As if going on the road doing full-time RV was not bad enough for a long time away from my three grandchildren, COVID-19 kept me out of my home state of Michigan for more than a year. I finally got to spend a fun three days with Austin, Corbin, and Alexandria over Memorial Weekend 2021.
The weekend kicked off when my 6-year-old granddaughter, Alex, ran out to greet me. Throwing her arms around me she said, “I missed you, I haven’t seen you in YEARS!”
It was true, I hadn’t seen her since June of 2019. We have facetime calls on the phone, and I send postcards to all three grandchildren as I travel, but it isn’t the same. The boys, being 15 (Austin) and 11 (Corbin) are more reserved. It was nice to see them in action and how they have grown.
The Saturday I arrived we drove down to Mt. Pleasant to a park the kids like. It has a huge playground area with all kinds of activities. Austin brought his scooter to ride since a lot of the playground equipment is well below his age group. I had fun taking pictures of the kids running around and enjoying the various activities. I could totally understand Corbin’s reaction when I suggested he climb to the top of the monkey bars where Rob, Austin, and Alex were for a picture. He looked at me and said, “it’s a long way up there.” That’s okay. I don’t like heights either.
Sunday we drove to the Children’s Discovery Museum in Mt. Pleasant. The museum is small but packed with lots of activities. Rob built a couple rockets for the kids to shoot off over and over, which they enjoyed. The kids had fun with everything from the lightroom, watching the effects of air propulsion in a tube, viewing exhibits through a microscope, water movement, digging for dinosaur bones, and more.
Mid-day we took a break and went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. After eating I took Corbin and Alex back to the museum for more fun. Caroline, Rob, and Austin headed back home to handle a few things there. It was almost closing time when Corbin, Alex, and I left the museum.
Monday was the holiday. Caroline, the kids, and I intended to visit the train museum in Clare, but unfortunately, it was closed. The kids did enjoy climbing up on the train sitting in the yard before we left and headed up to 4X Adventureland in Harrison. We “played at” 18 holes of putt-putt. We didn’t keep score, which was a good thing, or we might have been there all day!
The boys did not want to go on the go-karts, but Alexandria did, and she wanted to ride with me. Caroline rode her one vehicle, and I had Alex with me. They have a fake steering wheel for the passenger, and I noticed she was accurate in making her turns. We were the only two vehicles on the track, so I had fun driving the entire time with the pedal to the floor, drifting at the corners.
I had forgotten how low go-karts sit, and when I was sinking down into my seat I made a comment to Caroline I hoped I could get out. Boy was that no joke! Caroline hopped out of her car and came over and got Alex out of mine. The problem is I have a bad left leg from an accident 10 years ago, plus that ankle is fused. That combined with the second steering wheel on the right gave me no leverage to push myself upright out of the driver’s seat. One of the workers removed two screws and took out the fake steering wheel. That gave me just enough room to get the leverage necessary to slowly raise my body into a standing position. Talk about embarrassing! I’m sure glad they were not busy.
McDonald’s to go eaten in a picnic pavilion of a park curbed everyone’s hunger. From there we picked up bathing suits for Corbin and Alexandria. Austin did not want to go swimming and decided to stay home. Caroline and the other two kids came over to my hotel. The kids swam in the pool for about two hours. It was a great way to finish off the day.
Sadly, the kids had to return to school on Tuesday and that was the day I was driving back to Port Huron. I will not likely see the kids for another year. The long weekend was not entirely over because Caroline met me at Dow Gardens Tuesday morning after dropping the kids at school.
Dow Gardens was a spot I had never been to, and neither had she. I was surprised at how large the place is, which is 110 acres. It was early in the season, so many of the flower gardens were not yet planted, but others were in full bloom. We enjoyed relaxing on the porch of The Pines, the home built by Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow in 1899. It was the only home they ever owned and where they raised their children.
The beautiful reflections of the red bridge in the water, could not be missed. We accidentally ended up in the garden maze and got turned around, even though we had a map. We took the bridge from the gardens to the Whiting Forest, then had a yummy lunch on the patio of the café before going up onto the canopy walk.
The 40-foot high, 1,400-foot long canopy walk is the longest in the nation. Don’t let the map fool you, the walk has only one entrance/exit. It appears on the map that you might be able to enter one area and exit another, but we found this is not true. It actually has arms that are each a dead-end. We were looking at the green trees, I’m sure when fall colors are out the view is spectacular.
It was great spending the day with my daughter, Caroline, without the interruptions of anyone else. It has been a long time since we were able to do that. We said goodbye about 2 pm so she could return home before the kids arrived back from school, and I continued my journey back to Port Huron. I am now on the road traveling again, but looking forward to my next visit to Michigan.
I may be dating myself, but back in the 1970’s there were cute cartoon images, often portrayed by a little chubby couple, and quotes of “Love is…” I was thinking of them the other day and it got me to wondering, what if we applied that formula to happiness? What makes a person happy?
Anyone who has spent time with young children will agree. They are energetic, exhausting, non-stop movement, and most of all entertaining. They will fill your world with knowledge you didn’t know was out there and if nothing else will bring a smile to your face. In my case this week it was two of my grandchildren that filled the bill.
After they were dropped off Corbin immediately informed me that he brought Sissy with him so he would have someone to play with. I guess “play with” is objectionable as he seemed to spend an equal amount of time complaining about her, and i don’t think he ever played with her. Alexandria did tear apart the train track, steal the train signs, steel hot wheels cars, drink all of Corbin’s water, and more.
For the most part Corbin takes it all in stride. After all, he knows how she came to be in his life. You see Alexandria was growing in mommy’s tummy and a doctor had to cut her out because it wasn’t good. When mommy ate Sissy took all the food. Now I must say that is pretty good logic coming from the mind of a five year old. Besides, I’m sure there are a lot of pregnant women out there who feel like the baby is taking all their food when they eat.
As I mentioned, Alexandria tore apart the railroad track and Corbin wasn’t able to get it back together. That was never my area of expertise, my husband Ron always handled it, but since he passed in December it is one of those duties that now falls to me. I worked my way behind the table to the spot where three pieces of track were separated. As I was working I kept hearing a dinging noise, until Corbin said “you’re pushing on the RR Crossing sign.” I wondered where the sound was coming from!
And so our morning went, flying by quickly as it goes. I did take a look at Corbin’s hands and told him he needed to go wash them. Corbin’s response “No, maybe on Thursday.” When I told him they needed to be clean for school Corbin responded that he isn’t going to school, he has to stay with me for forty-five days. Yep, that was his plan and he never even told me. Isn’t it nice to know there is a plan in place should the need arrive?
--- LIFE IS A MELTING POT --- Grace Grogan...Writer, Photographer 