Family Vacation 2009! Part 3

Friday- Lexie & I started the morning off running around the lake at the Hawk Island park- it was so pretty early in the morning. Later that morning Lexie & I took the kids to a Patriot park that's really close to their house while Matthew & Brian ran some "car" errands- cause someone backed into our rental car (is it getting funny yet Brian? :).

This is Nora chasing a butterfly/dragonfly- I can't remember which. She chased it for a long time and then almost caught it- funny Nora!

That afternoon we thought it would be fun to go to the movie "Up." It was a lot more than fun....

We started the movie out by dropping a tray with popcorn and a drink and our little Ava- luckily she was okay. By the end, we were all sitting along the back wall.

After we got home, the kids had a blast playing in the sprinklers-



Owen & Spencer- Owen loved their neighbor, Spencer- he is still talking about Spencer, the things he liked and what they did together and the other day he was hoping Spencer could come to our house to play.

Saturday- Sophie & Nora took good care of Ava. She loved playing with them & all their fun girl toys.

Matthew & I went by the Michigan State campus to eat while Ava & Miles napped, then we went to Lake Lansing all together. It has a beautiful park with a fun playground and an awesome bike race track with bikes there for kids to ride.

Then we headed to the beach- the kids had so much fun in the water & playing in the sand.

Then we went for a paddle boat ride. It was so fun.

All the kids bathed & ready for bed after a fun day!

After the kids were all sleeping we got to play a couple intense games of the a"MAZE"ing Labyrinth.
Sunday- Even though none of us were ready to go home, we got all packed up and went to Sacrament meeting before we headed to the airport.
At our layover in Minnesota we got some dinner to eat. In between bites Owen said to me, "Mom, people can be all kinds of colors." Then went back to eating.
Then a security police lady came and sat down next to him with a badge. After talking for a minute he looked at me with big eyes and a surprised look on his face and said, "I just talked to that police and she didn't even arrest me and put me in jail!"
After eating we headed to our gate. We were looking for a place to sit when we saw Elder L. Tom Perry right in front of us. We got to sit across from him for at least 20 minutes waiting to get on our plane. He carried a lot of the Spirit with him that just washed over me when we saw him. He was so kind.

Thanks again for letting us come party at your house Brian, Lexie, Sophie, Nora & Miles. We had a blast!

Family Vacation 2009! Part 2

Wednesday- We had a fun day just hanging out being together. The kids played in the backyard alot. Ava & Miles had a fun time playing in the little playhouse. I've got to find one of these somewhere- Ava loved it!

We got to visit Sophie's school, and walk home with grumpy kids- thank goodness for popsicles- they fixed everything.

Thursday- that morning we were home and the kids had fun playing together. Ava loved playing with all the girl toys everywhere. Here's Nora & Owen playing in a cool hut Brian built for them-

Then we went to see Michigan State University. It is a beautiful, huge campus. We saw the bell tower, where a real person is inside making the music-

We visited a statue of the Spartan mascot-

We also got to see Brian's office, a cool river that goes through campus, the ice hockey rink, some bunnies that live in the bushes on campus, some squirrels and finished with some yummy ice cream. Owen & I got the Spartan ice cream that is vanilla ice cream with cake & green frosting inside- yummy, it was sooo good.

Then we had a picnic in the backyard-

Later that afternoon we went to Hawk Island Park. The park was awesome. It had a splash pad, next to a playground & a little lake. Nora especially was crazy excited for the splash pad.



After playing on the splash pad for a while we went down the lake shore-


Ava loved walking back and forth on the sidewalk that was covered in water until she fell off. Luckily I was right there, pulled her out and she was fine.

Family Vacation 2009! Part 1

We just got back last week from an AWESOME family vacation to Michigan!
We went to visit my brother Brian, his wife Lexie and their cute kids- Sophie, Nora & Miles.
On Saturday we drove out to a beautiful town called Charlotte to a party at their high councilman's farm.

What a cute family!

We got to go for a trailer ride pulled by a tractor through some beautiful farms.

Then we enjoyed a hot dog roast before we got to ride on their Amish neighbor's buggy. It was something else.

After the incredible Amish buggy ride, we went to a fun ice cream store called Mooville. It had a whole petting farm, a playground, giant sandpile, and yummy ice cream.

Owen & Nora eating a picnic lunch in their fun backyard.

On Sunday we went for a walk at a nearby park that was so pretty.

Owen, Nora, & Sophie

Pretty Sophie girl, relaxing in a tree-

Monday we drove into Lansing to a Children's Museum- we loved the bubble section.


Ava & Miles had fun splashing and playing in the water.

Lexie & Matt sure look like they are having fun at this one :).

It was so fun getting to know Miles and his fun personality.

Out to dinner at a restaurant that used to be an old train.

Sitting on the train steps-

Tuesday we went to Tunnel Park on Lake Michigan. It felt like we were at the ocean because the lake is so big but it's not salty. It was beautiful. We had a blast playing in the sand & water.