Michigan...

Back from the Midwest - what a fun, busy trip it was. Very successful if you ask me, we got a LOT done.
Here is a basic run down of our trip - I didn't talk as many photos as I thought I would, we were that busy!

Tuesday - Flight left on time and got to Detroit in about 4 hours - uneventful and quick, just as I like it. Emily and Mat came and picked us up at about 4:45 PM and we went to the Lemke House. We started checking out everything for the garage sale and came up with a game plan then we went to dinner at Silas Pizzeria right in Berkley (my home town). As always, it was deelish! Here is my Dad, acting silly, imagine that!

After dinner, we went home and had a little bon fire in the grill in the backyard! It was so nice, we just sat around and talked about memories we had of the house, Emily (the future Social Worker) ran the session, it was fun! I think I drank my body weight in beer that first day. Wednesday - woke up and my brother was in the garage loading things into a truck he had borrowed. He was planning on taking some of his old stuff and some of my parents old stuff to his house for him and his family. By the time I was done in the shower he was done loading and came inside and we sat with him and drank coffee for a couple hours. It was nice to visit with him. Then came the rain, it rained super hard but only for a short time, but it was gray and cloudy so us gals (Emily, Mom and I) decided to go and see Sex and the City Part 2. It was entertaining, we had a few laughs and I ate WAY too much popcorn! On the way home we stopped and picked up Middle Eastern food from the corner gas station (might sound strange coming from the corner gas station, but it is the BEST). We loaded up our plates and ate dinner outside.After dinner we moved into the garage, put on the stereo and started pricing and organizing things. We worked for a couple hours and got most of everything priced. We moved the party inside, I believe there was a hockey game on or a baseball game (or both), either way, it was important (ha ha!). While watching the game, I thought about ice skating so I found a place that rented hockey skates and I found one so we planned on going on Thursday. That night Emily, Mat, Tim and I all went to Tastee Freeze (Emily, I will always call it that) to get ice cream.

Thursday - On our lunch break from sale prepping, the four of us (Mat and Emily, Tim and I) all went skating and we had the ice to ourselves for the most part. We skated for about an hour, in uncomfortable rental skates, which is pretty good. Here is Emily showing us her great balance on hockey skates! She is a good skater, don't let this photo fool you!

We decided we would then go to the batting cages and hit some balls but when we got over there, it was closed! Boo! So we decided to go to lunch instead at Inn Season Cafe (great veggie place). Following lunch we went to Royal Oak for a minute to walk around and then back home and back to work! Emily made a nice Salmon dinner for the family with corn on the cob, steamed kale and salad. I made white chocolate pretzel and peanut bark for a sweet evening snack. We ate dinner outside again, I love it! We did a once over and it looked like we were all set for the sale of the century on Friday. Tim brushed Peanut so she looked nice for all of the guests, of course she thought they were all there to see her and not there for the sale!

Here is a sneak peak of the sale items:

Friday - First day of the Moving/Garage Sale! Mat and Tim moved all of the big stuff out from the basement into the backyard, they both worked really hard. We were so busy, lots of stuff sold before Noon. It was really nice to see old neighbors and chat with the people who came by. We were so wiped out at the end of the day, it was ridiculous. Mom, Dad, Tim and I went out for dinner since Emily and Mat had other plans. I had 2 cocktails and was feeling mighty fine by the time we got home. A good old MidWest Thunder and Lightening storm in the evening, standing on the porch watching Mother Nature rage with Tim was fun. Running barefoot in the rain in front of my parents house was a flash back to my childhood.

Saturday - Mom made Monkey Bread for Breakfast while we gave the sales floor a face lift and brought out more stuff. Emily and I went into the attic and cleaned out some of my old stuff, lots of ballet books and natural medicine books to sell and lots of photos and letters to look at. The sale on Saturday was great too - time seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was over. We ordered Chinese food for dinner and ate outside before it began to rain for the evening. Emily, Mat, Tim and I went out for ice cream again around 11 PM in a torrential downpour, it was fun though.

Sunday - Open House/Party at my parents house. My best friend from when I was in Elementary School came over with her three kids. We had such a nice time reminiscing about when we were kids. Our parents were friends too (and still are) so we went camping together, skiing in the winter and lots of other fun stuff. Our old neighbors that have since moved came over as well along with current neighbors. My brother came over as well and stayed until around 9 PM after everyone had left it was just Mom, Dad, Tim, Andy and I talking it up. Emily and Mat had other plans and left around 8 PM. It was such a nice party, all of us made a salad and my Mom sliced a ham which was the perfect amount of food for all of us. Sunday night Tim and I went to bed around 11 PM to catch up a little on our sleep.

Monday - slept in a bit, hung out, cleaned out more stuff of mine and put things aside that I was planning to keep. Visited my best friend from High School who was about 45 minutes away - my sister drove me and picked me up. It was so nice to reconnect in person with an old friend even though our visit was short, it was very good like no time had passed at all between us. We just picked up where we left off. Monday night we went to dinner in Greek Town in Detroit.

I am bummed that I didn't bring my new camera to dinner - the low light made all of my photos grainey from my point and shoot (SHOOT!).

Tuesday - packed our bags and got on the plane at 12:30 PM Midwest time and arrived home 5 hours later. We both slept on the plane before it even took off, which was pretty funny, we must have been tired.

Here are some activities that filled some space during our visit:

• Laughing a LOT
• Playing the Trombone (video to come in the future)
• Playing wii with Emily and Mat
• Watching baseball, basketball and hockey on TV
• Getting bit by mosquitoes
• Looking at my Grandma's scrapbook (now I know where I get it from, documenting everything that is).