Our Trip to the Midwest – Part 3 of 4

You can read about Part 2 of 4 here.

Wednesday morning, I decided I wanted to take Claire swimming since the boys had a chance to do so earlier in the week. That morning, before getting ready and checked out of the hotel, Claire and Momma put on their swimming suits and headed down to the pool. I don’t swim with my glasses on, and I’m near sighted, so I have to squint to see some of the signs. After discovering the pool to be freezing cold, I saw on the sign where the pool doesn’t even open until 10am! I guess they don’t have to put up a big sign asking people to stay out…they just make it so cold that no one would want to stay long anyway!

So, we headed back down to the room, packed everything up and checked out earlier than anticipated. This gave us the added boost to actually stop at a really nice, piggy place for breakfast on our way back west, out of town, and out of the state. (piggy = a place so good you gorge yourself and eat like pigs. Oink.)

We arrived back at Granny and PaPa’s place and had a really light, late lunch. We’d all eaten so much that we didn’t even have a real lunch. Claire had a couple of snacks, and then we grilled hamburgers. Daddy and PaPa went to a car-show, so the girls had fun playing at the house. Claire had fun telling Day about all her adventures on the farm.

Thursday was the day we’d devoted to visiting the third state in our tour. My hubby’s grandmother is in an assisted living facility in a state farther south, and she’s suffering from Alzheimer’s. It’s such a terrible disease. Thankfully, she’s happy in the moment, and that’s all we can ask at this point. We all piled in the car and took the 1.5 hour drive. Luckily, this doubled as Claire’s nap, since she hadn’t really been taking her naps, and she’d actually been in a really good mood despite this. Even then, any nap was a welcomed nap, and she slept all the way there.

We’d planned on stopping to get a “picnic lunch” to take to Great-Grandma, and the only game in town is McD’s. And, this brings us to another First on Claire’s List. No, she’d never had McD’s up to this point. I’ve just never seen the need. Well, when you’re hungry, and the only place that’s serving lunch is McD’s, it’s a nice little treat. As we discovered, she loves chicken nuggets and fries. Go figure. That’s a big shock. I think moderation is the key, and so far, she hasn’t snuck out to eat it since.

The visit with Great-Grandma went very well. Like I said, she lives totally in the moment, so she didn’t really remember the three of us. After Granny (her daughter – thankfully, she still remembers her…) explained who we were, she seemed to remember and her face lit up. Sadly, my hubby’s Grandfather passed away last year, and Great-Grandma doesn’t remember this. (Luckily, Great-Grandpa got to meet Claire before he died.) Great-Grandma knew he would have loved playing with Claire, and she was so afraid he was missing our visit, so she kept asking where he was and saying he needed to get down here right now! Granny had to explain that he wasn’t there, and why, and there would be momentary sadness, and then it would be replaced with the joy of seeing Claire…all to be repeated a few times throughout our visit. I’m glad we were able to end our visit on a happy note, and Claire loved playing with her and giving her hugs.

After making the trek back to Granny and PaPa’s house, we went to a fun Mexican place for dinner. Claire had a great time, because she would be happy eating her entire body weight in rice. Throw in a quesadilla, and you’d think that girl was in heaven! After dinner, PaPa took us for a drive around the airbase, and it was neat seeing all the sights. (PaPa is retired Air Force, and he gets a kick out of giving spontaneous tours. I’ve visited that city countless times and have never been on the base.) Claire had a nice after-dinner snooze, and the day was a success. Continue to Part 4 here…