Michigan

This weekend was full of tripping over to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see my family. My grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for the last few months, and we went to go see him in a kind of "just in case" mentality. He looked alright, considering the amount of surgeries and close calls he's been having. My poor grandmother is holding up, too, considering. They both are tired, though. That was quite obvious.

Mom booked our flight for 6am, meaning we had to wake up at 3am and get there by 4.30am. Really, it was fabulous. Northwest is the way to go. Sarcastically speaking.
Anyways, we got our rental car, and went to Meijer's for some breakfast. Meijer's is much like Wegman's...it offers everything, it's midwestern, and it's open all of the time. I love those stores.
We went down an isle that had 2 signs: "International Foods" and "Mexican & Chinese Foods". I had to think about this for a while. Anyways, we hit jackpot over in the British & German section of that aisle, and I pranced out of the store happily with my booty of Hob Nobs, Fig Rolls, Cadburys, and Ritter Sports.
Hit up Aunt Mary Jo's (yes, that is her name), and I hung out with my cousin Joe while my mom and Aunt Mary Jo went to a funeral for some relative. I have so many relatives I don't know that "Do I Know Them?" has become quite an interesting constant game with my family. Joe and I goofed off on the computer for a while (we goofed off all weekend, but anyways), until I went to the basement and used their in-home gym to get some blood pumping. The machine of the day was the Nordictrack-like thing, where your legs literally swing back and forth at full speed while your arms attempt to keep up with your legs on the bars. It was an interesting machine that freaked me out a lot, and made me feel like a prancing gazelle. I made Joe do abs with me, which he was less than excited about.
After checking into our hotel room, we finally ended up at The Farm (my grandparents' home) where I took inspiration from my grandfather and took a 2-hour nap. I woke up to find much of our family in the family room, and dogs everywhere.

Welcome to my mom's family. Veteran farmers with a tiny (and ooolllddd) farm house that consists of a single room extension that is of equivalent size of the rest of the house. The decor of the house consists of holiday gifts and family presents (mostly unused or overused) dating back from pre-Vietnamian times, save a stash of doggy treats that somehow finds itself in every nook of the place. At any given moment, an estimated 2.5 dogs can be found running frantically around the 2 rooms and 1 kitchen, begging for food from the "Food Lady", my grandmother. If for some unknown reason there aren't at least 2 or 3 other family members in the house (who, mind you, have western accents), you can find grandparents sleeping on reclining chairs or working on 1000+ piece puzzles.

Anyways, after dinner with some family, Mom and I drove back to the airport to pick up Aimee. When back at The Farm, my cousin Jodie came over with her boyfriend/fiancé?, Nick. Nick's from Liverpool, England. His accent was not very thick since he's been living in Michigan, but I could definitely hear his Northern Britain accent. It was WONDERFUL to talk to a Brit again. Apparently Jodie and Nick are moving to Liverpool in February for a year or so....which means I get to visit. Excitement, commence!
Jodie, being a physical therapist, tried to help me with my tendonitis problem. It's still bruised, and it hurts to move it....but it may all be for the best.

The next day I went to the hotel's gym to run on the treadmill before we enjoyed another day at the farm. It was a good jog, but I was being stared down by a few co-guests for the treadmill that I was using. I pulled my quads on the damn machine somehow, but it was good nonetheless.
We were going to have breakfast at The Farm, but their one toilet broke (and Uncle Mike had to come over to fix it), so we went to Baker's Pantry. All 8 of us. Afterward, Aimee, Mom and I went over to CostPlus World Market and splurged on more international foods (Milka, Cote D'Or, marzipan, etc). We're spoiled, I know that much.

It's funny, because there's not much to do at The Farm but relax and do nothing, so that's what we did. After calling a few friends to say "hi", I took another 2-hour nap, and woke up to find (again) more relatives. We decided to, as a family, go to Red Lobster for dinner. All 14 of us. Leave it to my family to be he huge family that ruin the waiters' days. Granted, it must be noted that 2 of the people with us were Aimee and my other 2 grandparents: the evil ones (we'll refer to them as the republicans). We tried really hard for a few hours to find reasons not to call or see them, but we were found wanting, so we obediently invited them to dinner. Now, this may sound harsh, but it's completely legit. Ask anyone who's met them. Ask my father. They aren't the best people in the world, that's for sure. We have a family rule with them: don't spend more than 24 hours with them, and if you have to see them, cap it at 2 hours. ANYWAYS...

Dinner went over rather well. I made the mistake of telling my republican grandfather that I was dating an Israeli for a while. I didn't hear the end of it....then I made the even worse mistake of bringing up computers...then my mom made the mistake of telling my republican grandmother that I was learning how to cook. Otherwise, I talked to Nick, and we reminisced about England.
After dinner, Jodie, Nick, Joe, Aimee and I went out to downtown Ann Arbor and hit up a comedy club. It was pretty funny. The first guy wasn't much, but the other guy was pretty funny. I still can't get out of my mind when one of the guy's just stood on stage and shook his fat around and said, "Look, I'm Jell-o. Eat me." I can't figure out whether it was funny or disturbing. Ah, good times with cousins.

Sunday began with a pancake breakfast that lasted for a while. Then some lowkey puzzle making. Then some throwing of dice with the cousins. Then not much. Then a drive to the airport.

On a different (and more depressing) note, Ido is going back to Tel Aviv on the 9th. I want so badly to see him, but it's simply impossible for me to do so. How much do I not want him to go back.... Also, James is transfering to SUNY Buffalo, due to money problems. So, there's 2 of the closest, best men I have, leaving me for other places. And Deejay's going to Thailand on Thursday. I'm a mess.