Friday morning came earlier than we wanted it to since we were up late packing the borrowed pick up truck. It turned out that we needed to take two vehicles to move all of Mary's stuff safely and comfortably. We got some help from the Cory's with securing a tarp over Mary's stuff in case it rained on the way. Glad we had the truck in the garage Thursday night since it did rain. Three of Four cars traveling to Ann Arbor were on the road before 0900. Brandon and Mary in his car, Jeff and Matt in the truck and I drove the Prius. Jim and Vicky would follow soon after.
Move in went very smoothly. We had move in helpers right away with rolling bins the use of freight elevators. Both Mary and Brandon were both moved in by noon. At least all of their things were in their rooms. All of us had lunch together at China Gate before Jim Vicky and Sam had to get back to Greenville. Then we got to work. Did some unpacking and put Mary's futon back together. I forgot to mention that we had another
HEAT WAVE. The dorm rooms were very hot and had very little breeze. It was time to cool off.
So all of us went to our hotel to enjoy the swimming pool and a/c. Problem..our suite's air conditioning wasn't working and the pool was at least 85 degrees! We only cooled off after getting out of the pool since the air was cooler than the water. Jeff didn't get to try the hot pool because he was trying to get the hotel to fix the problems with the non-smoking room that reeked of smoke. We ended up getting a different room and informed them that we would not be staying a second night. If only we could have found another hotel on short notice. With the first UMich football game the next day, that wasn't going to happen. Needless to say it was a big disappointment.
Our pizza dinner was very good. Cottage pizza is always a good choice. Unfortunately, Mary had a migraine all day and she couldn't enjoy the food like we did. She was quite the trooper and pushed through. We all made a stop at Meijer to pick up things for their dorm rooms. That went pretty quickly and we found everything we needed including 97 cent ponchos for the game the next day.
Back at East Quad, Mary rested on her futon, while the rest of us continued working in her room. I was the unpacker organizer and Matthew put pictures on the wall and set up the TV and Blue Ray player. It was shaping up pretty nice. Mary helped as much as she could, fixing up some curtains and helping Matthew with the location for the pictures. Jeff was hard at work looking for a new hotel room for Saturday night and made the proper reservations. By then it was it was almost unbearable sitting in her hot room. So Mary decided to come back to our room with us where it would be cool and hopefully more comfortable.
Our hotel journey wasn't over. When we got ready for bed, Mary's pull out bed had used sheets and Matt's pull out bed wouldn't pull out at all. The hotel manager at night came and realized that we had a bad situation. He did all he could to make us have a good night sleep. We were sure glad to check out the next morning.
It's Game Day! We had hoped for temperatures to drop on Saturday, but no luck. It was very very hot. Upper 90's for game time. Brandon, Mary, Matthew, Jeff and I all enjoyed a nice lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings before walking to the game over a mile away. It was an experience to say the least. Lots of people walking, lots of maize and blue and lots of drinking parties along the way. Crazy! It was a lot more fun when we walked past as the band lined up to march. The
drum major did his inspection and they all stood still even when their friends tried to talk to them. That made me mad. Anyway we kept walking along toward the stadium and bingo~the band caught up with us! I enjoyed listening to the drums as they
marched by and I took video. Mary showed us the way to our seats and when we finally got there, we were sitting with some new best friends. Fans are pretty much sitting like sardines in the big house. I was determined to make the best of it and the 90+ degree weather. The pre-game show was great. I loved seeing the band run/march out onto the field. I felt so bad for them, they had to be so much hotter than I was, and they were still performing! Be sure to watch the video posted below this entry. I thanked God every time the breeze blew by and askefor continued breaks in the heat.
Michigan's defense still has a lot of work to do, but we enjoyed watching the wolverines run a 95 yard run and an interception that put Michigan ahead. Then the rain drops came. One..two...three four...I got my trusty dollar poncho out and on before the sunny downpour. Instead of the game on the big screens, it was the weather radar. Just as Jeff had said, the worst was still coming. Too bad he wasn't advising the refs, because they suspended the game while the sun was shining with little threat nearby. Soon they announced that the game would resume in about 15 minutes. It was extra warm now, with the sun and the plastic on, but I knew what was coming. Sure enough not long after the game restarted, the thunder lightning and rain came. This time we left with many others. They told us of place to take shelter, if needed. Instead we began our hike back to Mary's dorm. Unfortunately, we left through a different gate and were detoured through the golf course, so that when we headed back we were heading away from campus. Thankfully, we figured that out early enough that our walk was about 2 miles in the rain and thunder. It could have been worse. By the time we reached Mary's dorm around 7:30p, the game had been called, the first time in Michigan Football History! We were there! Soaked and tired, we sat with Mary for a little while deciding our next move. We thought it best to get to the hotel and dry off. Mary stayed in her dorm that night, spent some time with her buddies which we were glad for...she certainly didn't need to spend every minute with us! Our next hotel was about 30 minutes away and after another room change for odor and a loud a/c we got some needed rest.
Sunday we were able to drop off a care package for a Concordia Ann Arbor Student and then pick up Mary for church at University Lutheran Chapel at U of M. It is always a great service with inspiring music. Took Mary to TGiFriday's for lunch, it was delicious, and last minute shopping at Walgreens. Mary's headaches were pretty persistent, so I bought her some generic excedrin. That usually does the trick for me. Don't want her to suffer unnecessarily. Brandon has encouraged her to see the doc on campus and get the shot for migraines. That is probably a good idea since she really shouldn't have nsaids anymore. Plain tylenol won't get too far with migraines. Later, we followed Brandon in his car to his permitted parking lot and then took him home to keep him from walking two miles back to campus. It was good bye time...I hate it. Gave my hugs and we drove away, picked up the truck and headed out of town.
We had another destination. My little buddy, Jack, is one year old and was having a party at grandma not far from Ann Arbor. It was nice to celebrate something fun with fun people after leaving your kid at school. Weather was nice and fun was had by all. Our trip going home was slow going. There was a bad accident where a MI state trooper was struck by a east bound vehicle. I guess the car was too. Just read the article. Trooper in critical condition at umich and driver stable condition in Lansing. I-96 was closed in both directions for several hours. We were able to get off and take an alternate route pretty quickly and we still arrived home before midnight.
That was a FULL weekend..We are glad to be home, safe and sound.
Be sure to watch the video below and see the U of M marching band enter the field~! There are lots of pictures posted on Wilhelm's Family Photos! Be sure to take a look. Even posted last set of pics from our vacation. Enjoy!
