Days with the Dorans

  For my birthday, Jeff got me a box of scratch off adventure dates for places throughout the state. We decided to scratch our first one and see what we were doing. The way the cards work is you can see WHERE something is and some clues about what it could be about (see the bottom of the card), but you don't know what you are actually doing until you scratch them! Well, we decided to head to Royal Oak because it wasn't too far and wasn't too expensive. We did some wheel throwing at the Creative Arts Studio. I didn't even know what "wheel throwing" was but it's basically making pottery on a wheel. We had a private lesson and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my nails were a little too long (I meant to cut them- they grow so darn fast), so I had to use my knuckle but it still worked. We also got to pick out glazes so that when they fire our bowls they'll have color. The lady took a picture of us which was nice. After, we went out to lunch at Ale Mary...

 Sunday after church, Jeff decided it was about time he had proper gear for playing outside, so he headed out to the store while I took the kids home, got them some lunch and Seany a nap.  Since we knew we were headed to the lake for some ice time, I also suggested Jeff pick up some skates for the Bigs at Play-it-Again Sports.  Thankfully, he scored each of them a pair and one of our old pair was perfect for the Goose.  We tried the double runners on him and they fit perfectly! By the time Sean woke up it was 3:30, so we got on all our gear so that by the time we got to the lake we could put on our skates and head straight down to the ice.  We took the sled down the hill and the kids got to feel that familiar feel I always have of walking down the long yard in skates!  This was Al and Z's first time on skates and I was eager to see how they did!  Z had the double runners as I mentioned and he did really well.  I skated around with him but...

After church we bundled up the kids and headed over to my folks'. We haven't spent a lot of time over there (not nearly like we do in the summer), but they may be happy (or unhappy) to hear that we may be over there a bit more after the fun that we had today! I don't think I realized the gem I grew up in! My childhood home sits upon a large yard, a hill (perfect for sledding) and of course a lake! We strapped on our winter gear and took a sled down to the lake. At first it was me, three bigs , my brother and his family and my dad (My mom, Jeff and Sean stayed in the warmth of the house). Surprisingly, this was Joe's first 'go' on skates! And boy was he was eager to go! Watching him shuffle around the ice reminded me of my brother when he was little! He would shuffle around the rink in his snow suit, fall down, get back up again, repeat... That was what Joe looked like (at least at first). In the beginning, I helped Joe by holding his hands and even ska...