Michigan Adventures with Grams and Mike

 Monday we had a busy morning. First I picked up groceries and then I met with Penny's speech teacher and indeed, Penny has graduated from speech (even if she can't say 'graduated' properly). I wasn't surprised. It was also really, really nice to hear that she is above grade level in everything. Makes me feel like I didn't fail with homeschooling. After that meeting I took Penny to the doctor. She got real emotional about having to get a shot, just like the rest of her siblings. I also had some questions for the doctor but I feel like general practioners are just not super helpful. I guess their job is just to refer you to other people.

Tuesday night I had Bunco. It was Nancy's birthday and she always calls me "Jenny from the Block" (aka Jennifer Lopez) so I decided I was going to dress up like J Lo as my "birthday gift" to Nancy. Melissa offered to help make me over and we were having lots of fun until I realized I mis-remembered what time Bunco starts. I definitely made an entrance as I walked in late dressed as Jenny from the Block. Nancy loved it so it was totally worth it. 

Wednesday night my mom and brother flew into town for a late celebration of her 70th birthday. We were so excited to have them here in Michigan and we had lots of adventures to go on. The kids still had to go to school Thursday so we had some adventures without them. Our first adventure was to get doughnuts and cider at Long's Farm- this was a must on Grandma's list. There are very little things that are tastier than freshly baked doughnuts. We attempted to sit down and eat our doughnuts there because the weather was so nice but we were immeaditely attacked by bees and decided it was not worth the bees. We ate in the car instead.

Next we drove out to Lansing so Grams could vist the Delphi Stained Glass store. Grams got the things she needed and Mike was real impressed by the artwork on the walls. I worked hard to keep my eyes open in this pic, can you tell?

On our way back we drove through Kensington and took a quick stop at the Nature Center. Grams was too tired to walk a trail but we enjoyed the scenic views and saw some cranes walking around.

Then we picked up the kids from school, brought them home to change out of their uniforms and headed to Greenfield Village for Halloween Nights. Tyler missed a turn on our way there and that added about 20 mins to our trip so we didn't get there as early as I had hoped. I had hoped we would have time to get a snack or bite to eat before our scheduled train ride but no such luck. So basically we got there, did a potty break and then loaded onto the train. We had some perfect weather while we rode the Ghoul Train. The Ghoul train essentially was a train ride with obnoxious spooky sounds playing and every once in awhile some spooky sites to see- skeletons in a canoe, a grim reaper by the fence, some witches around a fire...

As we got off the train the weather took a turn and the rain came down. Thankfully I had brought some cheap ponchos that helped but the rain started really coming down and the ponchos didn't offer perfect protection. We eventually found a patio to hang out under.

After a bit the rain calmed down some and we were able to get back out there and see the things. We got to listen to a humrous fortune teller tell someone else their future, found some fun photo op's, went in a spooky covered bridge that was guarded by a troll, took pictures with scarecrows that scared the pants off the kids, listened to singing vampires and pumpkins, saw a tortured bride ghost, heard the story of Hansel and Gretel as told by the witch's sister, watched a little skit done by Captain Hook and Smee, we met a vampire and Little Bo Peep and we ate some yummy kettle corn and caramel corn. So even though we had a rough patch with the crappy weather, there were still some fun times had.

Friday Tyler took off work so he could go adventuring with us. It was raining all over Michigan but after much searching I discovered the storm was missing Midland, Michigan so to Midland we went to see the Dow Gardens. We ended up having perfect weather as we toured the gardens. The kids enjoyed the canopy walk and were more brave this time with the rope net- probably because they had Uncle Mike to impress. Grams liked all the beautiful glass flowers that were throughout the park and they even had some real roses still blooming.

When we were done at Dow Gardens we took Mike to Lake Huron so he could say he saw one of the Great Lakes. The water was a gross shade of green but still it was a pretty view and the kids had a lot of fun chasing seagulls, playing with sticks and just being kids. By the way, do you like Ben's hat? He calls it his "furry friend."

Our last stop on Thursday was Bronner's. We decided to go ahead and buy the kids their new ornaments as per tradition, rather than make another trip out there in a few weeks. Ben chose his traditional snowman one (this one had a cape and top hat), Lucy chose a unicorn lollipop, Penny chose a slushee and Steven got Steve from Minecraft. Mike was able to find some things for his kids and experience the world's largest Christmas store!

When we finally got home we were all exhausted. We ordered some pizza and maybe we should have called it a night BUT Tyler, Mike and I decided to go see a movie. We saw "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." It was a little silly and over the top but entertaining. And it's always nice to go to the movies.

Saturday we left the kids behind and Mike, my mom and I went to Hell. When we got there, there was a guy singing "Welcome to Hell" and he sounded just like Dracula, it was actually pretty awesome. Mike and Grams got some souvenirs from Hell and then we strolled around outside. There were a couple booths selling things and Grams just had to buy a Halloween lantern from this cute family.

After we went through Hell we went to Ann Arbor. Grams is also addicted to the chocolate cherry covered pretzels that are sold at Cherry Republic. We got our yummy things there and then strolled downtown. We had lunch at Taq and it was really good. I had a waffle taco with chicken and bacon and syrup. It was surprisingly a good combination. We also went to the "Nickle Arcarde" which was basically just more shops. It was a good outing and made better since it didn't have the presence of impatient children.

After Ann Arbor we were done with our adventures for the day. We ended the day eating some dinner, watching "Lego Masters" with the kids and then forcing Grams to watch the first "Venom" movie with us. She didn't love it but she was a good sport about it.

Fall Walk, Pony, Volleyball

 Sunday night was full of excitement. Just after the last session of conference a tornado siren went off. We kind of didn't believe it at first because there was absolutely no weather happening but our phones confirmed it so we headed to the basement. Of course the girls were freaking out. Tyler checked the weather radar and it appeared that the storm was going to happen way north of us so we didn't stay too long in our uncomfortable basement that seems to induce panic in the girls. Not too long after returning upstairs, a smoke alarm downstairs and a smoke alarm upstairs started going off. So loud. And of course the girls, once again, started panicking. We walked through the whole house and found no evidence of any smoke or fires of any sort so we decided to just change the batteries. No joy. They were still going off. So I checked online for the manual and learned that 3 chirps meant they were malfunctioning. Awesome. Tyler disconnected them so finally the girls calmed down and then he headed out to buy new ones. While he was out, another one upstairs started malfunctioining. What are the odds that we had 3 alarms malfunctioning at the same time? Seriously annoying but thankfully an easy fix.

Monday was a warm fall day so we decided to do a walk to the graveyard across the street after the kids finished their school work. Plus when the kids do something "active" I give them extra screen time so they're always pretty willing to go out. I use bribery way too much. Anyways it was mostly a nice walk except the path wasn't well maintained and we had to walk through some scratchy plants at one point. I ended up getting a weird rash on my arm so I must of rubbed up against some allergy inducing plant. Also Steven brought his piggies and Pearl jumped out of her carrier at one point and ended up chipping her teeth. I am truly amazed that both guinea pigs are still alive. BUT other than all that, it was really nice to be outside and enjoying the start of fall colors.

Tuesday I had the joy of having Lucy home from school because someone in her class had came down with Covid over the weekend. Mostly I think the day was extra boring for her while I did all the things I needed to do. Although she did help me pick out yellow things for a "sunshine" basket for a friend so I got a pretty interesting assortment. Tyler and I also took her to lunch at Wendy's so I think that helped make up for some of the boringness.

Tuesday night Tyler and I purchased a set of 7 lockers from someone. I am going to attempt to make them over and then put them by the front door to store all the kids' school things. Hopefully I do save some money by doing them myself and hopefully they don't look crazy ridiculous by our side door. All I know is I am going crazy with all the backpacks and books and sweaters and shoes that are always all over the place.

Wednesday morning I had to drive Penny out to Oxford for her speech evaluation. I am pretty sure they will discontinue speech services after we get the results on Monday. I don't struggle to understand her like I used to. But we shall see. It was basically an 2 hour drive round trip for a 25 minute evaluation so I am grateful these won't be a regular thing.

Wednesday evening Penny's dreams came true. She got to ride a pony! A couple in our ward have a horse and a pony and had the young men over at their ranch for an activity. I had to take Lucy to her activity so Tyler took Steven to his. I told Tyler to take Penny too and see if she could get in on the action. The couple was nice enough to let her join in. She claims she was more brave about riding than Steven...and she even did it bareback!

Thursday evening we attended one of our Seminary Student's volleyball games. It was a pink out game and this time we went all out with painting Tyler's head. Lucy came along with us but the rest of the kids stayed at home. It was a lot of fun to watch but her team lost pretty good. Still fun to be able to be there and support her.

Friday the library had it's used book sale so we went to check it out. Our neighbor, Sharon, was volunteering at it and was eager to show us around and try to help the kids find books but my kids were pretty lame about it. They seemed uninterested and wanted to just go look at the books they can check out for free. I guess that's a good thing because we do have way too many books already but I also wanted to look more for me. They were being so impatient, it was frustrating.

Friday night we delivered pizza to two of our seminary students who had earned them by taking notes and things for General Conference. We got to meet one of our student's pet rats. I am not a rat person but one her rats almost looked like a hamster so that was tolerable.

On another note, I had ended up ordering furniture from Costco for our bedroom and on Saturday Tyler took it out and set it up. We have a whole new bedroom. We even got new fancy blinds. I am pretty happy with it.

Also Saturday, Ben and Lucy won their soccer game for the first time ever and were quite proud of themselves. Lucy even got in there and kicked the ball a few times. I thought they had tied but I guess I saw things wrong so I'll give them the win.

Innovation Hills Park, Painting

 On Monday, after the kids finished their school work, we decided to go explore another park. This park was called Innovation Hills and was located in Rochester. It was really cool- had a giant tree slide, balls of ropes to climb, a little stream they could pump the water in and play in, a rope bridge, a hill to slide down, and just lots of things. The kids really enjoyed it (even Steven came) but apparently 77 degrees is too hot for them because after an hour they were just "so sweaty" and wanted to go home. Man they are Michiganders. 

Tuesday while the kids were in school I painted my bedroom. Since I had spent the weekend and Monday prepping, I was able to start painting as soon as the kids were in school. That was nice. I got a two layers in. Then after school Tyler and I went to meet the kids teachers. Since each of the kids have multiple teachers we had to split up so we could try to meet them all. It was nice to put some names to faces and to hear how things are going. I feel rather envious of these teachers with their small class sizes and only having kids in the classroom twice a week- it seems like the ideal taeching job. I also learned that Penny is doing extremely well and as I've been suspecting, first grade might be too easy for her. We're looking into maybe moving her up a level in math but we'll see. I have a feeling it will be a slow process if it does happen.

Wednesday I finished painting our room after seminary. Seminary via Zoom is definitely not my favorite thing. Most kids have their cameras off, we have a few that say their audio doesn't work and then we had one blatantly playing video games. I am ready to get back in person. Anyways after seminary and painting, I did school work with the kids. They were dragging their feet so I promised we could walk to 7-11 and I'd buy them a treat if they finished their work. This bribery sped them up and they quickly finished their work so we could go. It was mostly a good walk except I started to have bowel issues on the return walk so we did some speed walking to get home. I hate having such dumb bowels.

Thursday I cleaned the house and prepped the room for painting the trim and ceiling while the kids were at school. That evening I began painting and it was AWFUL. I HATE painting ceilings. It is physically exhausting and I am terrible at it. I kept splattering paint on my beautiful walls. Probably should've done the ceiling first, although I might have quit after that. After one coat of prime and 2 coats of white ceiling paing- the ceiling still looks streaky but I don't have the mental capacity to do another layer so it's just going to have to be that way.Here's a pic of the finished wall, trims and ceiling.

Friday after Tyler finished work, we all want to Ikea to get bedroom furniture but it ended up being an unsuccesful trip. We found 2 beds that we liked but neither one was in stock. The one I had been looking at was in stock but in person, totally disappointing. I have been hunting online since but it is hard to find something that is nice and affordable and fits what I want. I am a picky person with a small budget. 

Also when we were leaving Ikea, Lucy tripped in the parking lots and scrapped her knee. We didn't have band aides or anything so I improvised with a feminine product. They actually work quite well as band aides.