Michigan - Day 2

Day #2 dawned and was rich with promise for FUN! We woke up, ate breakfast and packed up the van. Our first stop for the day was the Grand Rapid's Children's Museum. Becki had done some research and found out that our local museum membership included a reciprical membership to the one in Grand Rapids. This museum was in the midst of a Curious George exhibit - which is a favorite of our kids.

Katie - checking out the glass elevator
a big table of bubbles!! Maddie & Becki played here for quit a while!

Up close with George.

Visiting George and the Man with the Yellow Hat.

Live bees inside the glass - it was rather fascinating to watch them! Maddie donned her beekeeper outfit and inspected!

Katie & Alex "on stage" performing their "Burpers of the West" song - written by Katie!

Alex inside a HUGE bubble!

Maddie sharing a secret with George!

Will & Maddie LOVED this area! Recycled rubber tires with foam rocks. Lots of digging & moving!!

After the museum, we headed to lunch and then to Bertha Brock County Park for an informal "meet & greet" with other letterboxers. Along the way to the park, we stopped at 3 cemeteries to get the boxes for the "Cemeteries of Gaines Township " series. Once at Bertha Brock, we met up with Family of 6, Booty Bandits, F.o.R.D. Family, Just Happy 2 C Ya, and G. It was a nice time spent to meet some fellow boxers and we met in a park filled with boxes...however, it was very hot & humid!! We found one box (after all the usual exchanges and chatting) and decided to hit the road!

Another day in Michigan draws to an end. This day was much more tiring and we weren't getting along as well as we were the first day (and that's a nice way of putting it)! We ended our day in Stanton, visiting Matt's great aunt Janet and 2nd cousin Bob. We enjoyed our visit with them and the kids got to run off some excess energy in the big farm yard. Matt & Bob stayed up late to witness the meteor shower - well worth it in their opinion.

Michigan - Day 1

We left for Michigan today (August 11)! I don't know if I am more impressed with the fact that we got out the door at 7:00 this morning...or that we had VERY MINIMAL fighting all day long!! We had a wonderful day - to say the least. I can only hope that the rest of the trip is this fun!

On the agenda for today: Warren Dunes State Park, Saugatuk, Holland & Grand Rapids (hotel).


Our first stop was at the Michigan Welcome Center (Rest Stop). Matt went on the search for "I-94 Crawl Series: Welcome to Michigan!" while I took the kids to the playground. He successfully found the box while the kids & I enjoyed our time playing. I had the kids sit on this bench with the beautiful backdrop of the flowers & lighthouse.

Within a few hours, the kids & Becki were swimming in Lake Michigan! We stopped at Warren Dunes State Park for the afternoon. Lots & lots of fun!!

After swimming for a few hours, we all headed over the dunes. It was VERY hot and the sand hurt our feet more than you can know! Here are the twins (holding hands) and Katie & Alex (two in pink 1/3 way up the dune). Alex climbed to the top!! Katie made it about 3/4 of the way up while Maddie made it about 1/2 way up. Soon after this picture was taken, Will turned around and came back to Matt & I.
We stopped at a nearby restaurant to change & eat a late lunch. It was just what we needed to sustain us for more sightseeing & letterboxing for the remainder of the day! We headed up the Lake towards Saugatuck. There were a lot of letterboxes listed as drive-bys in Douglas & Saugatuck. We were happy to get 7 boxes in very quick fashion. We ended up finding a parking space in Saugatuck and walking the town to find the boxes so that added some time. We missed out on 4 in Saugatuck - either missing or too busy of a location at the time.

I had wanted to show the kids Holland, MI - mainly the Dutch Island Village. So when we were done with Saugatuck, we continued to head north to Holland. We were very sad to find that the Island was already closed for the day!! It was 8:00 (with lots of daylight left), but it closed at 5:00. We were able to get this picture of the windmill and stopped to get a picture of Will by the train while Maddie admired the flowers.

Thus ended our first day - it was a busy, long day! The kids did really well considering how long it was! We drove to our hotel in Grand Rapids and settled in for the night...

Grandma & Grandpa Visit!

Following our trip to Michigan, we were blessed with a visit from Matt's parents (Ken & Connie Hart). They were able to stay for a week and we did lots of stuff during that time. Matt & I enjoyed their company and their handywork on things throughout the house. Ken connected electric to the new deck - we now have 7 outlets throughout the deck!! He also helped us finish our threshhold from the kitchen to the dining room. Connie built a stone downspout/fountain for us along the driveway (I haven't gotten a picture of that yet). Ken & Becki put up new lights under the kitchen cabinets. We kept them busy for sure! The best part for us was sitting around in the evening, enjoying each other's (and usually Whitey's ice cream!) company. The kids LOVED having their grandma & grandpa around - and Grandma & Grandpa were lucky enough to witness the kids in their true form!!

Here is Ken with the 4 kids...

One of the days, we headed to Iowa City to find a few indoor boxes and to visit the Coralville Lake again. We just had the twins since the girls had started school. We were fortunate to find the 4 boxes in Iowa City ("The Book End", "If Winter Comes, We'll Letterbox Indoors", "Carya Ovata" and "Rutilus Persea Americana" ) and to see the Lake. We enjoyed our time, but it was hot and we were happy to be home that evening (again, enjoying Whiteys)!

We have tried to find "Carya Ovata" 2 times before today...we reread the clues and found where we needed to be (we were pretty sure!). But no luck. We headed the other direction at the trail head to see if we were going the wrong way...no luck. I encouraged Matt to head back to the first location and look better (while the rest of us headed back to the van). He came back a while later and said that there was good & bad news. Good news - he found it (where we had looked previously). Bad news - there was a wasps nest right in front of it! After lunch and a few other boxes, we stopped at Target and purchased some Wasp spray. Matt & Connie hit the trail - ready to tackle the nest! They were able to get the box safely!!
A butterfly along the trail...

Maddie & Will taught Grandma & Grandpa EVERY game that we have in our closet! And they played every game a couple of times each day!! It's safe to say that Grandma & Grandpa have met their game quota for the year!

We enjoyed our time together and it came to an end too quickly. We always think that a week will be long and we'll accomplish so much...but the time was gone before we knew it! Ken & Connie - thanks for your hard work around the house. Thanks for not making a big deal about the kids meltdowns (as well as ours!!). Thank you for being flexible! We look forward to seeing you again - hopefully before next summer. We love you.

More House Stuff

Here are a few more finished products for the house...

We finished up the front porch/mudroom this past week. We had wanted custom built shelves and benches for this room (and that may still happen down the road), but due to finances & time issues, we opted to purchase the 2 benches and a basket shelving unit. This should work great for us for many years!

Here is the porch before we closed it in.

http://hartx6.blogspot.com/2010/02/our.html

The garage is now finished!! Here is the before shot...

And the after shot!

Another little project - new cabinet lights.

Using the New Deck

We hoped that by adding on to our house with a bigger deck (Massive was the word our contractor kept using!), we'd be extending our living space. The first day after the deck was done the kids asked if they could go out on the deck. I came into the kitchen a bit later and found this...exactly what I had hoped for!


It continues to be a great gathering place - we look forward to many years of fellowship, playing, eating with friends & family.