Sunday

Some photos of our visit with Grandma Alice in Sturgis.

Mikey and I walked along the old Michigan Southern line, now abandoned between Sturgis and Coldwater. We found Several railroad spikes but left them in Grandma's backyard. It was so quiet and peaceful. I could have walked along the tracks all day.
The video is of a cool stick bug on Grandma's porch.

Vegameatavitamin

Take 1

Take 2

making tracks

Horray for Holywood

Holywood is what Miss Sabga refers to her class and the Red Carpet to Heaven.
The first day of school went very well thank God. There are several new students in each class and the girls like their teachers. It was just a half day but Isabel fell asleep after she got home and swam. :)

down by the old mill stream

More historic exploration along the Rouge River. This is the remains of Meads Mills (1873) which were apparently moved to this spot at some point in the past when the Rouge River was diverted to make Hines Drive Park. A local widow bequeathed the Wayne County Road Commision money from her estate to save the ruins.

a guinea pig and her girl

nature walk

Sunday afternoon at the E.L. Johnson Nature Center in Bloomfield.
Leigh and I used to come here, long before any of our kids were born, back when we were dating.
The last photo is of Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church also in Bloomfield Township.

beer belly

Some photos that Tita Tina took of the boys

Uncle Nolly

school already?

Yes. The girls officially start school next Tuesday August 25th. A full two weeks before all the rest of the state. There is a mixture of excitement and dread but mostly they are looking forward to it. Getting up early will certainly be tough at first. The girls all have their new uniforms and shoes. Maria is excited because being in 5th grade, she no longer wears the jumper. Isabel finished all her summer homework and then some. I think that reading books to her and all our trips to the library when she was younger really paid off and of course Mrs Peters really makes reading fun. In fact, today when Leigh dropped off the school supplies at school both Mrs Peters and the 1st grade teacher, Mrs Hayward commented on how impressed they were. Carmen and Maria both came close to finishing and probably could have done it had we pushed harder.
Yesterday we went downtown and saw The Apple Dumpling Gang. It's a movie that we watched up north at Grandma & Grandpa's house this summer and happen to be showing at the Penn Theater. It is a cute & silly movie that was fun to watch on the big screen with an audience laughing so hard at such clean comedy.
In other news, all 3 girls had dentists appointments and Carmen & Maria got another clean bill of health although poor Isabel had 2 cavities. Hopefully we can do better with the boys.

"goodbye cruel world"

That is one of Mikey's many new catch phrases. He has taken to reciting lines from movies lately at the most random moments. We said goodbye to Tina and Kevin, who treated us to lunch and ice cream downtown before heading back home today. Mikey was in full form at the restaurant, flirting with the waitress who thought he was adorable. It was so cute.

Mikey waiting for the train. These signals near the diamond interchange let us know if a train is coming and from what direction.

that old tree in Elk Rapids

I found this picture of Maria and her long hair from April 2005. The second one is from earlier this year before the tree branch cracked and was finally cleared away.

A visit from Tina & Kevin

Tina & Kevin arrived on Saturday afternoon and we have been with them pretty much since then. As much as we, the kids and my parents are excited to see them I think Excelsior the cat is the most excited! Kevin has been under the weather a bit. He and Tina had just come back from LA where Elfant did 3 shows. Grandma Paula has, of course, been filling us all with great food and especially Kevin. Grandma Paula has the whole week off work but Kevin & Tina head back to NYC on Tuesday.

Saturday night we walked down to Woodward Avenue to watch the Dream Cruise and get some ice cream. Yesterday after Mass grandma, Tita, the girls and Mikey went to see G-Force which the kids loved because it was about small fury animals (guinea pigs specifically) but DecentFilms.com says it was a poor imitation of last years Bolt.
Some funny pictures of Mikey below although he looked much funnier in person.

Isabel & Hershey Kiss spending some quality bonding time together. The only time when when the kids are not holding the guinea pig is when she is sleeping in her cage at night. She doesn't seem to mind the attention at all, she appears to be as laid back as our last two GPs have been. In fact we even took her shopping to Trader Joes today, Isabel carried her in a little purse and no one was the wiser ;)