Marten- the Super Pet!

When we went to the State Fair, there was a whole section with rabbits. And, lo an behold, a cage with bunnies and a 'For Sale' sign. And thus the Smith family has a new member- Marten! He is a Netherland Dwarf Silver Marten (hence the name)- and is the cutest thing ever! He is so little (and won't get much bigger) and loves to cuddle and be petted.

Can you tell I am a little happy? For anyone that doesn't know- I had like a-zillion rabbits as a kid.

This is Marten playing in our treadmill box outside- some action poses

Tee!

Detroit Jazz Festival

Detroit Jazz Festival is held every year in downtown Detroit. It is the largest jazz festival in the country, and is completely free (except for parking of course). It was amazing the big names that were there- the highlight for us- Dave Brubeck.

The living legend himself- one of the most influential people in modern American music, it was amazing to see him so close - not to mention that he is in his late 80's

View of downtown- prettier than you thought, huh? We were right on the waters edge- it was a beautiful afternoon.

Here's a picture of Dave Brubeck and his Quartet and his Sons playing his most recognizable song- Take Five

At The State Fair!

There is nothing more Mid-Western than a State Fair. Complete with all the prize cows, pig races, and lumber jack competitions. I have never been to such an event, and it was a blast.

Couldn't help but think of Charlotte's Web

Pigs look so happy when they sleep.

Horse competition.

This was a sculpture of cows, made of butter! 300 pounds of butter! I need some popcorn.

Prize cheese

They have these large statues of animals and things all over the place. That is a large cow.

Prize bees

Prize Goats- baaaah

The vegetables- I liked the sunflowers

So many chickens and roosters! Bird flu anyone?

It can't be a Michigan State Fair without GM cars

Ol' Farm Display

Lumberjack competition- log running was awesome!

World's biggest stove? Random.

Classic cars

Carnival time- gotta love the food- corn dogs and funnel cake

The Budweiser Wagon- it and all the Clysedales were there

The fluffiest bunny I have ever seen! Maybe he got next to a electric socket or something.

Our New House!

Well here it is- our new house. We live in Grosse Point Park in the bottom part of this old brick house. It has taken some getting used to the quirks of an almost 100 year-old house (like every step creeks!) but we are at home in it now.

Our lovely patio in the front- shaded by pretty trees. We have yet to get some patio furniture though- so Rick is here modeling what it will be like once we do :D

Our street- pretty old houses on a tree lined street. Funny that it is just a couple of blocks from inner city Detroit. Literally blocks- when you enter the neighborhood, one side of the street is all boarded up and burnt out buildings, and the other side looks like this.

Front room- favorite part is the french doors

All the houses here have formal dining rooms- so we gave in a got a dining room table from Ikea. Actually we got like everything from Ikea- sounded like a great idea until we realized we had to spend the next week of our life assembling it all.

Little kitchen

We have three rooms in the house - with so much space we made a Lisa dream/ birthday wish come true! A Treadmill! Now I have no excuses- right?

Our favorite spot- the study. We unpacked all of our books and couldn't even believe we have so many! Where were they all hiding before?

This is our couch/ comfy sleeper bed- just a little enticement for you when you come to visit :D

Our little backyard- it definitely needs some loving- that will be the next step now that we are officially unpacked. Those things all over the ground are pears- a huge pear tree just plopping them off. I guess I need to learn to can.

We also have a master bedroom, which is uneventful, and a huge-mungus basement. The basement is kind of creepy though, so we just store stuff down there.