Belle Isle

After a cold spell, Monday was a warm day so when the kids finished their school work, we walked down to seven eleven and got slushies. Then we went to a nearby park to enjoy them. We had some fun on the teeter toter, the kids attempting to lift me up but most of the time I had the advantage. Lucy suffered a minor tragedy and spilled some of her slushie. When they were done with their slushies, we went to the library and got some books. I really enjoy these outings with the kids. I know I should probably do better at arranging things with friends for the kids, they do like to socialize, but I really like our outings as just us. They are much more chill.

Tuesday I was hosting Bunco so I basically spent the day getting the house and food ready. Since it's November I did a Thanksgiving theme and Tyler was nice enough to do the turkey (although I helped a tiny bit with choppping spices). I really am not a fan of hosting. I always worry about all the things and just feel anxious and uncomfortable. But everyone was really nice and said they enjoyed the food and they all dug into the mini pies I made at the end. I did not win any prizes but that's ok, it always feels weird to win at your own house anyways. I did have a moment during Bunco where I laughed until I cried over the caramel candy I had out that basically stuck your teeth together and prevented socializing. For some reason Melissa and I found it super hilarious, only she didn't do the ugly laugh cry I did. I am such a weirdo.

Wednesday was fairly warm (although not as warm as Monday) and we did another walk- this time just to the library. While I was at the library I saw a homeschool family that I had met when Penny was doing speech therapy. I thought about saying hello but it had been sooo long since I had seen them that I decided to just not make eye contact with them. I hate awkward encounters so I probably make them more awkward by avoiding them. After our walk to the library, I drove down to Long's with the girls to get some doughnuts because they just sounded amazing. They were.

Thursday Tyler had off work for Veteran's Day and the kids were at school so we went out to lunch at a sit down place. Afterwards we picked up a couple games at Game Stop. I was attempting to relive my youth and thought I was getting a game that I had played when I was young but alas, it was not the same game. So disappointing. That evening we had a new family in the Ward over for dinner. They made quite the entrance by coming in with a dog that we thought was their dog. I was so weirded out, like why would they bring their dog?? And panicking a bit as I thought of all the things that it could destroy. Turns out it had been wandering our yard so they thought it was ours. I was more than happy to release it back outside. I hope it found its home, it didn't have a tag. Anyways this family has 3 little ones so they are in a much different stage of life than us but they are nice people. 

Friday morning Tyler and I had the pleasure of talking about plural marriage with our seminary class. I was struggling so I did a lot of research and ended up finding a podcast that had some great insight. It talked about the sacrafice Nephi made (killing Laban) and the sacrafice Abraham was asked to make (killing his son) and how it was a similar sacrafice, it felt like it went against taught values. It also talked about how these were not 2D people and how it was important to hear their stories. So I bought the book "A House Full of Females" which is supposed to give first hand accounts of polygamy. So far it's given a lot of church history but it's still been an interesting read. I feel like my feelings on plural marriage are still a work in progress but some understanding is coming. 

Friday after we did our school work, we drove out to Belle Isle. I wanted to see the newly remodeled aquarium but it didn't seem to be much different from before the remodel. Still the kids had a good time. They actually had fun learning about the different fish and were most intrigued with the garden eels and axolotl and also the fish that keeps its babies in its mouth. Lucy was really surprised that an axolotl was real. They have them in Minecraft and I guess she thought they were made up creatures because she asked me when they were created. 

After the Aquarium we went to the Conservatory that's next door. The kids liked hiding underneath the giant leaves and Ben thought the tree he is standing by looked like it had eyeballs all over its trunk

After our good times on Belle Isle we hit up the Detroit Cookie Co on our way home. On the way there Google took us through some pretty sketchy neighborhoods and I was grateful my car didn't decide to shut down on me (it's had the check engine symbol on for the last few days) and ironically after we had our yummy cookies, Google took us through this beautiful, historic neighborhood. Such a contrast between poverty and wealth. I am pretty grateful just for my middle class status. 

Friday evening Lucy had her second volleyball game. I feel like she was a little bit more shy of the ball this time around- maybe because she realized it hurts to hit it? But her team still won. Although she tells me it doesn't matter if she wins, it's all about learning how to play. They have really pushed that message.

Saturday was a low key day. Errands in the morning, one of the kids had a friend over in the afternoon, and we ended the day watching "Just Add Magic" on Amazon Prime.