Greenfield Village

Dear Reader,

I've been really busy lately, so I haven't had time to post all of my adventures in Michigan yet. So I'm going to do this in installments.

Today's Michigan featurette: Greenfield Village. The story behind Greenfield Village is, essentially, Henry Ford decided to build a historic village in the middle of Dearborn. He rebuilt actual houses that at one point belonged to famous people in history, as well as houses that exemplify certain time periods. Some houses are just recreations of what the actual houses looked like, but for the most part they're all legit historical buildings.

Sheep. Very important parts of history.

Model T. As Henry Ford said: "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." Well said, Mr. Ford.

The Wright brothers' bicycle store. There's a part of an airplane in the back....

At a hat store.

Thomas Edison's house.

Southern plantation.

The oldest windmill in the country.

The kitchen of a Connecticut farmhouse in the 1800's.

Cotswold cottage, from England. Basically, I'm in love.

Webster's house. Interesting fact: This house is from the same time period as the 1800's farm kitchen two pictures up, and both homeowners made the same amount of money. The farmer just put his money in his crops, while Webster, living in town, put money into his house to make it nice for his neighbors.

Robert Frost's house in Michigan. Did I say Michigan? Yes I did! Apparently he lived in Michigan. See for yourself:

I know, sorry, the font is tiny. But I promise it says that he lived in Ann Arbor.

The home of the grandson of a freed slave (originally owned by the freed slave).

The kitchen of the freed slave's home in the 1930's.

My favorite part of Greenfield Village is in this little square. This is the crafty part of the village, where they have weaving, tin making, printing, and, my favorite: glass blowing. It is so cool. We watched them make a bowl. We also got frozen custard and rock candy. I can't leave Greenfield Village without getting rock candy. It's tradition.

They Call Us the Great Lake State

Dear Reader,

Michigan is called the Great Lake State for a reason. We have 5 very large (great, even) lakes surrounding our state. We learn to remember their names with the acronym HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). It's pretty awesome.

This weekend my family and I went to Lake Michigan.

The car ride west was exciting with Molly in the backseat. Let's just say, she gets excited about EVERYTHING.

For some geological reason there are sand dunes that line the lake. While they are really cool to look at, they are pretty difficult to climb.

Especially when you're wearing sandals and the sand is hot like fire, swallowing your feet whole. It's painful.

Molly was funny. Every time there was shade she would fall into it and wouldn't want to get up.

She was super excited to get to the beach and have cold sand/rocks to lay on.

Feeling the wind run through her ears.

Our walk back to the car was pretty exciting. We took a different path to see where it would lead (hoping it would get us back to the original trail eventually) and it ended up being...not a direct route back. Let's just put it that way. And it was really hot. So hot that my mom almost got heat stroke, and I wasn't feeling too well either. We forced ourselves to keep walking until we got to some shade.

This tree was our saving grace.

And this was our view as we recovered. We felt like death but at least the lake was pretty.

I know, we're pretty lame. But it was hot. And sand is hard.

At the end of the trip we still wanted to go back to that beach, though, so it wasn't all bad. Adventure is good.

We finished off the day in Kalamazoo with Aunt Robin and Uncle Jim, eating amazing pizza at this restaurant. Yes, it's called Bilbo's. And yes, there were Lord of the Rings references on the menu. I recommend it.

Quest for Pumpkin

Dear Reader,

I made pumpkin cupcakes a few weeks ago. They looked a little something like this:

Whenever I eat pumpkin cupcakes a get nostalgic about London (Natalie, you know what I'm talking about) and a certain cupcake shop named Hummingbird Bakery.

As I'm sure most of you remember, I went to London in the fall. And as most of you are probably aware, pumpkin is a popular food to eat during that particular season.

Except, apparently, in London. And I found this out the hard way.

Natalie and I searched all over the city and found nothing. NOTHING. I almost doubted London's being the greatest city of all time, but I got a hold of myself before things got too out of hand.

[I should make the disclaimer that there were pumpkin pie type things (very rare, but we found them once or twice), but we were jonesing for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cupcakes, or something of that nature.]

So for two months we looked in every bakery and food stand we walked past--but to no avail. We had pretty much lost all hope until, on the second to last day in London, Natalie was inspired to stop by Hummingbird Bakery on Portobello Road. Pumpkin cupcakes were the cupcake of the day. Was it fate? I think so. Needless to say, she bought one and shared it with me, and there was much rejoicing. This is kind of what that looked like:

We were clearly all about the product placement.

Natalie also got a red velvet cupcake. That's the one on the right. A very good choice.

This is it. The coveted pumpkin cupcake. It's so beautiful.

It was totally worth the wait.

The cupcakes I made last month were no where near as magical as the London cupcake, but I'm gonna say that's because I didn't have to wait 2 months to eat them.

P.S. Before you get confused and think that I'm good at photography, Natalie took the Hummingbird cupcake pictures. (Well...except for the one of her. I took that.)

When the Parents Come to Town

Dear Reader,

This last week my parents and little brother and sister came into town for a visit. Mary's birthday was on Sunday (the 25th), so Wednesday (when they got in town) we went over to David and Cassie's for cake. (And so my parents could see Naomi. Let's be honest, we all know that's the real reason they wanted to go over.) The cake was a cat, per Mary's request. I forgot candles.

Of course.

But at least it tasted good.

And here's Naomi! She's so cute! She was also super mellow that night. She basically let anyone hold her, and she slept the whole time. This worked out really well for me because I finally got to hold her without her bursting into tears. I have bad luck, I guess.

If I didn't know any better I'd say the parents are wanting some grandkids. . . .

(This is the proof she let me hold her.)

And now we segue to my cousin Cami's wedding. She got married on Saturday (July 31) in the Salt Lake Temple. The fun part was, like 86 other couples were also getting married that day.

It was like herding cattle.

But the busy-ness aside, it was a really beautiful wedding, and really well done. She had her temple ceremony (most of the following pictures are from the wait outside) and then pictures very briefly (mainly because we were running late and only had the JSMB reserved for 2 hours), followed by a luncheon in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. She seemed pretty happy, so I'm guessing it was a success with her. Which, honestly, is all that matters.

My little cousin Cate. Yes, she is that cute. (And yes, in the background is Mary. That's what she was doing like all weekend.)

I love love love the converse!

My cousin Savannah's baby, Lily. We like to abuse children while they're young and can't fight back. It's easier that way.

My cousin Sabina (Lily's aunt) and Mary.

Brother and sister (X and Cate). Love it.

The happy bride!

Okay, I kid you not, this piece of chocolate mousse cheesecake may have been the best thing I have ever eaten. And I'm not really crazy about mousse or cheesecake.

Was a Christmas miracle? I would say so.

The centerpiece.

Savannah, Lily, and me. Clearly the child was annoyed she had to be in ANOTHER picture. I don't blame her. Sorry for adding to your pain, Lily. . . .

The World's Largest Water Balloon Fight

1100 hours:

I leave home thinking today will be like any other day. I pick up my sister, and we head for what we thought would be a normal BYU activity. If only we knew how our lives were about to change.

1130 hours:

We sign up for what can only be described as the most epic water balloon battle this world has ever seen. We choose our colored shirts--realizing afterwards that the colors we have chosen decides our teams: they have pitted us against each other--sister against sister, friend against friend.

1131 hours:

The wait begins.

1136 hours:

I find members of my team and we separate, preparing for battle.

1137 hours:

Cosmo bumps into my friend on the way to the water station. Clearly he has forgotten he has no mouth hole. Water falls everywhere.

1200 hours:

We are given our weapons and commanded to form ranks. Stray balloons find their way across enemy lines. The fight is about to begin.

1215 hours:

I am hit. Hit again. All I see are balloons, flying through the air like happy grenades.

1218 hours:

There is a cry next to me. A boy has lost his glasses.

1218 hours and 30 seconds:

It's ok. They're not broken.

1223 hours:

The ammunition appears to be running out. My casualties are limited to water in my eye contact, smeared make up, and a very wet shirt. Overall, I am lucky to have suffered so little.

1225 hours:

The battle has finished. We have officially completed the world's largest water balloon fight ever.

See footage of the fight here:

http://www.fox13now.com/news/local/kstu-byu-world-record-largest-balloon-fight-ever,0,6359724.story

We broke the world record by 25 participants and 1021 water balloons. And we all got free t-shirts.

You know how we do.

The Hunger Games

Dear Reader,

Okay, if you haven't read (or haven't heard of) The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins--repent!

Only the first two books in the trilogy are out and literally ten minutes ago I finished reading Catching Fire, and the month and a half wait until Mockingjay is released (Aug. 24!) just might drive me insane. Suzanne Collins, you sure know how to tell a story (although I wish you would be a little more careful about where you put those commas).

Several people recommended that I read these books, and it wasn't until a friend said I could borrow hers that I decided to try them out. No one would tell me what they were about, though. Seriously, everyone I asked just said they were intense, and if I pressed them for more details, they would just say that they were hard to describe. In retrospect, I'm glad no one told me what was going to happen. It made me all the more disgusted at the world Collins writes about. Um...but disgusted in a good way. You should still read it. It's a great insight into humanity, government, and morality. I mean, what would you do if you were in Katniss' situation? I like to think that I could be brave...but I would probably be one of the first to die.

Intrigued? You should be be. Read it! But be warned....it's intense. :)