Melissa, Ryan, Keira and Soren: Ryan heads out!

This was a pretty big week. Ryan left for Kentucky on Tuesday, and I tried to keep the kids busy with things for them. We had some really nice weather, so it finally felt like spring is here. We also started saying goodbye to people, so that was tough. I did a lot of work most evenings getting things organzied to leave.

On Monday, Keira made a robin at school today and a birdfeeder. While she was at school, I got in a swim. We didn't do a ton out and about today, as I tried to get things ready around the house for the move. We were up pretty late getting the car packed for Ryan to head down.

On Tuesday, after my morningn workout, we went to the Novi Sports Park. This is a favorite playground. The kids always love the cars, swings, and the bouncy bridge.

Wednesday was "blue day" at school for Keira, so we all dressed in blue. She made a blue egg with a marble as well as put blue tissue paper on dots. She loves dot to dot activities.

After school, we went to our playground.

Ryan went on a group ride with some triathletes at the VO2 Multisport store and had a great time. They were pretty fast, and he was glad to keep up with them, otherwise he might have gotten lost.

Thursday was a really busy day. We started the morning at our final Kindermusik with Miss Karen. It was a really small class, so Keira and Soren got a lot of attention. It was nice for their final class.

After music class, we went to the gym and then to the mall to get our picture taken with the Easter Bunny. I was AMAZED with how well it went, especially since Keira was crying in the car on the way because she wanted to see a white bunny and not the brown one. I realized that it was because she wanted pizza from Sbarro, which is right by the white bunny at Laurel Park. Once she was assured that there was a Sbarro at 12 oaks, she calmed down. I promised them that if they did a good picture, they could get pizza afterwards. We did a bit of running around getting changed into picture clothes, but then Soren walked right up to the bunny and gave him a big hug. Keira was happy to stang by him for the picture. I was go pleased that there were no tears or stress!

After getting changed again and getting our pizza, we played on the rides in the food court for a while. Ryan was able to get in some mountain biking with a small group in a huge park near the apartment. It was a complicated trail system with no set route, so he was glad he found some people to ride with. It also had some very challenging terrain.

On Friday, there was not a storytime at the library while Keira was at school. After my workout, I headed down to Laurel Park and they were doing storytimes there by local "celebrities" to promote reading. We attended a reading of "The Penny House". It was read by Brian Meaken of the Livonia City Council. We were also given a copy of the book to keep. Soren was a bit bummed that we couldn't play at the mall too, as the story was a lot longer than I expected and we were almost late getting Keira. She was funny once I got her. She said that she learned that a xylophone was used to look at bones. I asked her if she meant X-Ray, and she said yes. Today they learned about the letter X.

After getting Keira, we met up with Linda for lunch at McDonalds, and she watched Keira and Soren so that I could get some things done around the house. The big accomplishment was getting the patio all cleaned up and cleared of leaves from the fall. It looks very empty right now, but I was really glad to get it done since storms were forecasted for the weekend.

Ryan got back into town around the time I was picking up Keira and Soren. We decided to have everyone meet at Noodles for dinner with Kris and Linda.

On Saturday, we woke up to the sound of rain. Ryan's ride plans were on hold, and then it stopped raining. Ryan made some calls and they decided to postpone until noon, and I took the opportunity to run 10 miles with Valerie in the neighborhood. It was great to for a run with her; it had been a while. I was able to finish up just in time for Ryan to leave. It started to sprinkle a bit as he left the house, but for the most part was a decent ride.

That afternoon, I got signed up for my first half Iron distance triathlon. It is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. I feel pretty good about everything excpet the bike. I had some trouble with the website, so I actually ended up registering through the race sponsor directly. Hopefully that doesn't cause any confusion with packet pick up. Later, we went over to Kent and Valerie's house for some pizza and to hang out before we head out of town. We will miss them! I am glad that we have several triathlon, cycling, and running events that we will be doing together over the summer.

Sunday was a rough day for the kids. We kept them up too late last night. They were pretty tired all day. Soren went back to sleep after waking up early and took a nap before church. We had to wake him up to leave. He looked so cute asleep!

We had a fairly good day at church, they were just tired enough to be pretty snuggly but not crying or misbehaving tired. We had a low key evening at home and worked to get Ryan packed up to head down on Monday.