Toyota Tour

It's been a really stormy day.  The tornado sirens went off for hours and it has rained on and off most of the day.  I've been watching our local weatherman on TV all day.  Kids were sent home from school at 12:30.  One minute it's pouring rain and the next the sun is out.  It's scary!  And of all days, Doug had to drive to Memphis to pick up a car for a local dealership!  I'll be so glad when this has all passed.

A week ago today we toured the Toyota Manufacturing plant in Blue Springs, about 20 minutes from here.

Jim, Alice Faye, me and Doug, Christy and Block, Jane and D.W., Bonnie and Jerry, and Sharon and Jack.

It was an interesting tour.  So interesting to see the robotics and how they work.  We all enjoyed wearing the hard hats, safety glasses, and jackets!  Not really, but we did enjoy the tour!

The Park

I got a text from Heather a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday saying that Harrison wanted to spend the afternoon with me on Sunday if I wasn't busy.  I wasn't busy at all, except for maybe that Sunday afternoon nap I'd be missing!, so he and Cameron came over for the afternoon.  We always try to do something fun when we're together.

We decided to go to Ballard Park which has a skate park.  They both brought their scooters so off we went.

They rode them across this cute covered bridge.

We had snowcones.

And fed the ducks.  There's a machine there that you can buy duck feed.  You don't get much for 25 cents!

Then back to the skate park.  They had a ball until all of a sudden there was a downpour.  We were soaking wet by the time we got to the car.  We got home and it hadn't rained a drop!  It was so hot that day and I promised them I would take them back once the weather has cooled off.

There was a group of other kids at the skate park, mostly around Harrison and Cameron's age.  They were playing music on their phone.  It was sort of a hip-hop/rap music and I wasn't paying much attention to it but they were right by us so I couldn't help but hear it.  I wasn't listening to the words but all of a sudden hear the "F" word.  I immediately told the kids to turn the music off, that it had bad words in it and was not appropriate for children.  They immediately turned it off without a word which surprised me.  It wasn't long before they left the park or at least the area where we were.

I didn't see any adults with these kids and it makes me wonder if parents know what their kids are listening to...or do they care?  What are kids viewing on YouTube and other social media?  It is really worrisome to me.  So hard to police what children are doing and it's so scary out there!

Maybe I should have handled the situation a little differently.  What would you do?

What's Been Happening

I finally got caught up on my trip to Michigan and now I need to get caught up on life!  Here's what's been happening.

LOTS of baseball for the past two weekends.  Cam did some pitching.

And some good hitting.  In fact, Ben, Doug and I all promised him we'd each give him $100 if he hit it over the fence.  He whacked a good one and we all looked at each other like "this could cost us."  It went practically to the fence but not over so we were spared!

He's got his mouth guard in from catching.

It was so hot one of the days that they played.

He was worn out after playing two games that day.

They were tournament champs!  They each got a small trophy.

And a large team trophy.

Proud dad!

I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to paint the stairs to the apartment in this heat!

Doug pressure washed them, we painted them and they look so much better!

Day 13, Holland, Michigan

We started off the day with a stop at the General Store for donuts.

It was such a beautiful day so we sat on the deck and enjoyed our breakfast.  You just can't beat donuts for breakfast!

Next stop was the Holland Lighthouse.  I love this lighthouse.  It is one of the most photographed lighthouses.

We spent the morning at Windmill Gardens in Holland.  It is an amazing place with beautiful gardens.  I would love to go back for the Tulip Festival in the spring but the flowers did not disappoint.

Just as we walked in, we walked left to the little building over there.

There is an antique Dutch street organ inside.  It was playing while we were there.

Everyone working there was dressed in appropriate costumes for their area in the Netherlands.

We could see the beautiful windmill from a distance.  There's a lot of history in this windmill.  It originally came from the Netherlands.

The flags represent different areas of the Netherlands also.

We walked across the bridge to get to the windmill.

 

I might have gotten a little carried away with the windmill pictures!

We took a guided tour of the windmill.  It's not very large so only a small group could go at one time.

The miller has quite a job!

There were several levels to the windmill.

It was a very interesting tour.  We were able to walk out on the windmill balcony for a beautiful view.

More flowers...they were everywhere!

There was a cute little "village" of shops and offices.

One of the gift shops had a wall of wooden shoes for sale.

The ones on the floor are various sizes you could try on for sizing.  I tried some on and tried to walk in them.  They aren't very comfortable and would definitely take some getting used to!

I did buy some windmill cookies though.

We had lunch at Curraugh Irish Pub in downtown Holland and took a ride around the historic district.

We then drove to South Haven South Pier Light which we saw from a distance.

We drove along the coast and saw lots of blueberry farms on our way to St. Joseph where we saw the St. Joseph North Pier Lights.  I took this from a distance but you can see one right behind the other.

We continued south and saw lots of grapes, apples and asparagus growing.  There's a lot of agriculture in Michigan.

We entered Indiana and stopped in South Bend, Indiana at the Studebaker Museum.  Even though Doug's not a Studebaker man, he found it interesting as I did.

Just a sampling of the cars we saw.

We drove though a rural part of Indiana and spotted a few more barn quilts.

We stopped for dinner in Kokomo and stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Seymour, IN.

We arrived home the next day after driving 3,196 miles!

I can't say enough about the beauty of Michigan and all there is to do there.  I could have spent a lot more time there but hope to get back someday!  If you get a chance...GO!