Adventures in Parenthood: Adventures in Michigan Part One

We had a busy week in Michigan! As Tia put it when Aba asked her if we did a lot, "I was with Shannon and Kevin, what do you think?" We're not really ones to just sit around so we looked up the top attractions in Flint (the public library was number nine) and knocked off as many as we could. We began our trip super tired after our long night of traveling. Bay Leaf woke up at 9:30 and although she and everyone else went back to sleep, I was up. Everyone else finally woke up around 11:00 and we tried to get breakfast at our hotel but it had already ended. The worker felt sorry for us and let us in to eat some fruit and cereal. Clara thought this was perfect. Bailey thought the spoon was perfect! All morning Clarita kept requesting to go to Grandpa Bill's house was was disappointed each time we went somewhere else.

Breakfast of champions

Such a big girl!

Dada and I went back to the airport to pick up the rental car while Tia played with the girls. I got a nosebleed waiting for the shuttle and wondered if our trip was going to continue in this fashion all week. We finally got the car and got everything loaded (I got a car that was way too small and we barely fit) and headed to Detroit for some famous coney dogs. My GPS of course took me to the wrong location, but we ended up eventually getting to the right place. Dada and Tia ate coney dogs and Dada decided that the American Coney Island Dogs were better than the Layfayette dogs. Clara and I ate french fries. It poured buckets while we ate and we finally made a break for the car during a lull. We took a tour through Detroit including driving through Grosse Pointe where the movie Groose Pointe Blank takes place. It was absolutely gorgeous! The girls slept for the hour and a half trip to Grandpa Bill's and we made it without any of Tia's body parts falling asleep! Unlike home, everything was lush and green and beautiful!

Coney dogs

French fries

Super comfy

We were all excited to see Grandpa Bill, Great Grandpa Bill, Grandma Peggy, and Aunt Lori and they were very excited to meet Bailey. Great Grandpa Bill is 97-years-old! Clara hadn't seen them since she was 10 months old so she was a little shy at first. It didn't take her long to warm up though! We enjoyed an evening of catching up and eating pizza!

On Monday we headed off to the Sloan Museum to see the exhibit on poop. Clara was really excited about this and kept saying, "I want to see poop!" She got her wish and we learned more about poop than we ever thought possible! The museum also had a kid's area with an ambulance, a kitchen/grocery store area, and tons of things for the girls to do. Clarita was in heaven and cried when she had to leave! We also learned about the local history and were impressed with the little museum. We headed home for nap time and dinner before heading out to Aunt Lori's granddaughter's softball game. The game ended up getting rained out and although all the adults huddled under shelter to wait out the rain, Clara danced and played in it. She was so excited and disappointed that I had forgotten her rain boots. I wish we could ship some of the rain home!

Baby whisperer

Tuesday we headed to the Flint Children's Museum which was awesome! Clara had never been to a children's museum and was in heaven. Highlights included tubes across the room that she could talk to Dada through, the post office (where Grandpa Bill lives), the fire truck, the play house, and the outside play area. Bailey was entertained by the museum as well and was happy to watch everything. The adults were also entertained and at one point we wondered who was having more fun! After the museum we headed to the Farmer's Market. After a slight detour thanks to my GPS (note to self, don't follow directions from Trip Advisor), we finally found it. It is a year round indoor market and was awesome! Unlike the farmer's markets at home, not all of the items were local (we are spoiled to have an abundance of local produce so there is really no need to bring in other stuff), but there were meats, cheeses, breads, and even restaurants. We had a great lunch, bought some local berries (not as good as home), and got some food to make dinner for the following night. We headed home for nap time, dinner (nap time wasn't until 3:00 most days), and Jack's baseball game. There was no rain, but it was quite sunny, humid, and hot. We managed to survive and Clara had tons of fun playing with Lauren and Reese. She absolutely loves kids, especially older girls. We headed back to Grandpa Bill's where she got to see her first fireflies. Clara was pretty excited about them (who isn't) and called them dragon flies and butterflies before declaring them to be skunks! She would not budge on this fact and referred to them as skunks the rest of the trip! It doesn't get entirely dark until nearly 10:00 PM due to the northern location and Clarita did not go to bed until 10:30 or 11:00 most nights. We hoped that this would make the transition back to California time easier.