Back from Michigan

Longest I have gone without blogging - ever (well - I guess not if you include the first hospital stay). We had a good time in Michigan this weekend. We left right after Ellie got off the bus on Thursday. It took us about 3 hours to get up to the cottage. We had the heat on until today because the cottage temperature was in the 50s when we arrived. The good news is my butt didn't really hurt until the end part of the ride - unlike last year.
On Friday, our friends Julie and Karlton came up for the weekend. Before the arrived I was able to go grocery shopping and find new curtains for all the new windows upstairs. The windows are awesome and really keep most of the outside noise - outside. I was able to find neutral curtains and I will cut our previous curtains down for valances on the windows. We went for a beach walk when they arrived and it was both cold and windy. We watched Gnomeo and Juliet and had our first soda bar ice cream of the season.
Saturday we split up, Julie, the kids and I went up to Holland and the boys stayed and did some plumbing work. We had a good time thrift shopping and I was able to find curtains for the other room upstairs. We were able to bring some toys to the thrift shop to donate - always a good thing. We came home and had some down time before dinner. What was nice about the weather this weekend was we were able to have the heaters going in the rooms and the stove going in the kitchen to keep us warm. We watched Tangled on Saturday night.
Sunday we had a slow, relaxed morning. We played games and the kids "cooked" for us. We went in to St. Joe's to go to the Children's museum and Julie and Karlton were going to do some browsing through stores. We walked down to the beach - which, in all these years we have never done before. The beach was awesome - a huge playground on the sand. We agreed we would bring towels and a change of clothes for the kids this summer and go back because they have a huge water area (think Millennium Park fountains). We took the kids in to ride the carousel and then we went to the Discovery Zone part of the museum and then up to the museum. It had just started to thunder as we got to the museum and then the drizzle began. We stopped into Meijers because they were having a kids day and the kids got to do a couple crafts and got some treats.
On out way back to the cottage the rain started to really pick up and the sky turned black, the radio came on with the emergency warning for our county. By the time we got to the cottage the wind really picked up and we made it inside before the sheets of rain began to fall. The tv signal went out because of the storm and we ended up getting water in the basement and the garage area flooded. It was a good 2 hour storm with very heavy rain. We had a re-heat dinner to clear out the fridge. We were actually able to go down for the sunset because the sky cleared up. We had just given the kiddos their baths when we decided to go down and needless to say they needed another one when we came back. They totally took advantage of their first time in the sand.
We stayed up talking late and it was great. Had a crappy weekend of sleep - partially because it was in bed (I think) and partially because I was not in my routine and had no computer. Last night was the worst because the weather was changing and I could not cool off. This morning we had breakfast and decided it was definitely a beach day. We found our summer clothes and sunscreened up and went to the beach. There was a nice cool breeze and we had a great time. The kids found their friends form last year and instantly went to play together - leaving us time to talk some more. I went up before everyone to start cleaning up and get laundry finished.
We had lunch and cleared out the fridge, I flipped loads of laundry and swept up and we packed up to get on the road. Jules and K left a bit before us and after Rob and the kiddos did a recycling and garbage run we got on the road.
I thought we might run into holiday weekend traffic but we didn't and breezed through downtown without even a slowdown. We got home and un-loaded the car and then I took the kids (in bathing suits) over to Mom and Dad's to visit. The kids immediately asked Dad to hook up the sprinkler for them. Mom is sick with a cold but we caught up across the room. Ellie tried on the Kit outfit Mom had bought her and it fits like a glove. We said goodbye and headed to pick up a pizza for dinner and then home. We had dinner and then Nick played with Rob for a bit while Ellie and I watched Cake Boss.
Our loud neighbors have been outside partying since we got home around 6 hours ago. I told Rob that perhaps we will need to start hanging out in the basement instead of the back room. I have given up on steri-strips to cover my incision because the strips that are supposed to stay on for 3 weeks don't last 3 days. It still looks like a bagel to me. My feet are pretty numb right now but they did get a nice exfoliating sand scrub at the beach today. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. Busy week ahead, Ellie's last Trish session, Girls on the Run dinner at American Girl, Race on Saturday, birthday party for a friend of Ellie's on Sunday and then family Sunday dinner. I am sure I am missing things in there and I hope they are written on the calendar because otherwise they might not happen. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree