Tyler, Minde, and Chase Visit

We had a very busy weekend. Tyler, Minde, and Chase arrived yesterday morning, and I feel like we have been on the go ever since! To top it all off, I have come down with a cold, and am really hoping it will go away before the new baby comes.

Today was a busy Sunday. We started the morning off at church, and then went over to Kris and Linda's to eat a great meal prepared by Minde- pulled sweet pork with homemade tortillas, rice, and beans. Keira and Chase napped during our meal, and it was quite nice to have a meal without interruption. Once the kids woke up, we went into Detroit for an open house at the Detroit River Branch. The building was so beautiful and peaceful. It was so nice to see something great and new in the city. Our ward choir was singing in the chapel when we arrived, so it was fun to see some familiar faces as well as meet the branch members. Hopefully the city can continue to have people spend money to build new buildings to help bring more life to it. On our way home, we did a mini tour (driving) of the city for Minde and Tyler, and it is so different from NYC. Most things we drove by were closed for Sunday, and although the city does have some great gems, like the DIA, Ford Field, Comerica Park, the Fox Theatre, and some new businesses and condos, there are still many buildings abandoned and in disrepair.

We arrived back at Kris and Linda's in time to let Keira and Chase play outside while dessert baked.

Keira and Chase strolling around. They both love their strollers.
It was not so easy to get the two of them to sit next to each other. Here is the best photo I was able to get.
Hugs! Chase didn't seem as receptive to receiving a hug as Keira was to giving him one.

Saturday was even busier than Sunday. We had an open house in the afternoon, so the morning was spent doing cleaning and final preparations to get our place into its best shape. We actually did have a couple people come through, but they did not leave their contact info. It is always nice to have a clean house, though, especially with the impending arrival of a new baby.

During our open house, we met Tyler, Minde, Chase, Kris, and Linda at Parmenter's Cider Mill where we enjoyed cider and donuts. It worked out perfectly that they arrived just as we needed to leave our condo.



In a slightly backwards order, we went out to lunch immediately following Parmenter's. The donuts were so good that I felt like I barely ate any lunch at all because I was too full. Then, we took Keira and Chase over to Kris and Linda's to nap for the remainder of our open house. After their naps, we went to Kensington Metropark to ride bikes. We had been able to borrow an extra bike trailer for Chase, as well as bikes for Tyler and Minde to ride. You would think that with all the bikes we own, we wouldn't need to borrow any, but since ours don't have pedals, we were fortunate to have friends willing to lend us their bikes. Keira is a pro at riding in the trailer, however, Chase wasn't too excited about it at first, but warmed up to it. We rode from the East Boat Launch to the West Boat Launch, where we stopped to let Keira and Chase play on the playground. It is a nice small playground sized perfectly for younger children.
Keira and Chase both enjoyed swinging. Even though they were both contained, it was still hard to get them in phase and looking for a good photo.
They also would both not slide in unison. Getting a picture of them at the top was the best we could do. After we left the playground, we continued around the park to complete the 9 mile loop. Yes, I did bike the whole loop, only stopping for a break while the kids played around mile 2. It made me feel out of shape and in shape at the same time. It was difficult, which made me feel out of shape, but also, since I finished it, I knew I had to be in somewhat decent shape being that I was almost 39weeks pregnant. I was pretty tired afterwards, though.
Chase fell asleep in the bike trailer. Keira has done this many times, and was quite curious to see him sleeping.
Keira jumped into the family shot of Tyler, Minde and Chase. We also got one of us. Ryan got all geared up in his new road bike attire, and I rode my mountain bike because it is pretty comfy.

Speaking of comfy bikes, we spent our Friday night at a 40th Birthday party for our friend Kent, who is a friend from church as well as from road biking with Ryan. Valerie, his wife, is also my primary president and cyclist/triathlete. We had wanted to get Kent a bike seat with springs as a gag gift, but just ran out of time.
Keira really enjoyed playing outside during the party. She was able to have a turn on the trampoline by herself at the beginning of the party. It was a good thing too, because too many kids jumped on it at the same time later on, which led to the end of the trampoline (it had apparently come with the house, and the age was unknown, so it probably was mostly because it was old, and not because of the weight).

Keira was extremely upset by the demise of the trampoline, and mourned it accordingly with a huge tantrum. Her little friend Lizzie tried to comfort her by hugging her and pointing me out saying, "Keira, your mommy right there". It was so sweet of her. Fortunately, it was short lived and we were able to go inside and enjoy the rest of the evening playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Earlier that day, we had made it to one of the Novi Library's free story times. Keira had a great time, although she was unsure at first (as usual). We will probably continue to attend these. They are nice because you don't need to sign up and they are age specific, so she was with other 2 year olds only.

That was our busy weekend. This week coming up will hopefully be a restful one for me, up until when the baby arrives! I have tried to not plan much in hopes that the baby will be on the earlier end rather than later since I am down to my last week. We feel pretty ready, so we are just waiting now.