Rochester Hills, June 17-21

Kathy here:

It was a relief to finally get to Dennis and Laurie's comfortable home in Rochester Hills north of Detroit.  We got there in the early afternoon and had a wonderful time catching up on the latest news.

On Wednesday we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo exhibit.  Diego and Frida lived in Detroit while Diego painted a mural for the Institute at the behest of Edsel Ford.  The exhibit was beautiful and informative but no pictures were allowed.  So then we went to see the mural.  All I can say is Amazing!

Almost to Detroit

Waiting for tickets

Parts of the mural

My favorite part--He achieves such depth and movement.

Then we went to pick up Jeff's grand-nieces from daycare.  Maia and Rylee were not shy and we got some cute pictures.

Rylee and Jeff

Maia the photographer

We met Megan and Rick at a nice Pizza/Italian place and enjoyed a great meal with lots of laughs.

The next day, Thursday, we went to Yipsilanti/Ann Arbor to see Carrie and Nate and their daughter Linden.  We picked Linden up from daycare, but she was not too happy to see Jeff and I.  She finally warmed up to me, but I think Jeff's beard kept her at bay.

We went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to hear some music and have street fair food.

Linden was glad to see her Mommy

Carrie and Dennis

Nate and Linden

Jeff loves his niece

Enjoying street fair food

Sweet Linden

Jeff tries to make friends

The whole family came to Den and Laurie's house on Saturday for a barbeque and Father's Day celebration.

I get some needed dog affection from Nichols and Joey

Laurie with her granddaughters

The family around the table

Gymnastic time

The perfect cartwheel

The girls and their bottles

The boys and their barbeque

Ladies in the kitchen

Linden is practicing her stair climbing and descending

The Berger boys

Dennis' Fathers day present....a kayak for the cottage

Carrie, Rylee and Maia

Carrie and Megan

Later I caught this pic of a Cardinal in flight.  We don't have cardinals in Oregon.

On Sunday, Jeff and I drove two hours north to meet up with our friends Morris and Jody.  Morris has family in Michigan and they moved from Oregon about a year and a half ago.  We had a nice lunch at a local diner and enjoyed catching up on each other's lives.  Then it was back to Dennis and Laurie's to do laundry, pack and get ready to drive to Cleveland.

Thanks to everyone in Michigan for making our stay so relaxing and happy.