True Michigan spring

It was 27 degrees on Saturday morning.  We kid you not - 27 degrees.  We had been all set to go to the zoo, but decided instead to stay home and bake 12 dozen cookies for church, some for the Confirmation banquet and some for the Sunday morning coffee hour.  Sunday was beautiful, though, and today even more so.  From 27 degrees on Saturday morning we got to about 63 degrees this afternoon!  Cortney and Raspberry enjoyed a long walk in the neighborhood today (the treadmill is jealous), and then couldn't resist the hamburger when they went grocery shopping.  So for the first time this season we all enjoyed a good summer meal - grilled burgers with grilled buns, lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado, green beans, and salad (also with all the above fixins).  We spent the evening lounging in a house with open windows, a breeze playing around us, and then retired early, the smell of the outdoors lingering in the air.  Argh, too poetic.  Let's just say it was a really nice day, and we hear that tomorrow is likely to be even better!

Teenagers again!

Tonight was an evening of flashback!  Last weekend Jon spent hours (really days) recording the accompaniment to "Bye Bye Birdie" for his old high school - their accompanist had bailed on them in the final two weeks and they didn't have the money to hire a new one, so this was the next best thing.  Anyhow, we were curious to see how it turned out, so tonight we attended what was their second performance - they did a great job and the music sounded just right.  It was nice to reconnect with some of the people we had worked with last summer on "Into the Woods," and of course to see Jon's high school drama teacher again.  But the flashback did not end there.  We were starving after the show, so we decided to grab a bite on the way home and ended up at Baker's Square (another version of Big Boy) - a moment that was reminiscent of the high school drama club after parties for both of us.  The only difference?  No goofy drama kids and no shakes.  But the following conversation may or may not have ocurred at the time:

Cortney:  "I'm starting to worry a little.  I mean, we got him in there but now he has to come out somehow."

Jon:  "It's like building a ship in a bottle." 

Laundry at our house

What's worse than  dog hair  being attracted to freshly laundered and static filled clothes from the dryer?  The entire dog being attracted to freshly laundered clothes just out of the dryer.  Here you can see Moose hone in on the warm clothes immediately, then hop from one pile  to the next so as to remain on the warmest one possible at all times.

A visit from far sort of away friends...

Sue came in from Grand Rapids today to have lunch with us and to check up on Raspberry's growth.  She hadn't seen him since the "glimmer in the eye" phase, so he looks a lot different now.  We had a great time seeing both Sue and her friend (a wonderful gal who came along for the afternoon contra dancing in Ann Arbor), though we wish we'd had more time with them (when they came last March we went contra dancing with them and had a great time, but Cortney's a little off balance these days).  Instead we met up with them after church at the newest place in town - The Carlyle Bar and Grill (on Jackson in front of the Quality 16) - and we think it is someplace we could recommend.  They had a little bit of something for everyone - Jon had a fancy pizza and Cortney had a fancy chicken sandwich (with avocado, which is her newest and strongest craving);  Sue's friend had Halibut (looked good, too);  dad H had something that came with fried plantains (how cool is that?!?!);  both Sue and mom H had good looking caeser salads.  By the way - if the occasion ever presents itself, be sure to ask Cortney's mom about the major heads of broccoli that came with her dinner the last time she ate there.  It's a good story.

No April fools

The first year we moved into this neighborhood we found ourselves really enjoying the "wild" life (seriously we did - that incident with the ducks and the broom doesn't count!), but we did witness something we had never previously been privy to - ducks on rooftops.  Who knew?  Actually, many thought us jokesters when we told them.  So, this pic is for all of you who thought we were fooling.