Going...to the cottage: Fall Edition

One of my favorite places is the Snyder family cottage at Big Star Lake.  It is a beautiful place where we can hang out with Matt's family and enjoy God's Creation.  I love the late nights playing games, Grandma's cinnamon rolls, swimming in the lake, and of course, the boat parade on the Fourth of July!  In recent years, we have been making a trip up there once in the fall, which is a different experience than the typical summer trip.  Instead of grilling hamburgers, we make steamy chili.  And instead of swimming, we get cozy by the fire and enjoy good conversation.  And it is quiet.  The lake is still after the speed boats have left for the season.

This time, the guys made a special trip to the river to fish for salmon. It was funny to seem them get excited about waders, fishing vests, and "long underpants"!  It was COLD (the Snuggie helped)!.  Thankfully they returned home safely after catching a few.  The girls enjoyed staying in making the usual caramel apples and a few crafts. We also got to see Aunt Ann and Uncle Dan who came in from Minnesota.  This time was especially fun with taking Ellie for the first time.  Hopefully she won't mind returning next summer!   I am sure she will grow to love this place as much as her parents do.

Going...to get over the Tiger's loss and get ready for Calvin Basketball!

Last night was a sad night in our household.  For those of you who know Matt, you would understand.   Ever since he went to the old Tiger's Stadium when he was young, he has been a faithful fan of the team through the  good years and the bad (more of the bad).  When we started dating, I quickly realized that Matt has a passion for sports, especially Tiger's baseball.   I adjusted to the fact that on 162 days of the year, there would be a game at 7:05 or 1:05 (DVR is a necessity!).   As a result, I have grown to enjoy baseball and we have fun watching it together.

So, back to last night.  The Tiger's lost in the 12th inning against the Twins, losing their first place division standing.  For the entire season, we were confident that the Tiger's would make it to the playoffs, and last night, they lost it all. I won't go into the details - Matt and Zac have that covered in their blog (mittensportsreport.com).  I am sad for the Tiger's and for Matt, but we have hope.  Matt's next favorite team, the Calvin Knights, are hitting the court later this fall.  And soon we will have our Saturdays scheduled for the VanNoord Arena (and perhaps a few exciting road trips).  Matt, this is my ode to you:  We have hope, and not that kind of Hope, as in the Flying Dutchmen, but hope in that we have a new team to follow starting on November 10.  And, of course, spring training will be here again in no time.

Growing...to eight weeks of age

Today, our Elizabeth Joy reached the landmark age of eight weeks.  The last two months have been filled with amazing highs of watching Ellie grow, as well as many adjustments as we venture into the new realm of parenting.   We have loved watching Ellie become more aware of herself and her surroundings! What started as a small, sleepy bundle has quickly transformed into a smiley little member of our family.  Here are a few things she has done in the last few weeks:

• Smile in response to our smile (so adorable!)
• Respond to noises with a startle (sorry, Ellie!)
• Coo and make other silly noises
• Lift head while doing her not so favorite tummy time
• Hold head steady while we hold her (she loves to look wide-eyed around the room)
• Track moving objects
• Bat at her "friends" in her bouncer (I think she likes the turtle the best)
• Gain three pounds and grow three inches!

We try to savor each day as we know that this time in her life will go by so quickly.  It already has! We love this stage, but also look forward to seeing her personality continue to shine through in the coming months.

Going...bargain shopping

Continuing in our "Walktober" festivities, we headed to the mall for a fun night of walking.  In our usual mall walking trips, we never hit the stores but limit ourselves to window shopping.  During this outing, we definitely broke the rules.  The first stop was Dunhams, where Matt was all too excited about his bargain $7 Lions hat on clearance due to its "old" logo.  Men need more hats just like women need more shoes.  I figured that one extra hat couldn't hurt anyone and we made the purchase.  Next, we ventured into TJ-maxx.  Why?  I have no idea.  Maybe because we were bored of being limited to the drab hallways of Centerpointe Mall.  Or maybe because we felt that it was the night for bargain hunting.  We were quickly separated as I found the kid's clothes and Matt found the sports gear.  We joined up excited about our new bargain finds.  I found a $5 pumpkin Halloween costume for Ellie (which I have been searching for but was just not willing to spend $20 on one), and Matt found an Ernie Sims Lions jersey for $13.  We probably would have continued the disastrous night of spending (this is big for us!) but thankfully our friends called and we headed out.  Now the question is:  Will we be able to resist the urge and stick to just window shopping on our next Walktober outing?  Or will we give in to the dangerous thrill of bargain hunting?  You never know, Matt may just need another hat (a Tiger's 2009 AL Central Division Championship one would be nice).

Going... for a walk and getting caught in the rain

Well, it is officially "Walktober" now, so that means that everyday my hubby has to get at least 10,000 steps on his pedometer for a program at work.  We wanted to beat our record of a nine mile day from last year, so on a sunny Saturday morning we headed out for walk to EGR.  We had a very enjoyable walk and were able to catch up about our lives while Ellie slept soundly in her stroller.  We were hungry by the time we made it to our destination so we grabbed a quick bite to eat (our first time at a sit-down place with Ellie!).  Just as we were about to leave the sky darkened and a heavy downpour came down around us.  We questioned our options...do we walk the four miles back to our house in the rain, or call one of our dear friends or sister to pick us up?  Just as we were trying to make up our mind, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  OK, let's do it!  We headed home at a brisk pace.  Just as we were in our last stretch, about a half-mile to go, it started to rain. And no, this wasn't just a light drizzle, it was coming down in sheets.  This was the same rain that later came through East Lansing while Forcier managed to tie it up with MSU (still bummed of the loss).  Even though we had Ellie covered with the brim of her stroller, her loving Dad gave up his fleece for added protection on top.  It must have been quite a sight to see us dash through mini rivers in the pavement to get to our warm and dry home. We finally made it, drenched and freezing, with a crying baby that finally woke up in the commotion (thank goodness she was dry!). Our lesson for next Walktober...ALWAYS check the weather.  You can never know when you are in Michigan!

Growing... (not quite) into shoes

A few weeks ago, while my mother-in-law was in town, I was getting Ellie ready to head out for the day.  I pulled out from her basket of accessories a pair of newborn size shoes given to her by Aunt Patti.  Cute and pink, I thought that it would be a great day for a trial of Ellie's first pair of shoes.  We put them on over her Pooh socks and she looked so very grown up at five weeks of age.  I put Ellie in her lion swing so I could finish getting ready to head out.  Less than five minutes later, her Grandma laughed and called me over.  To our surprise, both shoes and one sock came off!  She must have kicked them off in excitement!  Ellie had such an innocent look as if she didn't even realize what happened.  We realized that day that our Elizabeth isn't quite ready to grow up...we will see how long that lasts!