Canche Chronicles: Our last days in Michigan

TUESDAY was New Year's day. We started the new year by sleeping in. The girls got up earlier than we wanted to get up so David took Haley out to the living room and she played while he fell asleep on the couch and I kept Emily with me until she fell asleep again. The Higgins had spent the night after such a late game of Settlers so Haley was able to play with Isa and Bennett right away. She and Isa played so nicely together, Haley is lucky to have such a sweet and patient cousin. Isa does not boss her around really at all even though she is over two years older than her!

Abuelita made some macaroni and cheese for lunch for the kids and I ate my leftovers from Monday. Haley ate pretty good. After lunch the kids went down for naps and then Adj, David, and I did what we do best: another game of Settlers. Don't think we are completely lame, we did talk about going out and doing something but we figured everything was closed on New Year's Day. After our game Sarah got out all of her pictures from France and Abuelito set up the projector downstairs and Sarah gave us a report on her trip. She had posted a lot of the pictures on her blog while she was there, but there were quite a few additional pictures that hadn't made the cut. It was nice to have steady commentary through the show and ask questions about the places she's seen. I decided that I definitely would love to visit France but I think I would need to bring Sarah along as my translator.

After the slideshow we ate dinner and then hung out for a bit before putting the kids to bed. After the kids were in bed we visited for a while and then, you guessed it, played Settlers.

WEDNESDAY was our last full day in Michigan. We slept in and hung around for a bit in the morning before deciding to go to the mall for the afternoon. Adj was home with Isa and Bennett so we invited them along and told them we would pick them up. Abuelito had left the Expedition so we had seating for eight but there were actually nine of us. It really would be no problem fitting nine people into that thing but four of them were babies and they all have humongous car seats. We put Bennett and Emily in the back and Haley and Isa in the middle. David ended up laying on the floor at our feet but he said it was plenty comfortable. It reminded me of family vacations when we would convince Rin that she would have the most room if she laid on the floor, haha.

The mall was only twenty minutes away but Haley and Isa made the most of their car ride. They were giggling and giving eachother 'five' for most of the way. The kids spent the entire time at the mall in the play area. It was a pretty impressive space with a tree fort and slide and a bunch of smaller jungle gym type stuff surrounding it. Haley and Isa went down the slide over and over. Sarah and Chris did get to do some shopping and David bought an Auntie Anne's Pretzel for Haley and I. Haley actually ate a fair amount of it.

The only hiccup of the afternoon was manifested in a little long-haired boy who kept messing with Haley. I think he just thought she was a baby or something because he kept trying to hold her and pick her up. The only problem was that he wouldn't let go, even when she squirmed and screamed and started to hit him. David and I had to interject several times. His dad was there but never seemed to witness the beginning of the altercations because he was dealing with his younger daughter so he always seemed to walk up when Haley was hitting the boy. Finally David just kept a super close eye on the boy and anytime he started to follow Haley around, David would walk between them. Sometimes the boy just tired to walk harder and get around David so he could get to Haley. We did make Haley say sorry for hitting, she needs to learn to turn the other cheek!

At one point Adj took Isa to the food court to get a smoothie and then Haley played by herself for a while. She wasn't playing long before another little boy came up and wanted to play. He must have been around three or four but he was super nice and basically followed Haley around and tried to get her to follow him, which she never did. When we left she said, 'bye friend' to him.

By the time we were finished at the mall it was almost dinnertime. We went home and arrived in just enough time to set the table for dinner. The Canche's had invited their friend Ardeane for dinner, for those of you who don't know Ardeane, she is basically the Canche's Linda Smith and a good friend of the family. She had even brought Christmas gifts for the kids! Haley was pretty excited to open up a stuffed animal dog for Emily and a new book for herself. We read the book before bedtime and I think it's going to be a favorite. Ardeane left shortly after dinner which left time for a good game of Settlers. Sarah won the first game and then David won. Jesse came after his shift at work and said good-bye to us since we wouldn't get to see him on Thursday and then we went to bed.

Haleyism:
Haley clapped in her sleep, kind of weird to watch.

Emilyism:
Emily slept really well at the Canche house, her naps were fabulous and she usually went down super easy. Maybe it's time to sleep in her crib!!