Home Bound

 One tired kid - he wrapped himself up like this on our way back home and was asleep a short time later

 Pit stop for a picnic lunch and and a chance to get out and play at the park...somewhere in Illinois

Our last stop on the way home was at Grizzly Jack's Resort & Water Park in Utica, Illinois. They have an large amusement park area that we played in first

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we changed into our swim suits, ate some ice cream...

  And headed to the water park before crashing for the night.

 

 

 Tyler loved the lazy river, I liked the wave pool

 Hannah liked anything BUT the lazy river

 Our Grizzly Jacks Resort room

 Sleepy girl had breakfast at I-HOP and then fell asleep while we got 1/2 of our miniature golfing done

  Then she woke up to help us finish the last half - we called her the "Hannah Hazard" because it was really easy to loose our golf balls around her!

 Putting practice

 It was hot and we were ready to climb back into the car and drive the final stretch home in air conditioning!

 One last shot - notice where my daredevil son is standing?

Michigan Wedding Weekend

Finally made it to Michigan Friday evening. Saturday (after a splash in the hotel pool) we helped with wedding prep, had the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner. Tyler really wasn't too thrilled to practice his "ring bearer" duties of carrying the "here comes the bride" sign.

 I got some quick pre-wedding photos of the outdoor decorations. This is the drink/appetizer area.

 A cool photo display on the side of their shed.

 The ceremony was under their apple orchard in the front yard

 Tables set for dinner

 This is the dance area. It looked really cool at night with all the Christmas lights on and lanterns hung in the apple trees.

  Nicki created this cool gift/card area.

 And family wedding photos were on display.

 Our niece Sarah getting ready to be the Jr. Bridesmaid. She had her hair braided, wore an altered dress that the Bride used to wear, and even got stick-on nails!

Tyler and Hannah were all dressed up waiting for pictures and then waiting for the wedding to start. They decided to dance in Aunt Nicki's kitchen.

 

 Hannah adores her big brother!

 Haselhuhn Family wedding photo

The Bride (Aunt Nicki) and the Ring/Sign Bearer (Tyler)

 He wasn't too excited during the rehearsal, but he did great carrying the sign down the aisle for the wedding!

Here comes the Bride!

 

 And here she is! The wedding was at their home in Michigan - very pretty outdoor ceremony & reception! 

 This photo of Tyler reminds me of something funny he said on the way home. We will call it Weddings From The Eyes of 3 Year-Old. We were leaving Michigan and talking about all the fun things Tyler got to do on our trip so far. He agreed to most things we mentioned, but when I said, "and you got to help Aunt Nicki on her big day by carrying the sign at the wedding." He dryly responded, "No Mom, that wasn't my best (favorite) part! There was standing (dramatic pause) and standing (pause) and standing (pause), and for WHAT.....NUTHing!!!" At this point we were laughing so hard we barely heard him say, "Nothing exciting...like fishing or anything!" So, weddings to him are even more boring than sitting and waiting for fish to bite! LOL Funny story to remind him of at his own wedding in the future!

 Adam reading scripture at the wedding

 Haselhuhn family chat

 Bride dancing with her Mom

 Dancing to the fun live band - it was like a hoedown and Tyler really liked the fast music.

 We really enjoyed our 3-night stay at the Jackson, MI Comfort Inn!

 Takes a lot for this family of 4 to be gone for 6 days - cooler of food, wedding clothes, swim suits, car games for the kids.....

Tyler was very proud of the new Angry Birds bag Aunt Nicki gave him for being her sign bearer.

Michigan - Here We Come!

Adam's sister Nicki got married over Labor Day Weekend in Michigan. We took an extra day to travel there & back and turned the adventure into a mini family vacation. So, on the way out we stopped in Iowa City at the Children's museum.

Tyler found the train room right away

After traveling, Hannah couldn't wait to run, climb, and play!

Hannah driving a tractor in the farm room

Playing in the music room

Tyler was excited about the aviation room and tried out every plane!

Hot air balloon "ride"

After a quick food court dinner the kids rode on the carousel

 Finally made it to our Hotel in Illinois for the night & went swimming

 

 Breakfast in the hotel before heading out



 After a hotel stay we drove to the Indiana Sand Dunes and stopped at West Beach for a quick dip in Lake Michigan.

Hannah was more interested in playing with the sand and talking to the seagulls than playing in the water.

"This lake is gigantic!"

Neat scenery!

 

Had to let Adam take at least one photo of me to prove that I really was there!