(click here for today's pictures)
Dearborn, Michigan to Port Clinton, OH
After our little water incident the night before (almost spilling a tiny cup of water on sleeping Whitman), tonight’s water incident was much more exciting. Robby and I were the only ones awake. We were lying in bed looking at our phones and computers planning the next few days. Robby had his large cup of ice and water on the nightstand while below the nightstand Whitman was peacefully sleeping. Robby grabbed something in the dark room from the nightstand. When he did, he knocked over the cup of water. This caused much scrambling by us trying to turn on the lights. Most of the water was still in the cup which thankfully landed right side up in the drawer of the nightstand. However, a large portion of it was laying on the floor just inches from Whitman. If the water had hit any differently Whitman would have gotten a bath in ice cold water. Robby picked up Whitman while I pulled out the soaking wet blankets and sleeping bags. Then we hung them up to dry while finding him more covers. It was quite exciting. Kids just don’t have a clue about what all happens while they are sleeping. Now, tonight there will be no water allowed on the nightstand. After we stopped snickering about Whitman and the water, we went on to bed.
We were also sleeping peacefully until the silly wake up call happened again this morning at 5. This time I didn’t make it to the phone in time to hear the message, but I did get the phone to stop ringing. We woke up when our real alarms went off this morning. Packing up from a hotel is easier than it used to be with no one who could really help. The kids are good help these days but there are still lots of people to navigate around. We packed up our bags and then went to eat our breakfast. Most everyone had waffles today, though Reagan and I had bagels. I do believe that some of the kids would pick a hotel breakfast over any other place to eat. I guess they love all of the choices. After we ate, we loaded the cart and packed up the car.
Today our first priority to was to ride the model Ts again before heading into the Henry Ford Museum. The Hetlz were there early just like us and again we were waiting at the front gates as they opened them. The music is playing and walking into Greenfield VIllage is Disney-like. It is really a pretty special place and unfortunately not many people know about it. Not only did we ride the Model Ts once this morning, but we rode them twice! Everyone divided up and we were on the first round of cars during the day. The drivers talk the entire time, and you learn a ton of info. (Floorboards-made of boards on the floor, Dashboard-originally in carriages to protect the driver from the dash that the horses flung up from their feet.) On each of my Model T rides today, my goal was to find out when the best time for us to return is. Halloween and Christmas sound pretty intriguing, but I am not too sure that I can get Robby to drive us back to Detroit in just a month or two. After riding the Model Ts again, we headed right to the carousel to ride it one more time. The carousel last over 5 minutes long which is about 3 minutes too long for me. I guess we do get our money’s worth though. The kids absolutely loved it.
From there we headed over to the massive Henry Ford museum. The front is shaped like Independence Hall and inside is spectacular. It is a bit overwhelming when you enter it. I think my model T driver told us that the museum is 14 acres, and I definitely believe it. We headed straight to the build a Model T area. We were all able to put a piece of the car together. At the end of the day, we walked back by to see it completely assembled. Then we watched a recording of the I Love Lucy episode when Lucy and Ethel worked at the candy shop. After we had seen their assembly line, we worked on a little assembly line building Model Ts. Next up was the chair that Lincoln was shot in. Rosa Parks bus is always a neat stop to see and sit in. The kids all listened intently to the lady inside telling them about it. While we were on the bus, my Whitman started saying “I’m black, and we are all equal.” Bless that child. From there, we headed towards the Weinermobile. The museum is so massive that you could stay inside of it for days. We saw some doll houses that were magnificently built. Everyone took turns climbing up into a combine. It was huge and everyone wanted to climb up inside of it. Robby ran to buy a cup from the village. They offered free refills, and boy we certainly got our money’s worth. There was another Model T that we were able to sit in for a picture. Then it was a walk through all of the trendy things from the past few decades. The Dynamaxion house was near there. The house is basically a round tin house. It is pretty Jetson-ish. I think that I would enjoy living in one because there were lots of windows. Robby did listen to the person talk about the house. He told me that I didn’t want to live in one because they had condensation. Therefore, we would need to have interior gutters which often become stinky.
I believe that our lunch break was next. We ate in the parking lot again. Today, we pulled out the table cloth and ate on the grass. Now, my Reagan, Anderson and Graham opted to eat in the van. I do believe that they were a little embarrassed about us eating on the grass beside the sidewalk. Or maybe they were worried about the massive amount of bees that were all over Greenfield Village. Our sandwiches again tasted great today. We are out of sliced cheese but since we were eating outside we just used shredded cheese since it wouldn’t make a mess in the car. After we ate, we joined the Heltz’s back at the museum. We saw the presidential car section. All of the cars in the museum actually work. We had listened to a podcast they said that you would often see oil leaking from these well maintained cars. There were lots of cars to see-old cars, fast cars, motor homes and everything in between. The kids stopped for a while to play in a service station area to work on a car. They highly liked this little break. From there, or maybe before we made it there, we walked through the train section of the museum. The trains were massive there, and there was even a model train set that the kids watched for a long time. We walked through the airplane section where everyone made their own paper airplanes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember how to make an airplane like the man at the library a few weeks ago. There was one more thing the kids desperately wanted to do before left the museum-make knex cars and race them down a little ramp. They did this for about 15 minutes and could have stayed for another hour! It was nearly 3 so we walked towards the Village for one last hurrah before heading on our merry way.
We had never walked down to the working farm area so that was our first stop. We toured the farm house. The kids enjoyed discovering what the corn cobs in the outhouse was used for. On our way to the train roundhouse, we walked through the barn. There was supposed to be a turntable demonstration, but it didn’t happen today. That was fine though because Whitman was going to be devastated because he was too young to do it. Back to the carousel we then went. We had to wait to ride on it this time. The crowds today were pretty heavy, but I can certainly see why because it was a beautiful day with perfect 70 degree weather. After the carousel, the Heltz headed back to their motor home because they had about 5 more hours to ride before making it to their evening destination. We opted to wait in the pretty long Model T line to ride one last time before we closed the park down. At closing time, we heard the factory whistle blow and headed out of the park. We did make a run through the gift shop on our way out. Robby bought the kids all a sugar candy stick and he bought me a loaf of hobo bread (raisin and walnut).
Once we made it to the car, we unloaded and readied for our hour and a half drive to our hotel. I worked on the blog while we listened to a comedian. He was quite funny. After 30 minutes, I passed out snacks-oatmeal cream pies, hobo bread, chex mix, and rice krispy treats. The drive back into Ohio was really pretty. The part of Ohio that we drove through was really pretty. There was corn fields and beautiful old farm houses everywhere. Even after a slight detour, it just took us an hour and a half before we made it to our destination. We didn’t see a whole lot of the town, but it seems that we are almost in a beach/lake town in the middle of Ohio. I think that tomorrow will prove this to be a very beautiful area. Tonight we have two hotel rooms that we have spread out in. Super was chicken tortillas in the hotel room. This trip, we have been uber prepared on our meals. Too often we have had to eat sandwiches twice a day which is something that we just don’t like to do. Robby had chicken, shredded cheese and salsa in the ice chest so that along with chips and tortillas, we had quite a super.
Everyone but Reagan swam for a little bit after supper. The 4 big kids played a game that Whitman created, and they played it for a long time. Now, once they stopped playing Whitman had himself a good old fit. He just stood on the edge of the pool sobbing. The boy was just exhausted. His little legs have walked over 5 miles each day for the last few days. Robby said that once they got back in the room, he calmed down some. The laundry is drying and will be done soon. Then it was be bedtime for these two rooms! Tomorrow will be another busy day.
Dearborn, Michigan to Port Clinton, OH
After our little water incident the night before (almost spilling a tiny cup of water on sleeping Whitman), tonight’s water incident was much more exciting. Robby and I were the only ones awake. We were lying in bed looking at our phones and computers planning the next few days. Robby had his large cup of ice and water on the nightstand while below the nightstand Whitman was peacefully sleeping. Robby grabbed something in the dark room from the nightstand. When he did, he knocked over the cup of water. This caused much scrambling by us trying to turn on the lights. Most of the water was still in the cup which thankfully landed right side up in the drawer of the nightstand. However, a large portion of it was laying on the floor just inches from Whitman. If the water had hit any differently Whitman would have gotten a bath in ice cold water. Robby picked up Whitman while I pulled out the soaking wet blankets and sleeping bags. Then we hung them up to dry while finding him more covers. It was quite exciting. Kids just don’t have a clue about what all happens while they are sleeping. Now, tonight there will be no water allowed on the nightstand. After we stopped snickering about Whitman and the water, we went on to bed.
We were also sleeping peacefully until the silly wake up call happened again this morning at 5. This time I didn’t make it to the phone in time to hear the message, but I did get the phone to stop ringing. We woke up when our real alarms went off this morning. Packing up from a hotel is easier than it used to be with no one who could really help. The kids are good help these days but there are still lots of people to navigate around. We packed up our bags and then went to eat our breakfast. Most everyone had waffles today, though Reagan and I had bagels. I do believe that some of the kids would pick a hotel breakfast over any other place to eat. I guess they love all of the choices. After we ate, we loaded the cart and packed up the car.
Today our first priority to was to ride the model Ts again before heading into the Henry Ford Museum. The Hetlz were there early just like us and again we were waiting at the front gates as they opened them. The music is playing and walking into Greenfield VIllage is Disney-like. It is really a pretty special place and unfortunately not many people know about it. Not only did we ride the Model Ts once this morning, but we rode them twice! Everyone divided up and we were on the first round of cars during the day. The drivers talk the entire time, and you learn a ton of info. (Floorboards-made of boards on the floor, Dashboard-originally in carriages to protect the driver from the dash that the horses flung up from their feet.) On each of my Model T rides today, my goal was to find out when the best time for us to return is. Halloween and Christmas sound pretty intriguing, but I am not too sure that I can get Robby to drive us back to Detroit in just a month or two. After riding the Model Ts again, we headed right to the carousel to ride it one more time. The carousel last over 5 minutes long which is about 3 minutes too long for me. I guess we do get our money’s worth though. The kids absolutely loved it.
From there we headed over to the massive Henry Ford museum. The front is shaped like Independence Hall and inside is spectacular. It is a bit overwhelming when you enter it. I think my model T driver told us that the museum is 14 acres, and I definitely believe it. We headed straight to the build a Model T area. We were all able to put a piece of the car together. At the end of the day, we walked back by to see it completely assembled. Then we watched a recording of the I Love Lucy episode when Lucy and Ethel worked at the candy shop. After we had seen their assembly line, we worked on a little assembly line building Model Ts. Next up was the chair that Lincoln was shot in. Rosa Parks bus is always a neat stop to see and sit in. The kids all listened intently to the lady inside telling them about it. While we were on the bus, my Whitman started saying “I’m black, and we are all equal.” Bless that child. From there, we headed towards the Weinermobile. The museum is so massive that you could stay inside of it for days. We saw some doll houses that were magnificently built. Everyone took turns climbing up into a combine. It was huge and everyone wanted to climb up inside of it. Robby ran to buy a cup from the village. They offered free refills, and boy we certainly got our money’s worth. There was another Model T that we were able to sit in for a picture. Then it was a walk through all of the trendy things from the past few decades. The Dynamaxion house was near there. The house is basically a round tin house. It is pretty Jetson-ish. I think that I would enjoy living in one because there were lots of windows. Robby did listen to the person talk about the house. He told me that I didn’t want to live in one because they had condensation. Therefore, we would need to have interior gutters which often become stinky.
I believe that our lunch break was next. We ate in the parking lot again. Today, we pulled out the table cloth and ate on the grass. Now, my Reagan, Anderson and Graham opted to eat in the van. I do believe that they were a little embarrassed about us eating on the grass beside the sidewalk. Or maybe they were worried about the massive amount of bees that were all over Greenfield Village. Our sandwiches again tasted great today. We are out of sliced cheese but since we were eating outside we just used shredded cheese since it wouldn’t make a mess in the car. After we ate, we joined the Heltz’s back at the museum. We saw the presidential car section. All of the cars in the museum actually work. We had listened to a podcast they said that you would often see oil leaking from these well maintained cars. There were lots of cars to see-old cars, fast cars, motor homes and everything in between. The kids stopped for a while to play in a service station area to work on a car. They highly liked this little break. From there, or maybe before we made it there, we walked through the train section of the museum. The trains were massive there, and there was even a model train set that the kids watched for a long time. We walked through the airplane section where everyone made their own paper airplanes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember how to make an airplane like the man at the library a few weeks ago. There was one more thing the kids desperately wanted to do before left the museum-make knex cars and race them down a little ramp. They did this for about 15 minutes and could have stayed for another hour! It was nearly 3 so we walked towards the Village for one last hurrah before heading on our merry way.
We had never walked down to the working farm area so that was our first stop. We toured the farm house. The kids enjoyed discovering what the corn cobs in the outhouse was used for. On our way to the train roundhouse, we walked through the barn. There was supposed to be a turntable demonstration, but it didn’t happen today. That was fine though because Whitman was going to be devastated because he was too young to do it. Back to the carousel we then went. We had to wait to ride on it this time. The crowds today were pretty heavy, but I can certainly see why because it was a beautiful day with perfect 70 degree weather. After the carousel, the Heltz headed back to their motor home because they had about 5 more hours to ride before making it to their evening destination. We opted to wait in the pretty long Model T line to ride one last time before we closed the park down. At closing time, we heard the factory whistle blow and headed out of the park. We did make a run through the gift shop on our way out. Robby bought the kids all a sugar candy stick and he bought me a loaf of hobo bread (raisin and walnut).
Once we made it to the car, we unloaded and readied for our hour and a half drive to our hotel. I worked on the blog while we listened to a comedian. He was quite funny. After 30 minutes, I passed out snacks-oatmeal cream pies, hobo bread, chex mix, and rice krispy treats. The drive back into Ohio was really pretty. The part of Ohio that we drove through was really pretty. There was corn fields and beautiful old farm houses everywhere. Even after a slight detour, it just took us an hour and a half before we made it to our destination. We didn’t see a whole lot of the town, but it seems that we are almost in a beach/lake town in the middle of Ohio. I think that tomorrow will prove this to be a very beautiful area. Tonight we have two hotel rooms that we have spread out in. Super was chicken tortillas in the hotel room. This trip, we have been uber prepared on our meals. Too often we have had to eat sandwiches twice a day which is something that we just don’t like to do. Robby had chicken, shredded cheese and salsa in the ice chest so that along with chips and tortillas, we had quite a super.
Everyone but Reagan swam for a little bit after supper. The 4 big kids played a game that Whitman created, and they played it for a long time. Now, once they stopped playing Whitman had himself a good old fit. He just stood on the edge of the pool sobbing. The boy was just exhausted. His little legs have walked over 5 miles each day for the last few days. Robby said that once they got back in the room, he calmed down some. The laundry is drying and will be done soon. Then it was be bedtime for these two rooms! Tomorrow will be another busy day.
No comments:
Post a Comment