kit-kat bar

i am going to take a momentary break from pics and stories from my trip, and i am just going to fill you in on the delightful two days i have had back here in holland, mi.
sunday, when i arrived back to my car, i was welcomed by a note of a friend of mine back in ca who visited michigan while i was gone and left a note on my car that was parked at calvin... and upon calling her to thank her for the note, we discovered that she was still in michigan and we would be able to hang out! so, on monday afternoon/night we got to hang out and walk around 8th street, get dinner and coffee afterward... it was so awesome, and it was hilarious because we never thought in a million years that we'd be hanging out together in michigan. anyway, so she left today to go back to ca.
today... now, today was a great day.
today is a tribute to all the seniors out there... no, not seniors in high school, seniors in life.
today's adventure/drive took me down ottowa beach road to holland state park. i hadn't yet been there, so i decided (after having a delicious soup in a bread bowl at panera) to head down there and check it out. i really enjoyed the drive out there... some really neat houses and land and stuff. anywho, i arrived at the state beach, found a bench and sat down to read... funny how fast reading changes to people watching... and let me tell you, some people are made to be watched! first really cool thing... tons of kites were up in the sky today... i have a connection about kites, but i'll save that for another time. anyway, there was an older guy (he's not one of the seniors of the day) and he had the hardest time getting that kite up... quite distracting since he was about 15 in front of me, but i rather enjoyed watching him run around, trying to get his kite up. i really enjoyed the kites today.
life is good when you can sit down and enjoy kites... i just realized that.
i took a walk a little down the beach and came to some rocks that i could sit down and watch boats go through the end of the channel. instead of boats, i saw something much more awesome.
my heroes happend to cruise by.
my heroes were in the form of a seventy-something year old couple, riding on a seadoo together.
and what made it more awesome, was that it was a rental seadoo, meaning this: that couple decided, probably on a whim, that they should go seadoo-ing. they don't normally seadoo, or else they'd own their own.
even more awesome: they smiled and waved to me as they passed by...
even more awesome: as soon as they exited the channel (which has a low speed limit) and got in to the lake... "vrooooooommm!!!" they gunned the engine and took off!!!
how incredible!
super seniors part 2 of the day: i was walking down 8th street (you'll hear that a lot... because i do that a lot) and there is a senior place where senior citizens stay... anyway, there was an old lady watering the flowers on the window sill, and she stopped to smile and say "why hello there." she made me smile. 5 feet past this nice lady were two old ladies seated, people watching, and they too smiled. 5 feet past those two ladies was another old lady crossing the street. my pace was a little quicker than hers, so i eventually caught up to her and as i was just about to pass her, she turned to me, and with a startled look, she looks at me and proclaims... not just says, she proclaims... "You're not elderly." i smiled, holding back a chuckle, and supporting her claim, i respond, "well, no, i am not." she asked me what i was doing on this lovely day, and we ended up conversing a little bit as we walked, mostly about the fact that i am not elderly... she liked to point that out. she too is my hero.
on my way back to the car, elderly couple that just melted my heart: an old man in an electric wheel chair had his wife get on his lap and they rode off down the street.
my husband better do that for me when we're older.
do you notice it's always the wife that walks and the man that has a walker or electro-wheel chair in an elderly couple?
another reason for the great day today: i got to hang out and have dinner with some friends from ca that are in michigan right now! i have just been so blessed to have all these people out here visiting... definitely makes the adjustment to living away from home a lot better. anyway, we ate at this place called boatwerks, and we had the best table outside, right on the water with grat weather. and afterward, we took a little drive and i got to see some sweet houses (and a few of them included their own personal tennis courts!)... the neighborhoods are just so cool out here... so green... and especially the houses on the lake... amazing. afterward, we went to this ice cream place called "captain sundae" and got some incredible ice cream... i believe the sundae was called tommy turtle? that very sundae is the presidential choice... because president bush himself has eaten there and chose the tommy turtle itself!
it was so great to hang out and catch up from the last month (yesterday marked a month from being away from CA), and little tessa was such a trooper! :) and although my nose failed to identify a pickle factory, my nose had no issue picking up on a few of the toots that tessa chose to let loose :)

so, it's been good... it's been good. my schedule is getting pretty filled up now... i'll be checking out the farmer's market tomorrow morning (if i wake up) ...and then probably walk down 8th street... and then we'll see from there. i try to space out all my exploring, you know, can't do too many things in one day. i have certain things i know i want to do or explore, but i am holding off for now... i'll make sure to fill you guys in when i do do those things (hee hee, i said "do do"...)
anywho...
that's all for now folks.

ciao for now