Can You Guess What We Did This Weekend?

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Do Babies Come on Honeymoons?

Today Cameron had his first residency interview. It was in Traverse City, Michigan (on the pinkie of the mitten, for those of you who don't know your MI geography). It's a four and a half hour drive, which would be awful on the kids, so we decided that he would go by himself (even though I really wanted to come with him).

Yesterday we went to the Stuehsers' house so Cameron could borrow their car for the trip, but instead I found out that we were actually dropping off Esther and William, and I was going to Traverse City too!
It was wonderful! The drive was beautiful (Northern Michigan in the Autumn is AMAZING) and the company couldn't be beat. Cameron and I got to have adult conversation for hours on end (with just a little commentary from Alex interspersed here and there).



The resort the hospital put us up in was very nice. I think that was the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.
While Cameron was at his interview Alex and I explored the city. We walked around shops (and bought some fudge of course), looked at the lake, and drove through all the beautiful scenery. It looks like a great place to live.


Cameron had a good time at his interview. He feels like he did pretty well, and now knows what a residency interview is like. The program would work, but there are probably going to be others ahead of it on our match list.


It was a splendid trip with just the two of us (plus Alex). Thanks for the surprise Cameron, and thanks for the babysitting Julie and Steve!

Shop 'Til We Drop

Many of you who've had to look at me for the past several years will be rejoicing soon. Between being pregnant and living in a third world country where affordable clothing is not available, my wardrobe has suffered greatly. I was down to two pairs of pants, four shirts, and a skirt. None of them were very nice to look at. But I just finished losing all my Alex weight, and I live in America now, so to celebrate I went shopping. I will now be much less of an eye-sore.

On another note: everyone needs their own personal Cailin. I don't know what I ever did without one. When you take a Cailin shopping with you, you end up not only with good company, but also with expert advice and a keen eye for bargains. I didn't know it was possible to get Ann Taylor and Liz Claiborne clothes for 50 cents. At Sunshine Thrift, many other people in line at the fitting rooms started eliciting Cailin's advice. One person refused to buy a handbag until she could win Cailin over. Another person wanted to know if she worked there. Now, after two extreme days at the thrift stores, I have mounds of nice clothing, all for the price of one or two nice new winter coats.

Then today, on a whim, we drove by a yard sale after Esther's soccer game. We haven't been yard-saling for a while, but decided to just try this one. It happened to be full of winter clothes exactly Esther's size. So now we're both "dashing" (in the words of Esther).

Festival Friday

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Into the Woods

This weekend we attended the Macomb Christian Homeschoolers annual Not-Back-to-School Camp out. We gathered firewood and built a nice fire, roasted hot dogs, corn, and marshmallows, fished, played, ran around, and got very dirty (despite the fact that there were showers on the campground). We had a blast and can't wait to go camping again soon.

Pond Scum

Sadly, we're not in Joy School this year. Esther is too old, and William is too young. The Joy School group was, however, kind enough to invite us along on this awesome field trip to the U of M's Environmental Interpretive Center.

The mosquitoes were enjoying their lunch full of young blood a little too much, so this is how Alex observed the proceedings.

Investigating the pond.

Collecting creatures.

Identifying the creatures.

We had a great time. Thanks to Joy School for letting us crash your party!