Last year, I preemptively decided that I didn't want to deal with the crowds of the BATYOT event, and that we would just get a passport after the fact and pay the entry fees. Sadly, this did not work out in our favor, as they do not sell the passports after the day of the event.
Since we completely missed out last year, I was doubly excited this year to participate.
There are literally events spread out all over the capital city area, so we had to choose. My number one choice was in East Lansing. Most of the events didn't start until 10, but the gardens at MSU opened at 8, so we parked on campus and started there. Well, I dropped everyone at the gardens, and parked the car in some of the designated event parking, then walked over to join them, since the buses were not yet running.
Jumping Chimes:
Surfers:
Searching for the frogs:
We spent about an hour enjoying all the beautiful landscaping, but after a pit stop, it was almost 10, which is when the busses started up for the event.
The bus was rated 2nd favorite activity by all 5 of my children! We sat all over the articulated bus during our various trips.
The next stop was the ice cream shop. The dairy up here is amazing, and the ice cream store on campus is cream of the crop when it comes to ice cream. Unsurprisingly, this was the number 1 stop on all 5 lists. = )
After we finished, we boarded the bus and headed for the museum. It was small, but well done, with plenty of authentic buildings and artifacts mixed with recreations.
Grace the coffee grinder:
They had several skeletons, and some life-sized dinosaur plaster recreations.
The 3 little ones were restless, so my mom and I took them outside to burn some energy.
She wanted to go read about the carillon tower, so we headed that way. They had had such a turnout for the previous tour, that they added one not in the book!
They have a digital practice version on the ground floor.
The door that allows them to haul up the bells.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and played beautifully.
She even let the kids take turns helping her with a song!
This was the favorite event of all of the adults. It wasn't on the radar, and it was a cool experience!
We caught the bus back to the hub, where we changed over to another bus. We had to walk a few block to the next event, but it was not too bad.
The band was still setting up, so we stood in line for caricatures, but then it started to rain.
And it rained, and rained, and rained. Then the thunder and lightening kicked in. And then the cold rain blew onto all of our exposed legs! Billy likes to reminisce that this caused everyone to squeal. = )
The band packed up their equipment, since the tents were more for sun than rain, but the artists kept going, so one at a time they came to be drawn, then headed to the face painting tent. = )
The thunder and lightening had tapered off a little, but it was still raining as we made our way back to the bus stop. We were thankful that the bus hub was in the same building as the parking garage where our nice dry car awaited us.
We decided to call it a day, and head over to the aquatic center not far from home, as our final event stop. But the rain had almost completely stopped, so we popped into the cemetery for a stamp and a self guided tour sheet. Just up the road was the Fenner Nature Center. We'd never been, and it surpassed all expectations.
Such an attentive snapping turtle. His name was Bowser.
I finally had to set a timer to get everyone back out the door, so that we would have time to swim!
We dropped Billy off at home, since it was on the way. We didn't have much time in the pool, just a 30 minute dip, before they closed up. We did grab a calendar so that we can return this summer.
That was the official end of the event, but the passports can be stamped for the entire month of June, so we've been slowly working on collecting stamps since then.
Billy and I went the following day to a BBQ place
off of the bus path. The food was so good, it felt like home! They even serve Texas sheet cake!
Apparently, their secret is that they hauled a pit all the way up here from West Texas, complete with Texas license plate!
We've already returned, they were that good.
Me, and my mom and the twins have been hitting lots of other stamp locations as we go.
A massive pet shop:
The Old Town information booth.
The main CADL(ibrary) location. Our first time there though was so rushed, that we returned so that the twins actually had a chance to explore. We did get all signed up for the summer reading program, and snagged calendars for the events and movies going on this summer.
We also stopped by the Lansing State Journal for a stamp.
I did a little window shopping and brought them both home. ; )
We are still stamp collecting. We need to collect 15 stamps to be entered into the grand prize drawing. It is great fun exploring where we live. There are just so many cool things to do, I'm excited for next year already!
later days
Note: I pulled over 700 photos from my phone from the past 3 weeks. We have been the best kind of busy with lots of spring and summer events in the books. That being said, I had to regroup the photos since my phone separates them into categories (still photos and moving photos) which mixes them up when it comes to posting them in my blogs. So, I have to manually separate them. This time, with so many pictures, I had to use folders to help me organize, and those of course are sorted into alphabetical order. So, these events are presented out of chronological order, but rather alphabetical order. = )
