Car Problems, Alpena

Monday night Tyler and I went to Costco to get Toilet Paper and water bottles and apparently it was Costco Night. We saw three people from church their, including Chalsea, who pretended not to see me. Cool, cool. Tyler also found a purse in a shopping cart and was nice to turn it into the store. 

Tuesday I went to take Ben and Jacob to Target to get some Pokemon cards and when I started the car, it sounded really grumbly and bad. I decided to have Tyler check it out before we left and he said it was loud but should be fine. It was not fine. As soon as I left and tried to accelerate it made even more noises and struggled to gain speed. We turned around and went home, gratefully it made it. Then we switched to Tyler's Suburban which is also crappy, the alignment is so bad. The boys spent an excessive amount of money on Pokemon cards and I managed to find a couple cheap puzzles which always makes me happy.

That afternoon Penny and I went swimming at her friend Luna's pool. As much as she has been wanting to swim in a pool, she was not entirely happy with the experience. The pool bottom was rough and gave her little blisters on the ends of her toes. Next time she might need to bring water shoes. Afterwards we stopped at a karate place to get their uniform for school. It was sort of a sketchy area and then Penny made things awkward by not responding when the lady asked her questions, she is definitely my child. 

Wednesday we went to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall to get Ben some shoes at Under Armour and everything was buy one, get one free. We ended up getting Penny a pair of shoes too. I wish Steven and Lucy had been there so I could have gotten them shoes as well. I don't like to buy shoes without the kid there to try them on. We also went to the Lego Store to look for a King and Queen minifigure for Penny's castle cake. I was hoping they'd have the stuff to make what we wanted but all they had were Western themed pieces for minifigures. No good. Despite being unable to find a King and Queen it was still a nice outing.2 kids are so much easier in public than 4.

Wednesday evening Ben and Penny had church activities and the weather was awful, super hard rain coming down. I seriously considered turning around and going home because driving that Suburban in bad weather is terrifying. However, we persevered and the kids had a good time while I got to socialize with Caroline.

Thursday Penny and I went to get a few more things for her party. I went to a different Marshall's because it was by a Dollar Tree and I had wanted to go to both stores. That was a poor choice. I hit a ton of construction on the way there. And then to make it more frustrating, the Dollar Tree was closed- at 2pm on a weekday. Oh well, we hit up another one and were still able to get the things that we needed.

Friday I went on my girl's getaway to Alpena with Grace, Caroline and Melissa. We left late morning in Melissa's minivan and the drive went smoothly. When we got into town we went to Culver's and had a late lunch. Right as we finished our lunch the power went out. We felt very lucky that we got our food before that. Then we went to our airbnb which was a really fun (and big) historic home. I love old homes and all their quirks. This had 3 bedrooms so I got to have a room all to myself. The only drawback was that it had no air conditioning so it was hot. 

After settling into our airbnb, Melissa offered to take us all out to get pedicures, her treat. That was really kind of her. I haven't had a pedicure in forever. I think I have only had 2 in my life? Anyways it was nice to get pampered and it only tickled a little bit. At first I picked out a teal color but then I decided to be bold and got bright orange. I am glad I did, way more fun. While there Melissa and Caroline made friends with the workers and got us some fun restaurant recommendations (extroverts). The workers laughed when she asked what fun things there are to do in Alpena. Apparently it's a sleepy town. She did recommend a fun graveyard/lake hang out which we did end up visiting.

After our toes were cute we drove through the small town and discovered that it smelled like a wet diaper on the north side of town. It was a really awful, overpowering smell. I can't imagine living there. Apparently there is a wall paneling plant that is causing the odor. Once away from the smell we did a walk down a pier and then went to Fresh Palate and had a really yummy dinner. The service was slow but apparently they have 3 separate rooms that they serve dinner from so the waitresses have to cover a lot of ground. 

When we finished dinner we picked up some things at Meijer's- including hair dye. I had told them that for my birthday I wanted new hair so...why not!? Back the airbnb Grace dyed my hair while we watched a movie. After letting it sit I went up to the bathroom to rinse it out and that was MESSY. First I accidentally bumped my colored hair on the low ceiling and had to frantically wash it off. Then in the shower the dye seemed to coat the whole shower and I was just frantically wiping it off because I did not want to be responsible for ruining someone else's shower. But when all was said and done, I have a pretty fun new hair color. Grace (who used to cut hair at a salon) said she would cut my hair sometime as a birthday gift so that's something to look forward to.

That night after using the downstairs bathroom I had a slight fear that someone was going to try to scare me because it seemed like everyone had gone upstairs. When I went upstairs, I went to Caroline and Melissa's room and Melissa wasn't there but Caroline just said she was getting something out of the car. Calling it a night, I went to my room and as I sat on my bed to plug in my phone, stupid Melissa grabbed my ankles from under the bed and yelled "Jenny!" I screamed at her that she was a piece of trash and I wanted to punch her in the face, but didn't. The only joy I got was that when I checked under the bed after she left, there was a nasty used thong that a previous occupant had left there. She had been "cuddling" with it. The next day, as payback, I put the thong in her purse and she yelled a very loud "Jennifer Brady Hatch!" when she discovered it. Anyways, that night I had a tough time falling asleep thinking of all the creepy things that could happen to me.

Saturday we had a lazy morning. I was the first one up because my body woke me up at 7am and I just couldn't fall back asleep. Not to long after the other girls woke up and we all took our sweet time getting ready for the day. Then we played one of Ben's games that I had brought, "Liar, Liar." It was a fun one and I kept getting the "Liar" card and I did surpisingly well at lying ;) Also learned some interesting things about my friends. 

When we finally got out of the house we headed to the Old Presque Isle Lighthouse. I always get a little nervous with climbing to the top of a lighthouse tower but Caroline did not do well at all. She apparently didn't realize she was so scared of heights. Going back down the little ladder they had fromt the top to the stairs about gave her a heart attack. I was more terrified of the SPIDERS that were everywhere. I do not like spiders. Grace got bit by something and I am convinced she is going to have spider powers any day now. 

After climbing the lighthouse we walked on the rocky beach and enjoyed the cool water and nice view for a minute. I love a good rocky beach. I am not into playing in water and laying in sand so much. I feel like I would be much happier perching on a rock and listening to the waves.

Just a mile down the road was the New Presque Isle Lighthouse. This one was taller so Caroline was out and Grace wasn't up for it either. Thankfully Melissa climbed to the top with me and it was beatiful view with water on all sides. BUT once again, there were spiders!

Next we hit up a nearby beach. Like I said, I would much rather perch myself on a rock but it was still nice. I dipped my feet in and then- because it was so dang hot- moved my chair near the water so I could keep my feet in permanently. I found the heat uncomfortable but it was nice to be lazy and read a book. I even laid out and dozed for a few minutes before the sun felt like it was burning a hole in me. Every once in awhile we would get this amazing cloud coverage and it just felt like perfection.

After the beach we went back to the airbnb and cleaned up. As everyone was rinsing off and changed, someone put on movie. When everyone was cleaned up we went into town. There weren't many shops and the town was dead- more dead than the night before- it was eerie.(We decided A- the apocalypse was about to happen or B- the mayor's daughter was getting married and everyone was there.) I wasn't super interested in the shops, trying to be frugal, so I am glad there weren't too many. Then we got some lunch/dinner at a Mexcian restaurant that was actually really good (Mango's). The service there was quick and that was refreshing change. 

Back at the airbnb we finished the movie we had started and then Grace got to talking about some of the rough things she had been through in her life and before we knew it, it was getting dark outside. We are weirdo's and decided to go to a graveyard and have Caroline read our Tarot cards. We brought candles and burned sage and everything because we are cool like that. The bugs were out in full force and that was a bit distracting but it was actually a really cool experience- not creepy (except for the guy walking his dog). The cards Melissa and Grace got were really spot on. Mine said that I had built a proper foundation so to speak and to be ready to embrace the change coming in my life. That sounds ominous ;) Or maybe it's about Steven starting High School?

That night was more chatting, it was a late night but at least I slept like a rock until 7am. I was downstairs alone for a bit Sunday morning but then Grace came down and we had a really good chat. I really do like my friends a lot more one on one than all combined. I don't know if that's weird or maybe it's just me being an introvert and preferring less people.

And then it was back home. There was quite a bit of traffic but nothing too awful and it was good to get home and be back in my own bed.