Fall In Michigan! 10/8

We spent Five beautiful days (sunny and 70 degrees) in Michigan. Seth had a job interview (we don’t know the outcome yet) and the rest of us joined the fun for donuts and friends. We left a day early because Seth was furloughed due to the government shutdown so our vacation was longer. The drive was uneventful other than the adults listening to Dracula in the front, Conrad screaming in the middle, and the big kids watching shows in the back. We crashed at the Bryners and were able to see, do, and EAT lots (five pounds to show for it)!

I spent Wednesday morning at Gallup Park (our old favorite park) and then we spent the afternoon strolling through Kelly’s neighborhood and meeting up with my dear friend, Wendy. We played the afternoon away while Seth went to dinner with his maybe future employers.

Wendy, Sharon (baby Theo), Kelly

On Thursday morning, the kids and I were visiting friends at Forest Hills when we decided to get pita and hummus at the Mediterranean market down the street for lunch. The boys begged to have me take them to the spider web park to play and eat. When we arrived at the park there was a women there who looked familiar and I realized it was my dear friend Jill Mitchell!! The Mitchells lived across the street from us during our first year in Ann Arbor at Woodchase. She was an amazing support to me while I adjusted being so far from family. We made a massive quiet book together and I was with her when she sent her oldest boy on the bus to kindergarten while I held baby Charlie in my arms (her son is now 14). They moved from Michigan in 2009 but came back in 2012 after we had left. I hadn’t seen her in FOUR years and believe this meeting to be a sweet tender mercy. What were the chances? ). She doesn’t even live on that side of town but happened to be babysitting someone who lived close to the park. (I would have eventually seen her at a shindig later in the week but it was fun to have lots of time to catch up

That afternoon Kelly and I took all the kids to Erwins Orchard for apple picking, cider, and donuts. Seth was gone to his interview most of the day. We were quite the circus with all of our kids and strollers getting on an off the tractor but we did it and have a whole bag of delicious apples to show for it. The donuts were good too and the weather ideal.

Thursday night we took the kids downtown to walk around and see the fairy doors. Nothing beats downtown Ann Arbor in the evening in the fall (we also snagged some food at Frita Batdtos!!) It was a great day other than the fact that three out of four of our kids threw-up at some point during the day due to car sickness..weird.

Friday Morning Seth and I drove out to Plymouth to get a feeling for the area. This is where the company Seth might work for is located. It’s about 15-20 minutes east of Ann Arbor. We drove back to Ann Arbor to have lunch with my cousin Steven and his wife Christie at The Cottage Inn. We walked around a little afterwards before they had to get back to school (they are both in PhD programs). We then went to Wasems to pick up more donuts and cider for the evening festivities.

We drove back to Forest Hills to say a quick hi to our old next-door-neighbors Darlene and Shannon. I was sad we couldn’t visit more but happy to see them doing well.

We met a group of old friends at a park on Friday night. It was pure joy to reconnect with all these wonderful people. It finally got so dark we couldn’t see anything so we had to call it a night and stop talking.  Early the next morning I walked with my old walking partner Andrea and Kelly came too. My heart rate might have gone up a little but mainly we just walked and laughed.

Aubrey, Pam, Lisa, Sharon, Kelly, Candice, Kirsten, Jill

Since we didn’t have enough fun the night before we met up at Jenny’s Market for more cider and donuts the next morning in Dexter. The Gibsons are building a new home across the street (literally) so we were able to walk through it and oooww and awww. We drove strait out of town after stopping for me to run in and buy the hot ticket toy- Rainbow Loom at The Toy Kingdom. Seriously, it’s selling for 30 bucks on Amazon and the Toy Kingdom has it for $17!! The guy who invented it is from Michigan and Charlie is going to be one happy boy on Christmas morning!

I was trying to figure out why all my pictures looked horrible  when I realized that I had set it on the crappiest setting, oh well.