Bringing Up Bates "Here's the Scoop!"
- Erin will be taking her first trip to Michael’s house in Chicago. “She is so excited about you coming,” Kelly tells Erin. “I have never heard her this excited.” Carson, Kelly, and Tori are going along.
- Kelly pulls up the AARP travel site for Chicago to start planning. “We actually are old enough to join, but Gil was putting it off because he didn’t want to admit that he qualifies for being old enough, but I was kind of proud of my age, so I was eager to join,” says the Bates mom, who turned 50 last October.
- Michael says she is adjusting to life in Chicago. “Sometimes I miss home, but I’m definitely falling in love more with it here,” she shares.
- The group arrives in Chicago, reunites with Michael, and heads downtown to Navy Pier. Erin drives, and Kelly is terrified.
- Their first order of business is to ride the Ferris wheel. “I will say, big city is definitely not my thing,” says Tori.
- Next, they take a boat tour. Carson is beyond excited.
- When they return to Michael’s apartment, Michael and Erin take the opportunity to cook together. Michael says she and Brandon aren’t set on staying in Chicago permanently. “I would love to move somewhere back to the mountains, and I think Brandon would, too,” says Michael.
- Michael tells Erin that she has found a fertility specialist. “Right now, it’s undiagnosed, so that’s hope,” says Michael, nearly in tears. “So there’s a lot of bloodwork and a lot of ultrasounds. It’s something I never thought I’d experience.”
- “I know everybody says they pray for you, but there’s not really something you can say,” Erin tells Michael gently. “You’re doing great. It’s okay. It’s okay to cry.”
- Erin can relate to Michael’s unfulfilled longing for a child, as she suffered multiple miscarriages before Carson came along.
- “There’s days I cry a lot, and then there’s other days I don’t seem to be fazed,” admits Michael. “Someday, maybe, and if not, I’ll adopt me a baby.”
- Brandon returns home and shows Kelly the rough draft of his children's book, which is set in the medieval times and has a strong message of character. His illustrations are beautiful.
- Back at the Bates home, Carlin, Katie, Nathan, and Lawson head up an ice cream making competition. They divide the kids into teams, with older ones as team captains, to see who can make the best flavor of homemade ice cream.
- “This was about having fun with the little guys and keeping them preoccupied, but of course since it had Lawson and Nathan in there, they made it all about the competition,” says Carlin.
- Katie is the judge. Team Carlin makes mint chocolate chip, and the flavor is overpowering. Team Nathan makes mint cookie dough, and Katie says it has the worst flavor she has ever tasted. Team Lawson makes cookie dough, and Katie crowns them the winners.
