End of the Year Visit

This past week we had a visit from Jake's mom, Terri. We hadn't seen her since we left California and were very happy to host her in Ann Arbor for a few days!

Jake and Terri in front of the Ross School of Business

While she was here we exchanged some holiday presents.

Before

After

Including some hand-made ones.

New hat for Jake

Cowl for Terri

My favorite present is the set of bird and plant guides, along with binoculars, from Terri. I'm sure they will be incredibly useful when the flora and fauna return in the spring - keep your eye out for more photos and identifications!

We also showed Terri around the campus and downtown Ann Arbor. The picture above was taken at the Ross Business School where Jake provided a full tour of his home-away-from-home. And we checked out the Law Quad and Law Library, as well.

You'll notice some snow on the ground at the law school. The second day that Terri was here we had a full snow storm complete with at least two types of snow: large fluffies and small wet flakes. The day we toured Downtown was freezing, high of 25°F, but clear. The next day we had more snow followed by a bunch of rain. I was really excited to show off our weather!

While we were walking around we spotted a number of fat squirrels in a berry tree. They are still furiously running around, stuffing their faces. I wonder if that means it's about to get really, really cold.

We also made a quick stop at Argo Park to admire the Huron River. We could see some ice on the banks, but mostly the water was still fluid. We're told that it freezes all the way across once it gets really cold. As always, it was beautiful.

On Thursday Terri had a trip to Mary Beth Doyle Park (the park behind our house). I wasn't feeling well so didn't go (hence, no pictures), but Jake and Terri had a short walk around the river and I think they enjoyed it.

For the last night we had together, Terri treated us to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. We'd spotted it on the first day she was in town when we went to do some shopping, and it started a craving. I was pleased to find out that they have a gluten free menu, too!

This was quite the experience. The inside is decorated like a ship with plank wood, oars, nets, fake plastic fish, etc. And the waiters all wear shirts that say things like "Peace, Love, and Crabs" or "Bite Me" with a picture of a crab. Every hour a particular song comes on and all the wait staff stops what they're doing to do a line dance. We witnessed this event right after we sat down.

Before the food came we were provided with placemats. (Notice the Coca-Cola salt and pepper shakers.)

They also handed out bibs – eating crab is a messy ordeal! I swear we all took them off after these pictures, though, and some of us chose to have our identities hidden.

Here's what our dinner looked like. It was good and we enjoyed it a lot!

Thanks for visiting, Mom! We really had a good time and were sad to see you go. We hope you liked Ann Arbor enough to come visit again – maybe when it's warmer next time!

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope this year brings you many good things and lots of happy times.

Tamar and Jake

P.S. This is our 50th post!!!!!!!