Fire & Ice Festival

So our county executive might not be the most popular guy, but we really like that he puts on great events like the Brooksie Way and the Fire and Ice Festival, both held right here in Rochester.

This was a super cold weekend, but we bundled up and had a GREAT time!

Fri night was crazy windy, so we stayed home and watched the fireworks from Katie's window. We're so lucky to be so close to downtown! The fireworks were super loud even from in the house, that they knocked down two things from Katie's wall!

Sat night we ventured downtown to see the lights, ice sculptures, and fireworks. Wind chill advisory be damned, our downtown was packed and we had an awesome time!









We took a horse drawn carriage ride! Free, like everything at the festival!






It started snowing hard right before the fireworks began. We watched them from the top of the Farmers Market lot. Great view of the fireworks, as well as the tubing, ice skating, and live music stage!



The girls had fun sliding down this hill on their butts:



Fireworks for 15 min!



Girls on a park bench. We have a lot of snow. Tubing is going on behind them.



Climbing one of the many snow mountains:



After church today, we went back for more fun! Sure, it was only 7 degrees, windy, and snowing. But we are tough!

Tubing down the 3rd St hill:



We all tried cross country skiing!









And snowshoeing!



Warming up in a tent, while waiting for dog sledding.










Chris and Katie getting a dogsled ride:












The only activity we didn't do was ice skating on the outdoor rink. It is really snowing hard today, so the skating wouldn't be so great. Also, we just went to the indoor rink on Friday (snow day), and can skate outside at two local ponds anytime. I have a feeling they're going to stay frozen for a long time. :(

We ended our fun day with a late lunch at Sumo Sushi, of course! Now we're lounging at home, reading, napping, and playing iThings.

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Katie

Katie had midterms this past week, so she had half days of school on Wed & Thurs. She and I went on a lunch date each day! This is at a local diner...a HUGE plate of chicken Parmesan!


We also went to Hibachi House for a chop-chop lunch. School was cancelled Friday due to wind chills, so she'll have her last midterms on Monday (or whenever we ever have school again...it's supposed to be even colder the next three days!!)

She got good grades in her four "academic" subjects: an A-, a B+, and two Bs. She's a hard worker, doing this all on her own!

Yesterday was her first basketball game! Her team won a close, intense game, 32-27. Katie scored 4 points!! Her first two shots of the game!!

Before the game, deciding whom to guard: (Katie's #7)



Our little point guard!



She handled all of the inbound passes, and dribbled down the court:



Good defender! And she even grabbed a few rebounds!



It was a nail biter of a first game, but had a great ending!

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Auto show

On MLK Jr. Day, we went to the North American International Auto Show, aka the Detroit Auto Show, with Mom & Dad C.  It was as fun as always.  Lots of lights, screens, special effects, pretty girls, and, of course, cars.

Meg and Jess squeezed into the back of this Jaguar somehow!  But had trouble getting out.

Kids in a Jeep!

My models on a Plum Crazy Dodge Charger.

Jess & Meg in a tiny Fiat.

Mom in an electric Fiat.

Jessica was born to model.

Mom wanted to get into the biggest Dodge Ram she could find.  She made it in, even without running boards!  It was funny to watch, though!

Dad got several pictures with pretty girls, but I don't have any on my phone.  You'll have to check Mom's blog.  Dad said that Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat had the prettiest girls in the auto show!  Haha!

This was more like a bicycle than a car.

Girls and the Kia hamster.

We found a Smart ForTwo in MSU colors!

We went to Greektown for a yummy lunch at Pizza Papalis.  We also went to the Greek bakery next door to pick out desserts for later.

The People Mover ride to and from Greektown was the best part of the day for me!!  I always love it.


Looking out on our ride through downtown Detroit.

Hart Plaza and the RenCen

Oh, Canada!  And the Detroit River.

There's the Ambassador Bridge.

Girls with Joe Louis

Two iconic sculptures: the fist and the Spirit of Detroit.

My favorite mural/graffiti on the drive downtown.

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School fun

Last week, I got to be a chaperone on Megan's class field trip to Van Hoosen farm & museum in Rochester Hills.  We got a wonderful tour of the house, and learned a lot about Michigan history.

See Megan raising her hand in the front?  She knew a LOT of the answers - my little smarty!

In the library, we learned more, and got to handle artifacts from an archaeological dig on the site.

That night was Katie's choir concert!  Look at all of her adoring fans!

Katie's wearing a pink shirt, in the bottom right corner.  She was in a quartet, and the choir sang about ten songs.  This is less than half of the sixth grade choir; the other group was on the other side of the stage.  There was a bit of acting between some of the songs.

Grandma C. Said it was the BEST 6th grade concert she's ever attended!  (Keep in mind most of them she's attended were band concerts, where the kids had just picked up the instrument for the first time!)

Family pic after the concert.

We've been having magnificent sunrises on our drives to school lately.  This is one of many mornings that we oooooh and ahhhh!

Jessica published her first book at school.  It is a big deal!  She was supposed to "zoom in on a small moment" and describe what happened with first, next, and last sentences.

Notice the tie-dye school t-shirt.  She was distraught at the coloring of the background, she said she didn't have enough time to color it the way she wanted.

This is my favorite picture - look at her reflection in the mirror!!  Amazing!!

The End.

Katie has been going to basketball practices the past few weeks.  Her first game is Saturday, and she is going to be a point guard for the 2nd rotation of players!!  I can't believe it!!

New jersey

Go number 7!!

And on Saturday, Katie took a 6 hour babysitting class through the American Red Cross and Crittenton Hospital.  She passed with flying colors, and can't wait to babysit!  She wants to earn money to buy an iTouch.  Bram, Greyson, Violet...are you ready??!!

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