Mackinac

On Monday Tyler and I brought dinner to a couple that just had a baby in our ward. She has a 17 year gap between this baby and her 2 older daughters (different dads) and I think she is having the same rude awakening that I did. Babies are hard when your older. They also had a giant dog that kept jumping up on me and licking my face. I had to pretend that I did not absolutely hate that dog, lol. Anyways they are nice people and I would love to have a friend at church in the same baby boat as me but I am not sure she likes me that much. I don't know why I think that, just a vibe I get.

On Tuesday Lucy got lucky. A desk came up on Facebook Marketplace that was cheap and just the right size so I caved and picked it up for her. The person had me pick it up from him by the police station which should have made me feel safe but just made me feel weird. Lucy immediately cleaned it and filled it up with her things. Lucy uses the desk to journal and is very happy to have her own little spot in her room. That night we had 3 places to be and only 2 cars- the Suburban is having break issues. I dropped Ben off at school so he could take the bus to his game(such a blessing that soccer has this) and then Tyler picked him up from it after Penny's soccer practice. That meant that none of us were able to be at his game which was a bummer but at least he didn't play that game. Steven had the other car for his college class. It is ridiculous how necessary 3 cars has become for us. 

Wednesday was my blessed break day from homeschooling. The girls went to their electives that day, Lucy was looking anxious that morning, she still hasn't made new friendst there. I am really hoping she learns to love Wednesdays and find new friends but I know that is hard when you only go once a week. On the other hand Penny seems to be loving Wednesdays and always has a story to tell- she is full of drama. While they were at school, I made a birthday cake for Grams. It took longer than expected and that was pretty much how I spent my day off. Late that evening Grams flight came in and I had the pleasure of picking her up. It is always nice when she comes for a visit!

Thursday was not an exciting day for Grams. There was homeschooling, picking up groceries, an errand to the Dollar Tree, a walk...nothing spectacular. I did, however, have two dizzy spells that felt like they came out of nowhere and totally freaked me out. One was when I was driving home from the Dollar Tree. I was turning into my neighborhood and it only lasted seconds so thankfully we didn't crash into anything. The other was on our walk and I had to grip on to Grams for a half a minute while the world was spinning. They were very random and thankfully haven't occurred again. The one fun event Thursday, singing happy birthday to Grams when everyone was finally home. Steven was nice and picked up ice cream to go with the cake so it was a yummy night.

Friday night Ben had a soccer game at Northern. Grams, Ruby, Penny and I went. Tyler also went, he was the announcer. Ben's team kicked butt and won 9 to 2 and Ben even got 18 minutes of play time. While he was playing he did a really great kick which would have been a goal assist if the kid he had kicked it to had not been ofoffsides. It was a really good night for Ben.

Saturday morning it was Ben, Ruby and Tyler's turn to go to Mackinac Island with me and Grams. Originally we had planned to leisurely drive up to Mackinaw City Saturday and go to the island Sunday, then drive home Sunday night. BUT rain was forecasted for most of Sunday so we had to switch our plans around. Instead we woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the ferry. The drive there went fairly smoothly. We just did a quick stop at McDonald's for some breakfast. We got to the ferry just before 11am and discovered the parking lot was full and there was a massive line- like past the parking lot, wrapping down the sidewalk. It made me want to abort, I had never seen the line that long and I HATE crowds,but we persevered. We ended up parking at our motel and then walking over to the ferry- it was a very short walk. Ben was nice and walked Ruby around while we waited in line. Tyler went and bought a hat to protect his bald head while we waited in line. Grams went and got tickets while we waited in line (because the line was just to board the boat, not for tickets). I told Grams she should play the geriatrics card and lie somehow- tell them her heart was too weak for standing in line or something, but she was a good girl and didn't want to lie, so we waited. After about an hour, we made it onto the boat. The ticket taker told us she had never seen it that busy in September but it was likely due to the fact that the other ferry was closed for the season so this was the only one running. Ben really wanted to ride on top but it was full. I was ok with the bottom of the boat though honestly, it's less sunny and windy and wet.

Once we got there, the island really didn't seem any busier than when I have been there before. If anything it was slightly less peopley so I am pretty sure the long line we encountered in the beginning was just because there was only one ferry company open. We headed straight to the horse carriage booth to book a tour and they got us on right away- much faster than expected. Ben chose the front row so we had a great view of the horses peeing and there lovely butts. The tour guide was from Romania and did a very good job telling us about the island. I have done the tour twice before but I still can't remember all the things...but the jokes are all fairly familar ;). Ruby did really well on the carriage. She was very chill.

At the first stop of the tour we got some food and then the boys decided to forge a knife. It was a pricey but perfect experience and souvenir for them both. They enjoyed hammering their knives and Tyler even joined the One Heat Beat Club and made it on their FB page. While they were forging knives, Ruby had a lot of fun crawling on a rock. After letting her crawl on the rock for awhile I attempted to get her to take a nap but she just would not close those big blue eyes of hers. I eventually gave up and we toured the nearby carriage house. 

When their knives were completed, we got some doughnuts and then went on the second half of the horse carriage ride. This time our tour guide was less pleasant. He added too much opinions and feelings to his island information. The speaker was also pretty loud and hurt my ears. On the bright side, Tyler got Ruby to finally take a nap and we got to see the world famous arch.

When the carriage ride ended Ruby was still sleeping so we stepped into a nearby chapel and let her nap a little longer. Then we did some shopping. I had to get Ben another shirt at the Benjamin store but that was all I got. After strolling through a few shops we could see the line to the ferry was already getting pretty long so we decided it was time to head out. We ended up being the last family to make it onto a boat so once again the top was full and Ben did not get to sit on the top like he wanted to. Looks like we'll have to do a ferry ride again sometime, just so he can ride on top. Ruby had the joy of having a cute little boy her age sitting in front of her. It was cute to see the two of them interact a little bit. 

Back in Mackinaw City it was time to eat dinner and Ben said we had to have Subway. By this time Ruby was operating on very little sleep and was super cranky and not a real treat to have out in public. We managed to get her a cup of meatballs from Subway but she had no desire to eat them. After eating there, there were some fun "nerd" shops close by that the boys wanted to browse, there was a little playground that Ruby got to play on which sort of cheered her up and then was a cool Bumblebee statue made from car parts. There was also a place that had a ton of skeleton and pirate figures every where and Ruby did not like them one bit. Halloween is going to be rough on her. By that time, it was late and time to put Ruby to bed. Grams and Ben had their own room so they thankfully did not have to deal with crazy Ruby who did not want to sleep. Tyler ended up taking her on a drive which finally put her to sleep but she was up several times in the night. Nights have been rough lately.

Sunday we got up and went to breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Our motel really was ideally located because we could walk to everything- shops, food places, the ferry...I ended up getting the buffet and it was worth it- just for all the bacon I got. Plus I was able to share my food with Ruby and she was a huge fan of the watermelon. She dripped it all down her shirt. We also had a nice waitress that was coincidentally named Penny. 

After breakfast we did a little more shopping- I was trying to find some souvenirs. I ended up finding a funny shirt for Steven that said "Amazing Michigan- with great lakes comes great responsibility." I also got a t-shirt for me. I ended up not finding anything for the girls though. We took this silly picture of Ben showing off his knife to Grams (or threatening her?) by a nearby knife store.

The last activity request for the trip by Ben, was a visit to Fort Michilimackinac. Grams and I weren't that into it so I decided we would walk around the lake and see if I could get Ruby to sleep while Tyler and Ben toured the fort. Of course Ruby refused to nap but it was a nice walk. When I finally gave up on her napping, Ruby and I went and played by the water. I ended up taking off her shoes and pants so she could get a little wet. She had fun playing with the rocks. At one point I turned to look to the side of me and saw a guy with a telephoto lens pointed at me and Ruby. That was awkward. I didn't know how to handle that so I just turned away and pretended it wasn't happening. Hopefully there aren't pics of me and Ruby somehwere nefarious now. Eventually it was looking like rain and I really wanted Ruby to nap so we got back in the car and drove around until Ruby fell asleep. Not too long afer she fell asleep, the boys were done at the fort and it was time to head out of Mackinaw City.

Not too far out of Mackinaw was a fun seashell shop that I decided we should stop at. I figured I could the girls some things for their fairy garden there and I did- a few seashells, a skull, and turtles made from seashells. They had driftwood sticks for 25 cents and Ben joked I should buy one for Ruby. So I did. Yes, I bought a stick, but at least she got a souvenir too. And she plays with her 25 cent stick quite a bit. It also had a fun pirate boat playground that Ben had to pose at. Ruby was sleeping still so she did not get to enjoy it.

The drive home was rough- full of traffic and a whiney baby- but we survived. It was nice to come back and see that the rest of my children had survived too. Steven did a good job taking Penny to her soccer game, taking the girls to church and he even had his first day of work at Jersey Mike's- he watched training videos. Mariah was nice and took the girls to dinner Saturday night while Steven was working. It was nice to see that we can leave them for a bit and they will be just fine.