Hoping for Cabrera's 500th HR...

 We bought tickets to a Tiger's game a few weeks back when they ran a special for four tickets, four hot dogs, four chips, and four drinks for $69 on Sundays in August.  It was a bonus that Sundays are Kids' Day too where they can run the bases after the game.  Miguel just so happened to be sitting at 499 home runs, hoping to hit his 500th during this home-game series against the Indians.  

While the high was only 77, it was really hot in the sun!  The Tigers played like absolute garbage in the 2nd and 3rd innings and ended up losing 11-0.  Miguel didn't hit his 500th, but it was electrifying in the stadium every time he came up to bat.  The stands just came alive and everyone stood up with their phones out hoping to witness history!  The Indians pitcher had a perfect game going until the 8th inning so that was interesting, but no history was made, in any way that afternoon.

We ended up running into the Green family that was sitting only 3 sections away from us!  How crazy is that?!  We stood in line together at the end of the game to run the bases.  The kids had a blast!

After the game the boys were heading over to Grandma and Grandpa's new condo for their first sleepover there.  Scott and I grabbed a late dinner out at Los Tres Amigos on their patio so we could bring Luna.  She was an absolute angel and loved the random corn chips we'd sneak her.  It was a fun day at the game and a fun night out!

DTP Adventures, Brighton State Park, and a Hot Wheels Tour

 Here it is.  August 23rd.  The night before Scott goes back to work at professional development meetings tomorrow and our unofficial end of the summer.  So much has happened in the past few weeks since August started.  Last minute summer bucket list items getting crossed off and trying to soak up all these hot summer days home together.  

We made a day in DTP.  We rode our bikes downtown, grabbed lunch to-go at Simply Fresh for me and Scott and Jimmy Johns for the boys, and ate in the park picnic-style.  Scott had gotten DTP gift cards as an end of the soccer season coach gift in June so we cashed in on some of them for our lunch.  After lunch, the kids got ice cream cones at Alpine Chocolate Haus and picked out comic books at State of Comics. 

The boys have been getting good use out of their RC Cars.  We took Luna with us and went to the track on Hines Drive right by our house.  

And street hockey games in the evening have resumed.  All of our neighbors have been on different summer travel schedules so they haven't been able to play too many hockey games earlier in the summer.  We've even added volleyball to the mix, thanks to the summer Olympics motivating all the kids to learn to play.

We bought a used Junior Drum set on Marketplace for Sean who's been asking to learn how to play the drums for a while now.  He's started lessons at the same place Evan takes guitar lessons (during the same time too!).  

They've gotten lots of swimming time between the Green's pool and my parents' new condo complex.  In fact, one week I think we swam every day between the two pools.

One day we tried something new and invited Nevaeh to join us at Brighton State Park for their Jump Island, an inflatable obstacle course on the lake.  They only sold tickets in 45 minute time slots and it was a good thing we only bought one session.  The kids were exhausted from climbing all the inflatables and swimming.  I took them to M. Street Bakery in downtown Howell for giant milkshakes as a treat.  I'm glad I didn't buy one for myself.  I ended up helping Sean finish his and snuck some samples from Evan's.  It was a fun day!

Hot Wheels put on a free event in Livonia at a Walmart parking lot.  They brought their life-size cars and encouraged others to bring their souped up cars.  Evan loved it!  He's been pretty obsessed this summer with exotic cars like Lamborghini's and Bugatti's.  

We visited with Scott's parents by going bowling one afternoon during some pretty heavy storms.  The bowling alley lost power temporarily twice while we were bowling, but we didn't lose our scores.  While we waited for the computers to re-start the boys won some stuffed animals in the claw machines.  We grabbed dinner at Leo's before we had to get the boys to their music lessons.  

Other days we just stayed at home or walked to Allen to play golf, baseball, or basketball.  And it was nice to have days like that too!  Lazy can be fun too.

Our little garden is growing.  It looks like we are going to yield a lot of tomatoes!  

Hello, August!

Somehow it's August and I can feel the school year creeping in closer on the horizon.  We've had a very eventful and busy summer between travel and working on home projects.  We have a few weeks here with things moving at a slower pace, which we are all looking forward to and we have one last getaway planned before it's back to work and school.

In between our trip up north for the fourth of July and our trip to the thumb for camping, we had some time at home.  Evan went to tennis camp for 3 hours every morning for a week.  He had been looking forward to this camp since the spring and I hate to say it, but it was a total letdown.  He didn't learn much and he didn't like how the camp was run.  

He wrapped up his spring baseball season.  His team was like the badnews bears and just couldn't get things going offensively or defensively, but Evan grew and learned a lot!  So much so, that he's decided to play fall baseball and got to pitch in the last two games.

Sean came home from camping and immediately started a week long all-day golf camp with Corey and Kellan at Maples in Novi.  He's done classes and a golf league through TGA so we knew this camp would be run well and it really was.  He enjoyed it a lot!  He had instruction in the morning, lunch provided, and then golfed 9 holes every day with either a putting tournament or chipping tournament daily.  

In the meantime, we've been busy blueberry picking, going to various pools and meeting up with friends, going to get ice cream, and staying busy at home with Kiwi Co monthly crates, playing with neighbors, and practicing sports.  Here's a photo dump of July activities.

We have a few "normal" summer activities still on our list to-do while we have a couple of chill weeks like riding our bikes downtown to have a picnic lunch and going to the beach at Kensington.  We have one more trip up to the cottage planned for the county fair and then an overnight at Kalahari to celebrate the end of a great summer and an early birthday gift for Evan.  I plan to enjoy August as much as I can before another crazy school year starts!  Who knows what this school year will bring, so I'm going to relax and recharge as much as possible.