Days with the Dorans

 YAY!!! My cousin and her family are in town! "Reunited and it feels so good..." keeps playing through my head. I have been so bad at taking pictures but I did manage a few (and I mean this is it) of a trip we took to the D to catch a Tiger's game. It was Nicole, Russ, Dan, Steph, Jeff and I. We parked at an old Detroit Opera House or something. I can't believe they turned the building into a parking garage. We've parked here before but this is the first time I thought to snap some pictures. That's about all I took though- after this we met Russ's friends for dinner and drinks but the service was so slow we just got drinks and ate at the park. After the game, we explored the D but I forgot my ID so couldn't get into the bars (didn't get carded at the first place). We met some really neat guys outside one of the bars we went to- it was a nice night so they were all sitting outside. Detroit is a fun city- even more fun when you're wit...

It's so fun when we are able to go to Open Mic Nights. Jeff goes fairly regularly (with or without others) and hopefully I'll be able to go to more. This time we hit this cool brewery with a science theme. Loved how the beer was served in these. We started out with a flight to find out what beer we liked. In case I ever go back, Grapes of Malice was my favorite. It was pretty fruity and didn't taste too much like a regular beer which was different but I liked it. The guys did great. Jeff and the Daves were all there and another guy jumped on drums which was nice. You can see one of the songs HERE . I did the others live on facebook. Jodi and Randy came out (which was cool) and the wives were all there too. (It was great to see JoJo and Sam.) One of these days maybe Joe and Gabe will be able to join their dads up there! ;-)

 Grandma again invited all the kids to Splash Village for some water fun! This year Al and I were able to make it (no dance) but Joe wasn't (marching band). Tyler and Cole were able to go too and it was great to see them. I was bad at taking pictures but dad and I enjoyed catching up with Grandma and getting all the latest news. Z and Tyler went down the big slides but the others just chilled in the pools. After swimming we hit a brewery and Christie and Evan were able to meet up with us. Hopefully next time all the kids can be there (and I'll get more pictures!)!

And so it begins... I am actually surprised at how easy this transition has been (the transition to high school). Of course I am speaking for myself. When Joe went to middle school I was a nervous wreck. High School seems less scary- mostly because of Marching Band. Joe has been having a lot of fun making new friends and hanging out with old friends! He had a week of home camp and then next week he'll go away. The Marching Band has a facebook page and I'm so thankful for the videos and pictures!

So this is going to be a long post but that's because it was a long week! We were off to Nationals in CT with our dance peeps and wouldn't you know it... we had a missed turn (when I was driving of course) which had me driving in the Bronx. It was extremely stressful. I found this stock picture of where we were except it was crazy traffic- horns honking and pedestrians everywhere (including one in a wheelchair that came up to me asking if I had a dollar... as I was driving). I was sweating!! It was exhausting but we made it! When we got there we unpacked and walked a bit to stretch our legs. Though it was a long drive, this Nationals was much shorter than the last one we were at (five days instead of ten)- and there were no classes so I thought we'd have more free time. We did! Like Nashville- we were in a big hotel. This time we were at Foxwoods which has Casinos, outlets, restaurants and more. It didn't have an indoor river with a boat but it was equally a...