Weekend in Michigan with Ben's Parents

Ben's parents arrived last Thursday, and we took off on Friday morning to spend the weekend in Michigan. Ben and his dad spent Friday and Saturday in search of salmon...

This is not salmon that they caught - I took these pictures at a fish cleaning station near Brethren, MI. Poor Ben and Larry only caught one fish over the weekend (but they were avoiding the crazy crowded spots near this one). I showed them these pictures later, and they weren't impressed. These fish are old and ugly.

Meanwhile, I took Eli and Cheryl around to some beautiful towns along Lake Michigan. Our favorites were South Haven and Manistee. The weather was crisp and the sky was bright and blue, except for Saturday morning when we had a little rain.

We saw lots of beautiful lighthouses!
We would join up in the evenings and spent Saturday evening on the beach near Ludington, MI.
Eli LOVED playing in the sand. It's been a few weeks since he's played on a beach!
He kept wanting to jump into the cold water. We didn't let him go in.

Eli had fun riding on Grandpa's shoulders on our hike through the woods and sand dunes.







Eli loved it when Ben took off running down the hill.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of the scenery throughout the weekend:





We had a great trip, despite Eli being HORRIBLE at night in our hotel room. He ended up in bed with us both nights and I got very little sleep. It's amazing how much 1-year-olds toss and turn (every time I tried to shift or move a little, he would reach out and grab my arm or face... he was NOT letting me out of his reach!!).

I'm happy to be home, with Eli sleeping peacefully in his own room - and I'm about to climb into my king-size bed with plenty of space and pillows to get comfortable. We have never had Eli in bed with us, and I don't think we we want to repeat that anytime soon!

Freezing!

You know it's cold when the steam from your shower triggers the smoke alarm!! It was 61 degrees in our upstairs bathroom this morning. BRRR!!! I finally broke down and turned the heat on after that. Fall is a chilly season here!

Lots of Fresh (and Cool) Air

This morning Eli was looking out the back screen door, and kept pointing and making it obvious he wanted to go outside. I walked over and opened the door, and one of the neighbor's cats was outside on our deck. Eli was thrilled!

Eli gets just as excited (or more so) when he sees dogs, but he doesn't usually have the courage to pet them. This cat didn't scare Eli though, so Eli had fun touching his soft fur. Thankfully the cat didn't seem to mind.

Eli was very interested in seeing the cat's face, and would crouch down and study it. He even showed the cat his shovel and let him sniff it.

After the cat sighting, we ventured over to the park to meet up with our playgroup. It was sunny, but the wind made the mid-50s weather feel pretty cool. It's funny how different 55 degrees feels in October vs. April - if it was springtime, we would be out in t-shirts and feeling so happy for the sunshine after the long, gray winter. I just haven't adjusted yet to this fall weather though.

Eli started out wearing his hoodie, sunglasses, and hat...

...but soon tired of the sunglasses. His hat stayed on for most of the morning though.

Eli seems to be just fine after yesterday's fall. He was climbing all over the place (scaring me!) and having a blast.

Below he is playing peek-a-book with my friend Stacy around the trash can :)


He loved finding sticks and playing with the big three-year-old boys...

I'm hoping all of that fresh air will warrant a nice, long nap. I'm determined not to turn the heat for a little while longer, but it is so cold inside our house and it makes me want to curl up in bed and read a book. The thermometer (inside) said it was 63 degrees this morning. Brrr!! I'm not ready for winter. Happy October!

Our Latest Find and Prego Pictures

Last week, my friend and I were walking to our playgroup at the park and saw a twin bed (in four pieces) at the curb of a house near my place. It was in great condition, so we managed to carry it back to my house after playgroup was over. None of the hardware was with the bed, but amazingly, our friends Keenan and Rebekeh Kamae had some IKEA hardware from a bunk bed they had gotten rid of but still had a few parts. This is also an IKEA bed (the Hemnes line), so the pieces fit perfectly! They also gave us some wooden slats that go across and under the mattress to keep it up without a box spring (thanks Kamaes!!)

This will be Eli's bed eventually (and I promise I'll get a more boy-ish bedspread - this is mine from college), but for now it will be perfect for later this week when Ben's parents arrive. We have another mattress and bed frame, so there are two beds up in that room at the moment. Crazy!

And I decided to post some pregnancy pictures. The two below are from when I was 23 weeks pregnant with Eli.

I think I'm bigger this time around, but so far I'm close to the same weight that I was last time. I knew I should have done more sit-ups after Eli... my stomach muscles aren't holding the baby in as much this time!

(please excuse the funny pj pants)

And I haven't been sick for a week now! whoo hoo. I hope it stays that way.