Spring Break

We ate at the Arie-which is perched a-top the Grand Traverse Resort

TC Children's Museum

Growing up too fast

Kai buzzing down the waterslide...over & over.

Dinner with cousins

Crafts with cousins

Meijer Gardens- searching for butterflies. They were everywhere!

Even though we didn't manage to get away this year as a family to a warm, far-away place, we made the best of it right here in cold, dreary Michigan! We started our week off by getting some much needed organizing & cleaning done around here. I'm pretty sure I'm in "nesting" mode now. About time, right? We left Monday morning to our "mini" vacation to Traverse City. The kids were SO excited. You would have thought that we were taking them to Disney World-seriously! Kai was so excited that when we stopped to have lunch on the way, he told our waitress all about it and then every stranger he came in contact with. "Do you know where we're going!?" Just when they thought he was going to say some place super special, he says "We're going to Traverse City!" Ha! Very cute. We stayed at the Grand Traverse Resort. It was probably our last trip as a family of "5" and we decided to give the ONE hotel room thing a try. It actually worked out great! We learned a lot about our kids and their nightly habits(-: Kai likes to "chew with his mouth open" in his sleep. Aria likes to chat it up in her sleep.....All.Night.Long. And little B.....apparently he has to "talk" himself to sleep everynight. Luke and I layed there laughing hysterically into our pillows as he sang to each person the "Happy Birthday" song, had conversations with himself where he would actually answer his own questions, would count to 10 in Spanish (skipping a few and then belting into English #'s), name everything in his pack n play, and go on and on. Thankfully they were all whooped from the day, that it didn't take more than 20 minutes for them to all be sound asleep. Grand Traverse Resort has turned their pools into a mini water park. Kai had a riot and would have stayed in the water all day if we would have let him. It wasn't as nice for Aria or Becket, because both Mom and Dad had to hold them in the water because they couldn't touch)-: We pretty much spent most of our pool time in the hot tub. They LOVE hot tubs. Public ones make me cringe a little bit. We ventured out one day to the Traverse City Children's museum. It was literally one small room...nothing like what we have here in GR, but we made the best of it. I even saw a friend there and sat and talked for awhile while the boys watched the kids(-: Wished we could have hit some wineries, but guess that will have to be a trip reserved for Mom & Dad!

 As soon as we got home, we had visitors! Cousins Tanner, Haven & Parker came for a visit. The kids always have so much fun together. So glad they have some cousins their same age/sex. Us Moms & Auntie Lisa snuck over to BWG that evening once the kids were in bed and had some much needed girl catch up/time! We also managed to sneak in a few activities -Childrens Museum & the park.

Thursday night, Luke and I went to Matisyahu. Can I say Ah-Mazing!? He was playing at Calvin College-it was all acoustic and I'm pretty sure he was singing right to my soul. God has given this man some talent! If you have never heard of him, check him out. He is a Jewish (full on!) Reggae artist. Yes, crazy combo makes it even better. We have liked his music for awhile now, so when we heard he was coming to Calvin, we weren't going to miss it. Wonderful evening....felt like we were back in college again. Glad we're not.

We topped the week off with a little gift from heaven! On Sunday it hit 85 degrees! We went to early church and headed over to the Meijer Gardens for the butterfly exhibit and Children's Garden. Feel so blessed to live right around the corner from this place.  The butterflies were in full bloom and just beautiful. I wish I would have had my camera for some of these shots, but the phone had to do.We will definitely be frequenting the MG all summer again this year. Looking forward to some of their outdoor summer concerts.

Even though we didn't get away to someplace warm, we made some great family memories and were able to bond as a family. That's what its all about, right? Ok, a little sun each day would have topped it off(-: