Sleeping Bear

With a few days remaining before fellowship, we crammed in a trip to the northwest corner of the state - Sleeping Bear dunes. A gorgeous spot, but windy. Shortly after the picture above was taken, some pre-teen girls ran down the slope -- E had to restrain herself from yelling at them and their parents.

In the midst of a fever, alden still managed to climb this small dune, narrating all along. "dad . . . and . . . alden . . . climbed . . . the . . . dune."

There's actually no wind in this shot -- alden and I just use a lot of hair product, and dont shower that often. This photo was taken by two Russians who asked us in broken english whether there were any bears on the dunes. I didnt know, so I said probably a few.

For those still worrying about Alden's fever menitoned above, we brought him back to the Best Western, and allowed him to watch Milo and Otis (3 times), and drink smoothies. He was hydrated enough that he peed through all of thse sheets before dad got a diaper on him.

Also (barely) celebrated this trip was or 3rd anniversary. And while it was not romantic or restful, this trip allowed us to remember why we are with each other, and another reason why we're in Michigan.

Moving Truck

This post is a bit late -- as this truck has already been loaded, moved, and unloaded 2500 miles away -- but we wanted to share a few photos from our last few weeks in Seattle. We didn't take nearly enough, as we were too busy packing and planning... but here they are anyway. Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/esfeldman/LastFewWeeksInSeattle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOD-m9Or3e6wnQE#

Green House

We are gradually settling in to our new house and town, and have been consistently surprised by how well Alden is making this transition. We are also pretty surprised at how curly (and crazy) his hair has suddenly become.

A few comments of his, as evidence of what we've been doing and what he thinks about it:

1) "Alden and mom are walking on sand to the big wake." ...It was actually a lake, fortunately.
2) "Alden can go up stairs by him self."
3) "Alden was playing in the big, huge, tiny pool."
4) Want to sit in little, fancy chair and read Owivia (Olivia)." See below:

Pure Michigan

Slowly but surely, we joined the western half of the East Coast time zone, and the eastern half of the Northern Midwest. It took a staggered move of UPS freight trucks, rental cars from Rent-A-Wreck (true to its name), temporary fish tanks + overnight mailing of fish from the basement of SeaTac airport, a 4 hour flight, a 4 hour drive, and a glorious muggy weekend with Koschmann family, one migraine headache, and a triumphant arrival in Ann Arbor to stay at the home of a swedish mathmetician named Mattias.

God bless this calm, happy kid who has tolerated all of this turmoil as if its par for the course. He has happily moved in to Ann Arbor (as long as we provide him with ample balls and Frog and Toad stories), and continues to sleep well in his pack and play. Ann Arbor is a town seemingly built to raise kids -- with LOTS of (international) families everywhere, parks, rental kyaks, free outdoor concerts, and the most bling YMCA ever constructed, all packed into very restful, green, calm neighborhoods. We are happy.

Picutred here: some shots from the final drive -- including a quick visit to the Lake Michigan dunes, where Alden recklessly ran into the glacier cold water over and over again. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and help with the move, and special happy birthday to E, the most beautififul and talented mom in Michigan.

one more. . .

How to Cope with Curious George Being Caught by the Fireman
(see next posting)

books

Alden has a bit of a book addiction. Occasionally, as captured here, he will pause his digging for worms/hooping it up in the front yard, to request a specific parent to read a specific book - on the porch. Mom can somehow create lots of dramatic responses on this, her 437th reading of Curious George.

moving

Apparently, the point of moving boxes is to create new opporunities for "resting with Nine-Nine and Mama El-phant."