Say “Yes” to Michigan!

Years ago there was a song/slogan for Michigan with this little lyric…”Yes Michigan, the feeling’s forever.” So cheesy! But it still rings in my head each time I cross the border, and the sign still says…say YES to Michigan.

So…Yes, we are in Michigan. I left Sunday after lunch which ended around 3:00 at El Chico in Rivergate. Kris and I met up with Chris and Alicia a couple from our Sunday School class and the service was a little slow and the conversation was interesting enough to keep us occupied away from the ticking of time. I left in a hurry when we realized how late it was, said a much too quick goodbye to my Kris and off we went. I didn’t even use the bathroom because…I knew that I was low on gas and thought I’ll just make a stop for gas, diaper changes and potty break all at once. Little did I know that I would sit for almost an hour in traffic before I could make my little potty break a reality. Oh dear, there is a little hell on earth and it’s slogan reads…I have to pee and I’m stuck in traffic. Much anguish. At least the boys were good. I think they were anyhow…I really don’t remember…I was very self-focused during that part of the trip. When traffic finally cleared, and the pit stop was accomplished we moved on into the rainy part of the trip. I had just eaten Mexican and we were in a very gray sort of rhythmic rain shower…can you guess my next obstacle? I was soooo sleepy. I mean dangerously heavy eyelids sleepy…by the time I had the thought…”I need to pull over or I’m going to kill us all” I was in the midst of a construction zone with traffic all routed to one narrow lane with no shoulder and no exit for quite a while. Up went the AC, up went the volume and up went the prayers…”Oh God, forgive my stupidity and keep me from driving up the tailpipe of the car in front of me.” It didn’t last too long. I was able to pull off the next exit and get a coke and a 10 minute pause in a Wendy’s parking lot. I closed my eyes and laid my head on the steering wheel. I didn’t sleep but it made a tremendous difference. When I got back on the road I was not only feeling better, the rain had also cleared up and I had dry roads all the way to Mark and Keri’s house in Indianapolis. Perfect for driving…dry but overcast. And the boys were very good. Ivan did cry some but it wasn’t unbearable.

We spent the night and a leisurely morning at Mark and Keri’s house. That was so nice. They fed us a late snack when we arrived, we talked some, I got the boys and myself ready for bed and we all slept hard. In the morning Mark was gone to work and Keri had her neighbor’s little boy there playing with their own little Emily. So Keri and I talked and laughed, catching up a bit and enjoying the whole notion that in the midst of what would normally be a kid focused day we were enjoying adult conversation. We took our time getting ready and packing the car, then headed out for the remainder of our trip.

We made good time and once again enjoyed great travel weather. Owen talked and played so well all the way, Ivan slept a lot and cried when he was hungry. We stopped for lunch, fill up, potty break, diaper change and Ivan feeding. We got back on the road in good time and in the end the trip totaled about 4 hours. Not bad, not bad at all.

I let Owen run around outside for a while and I got some pictures of the springtime that is happening here. I wanted to get as many outside photo’s as I could because I’m not sure how much chance we will get to be outside while we’re here. There is rain in the forecast and indeed it is raining right now. Dad took us our for dinner after we got cleaned up and then we drove up to Reubmummy’s. She gave me a small quilt, I asked if it was for Ivan and she said it’s for whatever I want to use it for. It’s really pretty and much larger than your usual baby quilt. I think it will come in handy for Ivan and a lot of other uses.

I hear Owen now, playing in bed so I’m going to get off and give your eyes a break. We will make plans today for the rest of our time here and see who we can find to pester in these here parts.