The Michigan Visit Continues. July 18-25

I guess we can't say we are visiting home in Michigan being Florida residents, but we are having a great vacation visiting family and friends here in Michigan!
After we left Jordan and Eliza's we went to our old church, The Cathedral of St Andrew in Grand Rapids, on our way to Mom's apartment in Muskegon for a visit.  It was great to see Fr G and some of the parishioners who were in attendance.

We arrived at Mom's. took a ride to Buzz's in Whitehall eating lunch and then driving along the lake to see all the big waves! Julie made some fresh zucchini (Mom's request and a favorite of all of us) and made a pot of pea soup for mom to eat tomorrow and put in her freezer. We, rearranged some furniture and coached Mom on her Kindle skills.

We looked at old pictures with Mom until 10:45 PM.  Julie was able to capture a few notes for the back of some of the photos too.  I think Mom really enjoyed looking at the photos and telling a few stories about them.  Speaking of old photos, here I am swimming with my Mom.

Our children's great and great, great grandmother.

We spent the night and Monday morning I cooked pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  It was great to see Mom again!  We will be over to see her a few more times before we depart back to the boat in early August.  In fact we already made plans to take her to Church and lunch on 7-24.

Monday afternoon we arrived at our friends Brian and Sue's home for a visit.  They joined us for a great dinner at Boatwerks Restaurant in Holland.  They were great hosts...in fact we "cramped" their style a bit as we both had to fast for a blood test on Tues. morning so all their kind offers of snacks and beverages had to be declined! We stayed with them for a couple nights while we attended to doctor appointments etc. We had wonderful time visiting, enjoying old stories and photos, and enjoyed the cats looking for a little attention from time to time. We had a wonderful home cooked and grilled meal on their deck on Tues night. 
We took nice walks in Hager Park behind their home a couple different times. 

It was nice to be back in the old neighborhood, and we even got to drive past where kids still play on the street in front of our old former house (on the right in this photo)....no hockey net though Jordan and Brett!

Julie and Sue were able to do some shopping and Brian and I went golfing on Wed.  So I got to try out the rotator cuff surgery....it performed well and much better than my golf game for sure!  Thanks so much for the hospitality Sue and Brian!
We also had dinner with Karen and Jeff at the Rush Creek Bistro.  It was wonderful to catch up with them and we even went to their condo for a great dessert.  Thanks so much.  And congratulations on the new job Karen!
On our walk, we passed Karen's spot in the local community garden.

We also spent some time with Deb & Kevin and Erin and Craig.  It was so nice to see them and catch up a bit.  We will have a dinner with them next week too.
Craig and Erin even have a seven toed cat like Julie had when she was young.  This stray, now named Tiger, found its way to their home and is now regularly fed.

We stopped to say hello to Julie's Uncle Bud who will soon be 98.  He is always fun to visit with!

On Wednesday night we arrived at our friends Susan and Mike's for a few days.  Again, we had lots of errands to run each day and they also had volleyball, golf and other activities which didn't allow us much visiting time until Friday night.  Friday morning I even was able to help out and mow most of their lawn while Mike was at work. After selling our home seven years ago this was a first with a power mower in a while!

They prepared a wonderful grilled meal on Friday night and we also enjoyed some Marie Catribe (a local favorite bakery) desserts.  Later in the evening Sarah and Joe stopped by to say hello as they were staying with Joe's parents in Jenison for the weekend.  Here they are strategizing Ticket to Ride.

Saturday morning Mike fired up the stove and made some wonderful omelets.  Oh, and let's not forget about the great French press coffee each morning!  Thanks so much for the kind hospitality Susan and Mike.

Saturday night our "Supper Club" group was reunited at the recently opened Iron restaurant in Grand Rapids.  It was great to spend some time with Mary Beth & Jim and Mary& Kevin.  The food and company was great! 

Sunday morning we left Susan and Mike's during a pretty good thunderstorm.  We picked up Courtney in Spring Lake and then Mom in Muskegon and attended church downtown Muskegon.  And a big surprise was engineered too....Sarah and Joe joined us there and surprised both Mom and Courtney!  We all had a great meal at the Lake House and said good bye to Sarah and Joe as they were on their way to visit Jordan and Eliza on their way to the Detroit airport.

We also took the opportunity to say hello to some of our old "dock neighbors" at the marina.  It was fun to say hello to Mark and Amber and Colin and Kristy (and meet their new addition too!)
We took a little detour into Grand Haven to have Mom show us the home she worked at in the early 1940's.  She was a cook and housekeeper in a large home for a prominent resident.  Here is a shot of the home as it looks today.  

And here is Mom in front of it in the 40's. 

We got back to Mom's apartment and went shopping for a kitchen storage cabinet for her.  I spent about an hour and a half putting it together and it looks like it will be a great improvement for her kitchen. 

We again spent the evening with Mom and spent a little time on the Kindle on Monday morning before we left.  Hopefully we departed in time for her to make the Tai Chi!  Almost 93 and still finding time to exercise....wow!
We will stay the next couple days downtown Grand Rapids as we again have routine medical appointments to attend to.  More later.....thanks for following our blog.