Michigan Trip 2018 - Part One

The story of our Michigan trip starts a few days before we left. I mentioned in my last blog post that I had been suffering from cramps that I thought was ovulation related. But two days before we left to drive up to Michigan, I got very sick. The pain in my right side was off the charts and I couldn't keep anything down.

I had sat in the bathroom for a while, and when Todd got home from work, I made the decision to go to the ER. Todd woke up Emily and off we went. We spent several hours in the ER - an actual emergency came in after they had put in a room so it took them a while to get me some drugs. And the stuff they gave me at first didn't touch the pain so it was morphine time.

They did a CAT scan and it was a kidney stone that I was close to passing. So they gave me all the drugs, told me I should pass it soon and sent me home. I spent the majority of the next day sleeping but once I woke up, the pain was gone. My arms were super sore though, from all the heaving I had done, so Emily had to help me pack.

But we got everything packed up and we left in the middle of the night on June 30th. Todd drove and I napped since I was still really wiped. We got to my dad's house, got our

stuff unloaded and then went to meet my friend Rebecca - we were good friends in high school and are still Facebook friends We ate at the Russ' that was near the house I grew up in, and it was exactly the same as it was when I grew up. It was nice to hang out with Rebecca!

Once we were done with dinner, we went back to my dad's house and he was home - he had been in Bay City for the day. We talked with him and just hung out watching a movie. I was getting really tired so I ended up going to bed.

The next day, we got up and got ready to go to the beach. We swam and Emily played in the sand. Todd ended up having to go stand in the shade because even with sunscreen, his poor ginger self was

getting burnt up. As we were leaving, Emily stepped on a stick and got a sliver / cut on her foot. She was very upset about this.

We went back to my dad's house, got showered, checked out Emily's foot and got a bandaid on it. Then we went to Captain Sundae for ice cream. I was starting not to feel very good, so I skipped the ice cream. We went back to my dad's house and I took one of my pain pills because I was having pain in my side again. I took a nap and I felt much better after I woke up.

Todd and I went to the movies at the theater I spent a lot of time at when I was younger. We went and saw Incredibles 2 since Todd hadn't seen it yet. We don't get a lot of time without Emily so it was nice to go on a date night.

We turned in early again because we had a long drive in the morning to go to Todd's parent's house.

Up Next - Michigan Trip 2018 - Part Two!

Thankgivings As A Child

With the holidays fast approaching, I’ve been thinking back to the holidays I had as a child. I grew up in Holland, MI and most of our family was on the other side of the state in Bay City. While most of my friends would travel to family on Thanksgiving, we would stay at home.

Nearly every year, we would do the same thing. We’d get up and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Usually I was the only one who watched it from beginning to end. My mom, with some help from my dad, would start working on our Thanksgiving feast while the parade was going on.

After Santa made his big entrance, we would turn the channel to football. Lunch was always cheese, crackers and summer sausage. It was enough to keep us from being hungry but not enough to make us too full before dinner.

Usually during the game, my sister and I would get out our room Christmas things and decorate. Though when I was in high school, I started following football so I would watch the game with my parents.

After the game, we’d have our turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We use my mom’s china and drink sparkling cider from wine glasses. We would have apple and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Our Thanksgiving continue on Black Friday. We never went shopping, except at this local craft type store that always had a 50% off coupon. What we did instead of shopping was we would go to cut our Christmas tree.

We had a Christmas Tree farm we went to every year. They would give us a saw and a sled, and we’d all tromp out into the farm to find the perfect tree. Some years it would be really cold and snowy, but there was always hot chocolate at the barn while our tree was measured and wrapped up.

We would spend the rest of the day decorating the house. My mom really loved Christmas so we had a lot of Christmas stuff. The whole house would be decked by the evening and we would always sit down to watch a Christmas movie – usually It’s A Wonderful Life.

This tradition continued pretty much until my mom passed away. She was really sick her last Christmas, but still came out to the Christmas Tree farm with us. My dad, sister and I tried to keep it going after she passed but it wasn’t the same.

Now I have a family of my own and we do our thing for Thanksgiving. But I still have fond memories of my childhood traditions.