August | 2013 | mitten house

We have looked at appliances for the new house for a while (about 4 months). I’ve poured over Consumer’s Report, visited the Sears Outlet website countless times and have waited patiently for that perfect deal to come along.

Today, I happened to stop at Lowe’s with my mom and Lucas because she needed to place an order for a sink in her lake house. Lucas was riding in one of his favorite racing shopping carts they have there for kids. I was having fun pushing him around the store while we waited for GiGi to finish up. Naturally, we meandered over to the clearance appliances section that I check out almost every time I visit Lowe’s or Home Depot. And there it was:

A Samsung 4-door french door refrigerator with an external ice dispenser. This is a grown up fridge, it could not possibly be in our price range. But it was.

Thanks to being returned by a customer and undergoing a repair on the ice maker, it was back on the floor for sale at a 50% discount. So it had to come home with us! I’ll post a review of the Samsung fridge after we use it for about 6 months, so stay tuned.

We were invited to celebrate Madison’s 2nd Birthday at Calder Dairy & Farm in Carleton, MI today. Lucas had so much fun, he did not want to go home.

It is a real working farm and it is absolutely free to visit. Well if you don’t count the gas it takes to drive out there. Or the mandatory ice cream cone you can’t leave without. But seriously no admission fee and you can bring in your own food. If you are looking for an inexpensive, fun day out with the kid(s) this is a great option.

We buy the glass bottles of Calder’s milk at Busch’s or Holiday Market when I shop at those stores. It is fun to see the cows that actually produce the milk and know that you are supporting a Michigan business:

Lucas met some cows, of course:

And he was brave enough to pet one of the cows! This is his excited face after walking away from the cow:

Lucas also met an amazingly large pig:

He explored more of the farm with his cousins:

And we saw some sweet little baby cows!

At 3pm each day kids can help feed a baby calf. We missed it this time, but MUST come back again to experience it.

At 4pm each day, you can watch the cows being milked:

There is an enclosed viewing area to watch the cows being milked. (Lucas was more interested in his new toy car he received at the birthday party, which you can see him playing with on the bench):

We saw the truck that makes home deliveries in Wayne, Washtenaw, & Macomb counties weekly. Lucas is all about cars, trucks, and motorcycles at the moment so of course he loved this:

And he loved the kids’ version of milk truck in the play area:

Lucas drove the little truck and it was the happiest moment of his day:

Before you leave, you can stop in at the general store to take home some Calder milk or ice cream. I just loved the old-fashioned cooler they store the bottles in:

Madison’s birthday party was held in the room next to the general store. This photo was taken as everyone was singing “Sto lat”- the Polish song for good wishes, good health and a long life: