Vacation at Silver Lake - Day 3

Our 3rd day of vacation was Hannah's 9th Birthday! We spent the day at Michigan Adventure in Muskegon! We had a big breakfast at our campsite and headed about 1/2 hour south to the Park. It was so nice, it was not busy at all and the weather was beautiful, warm but not hot and humid! We hit the regular rides first. Kyle and Jesse took the older kids to do some of the roller coasters and Sally and I took Emily and Lilly to do the kiddie rides. Emily loved them but did not want them to end! We headed back out to the parking lot for our lunch. We decided that this year we would not be buying food inside the park! It is way to expensive and not that good. We filled up on sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks and headed back in to the water park! The kids were so good about eating our lunch that we brought, no whining about wanting expensive "fair food" as I call it. I explained to them that in order for us to do more fun stuff we would make a sacrifice. They totally got it! A great teachable moment about being frugal, but still getting to do fun things. By the way I was able to save us $15 off our tickets with a coupon! I am coupon crazy. Emily was able to get in for free!

The water park was a blast. I spent a lot of time in the Kiddie pool/wading area with Emily and Kyle did the water slides with the older 3. Emily fell asleep on the lazy river with Kyle and I, so she got a good nap in her stroller!

We finished the day with more rides and a few games. We took some loose change we had from home and let the kids each play a couple games. We all sat down and played a game where you roll the balls into some holes to make a dog run across (kind of like Skee Ball) and since there was so many of us playing we were able to play for the biggest stuffed animal I have ever seen! I ended up winning and let Hannah have her pick since it was her birthday! She picked out this cute big dog, she was so excited and he hogged the back seat all the way home to our camper. Kyle was very happy to get me on their new roller coaster "the Thunder hawk". I think I surprised him when I said I would go on it with him. I loved it. It was probably one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on. I highly recommend riding it if you are visiting Michigan Adventure. Last time we were at Michigan Adventure I could not ride the rides since I was about 7 months pregnant with Emily!

We were going to try to have a cheap dinner on the way home to celebrate Hannah's Birthday, but it was late and nothing really was still open that would let us celebrate Hannah's birthday with free dessert and some Happy Birthday singing. She was bummed but was being really good about not showing it. I happened to see a little bakery in Silver Lake and I had Kyle run it and see if we could get Hannah something (like a cupcake) for us to stick a candle in and sing to her. It took him a few minutes but he came out with a birthday cake and it was even personalized with "Happy Birthday Hannah"! The bakery had a cake from that day that somebody never picked up so they sold it to us and even decorated it with her name! We surprised her with it. She was so happy. We sang to her and she made her wish and went to bed a happy 9 year old girl that night! Everyone slept great that night.

We really enjoy spending the day at Michigan Adventure. It is much closer to home than Cedar Point, cheaper and has a lot less people which in turn means less time waiting in line. I don't think we waited more than 5 minutes for any ride that day!
The kids ready to spend the day at Michigan Adventure! As you can see Emily was really ready to go and did not want to sit still for a quick picture!

James on the Tea Cups!

Kyle and Emily on the Tilt a Whirl! Emily loved it and they rode it twice.

My beautiful Birthday Girl Hannah!

Kyle and Emily on a Kiddie Water Slide!

Kyle and Emily on the Merry go Round.
Kyle, Jesse and the boys ready for their ride on the swings.

Eating our lunch in the parking lot, tailgate style!

Emily getting a good nap in so she could play happily rest of the day!

Hannah and her new doggy friend Coco!

Hannah and her cake! She looks so happy.

Vacation at Silver Lake - Day 2

Our 2nd day we woke up to some fog and a light mist. We decided to drive up the coast, hoping to head towards some sun! Kyle has been wanting to take us to the Ludington Reservoir. This is where they produce power using water out of Lake Michigan. It was a long hike up the steep hill to check out the inside of the reservoir but worth it. It is huge! The kids had fun trying to run back down the hill. You can also see down the hill where the power plant is located on the edge of the Lake. It's pretty cool and was very educational for everyone. It was also free, which is a bonus!

We then headed north. I knew Emily would take a nap. The weather was clearing up by now too! We ended up in the Frankfort area. We had lunch at the beach where the lighthouse is located then headed up the road a few miles to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake shore area. We found a great beach where the Platt River comes into Lake Michigan. We unloaded our Kayaks and hit the beach. Everyone took turns with the kayaks in the river. It was so warm and pretty shallow. We found cool rocks and even saw a bald eagle flying above us! We played for a couple hours then loaded up and headed back to our camp site. On the way we decided to have dinner at Pizza Hut since it was getting late and it was Jesse's Birthday! We were able to surprise him and the wait staff sang Happy Birthday and brought out free Cinnamon Bread sticks! Yummy! Everyone slept good that night.
The kids all smiles and ready for our day!

We stopped and checked out this cool tank! The boys loved it, big and small!

Hiking up the hill to the top of the Reservoir. You could feel the burn in your legs!

The power plant on the shore of Lake Michigan.

The light house in Frankfort.

Brayden floating down the river after he kayaked it.

James and Hannah taking a turn with the Kayaks! We are going to have to buy them each their own some day. They love it.

James had one leg in Lake Michigan and one leg in the Platt River in this picture!

Emily playing in the sand!

Vacation at Silver Lake - Day 1

So we left for our Vacation on Tuesday afternoon. We stayed at The Hideaway Campground in Silver Lake! Our friends Jesse and Sally and their daughter Lilly came along too. We took our new camper and they put their tent up. The first night we got set up and made dinner. We then headed off with the kids to the lighthouse at the State Park. The kids did some swimming and Jesse and Kyle played Frisbee. It was almost dark when we left and the light was on in the lighthouse! Loving our new camper. Our 4 kids slept great in it, they each have their own twin size bed!

Emily enjoyed playing in the dirt and fire pit! She was filthy!

Jesse hit a few golf balls into Lake Michigan!

Kyle and his baby girl! She spends a lot of time on his shoulders!

The lighthouse and the kids in front of it getting ready to leave and run up the sand dune!

Hannah and Brayden playing in the sand!

Wordless Wednesdays! - Vacation Pictures

Lansing Lugnuts Game!

Last Monday Night we went to the Lansing Lugnuts game. James was their Bat Kid for the evening! Kyle's Mom Carolyn works for Farm Bureau and is able to put the kids names in a drawing every summer for a chance to be a bat kid. Brayden did it last summer. So James received a bag of goodies with a lugnuts shirt, autographed ball and a program. He and Hannah got to play catch on the field before the game started and he was able to throw out one of the first pitches of the evening too! He also took water out to the umpire during one of the innings. Since it was the week of Hannah's Birthday I had her name put on the big screen and she was also picked to go out on the field and everyone in the ball park sang "Happy Birthday" to her! She was so excited and embarrassed at the same time. Since our seats our right next to the lugnuts dugout we got a ton of used balls and James and Brayden both were given a used bat that was cracked or broken during the game! Plus they all got a ton of autographs. We had a great evening and the Lugnuts won the game 15-1!

Hannah's Birthday Party!

Hannah's cake!

Blowing our her candles

Making Ice Cream Sundaes

Opening presents

Hannah's new Golf Clubs!

Hannah and Marhea's matching cover ups for the beach!

Marhea, Alaska, Hannah and Madison hanging out in Hannah's room!

We celebrated Hannah's 9th birthday with family and friends on Sunday evening. It started to rain about an hour before the party was to start of course, and I was thinking that we would have to do the party inside, which is not so much fun to cram everyone in our house. By 6pm it had cleared up and we had a great evening outside. We grilled brats and hot dogs and had lots of other yummy food. We sang Happy Birthday to Hannah and she took a long time to blow out her candles! She said she wished for more kitties!! (so not happening) We had cake and everyone made ice cream sundaes. I bought a lot of yummy toppings. Hannah finished the evening off by opening her presents! We bought her a new golf club set and some new balls. She has been wanting her own since her brothers got theirs for their birthdays last year. She received lots of great gifts, books,a Jonas Brothers poster, a barbie, swim suit cover up, money and more pink and purple golf balls! Hannah had 3 of her cousins spend the night. They had so much fun singing karaoke, putting on makeup, dancing and staring at her new Jonas Brothers poster! It was a great evening with family and friends. I can't believe she will be 9 years old on Thursday!

Wordless Wednesdays!