When we go to visit our friends in Kentucky, there is always a group that heads out to the Waffle House. It’s my thing. I love the Waffle House and make it my mission to go there at least once while we are down there. But we don’t have those here in Michigan so going to the IHOP was suggested. I offered to take anybody who wanted to go. Most everybody was tired except for the kids. “Really!? You’re serious?” I said , let’s go. So at midnight on a Saturday night I took Max, Abby, Matthew, and Sara.  Sara wasn’t part of the original group to go, but when she heard we were going, I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to the IHOP. “I wanna go, I wanna go!”
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME
What do you do with 18 people? Besides eat. Well, on Saturday we broke into two groups. The group going to the baseball game, and the group not going to the baseball game. The Detroit Tigers would be playing the Los Angeles Angels downtown at Comerica Park. Eleven of us decided to go for the 4:00pm game, and the others were going to go to Green Field Village. I wasn’t bonkers on watching a baseball game in 90 degree heat, but I really wanted a Ballpark hot dog. Plus, I go to Green Field Village all the time, so a change of scenery would do me good. Especially with this group of people.
ALL IN STRIDE
Our friends were arriving at different times and at different places. The first group, Andy, Angela, Matthew, and Whitney, went straight to my brother’s house. I decided to meet them over there with Ellie. After the general hellos and all, we needed a plan because it was getting close to Ellie’s nap time. It was perfect, we could all go mallwalking!
FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND FUN
We know this crazy group of people from Kentucky that we get together with every year. We aren’trelated by blood, but we consider them to be family. We usually take turns with where we go. One year we go down to Kentucky, and the following year they come up to the mitten. All together there are 18 people. And you can imagine with 18 people with ages ranging from 18 months to, well, let’s just say they are grandparents, a lot of shenanigans can go on. (Last year we all chipped in a couple bucks for a dare for Max to shave his head). But before I get into the details of the weekend extravaganza, let me share some background information so it all makes sense.
A LEAK, AND A RESCUE
Last week was our town’s art fair and Ellie and I sure did spend our fair share of time there. We went every day, sometimes even twice.  The weather was great so it was mainly a great excuse to be out and about and feel the excitement in our small little town. Sometimes we went as a family, sometimes we hung out with friends, sometimes we went solo, and sometimes I went solo. But on the third day of the art fair, my main goal was to get lunch. A pulled pork sandwich from this BBQ master guy to be specific. I had split one with Aya earlier in the week and I wanted more.