Memorial Weekend

We had a very fun Memorial Day weekend. On Friday night, Phil and Will went to the hockey game and Alex and I went for a walk into town. On Saturday morning, we went to the zoo for a few hours and had a picnic lunch. After naps, we went up to Rockford to do family photos with Grandma and Grandpa. Then we all grabbed dinner and ice cream before heading home. On Sunday, we took a walk into town and stopped at the playground on the way. Then, we ended up going to a different playground for a picnic dinner. On Monday, we had some pictures taken of us in front of the house. Then we had to leave because we had 3 showings scheduled. We went to our friends' house for a cookout and the boys had a lot of fun playing with Charlie.

So tired!

 

Walking the streets of Rockford

 

Goalie... not a sieve!

 

Birds at the zoo

Pool shark

Hockey Town

On Friday night, Phil took Will to a playoff Griffins game.  They had great seats - first row behind the net.  Will was able to bang on the glass and had a great view of the action.  He made it through the entire game and really wanted to play with his hockey gear in the driveway.  He always wants to be goalie and does a pretty good job stopping the ball. 

 

It's Official!

The "For Sale" sign is up! And the listing has gone live.  The pictures turned out great!

http://www.grar.com/property/mls/13029606

Meijer Gardens

On Wednesday, the boys and I went to the botanical gardens with Grandma and Aunt Mara. The boys had so much fun playing in the fountains and running around the tree house. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed spending a few hours outside. Both kiddos were pretty tired by the time we got home.

Peek a Boo

Fun at the Zoo

We had a fun trip to the zoo yesterday. As usual, Will was more interested in the waterfalls than the animals. He did really enjoy his camel ride, however. Alex was fascinated by everything. He definitely noticed all the animals and liked to watch them for a while.

 

Kalamazoo: Here We Come!

As you all know, Phil has been driving to Kalamazoo 4-5 days a week for the past 3 years. Although it was never ideal, lately it has become more challenging since Will has started "after school" activities like t-ball. It is really hard for Phil to get home for a 6:30 t-ball practice. He really likes his job and Stryker is a great company to work for so we decided to pack up and move to Kalamazoo. Alex and I went down there to house hunt and found one that we really liked. Phil went through it as well and also really liked it. We toyed with building our own home, but after we went through the house again we knew it was where we wanted to be. We are currently in the process of making some updates to our house (new siding, fixing the chimney, etc)and we hope to have it listed in the next week or two. 

Below are some photos of the house (which really don't do it justice).  It has a 3 car garage, a screened in porch, formal living room, formal dining room, kitchen with island, a kitchen eating area which is open to the family room, a main floor office, and half bath.  It has a two story entry with 4 bedrooms upstairs.  The boys rooms will be to the left when you go up the stairs, the guest room and boys bathroom are in the middle, and the master is to the right.  So we will have some separation from the kids which will be nice.  The master bedroom is quite large and the master bath and closet are ridiculously big.  The basement is finished and has another full bath. 

The neighborhood has a clubhouse and pool and walking trails.  We are in walking distance to "Texas Corners" which has a few restaurants and a farmer's market.   

Formal Living Room (to the left of the entry) and Dining Room

Kitchen - also has room for a kitchen table

Family Room - looking towards kitchen

Screened in porch - just off of the kitchen

Master Bath

Will's Room - also has a walk-in closet

Alex's Room - also has a walk-in closet

Master Bedroom - also has a huge walk-in closet

Guest Room

Basement

Another view of the basement

Backyard

Backyard

Main Floor office - to the right of the entry

Just a few pictures

Playground fun

Big chair and two little boys

Look dad, I caught one on my first try!

King of the Playground!

Building Blocks

Shhh... I'm hunting wabbits!

For the past two years, Phil has been trying to catch a rabbit in our yard. He's tried cornering, he's tried live traps, he's tried to outrun them... but no success. That is, until last Friday. Here is his analysis of what took place:

Kristen was actually out back cleaning up, and we had a fake plastic pine tree that was laying on the grass drying out. She picked it up and carried it onto the deck to put in a big tub, and the rabbit dropped out when she was carrying it! It freaked out and scurried behind one of our planters to hide. Kristen came in and got me, at which point I paused to quickly evaluate my options.

The available tools included the following: large plastic tub, sticks on deck, jacket, children's toys, sandbox pails and shovels. I did not think that I had time to risk going to the garage or shed. I would have been crestfallen if it had gotten away. The initial plan was for Kristen to go to open side of the planter (the side which is open off of the deck), cover up the opening with my jacket so that it couldn't jump down into the grass, and force it to jump back onto the deck where I waited on the other side with a bucket and a shovel (to put over the top of the bucket once I had him).

Kristen proved unequal to the task, however, as she freaked out every time that she got near the planter. Plan B was for her to simply make a racket on the deck behind the rabbit, scaring it into jumping out forwards towards the grass and sweet, sweet freedom. It had no way of knowing, however, that I would be lurking below it with the big plastic tub, ready to capture it as it leapt for said freedom. We entered execution phase, and everything went as planned. Unfortunately for me, the rabbit actually bounced off of the tub and landed on the grass. At this point I freaked out, because I thought we were foiled again. Luckily for me, the rabbit was disoriented by his ordeal, giving me an opening. I lunged for him hoping that I would be able to make him run back towards the house, where I could eventually corner him, as opposed to away into the yard and through our fence.

A higher being was watching over me this afternoon, because at this point the idiot rabbit did the only thing in the world that would have resulted in him getting caught. He made a bee-line for the lattice work between the ground and our deck, hoping to hop through and reach the safety of the area under the deck. In his haste, however, he ran right into Will's strategically placed soccer goal and got slowed down by the netting. While he struggled to get free I ran towards him and was able to grab him and render any further struggle moot.

He then spent about an hour in the giant tub while I worked in the basement and felt good about myself. I tried to feed him carrots and lettuce, but he was uninterested.

*** Note: No rabbits were injured as a result of this escapade. The rabbit was successfully released. 

These were used in failed attempts...
Not Pictured: A box propped up by a stick with a string