First Days of Fall

This week was pretty low key.  We needed some downtime after last weekend.  Waking up early every morning for school has been making us pretty tired.  We did find some fun things to do around town.

On Monday, the most exciting thing that happened today was that the Mazda turned 100K today.  I had thought it might happen on the return trip, but we were 11 miles short. 

Keira wore one of her "Keira dolly" outfits today, and Soren complained a bunch about going to the gym.

We did still have some of this left to keep Soren happy, though.

On Tuesday, Soren slept in really late.  We didn't have time to go to the gym before going to storytime, and we almost didn't go at all because there is one at the library here at the same time.  We did go, and got double stamps, so it was worth it. 

We also learned that while we out of town, we missed a train festival in LaGrange, and saw a picture in the newspaper of the "Flying Dutchess", an old steam train that looks like Thomas the Tank (Soren thought it looked like Percy).  After storytime, we headed into La Grange to find the train.  It was just a shell, as it had been taken apart for transportation to La Grange, but Soren loved it.  He did notice that it couldn't "chug", since it was missing peices.

Since we skipped the gym, I took Soren on a short stroller run in the neighborhood.

On Wednesday, it was a bit bleary out.  Once I got Keira on the bus, I got Soren ready to go for a run in the neighborhood.  Keira wore this outfit on her first day of preschool for Miss Sheila's class!

We did go to the gym for a short swim workout after the run, but Soren still complained.  We checked out the Y after, but Soren didn't seem any more interested in going there either.  It is just as well, as it is expensive compared to Urban Active.  It is pretty nice though, smaller, but nice.

On Thursday, we went to Keira's book fair at school first thing.  They each picked out a book to keep. 

I thought the sun looked cool coming in the window this morning.

We also started getting things out for fall, since today was the last day of summer.   The kids always love wearing their bone jammies.

On Friday, I took a rest day and took the car in for its 100K oil change. 

We kept the rest of the day low key and baked up some chocolate chip pumkpin muffins.  They were easy and very tasty. 

We went to Michael's today, and Soren fell asleep in the car, and stayed asleep the entire time in the store (we were just browsin), back into the car, and made the transfer back into his bed at home.  I also got the rest of the fall decorations out, with the exception of the one new thing I couldn't find.  I am sure it is with something really strange, since it was new and wasn't put away with the Halloween things.  I did see it in the new house, so I just have to find it.  I was feeling really run down, and ate so many muffins that I didn't feel like eating anything for dinner and just wanted to go to bed.  The kids had left over pasta, and I had a bit of it as well, and then went to sleep.  Soren woke me up at 10:30.  Ryan had not been able to get him to go to sleep at all, due to his long nap late in the evening.

On Saturday, I felt OK given the 12 hours or so of sleep I got.  It was a bit drizzly, and so I did an easy run in the cool dampness.  After I finished up running and taking a shower, I took the kids over to the Hike and Bike on Commerce Road.  This is the road that has the nice stroller friendly path that I like to take the kids to run.  They closed off the road, so Keira and Soren could ride in the road.  We didn't stay long.  We got there with about a half hour left to go, and there weren't many people there.  Keira and Soren did a bit of riding, but we ready to go by the time it was officially over and they opened the road.  Keira was pretty grumpy.  She didn't like Soren to be ahead of her at all.

We got my medal hanger hung today.

We had hoped to go to Hubers today after Ryan was done watching the UM game.  We got loaded up in the car and ready to go, and started off.  It is about a 50 minute drive.  We got stuck in really bad traffic from contruction.  There was a detour routing everyone the way we needed to go, which also was under construction, and then there was an accident to complicate things.  We hopped off the freeway to try to take River Rd downtown to pick up the next freeway, and made a mistake getting back on the freeway.  We couldn't get to the road we needed to, and it pretty much routed us back the way we came, and there was no way we were sitting in that traffic again.  The kids were pretty bummed out when they woke up at a restuarant, and not the farm.  We had a nice dinner at Cheddar's instead.  It was one of those unusual dinners where we ordered them each a dinner, and everything got eaten.

On Sunday, we attended church as usual.  Soren is still on his "tie" kick, and did not want to wear his tie under his vest today.  He is so funny.

Ryan went home teaching, and we were home taught, so it was a pretty full day.

MI Trip to Celebrate with the Cousins

This week was relatively low key as usual.  Our weekend was even more packed this week than last.  I took the kids to MI to attend Avery's baptism and Lleyton's birthday party.  We also threw in some cider mills/farms too while we were there.

On Monday, Keira has school and ballet.  I had a great swim while she was at school. 

Soren had a blast mowing the lawn.   It was a nice day for a mow!

On Tuesday, I took Soren to a special Curious George storytime at PBK.  He was afraid at first of George, but he enjoyed the story.  By the time the story was over, he had warmed up enough for a picture.

I also made some banana muffins, and Keira had a blast making paper dolls from catalogs.  She will get really involved, and stay occupied for a long time.

On Wednesday, I took the truck into the dealership since the blower motor had gone out on the climate control.  We spent most of the morning there, but did have enough time to squeeze in a run before Keira came home from school.

Keira and Soren rode bikes a bit after school.

On Thursday, I did my long run indoors and then headed over to Keira's school to watch the Tiger Trek, a fundraiser for the school.  It was a 30 minute run/walk/dance/ect outside.  It was really fun, and I was glad I ran into Shannon this morning who asked me if I was going to go.  I don't think I would have thought of going on my own.

Friday was a long day.  It was the day that I was allowed to register for the Boston Marathon.  I was pretty stressed about this all week, since the process started on Monday.  I needed to be at the computer at exactly 10am to sign up, as it was first come first serve for all people who had qualified by 5 minutes or more.  I was super excited that I was able to get my application submitted.  I am still waiting for verification, which has been taking a couple business days to happen.  Hopefully I will get it Tuesday.  After this, I worked on packing for our trip to MI.  Sadly, Ryan had a last minute request at work that did not let him come with us.  We didn't get on the road as quickly as we probably should, but waited a bit hoping that Ryan would make it.  We had traffic and construction that plagued our drive.  We finally made it to Chipotle for dinner, and made it to Kris and Linda's a little before 11.  Soren didn't sleep hardly at all on the drive, taking a short nap early on, and then staying awake until we past the Detroit airport. 

Saturday was insanely busy.  We crammed in about a month's worth of Saturdays into today.  I got up early to run 6 miles with Valerie.  It was great to have a nice cool run with her.  We ran in her neighborhood, our go to place for running with little time.  We both had things going on this morning.  I rushed back so that I could get cleaned up and the kids dressed for Avery's baptism.  We made it in plenty of time and really enjoyed the baptism.  Bailey did a great job with her talk on baptism and musical number.  Keira really enjoyed Linda's talk on the Holy Ghost.  Soren was happy to meet another Soren too.

 Greg, Avery, and Ellyn

 Soren and Soren

 Bryn, Keira, and Miranda

 Keira and Avery

 Bryn and Avery

After the baptism, we went over to the MSU Tollgate Fall Open House.  I was really excited that this event was today and it worked out that we could attend.  We have gone to this event for the past couple of years, and the kids have enjoyed doing crafts and decorating pumpkins.  Oddly enough, this was the first year that we went on the hayride.  We were able to meet up with some friends too, Keira's friend Charlotte and her family.  

After leaving Tollgate, we stopped at REI, and then we went to Three Cedars.  This is always fun.  Their cider isn't quite as good as Parmenter's (so we only got a 1/2 gallon), but the whole experience is really fun for the kids.  We didn't do a hayride here, because Keira said we didn't need to since we already did one today.  We did have fun with the train, the corn box, and the mini tractors.  Soren did not want to leave.

Next, we headed back to Ann Arbor to Delhi Metropark to attend Lleyton's birthday.  Keira and Soren had a blast playing with their cousins, since they couldn't really "play" at the baptism.  The kids had a lot of fun on the playground.  Keira did not like the pinata.  She did not want to hit it, and instead pulled one of the strings.  Soren did not have a problem hitting it, but then did not like seeing it break.

We finished off the evening opening presents back at Greg and Ellyn's house.  It was a long long day for me and the kids.  Soren was so exhausted that when we got back to Kris and Linda's, he didn't even wake up when I changed him into his diaper and pjs.

Sunday morning, we were up and going again.  We attended church with Linda in the morning.  Keira and Soren were very well behaved.  We were unable to go to Parmenters on Saturday to pick up cider for Ryan since we would have problems keeping it cold.  We went over there after church and got a gallon of cider as well as a dozen donuts.  The kids played for a little while before I pryed them away from the train and small houses. 

We got on the road and had a slow drive back with many stops, but got in before dinner time.  The kids were happy to see Ryan and happy to be home.  It was a fun time, but it really wore me out!  I was glad I was able to fit in several of my favorite things from MI fall.  We hope to check out a farm nearby in Indiana.