Annual Strawberry Picking

Every year since Madeline was born, we've taken her strawberry picking. Her first experience was in the backpack, then every year after she's been able to do her own picking (and eating). This was our second run at strawberry pie and jam, and I must say, they both turned out awesome! Next year we will make enough for everyone!

Another session over

Madeline completed her second run in dance class and had another recital of what they learned over the past 8 weeks. She chose a beautiful dress and was so pleased she could show off her steps to her Grammie & PopPop.

John Ball Zoo

When your sister is only 2 hours away, you take advantage of it, if only for an evening. Aunt Theresa was in Grand Rapids and Madeline and I thought it would be nice to have a sleepover. So, we got in the truck and drove to Grand Rapids on Monday afternoon. Madeline is really getting into this travelling thing. She keeps the conversation going throughout the ride and is very curious about everything she sees. When we got to the hotel, we got to swim for a bit while we waited for Theresa's meetings to be over. Madeline's favorite thing is to watch someone dive into the pool. Well, the pool wasn't quite big enough for a dive, but at 8' it was certainly deep enough for a jump. So, there were repeated requests for Mommy to jump in. Unfortunately, I'm not so great at keeping water out of my nose when I jump feet first so I had to hold my nose. Now, Madeline thinks that's what she should do. I've been working against that ever since! She's putting her face in the water though!

After a good swim we met up with Theresa and we were off to dinner at Mongolian Barbeque. I had no idea Madeline could use chopsticks so well! It seemed like she'd always been using them. Madeline is always excited to see her Aunt Theresa so when she got to have ice cream with her too, well that just made it even better! We brought along Madeline's airbed so we could all sleep in the same room and she did a great job.

The next day, Aunt Theresa had to go back into meetings so Madeline and I said good-bye in the morning and headed out to breakfast at Denny's. Madeline got to talk to Daddy while she waited for her Alien Pancakes to arrive which made both their days I think. (We are so use to doing things as a family that she really misses him when he doesn't get to go with us. I think we have a very special family and are all very lucky to have each other and enjoy spending so much time together.) As usual, Madeline proved to be very good company while we ate our eggs and pancakes. We talked about all of the animals we might see at the zoo.

We had no idea the John Ball Zoo was in the middle of a park! They had swan paddleboats and a playstructure! On our way in, there was a beautiful rose garden that Madeline definitely had to walk through. She is truly a lover of flowers. We stopped and smelled many roses.

The zoo was on a hill so the setup was pretty neat and offered some really unique views of the animals. We had a really good time exploring, getting treats & drinks, and even petting the pygmy goats! There was a small enclosure full of new pygmies and Madeline had a ball petting each and every one of them. "They are much smaller than Sally & Dennis's goats." After spending some time with the goats, we moved on to see the camel. I thought it would be neat for Madeline to see a dromedary camel since there are only bactrain camels in Detroit. Well, I had no idea we would be riding the camel!!! (I have the picture of Madeline on it, the one with both of us is a polaroid that needs to be scanned.) Camels are very tall. Well, of course Madeline would like to go back to this zoo, so we'll have to find a day when Daddy can come too and maybe we'll get to enjoy the park as well.

A New House!

Well, after Mother's Day weekend, we decided to hang around Michigan for a while. So, with that decision made, we began the house hunt. We saw nearly 20 homes, made offers on 4, closed on 1. We are scheduled to move in July 14th!!! Woohoo! To say "we can't wait" would be selling it short. We found a nice 3 bedroom home on the southwest side of Ann Arbor and are very excited to be settling down in Michigan.

Madeline is very concerned about all of her things just as she was when we moved from Louisville. The question of the day "is (fill in the blank) moving too?" We have tried to reassure her on every front, but I think it will take seeing her things in the new house to really convince her that everything is going with us.

Madeline will once again have her own yard to play in, complete with sandbox and a garden next year.