The Campbell's Soup: July 2008

Jasmine’s Adventures with Abuela Susan and Grandpa

July 14th through July 26th 2008 Sunday, August 03, 2008

My Daddy works at Oracle and he does such a good job for them that he got to go to Banff, Canada for Free! He said that it is called President’s club. I guess he is going to meet with the President.
In addition my uncle Neil came from Australia to get married in Las Vegas to my aunt Di. Mommy and Daddy decided that since they do not see Uncle Neil enough they would spend some time with them in Las Vegas and then go to Canada for the President’s Club trip. They only had one problem: what were they going to do with me? Well, I told them I would be alright on my own. They could leave the keys to the car and I could take care of myself. They explained that my legs were not long enough to reach the pedals, and that I was not tall enough to reach the refrigerator so I suggested the second best thing: how about if you take me to Abuela’s and Grandpa’s? They agreed.
Now, I have read my Mommy’s blog and you may think my adventures were not as fun, but I can guarantee you I had a great time.
On Monday, July 14th, 2008, they dropped me off at Abuela’s and I went directly to bed. I woke up on Tuesday at Grandpa’s. Abuela had gone to work so it was Grandpa’s turn to take care of me. He let me play with my toys and then he took me to the movies. Near where my Grandpa’s house is they have free children movies on Tuesday mornings at 10AM. He bought me Popcorn and a soda and we went in. I am not sure what the movie was and I don’t think grandpa was paying much attention to the title either. Anyway, the movie was about a young girl during the depression. After a little while the movie became quiet and tense and the whole theatre was quite silent waiting to see what was going to happen. It was then that I yelled at the top of my lungs: “I have to go potty!” I was very serious but for some reason the whole theater burst out laughing. Grandpa quickly took me to the potty where I did my business successfully. After the movie and lunch I had my nap and when I awoke Abuela was home and Grandpa had gone to the Temple where he works each Tuesday night. Abuela usually teaches piano on Tuesday nights but she cancelled her lessons so she could stay with me. We played with my toys and she made me dinner. I had Dinos, green bean salad and saffron rice. It was quite good and I finished everything on my plate.

Wednesday and Thursday Grandpa and I spent the days getting ready for vacation. We went to the store, and I helped him pack and clean the truck. I wonder how Grandpa would have managed without my help!

On Friday after final preparations we went to pick up Abuela at work and left for Michigan.
Grandpa had decided to drive at night. Personally, I prefer day time driving but I accommodated Grandpa’s wishes and behaved quite well during the trip if I may say so. However, I didn’t sleep much (maybe 4 or 5 hours tops).

I want everyone to know that I wasn’t cranky and I didn’t have any accidents! I went potty when we stopped at rest stops and at the restaurant in Leesburg where we had dinner. The restaurant in Leesburg was a buffet (Chinese plus). I had a great dinner and dessert. Everyone in the restaurant liked me. That is because I talked to everyone and I practiced my Thai. They said Ni Jao and I said Sawatika! I also told everyone that I was bilingual and spoke English and Spanish.

We arrived at Linda’s Lighthouse Inn, Bed and Breakfast in Algonac, MI at about 10AM Saturday. We were all exhausted and all we wanted to do was pretty much nothing! However, I am only a little girl, and I have a lot of energy to burn so I still wanted to talk non stop and run around. Abuela and Grandpa played with me some but they were somewhat lethargic. I can’t understand why.

Miss Linda was our hostess. She owns the Bed and Breakfast house and she also lives there with her Husband Ron and their dog Killer. Killer is still young so every time I tried to play with him he scratched me or bit me some so I was a little leery to play with him.

On Sunday we got dressed up and went to Church. We didn’t know at what time Sacrament Meeting started so Abuela assumed that there would be a meeting at 9AM for sure. We got up early and Miss Linda prepared fresh fruit, sausage and blueberry pancakes for breakfast. It was quite delicious. Church was 35 minutes away. We got stuck behind some slow cars so all of a sudden we felt we were getting tight in time.

Grandpa started driving a little faster. We were now feeling pretty good when as we approached St. Clair Township we had to cross a bridge. Well, guess what? It was a draw bridge and it was opened! For sure now we knew we were going to be late.

However, when we arrived at the church there were only three other cars in the parking lot. When we went in we found out church didn’t start until 10AM so we were mighty early after all.

Now remember, I am just a little girl and 45 minutes of wait just sitting down did not appeal to me. So I decide, this was a good time for me to do my exercises and also to practice my dancing and talk to everyone who passed by.

Soon the greeter came and not only did I help him pass the programs and greet the people but he was my dance companion when traffic was slow. Grandpa and Abuela ruined the fun when they indicated we needed to go to the chapel.

I behaved very well in Sacrament meeting and then I got to go to nursery. I was pretty much the boss there so I had a great time.
After Church, Grandpa drove to Port Huron where we had lunch. Port Huron is on the St. Clair River and directly across from Canada.

There are parks there and it is a cute small city. As we were driving around Grandpa said why don’t we go to Canada? Abuela was all for it and I was just there for the ride. I was entertained watching Mulan. Well, our trip to Canada was rather short. We didn’t go pass the Immigration Booth.

Before we left on the trip Abuela had asked Mommy to give her my passport and a letter saying they were allowed to take me out of the country. Mommy didn’t have time to write the letter and Abuela thought that a letter that was not notarized probably would not do much. So, here we were at the border and the lady asks for passports. Well, the lady asked the wrong questions and abuela was slow in giving the passports so she became very nasty and sent us to customs. In customs they searched Grandpa’s truck for one hour. We don’t know what they were looking for but Grandpa was not very happy. I was getting restless and finally when we went into the building I needed to go potty. While I went potty Grandpa dealt with customs and then we had to go to the Immigration office. The lady in Immigration started asking me many questions. She wanted to know who I was with. Of course I said Grandpa and Abuela Susan! She then said Grandpa and who? I had to explain I was with my grandma Abuela Susan. I was very happy and I don’t know what the big deal was but after we finished with this lady Grandpa said he didn’t want to stay and he wanted to return to the USA. We got in the truck and after standing in line for another hour we were able to reenter the US with no trouble at all.

This experience pretty much ruined the rest of the day so we just drove back to our Bed and Breakfast. On the way back, we stopped at Vantage Point (a scenic park outside Port Huron) and enjoyed a good time there.

Monday we had agreed to meet Uncle Matt so we spent the morning playing in the Bed and Breakfast and then I had to get a bath and ready to go. We had to drive for over an hour and we met near Detroit at Big Boy.

I was full of energy and I couldn’t sit still. I ate my lunch sparingly and all I wanted to do was to play with my cousin Chris. My aunt Jen and I sang songs.

Later we were allowed to play with Big Boy. Finally we were ready to go and grandpa kept talking so I decided to sit down and read a book while I waited.

Tuesday was my aunt Patty’s (Sister John Paul) final vows to become a nun. I think they call it their permanent profession or something like that.

The ceremony started at 10AM and it was more than one hour away. We got up early and after another delicious breakfast we left. I had never been in a Catholic Church before and Abuela was concerned that I might not behave or that I would be confused. Honestly, I pretty much didn’t care. I played with the books and their offering envelopes. I tried to talk as softly as I could when I remembered and I did not give anyone any trouble. The ceremony was two hours long and there was a lot of music. I didn’t know any of the songs though and they were not the dancing type either. I got a little bored. After the ceremony we went to a reception.

We ate and I got to play with a lady that had been a college roommate of Aunt Patty. She was very nice.

Aunt Patty was really busy trying to acknowledge everyone who had taken the time to go there and support her so she told Grandpa that she could get together with us at 3:30PM to have some one on one time.
We had about an hour and a half to kill so Grandpa had the best idea ever: going to a petting zoo.

The convent and the property where the convent sits, was donated to the church by the owner of Domino’s Pizza, Tom Monagham. Therefore, Domino’s pizza headquarters is almost around the corner and they have a petting zoo.

I had a wonderful time. I love animals and I saw many animals that I didn’t know what they were. Some goats started eating my dress and I thought it was real fun. I kept telling them that my dress was not food.

When we met with Aunt Patty I was pretty wired up and wouldn’t sit or obey much. So Abuela decided that I should sing a song and see if that calm me down. I sang The Wise Man song for Aunt Patty. Abuela thought she would like it. She really did. The time there went fast and Abuela had to take care of me so she didn’t get to talk much or take pictures. She wanted Grandpa to have some time with her.

We left the convent after 4PM and went back to the Bed and Breakfast. I was tired but did not want to nap. By the time we got back and had dinner it got pretty late so Abuela gave me a bath and I went to bed.

On Wednesday it was “Fishing with Grandpa Day”. The Bed and Breakfast backed to the St Clair River and they have a long dock. Grandpa likes to fish out of the dock so I got to go and be with Grandpa and help him fish.

We didn’t catch anything while I was there but I loved fishing with Grandpa.

We didn’t do anything else exciting that day other than playing and eating. Abuela however, left me with Grandpa and went shopping all day.

Well, in truth she explained that it had taken her 1 hour to get to the store and more than an hour to get back due to route closings and detours. She came back with a bunch of bags with knitting projects and yarn. She didn’t have anything for me however. Very disappointing if you ask me! In the evening I got to watch a DVD.

Thursday was a fun day. During breakfast I wanted to read a story so I told everyone to stop eating and that I had to read a story. Using my hands as a book I told the following story:
“Once upon a time Abuela told me: “I don’t want you”!
And once upon a time the Lion came and ate me.
And once upon a time Grandpa came and saved me from the lion. The End. “
Grandpa loved the story while Abuela didn’t think it was that good a story at all. I wonder why? After playing all day we went to a Country Music Band concert.

This concert was in the Algonac Park, right alongside the river. It was beautiful weather, beautiful view and great music. I danced until I couldn’t dance any more. At one point everyone applauded and I bowed. I was sure everyone was clapping for me! I was quite a hit. I guess the spectators liked the band as well.

After a while, I spotted some little girls playing a little further down and I asked Abuela if I could play with them. She said yes so I played with them the rest of the night.

After the concert Grandpa took us out to eat ice cream.

Friday was our last day in Algonac. Grandpa wanted to do some more fishing and abuela wanted to do some more shopping so that is exactly what they did. I go to go with Abuela. First we stopped by K-Mart and Abuela bought me a Dora Hat, a purse, princess socks and princess sunglasses. I looked very cute if you ask me!

Then we drove to Port Huron where Abuela’s store was and shopped. I was excited to see so many enticing things and I wanted to touch everything so Abuela let me have a few items to carry while I was in the store. Each time I got bored with one item she would return it to the shelf and give me something else. At one point Abuela found some yarn called Jasmine. I was so excited that I carried one ball of yarn the whole time I was at the store. However, Abuela had no plans to buy the yarn so at some point she told me I had to return the yarn. I was not happy with that so Abuela explained that the yarn had to go back to her family and I had to kiss it goodbye. So, I kissed the yarn goodbye and told her I would miss her and I would see her again next time.
After the store we stopped at McDonalds where I had a Happy Meal. Then we stopped at the playground. I had a great time there. Abuela took some pictures of me with some monuments there and then we returned to Grandpa.

We got back at about 4:30PM. The rest of the evening was uneventful. Abuela and grandpa were packing for the return and I watched a DVD.
Saturday we woke up early and left on our return home. I was very excited. I had missed my mommy and daddy terribly. They did call me everyday and I got to talk to them but I really, really missed them. I would ask Grandpa and Abuela everyday when I was going to see my Mommy and Daddy. I was very good in the car. I watched DVDs and listened to music and played with toys and Abuela even read a book to me.

However, when we stopped to fill the tank and Abuela took me potty I was behaving very badly. My problem was that I had to walk through a store full of candy and toys. I wanted to touch everything and I wanted to get everything to take home so Abuela picked me up to take me out of the store. We do not know exactly when, but I lost my Dora Hat. We didn’t realize I had lost the hat until we stopped for dinner and I wanted to wear it. I was very sad about that. I loved my hat.

We got home late and I was asleep by the time we got there so I didn’t get to see my Mommy and Daddy until Sunday.
I loved my vacation with Abuela and Grandpa but I also missed my Mommy and Daddy.