What better way to spend a sunny Tuesday than at Cedar Point? We (dad, Denice, Andrea, and Elena) made the trip to Sandusky and spent the day watching Elena riding a few rides, though I did manage to ride Gemini and Blue Streak. Andrea bought me a ticket that include, for only $6 more, unlimited drinks for the day, which was a very good deal considering Coke's were $4 apiece. And for the first time in a very long time, Coke was back, replacing Pepsi.

Here is Elena on the way to her favorite ride, Ocean Motion. The new ride, Gatekeeper, is in the background.

Saturday was all about yard work. Well, only the first five hours, starting at 7:30. But the mulch is done and our brand new pine tree sits strategically placed to block the garden lights from the house two doors down from us... in about ten years. But I'm going to get it some tree food and maybe I can cut it down to nine.

On Sunday, I went for a 40-mile bike ride in preparation for an 80-miler I have at the end of the month. That was followed by moving the furniture around for the painters that were working today. As I was walking up the stairs to go to bed, I had to stop and rest - yes, I hurt that much.

Today, just your average day in front of a computer screen. Elena and I are heading out to dinner, probably at Noodles and Co., while Andrea has some social stuff planned with her new med school classmates.

I know, you are all breathlessly waiting to hear what I did with my Monday. Wait no longer.

Andrea picked me up at lunch at we ate at Meat. As you can imagine, it was not the place for a vegetarian ho-down. But it was the place for a great meal. I had the pulled brisket sandwich with fries, and it was excellent. If you leave hungry, it's your own fault, because they give you lots of food.

That night, after a nice card and a Coke glass from Elena, Andrea and I went to Maru and had a few rolls. It was my pick, so I got the "sexy bacon" roll. It wasn't very sexy, but it was bacon, and you can't go wrong with that. Then we saw The Hangover III at Studio C, home of the old AMC Outer 6. It was a nice theater where you can take food and alcohol into the theater, so I enjoyed a Crooked Tree IPA during the show.

Next year, I'm going to consider taking the day off work. All that reporting in the middle of my fun just didn't sit well.

For an birthday present, Andrea surprised Elena and I with a trip to Chicago! That sure beat going to work. And just as good, she got me a beer tour from Chicago Beer Experience. 14 beers, four pubs, and a Chicago-style hot dog - was a great time, surely enhanced by all the liquid refreshments we had over the 3-hour tour. That was my Friday, but Andrea and Elena went to tea at The Drake Hotel.

Saturday involved lots of time on Navy Pier, mainly the Children's Museum, but also riding the rides. My favorite - and Elena's - was the Wave Swinger. So on next month's trip to Cedar Point, we'll be sure to hit the ride there, too. Dinner was at our perennial spot in Chicago, The Grand Lux Cafe - excellent food at reasonable prices. If you've never tried it, well, do.

Sunday we went to the Field Museum. We spent a lot of time in the children's activity center, but also visited the mummies, gem room (we like shiny things), and the animal exhibits. Our look at the Maori marae (meeting house) brought back memories of New Zealand.

OK, I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from Paris a few weeks ago. I'll start with the iconic Eiffel Tower. See that beautiful blue sky? That was a rarity for our visit, but a welcome one.

Andrea graduated with her degree in Human Biology today, an amazing accomplishment and something she has worked very hard for. I'm very proud of her. She will now be enjoying a well-earned month and a half off before starting medical school on June 17th.

My phone will be out of commission for a day or two, so if you try to call, I can't answer.

Not a single meal was ate at home. First, we started our day at Mike's Village Restaurant in Dimondale, which is owned by a relative of Andrea's. I had an excellent omelete followed by freshly made doughnuts. If you are looking for a large collection of mugs to go along with your meal, Mike's is the place to go. You can even buy your very own "moustache mug".

After we dropped off Elena at the Goldfish Swim School  for a birthday party, Andrea and I retreated to Maru, the Lansing-area's best sushi place, for happy hour. Who doesn't love raw fish? But we not only had raw fish, we also had some fried shrimp, firecracker-style. Those were spicy - I may have scars left over.

Today, I'm scheduled for the first bike ride of the year. I've signed up for the DALMAC again, so I've got to training for that 4-day, 320-mile ride.

No, not for me. My last birthday involved bacon and beer, two things that, as far as I know, fairies don't indulge in.

This was Elena's sixth birthday party, a gala event involving seven 6-year old's dressed like fairies going about the house and yard looking for clues and eating cupcakes and other assorted snacks. Andrea did a wonderful job of decorating the house, and I did a great job of not drinking too much. It went fabulously, and now it's a quiet house, as Elena is off at a sleep over.

Pictures will be forthcoming. Of the birthday party, not the sleepover.

We're practically regulars at El Azteco in East Lansing. We were there last night to celebrate a good test result for Andrea, and that Elena was on an overnight. And we were there last Thursday for our normal date night. On this visit, our service was terrible, which doesn't usually happen. But it wasn't a big issue since we split a pitcher of Margaritas, and that makes most problems seem small.


For a twist, we didn't split the Topopo salad like we normally do. I had the beef enchiladas, which turned out to be a mistake. Not that they were bad, but that it was the special, and there was a computer problem with a special not calculating correctly on the computer, etc. It was a mess. I finally gave up trying to use the credit card and paid cash just so we could leave before it was time for bed. Maybe that was part of their plan all along...

Andrea and I went to Detroit on Saturday to enjoy a meal at Detroit's best restaurant, Roast. We both had an amazing lamb ragu and porter ice cream with chocolate-covered pretzels, which was excellent. And we saw Alvin Ailey at the Detroit Opera House. It was a great show, and one we saw last year as well, but it was certainly worth seeing again.

The NCAA Tournament has begun again, and MSU won their first round game. The game was conveniently at 12:15, so I watched some of the game at lunch. And now I sit on the couch in a quiet house and watch even more basketball!

I have found a place for Andrea and I to stay in Paris. It's in the Montmartre section of the city, not far from a cemetery that should provide some quiet walks (I'm sure I'll be waking up early), and it's close to a couple of Metro stations. I've even been looking for McDonald's! That's very exciting. Un grande Coca, s'il vous plait.

I used AirBnb.com for our stay. This site allows people to rent out their apartments - or rooms in their apartments. We're spending about a $100 a night for a whole apartment, so you can get some very reasonable prices. You can get even more reasonable if you want to squeeze into a little apartment. But we'll have to work on our stair climbing skills - the apartment is on the fourth floor, and there are no elevators. Feel the burn!

We had Yoda put to sleep today. She had been losing weight for months, and we figured it was part of her diet, but the past couple weeks, we noticed that she wasn't eating much, and the past week, she hardly ate anything. Andrea had taken her into the vet last week and had fluid drained from her lungs. The probable cause was cancer, as there didn't seem to be a heart problem and there was no infection. No matter what the cause, having a pet die sucks. She will be missed.

R.I.P. Yoda.

There I was, minding my own business, and I found myself at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex at the luge track. And it was good that I did it last weekend, because that was the last weekend it was open this winter.

It was not the full luge course, but it was long enough to get going about 25 MPH. Which doesn't sound fast until your on a sled on ice bumping into walls and going around curves. But I didn't go in blind - there was a 20 minute introduction to how to luge before I started to lug my sled up to the top.

There were about 20 people in the class, and we took turns hurling ourselves down the ice. I got in about a dozen runs, and it was a lot of fun. It's Tuesday and I'm still feeling the results, but I'd do it again.

As we were driving home from a weekend at the Soaring Eagle Water park, Andrea got an e-mail that said she had been accepted into the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. This was incredibly good news, and here hard work has paid off by getting her into a school that will dish out even harder work. But that is what it takes to accomplish a goal as big as her's, and I am very, very proud of her.

How did we celebrate? Why, nachos at Buddies in East Lansing of course! Well, that was our plan when coming back from our wet weekend. Our real celebratory dinner will be at The English Inn later this week. BTW, the nachos at Buddies have really tumbled - not nearly as good as they have been in years past. They have fallen from my go-to nachos in the Lansing area. How the mighty have fallen.