Family Vacation 2013---part 1

For us, our family vacation started with a brief "teaser" visit with Matt and Cheryl's family when they flew in to Midway in Chicago.  We met them at the airport on the evening of July 18 and then spent the night at a hotel with them before they headed off to Michigan in our Honda the next morning. Best moment of the evening: when Josie caught sight of us, hopped out of the stroller and came running into my arms.  Priceless! After a 4 hour plane trip, the kids had plenty of energy, and of course they were still on CA time.  So it got to be kind of a late bedtime for them. There was much giggling, squealing and jumping on beds before they were ready to settle down.

This was probably the only time they were both sitting still enough for a picture.

Since it had been a late bedtime, no one was up real early the next morning. I think Evan was the first to wake up, so Matt brought him over to our room for a visit so that Cheryl and Josie could sleep a little longer. 

The breakfast at the hotel ended before we were ready to eat, but we found a great breakfast place not too far from the hotel. 

Evan did some texting while waiting for his food.

Josie was pretty excited about her Mickey Mouse pancake!

After breakfast Matt, Cheryl and the kids got in the Honda and headed to Michigan for their week with the Vanderkamp family. And Dad and I headed back to Brookfield in the (brand new!) Ford Escape. We were so happy that we got to spend that time with them!

The REAL family vacation started on July 26, with our drive to Michigan. We made a stop at Diekemas on our way to Fremont, and Adam, Rachel and Jeremiah were already there. Jeremiah had already found their cool toys and was having lots of fun.  We had coffee and cookies and a little time to visit, and then we drove on up to Fremont.  We stopped at Spanky's for pizza and delicious breadsticks on our way through Fremont.  Then we picked up some groceries and made our way to the cottage.

Saturday morning we drove down to Grand Rapids and went to the Sinkes, where we met up with Matt, Cheryl and the kids. The main item on the agenda:  Train rides!!  Our kids have such fond memories of riding Uncle Carl's train every time we came to Michigan when they were growing up, so it was really fun for Matt and Rachel to see their kids enjoying the same thing. Chuck was on hand to run the train and he was very generous with his time---he said that they could have as many rides as they wanted. Well, I guess if we had really taken him up on that we would have been there all day---we did have several rides, and then a delicious picnic lunch that Cora Mae had made for us, and then a few more rides.

The boys walking down to the train.

It's always fun to sit in the caboose--if you're small enough!

Yes, even Grandma got a ride. Evan actually fell asleep on this ride. 

In addition to the train itself, we also got to see the water tower that Carl and Chuck have built, as well as other projects in their workshop. And we also got to see their beautifully restored Model T. 

  And he even let the kids sit in it!

Well, I think that's it for the first installment. More to come!