Girls Visit to Michigan

My sister and I really wanted to go see my Grandma and Grandpa Kirkwood, who live in Michigan.  We hadn't seen either of them since a wedding in October, and since then they both moved out of their home of many years to Storypoint, where my Grandma is in independent living down one wing of Storypoint, and my grandpa is in the memory care area in the same building.  Unfortunately my grandpa's Altzheimers has been progressing rapidly, and my sister and I wanted to make sure we made seeing both our grandparents a priority as there was no future scheduled time to see them, and we missed them!  We decided to bring Summer along, as she is so good with talking to adults, lighting up a room with her energy and love, and is a great traveler.  Both Kristin and I loved having her along.  Due to unfortunate last minute events, my grandpa was in the hospital for all of our visit - he broke his hip two days before we arrived and had a very last minute surgery.  It ended up being good timing for us to be there as we were able to drive my Grandma many times to go see him in the hospital as well as stay with my Grandpa in the hospital to help with tag-teaming his care.  We had a wonderful visit with my Grandma and loved seeing and staying in her new place, meeting the wonderful personalities that live around her (my sister and I said it felt like a college dorm with all the energy of excited women conversing in the hallway...just add a few years! - wonderful!), eating together, looking at old photo albums, reminiscing about fun times, and just being together.  I also truly enjoyed spending some quality time with my Grandpa in the hospital.  Although he couldn't really communicate much, I appreciated the opportunity to just hold his hand and attempt to read his body language and make him as comfortable as I could.  I will forever cherish the hours I had with him, as I know due to recent developments, he is given a projected 2 weeks to 2 months left on earth (the anethesia due to the hip surgery progressed his Alzheimer to the point where he is currently no longer eating).  I am so grateful that he trusted Christ as his personal Savior and I look forward to the day when he is out of pain, with a new body, praising his Jesus.  Without further ado, here are some pictures of our girls trip!

Summer was so excited about riding in an airplane...and everything that went with it, including having her bag searched!

Auntie Kristin and Summer in the airport :)

Girls on the plane!  Summer's face shows a glimpse of how excited she was for this trip!

We figured out our first uber ride and made it to the hospital!

Walking into GiGi-ma's new home - Storypoint.

Storypoint does dinner like this every night for my Grandma!  We all joined her for dinner and the food was delicious.  A bunch of family was in town last minute due to my Grandpa's hip surgery (which they were not sure if he would make it through).

The kids all three made cards for GiGi-pa and we read them to him.

Summer shared this pink teddy with GiGipa and he enjoyed feeling it.

I love watching the love between GiGi ma and GiGi pa.

Despite being in the hospital for much of the day on Saturday, Summer did amazing.  Book + push-pop :)

We went out to Checkers for burgers and shakes for lunch.

Summer LOVED looking at all of GiGima's albums.

I love this picture.

Summer's favorite chair!  Its the little things!

Summer and GiGima

We visited a local church with my Grandma and loved it.

After church we went out to Big Apple Bagel with my Grandma's friend Linda, who also lives at Storypoint and also attends Berean Baptist Church.

Linda took this picture for us :)

We stopped by the hospital to see my Grandpa one last time before we had to board our flight home.

We love your GiGi ma and GiGi pa!