Camp, Birds, Greenfield Village

Tuesday night we had a broadcast for the youth at the church. It was for the Northeast area and was given by Sister Cordon and Brother Lund. We were told that all youth leaders, including seminary teachers needed to be there. Tyler had a neighborhood meeting so I ended up going with all the kids. I really did not need to be there. #1- they said this was for the youth and their would be an adult one later. #2- it was all about class/quorom presidencies. I really couldn't see a correlation with seminary. I also felt a bit annoyed when they proposed weekly presidency meetings (even though I am not in yw's anymore). Why does the church love meetings so much? When it ended I gathered my kids and 2 kids I had drove there and attempted to leave but the Bishops said no, there was to be a discussion as well. They made a sad attempt to include the youth and then basically had a leader led discussion. Oh the irony, didn't they just hear how the youth should be running things?

On Wednesday I drove Ben at to the Howell Nature Center for sixth grade camp. He was a little nervous at first but as soon as he saw his buddies he was good and had no qualms with me leaving. I was probably the first parent to leave and so of course with no one to follow I went the wrong way down a one way dirt road. It took me a bit to realize what I had done so I was too committed at that point. Thankfully I didn't run into any cars but I still feel embarassed about that.

Wednesday night Lucy had volleyball and this time I paid attention. Unfortunately her team lost but I blame it on the other team being cheaters. They all got way closer to the net than Lucy's team when they served. A definite advantage. I also started attempting to make up cheers for Lucy's team. I mean I didn't actually shout them but I had some good ones.

Thursday night Tyler and I went and saw one of our seminary students in the play, "Big Fish". She had specifically asked us not to come but we really wanted to see what she looked like when she was actually awake. So we went and just made a point to not see her afterwards. Someday we might let her know that we were there but not unless we think it will be a good thing. It really was nice to see her awake, smiling, singing, dancing, skipping AND with makeup and her hair done. The play itself was *meh* but I am glad we went. 

Friday I picked up Ben from camp (and this time I went the right way down the one way road). His voice was hoarse from overuse but that didn't stop him from telling me all about camp the whole way home. He obviously had such a good time. He told me that he wore his coon skin hat the whole time and told me he was so glad he brought it because everyone kept telling him how cool his hat was. He played capture the flag, went canoeing, did archery, played gaga ball, learned survival skills (although his group couldn't figure out how to light a match apparently), saw some wild animals (box turtle, falcon, owl...), learned how to dance the macarena, told ghost stories, drank lots of watered down juice and just had a great time. It seems like maybe I should have him in scouts because he needs to learn how to light a match and also, he loves this stuff.

After picking up Ben from camp, I got to pick up 2 budgies from the Springers. I am not quite sure if they still needed us to watch them or if they are just being nice and letting us see if we actually want our own pet birds but either way, we now have two birds. We have had them 24 hours at this point and they are still not quite a fan of us. They seem a bit more comfortable (they finally left the corner perch) but they still won't perch on our fingers. They also look really frazzled to me (fluffed out) and I am really hoping we don't somehow kill their birds. 

Friday night Tyler and I had a temple date. We didn't have all our friends this time, just Caroline came (her hubby is the one out with the National Guard right now). We did run into another couple we know and Tyler had some deep thoughts with the husband about the after life. Afterwards just Tyler and I went to Applebee's, it has sort of become our after temple tradition. I am starting to recognize the servers. In all honesty it's hard not too- the one server is super tall and he has long manicured nails and wears bell bottom jeans. Sort of hard to forget. 

Saturday morning I took the kids plus Andrea to Greenfield Village. It was a bit colder in the morning than I would have liked so the girls were complaining of being cold. The older kids were off on their own but didn't last too long either. My kids have gotten fairly lame. I think I'll have to go back sometime with just Tyler. I personally enjoyed seeing the glass blowers, weavers and learning about lightbulbs. We also got to see a train turntable moving a train, that was pretty cool. I think the kids had the most fun when they all met up at the playground area and got crazy (and slightly dangerous) on all the various spinny things. Andrea, Lucy and Ben also climbed to the top of the rock wall and then all struggled to figure out how to get back down, that was fun ;)

This week also had some funny seminary moments. First there was a spider that some people felt should be taken out and not killed so David attempted to catch it by using a clipcoard and it about slid right onto him. Got some squeals from the girls. Then the kids made idols and ate them (similar to Moses feeding the ashes of the golden calf to the Israelites) and Jake made his idol look like Tyler. Then on Thursday we had a pinata (choices and consequences) and Jake ended up karate chopping it and candy burst everywhere (rather painfully).  wish I had gotten a video! But it was most definitely a week to remember. Even if also this week the teens made fun of a video that I thought was super spiritual and they thought it was super horror film like. (It's called "Two Theories") Oh teens.

Easter Sunday, Snow, Henry Ford

 Sunday was Easter and the kids were up early and ready to hunt for thier baskets. I tortured them a bit and made them wait while I took a shower. After my shower the hunt was on. Penny found her basket near her ballet shoes (which was a hard clue because she never knows where they are). Lucy found her basket in the bathtub (a place she often visits- she has really gotten into taking showers lately). Ben found his basket near an epic battle scene (it was his Mario Lego's which was confusing because he did not consider that a battle scene). Steven's basket was hidden in a dark and messy place (his locker). 

Penny and Lucy both got "magic" spice jars. Penny got some things for a fairy garden, sidewalk chalk, water balloons, gardening gloves,a VeggieTale Movie, and candy.

Ben got a diy board game, a Mario Lego, a Temple Recommend Holder, a new mug, water balloons and candy.

Lucy got a "magic" cookbook and "magic" recipes, some fairy garden things, gardening gloves and a shovel, a VeggieTales DVD, water balloons, and candy

Steven got a silly shirt, a dot to dot book, plastic silverware (because he has issues with metal silverware), sensory balls (because he loves laying on his bed and throwing balls in the air), water balloons, a new mug and candy.

I got a new dress (that came late), new bird feeders (my last ones were destroyed when the neighbor kid ran into them), and a couple puzzles. Tyler got a Nine Line T-shirt and lots of cotton candy.

After all the basket fun I made a grazing plate for all the kids for breakfast. It had mini chocolate chip muffins, doughnuts, pancake sticks, bacon, grapes and some peeps. I was done with the pancake bunnies, the kids never ate them. This was a good change, they actually ate the food so I will stick with this new tradition.

Then we took pics of all the kids as per tradition (Tyler insisted on taking a pic of me too) and we headed off for a nice Easter Sunday. There were some nice talks given. One of my seminary students even quoted a scripture that I had stated as one of my favorites on Friday. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not...

After church we did an Easter Egg Hunt with the Eakins and the Mays. I had thought about hosting one but just couldn't muster up the desire, I guess I feel a little unappreciated for things that I have hosted in the past. But Grace, Melissa, Caroline and I had hung out the previous night and Caroline was upset because she forgot about Easter and Grace was nice enough to offer to host a hunt last minute. The kids really enjoyed it. I would rather have been taking a nap, lol, but I am glad I have friends that force me to socialize ;) 

Monday we had several inches of snow. It didn't make me super happy but I should probably do a better job of embracing this crazy weather. I mean it was the realy pretty, fluffy snow. Tyler was off Monday so when the kids were done with their school work we wanted to take them to the Henry Ford Museum. Steven was a typical teen and did not want to join us. It bummed Tyler out because he wanted it to be a family outing but he decided to let him stay home. Despite Steven's absence we enjoyed the museum. We saw the Apollo exhibit, watched the race car movie and checked out the trains.

Wednesday Lucy had her first volleyball game with her dad as coach. I dropped Ben off at his soccer practice and then Steve, Penny and I went to watch Lucy's game. We sat with Stacey's family and I felt super unable to focus on the game, not sure why. Lucy's team did win 2 out of 3 games so that's good. It had been quite a few months since I had seen Stacey and for some reason the conversation felt awkward. Maybe I was just in a weird mood. I dunno. Maybe I offended her by expressing concerns about Walled Lake Northern where her kid already goes. I dunno. Hopefully next week will be better. After the game Tyler took three kids to the church and I got to be the one to get Ben from practice and take him to the church late. It will mean double the gas but the system worked out ok. For their church activity that night, the boys were calling people in the ward about their flower fundraiser. It was a weird way to fundraise. Last year we just distributed the fundraiser info and people came to us. Tyler and I were saying that it felt a bit like a poor use of church records.

Thursday Steven was supposed to start archery but it got postponed and won't start until May. A bit of a bummer but at least it wasn't cancelled. And Tyler had scheduled a night out with his friends Thursday so it was nice to not have to worry about Ben needing to babysit while I took Steven to archery. Instead the kids and I had a quiet night in and watched our latest family show "Itch" on BYUTV.

Friday was a bit warmer than it had been and there was no snow or rain so we took a walk to seven eleven and the library when they finished their school work. They have had so much sugar lately but I enjoy walks with them and the bribery of a treat at seven eleven seems to be the only way to get them out on one. That evening Tyler and I went out on a date. We strolled Barnes and Nobles and finally used a giftcard someone had given us at Benstein Grille. That place is a little fancy for us but yummy.

Easter Bunny Cake and Easter Eggs

Monday the weather was so good and I wanted to go on a walk with the kids but they were having a hard time focusing on their work (I also had to give a ride to a friend so I wasn't there the whole time to help them stay focused) and by the time they finally got their school work done, the weather took a turn and it started raining. That bummed me out because I love getting out when the weather is perfect.

Monday night Lucy had her first volleyball practice and since they still didn't have a coach, Tyler ended up volunteering. Lucy is happy to have dad as her coach, but he hasn't embarassed her yet. He is going to start officially next week since this past Wednesday he had volunteered to lead the Teacher's Activity and he couldn't be in two places at once. This man has got to stop volunteering for all the things.

Tuesday the kid's didn't have their elective class so they got out of school an hour early. I am always bummed when my kid free days are cut short but since they got out early we decided it would be a good day to see "Sonic 2". It wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be- I only drifted off once- and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

Wednesday morning Steven got to take his first PSAT, I am curious to see how he does. That evening I ended up with just the girls so after volleyball I painted fingernails and we watched "Project Runway Junior". Maybe not the most appropriate show, I mean the clothes are rarely modest, but they really loved watching teens create clothes, they were especially impressed by the 13 year old on there. Afterwards Penny pretended to sew clothes with a toothpick while Lucy drew outfits. 

This week our seminary attendance has been sparse so I sent a text out to the seminary parents about it Wednesday, just expressing that we missed our teens and hoped they would come the next day. Then I got 3 texts from parents about how it was PSAT week. First of all, this test takes place during school and second of all, the parents that were handing out these excuses were parents of kids that we've seen like 6 days this semester. I found their responses super annoying so I decided just to not respond. I had nothing nice to say. Being a seminary teacher is such a tough calling. You are sleep deprived, you work hard to prep daily lessons and then no one shows and parents are quick to excuse their kids. Plus no one ever really says thank you. It's hard not to feel run down from it sometimes. 

Despite feeling run down, I still try. Thursday morning we had 3 parents come in (these were not ones that responded to my text with excuses) and share a scripture about Christ and what it meant to them. They did a really nice job (even if one of the teens was on their phone the whole time). Then afterwards we made Resurrection Cupcakes. They turned out pretty fun. 

Thursday was once again a short day for my kids. This time they got out even earilier, at noon. I tried to convince them they should do all their school work so they can enjoy Good Friday but they were not enthused by the idea. They did a little but not as much as I had hoped. That evening Tyler and I went on a super exciting Costco date. We are trying to make sure we're stocked up on the important things because there are rumors that shortages are coming for us again.

Friday after the kids finished their work we did some of our Easter traditions. Steven was very uninterested in partcipating which bummed me out but the other kids were still into the traditions. First we made our traditional bunny cake, only this time we used chocolate frosting (because that is what I had leftover from the cupcakes). It turned out as creepy as ever.

Then we dyed our fake eggs. This year I got some fake eggs that you could decorate with chalk and I also got some roll on dye. I can tell Ben won't last much longer with this tradition, he rushed through it, but the girls still enjoyed getting creative and I had some fun too. I really like the roll on dye because I was able to make my eggs look kind of tie dyed.

After we decorated eggs we drove out to Spun Sugar in South Lyon because I thought it would be fun to get some yummy cotton candy for Easter baskets. It was worth the 35 minute drive. The owner was really nice and gave us all a free sample, took our family pic and then let the kids pick out a ring or candy to take home. We bought like 8 things of cotton candy so I think we paid back her generosity. I imagine that won't be our only trip to that store.

Friday evening we had the opportunity to see Elder Anderson at the Ann Arbor Stake Center but we knew it was going to be so crowded and peopley so we opted to be less spiritual and just watch it at home. I don't really regret it. It was much less stressful to just watch it from the comfort of our house. Plus, Elder Anderson seemed a little unorganized and his talk was kind of all over the place. Apparently his flight came in late so maybe that was why?

Home Again

The weather back in Michigan was (and still is) yuck. We ecountered snow on our drive home and there was more of it on Sunday. It was not a very nice welcome back. 

This week Ben started soccer. We weren't allowed to choose the days we wanted for practice or even have a preference so of course he got the days I was hoping he wouldn't- Mondays and Wednesdays. We had signed Lucy up for volleyball (it starts next week) and that will also be on Mondays and Wednesdays. And to add to the fun, church activities are Wednesday nights. Those days are now going to be crammed full of crazy. Lucy's volleyball will typically be done by 6:30 so it won't interfere with church activities but Ben's practice ends at 7pm so he will always be super late. Not ideal.

Ben's Monday soccer practice was rescheduled to Tuesday because they decided 30 degrees was too cold and Tuesday was in the 40's. Still too cold for me. There were a few parents outside who seemed to already know eachother. I hid out in my car to not only stay warm but to avoid that awkward small talk, meeting new people stuff that I just hate. 

Wednesday afternoon I had Caroline's family over for a bit and then I had to rush and start dinner before taking Ben to practice. I had planned to drop him off and go finish dinner but thanks to the rain, the coach said to stick around in case they ended early. They did not end early. I should've just left because since I stayed neither Ben nor I got any dinner since we had to go straight to the church. He was 20 minutes late to the activity and I guess that's just how it's going to be for the next couple months.

Friday Lucy and I baked a lot of cupcakes (from scratch) for some people. We first delivered to our neighbors because I felt like we needed to show them we still care since I tend to hide out most of winter and then we had been out of town. Then Lucy and I brought some to the Bloomfield's, they lost their cat in a pretty tragic garage door accident.

After dinner, Tyler and I delivered cupcakes to 2 seminary families. The first family we dropped off with is in the middle of a crazy court case. They have given us some awkward details on all of it and honestly Tyler and I thought it sounded so bizarre that we were struggling to believe it, it doesn't help their credibility that they are all a little strange and like to air out drama on facebook. After bringing the cupcakes to them and talking with them, I am finally beginning to believe it's all true. The gist is that their kid tattled on a drug ring and the drug ring, in order to discredit their kid, had fellow students charge him with sexual misdemeanors. This is seriously the stuff of books. Near the end they mentioned that this ring also ties into a sex trafficking ring where they convince teens to get emancipated from their parents and then sell them. My stomach dropped when they said this because our next visit was to a family where their daughter (our seminary student) had ran away from home and was working on getting emancipated because she thinks her parents are too strict (they took away her phone and had grounded her from friends). It just felt like too much of a coincidence. So when we visited the next family Tyler took aside the dad and told him what we had heard. The dad said he could believe it because some adult was helping their daughter and that would surely make sense. I don't know how any of this will plan but it all feels so heavy and scary and hard. How can I send my kid to the high school that both these teens went knowing all these things? Gosh, the world is a terrifying place.

After those visits where we tried to uplift these families while dread filled my soul, I needed a nice night in. The boys went over to Jacob's house and the girls and I watched the movie Clifford the Big Red Dog. It definitely was not quite the same story as the books but it was a cute movie for kids and a good way to end a heavy day.

Saturday morning I took the 3 younger kids and Jacob and his cousin to our Primary Easter Egg Hunt. Ugh I hate big gatherings but Grace's family came so that was nice. They served breakfast and then had this massively long Easter Presentation. They had people act out the different witnesses of Christ- it took an hour, no joke, and you could tell a lot of the kids were struggling to focus near the end (me included). It was nice and the people presenting did well, it was just far too long. Then they told the older kids to let the younger kids go first and released them all. That was a poor choice. The older kids (including mine) did not wait and the mass chaos was over in minutes. I ended up telling my kids to give some of their eggs to the younger ones because they were such stinkers.

Saturday afternoon the girls had a birthday party to go to. It Penny's bf from school and Lucy is bf's with Penny's bf's sister so they had been excited for this party forever. I dropped them off at the park for the party and then went to a nearby Walmart and Dollar Tree to get some things for Easter. When I came back, they had appeared to all disappear. No one was on the playground and the table that had all the party decorations was clear of things. Plus the van I had seen them pull up in was gone. After all of yesterday's crazy I started to feel quite a bit anxious. I mean this family went to their school and I had had their girls over twice, and they seemed nice and normal, could they have really stolen my girls? I sent a text to the mom, I called her...no response. After starting to really panic, the girls all suddenly appeared from behind a building, Turns out they had all moved to a ramada that was behind a building because it had a fire place and the girls were cold. I felt stupid for panicking before even looking there but also I felt immense relief to have found my girls.

After finding them I conversed with another family there that also goes to the girl's school and their daugher may or may not have a bit of a crush on Steven. She was disappointed that Steven didn't come. Could just be because she was the only teenager there but also, maybe?

Tennesse

Our drive to Tennesse Friday was much less smooth than our drive down. We hit so much traffic/accidents which made our 9 hour drive time so much longer. We probably should have hit the road earlier seeing how everyone else was heading back north but we were on vacation and it just didn't happen. So we left St. Augustine at 7am and got to the RV Park in Gatlinburg where our friends, the Turley's, were spending their Spring Break around 8pm. We hung out with them for a bit but it got cold and we were all tired so we headed to their house (which was just 15mins away from the RV Park) to crash. 

Staying at their house without them there was so awkward. Especially awkward because their au pair was still there with one of her friends hanging in the kitchen right by the bedroom Tyler and I were staying in. Also the bedroom had huge windows that opened up to the woods and no blinds and I do not like that. And sleeping in someone else's bed just feels weird. They were so nice to let us crash there so we didn't have to do the whole long drive home but it was just not super comfortable. Because of that, we decided instead of staying all day Saturday and staying another night there, we would head out Saturday afternoon. 

So Saturday morning, after breakfast at McDonald's, we went back to the RV park to hang with the Turley's. When we got there I made a poor mistake of putting on my jacket and shutting the car door and literally shut the car door on my pinkie. Everyone had already left me and I about died as I opened the door and was met with nothing but throbbing pain and a severely discolored pinkie tip. I thought I could be a tough girl and went over to everyone but as soon as I was asked if I was ok I pretty much dissolved into tears. Super embarassing. Tyler happened to have an ice pack in the first aid kit and between that and the Tylenol I took I had some relief but basically it just hurt the whole day (and the next day too). 

It didn't help that things felt a little weird with Pattie. She made some comments that seemed to indicate she wasn't quite aligned with the church right now and I feel like me, little miss seminary teacher, was probably not her favorite person to hang with. She had told me after my miscarriage that I just needed more faith and I would have a healthy baby. So with that mindset when her faith didn't make her sixth child the boy that she wanted (she had 4 girls and 1 boy), I think that may have rocked her. I get it. I wish faith was a vending machine but it's not. I didn't quite make that connection while I was there (probably because of the throbbing pain in my pinkie) but I wish I had. I think we could have had a good conversation about such things. Heaven know I understand. 

The kids had fun playing at this RV Park, they had a massive park with a tramp and zipline, a "train" to ride, and crafts to do. The kids were enjoying all this until lunchtime when Tyler had said we were going to leave. So at about noon the kids were hesitant to go far because we were supposed to leave and I was hesitant to have them go far because we were supposed to leave but we weren't leaving  because Tyler was enjoying time with his friend and guess who got to hear the kids complain? They were also hungry. At 1:30 we finally headed out. I am grateful Tyler got to spend time with his *only* friend ;) but it just wasn't my favorite part of the trip.

We hit a little less hiccups driving back to Michigan Saturday afternoon. I spent 5.5 hours of the 9 hour drive home listening to conference. I noticed there were a lot more talks around about how being good doesn't exempt you from trials and I appreciated that. There was even a talk about how there is no spiritual vending machine- would have been a good talk for Pattie. We made it home at like 11pm and all quickly passed out.

The next day, Sunday, we got to spend the day unpacking, catching up on laundry and watching conference. I am really glad we came back a day early because I felt much better equipped to handle Monday having that extra day to get things done. And on a side note, Lucy started taking general conference notes without us even asking her to. She just assumed we were going to give her prizes for them as per usual, lol, but I am still impressed with her. The rest of the kids (except for Steven) then followed suit. We rewarded them the next day with treats from Sonic and Steven was bummed to not get one. Maybe next time he'll make the effort? 

St. Augustine Day 3

 Day 3 in St Augustine was similar to Day 2 because it began with a fort. This time we went to the Castillo San de Marcos. We were only going to walk around the outside of it but when we walked to the Pirate Museum across the street we found out it was still closed so we decided we might as well kill some time and go inside the fort. I am glad we did. It was really cool and Tyler liked reading all the plaques and learning more about it. 

When we finished up at the fort, it was time to go to the Pirate and Treasure Museum. Apparently it was school field trip day and we encountered 3 different groups while there- and this was not a big museum. We ended up in the first room with one school group while a man playing an accordian and dressed like a pirate told the group a story about the Pirate Andrew Ransom and demonstrated on a parent how the pirate didn't die from being garroted. I thought it was a fun presentation but the kids were happy when the group left and they had the room to themselves. After that we carefully moved to whatever room the school group had just left. It was a cool museum where the kids learned all about how violent and ruthless pirates really were. They also learned how pirates also typically spent their treasure on booze and women and didn't bury it. Plus we even got to see a legit treasure chest. After we made it through the museum all the kids (but Steven) got some souvenirs (treasure!, a small treasure chest, a parrot stuffie).

The Pirate Museum was located in downtown by all the shops and we thought about grabbing a bite to eat but knew everything would be so expensive so instead we got the kids ice cream. We did check out a couple stores before getting the ice cream and Steven finally found the souvenir he wanted (3d metal sculptures of a lighthouse and a pirate ship). 

We took our ice cream over to a ledge by the castle to eat and saw a huge line to get into the castle. Apparently being an earlybird saved us from the crowds for that, even if it didn't save us from all the school groups in the Pirate Museum. 

Once again we ate lunch at the airbnb, took a little break and then we decided to go to the Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth. It was the last place on our list of things to do. I had been hesitant because there was rain in the forecast and it was an outdoor place but I am glad we ended up going. It was a neat place. We got to drink from the fountain of youth (tasted so gross, like sulfur), see lots of peacock's everywhere, watch a gun, bow and arrow and canon demonstration, climb up a watchtower and walk down a pier, the kids got to "dig" for treasure and found a couple shark teeth, and we saw some fun native huts. We even got our own nasty water to take home for those days when we're feeling old. It was good way to end our time in St. Augustine.

For dinner we ate at Village Inn and I had some delicious crepes. As we were leaving Village Inn the rain came down and didn't leave until the next morning. Back at the airbnb we packed things up and got ready for the long drive back home that was ahead of us. I took some pics of the airbnb that night so we can always remember it. This was my first time splurging and it was totally worth it. Having the space for all 6 of us made everything a heck of a lot more relaxing.