Day 6 – BBQ

We had to get going a little early today. Uncle Paul, Nicole’s boyfriend Jeremy and I went down to Ann Arbor to watch University of Michigan’s spring practice. It’s a cool stadium but I’ll take Husky Stadium anyday. The folks who stayed back at the house went shopping to get a bunch of stuff for our BBQ. The Johnsons’ neighbors came over with their two daughters. As well as a couple of friends that we saw at Ocean Shores a couple years ago. The adults played some cards. Euchre was the game of choice. The neighbors have a 5 year old girl that Kaylee a good time playing with. They wrote with sidewalk chalk outside. They got to take a bath together and play with some tub toys. The big event of the night was the dying of the Easter eggs. Kaylee ended up with hands dyed all different colors. She got really upset when we ran out of eggs. Tomorrow will be the big hunt.

Day 5 – Travel back to Michigan

We got rolling around noon. We went back to the Falls and Kaylee was in a bad mood. I took her to a candy shop and she chose a bag of cotton candy. That cheered her up. The rest of the family went to a show called the Fury of the Falls. They got wet. We piled back into the van and drove to a couple of different lookouts. We then headed back downtown and stopped at a the Hard Rock Café because folks wanted to pick up some souvenirs. We weren’t impressed with the gift shop. We then headed out of town and back towards Michigan. Kaylee needed me to sit next to her. This was non negotiable. We made it back thru the border and stopped at Taco Bell and KFC for dinner. Kaylee enjoyed a bowl of rice from Taco Bell. We got back to the house and Kaylee was excited to see cousin Nicole. She hadn’t seen her since she was 3 months old so I’m not sure about the excitement. Kaylee immediately took Nicole to play Candy Land and Monkeys on the Bed.

Day 4 – Travel to the Falls

We got on the road midday. It was a 5.5 hour journey over to Niagra Falls. Kaylee did well in the van. She slept some of the way. She watched her DVD player some of the way. We needed two vehicles to transport everyone. We got to the Falls around 6 and drove thru the town. We walked around by the Falls and Kaylee ran around again like prisoner released after captivity. I remembered the scene from Superman where the kid falls over the railing at the Falls. We had dinner at the Keg and Kaylee ate a little steak. Mostly she liked having rolls and jam. We checked in to the hotel and got 4 rooms kind of close together. Kaylee had a good time running from room to room and jumping on every bed.

Day 3 – Lazy Day

Kaylee is sitting on the foot rest of Aunt Jo’s recliner. Aunt Jo is in the recliner and they’re having a picnic of oranges. Kaylee is in her Pj’s and her Easter hat and her Easter purse. When Kaylee woke up this morning, the first thing she asked was if she could open another Egg. This time there was a cute shirt in the egg. Kaylee had Jo take the ribbons from the egg from yesterday and today sew them on her hat. Very cute. Kristina made some breakfast for Kaylee, Sandy and herself. They were sitting at the table when Kaylee said something. Kristina said, “I don’t know you at all” and Kaylee said, “Ya you do, My name is Kaylee.” Pretty funny. Kristina’s Aunt Lorie and Uncle Paul came up from Kentucky. We ended up in the living room sitting around singing songs while Paul played the piano and Jo played her guitar. Kaylee danced around and sang. Again, pretty cute.

Day 2 – German Town

We got going around noon. Uncle Dick made us breakfast. We got dressed and headed out. We went up north and went by their old house. We were on our way to Frankenmuth. It’s a German town similar to Leavenworth. On the way Kaylee fell asleep. Dick and Jo drove us through the town. Pretty cool. Kaylee woke up with an attitude. I had to buy her some candy to get her to cheer up. We went to Bronner’s which is a gigantic Christmas store. Thousands of Christmas ornaments. We met up with Dick and Jo’s daughter Stacy. Stacy bought Kaylee a little fuzzy lamb. Kaylee had a good time looking at every ornament. We headed back to the homestead and watched American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Kaylee got to open some Easter gifts. She got an Easter hat that’s white and got to open a paper egg that Jo made. It’s about the size of football. A little white purse was inside.

Day 1 – Travel

We were traveling on Monday to Michigan. Kaylee did really well on the planes. We flew to Minnesota and from there to Detroit. She slept most the way to Minnesota probably most likely to the Benadryl that she took. We bought her some new coloring books and a new Strawberry Shortcake DVD. Minneapolis’s airport felt more like a mall than an airport. We sat next to a very nice guy on our way to Detroit. He talked to Kaylee pretty much the whole way. Kaylee sat between us and she held hands with both of us on takeoff and landing. It was pretty cute. We got to Detroit and there was snow on the ground. It took us about an hour to get our bags and Kaylee ran around like a caged animal that had finally been set free. Kristina’s Uncle Dick and Aunt Jo picked us up from the airport and we drove to their place just outside of Flint. We got to sleep just about 2am Michigan time.