Michigan Stories

We got to "sleep" in our new house one night, and then we were off to the airport for a trip back home to Michigan that was planned before we stumbled across the idea of buying a home RIGHT NOW.

I have to tell some of the stories from our vacation so I can move on to some more recent stories... so I can blog about finally teaching full time when that starts happening. I'm guessing there will be some good material there.

But first, lets talk about back home to MI. We've all heard the line you can't go home, we have all heard a play on those words, but in all sincerity you can most certainly go home. Oh, you'll go crazy, that's for sure, but it can be done. We had fun and I am so thankful we were in a position to go for almost three weeks, it was great.

I'm not sure where to start, a chronological story line would be a mistake, we had a wonderful amount of down time that would not translate well to blog reading. We played cards and just visited and drove around frequently. So I think we should start out by talking about the driving.

Mom and Dad: I love you... there... now we can continue.

We didn't rent a car. We were going to hang out with my parents, they are retired, they have a great car, there was no need for a rental. So typically Kristen Greydon and I would be in the back seat while my parents were in the front. Dad would be driving while Mom... helped out... Just letting him know when he was going a little fast for her taste, and when he went just a tad energetically around the curve, or when he didn't prepare quite soon enough for the next curve, or when he started getting a little close to the middle line, or the outside line, or the car in front, back left or right of him, or when he missed the entrance to the parking lot, ooooor when he parked at the wrong angle, ooooooooor well, you get the idea.... This is one of those Mars Venus moments, I think it is a common thread in the universe, it is just very interesting to be a spectator now. I KNOW for a fact that my Mother hates riding with me as I zoom in and out of traffic hurtling through time and space at neck breaking speeds sometimes as much as an entire 5 miles over the speed limit. So I backed Dad up a few times, pointing out that currently the Amish buggy was gaining on us as we zoomed along and that some parking lots have more than one entrance. Then, I rode in the front seat. The roller coaster death ride from Hades. Most of the time I had my left hand with a death grip on the dashboard and my right hand clawing desperately for purchase over the door. I switched randomly between gasping, hiding my eyes and crying, punctuated by the random explicative. It was kind of like driving with a teenage gerbil on crack.

It wasn't always the actual driving that got my attention, sometimes it was the destination, often a tricky thing to figure out.

To illustrate: One of our first days there it was decided that the weather was not really "beach" weather, so we decided to just all run to the store for an outing. There would be plenty of days to go to the beach. So we grabbed Greydon's diaper bag ready, run, hop in the car, not a lot of time to prep, not much needed for a quick jaunt to the store. As we are driving we hear Mom asking Dad to just drive by the lake so we could take a look for fun. Lake MI is beautiful with amazing shore lines, it is always beautiful to drive by the lake. We knew we were not GOING to the lake, that had been clearly stated prior to departure, and we especially knew we would not be needing bathing shorts for Greydon since the weather wasn't exactly beach weather and there would be plenty of days to go to the beach. So as we start driving by the lake we stop; which is not usually part of "driving by" but no worries, we were obviously just pausing to take a nice long look at the lake before continuing on our... why are the doors opening. Ok, Mom and Dad are now out of the car at the lake, also not normally part of "driving by". Well, ok, MI beaches are pretty large, plenty of room to walk around without going swimming or getting wet. I take off my shoes, unbuckle Greydon and start to follow Mom and Dad who are just walking along the beach... uhm, in the water. So we are shadowing Grampa and Grandma walking in the water at the beach in the middle of our drive by just to see the lake on our way to the store because today was the day we were not going to the beach.. ok and now we are splashing with Greydon in the water, and, oh, well those shorts aren't really swim shorts, but uhm, I'm sure they will dry just fine... as we get back into the car to head home. We clarify that we are done for the day and we are just going to head back to the house, so we can just let him ride in the car seat in his diaper. His wet cargo shorts are drying in the trunk, we are heading home, and oh, uhm, apparently pulling in to get a quick bite on the way home. It was going to be a quick bite, they chose this place because it has a drive through, Greydon won't need to be "That" kid wandering around in his diaper in public. So we pull into the parking lot, pull right past the drive through, and uhm park..., and get out to order at the walk up window, at the place that was chosen for it's drive through, on our direct route to home, hence the undressed child, on our trip to the store because it wasn't really a beachy day. So, to recap. I'm standing next to some picnic tables and a jungle gym at a greasy spoon ice cream parlor with my half naked baby, holding his blanket around him like a toga at a frat party balancing a cone from hell that was melting faster than I could figure out how we got here on our way to the store, on a non beach day drive to the beach combing wading ice cream shop... and Kristen dropped her ice cream, and there is a sign saying they are not responsible for dropped ice cream, and the guy hoses down the sidewalk, in the middle of the other people standing in line waiting to order food, at the walk up window of the place with the drive through that we stopped at on our direct way to home after wading in the waves as we are driving by the lake to see it on the non beach day on our way to the store, that we never actually went to.... and then went home.

I could also relate the "Trip to the Amish store" that would need to be retitled "Michigan Hardware stores, a park, a pizzeria, and you."

We just started packing one of everything in Greydon's diaper bag.