A bunch of us girls decided to run a 5k for a fun girls night out. The Red Carpet Run is a dress up in gowns, tuxedos, etc. run. We all got together the day before the race and made tutus. We had a ton of fun making them and they looked great too!!
In the picture: Jonelle, Lindsey, Natalie, Rochelle, Andrea, & Marti
We arrived at the registration table only minutes before they shot the gun. We were still pinning on our bibs when we started the race. It was a very stressful start, but it all turned out great! I had only run once since the middle of May, so I was pretty nervous about being able to finish, let alone get a good time. I did better than I thought I would though and finished with a respectable time of 27 minutes and 24 seconds.
Crossing the finish line on the red carpet!
All of us with our souvenir champagne glasses after the race.
Strutting my stuff on the Red Carpet!
After the run we headed over to Swirl Berry and had a treat. Yummy!
The first week of Sept. my parents came to visit. They started off their trip in Wisconsin and then Indiana to visit relatives and ended up here in Ann Arbor to finish it off. The morning after they got here we headed out to a Fruit Farm to pick some fresh blueberries. It was a beautiful morning and the blueberries were delicious! Hayden was eating them almost as fast as we could pick them. Between us we picked 10-12 lbs worth of blueberries.
Heading out with our buckets to pick.
Picking our blueberries.
Some of our bags of blueberries after we were done picking.
After lunch and Hayden's nap we went to Toys R Us and let Hayden pick out his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Miller. He chose a car transporter and a tractor puzzle.He loved playing with it with Grandpa. Hayden would say "Grandpa's turn, Hayden's turn." By the time we took the video he wouldn't say it anymore, so Grandpa had to do it. Then we visited the famous Zingermann's Deli. The sandwiches were delicious, but a little more expensive than we thought they would be.
On Friday Sept. 4th we drove into Deerborn near Detroit to check out the Christmas Carol Train Tour. After riding a bus to the very back of the Henry Ford Museum area, we boarded the Christmas Carol Train. They had mannequins in costume from the movie, sneak peaks of the movie, models of building and people from the movie, and even a place to warp your own face into one of the characters from the movie. The warped pictures turned out kind of funny looking, but we had a good time.
Tyler and Hayden on their way to the train.
My dad, Hayden and I waiting in line to board the train.
Our family at the fire getting warm.
Tyler leaving the train. The entire train had been covered by enormous sticker type things to decorate it.
Hayden loved seeing all the trains. He was a little scared too, when this big black one went by us shortly after we excited the blue train.
Hayden trying to go see another train.
Next we visited the Henry Ford Museum. My dad knew about a lot of the machines in the museum and had a great time telling us fun stories from his past involving a lot of those machines. My mom had quite a few of her own to add.
The cars of rock and roll exhibit.
Hayden wanted to drive every car he saw. Luckily he was able to drive a few and one of those was the Miley Cyrus smart car.
In one exhibit you can help put together a Model T car. Hayden got to do the back wheel. Here he is tightening it on.
Father and son enjoying the massive trains.
My mom and dad exploring the trains too.
Tyler and Hayden racing their cars down the ramp.
After the Model T was put together, we could ride in it. Our driver seemed a little young, but we all made it through.
Tyler entering the Rosa Parks Bus.
Sitting where Rosa Parks sat.
We had a lot of fun at the museum, but we were all exhausted for the ride home. One of Hayden's favorite activities while my parents were here was jumping from the couch onto the air mattress.
On Saturday we had a yummy breakfast of crepes with fruit and then Tyler took us on a University of Michigan campus tour. We saw the business school, the Law Quad including the library, the union building and even the "Cube."
The University of Utah's emblem in the Law School's stain glass windows.
Hayden trying to touch the fountain.
Tyler turning the Cube.
Hayden turning the Cube.
After the tour we all took a nap and then watched the Michigan Football game. We had fun playing hand and foot each evening after Hayden went to bed.
My parents had to leave the next day after church. We had a great time with them and welcome any other visitors.
We returned home from our trip to Utah and within 48 hours we were off again up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our friends the Edwards joined us for this adventure. It was a 6-7 hour drive to our campground up by Picture Rocks at the top of the peninsula. We arrived just in time to get our tent set up and a tarp put up over the picnic table before dark. It was raining, so we were glad we had brought extra tarps. We had a yummy dinner of spaghetti before Hayden asked to go to bed. He was exhausted after no nap! Once Hayden was in bed we played cards until the rain let up a little and then built a fire for smores. The next morning it was still overcast and drizzling, but we decided to make the most of it anyways. We ate breakfast and then got all decked out in our rain gear. We did a couple of small hikes to waterfalls (sorry I forgot my camera for those) then went and tried the "famous" pasties. A meat, potatoes, veggies mixture in a pastry thing. We weren't impressed. Then we headed back out into the rain to visit the Pictured Rocks (below).
At the lookout point for Pictured Rocks.
Hayden loved having his own private viewing window.
Tyler at the lookout point almost right on top of the Pictured Rocks.
We also walked down to the beach nearby. On a non-windy, warm day it would have been a wonderful beach with soft, nice sand and beautiful water, but that day it was super windy and freezing, so we only stayed for a few minutes and then headed back up to the car. We stopped off at Dairy Queen for some ice cream on the way back to our campsite(I know we were crazy for getting ice cream in that weather, but it tasted soooo... good). When we arrived back at our campsite this is what we found.
The tarp over our table had blown down completely and one side of our tent had blown in. Tyler and Bruce were trying to tie it down even more than they had the night before, but after much deliberation we decided it just wasn't worth trying to make it work, so we packed up our whole campsite as fast as we could and headed out. We decided to just find a cheap motel somewhere close to Mackinac Island so that we could visit there the next day. We stopped and made sandwiches under the covering of an old gas station for dinner and arrived at the motel we had found around 9pm. We were all exhausted, so we just got what we needed out of the car and went to bed.
Here is our cheap little motel for the night. Luckily with this setup we were able to still cook our breakfast out front with our camping gear.
Next we headed over to the ferry for Mackinac Island. The forecasters had said it was still going to be a very windy wet day, but it turned out to be a beautiful day.Hayden loved chasing the seagulls in the parking lot, that had been sleeping, while we waited for the ferry!
Tyler and Hayden going over to board the boat.
Our ferry.
View of the Mackinac Bridge from our ferry ride.
Our first order of business on the island was to rent tandem bikes with a child seat included on ours so that we could go out exploring, since there are no cars or trucks allowed on the island. We headed up to Fort Mackinac for our first stop.
The beautiful view of the Harbor from Fort Mackinac.
Enjoying the old fort.
Soon after we left the fort we found this wonderful grassy area right next to the water with these fun chairs to relax in. We decided this was the perfect place for our picnic lunch.
Our next stop was Arch rock.
Soon after leaving arch rock Hayden somehow fell asleep while we were riding. We continued riding around the 8.3 mile long island and stopped to take a picture with the bridge(yes, Hayden is sound asleep in this picture.) When Hayden woke up we stopped and played at the school(there is only one, which includes all grades) playground for a while before heading back to the Ferry.
We grabbed some Mackinac Island fudge ice cream before climbing back aboard the ferry. I think Hayden liked his.
Riding the ferry back to the mainland. Hayden especially liked seeing the lighthouse and talked about it afterwords for weeks.
We had a wonderful fun-filled trip despite the rain and wind to the UP and Mackinac Island with Bruce and Christie Edwards. Thanks for joining us!
After less than 24 hours of being back in Ann Arbor we headed out to Utah to visit family and ride/direct the 2nd Annual Bear Pa Challenge. I'll let Tyler blog about the actual ride, but here is what Hayden and I did during the first two days of the ride.
Just a fun picture of Tyler with Hayden and his niece and nephew Ethan and Ellie. They all coincidentally were wearing yellow and sitting on Tyler's lap at the same time. So CUTE!
The first day we watched the riders start from the park in Bear Lake and then we (Annalyn and her kids, Chelsy and her kids, my cousins Natalie and Nicole and their friend, and Hayden and I) headed down to the beach.
The water was a bit chilly, but they had a blast playing with the sand/mud.
Seth (Hayden's cousin, who is 4 days older than him) with his cup packed full of mud from the mud hole.
Hayden trying with all his might to get my feet out of the sand. Notice all the sand in his hair!
Ethan laid on his tummy down on the sand and put his face on the sand thinking it would be fun, but then when he had sand up his nose he realized it wasn't so fun anymore.
My cousins and their friend sunbathing at the mud hole we had made bigger.
Sammy (Hayden's cousin) enjoying the warmer water of the mud hole too.
The little boys favorite activity was flinging mud into the air. They ended up with it all over themselves!
Seth after a successful mud throw.
Chelsy, Gabe and Sam playing in the cold water. We all joined them a few minutes later. Sam was an awesome fish.
Ellie's difficult to see, but still cute, octopus. Look for the smiley face.
After the beach we met the riders at the park for lunch. The next day we again sent the riders on their way out of Evanston and then just Annalyn and I and our kids headed into the Uintas. We stopped at a little lake to stretch our legs and watch for the riders to pass. Cheryl and Brian found us and the kids got a chance to do some fishing.
Ellie and Ethan are great fisherman. Here they are with some of the fish they caught.
After we met the riders for lunch at the Provo River Falls we headed into Kamas to play at the South Summit Aquatic Center.
Ethan is usually completely freaked of going down big waterslides, but after going down once with Annalyn and having a life jacket on he decided it was the best thing ever. That was all he did the rest of the time we were there. Here he comes.
Hayden also thought the waterslide was the best thing ever. I kept hearing "again! again!" After swimming we met everyone else in Park City. We had a lot of fun during the ride. Thanks to everyone who helped us enjoy our visit!
Sorry in advance. This is a long post with lots of pictures. Enjoy!
Two weeks before Tyler's internship was over we finally decided it was time to hit a Cardinals game. We were way up in the nose bleed section, but otherwise our seats were great!
Up by our seats before the game started.
Busch Stadium! This was the view from our seats.
Enjoying the game.
The surprise fireworks show we saw over by the Arch.
Pujols getting hit in the back by the pitcher. The ball is actually against his back in this picture. I can't believe that is the exact moment I snapped the button!
We had a great evening at the game. The Cardinals won, which put them at the top of the league. Go CARDINALS!
The next day we headed back into downtown to take a family cruise along the Mississippi River.
Tyler and Hayden waiting in line to get on the boat.
Hayden loved pointing out all the things to see, especially the helicopters and bridges.
Fruit snacks and the arch, what a perfect combination!
Father and son enjoying the view.
After our cruise. Looks like they both had a great time.
Next we headed over to the famous Ted Drewes for some concretes. They were delicious!
A few days later we were able to take Hayden to a local community baseball game. We had gotten free tickets through a library reading program. They were called the River City Rascals.
Tyler trying to get a picture of Hayden with the mascot. He wasn't really that into it.
Tyler and Hayden eating some mid-game snacks of goldfish and raisins.
Here's the field. A little different than our Cardinals game experience, but it was free.
Enjoying the game!
Hayden sure does make a cute rascal!
I had been meaning to take Hayden to one of the many mini waterparks around St. Charles, but didn't actually get around to it until our last week there. I wish I would have gone earlier because Hayden loved it!
Checking with the lifeguard to make sure it's okay for him to go.
These slides were his favorite part.
He couldn't quite figure out how these hoses worked, but he sure had fun playing with them.
We took Hayden back to the Zoo for our last Saturday in Missouri. We went early so that we could do the stingray exhibit and ride the carousel for free.
Tyler reaching out to touch the stingray. Hayden liked looking, but wasn't so sure about the touching part.
Riding the carousel.
Inside the "Hippo-Thomas" at the children's zoo.
This was one of our favorite exhibits! Child playing with a tame monkey. He played on the rocks with his monkey for 10minutes or more. Everyone that walked by thought it was adorable and hilarious!
Even with all our other visits to the zoo we had never ridden the train, so this was our chance. Hayden was so excited! He couldn't wait to get on the train.
Hayden watching for the train to come.
Here it comes!
With the conductor.
We're finally on the train!
Daddy and Hayden riding the train.
On our way out! We loved being able to visit the zoo so often while we were in Missouri. We will miss it this winter.
Just some fun other pics! Hayden trying to put on daddy's shirt while I packed.
Hayden's packed and ready to go! What else could you need besides milk and yourself?
A couple of the other really fun things we did while here in St. Louis were the City Museum and the Magic House. The City Museum is a really fun, but crazy place to visit. It has real airplanes suspended in the air connected with wire tubes that you can crawl through, and bus hanging over the edge of the building you can pretend to drive, and large fake fire engine, and art section, and magic show, caves to explore, slides from one floor to another and even a 10 story slide from the top of the building to the bottom. It is basically a huge playground for kids of all ages. We had a ton of fun. Here are a few fun pics from our day there.
Driving the Airplane.
Driving the fire engine.
Up in the sky in one of the metal towers.Playing with blocks and trucks.
Wearing the crown we made!Daddy even got a turn to wear it! The Magic house is a hands on kids museum with an area just for younger kids. Hayden and I went on the free family night while Tyler was in Seattle giving his mid-point presentation. Because it was free that night it was a complete zoo, but we had a ton of fun. I forgot my camera, so I had to use my phone and the lighting wasn't very good, so most of my pictures turned out blurry, but here are the few that didn't.
We were so close to Bruce and Christie Edwards this summer that we decided we needed to make a trip out to visit them. They were doing their internship in Kansas City, Missouri. It was just under a four hour drive. We took off on a Friday after Tyler got off work. Hayden did great! He loved listening to "his" music and reading books in his seat. He wears this "hat" frequently when we drive.
That first night we just checked into our hotel and had the Edwards come over for games once Hayden was sleeping. Bright and Early Saturday morning though we headed out to Kaleidoscope. A fun kids art center that Hallmark puts on for free.
Hayden's first stop was to make a crown.
Then it was off to paint a medal with watercolors. He just wanted to dip the paint brush in the water and forget about the actual paints.
They had this really fun robotic looking fountain to wash your hands in after the paints. Hayden thought it was so cool!
His favorite part however, was not the art, but dancing to the music in this space looking area. He loved that when the music ended he could then push the big blue button and make it start again.
He also loved the mini trucks!
Hayden and I near the entrance to the black light room.
Here we all are with one of our masterpieces. I think the adults had just as much fun as Hayden did, and maybe even more.
After Kaleidoscope we walked next door the the Hallmark museum for quick tour. We learned a lot about Hallmark and even got to see some card machines at work. Next we headed over to Union Station to check out the train museum. Hayden loved getting to drive the full size train engine.
Pushing and pulling all the levers.
Bruce and Tyler playing on the trains!
Hayden and daddy watching the really really long train go by underneath us. Hayden absolutely loved this and wanted to see another one the rest of the trip.
After some lunch and no nap ( Hayden talked and sang the ABC song the whole time he was suppose to be sleeping) we went to a large park. They had a kids water fountain area and Hayden loved playing in it! Christie and Hayden after our fun in the water.
That evening we gave Hayden a haircut at Bruce and Christie's. Boy did he sure need it as you can see in the above picture.
For dinner we tried some Kansas City BBQ and then took a nice walk to the "Plaza" for some ice cream in the park.
While the adults played games, Hayden was such a good boy and even tried to snuggle with Santa.
The next day we took a drive up to Liberty, Missouri to see the Liberty Jail. It was a wonderful experience! Later that day we head back home to St Louis.
In the picture: Jonelle, Lindsey, Natalie, Rochelle, Andrea, & Marti
Crossing the finish line on the red carpet!
All of us with our souvenir champagne glasses after the race.
Strutting my stuff on the Red Carpet!
