Motown and Henry Ford Estate

Last night we got online and researched a bunch of different things we could do while Grammy and Grandpa are visiting, and this is what we decided on for today:

First, Motown. This was a definite hit. The tour guides were awesome, very well prepared and interesting. We got to spend time in Studio A where hundreds of Motown hits were recorded. The girls got to go up and do the Supremes hip shake and sing, "Stop! In the Name of Love", and then the boys performed "My Girl" complete with the Temptations shuffle. It was really a lot of fun, and reasonably priced. I would definitely recommend this one. Motown gets an "A" from us!

Our next stop was the Henry Ford Estate. It was a bit of a battle to finally decide what to do (yeah, D and I don't communicate all that well sometimes) but after a lunch at PotBelly's we decided to head here. It was also a very interesting place. Here is a picture of Grammy and Grandpa with the girls in front of the miniature farmhouse (no, this is not the Henry Ford Estate). He had this built for a state fair one year and then had it moved to his estate for his grandkids to play in.

THIS is the Henry Ford Estate, wow what a place. 33,000 sq ft inside the home. The 13- car 3000 sq/ft garage is in a separate building, connected by a tunnel. It had some very beautiful features - the music room being a highlight for me. However, it seemed so dark inside. I know that's a "rich" look to have everything wood paneled, but considering how gray it often is here anyway, I think all of that darkness would get to me eventually. I will say this: the ceilings were gorgeous! (No photography allowed inside). Our tour guide cracked me up though. She was definitely keeping us moving along and wouldn't take any guff from anyone. All of the tour guides are volunteers, so we have to cut her some slack. She did know her stuff, and told us lots of interesting facts about the estate. The Henry Ford Estate gets a "B" from me. I would go again, in fact, I'd love to see it in the summer, I've heard the gardens are beautiful. The Ford family employed 28 full and part-time gardeners when they were alive. Now the gardeners, like the tour guides, are volunteers.

After the estate, we came home for leftovers (I always think Thanksgiving food tastes better on the 2nd day!) and then went to see the Christmas lights in Hines Park. There was a very long line to get in, that probably took us at least an hour. Then about 30 minutes to drive through it. Some of it was cute, probably would have been prettier with snow. Don't know that we'll do that again. After temple square, it's hard to impress me with Christmas lights. We'll give this one a "C".

Ah...then home for leftover pie. Mmmm. THAT gets an A+!

Today I am very grateful for time with family and for fun things to see. We LOVED seeing all of the fun things while we were in Louisiana and are now having fun exploring Michigan. Still lots of things here we need to see, but here are three we've now checked off the list.

Tomorrow: Decorating for Christmas with "Martha Stewart" aka Grammy to help us. Grandpa is going to help D with a few projects. Some of us are going to see the Ford Rouge Factory Tour, while others of us do cello lessons and attend a baptism in our ward. Then, of course, there is a certain football game on tomorrow which we'll be following. We're dividing the room in half so the red and blue don't have to intermix.