James and his cousin Matthew at Hogle Zoo (Zoorassic Park exhibit)Emily and kids spent the first half of August preparing for the move: visiting friends, shopping, packing boxes, and trying to keep the boys from getting bored. Jay had to handle many of the same duties in Abidjan. Due to a glitch in the State Department bylaws, we ended up having to personally ship a lot of the stuff we've accumulated over the past several months. Em sent enough boxes to Madrid during her last week in Utah that most of the Pleasant Grove Post Office employees could recognize her by sight…
James looking nervously over his shoulder, perhaps for another bigger meat-eater?
On the 15th, Em and the boys traveled to Michigan to visit the Mike Peterson clan and to meet Jay. He arrived on August 26th, and (if James has his way) Jay will never be parted from us again. In fact, James was hesitant to let his papa go anywhere without him. Simon focused mainly on wrestling Jay’s I-Pod away so he could play Angry Birds (which he is disturbingly adept at, by the way).
Anders...all ready for a walk around the neighborhood.
We'd probably look a lot cooler if this jeep weren't pink.
Altogether, we spent a couple of weeks in MI and (as usual) had a nice, relaxing time. The boys loved spending time with their cousins.
Since it has been a few years, we decided to visit the local Renaissance Festival (or as Em likes to call it “The Weirdly-Dressed People Festival” …a unique cross-section of humanity to be sure). In addition to the crazy costumes, we watched funny jugglers, jousting knights, and men in skirts tossing rocks and trees (stone put and caber toss- it was Scottish Highlands Day). We also ate bigantic (Ander’s word for gigantic) turkey legs and pickles.
