From point A to point B

3:45 am:
I crept into Mackenzie's room to find her peacefully sleeping, folded in the corner of her crib. As the hall light ate up the darkness of her room,she sprang to life, oblivious to the fact that she'd just forfeited three hours of sleep for the bustle of a busy airport.

As she skittered off to the living room, you could see clouds of confusion cross her face. Where is the sun? It was then she learned the word "dark" and repeated it several hundred times from Michigan to Colorado. Here she is trying to figure it out.

A few tips and tricks for next time:
-If a well meaning TSA agent offers to just squeeze your child's car seat through the X-ray machine , don't let them. Those things get stuck!
-If a well meaning stranger offers to fold up your stroller for you and place it along a wall until you board, check carefully. Said wall may have a security alarm which, when manipulated ( say, with a stroller handle) , will set off an alarm audible even by deceased dogs...
-Magna Doodle board- LIFESAVER ( just like my awesome friend Erin who suggested it). Mackenzie played with it the entire trip and now, it's being passed between the hands of my nieces and nephews here.

Off like a herd of turtles

Mike always smiles when someone says that because it was something his dad always said. But I can imagine that we look much like a slowly departing herd of turtles in just 36 hours. We're all packed up and ready for our Colorado getaway ( That phrase makes me laugh because there used to be a show on NBC on Sunday mornings called " Colorado Getaways" and it was soooo boring (at least to a ten year old) but it was the only thing on!).

I digress...I hope to be able to blog in reverse while I'm in Colorado so that all my favorite Michigan people can see our adventures.

Until then, someone check on Mike every few days to make sure he's appropriately missing us! ;)

Happy 90th birthday, Grandma Hank!

Mike's adopted Grandma turned 90 so Mary went to work planning a party fit for a queen! Everything looked wonderful and the guest of honor was beyond pleased. Mackenzie, who thought SHE was the guest of honor, had an equally good time. Here are some pics:

Hank and Mackenzie. Mackenzie was being a bit shy:

But then she found the food:
Mary even got candied Violets ( because Violets are Hank's favorite). Mackenzie wasn't so sure about them:
Hank gets serenaded!
Mackenzie gets serenaded!
She was star struck:
Sweet girl:
Check this out!
Mackenzie in the memorial garden at church:
To smell or to pick? Hmmm
"Nice!"
Clean up crew:

What a guy!

" Missy-

Took Little Britches to look for trains. Be back for nap ( or maybe not). Enjoy your alone time.
Love,
M2"

This is the note I found when I returned from my jog. AWESOME! I was so excited to have a quiet house( Mackenzie is finally getting those bottom molars in and we both needed a break!) but even more excited that Mike and Mack were going to have some good quality time together. He took her to the only place he could think of that had " captive trains"- Greenfield Village , outside Detroit. I love that Mike got to experience Mackenzie seeing and doing something for the first time. The joy and wonder in her face is priceless. Here are the pictures he took. I really wanted him to write this but I couldn't wait to post the pictures and he's got a big work week coming up.


Mike wasn't sure if it actually registered that she was on a train but she had fun nonetheless:

Checking it out!
" A ta-wain"
After the train ride was over, Mike could see sleepiness starting to cloud Mackenzie's eyes. He asked her if she wanted to keep looking at the trains or go home. She said go home, so they did. Mike got her a cute little book ( one of his childhood favs), shirt and engineers hat to commemorate their morning together:

Depot Day

South Lyon is an awesome place to live! Today was Depot Day. It's a free family event with lots of little activities surrounding the city's railroad heritage. It's small enough that you can walk through in as little as 30 minutes if you want. Here are a few pics of Mackenzie checkin' things out:

Mackenzie LOVES trains ( just like her daddy!) so this was a fun place to be!
Bubbles!
The solution was awesome. Even Mackenzie could make huge bubbles:

"I'll smile even though I have no clue what we're doing"
Checkin' out the model train layout:

Zoo!

It was the first week back in school here so Jeanette and I jumped at the chance to have the Toledo zoo all to ourselves!It w Both kids and moms had a blast and we plan to go again soon! Here are pics from the day:

Here we are , all ramped up to go. Can you tell?
This is such a good picture of two happy kids!
Taming the wild:
Bee in a hive! It was a nice thought but the idea didn't translate well in real life:
This is such a fun way to mark time! We're gonna take a picture here every time we go:
Jeanette got us tickets to the carousal:
Look at those big kids! Mackenzie's riding what she thinks is a chicken:
Holding on like a big girl:
We freshened up with a new diaper, a splash of cold water on our hands and face and checked out some more animals:
Some of us are more interested than others:
Anyone who's a college football fan will like this picture:
At about 2:30 ( and with no nap) Mackenzie started to fade. We skimmed through the gift shop ( thanks for the super cute visor, Jeanette!) and then headed for home.
And since Ben had already had his nap, he wasn't getting kinda lonely in the back seat.

One and a half

Mackenzie is officially one and half! At her doctor's appointment, she was weighed on the baby scale for the last time. At her two year visit, she will get to stand on the big kid scale and be weighed and measured! Here are her 18 month stats:

Height: 34.25 inches- 98th percentile
Weight: 25.75 lbs- 72 percentile
Head: 18.25 inches-72 percentile

She jumped up in percentiles on each measurement so it's not wonder she's out growing all of her clothes and towering over all the other kids her age!

Dr. Baker was surprised at Mackenzie's knowledge and abilities. She was very cooperative for the entire exam ( even when Dr. Baker had a student with him who needed to do an exam, too) and even chattered with him a bit. She got two vaccines, which rained on her parade, but she was happy by the time she left. Everyone was excited to see her! She's one of very few girls her age who like to going to the doctor!

Mackenzie; 18 months