Cranbrook

Located not too far from our house is one of the coolest private schools in the country. The campus feels like it was transported right out of Athens, ruins and all. It's totally out of this world and mystical. The lawns are immaculately kept at times and then you find yourself stumbling upon some broken down Greek theater complete with a dirty, moss covered fountain and crumbling statues. You feel that some of the little porticos and stone steps haven't been touched for years. I loved it. My neighbor introduced me two weeks ago and then I brought Steve on Sunday. If you would like to send your High School child to Cranbrook, it costs a ton and you can even board them so that you only see them on holidays. Straight out of Dead Poets Society. Although from what we hear, sending your kid to Cranbrook is an invitation to an Ivy League education.








We did manage to take one family picture on our way out. At the time, we didn't even notice that Thomas had pretended to break his arm and made himself a cast. He must have found that blue ribbon in the field. When we got back to the car and asked him about the tape, Thomas said that he broke his arm, but don't worry, he was tough and didn't cry. Whew. I was just sad that the pretended broken arm made it into the picture. Oh well.

Fall, Pumpkins, and Donuts

Fall is my favorite season. I love the changing colors, the relief from the constant humidity, pumpkins, fresh donuts, picking apples, and preschool. Michigan is definitely the place for me right now. Today we visited a local apple orchard with our good friends and neighbors who showed us the best spots to hit. We bought fresh donuts and drank frozen apple cider from a local store and then headed out into the orchards. We took our time at each spot, which was nice. We spent probably 45 minutes walking through the pumpkin patch in an attempt to find our favorites. Hewitt tested each pumpkin by sitting on it. He just kept saying the word pumpkin over and over again.


Thomas, on the other hand, ran through the entire patch picking up pumpkins and talking incessantly about jack-o-lanterns and Halloween. He also gave a running commentary on the status of each of the pumpkins. He was definitely a dedicated raspberry picker despite the fact that he won't eat them. He was proud of his efforts.

We finished the day by picking a half bushel of amazing, crisp apples. My boys had their share of tasting before we left the orchard trees. Hewitt even tried this nasty one that had fallen on the ground. Oh well, what can you do.

The time flew by and about three hours later, we had worn the boys out. They slept all the way home. For as much dread as I have for the Detroit winters, I need to have as many positive Michigan experiences as possible. So thank goodness for the Fall and thank goodness for good neighbors.

Michigan Football

Thanks to Uncle Matt, Steve, Donny, and I got to attend our first Big Ten football game in at the University of Michigan's Big House which holds 100,000 plus. We got there one and half hours early, but still barely made it to our seats on time. If you can see the crowds of people behind the band, it was absolutely amazing. Although we love Cougar Stadium the best, BYU just can't compare to this kind of following, atmosphere, and devotion. People had been tailgating for hours. We were happy to be there, but don't think we will be attending again anytime soon. Little too crazy for me.