Goodbye October

It’s - well almost - the last day in October. One of my favorite months if not thefavorite month here in this corner of Michigan. And October 2017 has not disappointed us.

It is the time of year to pull out the woolen flip flops:

Where “kanelsnurrer” (cinnamon swirls) taste better than ever:

Where they pull out the best apples in the world in Whole Foods (and everywhere else) - Michigan apples:

And last but not least October is also the month to visit corn mazes in the country side:

All that is left now is only one more day of waiting for a fresh supply of money on the bank account (when there is too much month left at the end of the money - ya’ll know that one, right?) and cross our fingers that winter will not be too awful.

It’s that time of year......

Where I turn into this pathetic ball of pity feeling constantly cold and sorry for myself. It just happens SO fast! Last weekend I took the boys out for icecream downtown wearing short sleeves. Fast forward to Thursday:

Because of this we have been going through our closets to find all the winter gear, which is quite exciting as we tend to throw things in there and close the door as fast we can before everything comes falling out😬. But Luca came to the rescue this year as he spotted these giant ziplock bags for vacuum storage during our weekly grocery run at Aldi. And what do you get when you combine a vacuum cleaner, giant ziplock bags, an excited Luca (and a sharpie......)?

????

????

You get to find your bed like this:

LOL

Needless to say - cold or no cold - I still bike. And I do have the pleasure of some stunning sunrises this time of year, but with frost you have to be careful with the bridges:

I chose to walk across this one and according to the two runners I met, that was a wise decision as they had seen a couple of other cyclists slip and crash a little earlier.

Oh the joys of the Michigan winter!

Prepping for winter and college

Despite the warm weather November is pulling closer with incredible speed. November means winter and deadline for early decision college application, an Ulrik is stuck in front of his computer trying to get essays, portfolio, and recommendation letters ready to apply for art and design school. In the meantime I try to save our outdoor plants from deep freeze - especially the succulents. So Teresa and I went hunting at Salvation Army and found some indoor housing for the plants. An old silver jug and a nut tin:

It is of course also of uttermost importance to get to use the last mint sprigs for some cocktails. I added one to a G&T but was immediately out-fancied by Luca who made a kickass tonic and juice:

And right now there are rosemary potatoes in the oven and as soon as I get up I’ll make coleslaw with as many remaining fresh herbs as possible.

See you next year “garden”😢

Good morning Detroit (and good afternoon Target)

Today we did something VERY atypical for a Saturday morning! We got up at 6:30 to drive to Detroit so Teresa and Kristian could run a 5K with Kristian's boss and colleagues. I was not running but came along to cheer and go to Eastern Market afterwards.

We started out in the Ren Cen, where Kristian can park for free (because he works there). They had gone pink for breast cancer awareness month:

The run was a little further up north by the river and it was a nice walk to get there:

And then they ran! And Kristian was quite happy to make it to the finish lines several minutes before any of his colleagues. Teresa and him apparently both kept each other going by having the mindset of "I will NOT let my Dad/daughter cross the finish line too far ahead of me".

Afterwards we went to Eastern Market, which is always a pleasure. So cheap and so many different types of produce. Today we tried something completely new. The lady selling them said they were quite delicious boiled and tossed in some butter. Time will tell.

The afternoon we spent on a Target trip. One of the classic "you only need a few things but cannot manage to shop for less than 100$" trips. We basically mostly went there to get Halloween candy but who can resist unicorn heads:

Or getting your finger stuck in Frankensteins mouth...... (seriously, Teresa?)

But the giant spiders are not something we would even consider looking too much at. We have plenty of live ones in the living room😳😖

Luca also found himself a camouflage winter coat......

So overall not a bad trip at all. I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon in the gym while Teresa and Kristian will do some driving practice (I still prefer not to come on those trips......)

Manistee river

We went to bed last night in a rain storm and woke up to a clear blue sky. Nice. The next couple of pics are from right next to our camper. Gosh it was pretty

Our plan was to get some fishing done (or Luca would be the worst disappointed obnoxious version of himself) and we managed to Google up a suspension bridge by Manistee river, where you could hike and fish:

Kristian actually caught a trout! For reals! Luca was crazy jealous, but nevertheless kept on fishing until we dragged him back to the car.

Bailey also had fun and went into the water (oh the things he will do for a treat) but took his revenge and kicked my hiking boots into the river as he was climbing back on shore.

And Teresa found herself a little friend. Seems like pokemons do exist after all:

Now we are heading back south in the sunshine. Back to homework and school lunch prepping😖 but also back to our own nice beds!