Jennifer's 365 Project

After that we spent some time at 12 Oaks Mall letting the little one run around and play, since it was still raining on and off.

I wanted to get some things at Ikea, so we spent the night and headed out there first thing in the morning. Quinn is too young for their kids play area, so he came with us throughout the store.
He had a lot of fun, including trying to push one cart while in another. It was certainly an experience for the three of us.

Today we headed out to White Lake to visit Grandpa Karath for his birthday! Grandpa brought up Chris and Scot's old matchbox cars from the basement, which Quinn loved.
 We went out to eat and did some very important coloring.
Since the weather was rainy and the park we were going to go to was closed, we headed out to IKEA, which is kind of like an amusement park for toddlers...but with things you can buy.
After IKEA we went back to grandpa's house for cake!

We headed out early in the morning to Dearborn for the annual Detroit Maker Faire. This is the first year either of us have ever attended a maker faire, and with my recent foray into the world of Arduino, I was really excited to see what there would be.

The event is hosted at the Henry Ford Museum. The event uses both the parking lot and the museum to stage tables with various groups and vendors throughout.

As you can see, they even had a Life Size Moustrap set up. Now THAT is awesome.

We met up with Chris's dad, who regularly goes to the Maker Faire and several different meetups. 


There was something for everyone. They had lots of robots set up both indoors and out demonstrating various things (like Robot Fight Club by i3 Detroit pictured above). They even had a whole craft section with tutorials on knitting, crochet, spinning and more. I even did a little weaving!

My favorite by far was the power wheel racing, which Chris has photos of on his blog. He has a lot of good photos so you should check out his blogpost.

Next time I go I wont forget my SLR, that's for sure.



Since we were passing right by it, we decided to swing by Ikea. With the shopping pit stop we ended up back home around 11.

A long day but worth it.

We headed out in the morning for the east side of the state to spend Easter with my parents. We got to spend some time with my little brother.
I watched my parents fuss in the kitchen making the final meal preparations. Swedish meatballs!
Plus, while we waited, there was a delicious basket of treats to nibble from. Peeps, chocolate things, and all sorts of tastiness!
I took a photo of this butter-holding cow because it amuses me. I dont know why.

Anyway, we spent a few hours hanging out with my family, talking about various things like the new house, bad rating systems, just a whole bunch of things.
As it started to get later in the afternoon Chris and I left my parents so we could swing by IKEA and pick up a few things.

We got there around 4:45pm. They closed at 6pm.
We raced through the various sections, ignoring whole areas that we knew we didn't need anything for.
About 45 minutes later we were walking through the final warehouse setup before the checkout.  15 minutes after that we were checked out and headed to the car.

IKEA in an hour? That's my kind of shopping!
We ended the day driving into the sun. It was like this almost the entire way until we hit about Lowell. Then it was just a wall of clouds.

Today marks the last day for the annual Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. It's a huge art fair, larger than any one I'd been to growing up.  And there were an amazing number of people when we first arrived, despite the rain.

Of course with rain and heat comes humidity, and today was no exception.  The humidity was really high, as was the temperature (90ish).  So we wandered around for a few yours, being sure to hit Vault of Midnight, which is a comic shop Chris used to frequent when was in town.   We even stopped in at Wizzywig, which had moved from downtown Ann Arbor and is apparently much smaller (and very disappointing).

Next was IKEA.  I'm not sure when it was built, but it's not that old of a location in Canton.  And I know lots of people who it's a big deal to.  So Chris took me over there so I could get a taste.  It feels very Disneyworld  but with none of the awesome rides. I can definitely see the appeal though. Entire rooms laid out and all you have to do is write down the numbers and grab everything down below. No real hassle of figuring out how to decorate and coordinate things.

The problem for me is everything in IKEA is in a very modernism (or is it post-modernism?) style. I'm not a fan of the style.  So most things there don't appeal to me.  Anyway, Chris has some pretty amusing video of my reaction to seeing the whole place for the first time. If you know me, you know I'm not a huge shopper and it's a huge store....

After IKEA Chris took me to his old stomping grounds, and showed me his old neighborhoods and favorite hangouts.

All in all, great day!