Miriam the Ballerina

This week Miriam did a 3-day ballet camp at Hearts in Step, a local Christian dance company.  She went with her friend Mary Kate and had a very fun time!
Here is our little ballerina before the first day, showing off her ballet outfit:

Esther did her hair:

Today was the last day, so the parents were invited to come for the last 15 minutes to see them perform their dance.  Miriam's group danced to "How Great Thou Art" and it was beautiful!  They also recited a Bible verse and brought home a craft that tied in with the verse.

Fun at the Zoo

Since Karen and Juan were in town for one more day, we decided to take advantage of a cooler day and went to the zoo.  Our Children's Museum membership allows us to get in free in August, so that was an added bonus.

We had not been to the zoo since last August and I was impressed with some major additions and renovations that had occurred since last year.  We spent quite a bit more time there than we ever have before and had fun exploring the new additions.  The extra time may have also been due to the fact that Juan and Karen paid for the kids to pet the stingrays and Grandpa and Grandma covered camel rides, which are things we normally skip.  That made it an extra special zoo trip!

Esther had Aunt Karen's camera most of the time and she got some great photos of the animals!

The classic John Ball Zoo picture:

Petting the stingrays:

This guy loves walking that camel in circles all day...

After the zoo, we went to Olga's for lunch and Jersey Junction for ice cream. 

I LOVE ice cream!

Then we went back to my parents' house and played outside for the rest of the afternoon.  It was a great ending to a super fun weekend!

Weekend of Celebrating!

This weekend was filled with fun and celebrations!  We left Saturday morning to go to Farmington Hills to be a part of the jubilee celebration for my Aunt Elaine.  She celebrated 50 years of service to God as a Sister of Mercy.  We attended a mass and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch with Aunt Elaine and relatives and friends.  We are grateful that we could be there for her celebration since she is such a special part of our family.  It was also nice to visit with some aunts, uncles and cousins that we don't get to see very often.

The Sova Siblings:  Mom, Uncle Larry, Aunt Joanie, Aunt Susie, Aunt Elaine.  They are standing in order of age... all 5 of them were born in a 6 year time span!

After lunch we checked into our hotel, watched some Olympics, grabbed an early supper and then drove to Comerica Park for the Detroit Tigers baseball game!  Peter went last year with Casey, but this was the girls' first time attending a game.

The weather was hot, but sunny when we arrived...

A few innings in, the sky started to get dark and people with smart phones saw on the radar that we were in for a storm...

Fortunately it was a brief storm, so we huddled under the roof on the concourse with everyone else until it passed, dried off our seats and enjoyed the rest of the game!

The fireworks after the game were great too!

This morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our hotel and the kids swam in the pool for a while.  Then we drove home, unpacked and went over to my parents' house for my Dad's 70th birthday steak dinner!  Peter told Grandpa that he only seems like he's 66, so that's quite a compliment.

We are thankful for celebrations of God's goodness in our lives and the lives of people we love.  It was a great weekend!

White Pine Trail

Today we crossed off another item on our summer vacation bucket list:  biking on the White Pine Trail with Grandpa and Grandma W!  It was a beautiful morning to ride.  Esther and Grandpa took the tag-along to Belmont and rode the 5 miles from there to Rockford, where the rest of us met them.  Then Miriam hopped on the tag-along with Grandpa while the rest of us rode our own bikes.  We rode about 7 miles all together and then had a picnic lunch with our favorite Corner Bar hot dogs!  Peter and Grandpa rode back to Belmont and the girls headed home, although we all stopped for ice cream on the way home.  Then it was time for Esther to head to Grandpa and Grandma K's house for her birthday sleepover!

Peter and Grandpa's ice cream stop in Comstock Park: