Hee Haw Farms

 Greg's car died.  It's been out of use for over a month so Greg's been driving my car to work.  This leaves me and Collin at home without a car.  Honestly, I thought it would be worse.  It really hasn't been too bad.  Yes there are days when I've needed/wanted to run to the store or do some other errands, but those don't happen too often.  I have, however, been starting to feel "stuck" (one of Collin's favorite words).  So when my brother went out of town and offered his car to me for the weekend, I was stoked!  

Since we had wheels, we decided to use them and Collin and I went down to Pleasant Grove to Hee Haw Farms.  We met my mom, sister and brother there.  There was TONS to do and we all enjoyed it.  We played in the corn pit, and took pictures of Collin on the tire swings.  Collin's favorite game was throwing a corn stub (you know, the cob without corn on it...) through boards with holes in them.  There were probably seven or eight boards and he tried all of them.  We went on a hay ride and navigated our way through the corn maze.  We got some popcorn, cotton candy and caramel apple chips.  Oooh, let me tell you about those.  We devoured them, so no pictures.  They cored and thinly sliced an apple.  Then topped it with caramel, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles.  It was delicious!  Then we went down the slide...where I bruised my tailbone.  There was a large bump at the bottom, and I had Collin on my lap.  You can't really control your speed, unless you were to drag your hands (which mine were holding Collin).  So we hit that bump, and I felt it immediately.  My brother, David, took Collin down again but they did fine.  OH, and I forgot my camera!  I guess I was too excited about the car.   So all we had were phones.  I guess at least we had those.  Here's some pictures: 

My brother, David, me and Collin on the hay ride.

Collin didn't really like the corn pit.

Collin peeking through one of the boards where he through his corn stub.

Swinging on a tire swing.  They were made into fun shapes.  I think this one was a horse.

Collin riding on David's shoulders through the corn maze.

Traverse City & Sleeping Bear Dunes

For our 4th Anniversary we decided to take a trip up north.  While Greg was growing up, one of his favorite places to be was Sleeping Bear Dunes.  We booked two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City and went to check it out.  If you haven't been, or don't know what a Great Wolf Lodge is, check out that link.  Lets just say, we probably could have taken a vacation just to that hotel.  It's amazing!  Collin LOVED it!

Traverse City was gorgeous itself, but then 30 minutes away (with a gorgey drive between) was the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  We took the long way from Midland to Traverse City by cutting across the state to the west coast at Ludington.  Then we drove up the coast to Empire, and then across to Traverse City.  Tuesday we checked in around 6, and then suited up to check out the water park.  That's right, I said water park not pool.  It was awesome, and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Wednesday we went to the water park in the morning, and then after Collin's nap we headed over to the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  We went to the visitors center, but it closed at 4 (we were there at 4:30).  So I took a mental picture of the map posted outside, and we decided to see what we could find.  We first found the Dune Climb.  A older gentleman was sitting at the bottom brushing sand off his feet.  He said to us and we stood there looking at the dune, "It's steeper than it looks!"  We grinned, said "I bet!" and headed up.  At first we let Collin walk, but that only lasted maybe 2 minutes.  He just wanted to go to the bottom and play.  So Greg carried him on his shoulders, and we climbed to the top.  We were hoping to see out to Lake Michigan, but all we saw was more dunes.  Greg wanted to keep going, but Collin and I were done.  We turned around and headed back to the car.  And by headed, I mean we ran.  Yep, we all ran down the dune!  It was so fun!  Collin even loved that part.

Then we got back in the car and headed to the scenic drive.  Again, the entrance booth was closed, so we didn't get a map to tell us what all the pull outs were.  It was still fun and beautiful.  We were trying to hurry cause we were all getting hungry, and we knew that there probably weren't any places to eat until we were back in Traverse City.  We were right.  Then, because it was our anniversary, we wanted something different, something nice.  But most of what was open was either chain restaurants or bars.  We stumbled upon Paesaro's Pizza and each got our own 10" pizza.  We also got some Frost Top Rootbeers to go with it.  Yummy!

Thursday we had to check out.  But with booking a room, we got a water park pass for the day of check out (as well as the other days) so we wanted to take advantage of that.  However, Collin had a rough night.  Or I should say WE had a rough night.  Collin woke up at 6 am (Eastern time) and was wide awake.  It wouldn't have been terrible, except that he'd gone to sleep just before midnight.  He was up for and hour and a half, and because of that we all slept in, til 10:45.  Check out was at 11.  Whoops!  Greg went to talk to the front desk about late check out.  They gave us an hour for $15.  I stayed in the room to get things put away, and Greg took Collin to the water park.

After getting us all packed up and checked out, I took the camera back to the water park to snap some pictures of it before we left.  Collin ran up to me when he saw me and tried to give me a big, wet hug.  I just let him hug my arm so I wouldn't get all wet, and the Greg told me that it hadn't been very fun because Collin kept looking for me and asking him "mama?"  Sad! (and cute!)  With me there he played a little more, but was still scared to go down any slides.  Then Greg and Collin showered in the locker room, got ready, and we headed back to the dunes.

On our way there we passed a barn selling cider and doughnuts.  We stopped to check it out.  This is another of Greg's childhood memories: getting cider and cinnamon doughnuts in the fall.  We checked out the barn, sheep, pigs and toys before heading into the market.  There were regular cinnamon doughnuts, and then PUMPKIN cinnamon doughnuts.  We bought a dozen mixed doughnuts and a 1/2 gallon of cider among other things.  I was in love.  I even said to Greg in my state of jubilation, "We could move here."

We then headed to the dunes visitors center and got a map.  We went to the northern most part of the dunes to see Glen Haven, and town "frozen in time".  It's made to look like an olden day city with a blacksmith and everything!  We played on the beach here, and then headed down to the south part of the dunes.  Collin fell asleep while driving, so Greg and I took turns getting out.  Then we stopped in Frankfort for gas and to sample the Mineral Water well.  It smelled gross, and tasted funny.  Then we drove back to Midland.

Our last day and a half there we just hung out, packed, saw some old friends of Greg's, and relaxed before our trip back.  The flights back didn't go as well as the flights there.   Collin only got maybe 45 minutes of a nap and was pretty cranky when my brother picked us up from the airport.  But I'll take that because we had an amazing trip!  And I'll admit, I think we were all a little cranky that we had to go back to the real world.

Here's the pictures (in a completely random order.  Blogger.  grrr..):

The beach in Glen Haven.

Part of our room at the Great Wolf Lodge.  It's a "room" for the kids.

Collin slept here, on a bunk bed mattress, behind the couch.

Starting the dune climb.

Part of the way up.  Hiking in sand is hard!

Collin and I heading back down.

Collin running down the dune!

Family picture at the top of the first dune.

A view of Lake Michigan from a spot on the scenic drive.

The sunset.  It was gorgeous!

Us on a boardwalk on the dunes with the sunset in the background.

Our anniversary dinner.  Mine's a BBQ Chicken pizza, Greg's a meats.

The kiddie part of the water park.

Collin scared of the slide :)

The 1000 gallon bucket dumping water on Greg & Collin!

The barn (such a pretty picture!)

Collin playing with the toys at the farm.

The sheep.  Collin was scared of them.

At the visitor's center for the dunes.  It was recently voted the Most Beautiful Place in America by GMA

Glen Haven

Family picture by Lake Michigan.

The dunes that lead down to the beach.

The Mineral Well where we took a drink. (yuck!)

The Big House

 While in Michigan, we HAD to see The Big House where the Michigan Wolverines (Greg's favorite college team) plays.  So Monday we drove down to Ann Arbor to check it out.  If we could have, we would have loved to take a tour but those have to be scheduled 2 weeks in advance.  We also walked around the old part of campus.  And then on our way back we stopped in Frankenmuth to visit Christmas World.  Here's the pictures:

Waiting to cross the street.

Greg and Collin standing outside the gates to the stadium.

Collin and I with the Wolverine.

Go Blue!

Even the fire hydrants were dressed appropriately.

This is part of campus.  Its the law building next the the law quad.  Gorgeous!

Part of the law quad.

Bronner's Christmas World.  LOVE it!

It is seriously like Christmas all the time there!  Such a fun place to visit!

Michigan in the fall

Gorgeous!  It was gorgeous!  I've got pictures to prove it.  We haven't been back to Michigan in almost 3 years, so we decided it was time to make a trip.  Southwest had a two-day sale and we snagged tickets.  Collin isn't 2 yet, so he flies free.  So we got two round trip tickets for under $500!  I know, amazing!!

We really wanted to go in the fall because 1) it's our favorite season, 2) football, 3) no snow.  And it didn't disappoint.

We flew in on Thursday and Collin did GREAT on the flights there.  We were pretty good at distracting him, and he slept for the last hour.  Friday we hung out at Greg's parent's house to help Collin get used to where we'd be staying, and to spend some time with Nanny and Papa.

Saturday Greg's sister, Cyndi, and her family came to visit us.  We went to the community pool and the park.  It was so much fun!

Sunday we attempted to go to Greg's home ward, but Collin picked up a cold and was miserable.  Collin and I ended up going back to the house and watching movies.  When the family got back we watched some football, and played outside.  After dinner we all gathered for a fall family picture, which turned into a leaf fight.  It was super fun!

Here's some pictures from those days:

Greg taking Collin down the "bumpy" slide.  Julia is watching from the side.

Collin and I on the twisty slide.  Check out the leaf colors in the background! Gorgeous!

We loved swinging.  This is Greg, Cyndi, Mikaela and Tyler.

Nanny was one of the kids at the park.  She did almost everything these girls were doing!

Collin playing in the treehouse.

Collin and Julia were fast friends.

Part of the leaf fight.

Nanny & Papa with the grandkids, throwing leaves.

Of course we had to bury Greg in the leaves.

Family picture in the tree swing.