What do you do?

What do you do when you're not allowed to leave the county? That is the very question my mom and I asked ourselves while we were in Oakland County, MI (Novi, to be specific) for 7 days together. (I was there for 12 days--but it was 7 with my Mimsy there)

I think when she first got there we were both thinking the same thing.... "what the heck are we going to do to keep from driving each other crazy over the next 7 days, stuck here in this hotel room?"

but this past week, as I have been back in Boise, I realized that I got into a ROUTINE while I was there! And it has been weird coming home to adjust to a new routine! Never thought that would be the case.

This is where we stayed: And this is a panorama shot of the room we stayed in for Ashlyn's 6th through 17th days of life:
Many people were asking me how we were getting along....did we have to go out to eat every night? Were we hiding in our hotel because we were in downtown Detroit? Well, the answer is no, and no. Thankfully. We stayed in Novi, which is a Boise-ish suburb. I never even saw any remote area of actual Detroit. Not a single skyscraper. I'm a teensy bit sad about that--I have always loved seeing big city skylines. BUT given the situation I was in, with a new baby and all, and the city I was in being Detroit, which isn't exactly touristy, I didn't feel too heartbroken.


And as for getting along foodwise... we were in an extended-stay hotel, which means we had our own little kitchen: fridge, micro, stovetop, dishwasher. It was necessary. I think I ate out 3 times total the entire time. Our hotel had free breakfast every day, and free dinner 3 nights a week. We were right across the street from a Kroger and down the street from Target.


There was also a decent workout room (all I needed was a treadmill anyway) and free laundry. So, we were well taken care of.

BUT

even with all that, you can only sit around in a hotel room for so long. Ashlyn definitely kept us busy, as well as watching my fave shows every night, but about mid-afternoon we would get itching to get out SOMEWHERE. Plus we had to leave so housekeeping could come clean!

So we ventured out to see a few sights....

Stocked up on unique treats and dried fruits (FLAT BANANA...YUM!) at Trader Joe's! SO wish there was one in Boise!

Headed to Babies R Us to register for baby stuff.... and may or may not have gone a little crazy buying little girl clothes while we were there....

Ate at Famous Dave's....I can officially say this is the first restaurant Ashlyn has been to, if she ever cares to know!

Walked a giant mall! Just like 3x the sise of Boise's. Ashlyn usually snoozed in her carseat or sling while we ventured out these places. When people would ask how old she was and find out she was only 10-ish days old, I would usually get raves about how great I look for just having a baby! Gotta love it! And if you are shaking your head that we took a brand new baby out... I swear she was covered up and out of reach everywhere we went. And really, what are you going to do thousands of miles from home with absolutely nothing to do? I am not ashamed!

It actually turned out to be a great time to bond with Ashlyn, and my mom. I wish Collin could have been there more, but then again with the 4 of us it would have been beyond crowded. It was nice, in a way, to be able to just relax and not have anything to worry about but figuring out how to be a mom and enjoying my sweet little baby! Not that I would recommend racking up thousands of dollars worth of plane tickets, hotel, rental car, and other bills, but you will never ever hear me say it wasn't worth it.