Tom's Work Retirement Party

Tom's work retirement party was on Oct. 24,2008 at the horse racetrack in Romulus. It was actually held in a tent next to the ractrack. We had a great time, good food, and fun. Tom really enjoyed seeing lots of oldtimers that came to the party. Tom's last day of work is Oct. 31. He keeps telling everyone that he can't wipe the smile off his face. I think he is REALLY excited about being retired. Hopefully he'll get his new job, so he'll have to enjoy his retirement quickly!

Tahquamenon Falls

Day 2 of our northern trip found us headed to ride the train and then the boat to Tahquamenon Falls. This was an all day trip. First we went to Soo Junction where we caught the Toonerville Trolley that wound us through the countryside of the UP. We didn't see any animals as it is already hunting season and the animals stay out of sight. We did see a bit of the fall colors though. After the 5 mile ride (1 way) on the train, we ended up at the Tahquamenon River and enjoyed our 22 mile ride (1 way)on the boat. We headed up the river to the Tahquamenon Falls. After we got as close as the boat could take us, we had to hike almost a mile to get to the actual Tahquamenon Falls. It was well worth the hike and the steep steps to see the falls. What a beautiful world we have! The train was a narrow guage one, and boy was it a bone jarring ride! The boat trip was fun...we even picked up a 6 year old girl that had to sit by us the WHOLE ride(because she wanted to sit by us instead of her grandparents)....she was a chatty little thing who got on Tom's last nerve....but at least she didn't do any hollering, just talking. All in all, it was a fun trip. And we would recommend it to everyone!

Mackinaw City & Mackinac Island

We got to spend 4 days up North at Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and touring the U P. I'd finally convinced Tom that I REALLY needed to go to the island before we moved from Michigan. As it was the last weekend everything was open up in Mackinaw, we decided we better just go do it, thank goodness Tom still had 2 days of vacation. We had a great time and enjoyed our 4 days together, even Tom was glad that we went! My alltime favorite movie is "Somewhere in Time" (which was filmed on the island at the Grand Hotel). I was so excited to get to go through the hotel and enjoy "being" there! We also did the carriage ride around sections of the island and enjoyed visiting Ft. Mackinaw. It was really fun being in a place that has no automobiles! Besides horses, there are LOTS of bicycles. I don't think I've ever seen so many bikes in one place before. And boy can they get going FAST on those downhills! What fun we had watching all the horse drawn wagons/carriages carrying people, luggage, bales of hay, boxes, etc. around town. I didn't envy those guys that had the job of cleaning up after the horses! They really did do a great job at making sure the streets were cleaned up quickly and often! You can rent bikes, horses and even buggies! I don't think we could have gotten a horse pulling a buggy to even move, and I was sure I wouldn't get toooo far on a bike. The horse sounded like fun, but at $35 per 15 minutes, I couldn't afford it, and I was afraid I'd fall off!

There is a motorized ambulance and fire truck. Even the taxi's are horse drawn carriages. In the wintertime the residents who stay on the island do get to use snow mobiles and lots of winters the lake is so frozen they can ride the snow mobiles to St. Ignace and do their shopping! Sounds scary to me! There is also an airport on the island, but most people get to the island on the ferry boats, an 18 minute ride. If you ever get the chance to experience Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island, you won't regret it!

Job Opportunities

Tom has decided he wants to stay in the airline industry and has applied for a couple of jobs. One in Savannah, Georgia and one in Grand Junction, Colorado. Of course, we'd like to be able to just go to Grand Junction now (that's where we had wanted to retire to anyways), but it's not looking good for that job. He interviewed with Gulfstream in Savannah, Georgia and the posibility looks good for a job with them. We still won't know any details for a few weeks. It is possible that we will have to be in Savannah by the first part of December. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Election Time is almost here again!

By now most of you, like me, are really tired of all the campaign ads on TV. Some of them are really irritating! I don't want to get on my soap box, nor do I want to endorse any candidate (we all have our opinions and I don't want to step on any toes). BUT... I do want to encourage EVERYONE to get out and vote for the candidate of their choice. IF you don't have a choice yet, PLEASE, PLEASE start paying attention and get knowledgeable! You also need to know who is running for your local office and know something about all propositions on your ballot! Your VOTE DOES COUNT!!!!

Retirement

Well... Tom has decided! He will be retiring from General Motors on Nov. 1. He is actually counting days. We don't know exactly what we will be doing, but we do know that Tom will have to find a new job as we can't afford to live on his retirement. SO.... Tom is looking for something new, but he'd still like to stay in the airline industry, if possible, and if the pay is right. It's been a busy couple of weeks trying to decide what is in store for the Fifield's. As soon as we know anything, we will let you all know.

Home Again

This is a bit late, but maybe better late that never?! We have been home for almost a week. We had a great time in New Hampshire. We enjoyed our time at the beach, as always. The weather even cooperated with us for those couple of days. I can't say that for the rest of the vacation though. It rained just about every day that we were in New Hampshire. Needless to say, it is nice and green and very humid there! Thank goodness, the rain didn't hinder any of our plans. We got to spend time with most of Tom's siblings, that was also great! We even got to meet our "first" Fifield niece! That was also cool, she is a beautiful little girl. We always stay at Fifield Inn when we are in New Hampshire. Tom's brother & sister-in-law are always gracious and let us come and stay with them (hence, Fifield Inn) and have lots of "sleep-overs", that's what their little kids call it. We also got to go see them at swim lessons and boy can they all swim. Puts me to shame, for sure! We also went to our favorite ice cream place. It's called Johnson's and do they ever have great ice cream. I never thought I'd only buy a baby size ice cream, but it is almost more than a person can eat. We really enjoy our trips to the ice cream place.

We also spent some time with some of Tom's cousins. It was great for me to meet them and Tom to see them after about 20 years. We enjoyed talking over old times and genealogy. We were able to add a bit more to Tom's families genealogy, which is always great! We really enjoy the trips we get to make to New Hampshire to see Tom's family. It is just hard being so far away from family, whether it's Tom's family on the East Coast or my family out West. There really is nothing more important than family.

Of course, it's always good to get home again! And it seems to take awhile to get back into the swing of things. Is that a good enough excuse to not have posted in almost a week? I'll be adding photos soon! I still have to upload them to the computer.

GM and retirement

GM has finally started announcing their plans for the future. It looks like they will be offering retirement packages to all salaried employees age 55 and up. Tom won't really have any details until Aug. 25. Decisions have to be made by early September, and he'll have to decide whether he'll take the early retirement package or try to stick it out for a few more years. They have been told they will be losing 2 planes and need to cut the work force by 17 more people. BUT, they haven't said what will happen IF they don't get the numbers they need. They have told all the employees (at Tom's work) that they will be cut down to 2 shifts instead of the 3 that they've had. Tom has no idea how the shifts will change. Anyone taking the early retirement package will be retired on Nov. 1. This is all interesting, but until Tom sees what the numbers are, he can't really make any decisions. Guess he'll be busy after we get home from vacation. We'll let everyone know just as soon as we know anything.

Vacation Again?!?!

We're getting ready to head out on vacation again. We're headed to the east coast this time. We'll get to spend time with Tom's side of the family. We are really looking forward to that. We'll also get to spend a few days at the beach! That will be awesome! As always, we'll also be doing genealogy. It is so great to get to see a part of the country that I just never in my wildest dreams I thought I'd get to visit. Many of my ancestors came from New England and it has been wonderful to seek out the places they used to live. Gas prices seem to be a bit stable in Michigan. We've actually had great prices lately..as low as $3.67, but when I was coming home today, it looked like the prices were headed up a bit...some stations were at $3.85. Hopefully the price will stay under $4.00 while we are gone! Hope all is well with all of you!
Love, Michele

Summer Vacation Photos

Here are some family photos taken from our Western Summer Vacation in July. We hope the family, especially, enjoys these photos. Thanks for spending time with us while we were out west this year! For those of you who may be wondering why there are photos of Mom(Grandma),Jason and the boys on the floor? It's a marble game that gets played by most everyone when they go to Grandma & Grandpa's house. It's fun to watch, and usually lots of people want to challenge the winner! Many hours of fun!
Love, Michele