April 22-28, 2019

So we were headed to Kalamazoo, Michigan on Thursday to pick up Scott and all his belongings. He was spending the week wrapping up his final exams. He was so ready to return home and be done with school!  Turns out he spent Easter weekend packing up his room besides studying.  The students were allowed to do some packing on Good Friday, but then the quiet hours starred. Scott was able to put quite a few things in his Jeep at the beginning of the week.

Before heading out, Allison and I had a Girl Scout camping meeting to start wrapping up the last minute items before our May Jamboree. Allison is also trying to squeeze in a few frisbee games in between rain. And since it was getting warmer and raining a bit more, everything really started to grow!  Scott was missing all the spring colors up in Michigan. They are a bit behind our schedule. As a matter of fact, Tom was able to put down some weed and feed before heading out on a few of his work trips. So now the grass was really growing, and we had to squeeze in our first grass cutting before leaving for Michigan.

So on Thursday we drove up to Kalamazoo. We arrived around 7pm, and one of the nice things about Michigan is that the sun stays out later. So we had some daylight left and decided to pack up the rest of Scott's belongings that evening. They only allow you about a 1/2 hour parking outside the dorms, so Tom stayed with the van while Scott and I started bringing things down from his room. Scott had everything packed up already, so we only had a few trips. Meanwhile, Allison was watching our Papa Murphy pizzas cook in the student kitchen. Scott had picked up a few Papa Murphy pizzas for our dinner and we were able to use the student kitchen to cook them to take back to the hotel. We had an early morning planned to check Scott out of his dorm room with the RA the next day.

On Friday morning, Tom and Scott headed over to the dorm early to clean and check out with the RA. Afterwards we all met up for breakfast at his dining hall. Then I noticed that my flat tire warning alarm went off in the van, so we had to drop into Costco to have it looked over. Fortunately, we were the first ones in the door and were waited on right away. Turns out my tires were fine, but the sensor was worn. They were able to replace it in under an hour while we did some shopping. The weather was a bit windy and chilly, so after having the car repaired,  we decided to spend part of the day visiting a local zoo near Battle Creek, Binder Park Zoo. I like using my Baltimore zoo card for discounts including 1/2 off on admission at zoos around America. Binder Park zoo was a very interesting place, with a small lake and boardwalk through a swamp. They had just opened for the season, and did not have all their animals out including the giraffes. We had to take a tram over to the hilly field where they displayed their giraffes, ostrich, antelopes and zebras. It was getting rather cold and very windy, so we did not spend a lot of time walking around the large enclosure. We spent more time peaking in the smaller cages of animals and reptiles and looking at the birds. Including quite a few peacocks that roamed the grounds. After lunch we headed back to campus with a stop into the local movie theater. We all were looking forward to seeing the new Avengers: Endgame movie. We figured if we tried to see it back home, it would be sold out. So we were very excited to get great seats in Scott's local theater before all the kids got out of school that day. And lots of popcorn!  The movie runs 3 hours, but it did not seem like a long running film. We enjoyed the whole experience. We then took a quick walk around Meijers(stocking up on Vernors ginger ale) and took back some sandwiches for dinner.

On Saturday we were headed down the road back home. We decided to stop into the Toledo Zoo on our way to Pittsburgh. We figured we could take 2 days to head back home, and Tom had made hotel reservations for us near Pittsburgh. We had taken the kids to the Toledo zoo when they were little, but neither one of them remembered the place. Neither did we!  It was on the way home, so we spent a few hours walking around the grounds looking at all the animals and their aquarium. It was a nice break on the way home. Afterwards, Tom and Scott even ran into the Libby Outlet glass shop to pick up a few drinking glasses when the guys get together.

We then all met up at the hotel north of Pittsburgh. Turns out it was right near my brother Dan's apartment and $12 Billion dollar Polyethylene plant  project. We were quite impressed with the facility located near our hotel. Unfortunately, we missed visiting with my brother Dan who was back in Texas at the time picking up Sheila from their house in Houston to spend the summer months in Pittsburgh. We will have to plan another trip back to the area to catch up with the both of them.

On Sunday, we drove back to Baltimore and got busy unpacking all of Scott's belongings. Before you know it, we will be repacking the van and heading back to Michigan! We were glad we left when we did since Kalamazoo had 3 inches of snow on Saturday night. But for now, Scott has a nice, long break until the end of August.