We found a house!

After backing out of a purchase agreement of a 1909 home in East Grand Rapids, MI following the inspection that revealed that we were getting in way over our heads, we decided to simplify our lives and stay in Ann Arbor. We very much felt the pressure of a deadline to purchase a house because of Matt's moving contract, and we amazingly found a home that we loved just under the wire! (It hadn't been updated in 30 years, but we still loved it all the same!)

The landscaping surrounding our new home could stand to all be redone, but we have started by trimming back trees so that we can actually see the house. 

Henry and Lucas were very excited by the moving process, and especially enjoyed the moving truck, huge boxes and endless amounts of packaging paper.

Grandma and Grandpa helped A LOT in the moving process with several days and countless hours worth of work cleaning and polishing. 

Our new Rose of Sharon tree, aka, "The Lucas Tree"

Henry and Lucas were very excited to finally have a driveway, a yard and a cul-de-sac to play in (essentially all to themselves)

There were of course some casualties of moving. Henry made a trip to urgent care our first weekend in the house after running and falling into the carpet steam cleaner. And we were all as exhausted as Lucas in the above picture for several weeks to come. But, we were thrilled to have a place to call home.

Safety Town

Henry attended his first summer day camp, Safety Town, in preparation for Kindergarten this fall. It was a fun filled week where he got to meet new friends, interact with police officers and firefighters, ride in a school bus, go through a "smoke house," and learn traffic safety rules on bicycles. His favorite parts of the week were watching movies about electrical safety that included Louie the Lightning bug and getting to take home his safety town bicycle helmet at the end of the week. 

Ohio in the summer

We made a short trip down to Columbus, OH to visit our friends Colin and Fiona (and Clare) that we know from Minnesota. We enjoyed a day together at a local county fair and at their fantastic Bexley community pool. 

Visit with the Knoll cousins at Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa

We spent 2 days in mom's hometown visiting with mom's cousins who were in town from L.A. and NYC: Allison and Doyl and their kids Hunter, Xavier and Holland, Hillary and Amit, Ashley and Shawn and Aunt Debby. Lucas and Holland were fast friends, and Henry was very disappointed that his mother did not allow him to ride the inter tube behind the jet ski like the other big kids (maybe next year).  

We also had fun with Opa while Oma was away in Germany with Aunt Jessica, Oliver and Elliot.