Zoo, Girl's Getaway

This week my tummy was bothering me something fierce so it certainly wasn't my favorite week. Lots of rushing to bathrooms. On Monday I cleaned and did beach time with my friend Caroline in the afternoon. That evening Tyler and I went kayaking. It is not his favorite thing but I'm glad he went along with me. We discovered a part of the Huron River that was super shallow. It was neat because we could see pretty shells and fish.

The next morning I decided to take the boys there because the water was so shallow I figured it would be a perfect place for them to learn how to kayak and not have to worry about drowning. Steven didn't want to go but Ben did and we had a really good time. He is a crazy paddler but he got around. One time he got stuck and when I attempted to turn around and help him, I totally ran into a bush that was hanging out in the water. That was embarrassing. We took a couple stops. The first one was to rest on shore and we saw a beautiful blue butterfly. The second one was in the water so he could pick up shells. He kept telling me how much fun it was and is is desperate to go again.

Tuesday night I went to ice cream with some of the Bunco ladies. I did not really want to go because some of the ladies I don't particularly mesh with were coming and I didn't think my good buddies were. Thankfully one of my good friends did end up coming so it ended up being a nice outing. The only con was that I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

Wednesday I took the kids to the Toledo Zoo by myself, my mom didn't want to go. It was a really nice outing. We fed goats at the petting zoo, pet the stingrays in the aquarium, played in the splash pad, saw lots of reptiles, ate some lemon ice, watched other people feed the Giraffes, and watched the polar bears quarrel. I really do like having a membership there.

Friday was my girl's getaway with Caroline, Melissa, Chalsea and Ashlee. I was worried about going because of all my tummy issues that week and my tummy sure was grumbly and uncomfortable most of the time. Thankfully the only time I needed a toilet urgently we were at the airbnb and everyone was eating outside so they didn't have to hear all the awkward noises. Besides tummy issues it was a good time. We drove to the airbnb in Norton Shores, changed into swimsuits, and then drove into Grand Haven to pick up lunch at the Toasted Pickle. We were going to go to a beach in Grand Haven but it was so crowded so went to a state park that was close to our airbnb and hit up the beach there. It was still pretty crowded but we found a good spot and had a nice time just chatting. Chalsea, Caroline and Melissa all went and played in the water but Ashlee and I just sat on the beach and read. That water was way too cold for us. Plus they all ended up with slimy lake weed in awkward places so I think we made the better choice.

We all came back to the airbnb and those who had played in the water took showers so they could get rid of all the lake weed. Then we picked up dinner at Skeetown and ate it in the yard at the airbnb. Everyone loved their food but I choice poorly and mine was gross and as I mentioned before, led to an awful trip to the bathroom. I felt a bit better after that trip though. We spent the rest of the night chatting while we worked on a puzzle and Caroline also gave everyone (except me) Henna tattoo's. Henna tattoo's takes awhile to dry and I could just see myself laying on it and getting it all over my face so that's why I was the lame one. That night we all had a pretty good laughs between an air mattress that was super loud anytime my friend shifted on it and a friend warning us that she might let go some bum burps during the night, aka farts.

The next day I woke up earlier than most so I enjoyed a peaceful breakfast outside. Then we all had a lazy morning chatting and puzzling and getting our hair braided by Melissa. Around lunchtime we checked out and headed to the lighthouse in Muskegon. The path to the lighthouse was surrounded by gated up buildings with signs that said "no trespassing." We were all unsure if we were actually allowed on the path and got nervous about going on it, all of us except Melissa. She was going down it to check if it was ok when a boat siren went off and she immediately put her hands up. No, the siren was not for her, but it was pretty funny. The path was totally ok to walk on and we got some fun pictures at the lighthouse. Chalsea hates lighthouses because her mom always made them take pictures in front of them as a family so she showed off her true feelings in the picture.

After the lighthouse we walked to a food place on the beach. It was not a winner. Caroline threw up after eating her food and Ashlee felt sick afterwards. I just had my usual unsettled stomach. The place itself was pretty neat though. It was right near the water and had fun things like big Jenga blocks, checker boards and volleyball courts.

Our next stop was in downtown Grand Haven to do some shopping. My goodness could Melissa shop. She spent lots of time in each store so I got restless often. I am not much for waiting on other people to shop, ha ha. But I did get a fun shirt for my dad, a funny plaque for Tyler ("If you're going to be a turd, go lay down in the yard"), a unicorn cookie cutter and all us girls got matching Grand Haven shirts. 

After lots of shopping we changed into our matching shirts and then went to the Grand Haven Lighthouse. The waves were soooo big and we got pretty wet walking across the pier to it. It was really neat to watch the waves and to even see some people surfing them close to shore. What was not neat was the stupid people who were far down on the pier jumping into the choppy water. Melissa happened to see one such idiot struggling to get out and with the help of someone else on the pier, she lifted him out. That guy was lucky to be alive. 

It was a really good trip and this Sunday has been a reality check that I didn't really want. We had our first in person church where I had to read a scripture. There were some technical difficulties because they were broadcasting the talk and scripture and that was less than fun. My kids also forgot how to sit still. After that I had 2 church meetings. Meetings are not my favorite. 

I was supposed to meet with a surgeon this past week about getting a surgery to fix my csd but that got cancelled on me and they rescheduled it for August 11th. That was really disappointing so to deal with that I started planning my road trip to AZ with my mom and the boys. We head out this Thursday which means exciting adventures are coming this week.

Fourth, Tyler's Birthday, MSU Garden

Our fourth of July party went well. I felt a little distant and not super social- it was definitely a little hard to see Corinne's baby boy and when Tyler held it, it was hard not to think about the baby I was supposed to have. But there was plenty of good food and the kids had fun playing in the pool Corinne brought and waving around sparklers so I think it was a good time for most.

Monday I found a bunk bed on FB marketplace for $100 and I ended up getting it for the girls (actually I had attempted to get 3 others before this one but had been beaten out so I was super excited to finally be first for this one). When I was pregnant with Isaac I had planned to get a bunk bed to free up some space in their room for a crib. Well the desire to get them a bunk bed came back and I just went for it, even though circumstances had changed. It's a nice change and their room is extra spacious now. I also went to Ikea with my mom and the girls Thursday and bought a big bookcase so that I could take the bookcases out of both the boys and girls room. Now all their books are in my room leaving even more space in their rooms. I'm happy with all the changes. With all the crazy that is my health and with the loss of Isaac, sometimes I just need something else to focus on. Then new furniture and rearranging gave me this.

Tuesday was Tyler's birthday. My mom and I went and picked up some doughnuts that morning from a place called Daily Dozen. It was far but it had good reviews and I had been wanting to check it out. I think it was worth the drive. The cherry doughnut was especially yummy and Tyler seemed to like the ones we got for him. After he was done with work we took him to Chili's for dinner. It was real annoying when they wouldn't allow us to sit together because they were only allowed to seat parties of 6 (we were 7 with Grams). So instead they sat us split between two tables. I don't see how my kids running back and forth between tables was safer for preventing Covid than just putting all of us (who have been living in the same house) together. Sometimes these Covid rules are just stupid. After dinner we celebrated with banana pie (made by my friend) and a store bought chocolate pie for the kids.

Tuesday afternoon Steven had his well visit and I am really glad that I changed doctor's for him. The pediatrician we had gone too was just not great and the nurses were not patient with his phobia of immunizations. But this office was so patient with him and they even had him get the immunization first so he could actually focus and answer all the health questions after- and boy did he answer the questions. He just went on and on and on because I think he was just so relieved to be done with the shot. At the end the doctor said she had something cool to show Steven and she dumped out liquid nitrogen which was real cool. They also offered Steven lollipops and stickers and he was nice and asked if he could get some for his siblings. It was seriously the most positive doctor's experience we've had in a long while.

Wednesday was a beach day and then I had my first youth activity since Covid. We took the youth kayaking. We only had 6 young women come but it was still a lot of fun. And since the crazy people that were all about following extreme Covid rules didn't come, we did not follow such extreme rules. No masks because we were outside and masks are not mandated outside. All the kids were in their own kayaks so I figure that was social distancing enough. I got to go out in a kayak too and I swear they kept making me crash into bushes and one of the girls assumed that I was a teenager in the 80's (apparently I look old) but other than that it was a good time.

Thursday Ben helped Tyler put the girls bunk bed together and here it the final photo after all the new things were put together and organized.

Saturday we went to the gardens at MSU. It wasn't nearly as neat as the Fredrick Meijer Gardens but it still had some pretty things to see. Plus it was nice to spend some positive time at the garden with the kids since they have been fighting like crazy the last few days. Ironically they started off the week being the sweetest siblings to each other (making a pretend art gallery and art club). I guess it's hard to be perfect, ha ha.

After the garden we took Grams to a stained glass shop that was nearby and then we ended the outing with Chick-Fil-A.

Dinosaurs

Last Saturday evening we did an early celebration for Poppy's 72nd birthday (we didn't have those numbered candles so we got creative hence the 64+8). Grams got an ice cream cake that had vanilla and chocolate ice cream so we had to scrape off the chocolate for him. Grams had thought it would have cake in it but it didn't so we ended up buying a vanilla cake to go with the ice cream cake. It was a funny way to do cake and ice cream.

Sunday morning my doctor called with some pretty big news. After looking over my MRI and ultrasound he discovered that I have a cesarean scar defect (also known as an Isthmocele). This means that I have a pouch between my cesarean scar and my uterus and that is where my blood clot actually is. Since the blood clot is not actually in my uterus, another d and c would have been pretty ineffective so the doctor cancelled it. This discovery shined a lot of light on all my problems. It explained why the previous d and c didn't work and it also explained why it took me so long to get pregnant with Isaac. This defect can cause infertility. There is a surgery that can repair this defect but most doctors have not done it. My doctor has given me a reference for another doctor in Michigan that has performed it before and I will be meeting with this doctor in a couple weeks.

Sunday after church Zoom meetings and our own little sacrament Tyler, Poppy and me went to The Prehistoric Forest. This is an abandoned miniature golf course that was dinosaur themed. It had no trespassing signs all over the place but Poppy and I decided to be rebellious and trespass while Tyler waited in the car for a quick getaway if needed. (Don't worry we had a good cover story too, in case we were caught. We would tell them that Poppy had went to this park as a child with his parents.) We had some fun exploring and di not get caught. Although Tyler told me a cop car had driven by while we were there. Most of the statues were pretty destroyed but there were still a few good ones to get pictures with. This would definitely be an eerie place to visit at night.

We also discovered a "dead body" which Poppy of course had to tell all the children about.

Since I was supposed to have surgery on Monday I didn't really make any plans for the day. Poppy actually spent his final morning with us helping Tyler massacre the bushes in our yard. Through their hacking we discovered a bird's nest in one of the bushes. The nest is right outside the window and the kids have loved being able to watch the birds and see them grow. They have grown a lot in just a matter of this week! The kids tend to get concerned that the mama bird is often missing from the nest. They have hypothesized that maybe she is out hanging with her friends a lot.

That night we went out for a final dinner with Poppy at Culver's and then a little walk in the neighborhood. It was a nice final hurrah. He left us on Tuesday and it was sad to say goodbye to him but we are grateful that Grams is still here.

Tuesday afternoon I did a beach day with friends while Steven went to Milford with Grams and picked up our favorite orange cranberry muffin at the bakery. I hate that Steven has become to cool for the beach but I am glad that Grams is here and they can spend time together. 

Wednesday we went to the Toledo Zoo. We are excited it's open again but there are some new policies- like they are limited to how many people can come into the zoo and then how many people can be in the buildings at a time and of course, masks must be worn in any of the indoor places. Knowing all these regulations we got there when it opened and then headed to the back of the zoo where we did the petting zoo (which had really cute lambs and crowing roosters) and the aquarium (the kids petted sting rays there). After the aquarium the girls and Ben cooled off at the splash pad. I think our plan worked perfectly because as we were leaving the splash pad the Petting Zoo and Aquarium had started to get lines to get inside- we had not had to wait in any lines. Next we saw the orangutans and the baby one had a little tea cup and was scooping up mud with it and drinking it- this was cute and gross all at the same time. Then Tyler bought us all frozen treats which we enjoyed while we strolled the rest of the zoo. On our way home we picked up Chick-Fil-A because that's a Toledo tradition and the kids had some fun with cow masks they got there. 

Wednesday evening we had an "emergency" ward council to make plans for going back to church. In the midst of it I had some super fun texts with a mom of one of my young women that thinks we are not following proper state guidelines by returning to in person activities next week. Doing it outside, in groups less than 15, wearing masks, everyone bringing own drinks and snack, wiping things down, washing hands and trying to stay 6 feet apart is not enough. She sent an email with even more crazy regulations we should follow. She's nuts. And she was so exhausting to deal with.

Thursday morning I took the boys to get gifts for their dad. They used their own money to get him some minifigures and treats. Steven spent a whopping $13 on Tyler- I was impressed with him spending that much of his own money on someone else. That afternoon we did another beach day with friends and once again Steven stayed behind with Grams. This time Grams and Steven worked on making carriers for the guinea pigs. 

Friday morning Grams and I did some shopping. Masks kind of kill the fun of shopping but it was still nice to get out with no kids for a bit. Then that evening Grams and I walked down to the beach with the girls and let them play in the water a bit. I sure love my neighborhood beach.

For the fourth I was not really gung ho to make plans but Corinne wanted to get together and somehow I ended up hosting. Then I decided to invite the Schneider's and then my friend Melissa basically invited herself, ha ha. So much for doing nothing. I am keeping it simple though. We're just going to have hot dogs, fruit, chips and Popsicle's and the kids can play in the sprinklers. We are actually pretty hot here for Michigan- 90's- so we'll see how it ends up going. I have a feeling my house is going to be a hot mess at the end of today.