hour with us, we stayed outside and walked around the yard.  We also have to crate him an hour after since we were scheduled for an event to go to for two hours.  He calmly went to his crate. But I bet he was so nervous, since when we got him out of the crate and up from the basement he was not able to hold his pee long enough to get out the house.  Luckily, he did it right by the door on a tile floor.

He then followed our night ritual and calmly went back to his crate for the night.  But he woke up at midnight and kept barking till after 0300 in the morning.  I brought him out 3 different times  but it did not calm him down.  Maybe he missed his dog friend that he sleeps with all these years or a new place and separation anxiety finally kicked in or all of the above.  He eventually did go back to sleep though.

His first morning, I brought him out again before the kids morning ritual.  He waited for the bus with us.  We did a few minutes of walking around the yard again and he just followed his new routine without complaints.  He would go to his crate when we have to leave the house and calmly do his business when I brought him out again.  Last night was sooooooo much better, he went to bed and was silent all night long.  He just waited for me to bring him out again in the morning. 

This reminds me of a friend who mentioned that pets for the kids usually ends up being the mama's responsibility.  Good thing, it is I who felt that we are ready for a new addition.

Hopefully, he has caught on with his new routine.   This blog is going to have updates on Bandit from now on as well.

Thank you for visiting.

Dow Weekend of Races

We registered Vyn to his first ever 1 Mile race on Saturday, May 18, 2013 and he did very good.  The hubby ran with him and Vyn stayed with the dad the whole time.  We saw a few classmates and previous soccer team mates also in the race.  A very good turn out.  Even Lyn enjoyed the inflatables available, face painting and we saw some preschool friends and teacher as well.  Vyn finished the day celebrating a 10 year old birthday party of a friend.

Sunday, May 19, 2013, the hubby ran his first marathon for the year "The Great Lakes Bay Marathon.  This is his 3rd marathon, the first being the Space Coast Marathon in November of 2011, the second Qualifier in May 2012.

He did very good.  Just being able to run and finish a full 26.2 Mile marathon is already a big accomplishment.  But he was not able to finish with the goal he planned for this marathon.  The weather started out just perfect and although it did became warmer it did not bother him.  The fact that the route ran through our house was a big bonus as well.  He was able  to get supplies, get under the shade and away from the sun for a few seconds and take a little breather with us for a little bit.  He was right on with his goal when he reached our house but slowed down after.  He thought maybe his body is not ready for a faster pace than his usual.   He said he is not running another marathon as usual, but is already registered for another one this year.  We shall see. 

The hubby weights 6 pounds less than before the race.

We saw the ambulance came to the station near our house but the hubby did not witness any cryings or groanings in this race.  This reminds me of a recent tragedy at the Boston Marathon this year.

The kids made signs for the yard, the grandma came to cheer our runner and a neighbor friend joined us waiting for our runner.  It was a busy and enjoyable morning.  Lyn was late for a friends 5 year old party but had a great time celebrating with her friends.

Jelly Roll Quilt

Jelly roll fabrics are always available at fabric/quilting stores.  So for this week's project, I decided to use jelly rolls and bought 2 packs from our local JoAnn's.  Then of course, it is youtube tutorials again.  I found three I would like to try.  Most started out sewing 2, 3 or 4 strips of fabric together and so I did 3 strips on most of the fabrics and made 2 with 4 strips of fabrics together.

 These two pictures below shows how my fabrics looked like after sewing the jelly roll quilt pattern by 3 dudes using the 4 strips of fabrics.

Below is another picture showing the same pattern but with only 3 layers of fabric.   They obviously are smaller.  I also happened to have red, white and blue fabrics.  Those will definitely be put together for a Memorial Day/ 4th of July quilt.

 

The picture below is the result for both summer in the park and tube quilting tutorials.

 

I still don't know how I am going to put all these together.   But as a friend mentioned, I am officially addicted to my sewing machine.  Until then...