Things are heating up!

We have had no access to the internet at our house this week so sorry that it has been a while between blogs.

It was a busy week last week! Monday we visited the Hands on Childrens Museum and had so much fun  trying to construct an igloo out of giant foam bricks. The girls favourite exhibits were a giant whisper dish that you could whisper into and hear each other 20 metres away and a giant bubble machine that you stepped over and into and pulled up a rope that brought a bubble right up and over your head!

Tuesday was over 90 F here and Nick did a great very early morning workout at the track with his training partners. Will and Brandon left for Oregon this week to compete in the US Olympic trials so we wish them all the best!

Wednesday was so hot again and we were lucky enough to be invited to the lake with our friends we met at the park. Carissa (Mum) Leila (5) and Iris (almost 3). live just two blocks away. They have the most amazing backyard that Carissa said was a mistake when they were planning the city and there should have been another street where their yard is! It just goes on and on! They belong to a co-operative community called Friends Lake where you pay a yearly subscription for access to a lake  25mins drive from Ann Arbor and the use of an amazing facility right on the water with a playground, shallow swimming area for the kids plus toys, picnic area, kayaks and canoes and more. The lake has many rafts that you can swim to and Bella was very excited to swim out the raft in a lifejacket with her two friends! We took a picnic and spent all day and it was just so wonderful to escape the heat of the city and enjoy a relaxing time with friends.

Thursday we had a small group BBQ at Nick and Sierras house to say goodbye and wish them well. Nick and Sierra leave for Europe on the 4^th July and we will fly out on the 5^th July so it is about ten days now until we leave.  We are starting to think about packing up the house and packing our bags.

On Friday Nick did a super workout on the track which we were all excited about. It is fantastic to see him striding out so fast on the track and making it all look so effortless. It is one of Nick strengths to appear like he is just cruising when he is actually giving it all he has. The goal is to be able to be as relaxed as possible while running as fast as possible and trying to avoid ‘rigging’ it down the home straight. This is when a runner gets so tired and starts to tighten up all his muscles and his heads starts bobbing around. NIck has an amazing relaxed and fluid running style that we are planning for him to use to pass those ‘rigging it’ in the Olympic 1500m final!

Saturday we had fun at Gallup Park in the sand and the spray, went swimming in the pool and then had our neighbours in the complex here, Ryan, Megan, AJ (5) and Livvy  (10 months) over for a BBQ.  Phoebe has been very busy this week pulling up on the coffee table, chairs, cot and the couch! She also has one new tooth on the top left!

Sunday Aunty Sierra did a sprint distance triathalon and we all enjoyed cheering her on to a great race. We then all went to church where they had a Popsicle Reception for Nick where we all ate popsicles together outside and farewelled and wished him well for the Olympics. 6 weeks to go!

Fireflies and Lightning bugs

Tonight we arrived home late after being at Independance Lake for a swim and BBQ. It was very hot here today and it was just starting to get dark as the girls were going off to bed and we looked out the window at our front lawn and we saw a flash of light! The girls were super excited as they have heard about fireflies and lightning bugs, we are not quite sure of the difference, but we have not had a hot day and a late night which are both needed for firefly spotting. So Sari in her knickers and Bella in her pajamas ran around outside after these little flies so amazed that they have a flashing light at the end of their bodies! They tried to catch one and eventually they got a firefly into Phoebes empty baby food jar and with a nice piece of grass, a leaf and a couple of holes in the lid the firefly was set for the night. He is sitting on the end of Bella's bed and Sari thinks he will be a good night light tonight and then she will set him free to be with his friends again. 

Lake Michigan

Mariah and Tony had a little baby girl, Celia Cascade born 8.21pm Friday night weighed in at 7lb7oz. Silas is very excited about his new little sister. Phoebe, Bella and Sari are very excited to have a new friend. Phoebe thinks she may be able to hand down some of her clothes as she is growing fast! 


We left Ann Arbor yesterday afternoon and drove on W96 all the way to Lake Michigan. We had some roadworks and Phoebe was not happy being in her carseat but we were looking forward to the promise of a couple of nights at a cottage on the lakes edge and thought the car ride would be worth it. The cottage, which belongs to a friend of Sierras Mum Andrea and is near a town called Port Sheldon, is really a beautiful holiday home and is right on the lakes edge! It was well worth the drive and is a spectacular spot! You walk down wooden board walks to a private white sand beach and the lake is so big that it seems just like the sea. The only difference is that it is fresh water. No saltiness after swimming. No fear of sharks! We watched the sunset from the deck last night as it dropped behind the lake and felt amazingly blessed to be able to stay here. 

Watching the sunset from the deck

We have had an great day at the beach today spending time with Tyler and Sarah and their kids and Phoebe was introduced to sand for the first time. She was very cute lying face first and running both her hands through the sand. How amazing that must feel for the first time! Sari and Bella are having a ball here. Sari just came up from the lake saying 'I just needed to go potty'... oh my, we have been here 2 months and my children are speaking American! 

Bella, Steve and Sari enjoying the boogie board

The cougar and the one eyed owl

We visited the Leslie Science and Nature Center today and can count that as no.3 on our list of zoos and animal parks visited. The center is a home to birds of prey or raptors that have sustained various injuries and cannot live in the wild. The birds are housed in outdoor enclosures and we got right up close to many big birds including a bald eagle that was very noisy and unfortunately fell out of its nest at 3 weeks old and permanently damaged its wing. There was a snowy owl, two turkey vultures, a peregrine falcon and a great horned owl that had just arrived after a 13 hour drive from Connecticut. The owl only had one eye and had come to live at the center and hopefully make friends with another great horned owl that lost its mate recently. 


While we were there we were also on the look out for a cougar as there have been sightings of one recently very close to Nick and Sierras house and the Leslie Science Center. This article in the Ann Arbor paper tells you about the recent sightings. Bella did some research on the cougar and has found out that it is the same species as the mountain lion and the Florida panther and is the fourth largest big cat behind the tiger, lion and jaguar. Sierra has been a bit wary while out running in the trails near her house but she hasn't seen one yet. She said she would let us know if she sees one. 

Happy half birthday Phoebe

Phoebe has now been part of our family for 6 months! And what a blessing she is to us all. The common saying around Team Willis is 'Relax Phoebe' because most of the time she is just a happy, joyful baby that is so smiley. In this family we figure a half birthday doesn't quite require a cake but cupcakes are very suitable so Sari and Bella helped Caro make cupcakes the American way today! (Apologies to those amazing American bakers who bake from scratch!)

The easy way to bake with three kids!

They were super fluffy (all 24 of them!) and the frosting was really good although now we have nearly a whole tub of chocolate frosting to use on something! We will have to watch those little sneaky fingers in the fridge! Sari couldn't quite figure out why we were making cupcakes for Phoebe and she wasn't allowed to eat them. She felt very sad for Phoebe! 

Sorry Phoebe not for you to eat! How mean can we be! 

Sari and Bella enjoy the cupcakes while Phoebe does some intense crawling.

Prefontaine Official Results - Men - One Mile - Bowerman Mile

Pos	Athlete	Nat	Mark
1	Asbel Kiprop	KEN	3:49.40
2	Mekonnen Gebremedhin	ETH	3:50.17
3	Ayanleh Souleiman	DJI	3:50.21
4	Bethwell Birgen	KEN	3:50.43
5	Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku	KEN	3:50.79
6	Collins Cheboi	KEN	3:51.44
7	Nicholas Willis	NZL	3:51.77

Nick had a great race this afternoon and placed seventh in a super classy field stacked with Kenyans as you can see from the results above! Nick had a really great finish and his time was his second fastest ever over the mile distance. The race was live on NBC here and so we all piled into Nick and Sierras basement to cheer Nick on! There was Sierra, Caro, Bella, Sari, Phoebe, Tony, Mariah, Silas and Tempo all getting excited!

We had fun this morning catching up with some old friends Jaime, Bryan, Tyler and Remi Goldstein who  we had many great times with in the Ann Arbor summer of 2008. Unfortunately they who now live in Cincinnati, Ohio but they were up for the weekend and we went to play at our old haunt, Burns Park where Tyler and Bella had spent many happy hours in the sand box together. NB The sand box is what they call a sand pit here and a lot of parks have them. Today we had a picnic, flew kites, played baseball and American football and had water play in the sand box!

Sari and Remi

Old friends Bella and Tyler (notice Bella now has lost both front teeth!)

Remi and Sari now new best friends

Phoebe, Caro and Jaime

We are very sad that the Goldsteins don't live in Ann Arbor anyone but we may convince them to plan a NZ holiday soon I hope! 

Team Willis

This article in the NZ Herald describes the great dynamic of Team Willis. Check it out.