It’s just getting cool enough for hats, and it was a perfectly blue-sky fall weekend, so we headed back to the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

I just realized the other day that we’ve been in Kalamazoo for two months now (and a few days) and I should probably take some time to reflect on how we’re feeling about it now. [Sidebar: when writing that sentence it was surprisingly challenging not to use some sort of jargon from work like “zoom out” or “step back”]. Anyway, I’ll do that in a subsequent post.

For now, let’s just share the requisite fall agrotainment kid photos. We headed out to a popular local apple orchard this morning (although if someone asked, I’d have to tell them that it’s way more agrotourism than it is real orchard, but maybe I’m wrong about that, and anyway that’s why most people show up, so who cares). Oh actually, it was the same place where this happened, but in that instance we were only there at night when none of the attractions were open. We met a colleague of K’s with her partner and some neighbors of theirs, had some amazing doughnuts, and then paid for our all-inclusive wristbands and headed for the kid zone. This place definitely had the widest variety of attractions of any pumpkin patch / apple orchard we’ve visited. Also, it had so many offerings that even though it was busy on a sunny, warm October weekend we didn’t have to wait in line for anything. I guess that’s just Michigan, and it’s awesome.

First up were the bouncy pillows. The twins weren’t really into it, but I thought it was way cooler than a bouncy castle because it was huge and you could run from one end to the other. They had one for kids under 36″ and another for the big kids, and adults were welcome.

Next we checked out the corn crib, and getting the kids to leave it involved threats and lots of whining. They would have been there till dark. Is this a new thing at orchards this year? Because I’ve never heard of it until this year but friends of ours just did it in New York. Regardless, it’s amazing.

Jonah rode a steel drum train pulled by a tractor, which he clearly loved. We didn’t send the twins because there weren’t seatbelts and we weren’t confident that one of them wouldn’t try to climb out while it was moving (and it was a true loop around the property, unsupervised).

Then came the obstacle course, which Jonah did eight or so times. The funny part was that on his last couple of times he really dragged out the rope climb at the end, turning on the drama and pretending to struggle (after he’d whipped up the hill the previous six times).

The twins needed a little help with the course.

The we fed some goats, and everyone loved it. They couldn’t get enough (goat food).

A family tractor train ride, pig races, and a trip down a giant slide wrapped up the day.

I just realized that I don’t have a single photo of the kids in a pumpkin patch. There was so much going on that it didn’t even occur to me until now. I guess that means that the transformation from agriculture to full-scale carnival is now complete. It makes me a little sad to be honest, but the kids love this stuff so much.

 

We spent the late afternoon today at a fall festival at the Nature Center’s DeLano Homestead Farm. I remember loving the old farmhouse (built in 1858) full of period furniture and household goods when I was little; it felt like the perfect place to weave an imaginative tale and “play house” (although I don’t recall being able to touch any of the things or even enter all of the rooms). When we went in with the kids today I was surprised to be able to walk into every room and interact with things. The festival was far from full-scale agrotainment, but the kids seemed to enjoy a couple of relaxed hours traveling back in time.

I’m obsessed with the light in this room, and also reminded that sometimes all it takes are a few toys from the late 1800s to keep kids completely engrossed.

The twins were pretty enamored with the animals, and clung to the fence quite a bit.

We went to our first official movie as a family tonight, and it was so much fun! I’m not even a movie person really, and I had high hopes but low expectations for this evening. I don’t even know why I saw something about this online (Facebook advertising, I’m sure) but this newish community space that no one seems to know much about apparently shows occasional family movies projected on a sheet on the side of a barn, so we all headed out to Riverview Launch to check it out. Jonah does not have a great track record with movies. He generally feels like any movie with an antagonist of any kind is terrifying, so we don’t watch movies as a rule. They were showing Disney’s Zootopia which is PG, so I had concerns, but I really wanted to give this a try.

Everybody did great, and we stayed for the whole thing (not something I was counting on) and Jonah loved the movie (despite the fact that there was a good bit of scariness involved). All three of the kids seemed to love being there, and I found it to be so magical cuddling with the kids and watching a movie under the stars. I’m so proud of this boy for moving past his movie fears.

Vivi and Jude eventually crashed on K’s lap, and we all listened to our new favorite song over and over on the way home.

It’s a rarely recalled fact that my dad used to fly hot air balloons. My parents tell me that when I was a toddler, they’d wake me up before dawn head out to cornfields and fly balloons. It’s not something that I truly remember, but when it comes up in conversation I recall the topic in the same way that I might remember having been there.

I stumbled upon a weekend listing for the Kalamazoo Balloon Festival on Friday, and we decided to drive out to check out the balloon glow after dinner tonight. I’m so glad that we did. It was one of the most unique things we’ve ever seen. Such a beautiful sight, and such a Michigan experience. The kids absolutely loved it, and as we sat in the grass I turned to Kristin and said that while these may not always feel like our people, these are our roots and I sort of love this stuff. These are the things that make me love being in Michigan again.

On Sunday we decided to get out and do something more fun and special, since we hadn’t done much with our Saturday. I read somewhere that there was a good children’s museum in St. Joseph, just under an hour from Kzoo, and since we miss ours so much we thought that we should check it out. When we pulled into town I was amazed that I’d never been to the beach there. We grew up always going to Lake Michigan at South Haven, never in St. Joseph, but it was gorgeous. The beach is huge and it has the biggest splash pad I’ve ever seen.

For our New York friends – yes, that’s a lake! We promise you’ll be impressed when you visit. There was even another cannon to climb on, plus bonus cannonballs.

The Curious Kids Museum had highs and lows; it’s broken into two buildings, one up on the bluff and the other down closer to the beach. The one on the bluff is really better for very young children, lots of opportunities to play pretend, but less science-learning exhibits. We only got to see half of it because their power went out so we moved on, but the kids were definitely into a few things.

Vivi was into the veterinary office, and was lovingly feeding the dogs “agua” (she only says it in Spanish). They also had a cute little toddler farm area that all three of them enjoyed.

When they lost power we took a break and went to a place on the beach for pizza, but we killed time during the wait by strolling down to the playground equipment on the beach.

There’s a lovely carousel just next to the museum on the beach side of the bluff, and while we didn’t ride it, we did check out a cool model train that you can turn on for a quarter.

Then we headed next door for the other part of the museum, Discovery Zone. I’d heard that there was a Leonardo DaVinci exhibit, and had low expectations for it given our kids’ ages, but I was pleasantly surprised. All three kids were into the parachute tube, as well as a few other contraptions.

Jude was not at all interested in being dressed up like renaissance royalty.

They had a nice water room, maybe not as impressive as the one at Stepping Stones, but the kids were still into it.

And outside they had a few random things to climb on. The sailboat was the favorite.

We finished off the afternoon with some ice cream, of course. Next time we’ll bring our swimsuits so that we can fully enjoy the splash pad and the beach. It felt like a bit of a mini-vacation within an hour from home, so we’ll certainly be back.

 

 

Gigi and Papa Doc live more or less inside of a park, which makes the surrounding area just wonderful for play. Jonah wanted to go out and play wiffle ball at bedtime, which (for now) means that Gigi and Papa Doc hit the balls and he chases them and rolls on the grass.

After a grumpy week, we finally ventured out of the house on Friday evening to try to find something to love about our new town. We almost didn’t make it, since Jonah took a late nap and woke up unwilling to go anywhere or do anything, but somehow Kristin got everybody to the car and they met me downtown (where I’ve been using a co-working space during the week).

Downtown Kalamazoo does a first Fridays thing with art from local artists in a variety of downtown venues, sometimes music, free wine in the occasional shop. I remember it from when we lived here before and it seems to be an even bigger deal now. We decided to start by taking the kids to Bronson Park, a block away from most of the activity. Jonah loved the canon (not because it was a canon, but because it could be climbed) and didn’t want to explore any further than that.

After a bit, we decided that we wanted to move towards the fountain in the middle of the park, but Jonah stubbornly decided that he wasn’t leaving his perch. Because we’re accustomed to him digging in his heels, it’s not unusual for us to simply walk away, knowing that he’ll follow when he sees that we’re serious.

While I showed Jude the fountain and Kristin brought Vivi over, I could hear Jonah yelling for me to come to him, but continued to motion to him that he needed to come with us. It took me a number of minutes before I walked close enough to hear him yelling “Mama D! I pooped in my underwear!” in a park swarming with people looking for Pokemon. Of course. I took him back to the car for a change and we continued with our evening.

We headed for the mall where most of the action was happening. Two initial observations about people in Kalamazoo: #1. People are ridiculously friendly. It really has been such a pleasure dealing with customer service here. At one booth two women chatted with us for ages and told Kristin that she has to hang out with a mutual friend of theirs who teaches at the same school. #2. People have a LOT of local pride here. I can’t even tell you how many Michigan tees we saw on people. Not just for sale (and everywhere sells them) but on everyone. SO MANY MICHIGAN SHIRTS. That would just never happen in New York. New Yorkers don’t wear I Heart NY shirts.

We also had a very “we’re not in Kansas anymore” encounter in the store just behind Vivi and Jonah in the picture above. I’m still don’t quite know what to make of it. It’s a cute store with some nice gift type stuff: candles, olive oil, handy small kitchen tools you might not even think of, tote bags etc. We saw that they had free wine so we went in. The twins were in the stroller and getting whiny because they wanted to be free, so Kristin hung back and took them out while I went to the counter to get wine. While Jonah was taking apart a salad spinner, I grabbed two plastic cups from the woman working and told her that one was for my wife who was in the corner with the babies (and I gestured towards her). I didn’t want the woman to think that I was taking an extra for myself, since there was a line. I took the wine to Kristin, who drank it and then stepped outside. A moment or two later, the clerk walked over to me and said something along the lines of: “When you told me that you were getting wine for your wife, I just thought that was so cool. I’ve never had that before! And then I looked over and saw your little family. Congratulations!”

Do I need to mention how bizarro this felt? To be honest, when she said “I’ve never had that before” I almost said “Sorry, had what?” I was SO dumbfounded. And actually, once I realized what she was talking about, I was embarrassed for her. I kept waiting for her to realize how absurd and awkward this was, and how unnecessary it was for her to come over to congratulate me on…what exactly? My comfort using the word wife? We got married ten years ago. But she never seemed to grasp the awkwardness. I only escaped when Jonah took that opportunity to bolt from the store towards the turtle sculpture outside, and I had to say “My three-year-old just ran for that turtle. Clearly we’re just as crazy as any other family with tiny kids. Gotta go!”

I’m not offended by things like that, and I can tell when someone means well (assume best intentions is a good motto to live by) but we walked away marveling at what a different planet this place can feel like. That would just never happen in New York. It must be how interracial adoptive families feel when total strangers come up and tell them what good people they are and how wonderful their family is.

We moved on to the next climbable sculpture, the seal in the photos above. It actually took Jude awhile before he wanted to climb because he was absolutely rapt watching a young woman play the violin. He couldn’t stop watching, which was pretty adorable.

It was a nice night, and we walked away feeling a little bit better about things. Even Jonah didn’t want to leave; as we walked to the car he insisted that he wanted to go to “more places.”