Happy Birthday to Ryan and Happy Labor Day

This week had a lot of significance. First, it was because it contained Ryan's birthday. The second item was that it contained Labor Day, and that signified the end of summer. Being the end of summer, this meant that college football season started as well as the opening of the cider mill. Finally, it marked the last week before Keira starts preschool!

As a result of this being the last "official" week of summer, we finally made it to the Kensington Farm. Keira has spent Sunday night at Nana and Papa's house, and Soren failed his attempt to sleep through the night in his own room, but we expected that. Monday morning Nana picked up Soren and I to take us to the Kensington farm. We had a great time seeing all the animals. Keira loved running around from area to area. Soren enjoyed being out of the stroller for a while on a "stage" area where he and Keira climbed around. We also hit Maybury that evening with Ryan.

On Tuesday, we did errands during the day and walked to our playground in the evening while Ryan was at scouts. Soren has been napping during the morning and the afternoon, so on days when I don't disrupt his naps, I feel like we only have an hour or so after lunch where we can do things before afternoon naps.





On Wednesday, I had a presidency meeting in the late morning, so it pretty much took up most of the day. We didn't get anything done before the meeting, and hung out at home once we got back.



We did have some more fun at our playground today. Keira really enjoyed being able to push Soren on the swings. I was able to get in a run too.




Thursday was a huge day. It was Ryan's birthday, but I also had a meeting in the morning for Keira's preschool. Linda came up to watch Keira and Soren for the meeting. The meeting was in Keira's classroom, and while I already knew her teacher, it was good to have the meeting with her and the other parents to know a bit more about what to expect. After the meeting, I picked up Keira and Soren from our house and drove them to Dearborn to have a late lunch with Ryan at Buddy's. That evening, Ryan rode Maybury, and then we met up with Kris and Linda at Pei Wei, which is turning into the "birthday" restaurant for us.





Linda made her famous "birthday cake" for Ryan, and we enjoyed it with ice cream at our place after dinner.

I was also able to get a few pictures of Soren doing his "ahh" snuggle. He has been putting his head down on our IKEA stuffed animals (mainly the hippo) or anything soft and saying, "ahh". It is so adorable, but most of the pictures I have taken aren't a good angle. These two are OK.


On Friday, we made it to Kindermusik with Lisa, Dominic, and Lucas, and Emily and Brooklyn. Keira had a great time. The Friday class will probably be her only class she goes to on a regular basis once school starts.


Keira was trying on my heels. She didn't try to stand, fortunately. In the background, Soren is doing his "ah" on the hippo.

Saturday was a really big day. It started with Ryan leading the Wolverines on a 67 mile ride. They were just shy of a 20mph pace. While he rode, I did a 6.5 mile run with both Keira and Soren in the double jogger. Soren slept, and Keira read her princess book, so I didn't feel too bad about having them in the jogger for almost an hour. I was pleased to do this run at a pace that was below 9 minutes per mile. After our own athletics, we met up at Parmenters for some cider and donuts. Keira and Soren LOVED playing there, and both enjoyed the donuts as well.





That afternoon, Ryan went to the Michigan game against Western Michigan with Brian. He had a great time at the game, especially since Michigan won. I was happy that OSU won over Navy, and we were both happy that BYU beat Oklahoma that evening.
Here are some pictures of Keira and Soren sporting the school colors.




Sunday was a pretty standard day. We went to church and spent a relaxing evening at home. Soren is also starting to refuse baby food, and enjoyed regular food today. He did not like the salmon, though, but was a good sport and tried it. Soren also realized that he can reach the basement doorknob. I am hoping that it takes him a bit longer to figure out how to open it. This is one of our few doors that actually does lock, though. He is on a step to reach it, so hopefully we won't have too many falls from him hanging on the doorknob.


We also had some fun with bubbles outside before bed.

Monday was Labor Day. It was a rather gray day, and Ryan woke up to rain. Although it stopped before ride time, he decided to skip a ride with Kent and David today to rest a bit. Soren slept really poorly last night, so I was happy to have Ryan around. Keira and Soren wore their festive pjs last night.

We went out to breakfast to Panera, and then we were able to go to our stake picnic. It was pretty fun, and the weather held out for it. Soren got more comfortable with Papa today. Keira enjoyed the playground.




Up for next week, we have Keira's first day of school! I also got signed up for the Detroit Half Marathon in Oct, so I am sure to be doing a lot more running in these upcoming weeks. We will sure to be spending more time at Maybury as well.