Michigan

Our holidays this past summer consisted of a trip to Michigan. Hard to believe that was already four months ago. As is usual with our holidays the weather wasn't totally cooperative, but overall it did not put a damper on our fun as we only got rain one day. The fact that we never have a holiday without rain might have something to do with the time of year that we take our holidays (the last week before school starts), which is hurricane season along the east coast and often means we get the remains of hurricane weather. But for us this is the week that works best as it gives us some family time as well as "down" time before the kids and Rob return to school each September. Our original plan was to leave Friday after supper and make it to our destination, Rob's brother's in Grand Rapids, by midnight. Hoping the kids would sleep and this would allow us plenty of time on Saturday. But come Friday afternoon we were not ready to leave and given we were spending more time then usual (not that we do this that often) in Grand Rapids we figured there wasn't really such a rush to leave and sleep might be a good idea. So instead we woke up early Saturday morning ... actually the girls woke us up and good thing because between both mine and Rob's alarm neither of them went off, and we were on the road by 6am. After a bit of a stop at the border, something we had expected due to Rob previously being declined entrance to the States (no real fault of his, just one of those days where they were one high security and someone was on a power trip), we were on our way again and we made good time, getting there shortly after lunch. Cousins: Lauren, Marietta, Rebecca, Tonya The reason for the picture :) Tonya and Lauren thought Marietta and Rebecca had pretty neat hair-dos and so that night after their showers I did their hair also.

We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out, relaxing, catching up and trying to stay cool during the heat wave that had just set in after a relatively cool week beforehand

Rob and Leanne having a "sword" fight

Matthew is our TV and computer fanatic, something we are constantly struggling with at home as he has a hard time getting past his desire to play on the computer, but once he does and he focuses on something else then he plays very well. So he quite enjoyed the fact that they played lots of Nintendo and Playstation etc (whatever they're all called) and that he was given an opportunity to try also Mario was one of his favourites Jody was often his companion in the computer room Sprinkler fun after a scorching hot day of 33C (don't forget to factor in the humidity) ... oh how I wish we had a well again.

Aunt Martha tried to encourage Matthew to play in the sandbox because she knows I'm not a sand fan :), but he wasn't all that much interested in it ... until after some sprinkler fun ... then he had some second thoughts about Aunt Martha's idea and decided the sandbox was great fun inbetween sprinkler cool-downs

On Monday we spent the day in Holland, Michigan at the Dutch Village (seperate post on that to come) and since Tuesday was another sorching hot day we decided to "hibernate" a bit indoors and not tackle the heat for another day. Martha and I went to a thrift store sale and Rob and John went book shopping ... or should I say Rob did .... I'm not sure if Rob was more excited about the trip so that he could relax and visit or so that he could finally do some book shopping in Grand Rapids which he had always heard had such great deals. I'd say he struck some okay deals and we went home with a load of books.

On Wednesday it was time for us to start heading in the direction of home for a few days of family time. We left mid-morning and made it to our destination of Flint, Michigan in good time. Our next two nights were spent at a hotel in Flint where we relaxed and enjoyed some time together as family and spent a day at the Pioneer Village (seperate post to come on that also). It was a very nice time together.

Pool and hot tub fun Someone had forgotten their waterwings and so Matthew gave them a try ... he LOVED it, to say the least!! :) The next day we went looking at some local stores for waterwings ... but it being the end of summer who would think that people are actually still swimming and not thinking about back to school shopping ... needless to say we didn't have any luck.

Still catching up ... more to follow soon.