Sledding on Cobb Creek

A few weeks ago, Niki and the kids went sledding over at NanaB and GrandDad's house on Cobb Creek.

The little hill behind the old house turns out to be a great, steep, and fast little sledding hill.

Charlotte loves shooting down the hill with GrandDad.  GrandDad also looks like he is getting a charge out of it.

Made it to the bottom safe!

NanaB has rediscovered her love of sledding - Niki, Charlotte, Peter, and Connie showing up is just an excuse for her to go sledding in the backyard . . .

Connie comes along, and loves charging through the woods in the snow.

Petey is not a huge fan of the cold weather, but he troops up and down the hill and goes sledding, too.  Every time he goes out, he likes it more.

Connie stopped running just long enough to howl with Niki.  You read that right.  Connie and Niki howling together occurs WAY more often than you'd think.  

Petey in the snow

After sledding for a while, Niki, the kids, and Connie hopped in to the minivan and drove up Cobb Creek hill to head home.  From what I'm told about what happened next, they must have been driving kind of like this . . .

. . . until they wound up like this. 

Ahhhh . . .  life in Oakland Township in the winter.

Boat Show with GrandDad and Charlotte

Charlotte, GrandDad, and I headed down to Cobo Hall in Detroit today to attend the boat show.

Charlotte liked the helm of this pontoon boat.  I explained to Charlotte that all she had to do to drive a boat was pull the throttle and steer.  No pedals required.  Even little girls can do it.  So, um, this summer - don't leave your motorboat unattended around Charlotte.

Charlotte was impressed by the fake grapes and cheese on this pontoon boat table.

By far, though, Charlotte really likes boats with "rooms."

Charlotte took a shine to this 16 foot Crownline.

This 29 foot Wellcraft had bunkbed berths . . .

GrandDad really enjoyed the boat show, as well.

At the helm of a Regal.

After looking at all the boats, GrandDad, Charlotte, and I got on the People Mover and headed out to lunch.  GrandDad pointed out the sights along the way.

We had a very good lunch at Small Plates Detroit.  

In the car on the way home, Charlotte was very quiet for a while, presumably thinking about everything she saw.  Then, in her little voice, she piped up   . . .  "How long 'til summer?"

An audience with Santa Claus

I know it's February, but it's never too late to catch up on old blog posts, right?  In early December, we took the kids to Wolcott Mill Metro Park to see Santa.  Unfortunately, our broken camera kind of hampered the documenting of the event, but we had a great time.  The old mill is really cool and there were a bunch of little activities (like making ornaments and roasting marshmallows) that we could have done if the kids were a little bit older.  We had to do a surgical strike to make it to see Santa and get home in time for bedtime, but neither kid seemed to mind.

Santa was very patient (he insisted on taking time to give Charlotte a chance to recover from the horror of the spectacular belly flop she took when she tripped upon entering the Santa enclosure) and very friendly.  He nodded repeated back the things the kids said to him and did all the things you hoped he would do.  Our only regret is the horrible photos we took.  I know we could have gone to another Santa at the mall for some more official shots, but Corey and I got lazy and used the excuse that it might confuse the kids to visit multiple Santas.

Charlotte asked for a unicorn and Peter babbled on and on about something Batman-related.  Charlotte was still a little thrown by her awkward entrance, but Petey was being uncharacteristically smiley for photos.  Too bad this is the best one we got.

Wolcott Mill looks really cool and has a bunch of the old mill buildings still standing for tours.  We're going to have to go back sometime this spring to check it all out in the daylight.  Here's an old bread flour bag from the mill's working days.

Thanks for coming to see Santa with us, NanaB & GrandDad!

Next year, we would love to come back to this same Santa, but we're going to plan the outfits a little better and make sure we have a good working camera along.