On Monday we decided to take a trip to Hell. This a town with a populations of 72 and basically has one tourist pit stop with it all- food, ice cream, miniature golfing, a post office, and lots of Hell themed souvenirs. We enjoyed the photo ops, had some ice cream, sent some singed postcards, bought some souvenirs and now we can tell everyone we have been to Hell. I have been having the kids write about what they do each day and so it was pretty funny when Penny wrote that day "We went to Hell."
On Tuesday we drove out to Grand Rapids to see the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. I think it was worth the 2 hour drive. We started in the greenhouse (where we had to wear masks since it was indoors). The kids tell me the cacti were there favorite- I must be rubbing off on them- but I thought the carnivorous plants were pretty cool too. There was one plant, the Pitcher Plant, that Lucy had read about at school so that was really fun to see in real life.
After the green house we went to a gallery while the old people bought food at the cafe (we had ate lunch ahead of time). The gallery was full of naked pictures and statues so within 2 days our kids went to Hell and saw naked pictures- we are winning this parenting thing ;). After the gallery we went to the Children's Garden. That was awesome. Cool statues, a garden that encouraged them to use their 5 senses, a replica of the great lakes that the kids kept wanting to play in the water, fun Hobbit houses (my name for them), a tree fort and a play area. It made me wish I had gotten a membership because I could see my kids wanting to come back here to play.
Just fyi, statue on above left is called "Mad Mom." The kids thought that was hilarious. The one on the bottom right was encouraging the kids to touch the garden behind them.
After the Children's Garden we went to the Statue Garden which had some pretty interesting pieces of art. It also had a man made waterfall that the kids loved because their were giant fish in the water that they could sit and watch. I think they also enjoyed posing by the different statues for pictures.
After the statue garden, everyone was pooped but I wanted to see all the things so I made them go to the Japanese gardens. This wasn't the most exciting. We did see Bonsai Trees and a Zen Garden but we got a little lost and everyone was just really tired so we didn't walk too much of it before we decided it was time to go.
On Wednesday I was a little pooped from our previous adventuring so we kept it closer to home and went into Milford. We picked up some lunch and ate it at the playground. While the kids were playing at the playground Grams and Poppy went into town to pick up some cookies at the bakery for some dessert. These kids have gotten so much sugar with my parents in town, they're going to go through withdrawals when they leave.
On Thursday I had some pre-appointments to get ready for my third d and c that is scheduled on Monday. The MRI last week revealed that my mass is indeed a blood clot so the doctor will be making another attempt to remove it. Honestly, I am a little disappointed that it is just a blood clot. The normalcy of it makes it even more frustrating that it keeps getting missed. Anyways, they are running low on rapid response Covid tests so they had me get tested Thursday (instead of in the hospital right before the procedure, like before). This test was way less invasive- they don't go nearly as high as they did for the rapid response- so it wasn't painful. The only lame thing about the early Covid test is now I am supposed to self quarantine until my procedure so I don't risk picking anything up. I haven't done a super great job of that.
After my drive through Covid Test I had to go get another ultrasound so they could confirm that the mass is still there. The ultrasound tech was chatty and yes, the mass is still there and in the same spot. She encouraged me to be optimistic about this next D and C which is something I am struggling with.
Thursday evening I went on a walk with one of my young women and her seminary teacher (my friend Melissa). Gosh this young woman is so boy crazy and has so much of her self worth wrapped in what boys think of her. I worry about her and it makes me worried to have teenage girls. It's so hard to get these girls to realize how wonderful they are and that they don't need a boy to be wonderful. After we chatted we headed to our cars and discovered an old gentleman playing the guitar and singing in the parking lot. Melissa insisted we go stand by and listen to him. I felt awkward but she had no problem swaying to the music.
Later that evening my friend Corinne came over to drop off bread and she ended up staying and chatting until 1 in the morning. Woof I am not meant to stay up that late. But it was good to catch up with her and if anyone understands the pain of a miscarriage, she sure does. We laughed, we cried, we felt all the feels. It was needed friend time.
Friday we went to the beach in afternoon. I didn't invite friends this time, that was me making a slight effort to quarantine. The hard part of it was there was a lady there who was pregnant and I overheard her talking to someone about her pregnancy. She is due in October which is when I was supposed to be due. I kind of felt like I had been punched in the stomach and I wish it didn't hurt like that. There were a lot of little ones too and my heart ached because I really do want another baby. Anyways with all these tough feeling we didn't stay too long.
Saturday the boys all went to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. I am trying to at least pretend to quarantine and the girls weren't interested in going so we stayed home. Poppy said it was a good choice and seemed to enjoy it. I hope he has enjoyed his adventures here in Michigan. We sure are going to miss him when he heads back to Arizona next week.
