Mini Book Reviews: A Death in Door County, Under Loch and Key, The Healing Season of Pottery

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, books and reading16 Comments

It’s time for another round up of mini-reviews!

Let’s start with A Death in Door County.

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan: A Death in Door County is about a whole different lake and set of waters than I usually see here on my side of Michigan, this one on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, and Morgan, a cryptozoologist has been hired to find out if there is something lurking beneath the waters after a few tourists end up dead. It was an interesting read, full of fun trivia about folklore, a bookstore with some other interesting items for sale, and some eccentric characters – and of course, good dog Newt. For the first in a series it was pretty interesting, and I enjoyed it.

This book has:

🌲 Small towns
🌲 Independent heroines
🌲 Loch Ness vibes
🌲 Good dogs

Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson: So, I figured I might as well just jump right in to another Loch Ness book. I do enjoy cryptid lore and tales and the Loch Ness is one of my favorites – thank you Scooby Doo for forming a lifelong interest. (does anyone else remember that episode?) Anyone, back to this book. This story is very cute in itself. Key travels to Scotland to connect with her grandparents, whom she has never met, after her father passes away. She meets the annoying, handsome Lachlan, who works for her grandparents. He is a grump, and not only that, but a grump with some pretty big secrets. So, like I said, that whole storyline is interesting and their interactions are funny. Key is a plain speaker, and I like that. She is open and just says what she is thinking and feeling rather than being sulky or playing games. I like her burgeoning relationship with her grandparents, especially her grandfather. I also liked the whole back story, mystery, magic, and family stuff.

Now, let us discuss the spice. I don’t read many romances, and this is definitely an open door book. I would put this at level way high spice, with graphic language as well. I ended up skipping those scenes as I read through the book. However, a YouTuber I watch, the Plant Based Bride, revealed that there is a scene (that she also skipped) that also has a bit of monster transformation spice situation too, so be aware that is in there as well. No judgement here, I guess just know it in case you like it or you don’t like it. I just wanted to put that in here.

This book has:

🌲 Open door
🌲 Family Mysteries and Secrets
🌲 Loch Ness vibes
🌲 Paranormal romance

The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin: “The reason our coffee tastes good, even when we make it with mediocre beans, is because of the cups.” I believe this, that using a piece that has been handmade with love and care lends a different feeling to what you are eating or drinking or enjoying. That feeling carries through each sip of coffee, each bite of cake eaten from a beautiful plate, echoes in a bowl filled with homemade soup. I may love pottery, btw. And I absolutely loved this book.

Jungmin has been in a cave of her own desire and making since quitting her broadcast writing job, barely setting foot outside for months. One day, dressed completely wrong for the weather, showing just how off balance Jungmin is, how out of season of her life, she stumbles into a pottery studio, thinking it is a cafe. This mistake changes her life. She finds herself enchanted by the pottery, the women who are there, and begins to take lessons. Slowly, slowly, carefully, Jungmin builds a new community for herself, friendships, literally rebuilds herself as she builds objects from clay. Clay has to be tested by fire in order to survive and become something beautiful or practical or useful, and Jungmin learns everyone has a story and fires that they have faced. This was a wonderful book full of found family and the rebuilding of a life.

Have you read any of these?

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized5 Comments

Hello everyone!! It is sunny this morning and I am so here for it! It has been a very gray week here in Michigan so this is Mother Nature’s little Valentine’s Day gift! And Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

We don’t really do anything to celebrate here. I am a person who loves little celebrations so much so it is really funny to me that I skip this one for the most part. I do love to decorate for it though, with heart buntings all over my house that will stay up for months because they feel so happy. But we don’t often do anything. This year though I asked Wyatt who he might want to give a Valentine’s gift to, and he told me the library workers. So today we will be delivering cookies to the library staff. I thought this was so sweet, that he thought about the library workers. He also has valentines to pass out to his fellow scouts next week as well. (and he will call his grandmas tonight too, lol)

This week was a bit of a crazy week around here. Billy has had a cold so he is not at 100% Billy, and on top of that, I had three days of Leadership Advocacy training. They were thankfully on Zoom, but they were for three and half hours straight in the morning so we did need some childcare! Thank goodness for grandparents! However, our house was all in a kerfuffle, just all off of our routine.

The training though was an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I took it. I learned so much from it, the trainers, and the rest of the attendees. It was a small group, so we got to know each other a bit more than we would have in a larger group setting, which was nice. I feel like it was challenging in some ways, and I feel that I really grew from it as well.

Our first day was to discuss our why – why did we want to take this training, why did we want to be parent voices and parent advocates? We all had our own “why”s- obviously mine is Wyatt, but there were many other reasons in the group, including a woman who wanted to advocate for homeschool families, to change the image so we don’t look so fringe to the rest of society, and that our children aren’t judged for being homeschooled. I hope she succeeds! We do need people to speak out and change that perception! We also had to share our collages (which I think I shared here already?) about our families and give a two minute introduction to ourselves and our family. I was super nervous about doing this, but I did it you guys! I made it through!

On the second day, we did more of introspective kind of thing – what are our skills, what are our strengths, what do we need to improve sort of things. We had to do a few exercises and activities that really did change some of my thinking, and we also took a personal communication style inventory survey, where we learned what our communication style is. I came back with a tie between two (because of course, that often happens with me) – driver and amiable. Drivers are very decisive, independent, sort of intense, efficient, and people of action. I also got amiable, which is also a group that initiates, but is casual, relaxed, and inclusive. It was an interesting exercise!

Our last day was all about conflict, and how to deal with it, which I found very informative and useful. It also talked about leadership in general, and how boards and committees work. Overall, I found this workshop to be very useful and I learned a lot. When we “graduated” at the end, they had made each of us a little graphic with the leadership qualities that the others felt we displayed. I thought this was so nice. We all like to hear nice things about ourselves! It’s also been so long since I personally did anything like this, so it was fun to do a little learning and be a student again!

However, we didn’t get any school done this week – and I barely got any personal reading done. That is ok though, we had a different kind of week and that is ok. And on top of it Billy was not able to help out as much as he normally would, so our house is, to put it mildly, a disaster. Tomorrow will be spent getting this place back into order, then Sunday Wyatt has his first bowling league.. match? Game? What do you say for this? I signed him up for an accessible league and he is very excited about it. His team name is the Thunder Turkeys, which cracks me up. I can’t wait to see my little turkey out there bowling!

Yesterday I was still in work mode, so I took care of some things I had been putting off, like calling about appointments, that sort of thing. I sent in Wyatt’s scholarship application for Eric “RicStar” Winter Music Camp! We can’t wait to go again and I also had a scheduled phone call about my mom and signing her up for Medicaid. That went really well as she was approved, and it is honestly such a relief now that we know she is taken care of. Just a few more steps! I also read about fifty billion books with Wyatt, which was a nice return to normal.

Oh! That just made me remember I was going to do book reviews today, not this post! Lol. Oh well. Book reviews tomorrow!

And now a few photos from the reel!

And that is it from around here this morning! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, and whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Top Ten Tuesday: Quotes about Love

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized29 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s prompt is a love themed freebie. I went with love quotes from different books that I really liked!

Mr. Rochester…. would we call him a romantic hero? Probably not – sooo many red flags. However, I did really enjoy their story and how Jane returns to him on more equal footing.

I love Tress and Charlie’s romance! Just everything about it makes me smile.

If someone had told me that Stephen King would write a romance story that would make me cry my eyeballs out, I would not have believed them. But it happened.

I hope you all enjoy reading these words as much as I did!

Now I am off to get all filled up with happiness from reading your posts!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized28 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hello everyone!! I had a weird topsy-turvy week last week, for no reason at all. However, I did manage to read two books.

Read Last Week:

I enjoyed both of these books! I absolutely adored The Healing Season of Pottery, and Under Loch and Key was a really fun read. However, this is not a clean romance – it has swearing and spice of the open door kind, just so you are aware.

Reading This Week:

This week I am reading The Sad Ghost Club and Dating and Dragons. I checked out The Sad Ghost Club as part of our library’s Bingo challenge this winter. I needed a graphic novel to read to check off that box and this one just looked good.

Posted Last Week:

Hello February!

Strong Words, Strong Women Gift Guide

Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree

Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Billy and I finished up Season one of Severance. Holy cow, that show messes with your head. I love it though! We are letting Season Two build up or even finish before we watch it. I don’t think I will want to wait for episodes! So in the meantime we are catching up on Murdoch Mysteries.

So far this is my favorite scene from Severance.

And that is about it from around here my friends! Stay safe out there! Try to do something today that makes you smile.

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello everyone! I am so out of sync this week. I don’t know what it happening but I feel like I am just over here spinning my wheels but getting nothing done. I think I need to make a list, and just start working through it, instead of whatever the ADHD I’ve got going on over here. I am just trying to do too much at once, as well all do from time to time! I am behind on everything – school, my house, calls I need to make, catching up reading blogs and comments, just everything. I will get there though.

We started off pretty well. We had a great weekend. On Saturday, we went to my dad’s for the day and hung out with him and my stepmom. It was a very nice, relaxing way to spend the day. Then Sunday, Billy and I took Wyatt to a children’s book reading and author signing. There were two authors there, Kristen Remenar, who wrote The Groundhog’s Dilemma, an adorable little picture book, and Vicky Lorencen, who wrote The Big Book of Barf. When I saw that The Caboose bookstore in Royal Oak, which is the children’s bookstore area of Sidetracks Books, was hosting this I knew that Wyatt would love it, especially the barf book. And of course he did. He was a little bashful when meeting the authors at the end, and having his books signed, but he had fun.

Then for some reason, the rest of my week went wonky. Not bad, just like I said, out of sync. It was just one of those weeks I guess. I have no idea what happened to Monday, Tuesday Wyatt’s medicine issues reared its head and he threw up, Wednesday, actually… Wednesday was pretty good.

Wednesday Wyatt had therapy, and he kicked butt! He walked so far and did an awesome job!

Then Wednesday evening I went to my friend Kelly’s, and we hung out just chatting and drinking tea.

I told her that I felt like I was hanging out in a British Museum, her house is so beautiful. (you can see Kelly in the background there, telling her kids to get ready for bed)

Then Thursday I was all in a kerfuffle. We were expecting a delivery of medical equipment for Wyatt, a special seat for his walker, and it totally threw me off! I decided to just give up and give in after that, and chalk this week up to just what it was. Weird. Next week will be weird too. I am attending an advocacy leadership training online for three half days in the morning, and I have two different grandparents and Billy lined up to do the Wyatt things while I am doing it. I made up “sub plans” for those mornings too! Wyatt’s grandmother is doing a Valentine’s craft project with him on her watch, Billy is doing some dinosaur STEM stuff (and math), and my Dad is going to some hands on history with Wyatt. My dad was a special education teacher, then a principal, before he retired so hopefully it is like old hat to him. If not they can all just hang out. I will do the rest of school in the afternoon.

I am excited but nervous about the training! It’s been a minute since I did anything like this. I do think I can make it through three half days of training, and I think it will be fun; I just need to feel a bit more confident in speaking in a group again!

And with all that being said, I should probably get a move on! Have a good one everyone, and try to do something today that makes you smile!

Strong Words, Strong Women Gift Guide

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

This one is for all the women out there – let’s celebrate ourselves this month, and remember the voices of these strong women who came before us, leaving us with such strong words. So love yourselves, and treat yourselves kindly.

I don’t need to add anything, they speak for themselves.

(This post contains Affiliate Links. If you were to click on something and purchase it, I would receive a small commission from Etsy. )

Anne of Green Gables || Wuthering Heights || Pride and Prejudice || Mary Oliver Mug (LOVE!)

Still I Rise T-Shirt || Mary Shelley Sweatshirt || Lizzy Bennet Tote Bag || Toni Morrison

Virginia Woolf || Jane Eyre || Mary Oliver Flags

I learned from making this post that I really really need to read more Woolf. Where should I begin? Any suggestions?

And let’s all do ourselves a favor, and READ these authors and poets, which is more important than anything else to represent them – although that is fun. However, the source, the books, that is where the magic and strength and inspiration really is. Let’s keep their words and spirits alive!

New Book Release: Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree by Lisa R. Howeler

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, books and reading5 Comments

Today is launch day for Lisa’s newest book in the Gladwynn Grant series, Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree!

I will be honest – Lisa is my good friend. However, I would not promote her books the way I do if I did not honestly enjoy them and think they were good. But they are. They really are. (and she had better listen to my not so subtle comments about who Gladwynn should be romantically involved with…not really, but yeah)

Description:

Working as a small-town newspaper reporter and trying to keep up with her grandmother, Lucinda, has kept Gladwynn Grant busy, but, otherwise, life has been quiet.

Everything changes, though, when her older, aloof sister, Sheena, shows up unannounced at the front door.

As if that isn’t enough to deal with, she finds one of her interview subjects dead.

Once again, she’ll have to deal with State Police Detective Tanner Kinney and his stiff-upper-lip-attitude while doing her best to avoid Pastor Luke Callahan who she accused of murder the year before.

When it looks like Sheena is somehow mixed up with a suspect in the murder, Gladwynn’s stress levels rise to an all time high.

Will Gladwynn be able to help solve the murder and find out why her sister has shown up after not visiting for the last six years? And who wrote a stack of love letters stashed in a storage area under her grandmother’s stairs?

Join Gladwynn, Lucinda, Tanner, and Luke Callahan for another modern mystery with a vintage feel.

I absolutely can’t wait to read this one! I think that it is really cool that Lisa is involving a bit of family history in this one, because I think we are all a little curious about what is hidden in the branches of our family trees. I know that my family has little quirks and secrets. I have my family bible, and in it, my great-grandfather wrote, “No more drink for me. June 8 1937” I never met him, but I have heard stories about him, a tiny little Scotsman from Galway, who did have a bit of a penchant for drink. I bet there is a big story behind this, but everyone who could fill in those blanks is gone. And now, I also want to know who wrote that stack of love letters that were stashed under Gladwynn’s grandma’s stairs, gosh darn it!

I have been a faithful reader of this series since it first came out. I love Gladwynn and I love her vintage style. If I had the courage, I would totally dress 1940s all the time. But like, 1940s English land girl. Or like Helen Alderson from All Creatures Great and Small. And sometimes, I do my best honestly, to recreate that. So I love that Gladwynn has so much fun with her fashion, in addition to being a good granddaughter, a curious journalist who needs to get to the bottom of every mystery and every story, and is just the tiniest little pain in the butt to law enforcement. I also really like Gladwynn’s coffee barista homeschool mom friend, and her eccentric grandmother!

This is a fun series, and is a perfect read to cozy up with.

And if you don’t want to believe me, then check out this early reader review from Bettie G.

Captivating cozy mystery!

I thoroughly enjoyed this third book in Lisa’s cozy mystery series about Gladwynn Grant. This time around Gladwynn is up to her usual shenanigans even tho she expressed midway through the story that she wondered “When was she going to learn to be a little less Nancy Drew and a little more Elizabeth Bennet?”

Personally, I preferred this insight into her character offered by one of Gladynnn’s friends: “maybe it is because God knows how deeply you care for people. By you being there when their bodies are found, God knows you will seek out the justice they deserve.”

Even in the midst of a fun cozy mystery series, I appreciate the way that Lisa drops nuggets of wisdom that make us pause and examine ourselves. Her stories keep our attention, and her characters touch our hearts. I highly recommend this new book in the Gladwynn Grant series. -Bettie G

You can find this book on Amazon in ebook and paperback!

Links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW1VCWDD

You can find Lisa and the first in the series, Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing here: https://lisahoweler.com/gladwynn-grant-mysteries/

Hello February!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello February!!

Lately in the mornings, I have been standing at our back door, holding a cup of tea, and just looking out at the yard until my feet get too cold and I have to go all the way back in. The yard is just that February in Michigan kind of yard – muddy, dead plants, gray skies. There is a feeling of waiting about it. It is pretty forgotten for the moment, except when I take Wyatt out in his wheelchair, since our ramp is in the back of the house so he can use the yard during the good weather, so for the most part, the yard is not used, at least by us. I do see signs of animals out there though. There are obvious signs that rabbits congregate out there nightly, and I find broken shells of nuts littered about the deck occasionally from the squirrelsBut . Today I could have sworn I heard an early frog and shucked my boots on to go investigate – it would be too cold for a frog to be awake! I didn’t find him though. I will keep looking. There is also the big tabby with the ear tip that I have named Angus-Fergus, who leaves little cat footprints in the snow and sleeps under the deck at night. One time I surprised him when I opened the door, and he reared back in surprise and shock, his eyes wide. We just looked at each other and I told him he was ok, and he sauntered off to do whatever was on his agenda, our surprise meeting forgotten for the moment.

January was spent with a lot of at home days, focusing on school and the things I need to do around here. Just normal life stuff, without too many adventures. Lots of cozy moments with my kiddo, reading at night, or watching television with Billy in the evening once the house has been put to bed – Wyatt bathed and pajamaed, the creatures all fed, the kitchen cleaned up from dinner and the sound of the dishwasher running in the background. I foresee many of these same evenings ahead of us in February as well, although we do have some new things starting and some events on the horizon. I am planning Wyatt’s tenth birthday party, for one. It is next month but I am a planner so I will spend sometime working out all of the details.

I even have something new for me in the books! I am taking a leadership advocacy training course next week for three days, and I am sort of nervous! It has been a while since I have done anything like this, and it is for a few hours everyday. I even had a bit of homework for this week, which was actually more fun than work. I wouldn’t even classify it as work honestly. I had to create a collage to introduce my family, and I have to talk for two minutes about us. Can I do this? I will have to practice!

This is what I came up with. I had to add some bunting, because I love bunting and always have it hanging in my house for every season. It just makes everything feel so bright and fresh.

I also learned that February is National Embroidery Month, in addition to Black History Month. I have been doing a bit of a deep dive on the history of women and community and resistance and handicrafts the past few days, and I have a whole new section on my TBR just for this topic. I have also read that “grandma-core” hobbies like sewing and knitting and baking are helping teens these days handle stress. I know that it helps me to self-regulate, as my husband puts it, to sit and embroider at night.

Wyatt also starts his new bowling league this month. He is so excited about it! It was started by a group that sets up activities for special needs kids and adults, and they are in teams by age. Wyatt is Team Thundering Turkeys!

Despite some new activities on our horizon, the majority of our month will be spent the same as January. Snug in our little house, surrounded by each other, maybe if we are lucky a good cat on our laps, purring away, a nice cup of tea, a good book. Planning for spring but enjoying the season we are in.

Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile. Even if it is just a small thing, like ten extra minutes in the shower or taking a minute to look outside, and just observe the world.

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized43 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Hey everyone! Just a quick post today!

Read Last Week:

I found myself not having as much time to read last week as I anticipated, and honestly I’ve been way too distracted by the news to read, but I did finish my buddy read, Redwall, with Billy! We had a nice discussion about it on the way to my dad’s yesterday. It was a fun little read, and we both enjoyed it.

Reading This Week:

I am hoping to read more, sew more, and doomscroll less this week, and I think these two books will be perfect to help in my mission. Under Loch and Key looks adorable and I think that I could use some Korean healing fiction as well, with The Healing Season of Pottery.

Posted Last Week:

Top Ten Tuesday – New to me Authors I Discovered in 2024

What Wyatt’s Reading – Winter Edition

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Billy and I have been watching Severance. It is super duper weird and it took me a few episodes to really get hooked, but now I am all in. I hate hate the design aesthetic though for inside Lumon however; I know that there is a reason for it, and it is not meant to make us feel good or be happy, and for me, it really does feel icky. The show though, I love. My friend Kelly and I were talking about this show the other day and she said if we were characters in the show, I would be Helly and she would be Mark, in terms of personality. Lol. She’s not wrong. Then we were having fun coming up with our Wellness Center “Your outie likes…” statements.

It’s just so very uncomfortable and plain and sterile. I do love green though.

Tonight we are supposed to watch a movie. I think we might skip it and watch Severance though!

And you guys, I am probably way behind on discovering this, but the website Bookshop.org is my new place to buy books, besides used book sites and local stores. The cool thing about Bookshop.org is that you can pick your local bookstore as your store, and a portion of the money you spend on Bookshop.org is given to your local bookstore! So you can still support your local small bookstore this way! I do have an affiliate account, but I don’t think you need to do that part to order and choose a store. However, if you don’t have a store to support, feel free to order through mine and support Brooks Books! They are my favorite local bookstore and they sell a mix of used and new books in the physical store. They also support other local businesses by giving smaller sellers space in their shop to sell things, as well as providing events and classes to the community.

And that is about it from me today! I hope that whatever you do, you do at least one small thing that makes you smile. Stay safe everyone!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized7 Comments

Hello everyone! Today is quite yucky out. Gray and rainy and damp. And cold. The absolute worst in weather. But, it is also Friday and pizza night and library day and art day as well. So all is not lost today. Plus, my coffee is hot and delicious.

We are having typical January weeks for Michigan, both in weather and in activity level. We are mostly indoors, working on school or our own little individual projects, reading… you guys get it. Cozy home things. We are deep into wintering over here.

I participated in our second Zoom crafternoon this weekend, and I had such a good time. It was so nice to chat with these women, while I stitched away at my embroidery. I think about how this is an activity that really spans decades and centuries, people, women, gathered together while they chat over their sewing or quilting or knitting, and I see why they did it. I know that it was done at times out of necessity, but I am sure it was also for the socialness of it. I feel like I might go down a rabbit hole soon reading about this. If anyone knows of a book that talks about this history let me know! Anyway, back to my own. It is just super casual, we bring what we want to the Zoom, we chat about all sorts of things, and honestly for a group of women who are more than likely mostly introverted, who have never officially “met”, conversation is easy. It has brightened these long gray January days to have these meetups. I am looking forward to our next one in February! I also enjoyed stitching on this bright bit of whimsy this January as well!

We also had another bright spot since I have last posted a catch up. Our scouts had a special program at a local nature center. It was awesome. It was in the evening last Friday, so it was twilight as we were all driving in, and the roadside was full of herds of deer. We saw at least 50 deer driving through the metropark back to the nature center, which was very cool. Some were so close to the road, or in the road, that we needed to very careful on our approach! We were the first to arrive, on purpose of course as the leaders, and while we waited Wyatt and our other early bird Eloise drew and etched animals. I stepped outside for a minute and was greeted by the hoots of two Great Horned Owls calling to each other. One was their resident owl, Radar, who was permanently injured by a car and now lives there, calling to a friend in the woods. It was really cool to hear. I was surrounded by the dark woods and listening and it just felt magical. Especially when you consider that Great Horned Owls have a territory of ten miles, so for me to hear that one when it was so close felt very special.

Once everyone arrived, we all headed in to the Up North room, which the interpreters had set up for our scouts, and even had a fire going in the woodstove. It was extremely cozy in there, and I really could have taken a nice nap. However, there was a program to listen to, so no naps. Billy and I have known these two interpreters for over twenty years, and have a friendship with them, and Wyatt knows them very well too. Wyatt was extremely excited about being there and about the program. The kids learned about the mammals and birds in our area, and had the chance to see and feel different fur pelts and skulls. It was really interesting and I think both kids and adults alike had a very good time. Afterwards we had hot chocolate and cookies and it was just a wonderful night.

We are also having Wyatt’s birthday party here as well in March. The very last big party he had was in 2020, the week before Covid really hit, and it was bittersweet, as it was the last time we saw some of our family and friends for a long time. But we were thankful that we had been all gathered and had the chance, without even knowing it. That party was also here at the Nature Center. We thought for Wyatt’s tenth, we would have another big party for him. I am in the middle of planning it now.

And to be honest, that is about it! We had game night where we played a new game that Wyatt got for Christmas, Junior Detectives, which I highly recommend. We visited a bakery in Detroit and picked up gargantuan baked good. And then, we wintered.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!