Uncle Matt!

Uncle Matt and Meghan recently paid us a short visit on their way home from Iowa City. I was happy about it, Alex was happy about it, but Abby, she was THRILLED about it. The first night, as we went through our bedtime routine of song-singing, she kept interrupting to ask "Uncle Matt go sleep too?" or to demand "See Uncle Matt now!" Needless to say, she was overjoyed to see the two of them on the futon in the morning.

On Monday night we went out to Zingerman's restaurant to celebrate Barb's birthday. She wanted to buy us dinner. That's right. Barb wasn't with us, but she wanted to buy us dinner on HER birthday. We didn't disappoint. I got the pit-smoked BBQ beef which was locally raised on a farm in Dexter, the boys got the burger sampler--5 mini burgers, each with a different type of cheese--and Meghan got the BBQ pork mac & cheese. All delicious. Abby got the mac & cheese off the kids menu. It put my homemade mac & cheese to shame. While she was eating it, she dropped a morsel or two on the ground. This always upsets her. I reassured her that it was okay, we could leave it on the ground. She thought a moment, and then replied "Ok, dogs will get it." Smart kid.

On Tuesday we all went to the Detroit Zoo. I was the only member of the party to have visited before. It was a hot, sunny day, but well worth the fun.

Looking for red pandas.


"Come on! Hurry up!"

Giraffes.


The best exhibit of all--the "Cat" exhibit.

Otters.


Strolling.

Riding the train.

Around 1:00 in the afternoon we were all getting a little worn out. The heat was kind of oppressive and the animals agreed. Most of them were hiding. The others were sitting on the far side of their habitat, in whatever shade was available. We decided to head to the arctic for some cool air. After walking for a half mile or so in the open sun, with no breeze, through the "arctic tundra," where no animals were to be seen, we came to the best part of the zoo. We were welcomed into an underground tunnel, where the air-conditioning was blasting and we had a perfect view of swimming seals. It was fantastic.

The Arctic.

There were peacocks wandering all around the zoo. They were mostly found around the picnic tables, waiting for scraps of food to fall. This didn't go unnoticed by Abby. While we were eating lunch, Rowan dropped some sandwich. Abby immediately said to me "It's ok. Peacock will get it." I think I see a pattern here.

The sign of a good day. (Notice the cracker trail he's leaving behind.)