Mom and Dad's Visit

My parents came to visit for a few days. We got to show them some things in Michigan they hadn't seen before, and Dad and Storm became the best of friends agian.

This became a very common sight.

Storm loved having someone who would love on her and not tell her to go away.

She even did her best trick for Dad -- over and over and over.

She's never been on as many walks in her life.

The first night we went to Silver Beach Pizza and went to see the new fountain. Ken and Syd had to try it out.

The next day we went to the Meijer Botanical Gardens in Grand Rapids. It was cold, windy and rainy, but they were troopers and walked all around the gardens. We had dinner at a fondue restaurant afterward, which was tons of fun. Definitley not something they have in Idaho.

Ken and Syd checking out the spider sculpture

I love this huge orange steel sculpture.

The cactus room really appeals to me

Their last day in Michigan was still cold and windy. But we didn't have any rain. So we went to a local u-pick farm to get some apples and razberries.

On the hay ride

The first stop on the hay ride was a fishing pond. My dad loves to fish so we had to get off and try it out. Too bad it was silly and not worth the effort. The poles were made of bamboo, with barely enough fishing line to get in the water. He wished we had a boat to row out to the middle of the pond where there might be a chance of catching a fish.

Dad, Ken and Syd went in the haunted house. I didn't.




Picking razberries. They were the main thing I wanted to get

It took all 5 of us picking to get a quart of razzies.

After razzies we stopped to get some apples.

They went into a pie. I never realized it was so easy to make apple pie. Cutting them up is the hardest/most time consuming part.

Some of the razzies went into a pie too. So so yummy. I found the recipe here

The last stop of the day was to talk to the goats and other animals.

It's always fun to get to show your world to someone new. We're glad they got to come for a while.

Circus Newbie

Saturday we went to the circus in Grand Rapids. Syd's friend Hollee got to come with us, and it was her first time at the circus. Watching her face during the different acts was almost as much fun as watching the circus itself.

During the pre-show the girls liked watching the acrobats swing from high ropes.