Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I never actually figured it would happen, but it did. My children got smarter than me. The love of politics runs deep in the McMillin blood.  My mother used to publish a political newsletter back in the 70's, vilifying "Tricky Dick" and other politicians.  Ethan grew up, hearing my opinions about national and world events, and I'd like to think that our ensuing discussions (along with a running subscription to Time ) inspired his career choice.  However, I know that I'm out of my league in political discussions now when Ethan begins most conversations with, "Have you heard about...?" and I must give him a sheepish smile and ask him to tell me about it.  Yep, he's smarter than me. Music.  You would figure with all the college courses I took in musical theory, and all the years of playing the piano, I would be hard to beat in musical knowledge prowess.  Nope.  I knew I was in trouble when Mark came home during his freshman year at college, and wa...

What a special day.  For an LDS parent, I'm not sure there's a better day than the day a child enters the temple to take out their own endowments. Before Johannah actually began her session, she had a chance to meet with the Assistant to the Matron.  Because Johannah isn't going on a mission, and isn't getting married anytime soon, Sister Foulger wanted to know Hannie's "story".  Why exactly had she chosen this moment to do this?  As I sat back and listened to Hannah's story, I was even more convinced that this was indeed the right thing for Hannah to be doing. Last fall, Hannah had met with her bishop, and he asked her if she had thought about taking out her endowments.  As it so happened, she had already thought about it, and that very same week, John and I had both had the same feeling too.  It seemed like a no-brainer. He sent Hannie away to pray about it, and fast about it, both of which she did, and to meet back with him.  By the time she ...

Yesterday while I was in Ypsilanti I had a few minutes and went by two places that were formative for me as a child and as a young man.   The first trip down memory lane occurred when I went by my old elementary school - Ardis Elementary.  It is now called New Tech High School @ Ardis.  It is not an elementary school any more.  I wish I had better memories of school as a kid but I have to say most of them are pretty bad. The first picture I took was of the back door of the kindergarten area. The school would make all us kindergartners wait outside of the school by this door which was locked till the random start of school time when they would open it for the little cold kindergartners.  Why they didn't open it sooner is a mystery to me.  Most likely the teachers did not want to deal with the kids too early in the day and do their job.  Anyway, I remember waiting outside this door for school to start in a crowd of cold 5 year olds. ...

I am crazy thankful that the family has pitched in and posted about our trip.  While not everyone wrote as much as I wish they had (or been nearly as descriptive...or funny...or touching), it gets it down on the record, so I'm satisfied :-) There were some fun moments though in my mind that weren't recorded so here you go.  And I'd like to give a mention to the ninth member of our trip:  Mr. Sunshine.  Seriously, I have never had so many pictures from Ireland with t-shirts, sunglasses and squinting!   1.  Yet another visit to the Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet.  And yet again, the good old Kennedy family was a star, being asked to taste the spare ribs before they were served to the masses! 2.  The Giant's Causeway.  We took the tour again, but this time our tour guide was FANTASTIC!  Too, I've never managed to get a good picture on the Giant's Boot...until now! 3.  Climbing the Shepherd's Stairs.  See that s...

It's hard for me to pick one favorite thing about our trip to Ireland.  Ireland is my favorite place in the world, and just being there is all I could ask for.  We did some 'sploring, ate delicious food, and played trivia for my favorite books, Harry Potter.  And best of all, I was with my family.  It's hard for me to be so far away from my family while I'm at school, so it was wonderful to have them all with me for a whole week in my favorite place.  What more could a girl ask for? There are many reasons I love Ireland.  It's absolutely gorgeous and green, and it has so many wonderful places to go.  The people are some of the friendliest in the world(in my opinion). As Mommy likes to say, it's like talking to leprechauns all day.  Seeing sheep and their little lambs as we drive brings immense happiness to my heart, because I love cute things.  But most of all, I love the Irish culture because it is where my family originated.  The nam...

While in northern Ireland one of my daily activities was running from our rental house to the Giant's Causeway which was only 10 minutes away and running along the cliffs above and the paths of the Giant's Causeway below.   It was unfortunate Mark and Ethan got sick during the week because I had a nice time running with them, with Mark the first day and with Ethan a few days later while he was still healthy.  Most days when I had time I would just get dressed and run down our farm road and then down the short distance on the crazy Irish roads to the paths around and above the Giant's Causeway. It was such beautiful weather each day we were there Each day as I would run I couldn't help but take pictures of the paths, the cliffs, Finn's chimney from above and below, the beautiful yellow bushes that were blooming, the ocean and a cool house I ran by when I went the opposite way down the coast from the Causeway. To the right of the Giants cause...

No recap of any trip to anywhere would be complete with my mentioning our accommodations.  For me, where we stay and whether or not it is comfortable is a big deal (think Interlochen and Stone Hotel for three miserable weeks...) Last year, we had the most delightful little cottage.  Everything was new and worked well.  I appreciate the simple idea of that because after a long day, out exploring, it's so nice to come back and relax.  Unfortunately, the cottage from last year wasn't big enough to house our entire family, so I had to find a new place.  A place close enough to everything, and large enough. Enter Causeway Lodge.  From the pictures on the website, it looked pretty good.  Comfortable with newer furnishings, and it said it slept 10.  It wasn't the priciest place, so I knew we were in business.  I booked it months ago, because as experience has taught me, the good houses always go fast. It probably should have been a sign that w...

My favorite part of our Ireland trip?  Definitely had to be the Harry Potter trivia.  Reading, watching and studying fandoms is kind of my thing and Harry Potter is my favorite book series.  J.K. Rowling not only crafts amazing stories but she crafts them in vivid detail, so that every time you read the Harry Potter books you come upon a new little gem she has written.  This also makes her books perfect for trivia because there is a plethora of literary nooks and crannies in which to find good questions to ask and details to study.  Planning ahead, each member of the family chose and read one book and then wrote a minimum of 10 questions from it.  The questions could come from any part of the book and could be as specific or vague as possible.  In addition to 10 trivia questions we also had to provide at least 2 questions that had more than 7 answers to as many as we wanted. We had to list each of the answers for these questions.  When the time ca...