Michigan Honeymoon: Farmington Hills, Michigan

The next leg of our journey was to visit my Uncle Tom (Dad's brother) and my Aunt Becky. I always enjoy staying at their house. They are fun, easy to get along with, and their family structure is similar to ours, making us feel quite at ease and comfortable there.

My cousin Mark and Jamie's baby is the same age as Lawrence, so it was kind of fun introducing them and watching them play. They didn't really play together much, but were cute all the same! They filled the baby pool and let the little ones play for a bit.





It didn't take very long before Mark broke out the water guns and he and Archie had a bit of a water fight. Well, suffice it to say, they were both soaked afterward! Archie loves playing with Mark!

After an excellent night's sleep, we decided to check out the Henry Ford Museum. Something I've been wanting to do for quite some time. However, we decided that on this day, we would do Greenfield Village (in the Ford Compound, if you will) and save the museum for another time. Greenfield Village is huge, with a working farm from the late 1800's. Everything is done precisely as it was done back then. There is also other exhibits from other periods of history in the Village. I must say, I enjoyed the farm the most.

Our first stop was in this house (incidentally originally belonging to the Firestone family) where they were cooking lunch for all the farm workers. It smelled heavenly!! Uncle Tom is being chatted up by one of the lady cooks. It's hard to say if he's listening or not...



Here is the lunch they were serving: Fried apples, coffee, stew of some sort and I think some bread. This visit proved to be a problem for Archie, because he misunderstood that the lunch was for the workers only. We had quite a meltdown later in the day because he was ready to go back to this house and eat lunch. Everyone who visited kept asking "What time is lunch?" and all that, so Archie took it quite literally that we were supposed to eat lunch there. *sigh*



There were apples growing on all the trees out there. You have no idea how much self-control it took for me to NOT to pick one of these!



Archie and I pet the sheep.


As I said before, the farm is a real, working farm. These guys were mowing hay. They asked us what time it was because they were ready for lunch too. It only added to the Archie Meltdown problem.



Uncle Tom was nice enough to purchase carousel tickets. Here is Mom and Lawrence. Lawrence had a blast riding!



Here we are at the train depot waiting to take our train ride.



Lawrence sacked out just before getting on the train. Finally!



Reemie is sneaking a sleepy kiss.


Uncle Tom and I.


Dad and Archie. Riding the train was a nice break from all the walking we'd been doing all day.



I love this picture. I so rarely take *good* pictures. This one has really nice composition and I love the lighting in it. This lady was spinning wool. She chit-chatted about how it was done. Incidentally, all the ladies (and gentlemen) working here wore period clothing right down to the skivvies. I told her I'd be inclined to cheat with all the heat and forego the corset for the day!!!



Mom and I were checking out the haberdashery. I have always thought that ladies hats should make a comeback. Perhaps I will try to start a trend...



Um...well, perhaps not ALL forms of ladies' hats...Mom looks a bit like a kook in this one! Hee hee!



On the streets of Greenfield village, there were all these period vintage Fords driving around. Also, this guy on the really cool big wheel bicycle! I think I'd like his job...riding around the village all day on that neat bike!



It was a long, hot day, but was chock full of fun. We had a blast and I am most appreciative to Uncle Tom for taking the time to show us around. I definitely have my appetite whetted for the museum portion and Ford Factory tour. Next time, Uncle Tom...next time...



Much thanks to Uncle Tom and Aunt Becky for their hospitality! They always make me wanna go back and visit them!