I thought it would be appropriate to catch up on our life and to also fill in on our near future endeavors. So here are the highlights of our happenings and whereabouts!
Winter: We moved back to Ann Arbor right after Christmas. Despite the frigid cold weather, Michigan warmed up to us quite nicely! It's been nice to see friends and coworkers and to familiarize ourselves with this wonderful town. We moved a lot closer to the office so Alastair could take a quick bus ride and Emre and I could use the car. We've been quite happy with the proximity to things. Church is a lot closer but we still find ourselves late; it is beyond me!
One of the highlights of winter was creating a Taco Tuesday crew. Alastair and I decided to have one night out each week to go out for dinner. So we decided every Tuesday to get tacos. Our friend, Ashish, joined our first A2T2 at Taco Bell. Each week, we go to a different restaurant or taqueria and we never go back to an establishment. We also rate each place with a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest and we all give a summary of our experience. After the comments and ratings, we all agree on a raw score. It's quite hilarious after each meal! Our biggest attendance was 17 people! At the end of the summer, we'll make a trek to Canada, just for tacos! It's a fun way to go out and hang out with friends and eat tacos.
Emre turned 2 in February. We had a little brunch party for him. We invited three of his little friends and some googlers (Google is life), but only one out of the three could make it. So majority of his friends were adults, which was fine because Emre loves them all and considers them his friends! Emre helped pick the theme and he helped decorate the decorations. He was so overwhelmed by all the presents! During Christmas, it took almost all day to open them because he was so excited about each individual present that he wasn't interested in opening more. It was sweet. But we hustled through his bday presents. His birthday actually fell on a Tuesday, so we celebrated with our A2T2 crew. They all sang to him and he blew out his birthday candle on his chocolate cupcake. It's always fun to celebrate him!
Spring: Spring kind of just came and went. I can't think of anything too significant to mention. Honestly, it was like every other week we had to deal with someone getting a cold. Winter likes to linger a little longer than I would prefer, so it was cold for way too long. Most of the days were very gloomy, and the flu season lasted almost as long! I think the last cold we had to deal with was over Memorial Day. I remember one day it reached the high 50's and everyone was out going for a walk. Seize the day!
In April, Alastair and I celebrated turning 28 and our 6 year anniversary. We didn't do anything too fancy. Grandma and Grandad came to visit over my birthday, so we went to Mackinac Island. It was the only sunny day (still cold) and I'm so glad we went! We arrived very late, and almost ran out of gas. The gas light turned on and nagged Alastair to get off at the next stop, but he didn't. I was silently fuming and he was silently praying that we wouldn't run out! We barely made it to the next exit! He never likes to admit that I'm right, but I was totally right! Anyways, it was pre-season, so very few shops were opened. There were a lot of workers prepping and painting, which was kind of fun to see. We just walked around the island, ate at a really good pizzeria, and bought some fudge! Emre loved throwing rocks into the water! Alastair and I found a log washed up onto the shore and spontaneously tried to cover it with rocks. Did we cover it up? You betcha! We spent a good thirty minutes just chucking rocks at it. I must say, it was entertaining and therapeutic.
The most recent trip we went on was to Washington DC and Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Our friend, Ben, came with us, which was so nice to have an extra person to take care of Emre! He's seriously one of the nicest people ever and Emre loves him! On the way, we stopped in Pittsburgh to see the Google office. It was late at night, but we all agreed that Pittsburgh had it going on. If you have a Chipotle, West Elm, and Whole Foods, it's a good city! Ha! We were all just pleasantly surprised.
We spent two days in DC, one of my favorite places! It was a special treat to be in DC for Memorial Day! We went to the museums, the zoo, monuments, and of course.... the Google office! The amenity of visiting Google offices is the best. They tend to be in a good location, they have clean bathrooms, mini kitchens, and just a nice place to put your feet up and relax. It was nice to let emre run around without having to worry while we ate our Shake Shack. I'm sure we'll do a separate post about this trip, so I'll stop there.
Summer: It has just begun, but we're already making the most of it! Late summer nights, park hopping, duck feeding, swimming, and going on evening strolls, it's great! I've been going to Zumba at the church every Wednesday and the last session will be this Wednesday. I'm actually sad about this! I had so much fun and Brittany is such a sweet person to do this for free. There are seriously 20 ladies dancing while kids run around. It's chaotic but it's so fun! I'll miss it! I'm also trying to run 90 miles in a month! I just completed the first week and have completed 25% of my goal! Emre enjoys it because we stop at a park about halfway. Yes, I am also doing this while pushing a stroller! It's been tough, but I hope I enjoy running after all this!
We have about 12 more weeks until we are in Barcelona. So crazy! It's been about 3.5 years that we've known. The near future. Alastair will be going to get his MBA at IESE. We're all so excited about this new venture, even Emre! He talks about it at least ten times a day. Even when he does something naughty, his excuse will be, "but I'm going to Barcelona." He'll ask us what something means in Spanish. He also requests to listen to "Barcelona" by Freddie Mercury. It's a rock opera song, kind of obscure, but he loves it! My favorite is when we sing it in the car, windows down, and I look back and see him belting out the song with the wind blowing his hair around. It's the best! I just love how excited he is! He'll request a bedtime story about our future life in Barcelona. We haven't found a place, but I think we'll wait until we actually get there, to get a feel for the areas. I'm just so excited for this change, it's going to be good for all of us! Did I mention we're excited? Because we're so excited. Excited!!!
So that's pretty much what we've been up to. Not much going on, just working and living the everyday kind of life. But our life will pick up in a couple more months. We're already throwing out ideas and places to visit during Alastair's holiday breaks, but Barcelona will be pretty great too!
