Ben's google search

I just reread the last entry I wrote in Ben's journal that I keep for him, and I realized it is way too funny to not put on our blog... :)

July 24, 2012

Ben just told me something funny. I said, "Ben, aren't you going to write a thank you letter to Grandma on this piece of paper?" He answered, "Yeah, but I couldn't figure out how to spell 'Dear' so I kept crossing it out.... and then I tried to go online to find out how to spell it, but all I could type was 'how to spell ...' and then I didn't know how to spell 'Dear', so...."

FUNNY!

(By the way, he is not supposed to use the internet without me, but he conveniently forgets that quite often!)

Imagination Station

On August 17th, I went to the Imagination Station Children's Museum in Toledo, Ohio, with my good friend, Anona Davis. The kids and I have been there a bunch of times over the past years, but it seriously never fails to be a new exciting adventure!  This children's museum is stuffed with fun, entertaining, and interesting stuff.  We discover new cool activities every time we go. I think this one is even better than the Children's Museum at the Gateway in Salt Lake City, which is also a great one. Anyway, I told Jed's mom about this super fun place and she bought us a season pass! I am really looking forward to bringing Jed along next time, getting to bring Jed's parents when they come visit in October, and taking trips to it during the winter months. Yay!

Fireman Ben is scaling the side of the burning building. This kid is hard to pin down at this place. There are so many fascinating things to do and look at!

Sam and Mommy playing with the sailboats. 

This is my friend, Anona, and her little girl, Lillian.  Her three older boys were off with Ben... maybe riding the racecar simulator ride or exploring other exhibits. It's a kid's heaven.

Apparently Sam did not want to be on the seat of the tractor! I had to include this picture because of sweet Eliza's concerned look.

Sam and Lillian jumping on the big piano keyboard. 

Eliza standing by the stroller on the sidewalk. Time to head back home!

Detroit Institute of Art and Belle Isle Conservatory

Jed and I went to the Detroit Institute of Art (the Art Museum in downtown Detroit) for a date on August 8th. I have been wanting to go there again ever since I went with my parents in November of 2007. It was super fun to go again with Jed.  Baby Charlotte got to tag along too. :)
I liked this painting. The subject was cool, but it was the style (ie, brushstrokes) of the painting that I really loved.

Jed and I enjoyed the Modern art, which was a surprise. It was more interactive to walk through this exhibit because instead of just looking at the artwork, we discussed it and talked about what we liked or disliked. To me, this type of art elicits a reaction from the viewer more than admiration, really.  In this case, the reaction was, "Are you kidding me?"  :)

I actually thought this one was pretty cool looking. :)

 After the Detroit Institute of Art, we went to the Belle Isle Conservatory. I have been wanting to return here ever since we got denied in August 2007. (We arrived after hours on accident.)

I finally got to go inside this gorgeous conservatory. And it was amazing! My favorite was the tree below that I am standing in front of. I wish I could remember the name of it, but the trunk was covered in a huge polka-dot design, the remaining evidence of leaves growing and falling off the stem over time. So cool! I also loved a delicate ground cover that hung over the rock ledges, called Baby's Tears.

 

There is a large pond on the conservatory grounds, full of koi (at least I think that is what they were). A man who worked there told us we should bring food to feed the fish next time, and he listed off a whole bunch of things the fish liked to eat, including scrambled eggs and bananas! I happened to have some raisins in my diaper bag, so Jed and I commenced throwing raisins to the fish. And boy, did they go for them! It was  a feeding frenzy! You can see Jed and my shadows in this picture as we watched them compete for our treat.

All in all, it was a super fun date! You can probably guess who planned it! :) Jed had a fun time, and he is a great sport to ooh and aah over artwork and plants with me. :)

Petting Zoo - August 7, 2012

 Jed and I took the kids to a local Farmers Market where they had a petting zoo visiting for the day. The animals were so docile that they let all the children put little clips in their manes and tails. Eliza was all over that.

Ben, Eliza and Sam also loved getting to brush the animals. Sam went from animal to animal, petting and grooming them all.

When Sam went to the little white goat to brush it, for some reason it didn't want him near him, so it started to push him away and but him with his horns. He got a startled and scared expression on his face as he was backpedaling away from the goat while trying to keep his balance and avoid tripping on the rope. I quickly scooped him up and saved him from the grumpy goat. But it was funny because he was a little shaken up and went over to a random young lady hanging around and said, pointing to the goat, "hurt me! hurt me!" Luckily he still trusted the other animals and had a fun time after that. :)

Charlotte's baby blessing

Jed gave baby Charlotte a name and a blessing at church on Sunday, August 5. She looked like a sweet angel in her pretty white blessing gown. She was exactly 3 months old.

Swim Lessons 2012

Ben and Eliza took swim lessons this summer. Eliza was in a preschool swim class and she definitely made progress in feeling comfortable in the water and putting her head under. She is such a cutie!

Ben took three sessions of lessons, each with five classes and a party. When he started he was not a fan of putting his head under the water either, but by the end he was starting to swim all by himself. He had a lot of fun at his lessons, and has much more confidence being in the water than he did at the start of the summer. Success!

Home Depot Projects

We have been doing lots of fun Home Depot Projects this summer. The Home Depot hosts a children's project once a month, and they have also been at the local farmers market a few times this summer. The kids have fun building their project with hammer and nails, and then we go home and paint it. 

This was Sammy's first time doing a project. He actually had pretty good aim with the hammer. :)

 Eliza painted her card holder with a rainbow on the sides. She did a great job. It is actually quite pretty! 

Sam working hard...

And here is his end product! 

Dinosaur Exhibit in Ann Arbor

On August 2nd, the kids and I went to the dinosaur exhibit in Ann Arbor with my medical school friends, Melody Aanderud and Ashley Pace and their kids. We had a fun time!

 Eliza, Eirik, Ben, and Sam are standing in front of the saber tooth tiger display.  Eirik Aanderud is Ben's good buddy.

Eliza and Sam are standing in front of two big wooly mammoth skeletons. 

Sam is sitting in a big canoe that the kids can play in. 

Ben's coach-pitch ball, summer 2012

This summer was Ben's third year of city league baseball. This year it was coach pitch, and he got a medal at the end of the season. On our way to the medal ceremony, we were stopped by a train. There are lots of trains around here in Detroit and they just randomly cut off traffic at will. Depending on the particular track I'm stuck at, I know which trains will go by quickly and which will be so slow that they will actually go backwards sometimes. Well, this was a slow one. We waited for a while, but when it stopped all together, we turned around and tried a different route, but the same looooong train was also cutting off that road as well. So we went all the way back home and took the freeway ramp near our house and headed North. We waved to the still-stopped train, and the line of waiting cars, as we went over it on the overpass. But unfortunately we were 45 minutes late by that time and I prepped Ben telling him we definitely missed the medal ceremony but we could still go to get hotdogs and chips. You wouldn't believe it, but after we parked, unloaded, and walked to the pavilion, his team was just getting ready to get on the stage to get their medals! His team was the last in line of the entire league! He was pretty excited that he still got to go on the stage to receive his medal. I think it was a tender mercy. 

Here is a short clip of him hitting the ball a few times during his games.

misc July 2012 photos. :)

On the fourth of July, Jed and I went to our friends, Melody and Paul Aanderud's home to do fireworks in the street. This is an annual event, and we always have a great time!

We have a few fireworks that our friends, Jared and Janese Hendricks, gave us a long time ago that we just rediscovered in the garage. :)  Jed has been lighting one off every now and then before the kids' bedtime. Getting to see a big, loud, and colorful firework is a great incentive to go brush teeth and put PJs on FAST!

Little Charlotte continues to grow and get cuter by the day. She's about 10 weeks old in this picture.  I just had to snap a little picture of her the other day. Such an angel.

We have kept busy this summer with lots of outings, including museums, parks, playgroups, library.... but on the days where we didn't have anything planned, I tried to either have friends over or do a few fun activities together. We have made homemade playdo, painted, and, in this case, cut out and decorated sugar cookies.

Little Charlotte is so quick to smile. She will practically give you a big bright smile if you even look at her! It is so darling! The other day I was smiling and talking to her and enjoying her darling little coos and giggles, and suddenly I realized my cheeks were aching because once I started I couldn't stop! :)

Silly Sammy is sucking (or chewing) on Charlotte's binki! He is a little goof!

Ben and Sam both wanted to have some Charlotte time this morning.  :)

Last of all, here is a video of Sam and Eliza holding Charlotte. Sam was being so sweet and cute to Charlotte, and she was being so patient with being held by an amateur, that I just had to record the moment. And one short moment turned into one pretty long one. :) I pieced the video to make this 6-minute portion.  It is a little long for anyone but me and the kids to really enjoy, and Grandparents too of course!