Michigan Vacation Part 6

Monday was less go-go-go than the rest of the trip.  It was the last day for both Aunt L and myself, and we didn't really plan anything exciting.  I woke up feeling pretty crappy.  At first I thought it was just pain from the bed I'd slept on, but it seemed to get worse as the day progressed.  I never actually took my temp, but I think I may be been running a low-grade fever.   Somewhere around mid afternoon, I broke down and took some pain killers.  The day greatly improved after that.

Gramma had to spend a couple hours in the morning and evening at her church's food pantry, so the rest of us went along with her.  Her church is the church where I grew up.  Before I was born, my parents and a few other people started it.  When I was little, we met in a house that they had converted into the church.  As the church grew, my dad and others added on to the building, and made it into a very nice facility.  I attended there until we moved to Florida in 1991, and even then, I considered it my home church for many years.  We would spend the summers and often Christmas in MI, and we always attended that church.  I had many close friends there...people I still get to occasionally see or talk to.  

It was a strange feeling to walk around the building.  It was so familiar yet different.  I guess it was kind of like going back to your childhood home.  The walls and windows and memories are all still there, but the life you had in it is gone.  I walked all through the building.  I saw the rooms where I was cared for as a baby.  I saw old Sunday school classrooms and the gym we would play in on Wednesday nights.  I walked through the bathroom and went up in the balcony.  I walked up the ramp that I once was carried up as a spewed forth purple, grape juicy, projectile vomit (you are most welcome for that mental image.) 

 The church basement, where I used to be in nursery, Sunday school, and Kings Kids, is now used for the food and clothing ministry.  I remember spending the night with my sister and Gramma in the room in the top right picture once.  She would clean the church at crazy hours of the morning, and for some reason we ended up having a little sleep over there.  We rented Little Women and The Secret Garden I think. 

Once, in the gym (on the bottom right), a bunch of our friends got together for a big sleepover.  This was after we had moved to Florida, but we were "home" for the summer.  I guess we would have been in our early teens at the time.  We watched Newsies and stayed up all night talking and playing and being silly.  I have so many wonderful memories in that church.  Revisiting them made me a little homesick for my childhood.


In the afternoon, between shifts at the food pantry, I took a walk with my Aunts.  There were several pretty trees on our walk.  Have I mentioned that I love the colors of fall?  I have? Oh well.  I LOVE FALL COLOR!


Our evening at the food pantry was interesting to say the least.  Many of the people who help her there have various mental and physical issues.  I think their families bring them over there to give them something to do.  I'm glad they can have a place where they feel welcome and needed.  I must say though,  they would make for a good cast of characters on a TV show. 

When we finished at the food pantry, we went out for Thai food.  The four of us shared a curry fried rice and an order of Pad Thai, and had we could have fed another person on the leftovers from just those two meals.  It was delicious though.  

Monday night we played a quick game of dominoes and then all headed off to bed.  Tuesday morning Aunt L and I had to be at the airport around 5. 

I'm so glad I took this trip.  There are a lot of places and people that I want to visit, but I felt like I needed to go see my MI family.  I had been looking forward to it, but I'm happy to say that it turned out to be even more fun than I had expected.  It was also nice to be able to have the job flexibility to do it.  I was able to take my work with me.  It meant a lot of late nights and a few stressful daytime interruptions, but for the most part it worked out really well.  Thank goodness for WiFi and mobile hotspots!   :) 

I wonder where my next adventure will take me...

Michigan Vacation Part 5

 Sunday was a busy day.  Aunt M's son is a pastor, so in the morning we visited his church.  It was nice to be able to hear him preach.

After church, we went back to Aunt M's for lunch.  My cousin and her family made us fish tacos.  Holy Wow! They were yummy.  I think I was the only one there who'd had fish tacos before.  The rest of them had been missing out.  That is one of my top favorite meals.  The salsa they made to go on the tacos was A-FREAKING-MAZING.  I'm drooling a little just thinking about it.  mmmmmm.....


In the afternoon we went to a place called Kensington Park where we took a scenic boat tour.  It was absolutely stunning.  I could have easily spent the whole day in the park exploring the walking trails, fall color, etc.  The boat tour was about 40 minutes long.  Even though the color still wasn't at it's peak, what there was was gorgeous.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

 After the boat tour, we explored a little farm area they had at the park.  There were cows, white turkeys, goats, horses, chicks, and these cute little piggies!

 For dinner we met back up with my Aunt E, her kids, and my Grandma at California Pizza Kitchen.  We were originally going to go to the Cheesecake Factory, but apparently everyone else in MI had the same idea that day.  Oh well, CPK was yummy. :) 

 Both of my beautiful grandmothers.  How Lucky am I? :)

If you count my cousins' spouses and children, which I certainly do, I got to see 13 cousins while I was in MI! I also got to spend time with both of my grandmothers and three of my aunts. I felt very blessed and loved the whole time. 

Michigan Vacation Part 4

I love my cousins!  I got to see a lot of them on this trip.  Thursday - Sunday we stayed at my Aunt M's house.  Her daughter lives there right now with her husband and two children.  On Saturday, Aunt M's son came over with his wife and two of his children (pictured left...they are not actually children anymore!)  All 12 of us drove out to a Cider Mill.  It was really beautiful there.  A few of us got in a long line for cider and donuts.  It was a fairly warm (75 degrees and sunny) day, so instead of my usual hot cider beverage of choice, I got a cider slush.  It was delicious! I hadn't ever had one before.  I would have liked to have walked around a bit and taken some more pictures, but the bees were pretty intense.  We kept getting them in our hair, and every few seconds someone would shriek and jump/run from another one.  I suppose it was a bit comical, but at the time it was just annoying.  After we finished eating and drinking, we loaded up and got out of there.  We tried to go to another cider mill, but it was PACKED, so we ended up just going back to Aunt M's.


While we were all hanging out, my cousin found a large praying mantis, and made friends with it. She is clearly much braver than I.  She let that thing climb all over arm and back and touch her face and get in her hair.  *Shudder*  I must admit though that it was pretty cool.

For dinner that night, we had a meal called Snow on the Mountain.  I'd never heard of it before, but it was fun.  You take a pile of rice, and then start stacking chicken cooked in cream of chicken soup, veggies, nuts, a bit of fruit and some cheese.  Then you top your "mountain" with a sprinkle of shredded coconut for the snow.  I left the coconut off of mine as I'm not a huge fan, but the rest of it was yummy.  I think I'll make it sometime when I need to feed a group.

Michigan Vacation Part 3

 Friday morning, I took a walk with Aunts M and L.  There was frost on the grass!!! I know, not really something a normal person would take a picture of and give 3 exclamation points to, but hey, I don't see that much in Florida.  It wasn't peak season yet while I was there, but I did get to see lots of Fall color.  This beautiful tree was one we passed on our morning walk.  I love Fall when I can get out of Florida and actually see it.  It's such a magical time of year!


After our walk, my Aunts, Gramma, and I went to Greenfield Village for the day.  I hadn't been since I was a small child, and I loved it!  If you don't know what Greenfield Village is, it is part of the Henry Ford Museum.  From Wikipedia,  

"Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved to the property from their original locations and arranged in a "village" setting. The museum's intent is to show how Americans lived and worked since the founding of the country. The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking. A collection of craft buildings such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops provide demonstrations while producing materials used in the Village and for sale. Greenfield Village has 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land of which only 90 acres (360,000 m²) are used for the attraction, the rest being forest, river and extra pasture for the sheep and horses." 

I loved seeing all the crafts being made.  I even got to make my own miniature brass candle stick holder! I also had to pick up a few things to take home from the gift shop of course.  :) 

The grounds at the village are beautiful.  I loved seeing the old buildings, fall color, animals, and costumes.  We rode on a train and we got to take a ride in an actual Model T Ford from, I think 1919.  That was fun!  I loved hearing the stories from the driver.  Every car came off the line identical...even down to the ignition key! Black paint was the cheapest, so Henry Ford said, "They can have any color they want, as long as it's black." 

The Tavern where we ate lunch.

We had lunch at an old Tavern that had been moved to the Village from another part of Michigan.  We ate by candlelight and were served some yummy comfort foods.  We were also told that we were a shocking group...4 women traveling without the protection of a man! They decided we must be some of those women's rights activists. 

After lunch, we explored a few of the many homes and buildings they have brought to the Village.  It's pretty amazing to think of all the history in that place.  I saw inside the family home of the Wright brothers, Noah Webster's home, and the boarding house of Edison's workers where the first electric lights were used. 

Quick bit of Trivia. The only word that Noah Webster made up for his American dictionary was "demoralize."

Michigan Vacation Part 2

 My Aunt M is a planner.  She likes to make sure that no one is ever bored on vacation. :)  She certainly succeeded with me.  She had things planned for nearly every day of my trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

Thursday afternoon we drove to an adorable tea room for lunch.  My second cousin (pictured left...daughter of the women we had dinner with on Tuesday) met us there.  It was so nice to see her.  As children, when I still lived up there, we played together often.  We even did a yearly Breakfast With Santa together at Christmas time.  Since I've moved to Fl, we've kind of drifted apart.  I see her every few years though, and I always enjoy her company. The 5 of us had a very nice lunch together and did a little shopping.  

The hardest part of my trip was visiting my Uncle in his care center on Thursday afternoon.  My Aunt M's husband has always been a lively, fun, loving man.  He had the biggest, most sincere laugh in the world.  Seeing him unable to leave his chair, or feed himself, or really even speak or acknowledge those around him just broke my heart.  He has some form of Alzheimer's, and it has taken him away from us far too soon.  He's been suffering from it for several years now, but this was the first time I'd seen him in awhile.  The last time he had started to get confused and needed a lot of assistance, but there was still my Uncle underneath it.  Now it's like the disease has taken over and just left a shell behind.  I tried so hard not to cry when I saw him, but I couldn't hold back the tears.  I ended up sobbing on Aunt L's shoulder.  I've lost my grandfather to this disease as well, and I hate it more than I can say.  I pray that they will find a cure soon.  
 

Michigan Vacation Part 1

Key:
Aunt M - My dad's oldest sister - lives in MI.
Aunt L - My dad's other sister - lives in MO, but came to MI at the same time as me.
Aunt E - My mom's sister who lives in MI.
Gramma - My dad's mom
Grandma - My mom's mom.

I arrived in Michigan around 2:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday the 8th.  My Aunties M and L picked me up together.  They drove me over to my Gramma's church (which is, incidentally, the church I grew up in, but more on that in another post) where we waited for her to be done working at her food pantry. 

We went back to my Gramma's house for awhile and Face-Timed with my sissy and her kids, and then drove over to have dinner with a cousin. (Well, actually, she's the ex-wife of one of my dad's cousin's, but we've all stayed close over the years, and why split hairs?)  She made us a delicious apple/peach pork chop dinner, and we spent a couple of hours chatting and catching up. I haven't spent much time with her since I was young, and I really enjoyed getting to know her a little better.  As a child, she was just my cousins' mother.  It's nice to kind of reget-to-know people as an adult. 

After dinner, my Gramma and Aunts drove me over to my Aunt E's so I could spend a couple of days with her, my Grandma, and one of my cousins on my mom's side.  I'd never stayed with Aunt E before, and it was a lot of fun getting to spend some time with her.  She and I spent most of the two days I was there working on my Halloween costume.  I'll be honest, she did most of the work.  I couldn't have done it without her help.  The picture above is the only sneak peek you get of my awesome costume.  ;)  I also helped her with a crochet project she wanted to do.  Wednesday night my cousin and her husband came over and had dinner with us.  My Aunt made some amazing veggie soup and a berry cobbler.  Yum! Thursday afternoon when Gramma, Aunt M, and Aunt L came back to pick me up,  Aunt E didn't want to let me go.  It made me feel very special to know that I was wanted by everyone. :) 

A Three Hour Tour...I Mean Layover

Let's hope my three hour layover doesn't last as long as Gilligan's 3 hour tour!

I can never really decide if I like layovers or not.  Maybe it just depends on the airport.  Some airports suck.  Your food choices are pre-packaged shelf sandwich or unbelievably greasy pizza.  There is nothing to look at or do.  That's when I hate layovers.  However, layovers at decently sized airports are not so bad.  Today I'm at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.  I have a 3 hour layover before heading on to my final destination.  I spent my first hour and 15 minutes walking and exploring the airport.  I figured since I probably am not going to make it to the gym today, I had better take advantage of this opportunity to at least get a little bit of exercise.  There are a lot of good food options here, and it took me all that time just to pick a place to have lunch.  Mexican? Stir-fry? Sandwiches? Sushi? (haha, I didn't actually consider sushi...I haven't braved up THAT much.) I finally went with California Pizza Kitchen.  I had the Thai Chicken Pizza.  If they'd had their Jerk or Chipotle pizzas, I'd have probably had those instead, but I'm glad they didn't because it meant I tried something new.  It was really yummy! I sent D a pic and he said it looked weird.  Maybe it was weird, but who cares.  It was delicious.

Only 40 minutes left of my 3 hour layover   It's actually gone by a lot faster than I expected.  Boarding should be starting pretty soon.  Onward to Michigan and family!

The Most Magical Place On Earth

Happy...um...New Year! Ok, so it's February.  The year is still fairly new.  I haven't even had my birthday yet (Holy Cow! I'll be 30 this year!).

Last weekend, we went to Disney World! D's family decided it was a good weekend for everyone to go, and they invited me along.  :D  The boys had never been before, so it was really fun to get to experience their first time at Disney with them.  Last Friday night after work, the 4 of us headed up to my sis's house for the night.  They live a little less than an hour away from Disney, so we decided to crash with them for the weekend.  Saturday morning, we met up with his family at The Magic Kingdom.   The 4 of us go there much earlier than the rest of them did, so we spend the first few hours riding rides on our own and enjoying the shorter lines before all the crowds showed up.  His family arrived around 11:30, and we had a great time hanging out all together.  We managed to ride *almost* everything, and even did the Haunted Mansion twice. 

D's dad had wanted us to do a nice sit down meal for dinner, so we got reservations at the Liberty Tavern.  Unfortunately, since we waited till the day of to get them, we couldn't get reservations until almost 9 PM (The Magic Kingdom was staying open until 1:00 AM).  It was an unexpectedly cold night, and we were all freezing after dark, but we had a great time.  The boys all LOVED the electric light parade and watching the fire works, but by dinner time they were all exhausted.  All three boys (S, N, and their 4 year old cousin) fell asleep on the table before dinner even arrived.

They sure missed out.  The Liberty Tavern is a family style place with a fixed menu.  They brought us out platters full of roast turkey, pork, and beef as well as mashed potatoes, green beans, glazed carrots, stuffing, gravy, rolls, honey butter, and an apple craisin cake.  It was delicious and well worth the wait. 

After dinner, we ended up having to carry the boys back to the Monorail, tram, and eventually car.  They were OUT! It was after midnight when we finally got back to my sister's house.  It was a very long day, but so fun!  And yay! because we got Wild For 3 passes, so we get to go back two more times in the next few months!

Family, Friends, Fireworks, and Fun

This past week and a half has been crazy busy, but in a good way.




Early last Saturday morning, D and I took the boys up to stay at my sister's for the weekend. I have been missing my nephew and nieces like crazy, so it was great being able to spend some time with them. We hung around the house, went out for BD's Mongolian Grill, played at an awesome park, walked around a beautiful garden, and visited a church up there. It was a very relaxing, fun weekend.






Last Monday night, my cousin Kirk and his wife and 3 teenagers came down to stay with us for the week. It had been a year and a half since I had last seen them, so it was fun being able to hang out and catch up.







I took a couple days off work while they were here. We shopped and talked and cooked and played games and tried to swim (it rained most of the week) and played with sparklers out on the dock.






It's kind of funny how my relationships with all three of my cousin's kids have grown over the years. I was 10 when Kailey, the oldest, was born, but somehow we have all always seemed to have more of a peer/friend relationship than I have had with most of my older cousins. At least, that is how it feels to me. Perhaps they are just indulging their ancient cousin. ;)

This Saturday, D, the boys, and I met up with his family to watch a big Fireworks display.

We sat in a Rib City parking lot and played with our 130 glow sticks for a few hours while we waited for dark.

The fireworks didn't start till after 9:30, but we had fun waiting. The display was well done, and we all enjoyed it.

Sunday was spent mostly relaxing with my cousins. D was supposed to come over with the boys, but wasn't able to because their mom ended up asking D to drop them off at her house so she could have a chance to do fireworks with them. Instead, he came over early Monday morning to meet my cousins before they went home.

Monday, D's sister, BIL, and nephew came over to swim in between the raindrops In the evening he picked up the boys, and we went over to his parents for dinner. People in their community put on a pretty spectacular fireworks show. We sat in the backyard and watched as the neighbors all around burned up thousands of dollars for our enjoyment. I have seen professional fireworks displays that were not as amazing as the ones shooting off in his parent's neighborhood. We stayed out for a couple hours watching them and playing with sparkers and eating popsicles and dropping pieces of them down my shirt...oh wait, that last part was just me...

~Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Beach Fun

This week was spring break in our county.  On Monday, D and I both took off work to take the boys to the beach.  We met up with a lady from our church and her little girl, and we headed out to Captiva for the day.  We spend the morning playing at the beach...swimming, building sandcastles, and collecting pretty shells (Captiva and Sanibel beaches are covered in shells.  It's actually kind of hard to walk in the water because of all the shells.  They sure are beautiful though.)

Our friend's husband works at a little Mexican cantina on Captiva, so we went there for lunch.  Man, was it yummy!  I'm so glad I eat Mexican food now! I had a delicious burrito, and for dessert we all shared a plate of fried plantains...sooooooo good!

It was really nice to take an extra day off after vacation before going back to work.  You know how people always say, "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!"? I feel like I actually got to do that.  I got home on Friday night, but didn't go back to work until Tuesday.  I really felt rested and ready when I finally went back to work.

California Trip

I spent last week in the Sacramento area with my BFF.  I'm not going to give a highly detailed trip account, but I will share some pictures. 

We spent one day in the Foothills of the Sierras visiting some old mining towns...

 

Walking on some short trails...

And seeing the breathtaking views of the Middle Fork of the American River.

Since it was getting close to Easter, we decided one day that we would have some fun coloring eggs.

My last full day there, we took a trip out to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.

It was a nice trip.  As you can see in the above picture, my friend is pregnant.  We have been friends since we were in 5th grade, so it was good to be able to be around to share a little of this special time with her.  

Oh, here is a picture of the view from the plane window on the way home.