Flag Day, Fergus the Feline, and Father's Day Fun

After much consideration, we added a new family member this week. More on that later. On Monday Hallie had a doctor’s appointment, so Mike had the children in the morning. Although the weather didn’t cooperate very well, we went to Greenfield Village anyway for the old-time baseball themed Macy’s Second Monday. Eliza was screened for a summer speech program at the Beaumont family wellness center located in the same building as Hallie’s work. Once again, we feel the hand of providence has put us in the right place at the right time for our kids.

  

Hallie persuaded Mike to join her on Tuesday at the Drums Alive! class at the YMCA. It kicked our hind ends, but it was fun.

Landon has fully embraced the idea of not going to school. We have supplemented the review work he does indoors with ample outdoor time and opportunities to express his creativity.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner in the evening. The sisters were on divisions, so we got to visit with Sister Jones, who at one point happened to be a master’s student in the same program at the University of Utah as the one where Mike got his PhD.

We went out to lunch at the Milano Bakery and Café near Eastern Market on Thursday after Hallie and the kids accompanied Mike to Wayne State while he conducted some business there. While he was at the university, Hallie took the children to 3Dogs1Cat, a new pet store also near Eastern Market (hence the return trip to the café), where she let the cat out of the bag (so to speak) regarding the new addition we have been considering for the last couple of weeks. We had a couple of delicious sandwiches and a pizza that lasted the kids for three more meals.  We ate outdoors, enjoying the breeze and watching the poofy cotton ball clouds change shapes as they drifted by.

Hallie didn’t have to work on Friday morning, so she and the kids took some time to kitty-proof the bedrooms, playing all the while. 

She did work in the afternoon, so Mike took the kids outside to play and to walk with him and the front screen door down to the local hardware store so it could be repaired. We’re replacing the nylon screening in the frame with aluminum screening. Hopefully we’ll be able to will keep the cat from tearing it apart. We happened to run into the sister missionaries on the way home, and while Mike was chatting with them, Landon and Eliza played with the next door neighbors. Everyone was having a good time until playing turned into roughhousing. We missed out going to the pool as a result. Bummer!

Festooned for Flag Day

On Saturday morning we drove over to Audry’s house where the kittens were staying. Audry’s mom, who lives up north, had brought down five kittens born on or around May 2, making them a little over six weeks old, so they all were still teeny tiny. We had seen pictures, and Landon had picked out the one he liked, the light red tabby (apparently cats’ colors are the same as people hair colors, so he is red, not orange. Who knew? (Well, beside the cat fanciers, that is.)). When we got to the house, we had a chance to visit with the kittens, and the two orange ones (both male) seemed the most alert and ready for fun.

First impressions at four weeks via Facebook

Based on his coloring, we had tentatively opted to call the kitten Fergus, after considering a bunch of orange and/or Celtic options. We ended up sticking with the name, although he has mostly gone by “Kitty” for the moment. Mike carried Fergus as he and the kids walked home while Hallie got a couple of forgotten pet supplies over at the local pet store. Just as an aside, we really appreciate having so many small businesses and other attractions so close on a week like this.  

  

Eliza has received a couple of new clothing items she wanted to show off. 

Patriotic skirt!

New gymnastics leotard/short combo

Sunday was Father’s Day, and Hallie and the kids celebrated by getting Mike some fun gifts: a breakfast sandwich maker (woo hoo! Homemade Egg McMuffins! Yes!), a fishing pole to go with the ones we have for the kids (Awesome! Now we can go down to the park and fish the lake from the pier!), and a meat thermometer (Terrific! Let’s grill some more steaks!). Very nice. Dad made everyone breakfast sandwiches in the morning before heading off to branch council. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. Then at church, the Young Women leaders passed out bags of Trader Joe’s caramel corn. Yumm-o! Happy Father’s Day to all our dads!

Fergus slept for most of the day, as kittens are wont to do, but the kids got plenty of play time in. Eliza even managed to read the kitty a story. We loved having Leo/Huck, and we’re glad he is in a good home. So far for us, though, having a kitty seems a lot easier with the two small kids and all. Fergus has already managed to get himself lost (and found), and he has given Mike a scratch that broke the skin, but otherwise he’s mostly just eaten, played, and slept, all while being completely adorable. Landon has shown a tender, gentle side around Fergus that is comforting to watch. He wants to play catch with the kitty, but we’ll have to see about that.