Vacation Part One, Second Chapter

We have had awesomely hot weather here. We have been able to get beach time in everyday. Nick hasn't been wanting to go to clubhouse this time around. I am not sure if it has to do with him not feeling well or something else but we aren't pushing it. Ellie went and it was Harry Potter themed last week. They made paper mâché eggs in the morning and potions, broomsticks and magic wands in the evening.
Friday we headed off to Dearborn for the night. We left right after breakfast and arrived at noon. We went to the Henry Ford Museum on Friday afternoon. Not too much has changed from the last time we were there. Ellie was about 18 months when we were last there...so Nick has never been. Nick loved the trains and thought there should be more. Ellie liked seeing the teenagers bedrooms throughout history. It is neat that you can now eat in the diner and next to the Weinermobile.
We got a late lunch at Pane before heading to Drury Inn for the evening. There was an outlet mall, similar to Gurnee Mills, a couple miles from us. We decided that was the perfect way to spend the late afternoon. Didn't really buy anything there but we walked around and kept cool for a couple hours. We headed back to the hotel and took advantage of their happy hour appetizers. We swam in the pool for a bit before heading up for a pajama party movie fest. The Disney channel had the premiere of their new movie and Ellie was super excited. There was a huge storm that went through...seriously, the news was broadcasting from a block away from the hotel. We watched it out our window and the rain was coming down sideways. Nick and I braved the weather and went in search of a snack around 9pm.
Saturday we had a good breakfast, checked out, and headed to Greenfield Village. The storm was supposed to reduce the humidity and temperature but by 10am it was into the 90s. The village has changed more than the museum since our last visit. The roads are paved and their are sidewalks now. Nick was pretty much just there to ride the trains, cars, wagons, buses, and carousel...and see the roundhouse. Ellie really enjoyed all of it. We had a treat at the tavern, watched a couple small bands play, saw the clock display. We stayed into the afternoon but the heat was really exhausting. We hit Costco on our way back onto the highway to pick up another beach umbrella and a mattress pad. Our ride back was nice and easy and no as hot as the ride there. We stopped for dinner in Marshall, at Schulers. The kids got to make their own sundaes for dessert. We pulled into the cottage around 8pm.
We all slept in today. We did a bit of shopping in the morning. The kids needed a white elephant gift for the clubhouse on Tuesday. We picked up a couple things at the grocery store and then were on our way back. We had lunch and hit the beach for hours. It was finally a gorgeous, not too hot, day. The water was perfect temperature and not too wavy. We came back and showered and I started dinner. We have been bringing these rocks back to the cottage and painting them for a rock garden...they look great. We had dinner and then surprised the kids with the idea of an evening swim. They were so excited. We didn't stay too long because we could see a storm was rolling in. Nana treated the kids to ice cream at the soda bar and then we came home, showered, and read. The storm just started as we took the kids up to bed. Thankfully, with the air conditioners and fans on they can't hear too much up there. By the time I came down, the living room curtains were blowing about 5 feet off the floor. So far just massive rain, lightening, and thunder. According to the weather alerts we might get hail and high winds too
Please continue your positive, comforting thoughts for Eric, he and his family really need them. Visualizing my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree
PS...still on the iPad with auto correct...sorry about spelling and such.