We traveled to Michigan for Thanksgiving this year. By my recollection, we have not been back to Michigan in the winter since Thanksgiving 2013! That year, we spent Thanksgiving in Morrice, and then used Morrice as our home base for traveling around for residency interviews.
We made the drive over two days, with an overnight stop in Des Moines. We had good weather, and the kids did great on the long drives. Levi recently lost interest in his pacifier, so we had some tense moments in the van.
On Sunday, we got together with the Alleman side of the family. There was lots of conversation, and a table FULL of desserts :) Levi was pretty stoic with so many people around. Uncle Aaron held him for a while, and Levi kept turning around to look at who was holding him. We got to see Uncle Aaron and Aunt Erin's home addition-in-progress. It will be quite impressive when it's finished!!
There was lots of reading and building and playing at Bibi and Babu's house all week. They still had school the first part of the week, but juggled some days off, so we still got to spend time with everyone. We even got to go up and visit Babu at school!
First up, each of the kids got to take a pony ride. Cora was brave and volunteered to go first. She loved it!
Jonah was a little more uneasy, but he warmed up eventually, and had a great time.
Esther was a little nervous, too, but did a great job.
After the pony rides, we moved over to the (very exotic!) petting zoo. It was a odd collection of animals. Here is Cora petting a skunk! And Jonah feeding a tortoise.
They also had kittens, bunnies and guinea pigs for the kids to hold. The facilitator had the kids fold up their shirt to make a little pouch when they held the animals. Cora LOVED it! Aunt Kylie had to restrain herself from taking one (or five) of the kittens home with her :)
There was also a very odd rooster that went crazy on the ground, but was very content to calmly perch on your shoulder (or head!). Babu pretended he was a pirate, and this was his bird mascot.
After the petting zoo, they lead us to this "photo area" -- with a very odd display containing an antique-looking sleigh, fake snow and white Christmas tree.....and a huge unicorn backdrop?
Brandon went a little stir crazy spending so much time inside (and not working!), so he got to work chopping firewood to get in some physical activity. Esther enjoyed watching him work from inside the warm, cozy kitchen.
We spent Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Kathy's house, stuffing ourselves with food, playing with cousins, enjoying conversation and watching football.
Jonah got very into board games during our time in Michigan. He played his first game of Monopoly - and was instantly hooked! There was also lots of Trivial Pursuit, Candy Land, and probably more. He loves to play games!
Back -- Aunt Kylie, Uncle Caleb, Esther, me, Brandon, Levi, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Erin (plus Baby!)
While were recovering from our food coma, we noticed a big storm was forecasted over much of the Midwest for the weekend. Our plans were to drive to Des Moines on Saturday, then on home to Kansas Sunday morning. But we made the decision to push things up a day to try and avoid the impending blizzard. We had to hurry and pack Thursday night, and we were on the road first thing Friday morning. It turned out to be a good decision. The roads were clear Friday and Saturday for our travels. But much of our route, especially from Des Moines to Wichita on Sunday was a horrible mess; some parts of the interstate were even closed for periods of time. Many friends traveling back to Wichita on Sunday had a terrible time. We were glad to be safe and warm at home.
We made the drive over two days, with an overnight stop in Des Moines. We had good weather, and the kids did great on the long drives. Levi recently lost interest in his pacifier, so we had some tense moments in the van.
On Sunday, we got together with the Alleman side of the family. There was lots of conversation, and a table FULL of desserts :) Levi was pretty stoic with so many people around. Uncle Aaron held him for a while, and Levi kept turning around to look at who was holding him. We got to see Uncle Aaron and Aunt Erin's home addition-in-progress. It will be quite impressive when it's finished!!
There was lots of reading and building and playing at Bibi and Babu's house all week. They still had school the first part of the week, but juggled some days off, so we still got to spend time with everyone. We even got to go up and visit Babu at school!
On Wednesday, Bibi arranged for a visit to a farm/petting zoo. The kids we joined by cousins from both sides of the family - Brandon's cousin Nick's daughters, Brooklyn and Britten, and cousin Kris's daughters Autumn and Addison -- poor Jonah, so many girls!!
First up, each of the kids got to take a pony ride. Cora was brave and volunteered to go first. She loved it!
Jonah was a little more uneasy, but he warmed up eventually, and had a great time.
Esther was a little nervous, too, but did a great job.
After the pony rides, we moved over to the (very exotic!) petting zoo. It was a odd collection of animals. Here is Cora petting a skunk! And Jonah feeding a tortoise.
They also had kittens, bunnies and guinea pigs for the kids to hold. The facilitator had the kids fold up their shirt to make a little pouch when they held the animals. Cora LOVED it! Aunt Kylie had to restrain herself from taking one (or five) of the kittens home with her :)
There was also a very odd rooster that went crazy on the ground, but was very content to calmly perch on your shoulder (or head!). Babu pretended he was a pirate, and this was his bird mascot.
Feeding the peacock! Cora was surprisingly brave around all these animals. She was sad when it was time to leave.
After the petting zoo, they lead us to this "photo area" -- with a very odd display containing an antique-looking sleigh, fake snow and white Christmas tree.....and a huge unicorn backdrop?
 |
| Bibi and Babu with grandkids and grandnieces, plus one friend |
Brandon went a little stir crazy spending so much time inside (and not working!), so he got to work chopping firewood to get in some physical activity. Esther enjoyed watching him work from inside the warm, cozy kitchen.
We spent Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Kathy's house, stuffing ourselves with food, playing with cousins, enjoying conversation and watching football.
Jonah got very into board games during our time in Michigan. He played his first game of Monopoly - and was instantly hooked! There was also lots of Trivial Pursuit, Candy Land, and probably more. He loves to play games!
We managed to get a picture of the whole clan on Thanksgiving!
Front -- Bibi, Jonah, Babu, Cora
And a picture of Grandma Kathy with her Kansas Great Grandkids
While were recovering from our food coma, we noticed a big storm was forecasted over much of the Midwest for the weekend. Our plans were to drive to Des Moines on Saturday, then on home to Kansas Sunday morning. But we made the decision to push things up a day to try and avoid the impending blizzard. We had to hurry and pack Thursday night, and we were on the road first thing Friday morning. It turned out to be a good decision. The roads were clear Friday and Saturday for our travels. But much of our route, especially from Des Moines to Wichita on Sunday was a horrible mess; some parts of the interstate were even closed for periods of time. Many friends traveling back to Wichita on Sunday had a terrible time. We were glad to be safe and warm at home.
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