Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice

[Editor's Note: If you would like to know what the title of this blog post means, click here.]

A lot of you think that Disneyland is "The Happiest Place On Earth". Sadly, you are mistaken.

I met a resident of The Happiest Place On Earth several years ago and ended up marrying him and ever since he has been trying to tell me, in one way or another, that Michigan is The Happiest Place On Earth.

So now that we live just hours away from this blessed state, it was time to take a trip there and see if all the talk was true.

We drove there in about 4 1/2 hours and checked into our hotel (one point for Michigan for a crazy deal on a hotel). We got a room that had a mini kitchen in it so that we could buy some groceries (another point for Michigan for having a Trader Joe's so close to our hotel) and just cook, but we did have to stop by Mancino's to have a grinder...or baked hoagie for those of you unfamiliar with the term.

Here's Braden and Tom at Mancino's:


And here is what we ate. The picture doesn't make them look like anything special but let me tell you....AMAZING. I tried the steak and cheese and Tom got a club.


[Random sidenote for Russell family members: This steak and cheese gets an A- in my book...I rank it just a notch below a D'Angelo's steak sub, but still quite impressive].

[Random sidenote for everyone else: Before I was a Draper, I was a Russell. The Russells take steak and cheese subs very seriously and I think I speak for us all when I say that D'Angelo's (of the Boston area) is the gold standard.]

After we ate, we drove around Brighton, Tom's hometown. We drove by his old house and the places he worked in high school and it was really fun to hear stories about him growing up. I kept laughing because every time we drove by something new or changed he would exclaim, "What?! That Target wasn't there before!" or "Where did [that random pawn shop] go?"...I guess sometimes it is hard to come back and see that things aren't quite how you left them :)

Eventually we got some groceries and headed back to the hotel. We wanted to take Braden swimming and had been telling him about it for a few days. He even learned the phrase "simmin in the pooh" so he was all set. The weather was a bit cooler though and as far as we can tell the outdoor pool was NOT the promised 85 degrees. Poor kid. He got in for a few minutes with Tom and was trying to make the best of it...he had his little life jacket on and kept proudly saying "I simmin in the pooh!" while his little teeth were chattering and he was shivering. What a bummer :(

So we went back to the room and Braden and his 6'2" daddy climbed into the bathtub with their swimsuits on and "went simmin". It was so cute, I wish I had gotten a picture.

I should also mention that Braden thinks hotels are The Happiest Place on Earth so he was completely enthralled by the elevator buttons and the magical card we used to open the door to our hotel room. Toddler entertainment can be a bit hard to find in hotels, but we found an empty luggage cart under one of the stairwells and zoomed Braden up and down the empty hotel halls a few times (luckily no one got hurt and as you can see in the picture, Keri was in an approved child safety restraint device).


The next day we went to church in Tom's old ward and he got to see lots of families he used to know. I enjoyed it because I actually got to go to Relief Society for a change! After church we ate some Indian food at the hotel (thank you, Trader Joe). Then we took a family nap. We didn't think it would actually work since Braden was sleeping on a sleeper sofa but it did!

After we woke up we drove around some more and then ate dinner at Tom's friend's parents' home (I'm not sure if I put the apostrophes in the right places or not...triple possessives are the worst). They were excited to have some little ones in the house and Braden loved the attention! Ever since his birthday he loves to say "birthday cake"...he mutters it to himself all the time just to hear it roll off his tongue and he uses "birthday cake" when referring to muffins, rolls, and all other cake-like things. Anyway, during dinner he happened to say birthday cake just for fun and Mrs. Burritz told hm they did have a cake for dessert and that we could all pretend it was his birthday! So we sang to him and he even got to blow out some candles! Here is Braden and his "birthday cake":

The next day we had to pack up and head home. It was a fun little trip and I do have to say that Michigan is very beautiful, especially the lakes. I feel lucky to have married one of Michigan's finest!

Here is one last picture, one of my favorite moments on the trip...there's nothing quite like a cute sleeping baby snuggled up next to you :)