Showing posts with label Detroit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Detroit. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Post #470 - 41 days until my blogoversary - and the number of followers continue to grow (still overwhelmed)

To enter my 3-100-500 giveaway, visit this post and enter a comment.

I got back home late Sunday evening...close to midnight...and between the 3 hour time difference between Detroit and here...and the overwhelming mountain of laundry, I just needed to recouperate and catch up. Now that I have had that 36 hours, I find myself up on going on Tuesday morning. The refrigerator and pantry is filled back up with all the necessities this family needs and the laundry has been washed, folded and put away. I just need to catch up on a few other things, but at least I fell a little more up to speed than I did yesterday. Isn't it amazing was a trip to the grocery store and an empty laundry basket do to a person :)

Thank you all for the wonderful comments regarding FS - I didn't get much more done during the plane ride on Sunday. Instead, I played the onboard trivia game that Delta has. You can play along with anyother passenger that logs in. All of Matthew's teammates thought it was pretty cool to play. First you had to come up with a clever name - Bambam, Toots, Hiya, so-n-so's Mom, etc. But because your seat assignment was listed, they all figured out who was who. Of course it was a competitive hour of trivia, not sure if all the passengers on board enjoyed 12 year olds and a few of us hockey parents hooting and hollering on board...but we all enjoyed ourselves. For the most part, it made the 4hr 45 minute ride go by faster...however that last hour was a killer and I was just really to go!

The last game of the tournament, which was the consulation game, we were suppose to play a different Canadian team. However, when we showed up at the rink we were told that they had left early not due to being disappointed that they ended up 4th in their bracket. Instead we played another team from Canada - Don Mills PW99AAA Team - who, from what I understand ranks close to 5th in all of Canada in their age group. Well, they were definitely the best team we played all weekend. We loss 9-1....my son, Matthew scored that one goal. I was excited for him because he worked so hard throughout the whole weekend, never giving up during any of the losses earlier in the weekend. He so deserved to get one "biscuit in the basket"!
Matthew standing in center ice, strategizing with his teammates as they wait for the puck drop
With all of our games complete by Saturday evening, Sunday was left for a little sleeping in followed by breakfast in the room and completion of homework. Matthew was able to get most everything complete by checkout time. We met up with some of the other families and decided to head to the Henry Ford Museum. I had heard that this was the place to go...and it definitely was.

While their automotive section was closed, for they were working on a new exhibit that was going to show the revolution of the American car -we were able to peek in and see most of the "cool" old cars as well as the old neon McDonald and Holiday Inn signs.
Old, neon McDonald's Hamburger sign...don't you just love that old car underneath!
But this HUGE museum had so many things - Big old train engines...and I mean enormous! Examples of farm tractors to show how they evolved from the late 1800s/early 1900s until now; examples of different motors from the late 1800s/early 1900s until now, etc. They even had a life size display of kitchens, showing the evolution from:
Kitchen from 1800s - makes me think of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Later 1800s to early 1900s - indoor oven & stove, indoor water
Around 1940s or so...I rememer, when my great-grandmother passed away and we walked through her house before it was sold, there was a oven/stove combo unit like the one that was shown in this display.
There was also a section of the museum where they pointed out the different generations - baby boomers, generation X, generation Y and current...what was discovered to make life easier, what entertained us and so on. Do you remember:
the electronic toys - Merlin, Simon and the Little Professor calculator? After walking around this area with some of my fellow hockey moms, we really started to feel old when we realized that things that were new to us are now in a museum.

Other exhibits featured presidental cars - the one that Kennedy was shot in was on display as well as the one that Regan was getting ready to get into before he was shot. Very eery! They also had the exact bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person. Speaking with the museum docent at the Rosa Parks' bus, we found out that someone had the bus and put it up for auction on Ebay and that is how they came to have it in their museum. Really a neat thing for the boys to sit in and listen to her recorded voice telling the story!

We were in the museum for hours. We did stop and grab a bite to eat, because the kids were getting hungry:
Matthew and I, sitting by the Oscar Mayer weiner mobile
Anyone for a footlong...
"Ok, mom...enough...can we eat now?"
So of course lunch was at the Weiner Cafe right next to the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile...and for you all who know about the Oscar Meyer Weiner Whistles...yes, we did get one of those from the museum gift store :)

Everyone who went to the museum had a great time. It definitely was a winner with the boys who went - and a fun way to end a great weekend!

Thank you for visiting and reading about our time in Detriot. I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday! Until next time, remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!
Lisa

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Hello from Detroit, Michigan and the Warrior International Hockey Tournament

Post #469 - 44 days until my blogoversary - and the numbers of followers continue to grow (Wow, you all are amazing!)

To enter my 3-100-500 giveaway, please go to this post and enter a comment.

Hello from Detroit, Michigan where I hear it was 80 degrees and sunny last weekend, but this weekend we are experiencing the kind of fall weather we done see much in Northern California...rainy, 40 degrees and very windy (well, I guess we do see this type of weather sometime around January as our winter).

We arrived in Detroit at 3pm on Thursday and had our first games on Friday. The first game we lost to a team from Rhode Island - 0 to 5...and then later in the evening we lost to a team from Detroit - 1 to 4. While it would be fun to have won those games, we don't feel too bad about those scores. Both of the teams we played were very fast, skilled and disciplined...things that we don't quite have but are working towards. This morning we will be playing against a team from Canada.

Time at the airport on Thursday and on the plane allowed me to visit with Wild Berries and we got far in our conversation...here is a phone photo snap of Family Sampler as of Thursday evening:
You'll have to excuse this dark, wrinkly shot...but this is all I could muster up in the dark hotel room .
My visit with Wild Berries has been completed for a while and I am getting to know Clay Pot. She is a shy one, shows off a little bit of a blush when we talk. She will share space on the border of Family Sampler with Wild Berries, showing up every other spot. I guess that they have known eachother since they were in diapers, so hanging out together on the vine border will be very comfortable and they do compliment eachother a lot. I hope to have anyother status photo in the near future of the completed border.

Well, I got to run and make sure that Matthew has finished his breakfast and is packing up his gear back in his bag...got to get ready for the next game!

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!
Lisa