Monday, April 6th, we did final preparations for our trip to Michigan. For me, that included walking my treadmill one last time, stopping the mail, correcting an error in being able to access my Blog, finishing the Blog for the previous week, wrapping gifts to take with us for upcoming birthdays, packing and stacking all extra items on the dryer for loading in the car, doing my fingernails, clearing the DVR and crocheting. Whew! Sometimes it feels like I don't do a lot. Then I write it out and it seems like I did do a lot.
Claude spent his day going to PT and the cutting and trimming the grass. This has become and all day project for him.
We had dinner at Arby's. Claude got a French dip sandwich. It had some slippery cheese on it and the roll had been cut in half but the meat inside had not. It was an awful mess. I simply picked up the tray and took his sandwich to the counter. I showed it to the cashier and asked if he could cut through the meat so Claude could actually eat his sandwich. He gave me a plastic knife. I thanked him kindly and returned Claude's sandwich to him. He was able to make it work. He will go back to the regular French dip sandwich and never order this version again.
We curled up to watch Castle for the evening. I used the time to shift from Samsung texting to Google Messaging. Samsung has been notifying Claude and me that they would discontinue Samsung texting by July and to go ahead and make the change. It worked just fine.
Tuesday, April 7th, We left for Michigan. We started with a stop a Bojangles for biscuits for the road. Claude keeps track of the mileage we drive on each trip we take. He was able to see it is actually 2.8 miles to Bojangles from, our home.
This was Todd's birthday (our son-in-law). I posted this on our family Facebook page: "Happiest of Birthdays to Todd Tyler!! Enjoy your day because tonight we will arrive and who knows what that means to your future. Lee's Chicken for sure! Everyone join me in saying Happy Birthday to Todd! Love Ya Bunches!!"
On this drive to Michigan, we stopped at the Pilot in Rochester, Indiana. This is almost exactly half-way when we drive this way to Muskegon. I have been walking 30 minutes each day on the treadmill. That would not happen for a week. While Claude filled the car with gas, I found a nice circle I could walk inside the Pilot station. There was a donut shop inside and ladies sitting together having coffee and a donut were very amused at my antics. Lots of smiles on each lap.
I was able to read the letters I receive from the missionaries and read a Come, Follow Me lesson.
We arrived in Muskegon at 4:30pm. We went to Lee's Chicken to get dinner for the Tyler's and us. AI a very kind girl with bright pink hair and her guy were sitting on the bench waiting for their order. We placed our order and stood to wait. This sweet girl and her guy got up and motioned for us to take the bench. I assured her we had been sitting for about 7 1/2 hour and standing actually felt good. Then she commented that her grandmother had a hard time standing for long periods of time. She didn't want us to have any issues. She did get that all out but realized as she was saying it that implied we were old enough to be her grandparents. I assured her we appreciated her thoughtfulness. She was quite talkative and we had a nice conversation before our food was ready to go. Cute moment in time.
We headed to Holton and the Tyler home. Nissa and Todd were just getting home from work. It was so nice to settle into their guest room, put on comfy clothes, and curl up to watch TV with them and have our chicken. We would enjoy many quiet evenings at Tyler's this trip.
Wednesday, April 8th, started a longer visit than we normally do. This was to enjoy Spring Break from school with the Roper children. We had something special to do each day for four days.
Usually Baby, the Tyler's dog, stays in a pen outside during the day. This winter, Nissa and Todd changed that and let Baby stay inside while they were at work. It was a particularly brutal winter for them in their part of Michigan and they really didn't want to leave Baby outside through it. Baby is not used to someone being the house when Nissa and Todd are not there. Normally, she would come bounding into the guest bedroom and jump on the bed. That is what we expected. That is not what happened. We didn't see or hear from Baby as we moved around and got ready to leave for the day. As we were leaving, Baby got out of Nissa and Todd's bed and came into the living room. I asked her if she wanted to go outside. She cowered and went into the kitchen and walked around the island and looked at us with her ears back. We told her we loved her and left the house. We did not take her outside.
Our first visit was breakfast at Bob Evans with Aubrey and Mike. We had a nice breakfast and caught up with each other. We would give Aubrey a painting kit for Nelson. We had a painting project for this days activity. Claude purchased wooden butterflies, one for each great grandmonster. I collected all my paints and some paint brushes. Since Nelson wouldn't be there, we made him a kit with his butterfly, some paints and a couple of paint brushes. Aubrey would give it to him for us.
Then we were off to the Ropers. Poor Drew works a shift where he sleeps during the days. This Spring Break was hard on him with all the family home when he usually slept. Bless his heart, he wanted to be a part of the visit. He would come home, sleep as bit, then get up for our activity that day, then take a nap before going to work.
We would paint butterflies with the four Roper kids. We set them up at the kitchen table with a butterfly each, a paper plate for mixing their paint colors, and each wearing an old t-shirt of mine. They had fun creating a butterfly in colors they loved.
Joel was totally into mixing colors. He was fascinated with picking out a new color and then watching as he blended it into the other colors. As he did this, his paper plate was filling with color that got darker and darker the more color he mixed in. At one point, it was only Joel and Emelia at the table. Emelia commented on how dark Joel's color was getting. Then she looked at me with this 7 year old eyes and said, "Joel has a dark soul." I thought I would lose it right on the spot.
Claude had a dental appointment before we came. The dentist was giving out chapstick with their logo on it. Claude picked up one for each great grandmonster. It was great fun for them. Kennedi really got into putting it onto their people's lips. Great Grampa Claude was a super champ and let her have her fun. After applying the chapstick, Kenedi would raise hear arms in the air and say a triumphant, "Ta Da".
Raelyn talked Claude into walking with her to the creek near their home. She came into the kitchen to tell Nissa what she and her Great Grampa were going to do. Emelia heard and wanted to go. She was sent to get a coat and shoes. Then Kennedi wanted to go. Drew bundled her up and went along. Joel had no interest in going. He stayed an entertained Katelyn and me. I took a picture as"T they left and felt it should be titled "The Fellowship of the Walk". Aside of Kennedi falling into the water, everyone had a great time.
Before we left, we scooped up everyone and drove to McDonald's for dinner. Emelia and Raelyn are so happy they are big enough to ride with us in our car. These kids expect at least one McDonald's run when we visit. After dinner, the Roper's headed home and we headed to Holton.
Nissa fixed rice and roast beef for dinner. I totally enjoyed my bowl of rice with some butter one it. I do love rice.
We settled in for our second quiet evening in our stretchy clothes. The entertainment was really not funny. Claude downloaded a pdf file on his cellphone. It had a virus in it and it took hold of Claude's phone. It simple had advertisement after advertisement for virus software popping up on his phone. He spent as much time as his phone battery would allow trying to run Norton virus software to try and clear his phone. Nothing worked. He was able to figure out that all his apps worked. They were simply interrupted repeatedly with the ads. The ads made the battery run down really fast. Ugh!
Thursday, April 9th, we left Holton at 9:45am. We were to meet them and drive to the Grand Rapids Airport. We had to first clean out Drew's car and fill the right rear tire with air. Then we were off to the airport. Emelia and Raelyn would ride with Claude and me.
The purpose of going to the airport was to pick up Ramon, their exchange student from Spain. He had been with other exchange students on a trip to New York City. Katelyn made signs or the kids to hold. I took a picture of the kids but failed to get one of Ramon seeing them. Silly Moi!
Katelyn took this picture of Claude and me walking back to our car from the museum. We are cute!
It was time to have something to eat. We decided to drive out of Grand Rapids toward home and find something along the way. Claude spotted a Taco Bell in Coopersville. When we asked the kids about dinner on Wednesday, the girls all chose McDonald's. Joel wanted Taco Bell. He would get his wish this time. After dinner we parted ways with Claude and me heading to Holton and the Ropers back to Muskegon.
The funniest comment of the day was Drew asking Katelyn how Claude who is quiet, married me who is not quiet. Happy Katelyn shared that aside comment to me. I got a chuckle.
Claude and I stopped at Whispering Pines when we got to Holton. That is the Amish Market. We got bread, cheese and cookies for us and for Jake. This time...I got all bags!!
We would enjoy another quiet evening in Holton.
Friday, April 10th, we were to meet the Ropers at their home at noon. This allowed us to sleep in a bit. We had rain through the night. So it would allow time for the skies to clear and the air to warm up a bit.
This was Todd's day off. He was home with us in the morning. Baby was up and had a ball in her mouth to give to Claude to play with her. Then Todd came in. Baby conflicted. She wanted to play ball with Claude but she wanted to see Todd also. She stood there looking back and forth with the ball in her mouth. Yep, she was conflicted.
We headed to the Ropers about 11:30am. It is about 30 minutes to drive from Holton to Muskegon. We followed the Ropers into downtown Muskegon. We were going on a Mastodon Scavenger Hunt. We tried to do this in November when in Muskegon but the weather did not cooperate. This time it was cloudy and cool but that was okay for hiking around downtown Muskegon.
The Muskegon Museum has a full mastodon named Moxie inside. Outside there is a statue of Matteus the mastodon. In addition to Matteus, there are 19 other mastodons hidden in downtown in historic buildings or main businesses. I had printed out the sheet from the museum with all the names of the mastodons and hints as to where they were located. I also printed out the list of the locations of each mastodon. Armed with these tools and Drew's help, we managed to hike around and find 10 of the 20 little mastodons. I went into this thinking the hidden mastodons were the size of the Matteus. They were NOT. They were about the size of Claude's fist and they were hidden. Several times I had to go inside a place and ask exactly where their mastodon was hidden. The librarian asked if I wanted to bring the kids in so they could see the mastodon from the window inside the library. I assured him I did not want to bring these four bundles of energy inside. He smiled and gave me directions as to where to look outside. It was good to have the kids outside and looking around them. Emelia became my pointer when I took pictures of our finds.
Matteus, Muskegon Museum of History & Science, Katelyn, Kennedi Emelia, Raelyn, Joel, Drew.
Monet Gardens, Raelyn on Bridge.
When we got back to Holton, we learned that Todd sold his red canoe. Someone would come by that evening to see it and pick it up. Todd had participated in an auction and purchase a new canoe that was an upgrade. His bid was about 1/3 of the value of this new canoe. He sold the red canoe for almost what he paid for the new canoe. A very good wheeler-dealer. He was a happy guy. Nissa, Baby and he will have lots of fun this summer in their new canoe.
Nissa made spaghetti for their dinner. I had a small bowl. It was delicious. Feeling wiped out, I was grateful for an evening that was quiet.
Saturday, April 11th, we had the morning to ourselves. It was Nissa and Todd's Saturday to work. We opted to get our showers and take a ride into Fremont. We would stop at Wesco and pick up a gift card for Paul, then on the Burger King for a very light something for Claude, then we stopped at Meijer to pick up some groceries for Paul. It was nice to be out on our own for a bit. I had not realized how much I was missing that time with just Claude and me.
When we got back to the Tyler's, Claude took a nap while I redid my nails and crocheted on Joel's afghan for Christmas. To my surprise, I felt sick and hurled. I was grateful all this happened when we were at the Tyler's.
Nissa and Todd got home from work just as we were leaving. Todd had a hard day and was very frustrated. It was a good thing we were going out for one last outing with the Ropers.
We picked up Paul at his apartment an drove to Pizza Ranch. The Ropers would meet us there. We all had a good meal. Love Paul's heart head had three plates of food, three coffees and three teas plus dessert pizzas. Happy he had good food. After dinner the kids played in the arcade for a while.
Before we left, I got a picture of Claude and me with Paul and one with Katelyn. I forgot to do this with Aubrey the first day. I have asked her to help me remember next time we visit.
Back to Holton we drove to get in stretchy clothes and have another quiet evening in Holton. In the evening I found this on Facebook. It is a sign showing how you pronounce the names of cities in Kentucky. Cute.
Sunday, April 12th, was a day dedicated to spending time with Nissa and Todd. They fix a big breakfast on Sunday morning. Claude ate with them. I did not as I was trying to stick as close to my intermittent fasting diet as possible. Claude would take another nap. His Sunday nap is always the best. To help that, it was a rainy day. I finished crochet a skein of yarn into Joel's Christmas afghan present. Todd smoked a brisket for dinner that was superb. It was a lovely, quiet day at home.
Monday, April 13th, we were up and out the door early. We were going to Chelsea to meet with Jake. We took him a couple of items from storage to go through. We also took him the cheese, bread and cookies from the Amish store. Jake chose the Mexican restaurant for dinner. His birthday would be in a few days and we wanted him to have a meal wherever he chose. We had good food. Drove back to his apartment and sat in the car and talked until he had to go into be ready for work. Good visit with Jake.
We decided to drive to Vandalia, Ohio to stay in a Quality Inn for the night. We usually stay in Chelsea over night. Our favorite hotel is being renovated. This helped us to try going a bit further down the road before we stopped. It is about three hours to Vandalia from Chelsea. The purpose of this is to make driving through Dayton and Cincinnati and crossing the bridge into Kentucky not be during a rush hour situation. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel which was right next to our hotel. It worked out very well and Claude feels he likes doing our drive home from Chelsea better doing it this way. Thus goeth the lesson!
The television in our hotel room didn't work. Usually I would go to the front desk and ask to get it fixed or give us another room. We were settled in though. We opted to play on our Kindles instead. Claude was running reels through his and he turned up the volume and pointed it so I could see if I wanted to watch. It worked out just great.
Tuesday, April 14th, we slept in a bit. Then we showered and hit the road. The drive went well.
While visiting the Tyler's, Todd shared his interest in watching a television show about police and car chases and arrests. One was actually from a driver going from Cincinnati over the bridge in Kentucky. The driver actually started the chase in Indiana. He had a tire completely blown off the driver's side front. He still kept going. After he crossed the bridge over the Ohio River into Kentucky, there is a big hill you must climb. Todd predicted that would be his undoing. Todd was correct. His car simply could not pull that hill after all it had been through. So...as we drove from Ohio into Kentucky over the bridge, I decided I should video the process and send it to the Tyler's. It was cute. I narrated the search for police cars, the density of the traffic and the sign showing we safely made it into Kentucky. The Tyler's got a kick out of it.
Our first stop was the AT&T store. We were going to replace Claude's phone. They were able to clean the virus off it. Claude picked out a phone. They gave him $900 credit for returning his old phone. This meant he only paid $400 for a nearly $1300 phone. I asked if I would get that much credit on my phone. He checked and I too could get the same deal as Claude. We decided to upgrade my phone to a phone just like Claude was getting. He would be black. My would be a purple color...of course! Now we had a toy to play with while we watched television in the evening.
We stopped at Jimmy John's for a sandwich for dinner. Then on to our home. We unpacked, brought in the mail, and curled up the relax in our own home with Castle on the television or the evening.
This was a good trip. Made lots of memories. Grateful for safe driving and hugs from our family.
