We Visited Detroit...I Swear. There's Evidence

We haven't been home in years. YEARS. I have been promising my family a trip for a while now, and putting it off and hemming and hawing, so I bit the bullet and planned a trip for this summer. Apparently, the weather gods heard I was coming and conspired to brew a warm front that would assure that I didn't want to visit again anytime soon. It is making me dread the move to D.C. even more. I'm already sad enough to leave California. Thank goodness I have my wonderful husband to look forward too.

Anyway, Collin loved his seeing his grandparents. Grandpa might have tilted the scales in favor of glamorizing Michigan by making Collin his very own Sword in the Stone.

A real sword. For a four year old.

It's caused a bit of gasping around here while we've gotten used to the safety rules, but he's in love with it.

Grandpa's house has a much better bath tub than ours does, as do most houses, and much better tub toys. But, then again, don't all houses have better toys than your own? Doctor's waiting rooms with toys covered in Ebola virus and with dead batteries are better than your own.

And, Grandpa even let Collin play with his antique bowling set. Apparently, my iPod isn't the only gadget he needs to play with to be fully entertained.

I let him play with it for the first time on the plane on the way out and a full-on addiction has started.

It was really great for him to get to play with my grandmother too. She wowed him the only way to truly wow my child, with food.

One of the greatest things though, was seeing him play with Ella, my friend Kristin's daughter. Ella was due three days after Collin was due. Collin was three weeks early and Ella was two weeks late. Kristin and I blissfully thought it would be great if we had our babies on the same day. Oh how wrong we were. Darn babies messing up our plans. But, Kristin and I have been friends since our junior year of college and it's great to see our lives change along the way.

His pastime of choice in Michigan was "watering" the plants in grandpa's backyard. By the way, that's sweat, not water from the hose. It's that hot.

And, that's how my boy carries his swords. We've had to lay down ground rules about not carrying the real one that way.

And, my boy found Grandpa's washing machine amazing and "better" than mine.

We made it to the Detroit zoo toward the end of the trip when the temperature dropped a mili-degree. They had an awesome dinosaur exhibit that even had a t-rex. See.

This is the closest I could get to a picture of Collin with the t-rex. As you can see, he is fleeing.

However, he was more than willing to pose with herbivores.

So, Michigan was a success for the boy and an all around good trip. But, when we got back, he hugged the car and his car seat and the welcome mat, and the stairs and the front door (you get the picture). For a week, he kept saying, "I liked Michigan but it would be more fun if Grandpa and Nana Debby lived in California. I like it better here." I agree.

But, Michigan will always have stuff like this:

I grew up climbing on this hippo outside of Crowley's at Oakland Mall while my mom shopped. It got moved to the Detroit Zoo years and years ago when Crowley's closed. It's just one of those things I remember. No matter how much I grow away from Michigan, I won't be able to get rid of things like that damn hippo. I told Bryon the other day that California is my home now, we always have to come back here but I guess there's a bit of Michigan that will always be stuck with me because I got a little twinge of happiness seeing my boy climb on it.