Summer So Far

 Jellystone was our 'summer' trip, and now that it's done, we have a while until our next planned trip.

Earlier this week we set up the 'pool.'  Even Alice came out for a bit.  The other four have logged close to 5 hours in the two days it's been up!

The kids were using the waterproof camera that I bought for Great Wolf Lodge, that we used for Not Wolf Lodge, and will bring when we finally go to Great Wolf Lodge!  And, true to form for these "old" digital cameras, the date and time are wrong! lol.

We sent Avia off on her trip to Florida, and stopped by a mural near the airport to send her a farewell picture.

The libraries are open for in person browsing, so we went by the one near Sarah's house, thinking that we could spend a few hours playing. But their kids' area is packed away, and they are limiting visitors to 30 minutes.  So, we collected our prizes and left.

They do have a good system this year, all the prizes are displayed on a board and they are able to choose form there.  Much better than the old system of digging through the treasure box.

Juliet picked a llama!

We didn't want to return home just yet, well, Alice did, so we dropped her off, and the rest of us went to the park.

The twins were making the "wee-woo" noise as they pretended to drive.

One of the pieces of equipment kept coming apart, and William continued to repair it.

Sitting there, I kept lamenting our distance from Sonic (over an hour in any direction.)

I made myself a new purse.  Billy and I shopped for one a few weeks back, but I'm so picky any more, that making them might be my only option from now on. = (  It took me a full day of sewing, but I'm happy to say that it's everything I want in a bag, and has the perfect number of pockets.

Grace uses our stocking hooks as a beauty parlor.

We have a rotating schedule for summer, reading 20 minutes every day that Daddy has to work, and then one assigned task: math, German, typing, piano, or dishwasher/trash.  I've also limited electronic use to after noon, but with the whining from all of them (but mostly Alice) you'd think that I ruined summer.  Doesn't matter though, I feel like it's a nice balance.

So far we've had lots of sun, lots of water and lots of outdoor time.  Here's hoping that we keep it up this summer!

later days

Date in Kalamazoo

My mom has continued her gift of a monthly overnight get away for us, and this month was Kalamazoo. We had been to Kalamazoo before, by train, but did not have an opportunity to spend the night, so we went back and explored a different area this time (and visited places we couldn't last time.)

We stayed at a local renown bed an breakfast, called the Kalamazoo House.  We arrived before the 3pm check-in, but we were able to park our car and explore a bit.

Billy in line with the statues.

 

We were right next to an art museum, but did not take the time to go in.  We did appreciate the art installments out of doors though. 

We decided to give Hop Cat a 4th chance.  It was a decent walk, and when we arrived, wouldn't you know the doors were locked!  (Disappointed again)  Luckily, they opened at 3, and it was 2:58.  So, not being wimps, we stood out in the sun, on the step (we passed many a running car, with passengers waiting in the the air-conditioning in the parking lot) and as such, were the first ones in the door!

As for the meal, well, I was pleasantly surprised.  They had everything we ordered, and all of it was good!

We stopped by a place called Shakespeare's Pub.  They had dozens of beers on tap, and thousands of handles (including Shiner!) on the ceiling.  Sadly, they didn't have any "themed" menus or drinks, which is was I was wanting, so we only stayed for a drink or two, then headed back to the B&B.

A fountain that wasn't on, when we visited that November, was being visited by 2 ducks on this trip!

We went back to our home base and checked in.

Then we headed to the main event: an outdoor concert at the State Theater!

They did have themed drinks, and a free donut to to with them!

We stayed there for a couple of hours, the harmonica sealed the deal.  It was just like being out in New Orleans.  In fact, downtown Kalamazoo has an open container policy within a certain boundary!

We had an 8pm reservation at the steakhouse that we had missed out on, during our previous trip.  It was good food, and very good service, but Webster's' a very upscale hotel restaurant, not an independent find dining establishment.  

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The next morning, we enjoyed our breakfast on the porch of the B&B.  The weather was so humid and warm, it was like visiting Brennans's!

After eavesdropping on our neighboring table's discussion, we headed to the Kalamazoo farmer's market.  It was a little smaller (and less permanent) than the Toledo market, but we spent all the cash we had!

I had spied a Sonic cup the night before, and so we sought out the local sonic that was not too far away.

We wound our way back home on the backroads.  When we spotted another "village" we had to go check it out. It had a railroad instead of our lovely river, and not much in the way of shopping.  We agreed that Dimondale is much better. ; )

We were almost directly north of Battle Creek when Billy suggested we go back to the lake restaurant we'd seen driving into town (also on the backroads.)   We were about 30 minutes out of the way, but we made our way back to Gull Lake.

The food was good, the drinks were better, the company was the best. ; )

The pink drink was a pontoon punch, and the green one is a riptide (it was the best of what I tried, though I expected it to be blue.)

We enjoyed seeing all the sights and the beautiful countryside.  Michigan sure is green in the summer, almost green enough to make you forget about the horribleness that is winter, almost.

Grace's friend Zoey had given her a sloth in a package that she brought by, and it was waiting to say hi on my window sill when we arrived home.

We had a lovely, lovely time.  Billy is ready to go back, I still have too much of Michigan left to explore, but I'm sure we'll be back someday!

later days