Bunker Beach

Leah and I spent last Tuesday with our friends Michael and his mom, Sara. We took the kids to Bunker Beach. Leah took awhile (okay, forever) to warm up to the activity center in the adventure pool as well as the wave pool. After much convincing, she first tried the wave pool and had a blast. Back at the adventure pool, she still shied away from the slides. I don't know why- she would jump of the edge of the pool, she would go up the stairs to the slide, she would jump off the stairs, she would dive underwater, but she would NOT go down the slides. Michael even tried to convince her that the slide was fun, and, at one point, was trying to pull her up to the slide by holding her hand- adorable. Finally, after much bribery (she didn't even go for the M&M bribe which usually works every time), she tried the slide. Once she tried it, it was hard to get her off of it!

Adventure Pool

Wave Pool

Leah Underwater

Leah jumping off the edge

And, finally, she tries the slide

Michigan

We spent 8/13-17 in Michigan. Well, 8/13 and 8/17 were pure driving days considering it was about 14 hours in the car with rest stops. Leah did a great job. She has always been a great traveler. My mom joined us on this trip. We go every year to visit Joe's dad, Shorty. We had a nice visit with him. We also spent a little time with Joe's Grandma Lucille and her friend Andy. Leah no longer needs time to "warm up" to Grandpa Shorty. It was fun to see how she greeted him with open arms.

We went to the worlds largest Christmas Store, Bronner's, where my mom and Joe both went crazy! We spent some time at Lake Erie. We also tried to do our ritual feed the fish at Cabela's but we got there too late, and the fish were already done eating. This was tough for Leah as she loves to feed the fish with Grandpa Shorty!

On Sunday, my Mom watched Leah. It seems they had quite the water day! About 4 hours total in the hotel pool (2 in the morning and 2 in the evening) with 31/2 hours spent at a beach on Lake Erie. We were told that Leah had a blast playing in the waves!

Joe, Shorty and I went to the Carfax 400 Nascar Race at Michigan International Speedway. It was a very warm day. But, we did have a slight rain delay for a mild shower. The shower was actually nice to cool us off a little bit! The race was going great- Jimmie Johnson lead most of the laps, but then, with 3 laps to go he had to pit- ran out of gas! So, Brian Vickers won the race. Neither Joe's Driver, Tony Stewart or mine, Jimmie Johnson, finished very well- 17, and 33 respectively! Oh well.

Today, Leah and I spent some time with Tiffanie, Thea and Delila. As always, the girls had a blast.



Then Leah and I met my old college roomies for dinner tonight. So fun to catch up!

Back to the "real world" tomorrow. Not looking foward to it!

Pizza Train

We spent the past weekend up in Duluth visiting Aunt Vicky, Uncle Jim, and cousins. We were lucky enough to be able to see all the cousins- Chris, John, and Jim was in town and he came over with fiancee Sam. Fun to see all of them. Chris and John were also so good at playing with Leah- very fun to watch! I even think Leah was "flirting" with cousin Chris.

Vicky, Jim, Leah, Joe and I all went on the "Pizza Train" which goes from the Duluth train depot about 17 miles up the North Shore. It was a fun trip and did not feel like the 2.5 hours that it was. Leah really enjoyed the ride. Enjoyed her pizza, but I think she was most excited that she got to have root beer and the ring sucker! She did not even flinch when walking from car to car, or walking in the open car which was very rocky. She is growing up! She really had a great time. Thanks Vicky and Jim.

Exciting

Joe and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat yesterday. Always a great sound to hear. 160 beats/min!

Excited

Yesterday, I took Leah with me as I registered for the dance/gymnastic combo class she is going to take this year. She was so excited. It was an open house, so the kids were able to use the gym equipment- which made it difficult to leave! She also got fitted for her dance shoes. While she was getting fitted, the instructor said that she might want to wear tights with her shoes, but some just wear socks. After I was able to successfully drag her away, she asked multiple times when she would be going back for class.

So, last night, after we put her to bed, she got back up and proceeded to lay out her leotard, shorts and tights. She laid them on her chair as neatly as she could- it was really quite adorable. This morning she informed me that was for when she went to dance class. This evening when we got home- she had to put them on (well, all but the tights).

I am thinking she is just a little excited!