lansing: playmakers

long story still somewhat long: 

i've saved my birthday money to buy a nice pair of shoes

(we are on a pretty tight budget) (and i rarely buy new shoes)

i debated for a few months which pair to buy: the ones i'd been wanting for 11 years (chacos) or the ones i'd been wanting for the past 2 that seemed more practical (keens)

both were each the exact amount of money i had saved

i kept luke up at night making lists in my head of pros and cons

i finally made my decision (i'd go with the chacos)

but the day we finally went to get them it was "keen day"!

i couldn't make a decision, we went home, debated more

i decided i'd get the keens!  i went back the same afternoon.

i talked with clayton, an employee there.  i told him the entire story (with maybe even more detail)

and i told him i'd get the keens.  but he said he thought i'd prefer the chacos!

we debated.  i tried them on.  and walked around with one on each foot.  went up the fake mountain.

we realized the chaco's he'd brought me were discontinued.  he checked their price: they were almost half off!!!

we danced around.  he gave ruby a high-five.

and then we looked at each other and both sort of mentioned at the same time that i was saving so much that i might as well look at the clearance area.  

we went over, and both grabbed the same pair of shoes at the same moment.

keens.  

(not the same ones i'd been looking for, but a pair i loved immediately)

the two pairs together would cost just $10 over what i had saved in birthday money. 

that is when clayton pulled out his wallet.

and gave me a special "$10 off your purchase" card.  

i said "no!" he said "yes!"

and then, because i ended up buying keens on keen-day, they told me i had to choose a keen bag, for free.

and that is how i left playmakers with both a pair of chacos and a pair of keens, packed away in my handy keen bag, without over-spending.

i've always liked playmakers (where else can you get clearance smartwool socks all year round?) but now i am so their biggest fan.

we made it to canada

we went to canada for the day, one of the places on our michigan to do list.  we crossed the river from detroit into windsor.  we explored the riverside sculpture park until we found the playground we'd been hoping to find that we'd spotted from the other side.  

mateo liked it (he's on the slide in this photo) and made some friends, and we enjoyed the breeze and the view of detroit.

 we had a yummy lunch at a bistro in the park.  and then tim horton's for dessert.

and then we did something even more exciting.  we drove another hour further into canada to visit one of their national parks: point pelee.  

i have wanted to come here since we moved to michigan, so we were so happy to find the time.  the park is a major bird and butterfly refuge before they make their way across the lake.  this isn't butterfly season, but it was prime bird watching time.  too bad we don't know much about birding.  we didn't even remember to bring our binoculars!

 we took a few walks and saw and heard so many birds.  we kept thinking of our neighbors who would have loved it there, and could have told us what we were looking at.

we saw a lot of the bird in the photo below, the red-winged blackbird i think?  and we saw another that seemed pretty rare (since all of the real bird-ers were trying to photograph it), but it kept swooping at our heads so we didn't care to stay.  

we saw so many others, too.  some that looked kind of tropical.  i wish i knew more. but even without knowing much we totally enjoyed them.

point pelee sits on the lowest point of mainland canada, so we took a hike out to the point.  can you tell how the water is on both sides of us?  it was so beautiful.

we took another route back to the border, which ended up taking us through part of a wine and major agriculture tourism area.  we stopped at a roadside stand and i bought some tomatoes that looked and smelled so amazing (we didn't have local tomatoes yet in lansing).  i had a feeling that they'd be taken away from me at the border and unfortunately i was right.  i wish i'd taken a bite out of them first.  :(

all in all, a happy day in canada and a happy check off the list.

homemade pasta

i made pasta for the second time ever.  and this time it was actually really good!  i used a mix of alice waters' recipe and my grandma's techniques.

we had it with the last of our michigan asparagus and some super fresh feta from the farm.

or maybe our wild backyard is my fave

spring in our backyard is my fave

doctor p.

yesterday was a huge day for luke!  and a huge day for our family.  he defended his dissertation!  sleeping ruby and i came along to listen in.  he did an incredible job and his professors and colleagues had the best things to say about him and his work.   one of my favorite parts was at the end, when i was surprised by his thank you slide with photos and sweet words about me, mateo, ruby and God.  he's too much.  he passed, and now we can call him doctor!

this also means big event #3 out of 4 is behind us - first a new baby, then selling our house (more on that later), then luke's defense.  now all that is left is a move to arizona in just 17 days!

headbanding

slow food: greenbush farms

we've had a few more slow food events that i haven't mentioned: a tea tasting and talk, a mushroom talk (we didn't make it since we were in labor that time), an incredible potluck, and a visit to greenbush farms/dolce vita dairy, where the yummiest of goat cheeses are made.

 living on a goat farm, so i've learned, is a lot, a lot, a lot of hard work.  the owner's details of her long hours were so unbelievable.  but she treats the animals humanely and keeps the processing areas super clean.

we toured around the farm and learned about the cheese process.

we met the mama goats and the baby goats.  and mateo touched an electric fence that we weren't aware of.  thankfully, he was ok with his feet on the ground.  :)

 we tried several the most fresh and delicious goat cheeses.  definitely the best i've ever had.  we sampled truffles and even gelato made from the goat's milk.

it was a beautiful day and a beautiful field trip.  i will miss this slow food group that is always so family friendly and always open and never charges membership fees like others around the country/world. 

announcements for ruby

today ruby is 2 months old already!  we can hardly believe it.

 last month, we sent out her birth announcements.  i made them just like the ones i made for mateo 2 years ago.

she was just 3 days old when we took her announcement photo.  the blanket we used turned out a bit studio-y (not our style) but it was so warm and cozy for her that we decided to just go with it.  here are some of the images we didn't choose, just for fun:

we love the dimple in this last one.  :)

my name is mateo and i have very big eyes

while you were sleeping

ann arbor for the very last time

we've been slowly and sweetly checking off our list of things to do in michigan before our move.  one last day spent in ann arbor was a must for us, so it was the first place we went when luke had a free day.  every single time we go to ann arbor one of us says this exact statement: "i know i say it every time, but why couldn't we have moved here instead of lansing?".  i wish we could pick up our entire community here, and move it there.  you know we have lansing love, but ann arbor has so many things we really love about a city:  outdoor cafes, hiking trails, hills, lots of outdoor activities, rei, art, cobblestone streets, great thrift stores...  i could go on and on.  and even though we've been to ann arbor for countless day trips, we still have the feeling that we've only scratched the surface there.

so this day in ann arbor, our last day, we went to some of our favorite spots: first rei where we pretended that we had a $2000 gift card and had to decide how to spend the money, whole foods for a stroll around, nypd pizza for a new york style slice, a walk around the downtown and a stroll to our favorite shops, a coffee and special treat at zingerman's, and a visit to the super organized salvation army store.  it was the perfect day.  on the drive home we talked about our goals in arizona of camping more and our need for more national parks in our lives.  and then we suddenly remembered when luke came to visit me in spain and we hitchhiked to andorra so we could backpack through the mountains back into spain.  and how we hadn't packed meals well and hadn't planned on hiking through glacier-covered peaks but how it'd been the most incredible hiking experience ever.  we'd both completely forgotten about that trip.