Our Girls Weekend Getaway!

I have to start off by saying that I had a great time last weekend with my mom, sister and Morgan. We went down to where my sister lives to see some of the sites on Saturday and Sunday and it was better than I imagined it would be!

After a 2 hour drive and picking my sister up, we traveled another 45 minutes to a place called The Chelsea Treehouse. It was an indoor play area where Morgan could be a little monkey while the 3 of us adults sat around a table and chatted. They served some delicious food there as well! I had a shaved ham and provolone cheese sandwich on a pretzel bun with a spicey honey mustard sauce-YUM! Plus the side of black bean and corn salad was just plain delicious! Morgan had a hard time realizing that we were there for her and kept coming up to us thinking it was time to leave. I'd tell her she could still play for as long as she wanted and she'd take off, a little confused, and continue to play :-)

We then walked over to The Chelsea Teddy Bear Company, where we not only learned a bunch about their company, but also a lot about the history of teddy bears. I had no idea there was so much history! It was very interesting and well worth the trip!

The big bear when you first walked in the door.

The World's Largest Teddy Bear! It took all the workers a whole week to make it and the visiting kids love playing on it. The girl who gave us the tour said she even takes breaks laying on the one leg-LOL!

This was the largest display of teddy bears in 2005. It has since been beat, but I thought it was pretty neat :-)

Another really neat thing is that all the teddy bears that are for sale are either made there or designed there and contracted out. Morgan picked out this frog and I had them design the little shirt. I also got a chick for Blake and I got myself a giraffe-they were just way too cute! :-)

After that we walked around the little town and checked out some their shops. We ended up finding some beer that Rich has never been able to find in our area, so I grabbed a 6 pack...then my mom grabbed the other 6 pack for my brother! Yes-there were only two 6 packs, so we wiped them out! LOL!

My mom wanted to check out a bakery in Ann Arbor, called Zingerman's Bakehouse. She was hoping to find bread like what they serve in Germany. I guess she found something that was very similar, but I have to admit it wasn't my favorite. My sister also grabbed an assortment of 4 HUGE brownies that we had later that night for dessert. YUMMY! :-)

The next stop was the Whole Foods Market. I had never been to one before and was able to find all sorts of stuff that I see online and have wanted to try. The only thing is the stores in our area don't carry those products. Needless to say, I picked up a few healthier snacks to try.

We did a little more site seeing. My sister drove us through Ypsilanti, so I could get pictures of the Michigan Firehouse Museum...mostly for Rich, but I thought it was neat too. By that time it had already closed for the day, but just the outside was a neat site to see! :-)

By the time we finished thinking of places to see, it was time for dinner. We had decided on a German restaurant called Metzgers. I ordered Jagerschnitzel with a side of German potato pancakes (w/ applesauce-yum!) The restaurant had a true German feel yet it was still Americanized. Our waitor was even German! I think my mom really enjoyed that she could experience a little bit of Germany again. (She misses being over there!)

We ended the day at my sister's place. I set up Morgan's little princess tent. She thought it was so exciting to be able to camp in Aunt Katie's house! She made a candy necklace, we tasted the brownies and wrapped up the night snuggled up in chairs, drinking wine and watching Julie & Julia. Morgan even stayed up until 11:30 so she could be with us. :-)

Morgan with her candy necklace.

Mom snuggling with Morgan ready to watch the movie.

We took things easy on Sunday. We took our showers when we felt like it. My sister trimmed the split ends off my hair and we had a nice little brunch before heading off to the local mall. Being that Katie lives in a much more populated area, the mall was much bigger than any Morgan had seen before. She was able to experience escalators and thought they were a ride. I don't know how many times we rode those things just because Morgan thought it was fun! LOL! Plus she got to play in the mall's play area, but kept having melt downs...at least 4 of them and a final big one as I made her leave. She was just way too tired! We headed towards my sisters' with one little stop to give the car a 'bubble bath' (what Morgan was told it was-she liked that!), dropped Katie off then headed home.

The weekend was truly great! I wish we could do weekends like that more often, but once a year is enough to keep it exciting when the time comes. Until next year! :-)