Michigan Trip Update

Smart Hudson Quote

Hudson and Landon were racing trucks up and down the hallways. On one trip, Hudson's truck hit a rug and stopped, but Hudson didn't. He toppled over the top head-first.

Kathryn: "Whoa! I guess that was an example of...hmmmm...velocity, huh?"
Hudson: "No, that was inertia!"

Funny Hudson Quote #1

Hudson: "Landon, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Landon: "Trash truck..."
Hudson: "A trash truck driver?"
Landon: "Yes."
Hudson: "Yea, I want to be a trash truck driver, a semi-truck driver, or a fire-fighter. But you have to go to school first. First you go to kindergarten, then you go to school for a lot of years, and then, when you're pretty old - like about 17 or 18 - you go to college. Then you can get a real job."

Funny Hudson Quote #2

Landon: "My tummy hurts."
Hudson: "Oh, I'm sorry. You should try to poop - have you pooped today?"

Well, we've had an exciting couple of weeks. Rick, Hudson, Landon, and Keaton went to visit the boy's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, great uncles, and more. The trip went well overall. The boys were terrific on the plane trips and even put up with three legs to the trip on the way to Michigan (Phoenix to Memphis to Detroit to Saginaw). The hitch came once arrived in Saginaw. None of the three car seats made it, so it took nearly two hours to make it out of the airport with three car seats from the airline. Also, a compartment on Hudson's Hummer suitcase (the hood) had been knocked over during the trip and all of his underwear and his swimsuit had fallen out in some cargo hold along the way. So after driving two hours to Gaylord, everyone stopped at Wal Mart at 2:30 a.m. so Rick could buy underwear and swim trunks for the next day. And once they got to Grandma and Papa's, Rick found that the huge can of powdered infant formula he'd packed in the suitcase had popped open and coated all of the clothes in a thin film of powder.

Once settled in, though, they had a great visit. The Oppers spent the whole week, the Harmons were there for a few days as were Marci and Tori, the Maxons were out most days/nights, and the Southwells were around many of the days too. Hudson and Landon loved playing with their cousins. Callie, Cassandra, and Tori spent a lot of time holding Keaton. Caleb taught Hudson how to shoot a BB rifle. Hudson managed to coerce both Cassandra and Caleb into driving trucks 1/4 mile down a dirt road through mud puddles. They all did a lot of construction projects with Lego's, Lincoln logs, and dominoes. All three boys hung out with Papa and Grandma but, not surprisingly, Hudson managed to sleep between them every night. Landon was addicted to four-wheeler rides on the ranch (often with Callie) and to swinging on the swing with his cousins.

The Oppers also took us to their cottage where Hudson and Landon were able to play on the beach and build sandcastles and were taken on a motorboat ride by Uncle Steve.

And on the last night of the trip, Rick attended his 20th high-school reunion (yes, he's that old). He had a chance to catch up with many high school friends.

The trip back started eventfully as they received notice the flight was cancelled the night before leaving and they were rescheduled on a late flight with a four hour layover, but Rick was able to get them on a flight from a different airport (that was actually a shorter drive) that got them back to Phoenix at the same time originally planned. So in the end, the cancellation allowed an extra hour of sleep and the same arrival time so it was a blessing! Again, the boys all did very well on the trip home.

Kathryn had a busy Mommy repreive week while her boys were in Michigan. She scouted out some decorating stuff for the new house, got some of the necessary hardware ordered, and, oh yea, had a spa day!

As luck (or something) would have it, there was not a single showing of our house the week Kathryn was home alone with house all tidy. As soon as the four boys hit, there were seven showings in the subsequent week. Still no offers, though...

Here are some highlight photos from Michigan: