Wednesday morning we got up early, loaded everyone into the van, and started driving straight West, to South Haven. I’d never been to South Haven before, and had heard good things about it. When our vacation budget started shrinking this winter (due to unexpected home repairs) we decided to stay home for vacation, but then I had the idea that we could spend one night somewhere on a beach and give the kids a couple of beach days on Lake Michigan. So, Dan booked a local hotel about as close to the beach as we could get and we planned a two day outing in South Haven.

When we got to town, we grabbed some lunch and headed straight for the beach. It was, after all, the whole reason we had come. Abby wasn’t too sure about the water, but Lydia loved it. Paul played in the sand, and eventually figured out that he could sit in the wet sand just close enough to the water to feel the waves hitting his legs. So that became his little home on the beach.

Although we had mentally planned on spending the whole day at the beach, it turns out a whole day is too long for our family to do any one thing. Paul and Mommy, in particular were worn out and ready for a nap after about an hour in the sun. So we made the half mile trek to our hotel and checked in. The hotel was fantastic, and I was so glad I let Dan talk me into staying in one of the local ones closer to the beach. As it was, we spent a LOT of time walking, but it was nice to just park the car and leave it in the parking lot for our whole stay.

After a little rest in our hotel we explored downtown and grabbed some dinner. Then we headed back to the beach in time to watch the sun set. The kids loved playing in the sand, while Dad and Mom just relaxed on a bench and watched the sun go down over the water.

As soon as the sun set, everyone cleared off the beach and our family called it a night. The next morning we got up early to get in a little beach time before naps and heading home. It wasn’t that early, but we still got the whole beach to ourselves. It was just us and the sea gulls.

On our way out of town, we stopped to go blueberry picking. We had high hopes of picking three buckets. Soon, however, we realized the girls would not be able to fill their own bucket. So, we set our hopes on picking two full buckets. Then we realized how long it takes to pick blueberries and how impatient our children were becoming. We set Abby and Lydia to work picking blueberries to feed to Paul while Dan and I picked as fast as we could and left exhausted with just under one bucket of blueberries.

Not to worry, though. One bucket of blueberries is enough to eat several hand-fulls, to make two blueberry desserts and blueberry waffles, and to freeze some for snacking later. (Our family loves to eat frozen blueberries for a treat).

Friday was a day of rest. Apart from making waffles and taking afternoon naps, we didn’t really do anything but stay home. Saturday was going to be our grand-finale: a day at the splash pad. When the time came, we got into the car just in time to hear thunder and feel the first rain drops of a storm. We went to the splash pad anyway, hoping the storm would pass quickly. Then we sat in the parking lot listening to the thunder, watching the lightening, and discussing how irresponsible it would be to let our kids play on the splash pad with lightening in sight. We finally decided to drive to Plymouth and walk around instead, once the storm lightened up. It didn’t seem like a day for the splash pad, after all.

The rain was pretty much done by the time we got to Plymouth, and, as it turned out, there was a free event going on where the kid could do activities and pick out prizes. So, the kids got their prizes and we had a special dinner out followed up by dessert with Grandpa.

We made it home late and fell into bed, exhausted, but pleased that our staycation was a success.

Next up we packed everyone into the van and headed down for a day at the Toledo Zoo. I may have mentioned before that we bought a family membership this year, and this was our second trip out. Since we are able to go periodically now, we don’t burn ourselves out trying to see every single exhibit. Instead, everyone picks one thing they want to see and we call it a day.

My choice came first: the Arctic animals. They are my favorite. We made it just in time to watch the trainers feeding the seals.

Then we went inside and watched their Mommy and Baby polar bears swimming together. So sweet.

As always with our kids at the zoo, the statues were almost as much fun as the real animals.

Lydia chose to see the giraffes next.

Then we took a break to let the kids play on the splash pad. It was short break, though, because the splash pad turned out to be extremely slippery. After a few wipe-outs we decided to move on.

Abby chose to see the monkeys, and by now most of the visitors were clearing out. We got this little guy all to ourselves.

Dan chose the aquarium, which is always his favorite. When you first walk in there’s this big wall of bubbles that amazes the kids, again, almost as much as the animals.

Once we made it past that bubble wall, I loved watching the kids expressions as they got close-up looks at some of the animals.

Then we called it a day. The next day we stayed a little closer to home and had more of a low-key trip: Ann Arbor. It’s a family favorite. First we visited the Natural History Museum, where we mostly enjoyed looking at the dinosaur bones. Afterward we piled everyone onto a Blue Bus and took a trip around North Campus. Sadly, the bus trip proved to be a little too long for our kids and the novelty wore off after the first few minutes. Lesson learned.

We had to change our plan at this point, because we had planned a beach day for Thursday, but it was supposed to thunderstorm. So, we bumped up that part of the trip, but that’ll be continued in Part 2…

Tuesday morning we got up early and began our trek in to see my sister Christina, with her boys: Colten, Coby, and Evert. We got to see their (sort of) new home, which we hadn’t seen yet, and the girls had a blast playing with their cousins.

Paul and Evert got to meet for the first time, and we got a picture of the cousins on the couch (a family tradition). Next trip up we need a couch picture with Benjamin too!

Next stop was my other sister, Steph’s new house. We had a nice visit with Steph and her husband, in-laws, and new baby Benjamin.

We continued our journey in and stopped for another nice visit with my Grandma Carlson. She got to meet and hold Paul for his nap, and the girls ran around turning everything possible into toys.

It was getting late, but not too late for a family dinner at Bob Evans with Christina and her boys, my parents, and my brother, Tim. From their we went to my parents house where we stayed up far too late chatting and finally went to bed exhausted.

Wednesday we got up as early as we could and made a visit to my other Grandparent’s house. Grandma and Grandpa Matson got to meet Paul and play with the girls. When Lydia walked into my Grandma’s dining room, nicely decorated for the fourth of July, she exclaimed, “It’s beautiful in here!”.

I’m getting tired just remembering this trip, but I’ll try to finish strong!

From my grandparents we went back to my parents house for a few hours so my mom could have some quality playtime with the girls. They had a tea party, played with Play Doh, and ate a quick lunch before we packed up for the ride home.

We made a pit stop at Dan’s Gramma’s house, but I was so worn out, I didn’t even take any pictures! Oh well. We had a nice visit with Gramma. Just before we left, Gramma helped Lydia pick some flowers to take home.

Gramma, just so you know, Lydia held those flowers as long as we would let her. After we stopped for dinner, I put them with me in the front so Lydia could fall asleep, but as soon as we were home she wanted them back. We put them in a vase which Lydia carried with her from room to room until every single petal had failed off the flowers. I threw away the bare stem at night while Lydia was sleeping because I knew it would be traumatic if she saw me do it!

Well we’re back from our week up North. In all it was a great trip visiting family, relaxing, working on Abby’s quilt, and getting out of our basement “home”. And even though it was our first real time away from Dan, we pulled it off without any major catastrophes.

We started the trip off by meeting Dan’s Dad in Alma, about half of the way up North. Once we found the right gas station, we took a break to stretch our legs and transfer all of our luggage. (Even when we’re only going to be away for a week, and we’re without Dan, we still end up with a LOT of luggage.) Then Grandpa Taylor took us straight in to Bob Evans to grab a bite to eat and say “hello” to Grandma Taylor, who was working at the time.

Soon we were back on the road heading to my family’s house for the night. Lydia was getting pretty excited.

Monday was our big beach day. After stocking up on some beachy essentials (flip flops, sunglasses, a new outfit for Abby, and a beach umbrella), Nana took us all (Lydia, Abby, and myself, Aunt Christina, and cousins Colten and Coby) to the beach where we met up with Aunt Steph, Uncle Nate, and Uncle Tim. It was the first time all of the Carlson kids have been at the beach together since who-knows-when, and it was a lot of fun.

It wasn’t long before Coby found a nice stick.

And Lydia taught the cousins her favorite beach game: throwing sand into the water.

At one point a family of ducks came walking right in the middle of our family’s circle on the sand. I couldn’t believe how close they got! You’ll notice the duckling in the picture is almost sitting right on top of Uncle Tim’s foot.

Nana got in some good Abby-holding time.

And I did too. It was so nice to be back at the beach again.

Lydia looked right at home on the beach with her new sunglasses and flip-flops.

When we got home that night there was a big pile of dishes to wash. Lydia insisted on helping Nana with them.

Tuesday we took it easy at home. It was a cooler day, but Lydia and her cousins had fun playing with Papa in the back yard. Afterwards, Lydia and Colten “helped” Papa edit some of the videos from the latest Disney trip.

When Nana got home from work that night, Lydia got to open her birthday present.

Then Papa took us to visit all of the great-grandparents. This was the first time Abby got to go to her Great Grandma Carlson’s house.

Great Grandma’s may not be the place to find all sorts of toddler toys, but Lydia was pretty happy playing with a rug and a pillow, pretending to nap.

Wednesday morning we packed up again and Grandma Taylor picked us up and brought us out to her house. She surprised Lydia with a “big girl bed” but Lydia calls it her “little bed”.

There was also a tricycle waiting for Lydia. Grandma had a lot of fun giving Lydia trike lessons. After a while she seemed to be getting the hang of it.

Thursday Grandma got in some quality time with Abs…

And Lydia.

It was hot enough to spend some time outside, so after planting some sunflowers, Lydia changed into her swimsuit and had a blast splashing in Grandma’s kiddie pool. Then she found the hose and watered her newly planted sunflowers.

In the afternoon, Great Gramma and Grampa came to visit with Great Aunt Debbie.

Abby tried out Aunt Debbie’s Tigers hat.

For dinner, Grandma and Grandpa had the idea to make homemade Qdoba. Lydia loved getting a big burrito all to herself.

Thursday was also the night Lydia figured out how to peddle the tricycle.

Friday was chilly so we ran some errands and took Lydia to her first garage sales. She brought that big white purse everywhere we went.

Much to our surprise and delight, Dan took half a day off work and surprised us when he walked in the door about six hours earlier than we expected him.

It was perfect timing because he was able to join us for a belated birthday dinner for Lydia. Grandpa grilled and we enjoyed a delicious meal followed up by some Lydia-approved dessert.

Saturday was bittersweet as we packed up and said our goodbyes. It was totally out of character for her, but Abby slept the whole way home.

In the meantime I have some more cute Lydia-stories for you to enjoy. This Sunday will be Pentacost Sunday so I asked Lydia if I could video tape her telling the story of The Book of Acts (using this book). Enjoy!

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the mountains. It was inspired by a book of Lydia’s and by her incessant chanting of “We’re going to the mountains!”. We don’t always do everything our almost-three-year-old tells us to do, but in this case, we did.

We packed our bags. They included: a toy camera, sunflower seeds and raisins (trail-mix, of course), hats, scarves, and a baseball glove and ball. We loaded up the car and headed out.

Little brother and Abigail had a few arguments during the drive and there were a few “Are we there yet?”s, but it wasn’t too bad in all. We listened to music, read a picture book, took turns driving, and avoided taking a single bathroom break. Abby slept almost the whole time and we managed to make it all the way to the Grand Himalayan Alps in what really felt like just a few minutes.

Since Abby was still sleeping, we decided to just leave her in the car. Please don’t judge our parenting decisions. The parking lot was practically empty anyway.

Then we headed out to climb the biggest mountain we could find. We took a break about halfway up on a nice grassy plateou, where Lydia took a short nap. Then we resumed our climbing.

Near the top we had a close encounter with a bear. By ringing a bell and shouting at it, we managed to scare him away. Then we ascended the very highest peak. We stopped to munch on trail mix and enjoy the view.

No one felt like playing ball just then, so I guess it was good that we had left our bag in the car with Abigail. Lydia didn’t take any pictures either, but I brought my camera along so that turned out ok too. After soaking in all the beauty surrounding us from that height, we made our way back down the mountain and back to the car. Abby was safe and sound and still sleeping. The drive home felt longer but was actually shorter. lydia made good time.

It was a great trip. I know not everyone has the time and resources to drop everything and drive to the Alps, but, for those who do, I highly recommend it.

The bags are packed. The Christmas presents are finally wrapped. The snow has come, but we are going North to Grandma’s (and Grandpa’s and Nana’s and Papa’s)!

This is our 7th attempt to get together with my family to celebrate Christmas, and introduce everyone to Abby…outside an isolette. All week Lydia has woken up from every nap and bedtime yelling, “Grandpa Grandma’s House!” and we’ve had to remind her, “yep, in three days…two days…tomorrow”.

To prepare for the trip, Lydia dressed up in her “going North outfit”, my fancy schmancy raincoat (from the time I went to Africa), a small purse from a dear friend (containing her toy cell phone and a hair bow), and Mom’s high heels (which Mom never wears, but Lydia puts to good use).

There is a long car ride in store. Fun to be had. Pictures to come.

We are ready.

Today is rainy and cold, but this weekend the weather was absolutely perfect for our annual church camping trip.  Dan and I didn’t actually camp, but we spent the day on Saturday out at the campground.  It was a bit of a long drive, and we were running later than originally planned, so we put a gift card to good use and ate on the road. 

Once we got to the campground, Dan immediately began scouting for a group of people who wanted to run around.  Instead, he found a few willing baseball players.  So he got to enjoy some baseball.  Lydia even got to play a little, and when she wasn’t playing, she was sitting with me eating raisins.  Don’t be fooled by the picture, she was having a grand time.

After a while, Lydia wanted to go over to the playground.  So we spent a little bit of time swinging and then walked down to the lake.  The water was a bit frightening at first, but she enjoyed throwing wet sand into it to make a splash.

Later in the afternoon, we had the annual church camping trip baptism service, where we had the priviledge of witnessing eight baptisms!











To wrap up the evening, we had some dinner and visited with various families at their campsites.  We stayed late and had to spend the rest of the weekend resting and recovering, but it was a great time.