Katie's new bedroom

It was very weird to have Katie gone for two weeks in August.  (and very quiet!)  She had a GREAT time in Alpena.  I know she bonded a lot with everyone up there, but especially with Hazel.  She gained a lot of self-confidence by handling a lot of different situations.

While she was gone, the other two girls and I concocted a secret plan to re-do her room.  She has wanted a "new" room for a while, and we always said sure, as soon as you clean up your room enough so we can get around in there.  Well, that never happened.  Katie has some organizational issues, as you can see from the "before" pictures!  The girls and I wanted to surprise her, so we boxed everything up, cleaned it out, and redecorated it while she was gone!

Before:

It took us a full day to get everything out of her room.

We interrupt this redecorating project with a well-deserved trip to DQ!

Then we cleaned and prepped the walls

Then it was time to paint!  We went with lime green, one of Katie's favorite colors.

We bought her new: bedding, chairs, curtains, closet door knobs, light, desk accessories, and lots of wall decorations.  It was so fun!

All painted, and starting to move things back in.

Katie was SO surprised when she got home!!

New comfy reading chair in the corner, where her bed used to be

A trip to DQ to celebrate Katie's return home and her new room!!

Day in Detroit

One beautiful Saturday in late August, we spent the day doing some new things in Detroit.

We started at Eastern Market, a huge farmer's market with many, many sheds.  The deals were fabulous!  I wanted to buy it all!

There are lots of little shops near Eastern Market, and we went in the candy store.

Lunch was at a favorite place - Slow's BBQ

Chris and Meg picked the same lunch

On our walk back to our car from Slow's, we came upon a drag racing thingy!  We walked up to watch it for a while.  Two cars at a time would line up (and do spinouts like the one above to get there), and then would race around the old train station (in the background).  It was exhilarating!

Lineup of cars to race.  There were alllll sorts of cars, old and new, and all were heavily modified for street racing.  I've never seen anything like it!

 

Then we went to the Heidelburg Project.

Awesome street art in a Detroit neighborhood street.

We donated toward the project, and the girls got to put their hands on a fence on Heidelburg St.

Then we went to the brand new DNR Outdoor Adventure Center.  I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but it was awesome!  So much to do and see and learn!

Jess in a fishtank

Meg on a simulated kayak ride

Jess kayaking

Resting near the waterfalls

Giant tree slide

Climbing the giant tree

Cool rope walkway in the tree branches

Fun shooting game

The girls "drove" an ATV on a simulated trail ride

Fun with a bald eagle

Then we walked across the street to the harbor on the Detroit River

Check another state park off our list!

The DNR center from the outside.  It's a cool old warehouse on the Detroit River, that's been completely renovated.

Then we took Chris to Atwater Brewery, for his favorite beer (Vanilla Java Porter)

On our drive home, we hit the Woodward Dream Cruise (on purpose).  Here's a Delorean.  Like the plates?

Lots of old cars

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Lots of Plymouth Prowlers in a row

Lots and lots of old cars

Two Vipers

It was a very Detroit day!!

More August fun

Here is a sampling of some of the fun we had in August:

 

Swimming at the beach with friends

Lots and lots of playgrounds

Many walks to DQ!

Gorgeous sunsets on our walks

A few bike rides to the cider mill for ice cream

One day we went to a friend's parent's house, on a little man-made lake.  The girls had a blast with the boats!

And paddleboard!

Jess is a natural on paddleboards.  She stands up and can maneuver anywhere.

We went to a friend's pool one afternoon, and theirs has a diving board.  Can you believe the girls had never jumped off a diving board before??!!  They had so much fun!

Their friends also taught them how to dive.  (before it looked more like a belly flop)

One afternoon we went tubing on Lake Orion.  Chris and Megan caught some serious air!

Then we anchored so we could swim for a while.  The dads jumped on tubes to pop the kids in the air and off the tube.

Jess was the littlest, and she got the most air

Jess getting popped off again and again

Back to our swallowtails!  They got bigger and bigger, of course, and pooped a LOT!

We had fun scaring them and getting them to stick out their horns!

One morning our parsley looked like this.  It was time to supplement.  We stuck a small vase in the pot, and brought them sprigs of parsley from our garden.

One morning, eagle eye found a tree frog.  I don't know why, but she decided to put it on her nose.

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Jess had to try, too, of course!

They posed him all around the yard.  My favorite is this one in the mailbox.  He's so tiny!