After a most amazing three weeks, the kids have gone home. Here they're boarding their flight at 6:45 a.m. yesterday. They have left us with 2,910 photos; they have left us with priceless memories; they have left us with newly explored places; they have left us with uncountable giggles, antics, snuggles, opinions, ideas, etc; they have left us with an empty, too quiet house; they have left us with more love than one can imagine.
What follows is a very brief recap, with but a few highlights of things we did the last two weeks of their visit, beginning with our trip to Michigan in the motorhome. We drove to our RV Park near South Haven on July 2nd and explored the area that evening.
Our first beach was at West Side County Park the next day. I think the kids were happily surprised at the waves and sand at Michigan beaches since their previous beach experiences were in California.
On July 4th we spent the day at Dutch Village in Holland. We do have "Cheesey Good Times!"
The kids each got to lead a goat around the park which was a riot to watch. More accurately, I should say that the goats led the kids around the park.
On July 5th the crowds had thinned considerably at South Haven Beach so we spent a few hours there. They love being in the water, even the chilly waters of Lake Michigan.
Near Kalamazoo there is a place called Air Zoo where we spent the afternoon on July 6th. It is a perfect combination of air museum with many planes on display and simple indoor rides for kids.
It was back to the beach on July 7th. Silver Beach in St. Joseph is a fabulous beach with a playground and clean, modern facilities. We had so much fun there that we stayed for nearly six hours.
Grandpa left to check on the girls and brought back lunch!
We returned from Michigan on the 8th and spent the next day at Morton Arboretum with Greg and Jenny, finishing the day with a swim at our pool.
Grandpa calls this the "hood ornament pose." Interestingly, I don't think they have ever asked what a hood ornament is...see "Cheesey Good Times" above...giggle!
Taking advantage of their weekend off, we spent the next day at Navy Pier so that Greg and Jenny could go there with us too.
Another beastly hot and humid day, after walking the length of the Pier we decided to visit the Children's Museum to cool off a bit while playing there. I am so glad we did! They have added the most amazing feature! They converted a large room into a fort-building mansion. Because it would take many, many words to describe, here are a few photos. We had a blast in several of the other rooms in this museum too, staying until it closed, but this was so unique.
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We love parks and this new one at the village center has some fun equipment that we had not seen before so we went there a couple of times.
Of course we spent a lot of time at home too. We watched old home movies, ate breakfasts where they serve the best pancakes in the world, pored over photo albums, looked at their mom's sealed wedding gown, shopped for clothes and electronic games, followed America's Got Talent and Wipeout, played games, rode the bike through the house, went to the movies twice, had many cool conversations, did lots of snuggling, and played the lap harp. I'll close with a movie of our favorite rendition of
You Are My Sunshine.
And now I'm off to Carlinville to spend a couple of days with my mom, brother, and SIL.
Lovin' Life ~~ With Our Grands
Bev
