18 month old catches on quickly!!!

I am almost embarrased to admit this but today my wonderful Seth 18 months old locked me out of the house...... I didn't know he knew how.  We were looking out the window and he was putting his hand on it and I thought oh, I'll go outside and put my hand on the other side of the window.  He loves doing it with me on the back window.  Then I had another thought, oh I need to take the garbage out, so I'll grab the garbage, take the 20 steps to the carport drop it in and then play with him at the window.  I do it quickly so he won't lose interest in the window, but in the 10 seconds it took he's not at the window.  So I go to the door, and find it locked.  My son moved away from the window, and in less than 10 seconds reached up to the handle, pushed the button and locked me out !!!!  But he can't turn the handle to let me in.  

No problem, Ethan who's 4 is watching a movie downstairs.  I'll ring the doorbell he'll come running and open the door..... Nope, he's too engrossed in the movie to even wonder why the doorbell keeps ringing, and someone is pounding on the door.  I finally have to pound on the window really hard right above him many times before he even bothers to notice and eventually come upstairs and let me in...  

I didn't even know my son knew how to lock the door.....  guess he does now. I'm much more aware of his ability now !!!!

Ann Arbor Michigan Here We Come

For Ellie's spring break from school on April 3rd we decided to visit for a week,my sister Andrea, her husband Tyler and their son Hayden who is only 4 days younger than Seth.  We were soooo excited to visit them and see where they live.  (originally we had planned to visit them in China... but it didn't work out)  

The trip began a little rough.  We left 1/2 hr. late because they had to de-ice the plane, which we are certainly glad they did it so we didn't fall out of the sky like a meteor, but it was longer for the kids. Seth was very tired however he found the energy to fight for 45 minutes trying everything he could do to not sleep!!!!!  

When we arrived the car rental agency had issues galore !!!! After listening to three customer complaints ranging from a tire blowout to additional charges we recieved our car, the one with the large chunk of plastic missing from the trunk handle cover.  An hour later we finally get our van, got moving, only to stop in Chicago traffic (aparrently it's always there). Moving about 5-10 mph for another 1 1/2 hours we finally said hello to the open highway, Indiana then Michigan.   Three hours later than planned we arrived at Andrea's townhouse in Ann Arbor, about midnight... They were so sweet and said they didn't mind.  All throughout the trip we really appreciated their wonderful hospitality, accomodations, and FABULOUS food.  What more could you ask?

Here we are in front of their townhome before Tyler left for 

St. Louis, Missouri to look for housing during his summer internship 

Saturday morning we started our exploration of Ann Arbor.  We visited Tyler's school and saw the "Harry Potter looking" law building, along with a few other sites on campus.  The hit of the morning was "The CUBE" for the kids and Steve. It's 15 feet tall, weighs 2,400 lbs, yet will spin with a gentle push.  Everyone took turns spinning it, even Seth and Hayden  (no pictures however, we forgot the camera).   

After that we had a cold picnic at the park where the wind kept blowing  and the kids were more interested in playing than eating. Tyler and Steve then enjoyed a golf game (since it was going to be the only good weather day at a balmy 52 degrees) with Ellie who was THRILLED to join daddy for her first golf game driving lesson!!! 

The next day we went to a delicious brunch at Andrea's friend Natalie's home, wow they can cook !!!! We watched conference online  and then had fun spending time together.  We especially had fun playing the game Alhambra.  I'd never even heard of it, but now LOVE it !!!

On Monday we were joined by our new friend Christie and even Tyler joined us.  We made the 2 hour drive to Sandusky, OH for Kalahari, an ENORMOUS indoor waterpark.  It's the biggest indoor waterpark in America.  We were amazed when we walked through the door, and it only got better !!!!!

This is just one kiddie section and part of the water roller coaster

We loved the 4 person tube slides, body slides, a water roller coaster, and a huge wave pool.   The large kiddie area with tons of small slides and things to climb on was a bit hit with Ethan Seth and Hayden, and Ellie even enjoyed it for awhile.   

Boogie Boarding here we come !!!

Steve and Tyler decided to try the flow rider.  They were standing in line, when Ethan joined them and the lifeguards said he could try it.  Ethan shocked us all by being the first one of our group to try boogie boarding on the flow rider (and of course we wouldn't have the camera)!!!!   He did really well, which shocked us that he would even want to do it, because there are kiddie slides that Seth does, but Ethan won't.....?  who knows?  Ellie followed him and then Steve and Tyler took their chance.  So after that Andrea and Annalyn decided they couldn't miss this opportunity, and  found it  to be quite fun, and Ellie must have liked it, because she even did it again, but got swept up much quicker the second time. 

We'd have more pictures of Kalahari, but we were trying to take one and someone ran by and bumped hard into Steve and the camera slipped out of his hands and onto the cement, not to open or close again..... nor take any more pictures.... aaaarrggghhh!   It was still quite the fun day!!

On Wednesday we went to the Exhibit Museum of Natural History on the University of Michigan campus.

The kids loved climbing all over this boat, and of course they go out opposite sides.

And a rare moment, all smiling, having fun in the boat,  and in close proximity to each other (easier picture opp) !!!

Ellie liked a lot of the interactive computer screens in the space rooms.  We also enjoyed the rocks, a wide variety of taxidermy animals and all the dinosaur bones.

            It was either too much fun for Ethan,... or not enough fun.....

Thursday we ventured out to the Hands on Museum. 

 

The kids loved it.  One of the first fun things was the beginning stairs each were a different musical note that played when you stepped on the stair. It was cool !!!  

It was crazy at first because they had several huge school groups, so we made the kids unhappy and took a lunch break and came back later to have the place mostly to ourselves..... much more enjoyable.  

Ellie loved being able to help Hayden do things, and Hayden of course loved the water.

We thought this bike was cool, as you pedaled you could see the bones of a skeleton moving against your own reflection, as if you were seeing your own bones moving.  It was neat. Here are some other fun photos.

We thought this was neat, a harp, that the strings were light beams, and whenever something broke the beam of light it played the note. Ellie thought it was quite fun to play.

Seth and Hayden loved putting the ball at the top of the ramp and watching it roll back and forth, down to the bottom.

This was definitely a big hit with everyone.  We loved seeing their smiles showing how much fun it was to stick their faces in it !!!

The boys loved playing with sticks outside Andrea's house.

Friday came and it was our last day together.  We decided to go to the Detroit Zoo.  It was a little chilly, but it was a big place so it kept us movin, trying to see it all quickly.

We saw....

Birds

Butterflies

Cute Kids

Frogs (blue seemed so cool.. but very poisonous)

...and more frogs

Anteaters

Peacocks

Giraffes

Metal Elephants (aren't they so lovable?)

Female Lions 

Male Lions

even metal lions (Ellie's always wanted to snuggle with a lion...?)

We were also among the privileged few to see a sloth (very rare to see... they sleep 15-20 hours a day)  We even got to see it climbing the underside of this tree.

Seals ( we loved this clear tunnel underneath the water)  

Ethan loved the huge ice wall at the end, that you could put your hand into and make a handprint

We had a fabulous trip and so many fun memories.  Thank you Andrea, Tyler and Hayden for sharing it with us !!!!