The Great Lake State

For the Fourth of July weekend we all piled into the car and drove to Michigan to visit some other Joneses, who just moved there. In the weeks leading up to our trip people kept asking us how long the drive would be (8ish hours) and telling us how long that was. But it wasn’t bad, actually, thanks to our rock star, road tripping kids. We are so excited to have some family within driving distance!

(This is where Charles rides if it’s not convenient to hold him.)

Our first full day there was the Fourth and we celebrated by playing at a really cool playground. It had been awhile since I’d been on a teeter totter, but I quickly remembered that you shouldn’t be too enthusiastic while tottering, or you might smack your bum on the ground.

We spent the afternoon riffling through our old memorabilia that had made it’s way across the country when Kristopher and Brittney moved, then enjoyed a delicious meal before heading out to watch some fireworks in a nearby town. I picked up some sparklers for the kids, but managed to forget a lighter. Jonathan had to take quite the hike to track one down, but he managed to persevere and the kids loved it.

The following day we left on a short trip to see some other parts of Michigan. First, we drove a few hours to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. It is a super clean, well maintained airplane museum with rides inside! The kids loved it. We loved it.

These planes were a little bit of a tight squeeze for grown-ups.

 

After the Air Zoo we drove a little while longer to our hotel for the evening. This hotel had the best hotel pool ever. There was a kiddie pool with slides, a whirlpool, a hot tub, and a full sized water slide. It was awesome.

 
Lincoln really, really wanted to go down the big slide. But it said you had to be 48 inches tall and he’s not that tall yet and they wouldn’t allow “double riders.” Jonathan went down the slide, though, and when he reached the bottom he said he thought the lifeguard would allow it. Lincoln loved it. He went down twice and was so excited about it. He had to be caught at the bottom, but he was fine on his own going down.

Look at this happy face!

The following day we went to the town of Muskegon and rented a surrey bike, or a quadracycle as Jonathan liked to call it.

The scenery was lovely, as was the company.

We stopped for lunch at a little hot dog restaurant along our route.

And at a little beach for some photo ops.

The kids did such a great job riding for several hours.

We were sad to go, but the next morning it was time to head home. The kids did a great job in the car again, but there was a lot of traffic on our way home, so it took an extra long time.