Frederick Meyer Gardens: The Butterfly House

Frederick Meyer Gardens: In The Conservatory

Twister and Shout

Want to play Twister? This past Friday night, a bunch of homeschooling families got together and had a game/gym night. It was a blast. We brought Twister, Hulabalu, Uno, and Balderdash. Owen particularly wanted to run around in the gym. He even "broke into" the church library, so much is his love of books. lol. We brought pretzels and I made up some "Bacon, Bacon," dip from Tastefully Simple. We got home past 11pm. But, it was great fun. We were able to see the Moon and Venus in it's crescent shape that night too.

More Drawing

Owen is really taking off on wanting to draw and show us how he thinks about things. Here you see his flowers, which are created by plunking down the flower tool and then using the pen to outline it, and add stems and leaves.

This is a picture he drew of his friend, Micah's, house. It's complete with the house, and the back yard, including the swingset, play house, and the raspberry bushes on the left side. How cute is that?

Owen and Nicholas Having Fun

Owen and Nicholas were having a great time when Aunt Julie and Uncle Tim were gone.

The Royal Park Hotel

Charlie and I were "gifted" to have a free night at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, MI. We dropped Owen off at Auntie Julie's house, so he had lots of fun there too. He even got to make his own pizza...Rolling out the dough and everything! :)
Meanwhile, Charlie and I had some plans of our own. First we went to dine at the "Golden Eagle." I had tenderloin tips with mushrooms, dipped in a delicious mario sauce, and sided with rice and grapes. Charlie had shrimp and steak. We both LOVED our meals. Then, we went out to see "Slumdog Millionaire." It was a must see movie, that I would recommend to anyone else.
We decided to have breakfast brought up to us in our room. I was so delighted, that I forgot to take a photo until we were basically done eating. lol. There was a basket of about 5 pastries, hot cocoa, a plate of fresh fruit, bacon, and cranberry sauce. Charlie ate some hot oatmeal, with sides of raisons, brown sugar, and hot milk. He also had orange juice, and a side of sausage. It was delicious. Our server, Sarah, was very sweet.
Then we headed downtown for some shopping. First we stopped at "Bags and beads." They were having a clearance, plus a bogo free sale. It was great! I got a bag, and a flower bracelet. The wind was whipping around about this time, and it was very cold. But, we decided to walk down to the "Give Thanks Bakery & Cafe." They make bread from scratch, using old French techniques. Delicious. I got a cuppachino, and then bought two loaves of bread that we are still enjoying now. Asagio/Garlic, and French Sourdough. YUMMO!
Then we went to "Papa Joes." It's a huge gourmet grocery store. I treated myself to a wine, cheese, and lemon curd binge....to enjoy at home. Daddy got some meats, and a cookie, salted pecans, and some oranges and plums. Then I got a lunch "tide over" of marsala beef mushroom soup. Rich and thick, and delicious.
Then it was back to Julie's house to see our little boy again.
We really enjoyed ourselves.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Charlie had made a treasure hunt for me yesterday, for getting my heart full of candy. Owen loved watching me so much, that we decided to make a hunt for him today. He really got a kick out of it. It was kind of hard for him to read the clues, though, because every clue had a taped candy heart on it, and he wanted to eat each one before reading. lol. We also thought it was funny at the end when he was supposed to look behind the pantry door. You can see in that picture, that he looked past the obvious, and was checking out all the food in the pantry. lol.
WE LOVE YOU, OWEN! Kiss kiss.