Back from Vacation

We went on what was our longest vacation to do.  10 days, 8 states, 4 hotels, 2 beaches, and an amusement park.   Now most of those states were just driving through.  But we visit Michigan and Chicago to see people.  Also, most of the country was going through an excessive heatwave.  Good times!

Free Museum entry than to reciprocatory memberships

The trip started out as our bi-annual visit to Chicago to check in on my mom.  We would have stayed for free at Katness' place.  But Nightingale's sister lobbied her to come up to Grosse Pointe since she comes down here every year for Christmas.  Since we were going to be in Michigan, our former Portage Park neighbor asked us to visit them in East Grand Rapids.  And since we were going to do that, we could drop by and visit Katness in Holland, MI where she was spending a week with her in-laws at their annual beach vacation.

So on the Friday before Father's Day, we headed to Louisville, Kentucky.  We forgot to factor in the time change so we didn't arrive in time for the free hotel dinner.  We had a slim shot if we didn't need to stop for bathroom breaks, but of course with two kids, that isn't an option.  It was a six-hour drive and it felt longer.  The drive to Grosse Pointe is also 6 hours and we may have had some bathroom breaks there too.

That visit was low key.  BIL made a nice Father's Day Surf & Turf dinner.  We did our best to get the kids out of the house because if they had their way, they would have stayed in their cousin's basement playing video games all day.  

The nice thing about this visit was we were not bound to any specific time for anything.  We woke up when we felt like it and went about our day.  Sure, there were a few times we had to be somewhere and you don't want the day to get away from you, but otherwise, it was very chill.  

While Nightingale visited with a high school friend, I took all the kids to C J Barrymore's.  It's a small amusement park and arcade.  We went on enough rides to cover the cost of the wristbands and spent the rest of the time in the arcade.  Once we ran out of the money the Adama Kids had on their card from previous visits, we left.  

One thing I didn't like about the trip was our car battery died on Thursday morning when we were leaving to go to Holland.  Triple A gave us a jump and we thought gambled that the drive to Holland would be enough to recharge it, assuming we'd get a new battery back home.  Unfortunately, that battery was 5 years old and has been through a lot with the Southern Heat.  We needed another jump and went straight to an Auto Zone and $220 later, we were off to Chicago.  Both delays cost us an hour and we got to Chicago around 8 pm.  

Yes I got to trim these in the High Heat

Because my mom's house is a crapshack, we have to stay at a hotel.  That means we usually pick her up on the way because she stays with us.  This time we were staying in Glenview and I insisted that we pick her up the next morning because it was so late and I was already in a bad mood.  My mom and I famously show our affection by fighting with each other.  Also the car was packed to the gills and getting a 5th seat was going to be difficult, although we did it for the return trip.

Friday morning we had our breakfast and then went to pick her up.  Without much of a plan, I suggested we take a short stroll through Humboldt Park.  The kids could see my playground.  Since it was hot, and my mom could not walk for long, I didn't expect us to be there too long.  We ended up being there for almost two hours.  

The park is in much better condition than when I was their age, and they really enjoyed the lagoon where they got to see fish, and turtles and feed some ducklings.  Afterward, we headed to lunch but I decided to trim my mom's hedges first because were there and I didn't want it hanging over me. 

 Note: I should put these photos in better order, but the Blogger WYSIWYG editor is horrible.  

The rest of the trip was just eating some familiar foods, doing some shopping for my mom and pool time at the hotel.  On Saturday Glenview had a street festival at the Metra Station and we killed a couple hours there.   Katniss was back that weekend and she joined us Sunday.  We had Costco pizza for dinner and it was yummy.