New Adventures: First week home

I left India on Saturday, June 13th and flew to London where I spent the night, then flew to Chicago on Sunday. Breaking up the flight like that helps my jet lag greatly! My cousin, Jerry Lee picked me up from O'hare and took me to his house to I could eat lunch and visit with his family. Then he drove half way to Bloomington-Normal and my sister drove up to meet us. I was easy to pick up since I didn't have any luggage. My luggage gets delayed often so it doesn't bother me too much. Usually it is when I am flying into B-N and my luggage gets stuck in Dallas or Chicago and I get it the next day. I was a little frustrated this time though because I only had one layover and it was 13 HOURS - how the heck did my bag not make it?!?! I didn't get it until late Tuesday night.

Charlotte and I went to eat lunch with Christa, my cousin's wife on Tuesday and my aunt Connie came to visit me on Saturday. On Wednesday, my dad and I drove up to Dearborn, Michigan to see the Henry Ford Museum and Greenville Village. It was great! When he first told me that''s where he wanted to go when I offered to take him someplace, I was wondering how boring a museum of Fords was going to be, but it was interesting. The museum and village is more about innovation and inventions. It had exhibits/houses from Heinz, Noah Webster, the Wright Brothers, Edison, and Ford.

Ford's kitchen sink engine recreated by university students.

Blair and I

The chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in at the Ford Theater. You can see the blood stains.

JFK's Presidential car - the one he was shot in

Reagan's Presidental car - the one he was shot in

Bus that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat (it has been restored)

We stayed at the Best Western about 2.5 miles away and I had no idea it was the Pink Palace when I booked it, but it was FABULOUS!! The people were super nice and the restaurant had home cooked comfort type food. My friend Blair lives in Detroit so she came to have dinner with us on Thursday. Blair and I spent two summers being roommates in Ireland while we were at Grad School. One of our other roommates, Janine is going to see her in late July, but I will already be heading back to India so I won't get to see her - bummer.

On Sunday June 21st, Natalie turned 2!!! She was Due on July 21st and June 21st was my last day in the US before I went to Ireland for grad school. I took Charlotte to the zoo while Brianna went to the doctor. Everything was fine and they were hoping she would turn in the next month (she was breech). My sis and her husband came to pick Charlotte and I up from the zoo and Bri's water broke and Natalie was here a few hours later - a full month early! so I got to meet her before I went to Ireland.

Her birthday was also Father's day and she kept saying Happy Daddy's Day more than she realized it was her birthday. Ben, Bri, the kids and I went to the pool to swim. The girls went down the slide over and over.