Wow! Not sure how I let almost a month go by without updating the blog and y’all! Life gets in the way I tell you. So does mental health. It’s been a struggle the last few weeks and sometimes it’s just best to stay off social media and away from the blog for a minute. Do ya get me? It’s hard for all of us to remember that social media is highlights and not the everyday! When we are struggling, even knowing those pretty pics and fun vaca’s are other's highlights, can still be hard to swallow.
After Valentine’s Day, literally the next day, my oldest, my youngest and I boarded a plane and headed across the country to Michigan. In the winter. Where it’s really freaking cold. But also sort of beautiful and it houses some of my favorite family members. My mom’s brother, wife, my cousin and her sweet little baby girl all call Michigan home. I don’t have many family members on my mom’s side to begin with but hardly any I’m close with. It’s nice to see them and be reminded there are others who share DNA with me from my moms side. We all have the same hands and I love seeing the similarities between my cousins tiny one and my little Eisley. They have very squishy round faces and we were told multiple times they could be sisters. I don't know about that, but I definitely see cousins in their sweet, little faces.
My auntie is fighting breast cancer and I love to go see her, love her and help out. I wish she’d let me help more but the truth is she’s just really good at taking care of others!
   
Izzy was a tad fussy the first few days. I don’t know why exactly but I’m going with missing her crew. She really thrives at home with all the craziness and her people. We stayed in and visited and napped and it was wonderful! I actually like going in the winter for that exact reason. Catching up on sleep and rest without having to be mom to so many! We bundled up one morning and played outside for a little bit. Izzy was loving it but mom could only handle about 20 minutes before my face was frozen. There is something to be said for humid cold weather verses dry winter air. Both are cold but add “lake effect” and humidity and it’s freezing. It feels so much colder sucking in wet, cold air! We also headed down to Lake Michigan. I wanted to see it with snow on the sand and take some pics. Izzy loved it until the wind hit her in the face! Lol. It was a little breath stealing. Kinzie braved it and we took some fun pics of her and I with the lake in the background. It really was astonishingly beautiful. Even if you can only stand for a few minutes near the water and little ladies who in August swam completely in the water, hated being anywhere close to it in February!
         
We were able to see a local play production of Momma Mia at the college. It was a fun night and both the tiniest girls did beautifully. Even if the oldest girl didn’t feel so hot. Poor Kinz had a small stomach bug for about 12 hours. We were fed lots of yummy food! Kinz and l took Izzy shopping one afternoon which was so much fun. It’s been a hot minute since I got to hang with my busy college, working girl and just shop. I missed it more than I realized. The last day there we went out to get crab legs at the casino buffet. Yep, there’s a giant casino right in the middle of tiny little Manistee, Michigan. It also has a really good buffet and coming from me, a person who usually hates buffet food, well that's saying something! Kinzie had her first ever crab legs and decided that the effort wasn’t exactly worth the amount of meat. Lol. She's not wrong.
            
It was a great getaway with lost of visiting, downtime and family bonding. Kinzie slept most of the trip away. Apparently her comments of “not needing a lot sleep” the past few months caught up to her!
     
Izzy was so sweet with Kinzie on the plane home and we lucked out on our longer flight sitting right behind first class with lots of leg and play room. She sat on Kinzles lap and watched Brother Bear, buckled her kitty up in the extra seat we snagged instead of sitting there by herself and hated landing sitting in her own seat and preferred being held! She was thrilled to see daddy and Ian at the airport even if it was midnight when we arrived! Daddy was pretty thrilled to see his girls too. I’m not sure but he might’ve been just a tiny bit more thrilled to see his Izzy than his wifey. But it’s cool. I get it. She’s pretty special.
The week after our trip was spent unpacking, doing laundry and getting the house back together. Even though daddy did a pretty great job of keeping up!
  
John and I snagged a date night that Tuesday and I took john to his first ever movie in the reclining seats and he’s hooked. We booked another! And when you go a Tuesday the luxury seats are still only $5, so how can you beat that! Plus it has tush warmers!! He won’t see a movie any other way anymore. Not that we are seeing any these days with the Corona Virus and the quarantine. I'm glad I got to visit my family before all this went down. It's changed so many things. School, work, family vacation. It's a crazy time and I'm taking it all in stride. I've actually surprised myself. I think it's because I recognize that it's completely out of my control, so instead of wasting energy on it, I expend my energy here at home doing what I can control. It's all a little scary but then again I just do what I can to protect us here at home. We are taking it one day at a time! Next week I have an idea/activity planned and can't wait. I'm not sure the older kids will find it all that awesome, but we shall see. They have the power to make memories with us, and make it a good experience, or to make it a bad one for everyone. I sure hope they choose to participate and help the younger kids make a really awesome memory during quarantine. I might just have to remind them of this! lol
Til next time! Look for our update coming up on John's 40th Surprise. We got it in right before quarantine started and I'm so glad!!
Follow along on our Insta for more family crazy! @Mcewancrazies
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