Sunday: made it

We stayed in a hotel last night so the trip today wasn't too long.  While the breakfast was delicious, the walls were thin and there was a team staying there that wasn't very quiet.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.  However, we did all bring our pillows because the pillows at hotels are always the wrong size and uncomfortable. 

We got to the water park without any problems.  We knew it from wouldn't be ready for us quite yet, but we could still use the park.  We only went on about 2/3 of the rides, but they were fun!  The lines weren't bad at all, so we often found ourselves doing one ride multiple times.  I guess the worst part is that the background noise is really loud, so I couldn't hear anything that people were trying to say. 

The guys did the FlowRider.  I have some good videos, but only have pictures of Isaac's and Joshua.

We briefly went to Tom Foolerys too.  They have some little attractions and an arcade.  Isaac enjoyed the climbing wall... First it took him a minute, the next round 40 sec, and then 28 sec.  Then he climbing it without using any of the holds, because, obviously. 

We're also meeting some friends here for several of the days, so that has been really nice too 

Saturday: odd things

 Joshua moved around the Lego sets: the penguin is trying to help the baby giraffe get to its mom and not be eaten. 

Ben showed this box to me and Joshua: 

Then on the count of three had us say the name. 

A: su oso.  J: assassin 

A: what!??  That isn't even close 

B: hahaha. Joshua saw this:

Thursday and Friday: fun and boring

Thursday was a fun day!  We went to a park with some friends in the morning and introduced some other friends to rock climbing in the afternoon.  Joshua and his friend loved climbing the trees.

Friday was on the boring side.  The only plans included groceries and packing.  I should have made some plans too, because everyone was a bit bored by the end of the day.  Hmm, I guess it didn't help that Ben worked a little bit late too.  Everyone survived.

Wednesday: relaxed day

 We didn't have huge plans today.  Grocery store and a friend of Joshua's over in the afternoon.  I decided not to go to the grocery store because I didn't have many groceries and needed to talk with the family about vacation groceries.

Joshua and his friend climbed the mulberry tree for the first time.  They were climbing all the trees.  After the friend left Joshua decided to read in the tree.

Isaac was working on his walls and decided to take down a black balloon.  It's been up there since his black phase.  Isaac, of course, doesn't remember his black phase and found it quite funny.  A lot of things have been tickling his funny bone the last few days and it's nice.

Tuesday: recovery day?

I was supposed to start the packing list for vacation today, but instead I ...didn't.  So I guess it's a recovery day after the fun stuff lately.  I'll get to the list tomorrow.  Not in time for groceries, but I can always go quickly pick up what we need.

Isaac is hanging out with Cheryl tonight but forgot Giraffe.  I told him we'd take good care of Giraffe.

Monday: birthday party

Today was the birthday party with the Grandparents, but there were several things to do first.

We picked blueberries for the party.  It was the best blueberry picking I've ever had.  The berries were big and plentiful.  Isaac picked more than I did!  We got 2.5 buckets in 30 minutes.

We picked up the desserts: Crumbl Cookies for Joshua and an ice cream cake for Isaac.  Turns out, if you go on Monday you get twice the options at Crumbl because they're finishing up last week's options too.

Then we cleaned a bit.  Joshua had started a little cleaning before I woke up, but everyone put in a good 30 minutes.  Joshua and I were hungry, so we had lunch on the early side.

After nap time/screen time I felt on top of life.  I did a little more cleaning, but also finished the globe puzzle.  This puzzle summer has been interesting: the kids are happy to help at the beginning and end, but not in the middle (or for hard parts).  That's ok.  I'll take what I can get.  Anyway, I stuck my hand in the globe to help put in some pieces and Joshua found it really funny.

Since we were on top of life and, Joshua especially, had helped so much without being asked, I let Joshua do a baking powder volcano that he's been asking about.  I originally told him Tuesday, but he was happy to do it today.  The day of the party can be hard because you can't make a mess and you're just waiting.  He did most of the prep and clean up by himself, so it was a win for everyone.

Finally!  Party time.  The cats were being rather territorial over this box.

Joshua got several 10s.  Some candy, keychains, and $1 coins for his 10th birthday.  

Ben and I got each kid some assorted Lego and a UV flashlight.  Several of the Legos glowed under the light, but the light was a hit overall!  They were bringing it all over the house to see what would react and there were some weird discoveries.  (Like one leg of a minifigure glowing and not the other).

(The kids don't love having the same birthday party, but it can be hard getting everyone together in the summer.  The only reason they 'allow' it is because they can each have their own birthday dessert.)

Weekend: date weekend

Dad and Pat took the boys up to the cottage this weekend and they had a great time.

Ben and I spent the weekend at a B&B in Grandville.  Sure, it's not very far away, but if we stay at home I tend to putz around with chores.  I usually relax plenty too, but it's a different mindset when I'm away from home.

The B&B (PraireSide Inn, or something like that) was lovely.  There were lots of thoughtful touches that made the place especially lovely.  The only downside(s) were that our breakfasts, brought to us in our rooms, were on the smaller side.  It was probably the right portion size, but I was hoping for a slightly larger breakfast.  

We did a lot of reading.  Our room was especially cold the first evening we got there, so we went out by the mini pool.  The hydrangeas smelled amazing.

Saturday we finally made it to Bricks and Minifigs in Grand Rapids.  It was a great store!  As expected, there was a pick-a-brick table and we probably spent at least an hour looking through the pieces finding good ones.  The thrill of the hunt was so fun!  I went around the table about three times, and on the third time I was still finding cool pieces that I had missed earlier.

We had Indian buffet for lunch.  We don't have it very often because there isn't one in Holland and it's a bit on the spicy side for me.  But we both found items that we enjoyed and tried several new things too.