Family Vacation---a little extension

We had to vacate the house on Crystal Lake at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 2.  From there we all headed to Michigan City, IN, where we joined the "other Wierses" at Adam and Jessica's vacation home.  I think that this was the first time that all 7 of the Wiers cousins were together since Grandma Wiers's funeral.  At that time there was one great-grandchild.  Now there are 11.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch all together and then went to the beach.  I took a cute picture of a bunch of those little ones eating lunch together, but somehow I managed to delete it from my camera. :( So I just have a couple of pics that I took at the beach.

Abby and Neil had to leave before the rest of us did because they had to get to Chicago to pick up one of Abby's friends from the airport.

Abby and Josie's good-bye hug

The rest of us left mid-afternoon--Ben heading back home, and the rest of us going to spend one last night together at a hotel in Elmhurst.  On our way we stopped for supper at Portillo's, which was a treat. The kids had all slept a good bit of the way from Michigan City to Portillo's, so when we got to the hotel they were full of energy.  We burned off some of that energy in the pool, and then we all gathered in Grandpa and Grandma's room for a popcorn party. 

Jeremiah 'read' one of his favorite books to Josie and Aunt Cheryl.

We had most of the day on Saturday to spend together, so after breakfast at the hotel there was time for some more swimming.  And then we headed to Wheaton for lunch at Subway and then spent the afternoon at Cantigny, which is a wonderful park.  There are lovely gardens and a history museum, which was only enjoyed by Bob and Matt.  The rest of us spent our time in the "kid-friendly" areas.  Jeremiah enjoyed all the army tanks, and they all enjoyed the playground. 

All too soon it was time for good-byes, as the Wissinks left for Iowa and the rest of us headed to Midway Airport.  But first, some hugs in the parking lot.

And here is one last shot of Josie at Midway, just before they went through security. (Evan was not posing for pictures at that point.)

And then it was a quiet trip back to Brookfield for Grandpa and Grandma, each in our own car.  Lots of good memories to keep us company, but really missing everyone already. 

Family Vacation, Part 4---Cottage time

Well, if I wait much longer to finish these vacation posts I won't even remember what was going when I took the pictures!  I really haven't posted any pictures yet of what we did when we were hanging out at the cottage, so here are a bunch of random pictures of our time at the cottage.

We really only had a couple of days when the weather was good for being on the beach and in the water.  The kids had a great time on those days!

Ready to jump....

...and in they go!!

It was also lots of fun to watch the fish swimming near the dock and to feed them stale bread.

Abby entertained us with some fireworks that produced smoke in different colors. We watched from the safety of the deck.

And of course we had a campfire and s'mores one night. 

Not all our fun was outdoors---here's a game of Crazy 8's.

And here's Evan catching up on his texting on Auntie Abby's phone.

Did you ever see a cuter pair of cousins?

This shot, or one like it, will probably show up on our Christmas card. :)

And that wraps up our week at Crystal Lake. I love looking at all these pictures--- they bring back so many good memories!

Family Vacation 2013----Part 3

Our family wasn't the only group gathering in Michigan that week---the Diekemas also had most of their kids with them that week. So on Tuesday,  they hosted a gathering of as many Waanders family members as they could---and I think the total attendance was nearly 75!! It was a wonderful evening---some of us hadn't seen each other for about 10 years!

It was definitely a houseful!!  People were spread out throughout the house, on the various decks, UNDER the house, and on the patio and deck of the Diekemas' "old" cottage next door.  That brought back lots of memories!

These second cousins live on opposite coasts---Bethany in Maine, and Evan in California. Bethany just LOVES little kids, and they seem to love her as well. This is the 3rd summer that our grandkids have been able to spend time playing with her.

On Wednesday we had reservations for another train ride---this time on the Coopersville-Marne Railroad. (thanks to a groupon that Cheryl found!) 

Jeremiah was VERY excited about this train ride, even though this picture doesn't show that.

Before getting on the train, Abby and Neil found a store across the street that sold all kinds of old-fashioned candy--like slo-poke suckers (my favorite!) and candy cigarettes, which she generously shared with all of us. :)

The conductor came around and talked with everyone, and here he is answering Jeremaih's questions. 

When we got off the train, Ben was there to meet us.  We had hoped that he would make it in time to go on the train ride with us, but he ran into traffic and got delayed. And the train doesn't wait!! 

Some of us had a coupon for a free donut on the back of the train ticket, so we all made a stop at the donut place for a snack.  We also hit the candy store again before heading back to the cottage.

From my blog posts so far, you really can't tell that we actually spent any time  AT the cottage.  Those pictures will be coming in the next post....hopefully soon!