Visiting Olivia

While we were in Frankenmuth, we met up with my sister, Kendra, Rob, and their daughter, Olivia.  We enjoyed a family chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn.   It was nice to all get together.   After dinner we tried to get pictures out front.

My crazy Alex was not cooperating very well....but oh well...here are the pictures.
 

 

Then we all drove up to Kendra's house for a quick visit.   We did put pajamas on the kids as we were going to have a long drive home.   Olivia likes to share her toys, but I am not so sure she understood why these big kids couldn't stop playing with her stuff.   Alex and Aubrey didn't want to leave.  Olivia was beings such a cutie!

 

Alex wanted to show Olivia how to use the Thomas train, but Olivia just wanted to do it herself.    

 

Alex was in love with Olivia's Lightning McQueen car.
 

PS.  One of the reasons we went up to Kendra's house was for Aubrey to try on her Flower Girl dress with Olivia.   Both Aubrey and Olivia looked beautiful.  Aubrey can't wait to wear her dress at the wedding!

Cruising

While in Frankenmuth, we took a short cruise along the river near Frankenmuth.  Alex and Aubrey enjoyed it, but they had a hard time sitting still.   They did have a lot of fun feeding the ducks some popcorn.
 

 

Having a little fun along the way

 

 

 

Christmas in August

A trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan, isn't complete without a trip to Bronner's Christmas Store.
  

Trip to a Michigan Farm

On Monday, after the High School Reunion, we took Dave to the airport so that he could fly home.  Alex, Aubrey, and I were staying with my Mom (Grammie) for the rest of the week.   After dropping Dave off at the airport, we went to a nearby farm that I had found through an online search.

Aubrey even petted a bunny.

Alex wanted to pet everything and was full of questions for our farm guide.

Alex got to milk a cow as well.  Aubrey wanted nothing to do with it, but she watched from a distance.

Halfway through the farm tour, we got to take a tractor ride through the farm fields.

Alex had fun feeding the horse.

 

 

 

Hometown Lighthouse

At the beginning of August, we all drove up to Michigan.   We went up to my hometown to visit my family, attend my 20 year high school reunion and celebrate Kendra's (my sister) upcoming wedding with a family and friend's wedding shower.  

We started out with the eleven hour drive on Friday morning.   Many DVD videos later and we safely arrived at my Mom's house late Friday afternoon.   On Saturday, Dave and I went to my high school reunion.  It was nice to see quite a few of the people I went to school with from kindergarten to high school. 

On Sunday, a few of my high school classmates gathered at the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse for fun and a picnic.   Aubrey loves this lighthouse and she was so happy that her Dad was able to go up with her this time.

Of course, as soon as Alex and Aubrey saw the sand, they had to stop and play.  When I was growing up, you could never get close to the lighthouse because it was owned by the Coast Guard.  All you could see was this fence around the Lighthouse.  It is great that we can now get close to the lighthouse and even go up it.


Here is the beautiful lighthouse.  
To imagine that it is just about five miles from the house I grew up in.

 

Alex, Aubrey, Dave, and I went up to the top.  My Mom stayed at the bottom. 
There she is in the next picture.

Here is a picture of the Blue Water Bridge in the background that connects my hometown of Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

Us up at the top.  Alex is a little nervous with heights, but he made it to the top.

  
Aubrey and I stayed up at the top for awhile.  Alex headed back down pretty quickly.  There he is with Dave on the ground, while Aubrey and I looked around a little bit from the top.

Alex is always looking for someone to play with.  As soon as he saw these cars and trucks, he knew that this was the kid to play with.

 

Amusement Park Adventure

In July, since we have a seasons pass, I took the kids to Busch Gardens by myself.  We had a wonderful time.   I have to be honest that I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but it went surprisingly well.   I had a plan for how we were going to go through the park, but I did let the kids help choose what to do next.    It worked out well.   We did have one little meltdown, but it was short and we moved on.

Alex and Aubrey on the Elmo ride.

 
Alex likes to take his picture with the characters, but Aubrey wants nothing to do with them.

I took swimsuits for Alex and Aubrey and they played in Sesame Street water area.

 

Having fun on all the rides.