Happy Birthday Hewitt

My sweet Hewitt turned four last Monday and in his words it "was the best birthday ever." Our day was absolutely packed with activities. We started the day by opening presents. His favorite was this game that shot spinning saucers into the air that you would then have to catch. You can imagine the excitement at 7:30 am.

We then headed to Chuck E Cheese with some great friends. Hewitt absolutely loves the rides that simulate roller coasters. He could have sat there for hours. And in fact, he did.

We then headed to Greenfield Village to meet Uncle Allan and cousin Christian who missed their connection in Detroit and got to stay an extra day. It worked out great because then we were able to spend some time with them.

Uncle Allan quickly vaulted himself to celebrity status by buying all the boys an ice cream cone with sprinkles. I don't think Hewitt could get any happier. He was a stinky mess when finished.

Hewitt's birthday happened to coincide with a farewell party for us and a few other couples so we got to celebrate some more that night. Hewitt gave out a squeal when everyone started singing to him. After the party, we headed to Detroit to watch the fireworks. It truly was the best birthday ever.

Good night boys!

The next day we ate Hewitt's free birthday cookie from the mall. The fun continues. Yesterday, Hewitt asked "I am still four Mom." Yep, until next year.

Kindergarten Graduation

Thomas graduated from kindergarten last week, which was a bigger deal that it used to be. He got to wear a little graduation hat and walk across the stage to receive his certificate. He thought he was pretty cool. I must admit that during most of the party and short ceremony I was sitting next to my friend's husband who was getting World Cup updates. That was the game we came back from 2-0 at halftime. The things we sacrifice for our children...



At the pre-graduation party.


Woohoo. Graduating class of 2010


Thomas and his little girlfriend. Apparently, they were together the whole year. I guess Thomas is going to take after Steve who remembers "going out" with many elementary school girlfriends.

This is one of many graduations to come.

Thomas Turns Six

Steve was outside mowing the lawn when he noticed that Thomas had built a cannon using some random things from the garage. It's actually pretty impressive. If only he wouldn't build weapons.

Thomas also loves to draw. Hence the pac man eating monsters leading up to our front door.

So my fun, happy, creative Thomas had his sixth birthday last Saturday. We celebrated up at the island with our neighbors. I can' believe he is six. I am going to have a first grader next year. Crazy. Happy Birthday Thomas!

Mackinac Island

One of the places that everyone insisted we vist was Mackinac Island between the upper and lower peninsula in Lake Huron. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island and the only way to get there is by ferry. Despite shaky weather forecasts to the contrary, the sun was out and shining and the air was crisp, but warm. The place felt like heaven on earth. The island's paved bike road around the island is eight miles so we loaded up both bike trailers complete with swimsuits, food, and change of clothes and headed out. We couldn't believe how remote some of the beaches were. We only a few bike riders irregularly. It was amazing.



This boardwalk was just outside of downtown, which was filled with little shops including a little Victorian shop that sold tea sets that Steve's mother would have loved. There were also enough homemade fudge shops to counteract the smell of horses.


We thought the landscape looked a lot like Washington except without the salty, freezing water. It was warm enough that the boys played in it for two hours while we stopped for lunch.


Afternoon nap time.

Donny got a little needy on the hike up to Arch Rock.

Beautiful.

Those clouds looked ominous, but it never rained.

We were always the last ones off the ferry. One man told me that Hewitt was destined to be a fisherman, he loved the water so much. One more reason to get a boat...

We stayed at our neighbor Julie and Shelly's beach house at Houghton Lake.


The boys had a fun time making a fire and roasting marshmallows. The key to an amazing smore is wiping a little peanut butter on one side. Out of control.

Hewitt and Miss Lisa getting ready to watch a movie. She took the kids so that Steve and I could water ski one night when the lake was smooth. Awesome.

Washington

For all of those who don't know our good news, we are moving back to Washington at the end of June. Woohoo!!!!!!! Sorry it has taken me so long to write about it (Shae). I was afraid that it wouldn't happen. Steve will be buying into a dental practice in Yelm Washington with his dentist growing up. We are excited and can't wait to be done with Steve's resident hours. We will be driving with some help from my parents across the country at the end of June. So in the meantime, we have been trying to cram all of the fun stuff to do here in Michigan. Unfortunately all the traveling has just made us more aware of everything we didn't do. Oh well. I guess it gives us an excuse to come back to visit. Hurray for moving closer to family and having a "real" job. We can't wait!!!!

Uncle Dan and Aunt Brittan made the nine hour drive from Philly to visit us over Memorial Day weekend. We are still having withdrawls. It was so nice to have entertainment. We started off the trip by visiting downtown Detroit including the GM Building (Ren Cen), riverwalk, and the People Mover (overground monorail type system.) We had one scary moment when the People Mover stopped working for about five minutes, but the policeman on our car did make us feel better. Thank goodness it wasn't for too long or I would have started to get claustrophobic.

Hewitt was convinced the yellow car was Bumblebee the Transformer. It was hard to get him to leave the couch. It was hard to get Aunt Brittan off the couch too. She got a little too comfortable.

We had to climb in a few cars in the GM building. Daniel did flip out a little when they started walking on the leather. It was one of the first times for him to be embarassed by kids. He wanted to get outside quick.

The Detroit Riverwalk. It wasn't too long before the kids had completely immersed themselves. It was eighty degrees outside though so they dried off quick.

Overlooking the Detroit River and Windsor Canada. Brittan and Dan are so cute.

Trip to Costco after downtown to pick up some goodies. Donny ate more smoothie than Daniel.

Uncle Dan had to build the best marble structure for the boys. Hewitt was hooked. He played with the huge creation for a few hours. Daniel impressed Thomas with his Wii tanks ability. He is really a good at heart. Look how happy he is.

The highlight of the weekend was watching the Civil War memorial and drills at Greenfield Village. The Union and Confererate army and civilian camps marched, camped, and showed what life was like during the Civil War. I felt so bad for the ladies dressed up in all of the garb. It looked so hot. Very cool though.

We will miss living closer to Dan and Brittan. They are so cute and fun to be around. Glad we have another excuse to go back to Philly. Love you guys!

Thomas Soccer

Last year Thomas played soccer and we were lucky to have him finish the game. He didn't like playing if someone took the ball from him and would cry if he didn't score a goal. He was so competitive that we had to try really hard to not make any comments at all. We were just happy if he played the whole game. This year Thomas has had a lot more fun and has scored many more goals, but we learned the hard way that at least with Thomas our parenting strategy has to remain the same. We try not to applaud too much if he scores, but rather praise him a lot for good sportsmanship, playing good defense, etc. We are still nervous for that ultra competitive boy that is just under the surface. Here is a quick video of Thomas's last game today when he scored a goal. He played great and had a lot of fun. I don't think we will ever have as good a coach as he had with this team. The father was a high school soccer coach and loved young children. It was a perfect and rare combination in the world of volunteer coaches. Hopefully, we can find someone great like that in the future because it made all of the difference. Hurray for volunteer coaches!