Canche Chronicles: Our Michigan Visit

Okay I am still in catch-up mode so I am writing about our trip in Michigan, what I can remember of it!

Our first day there as a family was Monday morning. David and I slept in. We actually slept in longer than Haley who got up, left the room, and hung out with Abuelita! Abuelita said she came out and sat next to her on the couch and just kind of cuddled for a while. There's no doubt she remembered her from Christmas! We got up with Emily a bit after and took showers and visited with everyone. It was a relaxing day and good for all of us to recover. In the evening we went to the town over called Zeeland where they have activities held every Monday. They had free ice cream and a big bounce obstacle course thing that Haley went through over and over. We went to Captain Sundae afterwards for ice cream, that place is the best.

Tuesday we slept in again and then went with Sarah, Adj, Isa and Bennett to Lake Michigan to swim. The water was warmer than usual but still pretty cold. David got in all the way with Haley and Emily but I stayed in the shallow water. There were a lot of people there but not tons of them were in the water, it really didn't feel that crowded at all. After the beach we came home and gave the kids naps and then Dave and I made tacos for dinner. In the evening I think we played Settlers and Jesse won. Actually I should just say that Jesse won everytime we played so anytime I mention that we played, know that he won!

Wednesday I think we just kind of hung out at Dave's house. Adj bought a kid's swimming pool so that might have been the day we did that. Either Wednesday or Thursday we went to Dutch Village which is a park type place nearby that is all setup to look like an old time Dutch Village. They have a carousel there that Haley rode I think at least three times. I also tried to get her to put on some wooden shoes but she was super suspicious about them, Emily wore a pair for a while. Dutch Village is considered to be a city park so Holland residents and their guests get in free. Adj., Jesse, Bennett, Isa, Sarah, Abuelito, and Abuelita all went with us. Abuelito actually had a spare week of vacation that he needed to use so he took the whole week off that we were there. It was so nice to have him around all of the time and I know the girls know him so well now. Actually, since we've been home Haley has asked for Abuelito multiple times. Usually around bedtime, haha. Anyways, I digress. Wednesday afternoon David and I had gone shopping for patio furniture around Holland during naptime. We found a couple options but didn't end up buying anything. In the evening we went to Kohl's and found a great set for 50% off. Abuelito had a 30% off coupon so we used that and ended up getting the set for a steal! The set was an anniversary present from Mimi and Pops, Mom said I had better get one before the summer was over. It actually worked in our favor to wait because patio sets get really marked down towards the middle and end of the summer!

Thursday we spent the day hanging out with family. Haley and Isa played so nicely together the whole time, it was really sweet to watch. Bennett and Emy kind of had a love hate in relationship in that Bennett loved to hold and love on Emily and Emily hated it, haha. Emy just gets so weird about her personal space, she would start squealing anytime Bennett even sat down too close. Dave and I were able to slip away for a dinner date and then we met Adj and Abuelito downtown. They had taken all four of the children to downtown Holland to see the street performers. Every Thursday night a bunch of performers set up at different points around the downtown area and perform their various talents. There were a lot of people signing and playing instruments but Haley's favorite was definitely the balloon animal guy. He made her a butterfly. Dave and I preferred the juggler, he was really good. After our time downtown we picked up Abuelita and went to Captain Sundae, we really can't get enough of that place!

Friday was another low key day. The girls played with their cousins and we took some time in the afternoon to visit a family friend named Ardeane. Ardeane lives in an assisted living place so I was a little worried about how Haley would behave but when we got there Ardeane had tons of toys at her place that other little kids play with when they visit. Haley had a great time and Ardeane even gave her a Curious George book for her to take home. Haley called her Nana the whole time that we were there, I think she thought that she was our neighbor. Friday night we got to bed a little bit earlier because we had a big day planned for Saturday!

SATURDAY the whole family went to the Kalamazoo zoo. Of course the founders of that zoo do not call it that, it is officially called Binder Zoo. I felt like that was kind of a waste, they should just call the place The Kalamazoo. It was almost two hours away but Emily slept almost the whole way there and I don't remember Haley giving us too many problems. There were lots of animals at this zoo but the definite highlight were the giraffes. They were in a huge enclosure and we were able to view them from an elevated area so when they came up we were basically eye to eye with the taller ones. They also had buckets of lettuce that you could buy to feed the giraffes and Jesse bought a whole pail and Haley got to feed a couple of the giraffes, she loved it. She probably didn't love it as much as Emily though. Emily was flailing her arms and legs and squealing and basically freaking out the whole time we were with the giraffes. When it was time to go Emily started crying! Maybe we'll have to get her a pet giraffe for her Birthday. We were at the zoo for most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon. Haley and Emy fell asleep on the car ride home and we called that their naps for the day. When we got back we ordered pizza for dinner and I can't remember but I think we may have even gone to Captain Sundae again. I know we went three times in the course of the week we were there!

Sunday was our drive back to Texas. It was pretty uneventful, no tickets, no major traffic jams and both of the girls did pretty well. Emily took three naps over the course of the trip and both girls were asleep for the night when we pulled in. We did it in about fifteen hours and it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We stopped a total of two times, once for lunch and once for dinner and Haley did her #2 business on one of those stops so that saved us from any additional stops. It was late when we got back so we put the girls to bed, said 'hi' to Daniel and then went to bed ourselves. Oh wait, that's right, Daniel was here! Daniel, Aunt Rin's fiance, arrived at our house just before we did. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll write about our week with Daniel and our weekend with Rin!