Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: The Second to last Week before School Starts

This week was crazy busy, and that is saying a lot, especially when you look at last week. This is the second to last week before school starts, and I feel like although we have done a ton this summer, there are still many things we didn't do yet. This week crammed in a ton of those things. We spent a lot of the week with Linda, Ellyn, and the cousins.

On Monday, we went to the Toledo Zoo with Linda, Ellyn, and the cousins. I wasn't set on going to Toledo, but after passing up an invitation to go to the zoo with Valerie on Friday, I couldn't say no again. Keira and Soren had a great time. There were several highlights of the trip. We saw the baby polar bear, who was quite active. We also did a train ride. Soren loved it, and it also gave us a great view of animals on the African savanna. It was totally worth it. We saw the aquarium. Keira loved the clownfish and Soren called the jellyfish "bubbles".

I also started physical therapy on my ankle today. I was pleased to learn that I did not need to stop running in order to heal. Yeah!

On Tuesday, we went to Rolling Hills water park. Keira and Soren had a blast. It took a little while to get them warmed up, but they really had fun. I was allowed to take them on the large waterslide on a tube with me. Keira screamed the whole way down, but still wanted to do it again. Linda took her a second time, and they went under upon entering the water, so she wouldn't give it a third try. Soren went down with me once, and enjoyed it, but didn't want to do it again either. Instead, they did the children's slide about 30 times. We also enjoyed the lazy river, and a splash pad area within the park.

That evening, we went to Maybury. Ryan didn't have scouts, so it freed up tonight. I was able to get in a decent run with the stroller, which is something I haven't done in a while. Ryan had a good ride. We had a little bit of time at the end to play on the playground.

On Wednesday, we had yet another full day. I swam laps at the pool in the morning, but then went over to beach at Lakeshore Park in Novi. My neighbor had set up a group to meet up today. We couldn't stay long because I had a presidency meeting, but we had fun. I hadn't been invited to do anything with her before, so I really wanted to accept the invitation. The beach was small, but the sand and water were really nice. Soren was more interested in the tunnel that we went through to get here, but did go in.

After the presidency meeting, I was able to ride and run with TIA at Island Lake. I declined the post brick swim, as I just couldn't bear to get wet again today. While I was gone, Ryan took Keira and Soren over to Kris and Linda's house. Linda had invited the girls over for a sleep over. This was Keira's first sleep over without us since Soren was born. Linda has all sorts of fun activities for them planned.

On Thursday, I met back up with Keira, Linda, Ellyn, and the cousins at the Howell outlet malls. We did a bit of back to school shopping. Soren and Lleyton loved this school bus outside of Old Navy.

Keira and Soren played on this little carousel too.

That evening, we played outside while Ryan got in a road ride. This was an extra day off for me this week from working out.

On Friday, after my workout, we had another big day. We went to Heritage Park in Farmington with Valerie, Katie, Luke, and their cousin Ava. It was a bit chilly today, so no one wanted to play too long in the water, but they still had a good time.

We also played a bit on the playground.

When Ryan got home from work, we headed to Heritage Park in Canton for the annual Ford BYU alumni picnic. Kris and Linda came too, and we had a good evening there.

On Saturday, Ryan got up early to do an 80 mile ride out to Chelsea and back. They started an hour earlier today since they were going further. They had a smaller group than usual, and were very fast. They averaged over 20mph for the ride. While he was gone, I took the kids over to Island Lake for a run. I ran from the Kent Lake area in Island Lake to Kensington, around Kensington, and back, for a total of 10.25miles and averaged 8:55min/mile. I brought their suits and Keira and Soren played in the Kent Lake beach area. This is not my favorite beach, but it works.

Once we all got home and cleaned up, we had a late lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger and Ryan got his birthday present, a bike helmet, ordered. We had a relaxing evening at home.

Sunday was a much more low key day than it has been. I finally had a slight break in my Sunday responsibilities by just conducting today. Everyone also took a nap after church, which was nice. I used the Levain copycat recipe to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, which are always so good. Everyone enjoyed them.