Actually, we had wanted to go to Ann Arbor to see Megan, Lars and the kiddos basically since we knew we were moving to Boston. We planned a lovely trip, stopping in western New York on the way there, hoping to stop in Cleveland to see residency friends, and returning via Toronto and Niagara Falls. Then we found out that Grace's school started a week earlier this year and we had to cut the trip short. So, we dead-headed to Ann Arbor last Saturday, and took two days returning, getting home just in time for Grace to bathe and have a good night's rest before school started. We were pretty bummed, but still had a great time! And it meant we got vacation part two...
Here are snaps of a few of our adventures. There are pictures of the babies, but not handy... if I wait till they are I won't get this posted. So, look forward to another round!
Lars and Steve took Bjorn and Grace canoeing on Sunday morning. Megan and I walked with the babies over to a cute coffee shop in a cute part of town and had iced coffee and adult conversation while Henry and Elsa slept. It was perhaps the quietest hour of the weekend and such a treat. Meanwhile, back at the river...
After pizza in the backyard, they pulled out all the stops to make Grace think houses with yards are the best thing ever: bouncy house, water balloons, water canons, a hammock, sidewalk chalk, hockey sticks. At first, she hid the filled-water balloons like Easter eggs.
We headed downtown for ice cream - the streets were filled with U of M students gearing up to start classes and there was music in the streets. Ann Arbor reminds me so much of Bellingham. We strolled home, admired the charming houses, and Grace and Bjorn ran nearly the entire way in an exceptionally competitive game of Red Light/Green Light (I didn't know it was a competitive game until seeing two four year olds play). What is better than ice cream on a midwestern summer evening?
In the mornings, we lingered over coffee, nursing babies while Grace and Bjorn (and Lars) ran laps around the living room/kitchen/dining room circuit. After a stupendous lunch at Zingermans on Monday, we spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens. There was a lovely children's garden, and we all had fun exploring.
These two just kill me.
You should see the other pictures in this series as we tried to get one with everyone's eyes open, everyone right side up, etc.
Blurry, but Steve deserves credit for hauling/pushing three of the four kids to to DQ for blizzards... a fitting end of summer rite.
Not pictured are the good conversations with old friends, the giant messes the kids made - including a bouncy house out of couch cushions, lounging in the backyard, celebrating Lars' birthday (a bit early), and drinking gin and tonic. When we got home, Grace said "I'm glad to be home, but I miss where we were. I really loved it there." I couldn't have put it better myself.
To break up the drive home, we stopped at Niagara Falls overnight (we had hoped for a reprise of the 2007 Niagara Falls glow in the dark mini-golf tournament with Megan and Lars, but it didn't work out for the me to join us). That place is crazy - kind of Pigeon Forge meets Las Vegas meets natural wonder plus a dash of Canadian. The falls are amazing, and I tried to imagine what it would be like if they had been developed as a national park rather than a tourist trap. Nevertheless, we had fun, and it was a good break from the road.
We hit the road early Wednesday morning. All in all, the kids did great on the drive. Henry had a few rough patches on the way to Ann Arbor, but the return trip was much smoother. I had to join a conference call for work while we were driving and Henry flipped in the middle of it so we stopped for lunch. Of course, the only service plaza (so strange to a westerner how the toll roads here have service plazas every 50ish miles that have just one dining option - efficient, but strange; hilarious because Grace kept thinking we were at the same one and being confused when the chairs were different or something) had a McDonalds. So, I was on the phone and trying to eat and feed Henry at the same time. The place was nearly empty so Steve took Henry to change his diaper on a nearby table (I know, I know), simultaneously Grace dropped her fries and sat down on the floor to pick them up but I looked over and she was just sitting there eating them... it's nothing but class when we travel!
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