Michigan Vacation 2014 in a Glimpse...

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A quick recap of our trip to Michigan and back!

Left on Friday, August 1st, as soon as we could after Michael got off work. Drove FOREVER to get to St. Louis, stayed with Sarah and Benjamin for the night, left early.  Arrived in Michigan by dinner time on Saturday.

Sunday was church, lunch at Pekadill's with Aunt Laura, saw Jason, swam in the COLD water at Duck Lake and Lake Michigan, played at a park.

Monday, rested, played outside and at the park, Jill hosted a book party with friends, guys went for mini-golf.

Tuesday, we hit three lighthouses on the West Michigan lighthouse tour (Silverlake, White River Light Station and Little Sable).

Wednesday was Michael's birthday. We hit the farmer's market, boys went out on the fishing boat, Jill and I went shopping, met up with Laura and Sarah, had tacos and birthday cake.

Thursday we went back out to finish the lighthouse tour with Big Sable Lighthouse, visited Pentwater and Hart for actual "authentic" Mexican food. Amazing!

Friday, blueberry picking, visited Grandma Kathy, Michael and I went to Unity Fest (saw Hawk Nelson, Britt Nicole and Matthew West), the boys spent time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Saturday we had breakfast with Brittany, Michael's neice, had lunch with Grandma Kathy and Aunt Laura, visited some of the old parts of town, including the cemetary. I stayed with the boys to prepare for our departure, while Michael went with his parents to see Phil Keaggy in concert.

Sunday, we left early morning and drove to Regina & Kevin's house, had dinner, met Layne Rogers for ice cream, slept. Got up and returned home on Monday evening!

Whew. I'm tired all over again just recapping that adventure!

Michigan Vacation Recap...

Wow, ok, I kept saying to myself that I'd sit down and blog about our Michigan vacation in full detail with pictures and links and everything.  And, well... it's been nearly three weeks and I have not had the time to sit and focus like that... nor do I see that opportunity arising in the future.  So, dang it.  This will have to do...

Route 1: Grand Prairie, TX to Whitehall, MI

Friday, Aug 3rd:

Michael arrived home from work later than expected and it took us longer to pack up than expected as well.  Late start, but finally on the road around 330pm.  We got about an hour into the trip and Preston already had to go to the bathroom.  Stopped for Dinner and bathroom in Greenville.  Then proceeded to drive all night.  Several stops for bathroom, drinks, snacks, diaper changes.  One particularly memorable diaper change occurred in the middle of no where Arkansas.  Callen started complaining that his bottom hurt quite vehemently, so we pulled over at the next exit... nothing but cornfields, not even a streetlight.  Oh well.  Proceeded to change the kid, who was neither wet nor messy (grr!), and approximately 1billion mosquitoes flew into our vehicle because of the light.  Oops.  That was NOT cool.  We also realized that we were getting very poor gas mileage and the wind noise caused by the overheard luggage was incredibly irritating.  We decided to stop, also in Arkansas, and take everything down from the luggage rack and cram it in the back so we could stop the noise AND get better gas mileage.  To our surprise, everything fit fine.  We didn't even NEED the luggage rack and cross bars, which we had purchased specifically for this trip because we though the back was simply too small for our luggage.  Sigh.  Anyway, other than that our overnight drive went rather smoothly and we arrived at our destination around 1130am on Saturday morning.

Saturday, Aug 4th:

Arrived in Michigan, then drove through a parade in Grand Rapids and finally ended up in Whitehall, Michigan - our final destination!  Left the kids with grandparents and attempted to rest for a while.  Enjoyed checking out "Grandma" and "Grandpa's" house, and the nice lake view out their back window.  And the kids fell in love with their giant basement.  Michael and I were able to slip away after dinner and have dessert by ourselves at Pekadill's.  Mmm!

Sunday, Aug 5th:

Church and lunch afterwards at... Pekadill's.  We got to spend some time with Great Aunt Laura there.  Great Grandma Kathy came over and Callen got to meet her for the first time in person!  Later we all went to Duck Lake and splashed around in the little creek there, and went out into Lake Michigan.  Callen LOVED the little creek.  However, as soon as we got a bit out into the "big water," and a large wave smashed into his face, he wasn't so crazy about the water.  Plus, it was a bit cool and he couldn't stop shivering, poor thing!  Preston loved every bit of it.  Michael and he ran up and down the sand dune, and thankfully didn't fall!

Monday, Aug 6th:

Michael's birthday!  He wanted to go sailing so he, Preston and Steve went over to a friend's house to borrow a boat.  Michael and Preston sailed a little ways, then the winds kicked up and pushed them into the shore... they had to abandon the boat and walk back to the friend's house.  And when the got there the friend and Steve were gone.  They had gone in another boat to tow back to the sail boat because they had seen what happened.  It was quite a little adventure for Preston!  After that we visited a little tourist town called Pentwater... it was so fun.  We visited the Cosmic Candy Company to get some pressed pennies for Preston.  And I scored some delicious Michigan Cherry Coffee, mmme!  Then we went out to Ludington State Park to get some more pennies and visit the dam.  We also went over to the SS Badger Car Ferry for some pennies.  Played at the park there and had a pizza picnic.  The kids were rather grumpy off and on even though the weather was nice and we were having fun along the way

Tuesday, Aug 7th:

We knocked ourselves out on Tuesday!  We picked blueberries... the boys loved that, so much fun!  Then we went to Mac Wood's Dune Rides, the Country Dairy and Lewis Farm to pet some animals.  At the Country Dairy we got to drink all the milk/chocolate milk we wanted, visit some cows and had some yummy lunch.  That place was neat... next time we'll have to go earlier to get to do the dairy tour (it was closed).  That evening we went out to see the sunset on the Lake at White River Light Station.  It was lovely. It was a full day of fun and being outside in the nice weather.

Wednesday, Aug 8th:

The boys, Michael and I went down to Holland to visit the little Dutch Village to get some pennies.  We had lunch, went out to see Pere Marquette and the Big Lake again.  Then went and visited with Great Grandma Kathy again.  And met up with Steve, Jill and Laura at the Unity Fest Concert.  We saw Manic Drive, Abandon Kansas, Group1Crew and Peter Furler and Phil Joel.  It was fun... and it drizzled on us.  

Thursday, Aug 9th:

Michael wanted to take Preston out on a canoe ride, but he wouldn't go (grumpy guts!) so Michael went with his Dad.  The kids and I just hung out around the house.  Later we went out to a little town called Bitely because they had a little shop there with a penny machine, and pretty much nothing else.  We stopped and ate at a restaurant called "Daniel's." And we dropped by an Amish store... with no electricity and all kinds of fun little things!  That evening, Michael and I had a date by ourselves for dinner at Sam's Bistro.  We shared a yummy pizza, and the owner of the store gave us our dinner for free because Jill always sent him so much business!  Yay!  We started packing up and getting ready for the return trip.

Friday, Aug 10th:

We left around 815am and had several stops to make on the way to our hotel.  After the long drive there, we decided we needed to break up the trip home.  We stopped in Arcola, Indiana at Rockome Gardens.  It was this neat attraction that had a lot of Amish stuff, old schoolhouse and shops, a Raggedy Ann & Andy museum and all kinds of neat stuff.  Would have loved to stayed and looked around a while, but since we were on a schedule we just had to get the penny and go.  We also stopped at some truck stops in Portage, Indiana to get pennies.  We arrived in Marion, Illinois, where we were staying for the night (Sikeston was completely BOOKED!).  Got checked into our hotel and walked across the street to the 17th Street Grill for dinner and pennies!  It was delicous!  Then we drove over to Makanda to get some more pennies at their Boardwalk, but it was all closed up.  Booo!  (I left a note with some money and they ended up sending us the pennies in the mail, yay!).  We went back to the hotel and swam in the indoor pool, boys had a blast.  The hotel was REALLY great for the price... it was  a Country Inn & Suites, and I highly recommend it!

Saturday, Aug 11th:

Left the hotel around 815am and our first stop was at Boomland for pennies and drinks.  Then we stopped by Lambert's Cafe, but they didn't open for another 1.5 hours and we didn't want to wait so we had to skip those pennies.  We stopped in Benton, Arkansas for a penny and finally made it home all in one piece.

Whew!  It was a fantastic trip. The weather was so nice it was very hard to leave Whitehall that Friday.  We would have loved to stay for a week or two more, but just couldn't do it.  The boys had a great time, even though the fussed and complained about a lot of things... I know they enjoyed it.  It was so great to just get away and do fun stuff and enjoy family up there.  I can't wait to go again!

See Preston's Pennies blog post about the trip here.

Here are pix... they're not exactly in order.  Enjoy!

Homeschool Recap, August 3rd (Week 4)...

In our Homeschool this week...
Our week was pretty straight forward.  We went to see a kid's production of Rapunzel at the Artisan Theatre in Hurst on Tuesday.  The kids LOVED it!  I enjoyed it myself, very funny!  And on Thursday we had lunch with my mom and aunt.  Other than that, business as usual this week - and I took, like, one picture of school this week, ha!  We finished up our fourth week of school, and it's time for a break!  We'll be off all next week for our vacation.  We are so excited!

Tot School: Nothing particular that we worked on this week.  Callen is getting really good at identifying his colors, plus some letters and numbers.  At church on Wednesday, I asked a few of the kids to identify some letters and numbers and Callen kept being the first to answer (he's the youngest in there, it's 2-5 year olds)!  Haha.


Bible: This week's Name of Jesus was "Light of the World."  We used Mama Jenn's printable up on our Morning Board to help us start memorizing John 8:12 and Preston had to copy the entire verse down (which took three days!).  We looked up verses in The Discoverer's Bible that described Jesus as light.  We also made a light switch cover that showed "light,"  used a candle and flashlight to show how important light is and how it can guide us.

Reading/Writing: We continued Spelling by Sound & Structure.  Preston is doing great with spelling the words so far!  Finished  up the handwriting practice with the letters Ss through Zz. 

History:  This week's history topic was Native Americans.  We read North American Indians, which goes over lots of different tribes and their characteristics.  We made a model of wigwam and a teepee, and practiced some sign language.  We also read Who Came Down That Road?, Who Were the First North Americans?, The Hopi and The Rough-Face Girl (which Preston LOVED).  Over our break, we plan to read The Magic Treehouse Book, Buffalo Before Breakfast.  And then we'll start on Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims.

Wigwam and teepee.

Math:  We finished up Chapter Two of Math Mammoth, which is time/calendar.  Learned 'till' and 'past.'  Reviewed days of the week, months and dates.  Had a review and then the chapter test today.  He got a 93% on the test, he missed two questions by just a little.

Science:  This week we talked about the Universe, the Sun and Gravity.  We used First Encyclopedia of Science (notebooked a page on the Universe and on Gravity) and The Usbornce Science Encyclopedia.

Music/Art: We continued the My Very First Art Book, and did two projects.  One was "Smudgy Pictures" using chalk, and the other was using finger paints.  Callen enjoyed the finger paints, of course!

Spanish: Preston and Callen both enjoyed the next two episodes of Salsa, which tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood (sort of). We reviewed words having to do with "El Taller" in our First Thousand Words in Spanish.  And we continued the first lesson of La Clase Divertida!.

We are using Adventures in My Father's World. See our curriculum here.

[This post contains affiliate links for Usborne Books & More and Amazon.com.  By clicking on those links and purchasing items, you are helping me continue to be a SAHM so that I can focus on homeschooling my children!  Thank you!]

Five Summer Getaway Ideas...

Ah, yes, Summer is rapidly approaching.  The warmer weather is setting in, the days are getting longer and the kiddos are itching be done with school for a few months.  For a lot of people, Summer means "Let's pack up the kids and go!"  Because the kids need a little more than TV, video games and Facebook all Summer, right?  You wanna give them exciting, interesting, educational and fun experiences, right?  RIGHT?  Perhaps you need some inspiration on which way to head.  Maybe I can help!

Visit family!  Why not visit your Aunt Sarah and Uncle Joe?  Provided you have relatives who live somewhere outside of your own city limits, AND provided you're on friendly terms with them, call 'em up and say "Hey, we're bringing the kids and the dog... mind if we crash at your place for a week or so?"  Ok, it might not be that easy, but staying with family can be an educational and inexpensive getaway.  C'mon, it's good for the kids all the embarrassing stories about you and your siblings when you were younger!  And not having to rent a hotel saves you money!  I know I enjoyed going to family reunions when I was a kid... you just never knew what you'd learn about your crazy family!

Perhaps you were thinking of something more adventurous.  How about getting back to nature and bonding with your kids over s'mores and ghost stories 'round a campfire?  Looking up at the wide open sky and all those millions of stars you can't see in the Big City.  There's just something about camping out that brings a family closer together.  Make the kids leave the Nintendo DS at home, no iPhones allowed... just the sounds of nature, doing it's thing!  You don't have to go far if you don't want to either, I'm sure you can find a camping area near you.  I have the greatest memories of camping trips with my family in Meridian State Park.  I got to see armadillos up close (and not dead!), and will never forget being afraid of them... until I saw one run right smack into a log. Then I realized that they're not very smart!  Ha!

Not into sleeping on the ground?  That's cool.  There are still lots of ways to enjoy nature and God's great creation.  I would suggest that you grab a map, and figure out which Ocean is closest to you... and head THAT way.  Nobody should ever be denied the chance to look out on the great, big ocean blue!  Now, I've been to the Gulf of Mexico... which kind of counts, but it paled in comparison to standing on the beach in Orlando, Florida gazing upon The Atlantic... or walking along the beach in Los Angeles, California and watching the waves on The Pacific.  But... take which ever large body of water you can... and DIVE IN!  Let the kids build sand castles and enjoy some fresh seafood.

If none of those are floating your boat and you live in the South, my next suggestion is basically...anywhere cooler.  I have lived in Texas my whole life, and Summers... well, they are dang hot!  So, if you are fed up with the heat... travel North.  Try checking out Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, travel up into the U.P of Michigan, check out the vast and beautiful land of Montana.  Heck, why not go all out and cross the border into Canada.  Trust me, do it just for the accents... it'll be worth it.  Uhh, I think you need a passport for that these days, though.  Just saying.  I know that in the middle of July and August, all I want is to be somewhere much, much less hot!

I realize the economy is not exactly in a great place right now, so maybe a "real" vacation is just not on the books this year.  That's ok.  But don't completely rule out some time off and away with the kids.  Stay-cations are all the rage these days anyway!  I have a feeling there are landmarks and neat places all over your area that you've never taken the time to explore.  Go for it!  Go realize how awesome your city or town is!  Teach your kids the history behind where you live... you'll probably learn something too!  I grew up in Fort Worth, but I guarantee there are tons of hot spots I don't even know about... and don't get me started on Dallas!

So, whatever you're in the mood for... go, do, have fun!  You (and the kids!) deserve the break.  Enjoy your Summer!

[I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Alamo blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.] 

Smooshed Pennies!

When we were in San Antonio for vacation a few weeks ago, Preston discovered the Penny Press machines.

We ended up with quite a handful, and my mom even found a Penny Passport to keep them in!  So, now we are on the lookout for any chance to "smoosh pennies!"

We were out in Grapevine for Mother's Day dinner with Michael's parents and thought we'd pop over to Bass Pro Shop to see if they had a machine, and they did!  Preston got all four of those designs!

Working the crank!

Then, we stopped by the Great Wolf Lodge to see if they would let us in to get ones from there.  They did!

No stealing!

And they even had a cute display with it!  Haha, Preston liked that!

So, dear friends, if you happen upon a Penny Press machine, please think about a certain 5-yr-old who has a new obsession!  In fact, you can even look up where the Penny Press machines are located all over the country (and world!).  Go here, look up your state and find some in your area - it makes for a fun scavenger hunt adventure!  And it normally only costs you 51cents!

Homeschool Recap, Week 31...

Coming off a week full of Eastery fun, and then a week of vacation, I didn't really have any sort of "theme" for this week.  I worked Wed-Fri, so my mom and mother-in-law did school with Preston on those three days.  I'm afraid this recap is lacking in pictures and excitement.

Monday:

- Daily devo

- I had Preston write a few sentences about his vacation.  He wrote: "The Clark and Lilly familyes went on vacation to San Antonio.  We saw Sea World."

- We did a review on his Spanish numbers and body parts (seeing as how we heard so much Spanish on our vacation, I figured it was time to start reviewing the few things we had learned of the language so far).

- Did some pages of the Learn Every Day workbook, just practicing letters, sounds and following directions.

- Started a new Shapes workbook (found at the Dollar Store).  I originally got it for the trip in case we had downtime, but that didn't really happen... we stayed too busy.  I figured it would be good to do this week since he was going to be with his grandmas and the workbook was easy enough to use.  We did squares (tracing the shape, writing the word, finding the hidden ones in a picture).

- Our apple seeds were really sprouting in the plastic bag so I thought we could go ahead and plant them in some dirt.  Found some top soil in the garage (whew, I thought we might have to dig up some of the backyard!) and planted them in a clear plastic peanut butter jar so we should be able to see the roots continue to grow.

Tuesday:

- Daily devo

- LED workbook pages, ending rhymes

- Reviewed Spanish colors.  I used the workbook we have and the flashcards we made earlier this year.  For some reason, Preston just could not remember "azul" (blue), even though it's one he learned when he was like 2-yrs-old from watching Dora or Diego.  Oh well, it's a good thing we are reviewing.  I ended up writing the word on his arm so that he couldn't possibly forget it.  Haha!

- Shapes workbook - circle.

- I had him write a few sentences about The Alamo, including what "alamo" means in Spanish (cottonwood trees), who fought at the Battle of The Alamo (Texans and Mexicans), what the famous phrase was ("Remember The Alamo!"), and that it's actually named "Mission de San Antonio" ("The Alamo" is really just a nickname!).

Wednesday-Friday (w/Grandma):

- Daily devo

- LED/RR workbook pages

- Shapes workbook

- Reading/puzzles/etc

- On Friday afternoon, my mom took the boys to our city's Arbor Day celebration.  They found themselves surrounded by bus loads of school kids, but thankfully the teachers and students were extremely accommodating and let my mom and the boys cut in line, and the kids even gave the boys extra prizes.  Haha!  Preston came home with a ton of pencils and a little sapling for us to plant... somewhere!

Spring Break in San Antonio

Our much needed vacation has come and gone already.  Can't believe it!  

My parents picked us up on Tuesday morning.  We loaded the Explorer inside and out, and off we went... headed South!  Our first stop was Round Rock Donuts.  We had to try the Texas-Sized Donut, of course.  

He did try to eat it all himself!

Preston made a pretty good attempt at eating the whole thing himself, but Michael and I helped (oh, and Callen had some too!).  We didn't manage to eat it all even between all of us.  We made it to San Antonio before check-in time at our hotel, but they let us into one of the rooms anyway.  So we unloaded and headed towards The Riverwalk for food.  We ate at Fuddruckers, 'cause we weren't really sure where everything was and that happened to be right in front of us.  After that, we checked out The Alamo.  

We made it to The Alamo!

We went back to the hotel to get settled in our second room.  After resting for a bit, we met up with Dannell in front of The Alamo.  We took the Riverboat tour just as it was getting dark and enjoyed the sights.  Afterwards we were ready for dinner.  We first tried a BBQ place on The Riverwalk, but after sitting outside in the steamy heat with no breeze, looking over the ridiculously expensive menu and the since the waiter  never came back... we got up and left to look for something else.  We found a little Italian place that was inside with A/C and that was able to sit us right away.  It was delicious!  Exactly what we were wanting.  After that we walked Dannell to her car (after getting turned around a bit) and finally back to our hotel.  I dunno how many miles we walked that day, but it was enough to wear us out!

The next day, we took the Trolly Tour so we wouldn't have to walk as much.  Our first stop was Hemisfair Park and the Tower of the Americas.  

It's way up there!

We went up to the top and checked out the view.  We also did a 4-D ride about Texas, which neither of the boys liked very much at all! After that we got back on the trolly and saw a couple of the missions (we didn't get out), and then stopped at Market Square.  Right when we stepped off, there was a Mexican restaurant, Mi Tierra, and it ended up being really great!  We walked around the shops till it was time to be picked up again.  We decided the boys had probably had enough (they were not cooperating as well as they should, meaning... nap time!) and needed a rest, so we stayed on the trolly the rest of the way back to where we started.  We took a break (no naps, unfortunately), then took the car back up to San Fernando Cathedral.  The bones and ashes of the great heroes of the Alamo are kept there, and it was a really beautiful place!  

Beautiful old cathedral

We went to the Rivercenter Mall (ok, mostly just the Disney Store in there) and then ended up back down at the Riverwalk for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  We swam back at the hotel for a bit before turning in.

Day three was designated "Sea World Day!"  Apparently everyone from Mexico designated it that day as well... soo crowded, and ALL of the cars in the parking lot had Mexico plates.  We got there about 10:45am and didn't head out till about 5:45pm - that made for a full day!  We saw three different shows... one with sea lions, one with dolphins and beluga whales and, of course, Shamu!  Callen was a little nervous about the giant KILLER WHALES that came up out of the water pretty dang close to us.

Up close and personal!

Then he was pretty unhappy about getting splashed and soaked.  I tried to keep him covered, but putting him behind me and taking the brunt of the big splash, but it was cold water and I kinda gasped, which scared him and made him freak out a bit.  Haha, oh well.  

Callen isn't scared of Shamu... yet.

Preston got ride a whole bunch of little rides (and a big one, the splash falls one with grandma and Michael).  We saw penguins and alligators, and walked our butts off again.  I got a pretty nice sunburn on the top of my shoulders at this point.  We were hot and tired and tried the Bill Miller BBQ place right outside of Sea World (though they have locations allll over the place in S.A).  It wasn't that great, but it was food.  We came back to the hotel and swam some more.

Friday morning we had breakfast and then went back to The Alamo for just a little bit.  Then we prepared to head out.  We traveled just a little and stopped at Natural Bridge Caverns.  

Preston rides a dinosaur!

We had already walked so much all over downtown San Antonio, not sure we needed the extra up and down walking you have to do in these caves.  But, it was pretty cool.  Callen, however, was not interested.  He was pretty tired and fussed quite a bit no matter who held him or which way (we tried the back/front carrier).  Thankfully he fell asleep after a while, though Michael then carried him in that pack - breaking his back all the way up that incline!  I remember going there when I was younger, but most of it was unfamiliar.  It was pretty neat!  

It's a "natural bridge."

Stalagmites!

After that, we were ready for lunch... so we took a little side trip off of the freeway, and found Frank's Bait & Taco.  Michael and I saw this place featured on the Texas Country Reporter or something, and wanted to give it a try.  It was so cool!  The walls and ceilings are completely covered with... stuff.  

Behind the bar at Frank's Bait & Taco

And Eddie (his name isn't Frank, but he'll answer to it!) told us about his place and where some of the stuff in it came from... the food was really good too!  And from there, with full bellies, we headed home!

We had a great time... despite the steamy heat (thankfully it stayed overcast the entire time and there were strong breezes so it wasn't completely unbearable) and despite a certain 5-yr-old that didn't want to do ANYTHING (EVERY SINGLE TIME we sat down to eat he declared he wasn't hungry and cried that he didn't want anything and just wanted to go back to the hotel, however, he ate EVERYTHING he was given and had a great time doing everything... sigh).  Callen did exceptionally better than I thought he would and he finally started taking more steps while we were at the hotel.  On the way home, he got a little fussy about the ride, but all of the rest of the time, he was just a super happy baby!  And speaking of the hotel, it wasn't bad, but they were doing remodeling, so it was a bit of a mess and noisy sometimes.  We slept great the 2nd and 3rd nite - probably because we were so worn out!  And even though we ended up walking so much, sweating like mad and running into crowds everywhere, oh and nearly running completely out of gas at one point with no gas station ANYWHERE!, I'd say... it was a great vacation!  It wasn't a relaxing vacation by any means, but it was a lot of fun. 

Thanks, Mom & Dad!!!

(I've got some video, but I'll have to wait to post those... this took long enough!)