Eerie

I know....there's only one "e" on the front, but I'm just not sure why someone would name their town Erie.  Just sayin'.  Moving on, we did enjoy ourself in Erie, but it was probably a little lower on the list than our previous stops.  The rent, however, was perfect (by that I mean cheap).  We were living in an attic.  Yep, an attic. Good thing that polar vortex was still at it, or we would have broiled!  It was much larger than we had anticipated, which was nice, and it had a bathtub!  I was prepping myself for bathing Cohen in the cooler again.  It did have a window AC unit, but we're convinced it was to cool something the size of a small closet.  Also, we put Cohen in that room so that he could sleep better.  We purchased a small fan to try to keep us cool.  It really wasn't bad, but poor Sterling couldn't stand upright except in the very middle of the attic; for everything else (cooking, showering, brushing teeth, etc) he was hunched over.  So, when the four weeks were up, we were ready to move on.

We did make a couple stops on our way over from Detroit. The Kirtland Temple, Newell K. Whitney store, etc.

Our bathtub! Yea!

Since it was chilly and often rainy, we found a play area in a nearby mall.  One of Cohen's favorite things ever is to "daw-a-daw" (drive a car).

We also hit up story times...lots of them!  There was a library nearby that had story time on Tuesday, and Chik-fil-A had story time on Wednesday!  Score!

This is an alien hat we made for craft one day.

And a butterfly magnet

I was pretty excited about our last Chik-fil-A story time.  We The kids were making lemonade...their super yummy lemonade!  They had two groups, and one group colored an apron and chef's hat while the other group made lemonade and then they swapped.  Cohen had an instant dislike for the apron, but he wore the hat long enough for me to get a picture.  We squeezed the lemons and added water and sugar and voila!  After trying to keep Cohen from drinking the pure lemon juice several times, I decided I'd let him drink it and learn his lesson.  So, he took a nice big gulp, and just looked up at me like NBD.  Seriously?!  That was it?!  Maybe that's what I get. haha. 

 A little boy brought little cupcakes for everyone, and Cohen, having recently learned the skill of licking an ice-cream cone, thought it should be treated as such.  

There was a big park nearby on the water and it was next to this giant field.  Perfect for running...and chasing seagulls.

"The Beach".  It was Lake Erie.  Cohen called the sand "dirt" and I couldn't really argue, but it was still pretty.  There were tons of rocks, but they were nice and smooth and Cohen loved it.  It was also nice because the water (if you dare get in it...it was freezing!) didn't leave that stickiness like the saltwater does. We made several trips here.

Cohen's first ice-cream cone.  It was a hit!

Yes, please!  24 hours? I have always been one to try to follow directions.  =) 

The "bedroom"

I also found free pontoon boat rides!  We got there at 11:00 when it was scheduled to leave (it said first come, first serve).  Turns out you have to sign up...at 10:00, but you should be early for that too.  So we came back the next day at 9:30 and got the last two seats!  Whew!

I wondered how Cohen would do with the life jacket, but he was just fine!

And what's the next best thing to driving a car? Driving a boat!  One of the volunteers opened it early, and let us on so Cohen could "drive" the boat, and she took pictures for us!  So nice!  He loved it!

The Cohen building.  (It says Cohen on the front)

The stairs leading to our attic.

This is the first flight...

....and the second.

Taking a break while we load up to leave.

Next stop, Tennessee!

Detroit Part 2

We're almost finished with our Erie rotation, and I'm still not caught up with Detroit!  Picture overload again...

Arboretum

Bugs, though he's selective about which ones I have to catch for him (thank goodness!).  I can handle a roly-poly, but not much more than that.  :)

He insisted it crawl on his toes as well.

One of Cohen's favorite activities...throwing rocks in a storm drain outside of our apartment. 

Water color

Carousel.  Turns out I get sick on those now.  I did open my eyes for the picture though. 

Pretty much every weekend we went downtown to the Farmer's Market.  It was really great!  It was huge, and the prices were actually reasonable.  The atmosphere was fun, and we all had a good time!

Some areas of Detroit.  We called it World War Z.  The picture doesn't do it justice; it's really pretty bad.

The nicer area of the city.

The nicest area. :)  (It's not downtown).  Ever since we visited, Cohen will ask for "tempo saw" (temple song).  It's pretty sweet.

Someone turned 30 this year!  (And it wasn't me! Whew!)  We were lucky enough to get to know some people in the ward, and I arranged for a baby sitter so that we could go out to dinner.  We went to a really cool place called Vinsetta's Garage.  It had great food and a great atmosphere!  And we were able to enjoy the whole thing without interruption!

I let Sterling add the candles.  Cohen now refers to cake as "fire".  Can you blame him?

A recent discovery...hmmm

Another carousel.  I'm really in for it.  This one wasn't as bad as the first.

Beach trip!  It's actually a lake, which doesn't really seem like it should classify as "beach" but nonetheless.  We drove to Lake Huron and played in the sand.  Yep, not the water; it was freezing.  You can't see it in any of these pic's but I had a jacket on and a towel covering my legs.  Brrrrrr

We enjoyed our time here!  Farewell, Detroit!