Whirlwind July

July was a whirlwind month, a new place almost every week.  The girls went to school until the end of June, they started their first day of summer break each with a friend over and Daddy came home Friday night to take us out on the boat on Saturday.  I was very torn about whether to go to Pennsylvania for the holiday week.  I had so many things to finish at the house and I knew what the rest of the month looked like, at 6:00 Saturday night I wasn't going to go, but then I was reminded about what was really important, so we quickly got all the laundry done and we left with Eric on Sunday.

On Monday we just relaxed at the hotel by the pool.  On Tuesday we visited the Elk Visitor Center in Benezette, PA.  It was a beautiful educational center and very well done with a very cool movie center, but the weather was to warm to see any real elk, bummer, but the ride was beautiful and we did stop for a quick hike at Parker Dam on the way home.

On Wednesday (the 4th of July) we took the girls to Delgrooso's.  It is an amusement park in Altoona, PA.  We had never seen so many tattoo's or piercings, we really saw it all.  Eric also noticed that there was no "weight limit on the bikini's."  We all had fun and the people watching for the day was amusing to say the least. We finished the day with fireworks and a laser show at the end of the night for the 4th.

On Thursday we met Isaac and his wonderful mom Susan.  Their dad/husband Pete works at the plant and offered to show us around Clearfield next time we were in town, so we took them up on it.  We had a wonderful day and ended up at Parker Dam lake.  We now have a new fun friend in Clearfiled too!

We headed home on Friday from Clearfield with enough time to mow the lawn and get the laundry done and the girls and I were packed and ready to leave for Cambridge, bright and early Sunday morning.  We drove with Bridgette (from ZFS) and stopped at the Prairie Learning Center and Wild Life Refuge near DesMoines.  The center was very well done and I learned a lot, and I think the girls did too. They had a "scavenger hunt" that you could do and it really helped keep your interest.  Eric left a few hours after us and headed in the other direction back to Pennsylvania to get the plant started.

We had a good week in Cambridge catching up and wrapping up.  We had our last All Glory service, it was sad to see it be done, but I also felt that the timing was right, and no one felt led to pick it up and continue it.  Some very good things came out of it though.  I was challenged in many ways through the service and therefore grew, and I know others that were too.  There were prayer groups and Bible Studies that have also started, and things seem to be changing a bit in Cambridge in the area of children's ministries.  I am very excited for the things God is doing there.

This is Tobi, Sam, Jen, and I in McCook for a bachelorette party that I tagged along on while I was there.

On Tuesday morning we loaded up the van with Tobi and her three girls, and me and my two girls to trek across the country back to Michigan.  We stopped at the World's Largest Truck stop in Iowa to try to break up the trip.  The girls did really good, and I was more worried about the Springer girls that didn't know how long of a trip it really was, but Kylie ended up being the "are we there yet" girl that drove us nuts, she was so restless.

We got back home only to discover it was 92 in the house and the air conditioning was running.  So Wednesday was a layed back day while we had someone come to look at that, and then we took all of the girls grocery shopping :) What an adventure that was!

On Thursday it rained so we went to Crazy Bounce for a bit in the afternoon and then to the Street Performers at night.  The girls loved the street performers and could have sat and watched this little cutie all night.

It wasn't really that warm but we let the girls play in the fountains on the way home, only because we were prepared with towels and pj's in the car.

On Friday we went blueberry picking, it was hot so the girls got sick of it pretty fast but we had enough to snack on for quite a few days.  From there we went to Cliff and Karen's and put the blueberries in the fridge and grabbed some more life jackets and headed for the beach so the Springer girls could see Lake Michigan and we could enjoy it too.

 

Thankfully Amy Meeuwsen was there and there was a tiny spot open near her so we hung out right there for the rest of the afternoon.  The kids had fun in the water and the sand.

On Saturday we decided to just hang out and not be so busy.  We ended up working on trimming up the landscaping, and it looked so much better, I had no idea what to do with some of our newer, getting much to big additions to our landscaping, and Tobi with her, "just cut it and if it doesn't work you can replace it" theory helped a ton.  (Thanks Tobi)  Not all friends would help you with yard work while they are on vacation.

Sunday we were only a few minutes late for church, and then we spent the rest of the day at the pool.

On Monday we all went to Tobi's mom's house for the day.  She lives about an hour north in Lakeview (Tobi thought it was Lansing, that is how close they are.) The girls fished, rode the paddle boat, sat on the horse, and got all over spoiled with "way to big" earrings and jewels, books, and fun.  My girls would love to go back, so I guess that means Tobi needs to come back so we don't have to go alone.

The horse had an injured leg so the girls couldn't ride him, but they
got to give him treats and sit on him, Karinda and Kylie loved that.

Kylie even caught a little fish!

It was a great relaxing day on the farm.

The girls found a little baby snake, some were more exited than others about holding it.

Tuesday morning we hustled to the Holland Amtrak station and we headed for Chicago, and the Springers were headed back to Cambridge.

  The ride there and back went really smooth and I would definitely do that again.The seats were super roomy and the girls could move around a little.It was a wonderful week with wonderful friends, even if it took forever to get the girls settled down and to bed every night, and I was a lame hostess who just chatted and looked at Pinterest every night. 

Once we got to Chicago we found a bus and headed to Millennium Park to check out the bean.  We did not find Chicago very tourist friendly.  Even getting on the public transportation was a little confusing and forget about being able to figure out how much it was going to cost before we got on the bus, and then the bus drivers are crabby at you because you don't know.  Let's just say keeping track of 5 little girls downtown Chicago made my heart rate jump just a little.  It was really cool to see though.

 The train headed west left at 2:00 so we headed back to the station to have lunch and get the Springers headed home.  After a hurried good-bye and then some tears we decided to check out  Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) until our train left at 5:00. 

The girls loved seeing the big city from that high up.  Karinda (who is deathly scared of heights) even went out over the edge where you are about standing in mid air.  Our train left at 5:00 and it wasn't long before both girls were sleeping, the Springers had wore them right out.  I texted Tobi on the train and her girls not so much, I was the lucky one.

 

This left us with three days home before we left for vacation.  One to clean, straighten up the house, and get organized.  One for back to school shopping, and one for shopping and packing for vacation.  Wow, it makes me tired just thinking about how busy we were.

Saturday morning the girls and I left and headed up north to finally see Eric, it had been a busy, but yet, long three weeks without him.  Unfortunately while we were out traveling, having fun with friends, and out on the town, Eric was back in Pennsylvania getting that plant up and running.  He must have done a fine job because he was able to spend the whole week with us up at the Blue Beaver Lodge, not what we had expected, better than expected is always good.

 

Sunday afternoon we loaded up the kayaks and took them down the Manistee River.  I had originally wanted to do a 4 hour trip, but Eric thought this 2 hour stretch seemed a bit more reasonable.  He was right, the girls were ready to be done after two hours.  It was still very nice though and if we have two vehicles there again will have to try a new stretch of the river.

 

Monday morning the Bosch's arrived and the girls had a lot of fun on the new kayaks.  Yes, each of them had one this year but they like to be a little unconventional and use them in other ways, like a taxi, or they would flip them upside down and stand on them.  As usual we had a fun time with our vacation buddies, the Bosch's, having campfires, doing sparklers, morning walk/bike ride around the lakes, going to Bear Lake for the day, all the fun things that have now become tradition.

 We cut vacation short by a night and headed home Friday night to attend an Innocademy Open House Saturday morning, because school was starting bright and early Monday morning.  After the open house we headed out on the boat for the afternoon, Eric even braved putting the boat in at Port Sheldon and heading up to Grand Haven so we could go visit Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Brian, Aunt Kelly, and our cousins.  Wow, that was one jammed packed month of summer!