December 3, 2021-Christmas in Michigan

(click for today's pictures)

 At some point during this week, Bentley has started waking up in the middle of the night. I sometimes hear her and sometimes I don't, but Robby always does. He gets her from her kennel, and she happily jumps in our bed and lays between us. She sleeps fine and rarely moves, so we also sleep just fine. Today was just like the other evening.

Oh, and before I forget-I ended the blog last night saying that we were going to watch a movie. Well, gracious, we couldn't. First the internet wasn't that great, and second the two movies that I wanted to watch, we couldn't get. I guess I will have to wait for them to come on tv, so even though we were up fairly late, I even had a nap before bed.

Now, we are up fairly late again tonight. It is 12:10 right now, and I have just started on the blog and haven't had my shower yet. This has been another big day. Robby was trying to do some work this morning before we left to go back to The Henry Ford for a few hours, but the internet wasn't great.

So we went ahead and left earlier than planned, so he could work from the parking lot there since the internet would be better. That was fine-except when we went outside to move the camper we realized that it was snowing. It was big wet flakes falling pretty good. If we had been out and about while in Arkansas, we would have hurried and bought some bread and milk.

Thankfully, the weather was not below freezing and had been in the 50s yesterday, so we weren't too worried about their being any slick spots. It was just something to see-we never thought that we would bring the camper to Michigan in December and drive around in the snow, but that is sure what we did this morning.

Once we made it to The Henry Ford parking lot, Robby did his work while the rest of us had our breakfast or finished getting ready. The parking lot is huge so we were able to put the slide out and relax a bit. We eventually did go into the museum-and brrr it was cold outside on our walk inside.

I looked then and realized that at least it was the same temperature during the day that it was going to be tonight, so that at least made me feel good. Also, feeling the chilly temperature this morning probably encouraged the kids to dress more warmly tonight. 

We started walking around the museum in the Lincoln/Rosa Parks area. Seeing the chair that Lincoln was assassinated or Rosa Parks bus is always neat. Then there were the presidential cars-Reagan's, Kennedy's and some other ones that I really don't remember. Next up was a walk around the model trains.

By this time it was time for us to go and watch our Imax. We have now watched 3 of the 4 Imax movies that they are currently showing here. Today's imax was about the pacific ocean-I stayed awake because Robby bought popcorn, and I had to keep passing it right to left.

After the movie, we walked around the museum some more. We even found another short race car film to watch before heading back to the camper. At the camper, we all had a snack before donning lots and lots of winter clothing.

For example-I wore leggings and blue jenas, an undershirt, a long sleeve tshirt, a fleece vest, my winter coat along with a hat and gloves. Robby at one time said that he had on 5 layers-I think that he may have been exaggerating, but I am not too sure. Whitman was the only little Dennie to have long underwear. We bought him some at Costco not too long ago since it was a great deal. He must have stayed warm, because he carried his jacket most of the night.

The parking lot opened at 4:30, and our meal was to start at 5. However, we were in the parking lot at 4:20 and probably were beginning to eat just a little bit after that. We did park and then work on getting Bentley settled. Robby did have to walk back to the camper to get himself his big jacket. I had a bag with hats and gloves for everyone so we were ready for the evening.

We ate at the Taste of History restaurant. On our way in, we stopped to take our picture with Santa. He was standing out front which was super fun. Then we went inside for supper. When we arrived, the kids were each given a goodie bag-a gingerbread house to build out of paper and stickers, a glow stick and a sparkly something or another-Campbell put hers in her hair. Then on each table was a Santa sugar cookie and a plate to take home. How fun!

It was a buffet: mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, salad, carrots, broccoli, ham and maple mustard, turkey and cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and rolls. Also there was a cobbler of some sort-I was the only one who ate it. The kids joked that it looked like reindeer food. It was good-possibly blueberries, cranberries, cherries and oats.

It was really neat. There was a lady right nearby us who was playing an instrument beside us-something that she hit with mallets. I don't really know what it was, but it sure did sound festive. The dinner was really neat. We were able to go back and get seconds, though Anderson was the only one who did. As we were leaving, I did pour myself a hot chocolate to enjoy.

I ran back to the car to drop off our plates, goodie bags and cookies. Then we were off on our Greenfield Village Holiday Nights adventure. I know that I have said it before on the blog, but Greenfield Village makes me feel like I am in Disney World. It is a historical Disney, but it gives me those vibes. 

They take so much care with everything that is done there. For example, there were lanterns along each path. There were also fires every so often so we would have easily been able to warm ourselves. Everything just seems perfect. Our first stop was, of course, the Model Ts for our ride around the village. It was a short little ride, but lots of fun. 

I rode with Graham, Campbell and Whitman. Our car didn't start at first, so it took 3 men to get it started. They were having to crank it and do all kinds of things to start it. It was quite entertaining for sure. Finally, we were off on our ride. We didn't have to wait in a line for this, but by the time that we came back, the line was getting long. They said that this was the largest amount of cars they have run at once since before Covid.

The next stop was the ice skating rink. I did think that I was going to die-no, I didn't even skate. I thought I was going to die when I was helping everyone put their skates on. It was in a little greenhouse type structure that had the heat blaring-it was so hot in there. 

Eventually, everyone was laced up and skating. Reagan did the best of the Dennie skates. Anderson made one or two loops around and decided that he was done. Graham improved some, but he could have skated much longer and probably enjoyed it the most. Campbell was the second to quit because her ankles were hurting. Keaton did pretty good, but Whitman-he was a little reckless. Reagan tried to work with him, but he would just skate full speed and crash....and he loved it.

We then walked around some-my favorite part was walking through the covered bridge. It had lights inside of it. Then we walked through some of the different houses that were open. Most of the houses had people in them. Many houses were cooking-at least 2 houses had tables full of food that were all cooked at that house. 

One lady told us about their food. I asked her if they would get to eat it. She said that the turkey was only cooked for 4 hours so it wasn't done. They would cook it some more tomorrow, but they only bake it for the smell. She then looked at the cookies on a platter and said that she had just made those, and they would eat them later that night.

Most of the houses were decorated, some were not depending on who lived there. For example, one house had Puritans living there who did not celebrate Christmas. The school house had WWI soldiers in it-they had buttons and tinsel hanging on their tree. 

We eventually made it to the house that Santa was at. Santa was on the balcony reading out a list of names on the good list. The list stretched from the top floor to the bottom floor of the house. On the other side of the sidewalk, you could give a name for Santa to say. It didn't take too long for Santa to be reading off a list of my Dennies that were all on the good list. That was a lot of fun. Robby even has a little video of it.

We rode the Hershell Spillman Carousel. I rode it so I could get pictures of everybody (Campbell's picture was blurry-urgh), but that carousel is a little bit too fast for me. Then we walked to the gift shop way on the other side of the village so I could get a sticker for the camper. 

I paid a crazy price for a sticker, but it will make me smile every time I see it, so it is worth it. There were other things I could have bought tonight. They had a lantern shop here selling lanterns. I don't need one, but they were pretty. Plus I love all of the books in the gift shop. They even had a hot chocolate bomb in there-I have never had one. Though I could buy hot chocolate for myself to drink every day of the year for what that thing costs. 

There were chustnuts that seemed interesting. We looked at them, but weren't sure about paying 8 dollars for something we have never eaten, don't know how to eat (they looked like pecans) and don't know if we would even like. There were mini doughnuts to buy along with all kinds of hot chocolate. I even saw people with ice cream. 

After the gift shop, we did walk through the printing press. Then it was the the village green because it was about time for the fireworks. We are definitely spoiled with having seen large fireworks shows, so this one was not spectacular, but it was constant for about 20 minutes while people sand carols and read some letters to Santa. It was a neat way to end the evening.

Now, overall, we both probably enjoyed the old car show at the village more than tonight. However, this had been on my list for a long while so I am glad that we were able to do it. It was incredibly neat-next time we come, I would like to eat in their Eagle Tavern-that might have to be a trip for just Robby and me though. 

After the carols and fireworks were over, we went back to the camper. Bentley pottied while Robby took off all of his layers of clothes. We then headed back to the campsite- about 30 minutes away. Robby had planned to get gas tonight because it is easier without the car or trailer. He knew where he wanted to go since it was 13 cents cheaper. He put on his blinker and started to turn in, just as their lights went off-it was 11 and they were closing. Oh, well, we have plenty of gas to start our journey homeward tomorrow.

It took a while to get things back in order in the camper. The kids did help-the floor was a mess because where we parked was full of leaves so they were tracked in. We had big jackets, little jackets and all kinds of hats and gloves to put away. Plus there were pajamas to put on and bed to be made. Most everyone was at least in their bed-right now it is 1 (I did stop in the middle to take my shower) and people are still awake on their devices. We will sleep in a bit tomorrow, and then hit the road. We have more Christmas activities tomorrow. 

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