Keeping Up With Sophie: Transfer week between Seattle and Vancouver, BC

We made it to beautiful (and rainless so far!) Vancouver, and premier was this past Thursday. Life is pretty good here on the road, but we long for our own home, pets, close-by family and friends. This need was illuminated moreso by traveling home to Michigan during the break. Sophie was a trooper but had some problems on the plane. I think it was because her whole routine was missing, and she had to sleep while one of us held her (instead of her nice, dark, comforting crib and toys). She cried quite a bit on both trips, and kicked a whole glass of my Diet Coke into the lap of the nice, extremely patient man next to us. It's really a good thing he sprung for the expensive, stain-resistant slacks. And the fact that he's also a parent helped our cute little Sophie stay that way!

We left Monday and got in late that night. Lutzes drove all the way down and generously offered to pick us up at the airport. Not the most convenient thing, but I think since there was a Sophie involved, there was no hesitation. I don't really blame them! She remembered them, talked to them a bit and finally fell asleep on the drive. Lutzes just got back from their epic Europe trip to Germany and Switzerland, and we loved listening to the stories, looking at pictures, and drinking the dee-lish apricot brandy they brought back. All the families came over to visit and we had a fantastic time. The kids were super great with Sophie! Allison, Ben and Hannah played with her and even went outside on the deck to blow bubbles.

Kristin and Rhonda laughed at her when she put the lego bucket on her head. Nut!

Grandma and Grandpa sang to her and read her books.

They got her a doggie from Switzerland and two books in German, that Sophie ALWAYS wants me to read. I think I'm getting better every time, but usually I just try to point out the pictures and sort of make it up as we go along. Of all the 20 books we have here, lately she has been picking the German ones 99% of the time. It's cute and I'm pretty sure she's on to the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing or saying!

Thursday we left good ol' Mt. P and headed down to Lowell. The last time Sophie has seen the dogs was around Christmas, when she cried when Clay tried to kiss her. Now, it was an entirely different story! She was just as interested in them as they were of her. It was pretty cute!

We visited Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park on Friday in the 2018 degree heat. Click here to check out the website! It was so amazing! It's been open this long and I can't believe we've never visited! Here are a few pictures of Jim and Sophie. The flowers were beautiful and the sculptures were thought-provoking and interesting, however, I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't had the pleasure of visiting.

Afterwards, we picked up Grandma from work and went to our favorite pizza place (Salvatore's!) in all of Grand Rapids. This is also where Sophie decided to show Grandma and Grandpa her "evil eye" face.