Chicago

My awesome friend Amy treated Millie and I to a trip to Chicago a couple weekends ago. It was so much fun. We stayed with her good friend Harriet- who happens to live within walking distance of everything anyone would want to see in Chicago. We also got to spend some time with Amy's friend Lorette- she attended school with Kyle and Amy the first year of law school, but then transferred to Chicago after that. It was good to see her.

We had a great time...
- Dinner at Harriet's- very yummy...
- beach of Lake Michigan- Amy and I used the sand on the beach to naturally ex-foliate dead skin on our feet- it was very therapeutic
- American Girl doll store (see picture with Millie pushing dolls in stroller). Thank you Amy and Lorette for the Bitty Baby- Millie absolutely adores it!
- Cheese Cake Factory- yum!
- So many good places to eat, I couldn't even begin to name them all
- Navy Pier- Millie, Amy, and I went on the ferris wheel and carousel. Millie didn't want to go on the ferris wheel at first when she was asked, but then she said yes, and put her hands into fists and said "tight," meaning "yes, I do want to go, and I'll be okay because I'll hold on tight."
- Architechural tour of all the beautiful sky-scrapers on the Chicago river
-LDS church in Chicago- We made the time to go before we headed back home on Sunday

We had a great time and Millie did great sleeping at Harriet's and travelling in the car there and back.

Do NOT distract me!

I wanted to write something here, but I don't want to be too distracted from my present goal: reorganization and fung-shwae (somebody tell me how to spell that please) of my abode. We are moving from this place in 9 months, and by the time we go, I want to only possess what is really necessary. I don't want to move across the country with a whole bunch of junk that we don't really need (that's what we did when we moved from Utah to here). When we moved here, I kept way too much stuff that was not needed, and I don't want to repeat that mistake. As I've been parting with things that I thought I needed but really didn't, I've felt an imaginary weight being lifted from me. It feels so could to be free of stuff and not to value it so much. There really is very little that I actually need to keep and the more I part with stuff, the easier it is to part with more stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting rid of all I possess, I'm just realizing that my posessions aren't as needed as I percieved them to be.
The plan is not to add more stuff to our stuff either. Hopefully when we move, we will be happy with what we've got and choose not to accumulate more unnecessary stuff.
Check out thestoryofstuff.com to learn about stuff and why we truly don't need to accumulate so much of it, etc.
Have a good one. now I must continue on my quest for less.

Thank you for visiting Ann Arbor

We have been enjoying beautiful weather and it couldn't have come at a better time. Kyle's family came to stay with us this last week and it was nice that they got to enjoy Ann Arbor at its finest. We spent time with them doing various things around town. Kyle's bros Kurt and Kasey were the first ones to arrive here. They stayed from Friday to Thursday. Then Kyle's parents Lanell and Kerry and his sister Kohleen came from Tuesday to Saturday. So, the whole family was together for about 2 days.

With Kyle's bros, we...

- went to see the movie Hancock
- went to Gallop park (a beautiful park by the Huron river with lots of walking trails, etc)
- went to the Firefly Jazz club to listen to jazz
- Kyle, Kasey, and Kurt a driving range to hone-up their golf skills
- went to the farmer's market downtown wednesday
- ate Indian food downtown
- sat around relaxing and watching silly Millie

With Kyle's family, we...

- had a boys and girls night the first night we were together (Tuesday)
- the boys went to Connor O'Neils- an Irish eatery
- the boys (Kyle, Kurt, Kasey, and Kerry) went golfing
- the boys went to see the new Batman movie together
- the girls went to the Olive Garden to eat
- the girls went to the store to buy new nail polish- Millie chose a beautiful shade of pink and a royal red for us
- the girls painted nails- we were too tired to paint anyone's nails but Millie's
- Millie read books with Grandma Reeder
- the girls watched a movie- Lanell and I were sent to bed by Kohleen because we looked like zombies

We also...

- went to the farmer's market saturday
- walked on main street downtown- visited our favorite store, Ten Thousand Villages (we love it because it's 100% fair trade and everything is purchased from and hand made by villagers in underdeveloped countries)
- ate Greek food
- went swimming in our apartment complexes pool and got to witness Kurt, Kasey, and Kyle do amazing cannon-balls
- took Kurt and Kasey back to the airport
- visited the Detroit Institute of Arts (which is known as one of the best art museums in the nation). Millie got to touch a bronze donkey at the museum. She loved the donkey and aunt Kohleen purchased her a coin with a donkey on it at the gift shop- she loves the coin too because she already loved coin a lot.
- went to Plymouth Township Park- a park with fountains for kids to run through and fun sandboxes
- went to Greenfield Village (Greenfield Village is considered the first and largest outdoor museum in America. Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved to the property from their original locations and arranged in a "village" setting. The museum's intent is to show how Americans lived and worked since the founding of the country. The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking. A collection of craft buildings such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops provide demonstrations while producing materials used in the Village and for sale. Greenfield Village has 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land of which only 90 acres (360,000 m²) are used for the attraction, the rest being forest, river and extra pasture for the sheep and horses.--- This is much for info than you wanted, but you got it anyways)
- Played at the park with Millie
- Visited Kyle at the library on Saturday where he was working so Lanell, Kerry, and Kohleen could hug him goodbye

Well, there you have it, we had a fun week!

Thank you for visiting Ann Arbor!