Tonight I am writing from the patio as we enjoy a really beautiful Monday evening outdoors after a wonderful long weekend of fun and time with friends. It's hard to believe it's been a whole week since we said goodbye to August and entered our first week of September. We are quickly inching our way closer and closer to Fall. And I am always sad to see Summer go. It won't be long before the garden bounty dries up, the temperatures cool down considerably, and we won't have as many opportunities to enjoy an evening outside like tonight. So we are making the most of it now.
This week the temperatures were already cooler and the night comes sooner with an earlier sunset. Over the next week we won't even get out of the low 70s with a couple of days only reaching the mid-60s. In some ways the cooler temperatures are good because they are better for Maddie and we can take some slightly longer walks or have a few more weekend adventures, but I know we will all miss the Summer days and the fun we've had.
This week we've gotten out every night for a nice walk in some of our favorite new parks in the area, many of them I only discovered this year due to Covid and our need to stay closer to home. The girls have also been in rare form when it comes to begging for my dinner, which is not something that they do often when we're at home. Must be something in the air.
Maddie has been extra snuggly this week. Maybe she is sensing that the cooler Fall nights are coming and she is preparing for the long Winter ahead. While I enjoy having my space, I have also really enjoyed these nightly snuggle sessions as the days are shorter and we're spending a little more time inside each night. I know when the weather turns cold, my favorite little personal heater will never be far from my side, and I do enjoy those quiet evenings with her resting her head in my lap.
As the weekend arrived, we looked forward to getting out more to enjoy what remains of our Summer. Friday night we headed to Crego Park and I allowed Maddie to choose our path for our walk. She headed off in the direction of the Lansing Riverwalk and off we went. Both Crego Park and the Riverwalk were busy with families out enjoying the evening and lots of bikers zooming by us. I had never seen this section of the trail this busy, but it seems that everything is busier in our new Covid world.
We were greeted by many children along our walk and enjoyed some beautiful views as we walked along. It was a great night for a walk. Since Maddie's walks are generally short, we didn't go far before turning and heading back toward Crego Park for a walk along the water.
The girls made friends with a nice man who shared some chicken which was leftover from his family's picnic there and I didn't think I was going to be able to convince Maddie to leave. Share a snack with Maddie and she'll be your friend for life! After a short walk around the park, we headed back to the Jeep to head home for the evening It was a nice start to our weekend.
On Saturday, we headed out for another nature walk, this time at the Williamstown Township Park. This is on the opposite side of town from us, so we have only been to the park a couple of times. I thought it would be a nice change of pace for the girls to be able to explore a different area.
The late Summer flowers and moody skies were a sure sign of September, but the temperatures were perfect and we enjoyed exploring some new trails in this area. While we did see a few other people while were were out and about, it was pretty quiet here and it was a great way to spend the earlier afternoon.
I spent the rest of the afternoon prepping veggies from the garden for the freezer and making some roasted tomatoes and pasta sauces so I can enjoy my garden bounty all Winter long. I am really enjoying filling my freezer full of Summer goodness for the depths of Winter.
Saturday also brought us the Kentucky Derby, which is always an exciting time at our house. I ordered some pizza and Peaches donned a hat-and I know it's not a fancy hat, but that's okay- and we prepared to watch the Run for the Roses. So weird for it to not be in May, but everything has been a little weird this year.
Sunday I was excited to get together with a group of friends for a fun little outing locally. Emmalee is a med student at Northwestern University in Chicago and Katelyn and Sean are new parents, so it's been awhile since we've all been able to get together. Things worked out perfectly with Emmalee home for a short vacation, so we planned to meet at Anderson Park. Peaches and Maddie were so excited to see Emmalee and to make a new friend, since her boyfriend, Casey, joined us. They were also pretty excited to meet baby Arlo, who had his first adventure with us. With me leading the way with Peaches and Vanessa following behind with Maddie, we took a slow stroll through the woods, enjoying time with our friends. We hadn't all been together since Sean and Katelyn wedding in April of 2019, so it was great to get us all together again. I meant to get a group picture, but totally forgot in all of the excitement, but at least Vanessa got one out on our walk. We are really hoping that Sean, Katelyn, and Arlo will be able to join us for some more adventures close to home this Fall. It was so nice to have all of our friends together.
After our walk and lunch, we headed home with some extra veggies from Vanessa's garden and spent some time prepping them for the freezer too. Maddie and Peaches were especially excited about the green pepper that they got to enjoy. They love their veggies!
After being slightly less than impressed upon first arrival, we discovered that the park was rather large and actually had some pretty, more natural areas. We enjoyed a nice walk around and got some pretty pictures of this bridge, which I really liked.
Peaches enjoyed the number of squirrels that were scurrying around for her to stalk and overall we enjoyed our stop here. But after a short time, we were back in the car to head to Washtenaw County and the Nichols Arboretum of U of M in Ann Arbor.
The picture above pretty much sums up Peaches' day at the Arboretum. She thought it was great, and once again found plenty of squirrels for stalking.
After we finished our walk around, I made the girls stop for a picture at the entrance, and surprisingly, they both looked at me! These happy faces sum up the way we felt about our time here. While we only added two new county's most beautiful places to our list of visits today, it was nice to get out for a short adventure not far from home. If you like nature and are in Ann Arbor, I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Arb.
On the way home, we avoided the expressway and, instead, took the backroads home. This allowed us to stop for ice cream in Chelsea and to make some quick stops along the way for a little more geocaching. The last park we visited, we were the only ones there, so I let Peaches run free and Maddie to plod along behind us unleashed as well. It was a nice little park and we found three geocaches, but by the end Maddie was ready to head home!
We had a great weekend of fun with friends and are looking forward to a short work-week and some more fun with friends next weekend too! I hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day and have a wonderful week!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.