Traverse City Mini-Vacation

This year for Father's Day, the kids and I surprised Joe with a little family getaway. He's been working so hard on house projects, we wanted to steal him away for a bit.  So we headed North for two days. 

DAY ONE

We wound up at Great Wolf Lodge.  We had never been there, so when a Groupon popped up, offering a good deal on an overnight stay, I thought this was our opportunity to check it out.  

"Smile Georgie!" obviously translated into "Stick out your tongue Georgie!"

First things first!  We were off to the water park.

Henry is a bit more timid in water, and Claire is much more adventurous.

But both kids really liked these water slides.

George's ability to pull himself up on pretty much anything is quite amazing.

Taking a break from the water, we explored the Lodge for a bit.

We asked Henry to take a picture of us love birds.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Take Two

A bit blurry, but at least our heads are intact....

along with our Great Wolf Lodge fuzzy ears.

After a full day of fun, the kids were in their p.j.'s, awaiting story time.

A selfie with my boys, who were quite intrigued by the 

song and dance show during story time.

And once the kids were in bed, it was time to break out the cards.

Joe and I continued our new interest in a quirky card game Joe got from my parents for his birthday. It is called Guillotine...where one wins by getting "a head".  Yes, I know.  But it is quite a hoot.  

DAY TWO

A little breakfast in our room before we hit the ground running.

First thing on our agenda, the kids signed up for a Junior Lifeguard Class.

Claire's turn to close her eyes while the dummy is placed in the water.  

She then had to find the dummy as quickly as possible.

And now Henry's turn.  They both did a great job 

finding the "drowning child" right away.

Learning a bit about basic first aid and CPR.

They completed the program and received their certificates, which means they are ready to rescue....so long as they have their swimmies.

As a reward, the Junior Lifeguards were recruited to turn the water on for the water park that day.   Pictured above, they listen to instructions before turning the large yellow water wheel.

After their class, we spent some more time in the water.  Claire and I went down the BIG water slides about a dozen more times.

Craft Time

Claire's picture of her favorite memory, tubing with Mom.

Then around lunchtime we thought we would venture into town for a bit.  It was a beautiful day to explore Traverse City.

We started out by the big lake, but the wind was a bit much for the kids.

We headed towards downtown where we found a fun little spot for lunch and then sampled a bunch of cherry treats at The Cherry Republic.

Then we found a small inlet with a marina where the kids enjoyed watching the boats and splashing a bit.

We had a fun time with this dog we met who was named Henry and was 5-years-old!  We wanted to keep him for a souvenir, but his owner put a stop to that. 

The big kids surfing.

I love that Henry's instinct was to hold George.  Brotherly love.

After we left the marina we walked over to the library, which happened to be just starting their story time!  Oh how we love a good story time!  The kids did a craft, and they each got to pick a brand new book to take home.  

Outside the library was what they called their Children's Garden.  It was a beautiful garden with some fun things to play on for the kids.

Joe and this tortoise are kindred spirits.  

Love this picture of Henry who was wandering a bit too far from us.  When I called him back, he had great difficulty concealing his displeasure.

He was quick to get over it once he found this Captain's ship.

Once our stomach's started to rumble again, we ventured out to the E.L.F. Cafe, which came highly recommended by the locals.  E.L.F. stands for Eat Learn Frolic. Which we certainly did.

Henry and Joe enjoyed the Lego table.  No surprise there.

A little Hobit House outside the Cafe.

And our last adventure for the day was a walk through the woods, searching for Fairy Houses built along the marked trail. 

Henry poses by the first fairy house he found.

Each fairy house was so intricate and unique.  We were certainly intrigued.

Also along the trail, we came across this large, uprooted tree.

George was very interested in climbing to the top of the tree.  He showed no fear, but once it came to the point where neither Joe nor I could comfortably reach him anymore, we had to pull him down. Sorry George.  Maybe in a few more years.

We ended up exploring the city for much longer than we expected, but one adventure led naturally to the next.  Each one such a pleasant surprise.  Great Wolf Lodge was wonderful, but we usually enjoy traveling off the beaten path a bit, so we appreciated the chance to do that as well. 

Well, it has been fun looking back on our mini-vacation.  We are thankful for the great memories packed in these two days.

4th of July

For the record, it's

A-M-E-R-I-C-A

We're working on it.

MUD RUN

WHO IS READY TO GET DIRTY FOR CLEAN WATER?

Wow, what can I say about these two men in my life? 

So proud of my brother, sporting his awesome tank top, 

and of course, my hubby, sporting his sweet hair cut.

"M U D"

Henry points out Daddy as he makes his way under the wire.

A flood of mud

He likes to put on a show and makes it fun for all of us!

What a muddy goof ball.

The mud didn't slow him down as he scaled this wall.

Clean and comfy as we watch the runners.

George enjoyed clapping for the runners.

What I don't understand is how Claire and Henry can love playing in the dirt but will refuse to participate in the Mud Run.  Working up to it, I guess.

Meanwhile, We received word that Joe finished the race just in time for the next batch of runners to begin.  And well, he apparently liked it so much the first time, he jumped right back in line to do it again.  Yes, that is right.  5K + 5K = 10K!

At one point, Claire and Henry wanted to try one 

of the obstacles, so we jumped in the race for a short time.

Baby Steps

Glad to participate in this fun challenge for a good cause.

June Pictures

June was another full month as the kids finished up their school year, and we kicked off our Summer break.  Plenty of pictures to share this month!

Claire had one last field trip with her class.  

We had great weather for our scavenger hunt at the John Ball Zoo.

Our group: Izzy, John and Claire

Henry's last day of school!

He had a great year in pre-school and is looking forward

to kindergarten with Ms. Sybil in the fall.

We ventured out to the Ford Museum where Joe was like a kid in a candy shop.

Claire with her teacher Miss. B. at her school Field Day.

Joe was able to take a long lunch to join us for some Field Day fun.

Claire and Henry playing tug of war.  This could get ugly.

Never saw a kid take the Spoon & Egg race so seriously.

He was so focused on the finish line.

Playing Frisbee in the front yard.

Our three big kids.

On the last day of school, Claire's class walked down the road to the 

Ice Cream shop.  The boys and I joined them for a cool treat on a hot day.

Henry was excited to see his school buddy, Gryffin 

(in the blue shirt), also at the ice cream shop.

Once Summer vacation began, we naturally put the kids to work!

Getting the garden ready and some seeds planted.

And, of course, a little fun while we work.

These kids worked hard!  We're so proud of them.

To thank them for their hard work, a little treat from Little Lucy's.  

We just couldn't wait to check out this new little neighborhood bakery.

When we first moved into our house, our priority was remodeling the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom, as well as a few essential fixes: replacing the windows and furnace.  This summer, our focus has shifted a bit to the exterior.  We need to scrape and paint the wood shake exterior, waterproof the foundation, and do some landscaping.

One of our outdoor projects was also to remove a couple large, but sickly, trees on our property.  George enjoyed watching the tree company make a mountain of branches on our driveway.

We had two "smaller" trees that also needed to be taken down alongside the house, but Joe felt up for that challenge.  The one tree that was a bit bigger, Joe enlisted my dad's help in taking down.

I think they both enjoyed that a little too much!

Claire and Henry love going to VBS in the summer.  

Claire is in the middle.  Henry is all smiles on the bottom left corner.

This may be the summer of games.  The kids have been loving both card games and board games.  Their favorites are Uno and Monopoly Junior.

FATHER'S DAY

I could not ask for a better father for our kids!  I'm so

 grateful to be raising our kids with such a godly, fun, loving man.  

And handsome, too, I might add.

Father's Day was a perfect summer day to lounge by the pool.

Daddy's Helper.

Speaking of helping...I'm pretty sure George has a sixth sense for open paint cans.  How does he always seem to find them?  At least this time it was outside and not on our new carpet.

Well, I do have a few more pictures from June, but they really  warrant their own blog posts.  So stay tuned for more adventures from MUD RUN 2016, as well as our Mini Family Getaway up North.