Zoo season is now open

Saturday was a zoo day.  How could it not be?  With temperatures nearing 70 and a bright spring sun gracing the our part of the world there was no place we would have rather been.  This was our first visit of the year, hence the "opening of zoo season" for our family, but it reminded us of how things have truly changed.  In years past, as in during the last three or so years B.C., there wasn't really any such thing as a "zoo season."  Jon and I would visit zoos all year long, enjoying such festivities as Oktober Fest at the Binder Park Zoo, Christmas Lights in Toledo, and Valentines at the Detroit zoo (our personal favorite).  We found quite often that the best times to be there were early in the spring when the temperatures didn't reach above the 50s and most normal families (is that what we are now?) were still at home basking in the heat of their furnaces.  It was always a strange dichotomy to spend our day hiking through our favorite zoo areas and our evening toasting S'mores by a fire in our own living room, but it was a highly enjoyable kind of strange.  So we might miss the freedom of subjecting ourselves to near certain frostbite temperatures just to see the Tigers enjoy the cold in earnest play, but sharing the zoo with Calvin is preferable by far.  So zoo visiting now has its appropriate season, but that just means we have to cram more into the fewer months in which we have to enjoy it.  And we are excited to say that said zoo season is now open.  Lucky you guys.  Now you'll get to see pictures of things like tigers and aardvarks instead of just Calvin.

Easter is eggciting

I had to do it - it's the obligatory cliche.  The pictures from our Easter weekend are now up in the April 2009 album.  It truly was a wonderful weekend.  Friday was our Easter bunny day, and after visiting Creep E. Bunny (he's the one in yellow) at the local resale shop Calvin begged to go visit the bunny at the mall as well.  Of course it didn't take much begging (ha, where do you think he got the idea in the first place?) since Creep E. Bunny didn't make for really great pictures, but on our way out the door a nice lady told Calvin the Easter Bunny would be coming to our house that weekend, at which point he walked back to Creep E. with a very expectant look on his face and I had to explain that it was all just a figure of speech.  Keeping no secrets we'd already told him the bunnies would just be people wearing costumes, so I'm sure he expected the guy to actually show up for drinks and hors d'oeuvres or something.  I actually had far less difficulty getting him out of the mall display where, while the bunny was much more inviting, the guy doing the jig behind the camera to make kids smile for their photo op was a little iffy.  Calvin refused to take his eyes off that guy and I'm sure he was thinking something along the lines of "what institution did they just let him out of?" or at least that is what I was thinking.  I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't do these crazy things if I wasn't a scrapbooker, but Calvin had fun just the same.

Having gotten the bunny visits out of the way, then, we spent the latter hours of Saturday decorating eggs.  I say the latter part because the earlier hours were spent pretending it was fall.  Who tailgates in the spring?  Well, actually, tens of thousands of people this year, that's who.  We've attended a handful of Michigan Spring Football games in the past, most of which amounted to a sprinkling of giddy tailgaters in the Chrysler lot, but this year was a whole different animal; an animal that wrapped itself all the way around the stadium in what had to be a three hour line just to get into the locker room for a quick tour.  We opted out of that one, visited the inside of the ever-changing stadium (Calvin's first visit to that part of town!) and then retreated to our usual fall tailgating spot to enjoy the usual tailgating treats.  Ahhh we love our tailgating crowd!  But that brings us back to the Easter eggs, which was a resounding success.  Who knew an almost three year old could color and dye eggs without making a mess?  The whole hard boiled bit helps a lot I am sure (doubly so when you hear about the egg hunting situation), but the dyes and crayons stayed exactly where they ought as well.  I was incredibly impressed, but I still would not have ventured such an activity while in our church clothes on Sunday.  Instead we spent our dressed up Sunday afternoon going for a (muddy) walk on our (muddy) path to take some family pictures (which you already saw) before the extended family arrived for an Easter party.  We then followed up said walk with a (slightly muddy) egg hunt in the back yard.  You know how I mentioned the hard boiled-ness of the eggs?  Calvin did a great job finding the eggs, and really seemed to get a kick out of finding each one, after which he dropped, and I really mean dropped, if not half threw, each one into the basket.  Out of a dozen eggs I think three survived un-cracked.  Did I mention that we will be eating potato salad for every meal this week? 

Ahhh Easter.  We hope yours was as beautiful as ours.  With love, from the Ophoffs.

Ahhh, Monday

We had a wonderful Easter and hope you did, too.  We have lots of pictures from our fabulous weekend, which included a tour of the ever changing UofM stadium, spring game tailgating, and of course the quintessential pictures of Easter, but until I have time to edit and upload them, here are a few family pictures I took (via tripod and timer) during the beautiful spring weather yesterday.

Back from Shuffling

We're back from a long weekend in Chicago, a trip that this time felt more like a visit to the north pole. We left home Friday in nearly 60 degree temperatures and arrived in the big city at about 20 degrees cooler. And if that doesn't seem all that cold for you, imagine my dismay at getting up Sunday morning to a snow covered landscape and snow filled air, only an hour before we hit the slushy streets. The impetus for this trip was my inclination to run the 8K Shamrock Shuffle my brother and his friend, a decision I lamented only slightly as we stood shivering, waiting for the race to begin, but an accomplishment with which I am pleased, especially after finishing with a pace better than a 10 minute mile even with running in inches of slush and crossing the finish line soaked all the way up to the knees. I can't say I'd like to race in those conditions again, but race again I will; the Dex-Ann run is only two months away, though I doubt they hand out beers just past the finish line.

Of course there was more to the trip than just my running. We had a wonderful visit with my brother and his friend, and enjoyed such frivolities as Chicago deep dish pizza, a night at a jazz club, braving the cold for shopping on Michigan Ave, and an afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. I will say that traveling has become a bit more arduous as Calvin matures. He is still the fantastic traveler he always was – he sleeps just as well in a tiny walk-in closet as he does in his own room at home, and he didn't even blink at the time change or the massive obliteration of his daily schedule – but because he is so much more busy and interactive now than ever before, it is harder to settle into more confined spaces, like the car or the apartment, without the general peace suffering some injury. At home, where he has his own play room or bedroom, the constant singing and word play are great fun, and the time he spends playing alone are enough to recharge your energy for the next sequence of "why, why, why" (did we mention he has entered the why phase?), but in more confined quarters it is hard to get the reprieve needed to bolster your patience for the next onslaught. He was incredibly cooperative and happy the whole trip, he's just more tiring than he used to be and we/I owe a great thank you to my mom, who stayed behind to watch him on several occasions, allowing us to go to a jazz club Friday night, attend the runners' expo Saturday afternoon, and let Jon and dad come down to snap pictures and take care of our warm coats during the race.

The final day of our trip was a special gift, since Curtis realized only that morning (after walking all the way to work, of course) that he had the day off and could spend it with us, and we spent it all together enjoying the Museum of Science and Industry. Destinations like that become increasingly enjoyable as Calvin ages, and the talkative nature that makes him so tiring at other times made him quite fascinating during the museum trip. He especially loved any and every exhibit that had anything to do with a train, and, of course, the banana split we had for lunch (don't tell!) at the old fashioned ice cream parlor. It was the cherry on top of our weekend vacation. So now we are home.  There are, of course, a great many more pictures.  If you want to see them visit the March 2009 gallery.  Happy spring!

Celebrating, ummmm, spring

With a week of gloomy weather ahead we decided that a good, cheerful party was in order, and, since there are certainly no birthdays to celebrate this time of year (ahem), we decided that we had just better celebrate spring.  It is always fun to have our families all together under one roof, and we really enjoy playing hosts to such joyous gatherings.  We've also gotten better (much better) at it through the years, and rather than spending all Sunday afternoon panicking about the preparations, it was Saturday that found our home leisurely smelling of fresh bread, and filled with the sounds of the food processor, mixer, etc. etc., so that by Sunday we were able to kick back, wine in hand, and enjoy the festivities themselves.  Calvin, of course, is always the most involved host–more than willing to show, tell, and share with absolutely everyone that walks through the door.  And if you see a cake in the pictures?  We have no idea who that might be for, as there were certainly no birthdays celebrated here, just one really enjoyable family gathering to welcome the first beginnings of spring.  And who really needs a reason to party anyhow, more than just celebrating the wonderful love of family, and the marching onward of the seasons in our beautiful world?  Oh, and happy birthday, mom.