Botanical Gardens

Just before the 4th of July, my parents came for a visit. They came on a Tuesday night to watch Brian play softball. Wednesday morning we made a trip to IKEA to buy my sister and her now husband, Kyle, a bed and a few other things. In the afternoon we went to the U of M Botanical Gardens. That evening we were supposed to watch the Detroit Symphony Orchestra play at Greenfield Village, but it rained pretty good and we decided to leave and dry off at our apartment with a movie.

The botanical gardens were quite interesting. We showed up during their free hours (which was an extra bonus!) and saw their three greenhouses - tropical, temperate, and arid. We then walked outside where they had different types of gardens and a solar house. It was a gorgeous afternoon and I hope to go back again someday and check out their walking trails. My dad's favorite pastime is taking pictures of flowers, so I've included a slide show of pictures that he took at the botanical gardens. My favorites are the venus flytrap and the pitcher plant.

Church Softball

This summer Brian has been playing softball for the church that we attend, Dearborn Christian Fellowship. The regular season just ended this past Tuesday and tournaments start next week. It's been a fun season to watch even though they haven't won every game. My parents came to one game and below are some pictures that my dad took of Brian batting and playing catcher. Enjoy!

Gone Fishin'

Last weekend Brian and I decided to take advantage of a weekend that we were actually in Belleville and went north to the Kensington Metropark to do some fishing. We rented a rowboat for 3 hours and went fishing on Kent Lake. The first couple hours only brought us seaweed monsters to catch, but eventually we found some fish...even if they were only the size of my hand. :) Enjoy the pictures!

My first catch!My second catch!A close-up of my second catch. Rather small, but still rewarding!This is Brian's first catch. Notice that my hand is the one holding the fish. It's also the hand that took the fish off the hook since Brian doesn't like doing it. ;)Here is Brian's second catch. He's actually holding this one, but I still took it off the hook. He did put his own worm on for a change though!

Brian's third catch was a squirmy one and Brian wasn't holding on well enough to hold it long enough to get a picture. He did take it off the hook by himself, but the hook was barely stuck on the fish.

His second two catches came from just dropping his worm over the side of the boat and yanking up the fish that were swimming around our boat. Not real fishing in my opinion!

We had a great time and our fishing licenses have been put to good use!

25th Birthday

Somewhere in the midst of July, I turned 25! My birthday was 2 days before my sister's wedding and the same day as her bachelorette party, but we still managed to celebrate my birthday a bit. My family (minus Brian and Kyle) went out for lunch at Applebee's and I got my free chocolate mousse shooter. My mom, sister, and I then went to get our manicures for the wedding. It was nice to do something relaxing for a few hours! In the evening was Katie's bachelorette party, but we managed to get dinner from Steak 'N Shake (which I miss a lot!). After the bachelorette party, I got to see my husband for the first time that week and he had a surprise for me! The flowers pictured below were on the kitchen table along with a card that had a squirrel eating birthday cake and saying "Mhmappy Murfday!" and a package of Rolos. We also decided to purchase iPod Touches for each of us for our birthdays this year. Since I knew Brian would be using mine more than I would if he didn't get his until his birthday, I told him that he could get his right away. Even though it was a different birthday this year, I still had a lot of fun and enjoyed the wishes I got from family and friends.