Labor Day Weekend!

For Labor Day weekend this year, Matt and I decided that we were going to drive out to Michigan to visit his parents.  We don't mind the drive out there, we are actually really good road-trip buddies and, to the dismay of both our moms, we drive thru the night at least one way so we don't eat up a whole day with the 690 miles it takes to get there.  Sooo, Thursday night, Matt picked me up from rehearsal at 10 pm with Maggie, duffel bags, all of Jer's stuff that we had at our apt and 2 weeks worth of laundry in tow, and we set out.  The drive was pretty uneventful, except for the massive traffic we hit just outside the city and the weird spooky diner we stopped at to get a burger at around midnight.  I drove until about 4:30 in the morning singing along to guilty pleasures such as The Eagles "Hotel California" and "The Spring Awakening" soundtrack while Matt and Maggie snoozed in their respective seats.  Once Matt and I switched spots, I got to take a little rest for a whole hour and a half before he woke me up to keep him company.  Maggie was also in need of some attention, so she decided she would hang out on my lap for the rest of the trip instead of snuggling in her bed in the backseat, which she had done for the first half of the trip.

This is what my lap looked like for 5 hours of the trip :)

Matt was serious about keeping his "precious cargo" (aka me and the Magster) safe!

We finally got to Battle Creek, Michigan (home of Post and Kellogg!) around 9:45 Friday morning.  We were greeted by Matt's mom and the FOUR dogs that currently reside at the Hendricks abode.  Maggie was less than thrilled to be sniffed by Frankie, Wally, Tobey and Peanut, but she got over it pretty quickly and settled in with her furry pals.  

We spent most of the weekend just hanging out, watching movies, napping and eating....all the usual stuff that we love to do while we are visiting in MI. On Saturday, we did venture out to hang out with Matt's Grandma (Dottie) and took her to lunch at Applebees!  (Well, I guess technically she took us to lunch since she insisted on paying) OK, so I know I live in NYC with a million amazing restaurants at my grasp every day, but I have to say, if there is one chain restaurant that I love to go to, it is definitely Applebees.  Give me an Oriental Chicken wrap (with grilled chicken) and some Tomato Basil soup, and I am one happy camper!!  

Me and Matt with Grandma D!

Penny, Grandma Dottie and Matt

After we got back from lunch, Matt, Maggie and I took a little snooze on our favorite chair in his parents' living room.  Aren't we so cute....the sleeping Hendricks'. :)

Later that evening, we took a nice little pre-dinner stroll along the river in downtown Battle Creek, but not before Matt decided he wanted to get a haircut.  Now, where, do you ask, does one get a haircut in Battle Creek, Michigan....well, the mall, of course!!  So, Matt and I drove on over to Master Cuts in the Battle Creek Mall and waited in line with all of the other patrons.  Apparently, Saturday is a very busy haircutting day at the mall and we had to wait about 20 minutes before he could see a styling expert.

I snuck a quick photo....I wish you could see the outside of the shop where the fountain and the food court are!

The "after" pic...lookin' good babe!

Sunday was our last day in Battle Creek for the weekend because we had plans to go meet up with Matt's cousin Aaron and his wife Diana (our wedding photographer) in Royal Oak where they live, which is about 2 hours from Matt's parents.  Before we left, we decided it would be fun to have one last family activity, so we made our way on over to Turkeyville, a working Turkey farm in Marshall, Michigan about 20 minutes from Matt's parents.  Sunday was their flea market day and the grounds surrounding the Turkeyville building were filled with booth after booth of people selling anything from antique milkglass to broken '80's action figures....it was awesome!!!

Thought this was pretty cool

This too!

After perusing the flea market for a while, we headed inside to have a tasty, turkey lunch....oh the choices!  They had everything from full on Thanksgiving turkey dinners to turkey tacos to turkey salad sandwiches.  It was quite delicious, although, I did get a little sad when we walked outside after lunch and stumbled upon some roaming turkeys that would end up being next week's lunch or possibly this year's Thanksgiving dinner. :-/  

One of our new Turkey friends

Here's me riding the "Turkey Tractor"

After we left the turkey farm, we went back to Matt's parents to load the car and say our goodbyes, and then made the 2 hour drive over to Royal Oak.  While we were there, we hung out with all of Aaron and Diana's awesome friends and went to this huge music and food festival that was going on for the weekend called Arts, Beats and Eats. It was so much fun roaming the streets and checking out all of the different music acts at the various stages setup around the city.  It ended up being a very late night and despite the fact that we didn't get to bed until after 2 am, we all still managed to wake up around 9 monday morning to go to breakfast together.  Aaron and Diana took us to a super cute, little diner right by their house and after breakfast we loaded up the car once again to make the long journey home.  We got a little bit of a later start than we had originally planned, but didn't mind because we were making pretty good time until we realized that our stupid navigation was taking us north to drive back to NYC thru Canada....ummm, I don't think so Garmina!!!!  You would think that a navigation would let you know if you were going to be driving internationally before setting you out on your trip, but oh no, not ours....I think this will be the last long drive we will be taking with her.  RIP Garmina, you have led us astray for the last time.  We finally got going in the right direction and despite losing over an hour because of the above technical issues, we made it home with no traffic and collapsed into bed at midnight!  

Maggie Lu ready for the drive home

All in all, we had an absolutely fantastic weekend!!  I even convinced a whole group of Michiganders to sign up and run the NYC half marathon in March 2011 with me....we'll see how that pans out!!  

We didn't realize until the end of our trip, but Matt and I packed the exact same shoes for the weekend (Rainbows and Sperrys)  Awww....so cute and maybe slightly cheesy but I love it!!

'Til next time....

xoxo