Well the storm was heading our way and Tom almost pulled the plug on our trip to Michigan. The day after Christmas a huge snow storm was traveling up the coast, but as I pointed out to Tom, we were heading northwest away from the storm. So he decided to take my suggestion and we piled in the van and headed out. First the kids both served the 9am mass. I thought it was a very wonderful homily as our Deacon spoke about the holy family, and how important it is to spend time doing things together as a family.
We had no problem spending time together during our holiday week. After I convinced Tom and Mom Bozyk that travel was possible, we headed to Mich. We even took a brief stopover at our local outlets for a few gift exchanges and to pick up some snow boots for Scott. We arrived at my parents house that night.
On Monday we visited my Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy(Mom Bozyk's younger brother). We haven't seen them in a few years, and not since Joe had his open heart surgery. We were also surprised to see my two cousins, Eric and Ryan, both MSU grads. Eric is currently living in Charlotte NC and was in town for the holidays. Ryan had to run back up to MSU to move out of his house and was heading for his new job in Chicago. We enjoyed visiting and Joe pulled Scott around the house on a snow tube behind their ATV. Allison on the other hand got to drive the ATV around in the snow. Scott also enjoyed sledding down onto their frozen pond. It was great to visit. We were sorry to hear that their chocolate lab Mattie is recuperating from surgery from cancer. They have taken quite a few trips up to the vet school at MSU.
On Tuesday we attempted to take the kids skiing with my OT buddy Laura, her husband Dan and their two kids, Brandon and Katelyn. Sadly, it was extremely cold and there was an unbelievable line so we decided to try for another day. Needless to say, the kids weren't too happy.
Instead, we all went bowling and had dinner at Dave and Busters while the kids played video games. We headed back to Laura and Dan's house on WEds evening as Laura bought Allison and myself tickets to see the Broadway play, Mary Poppins at the Detroit Opera House. I included a picture of Allison at the Opera House(incredible chandeliers, and they change the colors of the bulbs on the main light to match the theme of the holiday). We loved the musical-especially when Mary Poppins flew over the audience, and it was fun to head to downtown Detroit. I loved seeing the skating rink in downtown Detroit. We also enjoyed a traditional polish dinner in Hamtramack before the play. I loved the dill soup-the kids were not too fond of the sauerkraut though. And Scott can't figure out where the chicken went in the City Chicken(it is actually just pork and beef on a stick).
In trying to keep Scott in the snow spirit I took him to a sledding hill behind the local library and we took a few runs down the hill together Weds morning. Allison and Tom opted to hang out in the library and catch up on the internet and reading.
We spent the night at Laura and Dan's on Weds since it looked as if Thursday was the day to hit the slopes. Surprisingly they were calling for rain on Friday but drizzle starting on Thursday, so we took a chance. Turns out it was a lot better at the slopes. We headed to Mount Holly in Grand Blanc(Tom's old ski haunt). We skied last New Years Eve and had hoped to repeat the event, but the weather did not cooperate. No matter, Thursday worked well and we all had a great time skiing, although the slopes were a bit slippery and icy. After a full day we ended up having Coney dogs in Grand Blanc, Flint style.
Friday we spent the day shopping and had dinner at home with Mom and Dad Bozyk. Tom and Scott were fighting colds all week, so sadly Tom was in bed by 8pm. The rest of us stayed up watching movies and rang in the New Year's with sparkling cider. We will have to save the champagne for another night.
We decided to head back to MD on New Year's Day since the weather was good. We even stopped off at Buffalo Wild Wings in Ohio to catch the football games. I think we could have kept going. All the midwest teams looked sad-MSU, UofM and Wisconsin all lost their bowl games. I guess Ohio came out on the top.
It was good to get home and have a day before we started back to school and work. It gave me time to (yes that's right) do the laundry! I also had the kids busy working on reports. Scott had to write an essay for a school scholarship on "What I want to be When I Grow Up". Allison is busy working on some GS essays for upcoming events. She also had homework though that she was given over the holiday that she was working on. Tom meanwhile took advantage of the mild weather to take down all the outdoor Christmas lights. Looks like next weekend we will have to tackle the inside decorations.
So we'll be back to a busy week on Monday! Kathleen