Welcome to Big Rapids!

Live

We live on the West Campus of Ferris State University. West Campus is comprised of three cul-de-sacs of townhouses connected to one another with walkways. We live in Cardinal Court. If you look closely below, you can see the back end of our car.

West Campus has a community center that we can use for potlucks and Wii parties. Seth rocks bowling, and Melinda misses the Tiger Woods version of golf.

West Campus also has a park complete with volleyball and basketball courts. We primarily stick with the swings. Simon loves them, but he gets distracted when he sees other people at the park.

Simon and Daddy & Simon and Mommy

Play

The Muskegon River runs through Big Rapids, and there are many parks in town along the river. There's a nice, paved trail that connects the parks called Riverwalk. It's 2.64 miles long, and it's a part of Michigan's Rails-To-Trails program.

Rails-To-Trails is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization creating a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines. Here in Michigan it extends from Cadillac to Comstock Park, approximately 90 miles.

It'll be fun exploring the parks in the winter - maybe even ice skate. Mecosta County, where we live, is touted to be the"County for Every Season!"

FSU

Ferris State University is celebrating its 125 year. It was founded in 1884 by Woodbridge N. Ferris, the statue below, to whom we are related. The university mascot is a bulldog. Named Brutus. Most of Seth's classes are in the Swan Technical Building, which is the brick building below.

Experience

Since we've moved to Big Rapids, we've celebrated a lot of firsts. Most notably were Simon's trip to Lake Michigan and Simon's first experience with rice cereal, of which he had no reaction other than, "Give it to me!"

Simon's reaction to the cold water, however, was "Get me out of here!!"

Simon has an expression that he makes when he's excited - his eyes get big and fix on the item he wants, and his mouth turns into a little, pushed-out circle with "Oh, oh, oh" exclamations.

Such as when he got his first sippy cup.

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