Christmas 2011

To our friends and family near and far, Merry Christmas!

Here is how we spent most of our morning...and tonight we are exhausted from all the play! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9GRbQNRWSg&feature=youtu.be

Fathers' Day in Minneapolis

We have several friends who in the past few years have relocated to Minneapolis, so we decided to spend a long weekend up there visiting with them!

Highlights included, of course, the Mall of America. However, instead of shopping we visited the aquarium and Nickelodeon Universe and the Lego store. Then on Sunday, we visited the Minneapolis Zoo for Father's Day.

The shark exhibit!

Several underwater walkways...

...made for GREAT shark viewing!

Kate was pretty tuckered out 

Relaxing with baby William at the Hucks' House

We were lucky enough to have a FANTASTIC road trip with the kids. It couldn't have gotten better! They were happy, easily entertained and even were able to take naps. We made sure, however, to stretch our legs now and then, like here at Mill Bluff State Park.

20 minutes to hike all the way up the bluff. Look at those steep stairs!

But the view was worth all the effort!

Happy Trails for these happy kids :)

Weekend Getaway

The day after the wedding brought us gallivanting around Dinosaur Valley State Park...Where are the kids, you ask? ha ha....not with us :) We enjoyed a day of hiking in some beautiful woods, hunting dinosaur tracks, and wading in streams. I had forgotten what it was like to play!

AAARGH!

Our little car rental! It was fun tooling around in this red VW bug!

We are forever indebted to our good friends, the Zimmermans and the Reedys for taking on an extra kid for the weekend and giving us the chance to "getaway". From what I can tell, Ethan and Kate had a great time doing sleep overs at their friends' houses!

NJ Shore Vacation 2010

As many of you know, every summer we try to take a little family beach vacation. It's usually to South Haven, MI, but this year we decided to be a bit more adventurous! We decided to embark on a 16 hour road trip to Ocean Grove, NJ to visit my brother and his family for a week.

Some of the highlights are below. Click here to see the full album

Indianapolis

As an end of the school year celebration, the Snyders took a short overnight trip to Indianapolis to check out their Childrens Museum and Zoo. We had always heard so much about it, and now was our chance to go. We were not disappointed!

We left late morning, and after lunching in the van arrived at the Childrens Museum just two hours before closing time. It gave us just enough time to see everything except one or two exhibits that Ethan wouldn't have enjoyed anyway. The dinosaur exhibit is definitely a highlight! Unfortunately, Ethan was pretty frightened of these large, lifelike displays that we had to race through the exhibit. So...no photos :( But he loved the train exhibit and the "Playscape" especially, which was basically one large room of all these hands on exhibits. Water, sand, slides, ride on toys, stuff to climb. He and Kate had a blast. It was planned perfectly, really. We arrived late enough to miss all the school crowds, but early enough to see just about all the exhibits. On our way out, the kids noticed this light display which had them (and us) rolling on the ground in laughter.



The next day we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. I haven't enjoyed a visit to the zoo this much in years! We had perfect weather, and the zoo wasn't so huge that I felt I was walking miles and miles just to see the next exhibit. One of the highlights for all of us was taking the train ride around the zoo.


It was to get off our feet, feel a cool breeze and snuggle up close to our kids :)


It was a great little trip! For more pics, click here or go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=172271&id=610621963&l=b232e55509

Spring Break 2010

We've just come back from a last minute getaway to the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed at the Grand Marquis Hotel, which is one of several hotels with indoor water parks specifically for children under 10. We had a great time and definitely recommend it to families with small kids.

Click on the album below to see pics from our trip. Or you can click here

Spring Break 2010

One of the highlights of the trip was dinner at Buffalo Phil's. We were seated next to a working model train and railroad, which brought out our drinks and food!

Philippines 2009

It's been two days since I got back from my week long trip to the Philippines. I'll write about the trip soon. In the meantime, here are some pics for you to look at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129527&id=610621963&l=355e5b0b04

One Final Summer Excursion

In an effort to prolong what little vacation time we have left together, we decided to spend a night at Wildlife Prairie State Park in Peoria, IL. They have several things to do there, like hiking, fishing and seeing the various wildlife they have on display there. It's more of a wildlife preserve than a zoo. This was the first time Ethan had ever gone fishing, and to be quite honest, it felt like the first time for David and me! We borrowed a friend's fishing pole, bought some bait at a nearby gas station, and tried our luck at the pond outside our cottage. We rented what they called a "double cottage", which really was two mini silos connected together.


Ethan loved to climb up to the top bunk.

Our little cottage had everything you could need. Mini fridge, tiny stove, sink, microwave, coffee maker, tv, and bathroom. The separate bedroom had 3 trundle beds in there!

The highlight of the trip was riding on the little train that tours parts of the park. If you know our boy, he LOVES trains.

So, that's it. David goes back to work in just a few more days! Can't wait for the Fall and all the fun harvest festivities that await!

Leaving Michigan

On our way out of South Haven last year, we stopped at Van Buren State Park to do some hiking. We did the same thing this year, and I imagine this will continue to be a family tradition. The views are spectacular!

This year we actually hiked down to the shore for a little bit. The path down there and back is quite the workout, but well worth it :)

We then had lunch at none other than Ethan's favorite--McDonald's. Kate had her first taste of a cheeseburger...

Like her big brother, she prefers french fries...

ONE Day at the Beach

Well we made it to the beach! It certainly warmed up, but by the water it was still rather cool.



Kate IMMEDIATELY headed to the water. I didn't even have time to get situated, since she started crawling right into the surf! I wasn't sure how she would react to the water, but I didn't expect to be running after her! Luckily we brought her booster seat that has straps, so after some play time I strapped her down so she could stay put (and eat her lunch)!

After the beach we went home, everyone washed up...

and had a VERY long afternoon nap!

We decided to go out for dinner at our favorite Italian place here...Maria's. We then ended the evening with a long stroll down the harbor towards the lighthouse.

Ethan loves the beach! We do, too :) It's too bad that the weather is so cool! This is such a far cry from our vacation last year (scroll through my blog entries for August 2008) which had some good, hot days for swimming. We're just glad that we didn't book the entire week this year.

More tomorrow...