Over the River and to the Woods...

Claude and I found ourselves with an itch to travel and four days we could block out. Where to go, where to go??? 

We contacted Jake and asked if he could be available to spend some time with us. He said he could. We asked him to plot something in Michigan we could go and see together. Then I contacted Nissa to see if we could pop into their home. They agreed. Dates were set and plans were made.

Friday, November 30th, Claude and I got up and hit the road in the morning. The day would include a stop in Dry Ridge, Kentucky for a drive-thru breakfast, a stop in Ohio for gas at $3.29 per gallon, a stop a Cabela's for whatever we could find and the items on Claude's wish list, and then ending in Chelsea for dinner with Jake and and good visit.

This trip would be full of Blog worthy quotes. As they came and while we traveled, I kept them in my Blackberry for my Blog about this trip.

Butter Jesus is back...that's right folks. Outside of Dayton, Ohio is a big church that has had a statue of Jesus coming out of a pond in front. It was a huge statue and was hit by lightening and burned in minutes. I posted this event after it happened. On trips to and from Michigan we have watched as they cleaned the burned mess and built a new framework to replace the statue. This trip they had the new Jesus in place in front of the pond. This one is much more pleasant. He is standing on the edge of the pond with his arms open. Claude did notice on our return trip that he had a lightening rod coming out of his head. Can't be too careful.  

Our Cabela's stop was very successful. Claude replenished his rubs for grilling and smoking and added to his shirt supply. We got more hash brown potatoes for Jake and the Tyler homes. I found long sleeved plaid flannel shirts on sale. My mother's father wore these in the winter. I loved Grampa Fisch and his show white hair that was always in disarray. He was sure lovely to get hugs from when I was a little girl with those long arms and flannel sleeves. I think that is why I love a long sleeved flannel shirt so much. I purchased two of them and wore one on Sunday. I again alerted Laura to my find and told her I was sure this would be what it would be like in the celestial kingdom. To top off this joy, one of the shirts has lots of purple in the plaid.

We had a great dinner with Jake at Coney Island in Chelsea. We ended our evening with a nice visit in our hotel room until time for Jake to head home. During that conversation we shared with Jake our plans to travel to Ireland next year for a week. We are so happy with this selection and enjoyed sharing that bit of news with Jake. Jake mused on the idea for a minute. Then he gave this profound bit of insight which never occured to Claude or me..."So you're gonna go all the way across that ocean and visit the place that's most like Kentucky." I just love having kids.

Saturday, Decvember 1st, we determined to meet Jake at his apartment at 10am for our road trip.  As we left the hotel, Claude was in control of our new red suitcase. It has the wheels on it that turn in all directions. There was a very slight slope from the front of the Holiday Inn Express to our car which was parked in front. Claude let go of the suitcase and it began to roll down toward the car but then veered a bit to the left. As I'm calling the suitcase back into position (like it could really hear and obey), Claude has his epiphany...he could invent a remote controlled suitcase. I view the "Think Geek" catalog all the time. I assured him there was probably a great market out there for this idea.

We got in the car to head to Jake's and I sent an eMail to my friend Laura explaining our new potential invention. Never to be out-thought and ever-on-her-toes, Laura added the suggestion that we add a seat to the top and have a free ride to the car. Our bodies may be aging but our minds are sharp as tacks!!

We also woke up to a complete cover of fog that morning. I was sure any pictures I took that day would have an eerie holiday feel. Something like a combination of Halloween and Christmas...maybe something called Hallowistmas. Yike!!

Jake had a couple of errands to do as we left town. One of these was using a discount he received at a Casual Male XL store in Ann Arbor. This is a great place for both of my guys to shop. I love perusing the discount racks. I found a gorgeous red sweater and a plaid shirt with red in it that would be great under it. Neither of my guys seemed to think it was perfect for them. Such a loss. Claude did find some shirts and Jake found a t-shirt and some jeans. Successful shopping trip complete, we headed on toward Williamston.  As we drove Claude gave this bit of wisdom..."I just want to fit in a comfortable size 2X." Sent me into peels of laughter. 
 
As we drove to our next destination, my red Buick turned 100,000 miles. Pictures were taken and appropriate reverence was shown.

We were being treated to an early Christmas present by Jake. There is a little theater in Williamston, Michigan. Jake knows the man who wrote the play that was showing there. He purchased tickets for the three of us to see "Ebeneezer". It is performed by three people and is about Ebeneezer Scrooge after his Christmas ephiphany. It was an excellent play and Claude and I totally enjoyed seeing it with Jake. What a great Christmas gift. Thank you Jake for a most excellent afternoon at the theater!!

Then we were off to Muskegon. We would spend the early evening with the Tyler household. Then Claude and I were off to the Comfort Inn for the evening and Jake would take up residence on the sofa the Tyler's.  

 

Sunday, December 2nd, we had a great breakfast a the Tylers and settled in for a day of visiting with them. We played a lot of games. One of these was "Apples to Apples". This game gives each player seven red cards with a possible response listed on each them. One player is the 'judge' and they also get the stack of green cards with a topic listed on each one. The judge turns over a green apple card and each of the other players picks from their 7 red apple cards one they think best fits the topic on the judges green card. These red cards are placed face down on the table. The judge picks them up face down and mixes them up so no one knows who provided which answer. Then the judge turns all the red apple answer cards face up and determines which answer best fits his topic green apple card. The one he chooses goes to the player who gave it and that person saves the card. The judge then gives each player another red apple answer card and passes the stacks of red and green apple cards to the player on his left who then becomes the judge for the next round. The game was lots of fun, conversation is encouraged by all players to influence the judges decision.

During the game, Katelyn had a card that she was reading about Roman Numerals. She read it this way, see if you can note the humor, "There's a 'I' in '7' chance you'll know it." We all had a great round of laughter when Katelyn used the word 'I' instead of 'one'.

This of course brought to remembrance that time Katelyn asked Jake, "Do you have the complete works of Shakespeare?" Jake responded that he did. Katelyn then asked the now infamous question, "Is it in Shakesperean or English?"  Makes one proud of the public school system.

 

We managed to play Uno, Pit and Yahtzee. We had dinner from The Pita Place. Then Claude, Jake and I said our good-byes and headed back to Chelsea.

 

We ended our family visit by having a bite to eat and some more great conversation with Jake at Wendy's before taking Jake to his apartment.

 

Monday morning Claude and I slept in a bit before heading home to Sadieville.

 

Claude and I both commented about what a wonderful visit this was for us. It was great to be with our kids and grandmonsters again even if just for a bit. Katelyn's Christmas presents were delivered. I finished a baby afghan and started another and got 5 hours of study time in on my Institute lesson for this Thursday. Bonus accomplishments. 

 

Thank you family for helping us fit this visit into your schedules and for enjoying family time with us. It was great!!!