Anniversary and Home Projects

We finally made it to the Detroit Zoo last week with our friend Jen and the kids... they had a blast. It was very hot but we managed it and the minute we went back into the parking garage - the rain just blasted down... wow... we had some pretty heavy rain the last few days but not non-stop it shows up for an hour or two and then it's dry again. Very good for our grass and all but some areas couldn't keep up with it so we had some flooding in the area but we never had any problems here in our corner :).

The new penguin exhibit:

Project HOME... lots of things happening... I already gave up finding a house so I figured we'll stay. But last weekend we finally found 'THE ONE' and we wrote an offer, got a counter, we countered, they countered and then we accepted yesterday on our 7th Anniversary. I love adding special moments to special dates :). We will never forget this Anniversary. The 7th was very special to me because I always wanted to do our Wedding Party on the 7th because it was the first time our Anniversary fell on a Saturday. Well... no Wedding Party guys but a new home and I have to say, I so much prefer this because this will be our 'Forever Home' we finally settle down and won't talk about moving south or leaving the state anymore. I'm sooo beyond thrilled because I really want to have our forever home. You never know what life brings your way and I know that but this will be amazing and even though you never know... it's our forever home and we'll live in it with decorating it and making it ours... finally :) :) :)
In the meantime our dishwasher broke, ice machine broke and a door fell off *lol*... all replaced and repaired and now our home is back on the market as of yesterday and showings can begin *yikes*... I'm not a fan of showings. I drive myself insane making all things invisible and clean to the rim but I want the buyer to have a great impression and it's only a few more weeks of it... I can do it ;)

Our new home (if all goes well - and it should. We don't see any unforeseen problems our way but you never know either)... lots of land.
Here a picture from the road, that is actually the entrance of our driveway *inlove*

The kids are excited to finally paint their rooms... picking out colors while we were in the store... getting ideas. You can tell the girl and the boy in them *lol*... Henry decided he wants his room white though... I guess we will have one very colorful one and one plain white one *lol*... whatever they want... they'll get it.

In Montana we played this game a lot and even Henry and Zoe can play it. I LOVE this game so I imported it from Germany and we started playing it as well :). I got my neighbors hooked already too :)...

Pics from the new house inside...
My new kitchen with an eat in nook perfect for 4-6 people facing the front of the house (so we can monitor who would come up the driveway *lol*)... sun exposure is east (great for sunrise breakfast)

I'll have plenty of space to prep and cook and bake and do as I like while I can have friends and family chill with me in the kitchen

the sun room which we'll use as a second dining room (South and West exposure - great for dinner with sunset). I'd rather have a place to eat out here than just sit and Frank loved the idea too. Great for playing games too :)

Living Room (the space in the front is the 'formal dining room - on carpet!' which we won't use as such... we'll probably add a nice office desk and make it a little work area for us or just leave it open)

Living Room looking at the front entrance

Front Entrance looking at the living room

Our porch with a red faded door. We will ad a little bench to sit there oh it's going to be sooo amazing

View from the front porch... you can see our neighbors (there are only 6 houses total in that one street... all together we're sitting on 50 acres) we all have our privacy but yet we have neighbors. I cannot wait to meet them.

Happy Anniversary :). Our Anniversary Shot... I'm so excited that Frank is so in love with this house... it's going to be amazing...

While we were taking a last look at the house before signing off on the contract the kids watched 101 Dalmatians and they were very comfy already in the new home. They just wanted to make sure that the house will have a TV!!! *rollingmyeyes*... these kids *lol*. The house is unoccupied the owners died and it's been on the house for over a year.

Back home we took Chan to our neighborhood picnic and we enjoyed some fun times with the neighbors

... in the rain *lol*... another purring down but it's ok, we take it... we are not made out of sugar ;)

Going Home...

... took two takes ;).

We originally were supposed to fly home on FR but our flight got delayed. At around 10am I got my first message that the 1pm flight will be delayed for an hour which wasn't a biggie since I had 3 hours layover in SLC. I was already packed and ready to go we were just playing some cards to kill the rest of the time and enjoy the company. However an hour later another text came that the flight is delayed MORE... to the point that I'll def. miss my connection flight in SLC so I had to rebooked online for the 550AM flight on SAT morning via MSP however if anything goes wrong or gets delayed I knew I would have all day to get home and from MSP there were three more flights to DTW that day if I would miss mine... but it all went as planned and super on time without any hiccups the next day ;)... 430am and the kids are all up and ready to roll and we adults with our coffee mug in one hand and suitcases in the other *lol*

Last Selfie with our sweet Sophia... ready to see Frank aka Daddy very soon

It was a great time... we spent tons of quality time together which I really enjoyed and the kids needless to say had a TON of fun together. Back home I got right on the laundry and finished every single clothing on SAT got organized (boy it took me a while... I started one thing and got distracted by another... ) but got it all done, some grocery shopping and from the very beautiful weather in Montana I got home to a very muggy hot feeling Michigan with some crazy rain purring down as well. It's crazy how different the weather can be within these two states alone in one country!

Laundry done - 9pm but oh well... at least unpacking is complete.

Our neighbor's 60th Birthday was today (Delores - for all my friends/family who've been here already and know my peeps). She invited us all for dinner at a restaurant. And it was such a lovely night... what a great event to end this crazy vacation ending week. Tomorrow is Monday and I have three full weeks with my kiddos at home. I will enjoy it as much as I can with lots of quality time, pool and gym time and to see a little bit more together oh and maybe find a new house as well *lol*... I kinda gave up hopes on that one but I guess Frank and the agent still have a lot of hope that it is out there... we will know sometime in the future or I'll just enjoy our current home for a bit longer with my amazing neighbors :)

Bowling and Mini-Golf

Last fun day with the kids in Montana and tomorrow we'll head back to Michigan... I took the kids bowling after we packed most of our stuff and we had a great time. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bowl on the same lane with the kids because of the bumper being up :(... but that was ok, I got some snuggle time with them in the meantime

Two Rockstar Bowler...

Afterwards we rocked the Minigolf Court. Sophia's first time and she liked it so much she did some of the holes a second time around.

Fun Kids Day

Dana and Doug have to go back to work so I get to spend the day with the kids and we had a big task to do today :). Last week when we did the Train Ride there were coupons attached :)... $2 off each admission to the Imagination Works (Kids indoor science center)... I was shocked how small it was though. I guess I'm a big city girl *lol*... but it worked... it didn't keep the kids too occupied though. Next on the coupon list was a free ride on the carousel :)... did that too... and then we drove a few blocks down the road and parked downtown and went to every 'free gift' location that was on the list. It was pretty awesome... so we were just collecting free gift items all day and when we were done it was time to head home and make dinner.

A Hurricane Simultane thing...

A giant tick!!!

Coloring our free pottery magnets

Camping Trip

Snowflake came back home after not being seen for 2 weeks... it was an excitement.

Fun times in the backyard

Zucchini Muffins

The Storm is rolling in...

Ready to go camping...

Doug pulled the trailer with Middy and Dana and I filled up the little car with the munchkins

What a view

View from the Campsite!!! Breath Taking

The kids were in the water as soon as they got out of the car

Before we could put up the tent we needed to wait that storm going through... hail came down fingernail size big... it was pretty crazy but as soon as it came it went away again and we started setting up the rest of the stuff and made dinner...

The dinner we had to have inside the camper as well because another storm came down! It was quite interesting how quick they come and go...

Night Walk

Sunset... breath taking

Breakfast... YUM YUM YUM... and the kids were already in the water at 8am the next morning!!!

One of the camp hosts told us that with the storms that came in the night before a car on the campsite got struck by lighting. We had to go and check it out...

You can see the lighting struck on the side and went into the ground right next to the tire leaving a little hole

Walk

Lunchtime

Hanging out in the camper watching a movie, the kids were so exhausted :)

Roasting Marshmallows...

Uncle Doug also took the kids fishing

Way home... boy the kids were exhausted ;)... Henry's legs look like little boy legs, totally scratched and boo boos... they had a ton of fun :)