Monday, Nov 24th, at 3am, Claude was awake and on his phone. He didn't have his hearing aids in so I could hear all he was listening to. I woke up and turned to check out what was going on. He asked if I got the text from Hayden. I had not received a text from Hayden before I went to bed. I looked at my phone and, sure enough, there was a text from Hayden. It seems he was able to come for Thanksgiving and wondered if, since we were in Michigan, could we swing by Chicago and pick him up. In truth, Claude and volunteered to get him if he could come but never received any answer. I had plotted out trip with Muskegon first, then Chelsea to see Jake with a night in the hotel and returning home from Chelsea on Tuesday.
The wheels started to turn as to possibilities to handle this. The reality was the least amount of driving would involve us going to get Hayden from Muskegon and then going to see Jake. But the hotel was now to late to cancel. Claude and I talked a bit. I sent Hayden a text asking if he could leave on Tuesday. Then we tried to sleep a bit more with the plan of continuing to Chelsea, visiting Jake on Monday for lunch, staying overnight at the hotel and then getting up early and driving back across Michigan to Chicago and getting Hayden and continuing to Georgetown.
We did sleep a bit more. My alarm rang for me to get up and get my shower. We packed up and headed to the Amish store at 8:30 in the morning. We purchased cheese and bread and cookies for us and for Jacob. Then the Buick headed on to Chelsea.
We were at Jake's apartment by 11:30am. Soot, Jake's cat, was inside and we got to visit with him a bit. He is not a cat who enjoys humans and their touch. But we did get a bit of an interaction.
I gave Jake his bag of treats from the Amish store. He went to put the cheese in the fridge and there was no cheese. He also had the container with the sour cream cookies that I bought for Claude. Ugh!! It seems we had everything on the counter for the charges at the Amish store and Claude turned to pick some donuts for us for breakfast. I watched the cashier fill two bags. I had specifically asked for Jake's things to be in his own bag so it would be easy to give it to him. Claude paid for the items while I tied knots in the two bags. We took our two bags to the car. It now seemed in Jake's apartment there may have been three bags and that third bag was back at the Amish store in Holton. Ugh!! Claude gave Jake our cheese and sour dough bread. At least our son was taken care of.
We went to the Valiant for lunch. I took my phone out in case I heard from Hayden with a text message. It was then I realized my phone had no bars. We thought it was because we were in the restaurant. I knew the hotel had good cellphone coverage from many previous stays. So, I really didn't worry about it. We enjoyed our lunch and talked with Jake till about 2:45pm. Then it was time to get him home so he could get ready for work.
We went to the Comfort Inn to check-in. Surprise. There was yellow caution tape all around the front entrance and around the front parking lot. We had to go in a side door. I asked the front desk clerk what was happening. He said they were completely renovating. There would be a new front entrance and a new lobby setup. The hotel would become a Hampton Inn. Ugh!! There are two hotels in Chelsea and this has been our favorite. They anticipate the work being done by June.
We settled in our room and then went back to the car. A quick trip to the gas station to get snacks for the room. We returned and I tried to get and send text to Hayden. No luck at all. I decided to go to the lobby and sit by a window and see if that helped. Still nothing. This was so strange. We have always had good reception with AT&T in this hotel. I decided to call and talk to Hayden. It had a hard time even making a call. I finally got through and started a message asking Hayden to call me. It cut out before I finished the message. However, Hayden got enough that he called me back and we determined he could leave on Tuesday and we would drive back across Michigan to Chicago to get him on Tuesday. I then sent an eMail confirming what we arranged and copied Hayden and his mother, Andie. I did receive are response from Hayden so I knew he got the eMail. This left me confident in making the drive to Chicago. What a whirlwind.
Claude and I spent a quiet evening and went to bed at 10pm with an alarm for 8am Tuesday.
Tuesday, Nov 25th, we were on the road to Chicago after a quick stop for a biscuit breakfast at McDonald's in Chelsea. Our little hotel was not even serving breakfast. We would drive to Chicago in the rainy weather. We arrived at Hayden's apartment about 12:30pm. I got my big Hayden hug as soon as we saw him. We loaded him in the car and then got out of Chicago. Claude and I do not like these big cities for driving in any more.
After we got into Indiana, Claude found a Chick-FilA for our meal. Then we hit the road again. We would stop one more time for gasoline and food and snacks. This was a Pilot and Claude had to try five, count them, five gas pumps before it would read his credit card. No idea why. The fifth one worked fine.
We got around Indianapolis and were making such good time when we came to a big traffic jam on I-74 before you reach the Ohio River. Then the traffic was really, really thick all the way home. It was really holiday traffic at that point.
We got home and unpacked and I started the laundry. Then we crashed in front of the television while I finished one load of laundry and got the second one in the dryer. Good start to getting back to normal.
Wednesday, Nov 26th, we had the morning to finish being ready for Thanksgiving as the Marx family would arrive in the afternoon. Hayden slept in, as he usually does. He is a night owl and is awake long after we go to sleep. Hence, the sleeping in each day.
I spent my morning getting pictures labeled and blogging done through our trip. Claude went to Kroger for the last of the food purchase and also to CVS to pick up a prescription for me. I finished up our laundry from our trip so the washer and dryer could be available for Bailey to do her laundry. I made the tuna salad for lunches while Claude prepared everything else for dinner that evening.
The Marx's arrived and Claude received a text from Cindy Richardson, our neighbor. I had asked her to watch for my clock to arrive while we were in Michigan. She was still watching and noticed a car in our driveway and wanted to be sure that was okay. Claude gave me his cellphone and I had fun letting Cindy know it was our kids from LaGrange staying through Thanksgiving. After a bit, she replied that she and Brian had decided that, since whoever it was did not come back out, it was probably okay. That cracked me up!
We left the television off and chatted until time for our brisket dinner. It was delicious. In the evening we watched some Castles until bedtime.
Thursday, Nov 27th, was Thanksgiving Day. A very low-key day for all of us. Everyone slept in as long as they wanted. Breakfast was whatever you wanted from the kitchen. Lunch was leftover brisket sandwiches or tuna salad sandwiches. In the afternoon, we watched four of the Harry Potter Baking Championship episodes.
The turkey was done about 4:30pm. Claude set to work carving the turkey while I finished the dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls. We all enjoyed a delicious smoked turkey dinner. Yum!
In the evening, Michael set to finding us a Christmas movie to watch on Netflix. A very quiet Thanksgiving.
Friday, Nov 28th, Claude made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. After that, Michael found a show called "Man on the Inside" starring Ted Danson. Interestingly, we talked with Jake about this show when we had lunch with him in Chelsea. Jake feels Ted Danson is the Jimmy Stewart of our day. He was very impressed with the first season of this show. Michael had the second season on the television and we all enjoyed it very much. Michael set us up to be able to watch the first season later on.
The Mini's helped Claude and me bring in all the boxes with Christmas decorations. We would try to set this up before our next trip.
My clock arrived at the front door. Yippee!! I unboxed it. Lots of protective wrapping on it. Claude found batteries and we got the clock hung and working on the dining room wall. How nice that is.
We pulled out the leftover turkey and brisket and everyone had a sandwich for their lunch before the Marx family left for LaGrange.
I purchased us tickets to go see the Christmas lights at Mustard Seed Hill. This is a tradition for Claude and me. We got there a little after 5pm and there was still daylight, so we started out in the dorm building with the gingerbread house entries that did not win first place. These always amaze me.
Saturday, Nov 29th, we had a very weird start to our day. We both woke up after a full night's rest feeling very tired. We got up and had our breakfast and still were exhausted. Why? We have NO idea. We both got back in bed and had an early nap. Then we were fine for the rest of the day. Very Silly!
I finished the December Relief Society newsletter and sent it off to Jenessa for review. I also started on the bed linens from Thanksgiving. Then I worked on putting up the interior decorations with the exception of the tree.
Claude used left overs for a great casserole for our dinner. Yum.
Sunday, Nov 30th, I woke with a bad pain in my back. We got ready and went to church. I made it through Sacrament meeting. Got the roll taken for Relief Society. Then I asked Claude to take me home. I took Tylenol and curled up in my recliner. Eventually, the Tylenol worked and I rested for a bit. Needless to say, this was a very slow day again. A good, cold Sabbath Day.
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