Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Bye, Bye Summer . . .

A couple of weeks back (30 July) the kids and I went to the Monroe County Fair which has traditionaly been the "end of summer" for folks in Monroe County. But as they have moved "fair week" back from mid-August to early August it just isn't the same - end of summer deal as it once was. So, I decided to come up with some other "end of summer" ideal that would help fill the bill for a kinda - back 2 school kinda thing and so this weekend (3 Sept - 5 Sept)was focused on those "transition" activities.

The first activity was each to pick - Hot Dogs! ! Not just any hot dog mind you, an end of summer hot dog from the greatest place for weiners in America - Monroe's Original Hot Dog's and Rootbeer. Monroe's Original has always been one of our favorite places and with me living so far away this would be a special treat for me! The kids have always loved hot dogs and as you can imagine they were happy to humor me in this endevor. For those unfamilar - and if that is you, I am sorry, you really are missing out, Monroe's Original is a traditional type of place straight out of the 1950's with young girls coming to the car (car hop's) to take your order then deliver your food on a platter that hangs on the glass of your door. The cooliest part of the meal (ok - other than the terrific food) is that you have a great opprortunity to sit in a captive enviornment with your family to laugh, joke, talk and just be together.



After our meal we made the normal trip for snacks and then out to my home for the weekend. It isn't that I live forever away from Monroe but normally the hour drive is not something that I look forward to but with the kids in the car I really adore the drive as it gives us time to not only talk but do some of the silly things that I miss so much - like singing Ramones songs as we go down the road!

Friday ended with the normal movie and then our typical arguing over who would sleep with Knoah. I normally like this argument because Knoah has really taken to sleeping with me and to be fair - I love that. I so miss him when he is not with me and every second that I am with him is one that I want to spend close to him!

Saturday we had a wonderful breakfast and then set out to find some more odd and end items that they may need for school. This was fun as it allowed us to go shopping and mostly browse for items. Hannah, while we were shopping, came up with one of the better ideas for us which was to purchase some "crafts" that we could build together. This has become something that we normally try and do at least a couple of times a month and this weekend was no different.

Hannah picked a wonderful Birdhouse for herself, Knoah decided he needed to do a sailboat and Jacob was estatic that they had a "race car".



The kids grew hungry before we headed home and so we decided to stop and pick up something to eat. We settled on a place that none of us had ever eaten at in Yspsilanti called Sinbad's Koney Island. While the food was pretty good and the service was excellent the one thing that Sinbad's gave us was something we never expected - a trip in a time machine! Well, maybe not exactly but once we sat down Jacob noticed that the chandiler hanging above us in the resturant was the very same chandiler that used to hang in our home on South Macomb in Monroe. Seeing the lamp hang above me was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was cool that Jacob's memory is so wonderful but it was a bit uncomfortable to be reminded of happier times. Still we had a good time at the resturant and everyone seemed to enjoy there food. Hannah seemed the happiest as she not only finished her pasta but also tow of Knoah's chicken strips and my salad!



Saturday ended again with another film and the promise of another awsome day on Sunday. With sunday's arrival we decided that we would build our "crafts" so we spent time putting them together. Of course, since this involved painting, Hannah was the most aggresive at doing this and the happiest.



Thankfully though Knoah seemed to enjoy doing his "sailboat" too and we were able to finish it before making the journey home. Again this week the separation was, for me, difficult at best but it was made somewhat easier by knowing that in just a few days we would be meeting for dinner. Still, leaving the most important people in your life is never easy but is something that I am finding I have to learn how to deal with, at least for now.




http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monroe-MI/Monroes-Original-Hot-Dog-Drive-in/276884238561

http://www.manta.com/c/mmj9080/sinbad-s-koney-island

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