Wiers Family Vacation (Part 1)

Whew.  I was so looking forward to our family vacation this year!  But, I was also sort of sad when it actually came time for this vacation because that means the end of summer is near!  Boo.  We just got home late Saturday night, and now my thoughts have already turned to school and what fun things to try to do with Jeremiah these last few days of summer vacation before I HAVE to go back to school.  Sigh.

But, we had such a great vacation with my family!!  Adam and I like to extend our vacation as long as humanly possible, so we left Thursday morning (the 25th) and made it to our destination of Chicago about 1:30/2:00 in the afternoon.

Lunch at an Oasis before arriving in Chicago.

 We spent the afternoon at the Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier.  Jeremiah had so much fun at the museum!!!!  And of course, we had to spend some time walking along the pier and checking out the boats.

The water area was a hit! :)

When I grow up, I want to be a construction worker!

No, a skid-loader operator!

No, a bus driver!

No, a mechanic!

No, a gas station attendant!

SO much to see!!

We also got to meet up with my cousin Karen for dinner!!!  We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which was super fun and yummy.  It is ALWAYS so nice to see Karen and catch up, and I am so glad it worked out for us to see her on our way through!

After dinner, we headed out and got as far as Michigan City, IN where we decided to get a hotel and call it a night!  Unfortunately, our accommodations that night looked much nicer in the dark of night than they did in the light of day, so we were up early on Friday to hit the road and finish our trip!

We made a stop in Grand Haven on our way up to Fremont, MI to meet up with my parents and also to see my Uncle Tony, Aunt Jeane, and cousin Mark.

J had such fun playing Lincoln Logs and trains with Mark!!!

After we visited for a bit, we got in the car to make the final trek up to Fremont.  Of course, we had to make a stop at Spanky's Pizza for those delicious breadsticks (and pizza) for dinner!!!

On Saturday, we drove down to Grand Rapids and met up with Matt, Cheryl, Josie, and Evan for a long-awaited train ride on my Uncle Carl's train!!!  I grew up going on rides on this train at my Uncle Carl and Aunt Cora Mae's house when we would visit over the summer, and I was so excited for J to get a chance to ride it too!  We couldn't make it work last year, so I was so happy we could do it this year.  Many thanks to my cousin Chuck for being our train engineer and taking us on many, many rides! :)

Ready to ride!

J in the caboose!

Happy, happy boy.

Also, HERE IS A VIDEO that shows a bit of one of the train rides.  It's short, but don't miss J's "choo choo" move at the end!  How cute is that?!?!?  Needless to say, Jeremiah was one happy boy!  He has asked several times since then if we can go back and ride "that little train."  I so wish we lived closer-- Chuck could have himself a little apprentice! :)

Sunday would have been the perfect day to hang out on the lake..... IF the weather had cooperated!  However, it was kind of chilly and rained off and on.  So, we had to move to Plan B.  We took a drive to check out some of the dams on the Muskegon River (I think?) and then made a stop in Newaygo for some ice cream!

Josie and Jeremiah were happy to get some ice cream!

 It still wasn't quite nice enough to go play in the sand (much to Jeremiah's disappointment!), but Jeremiah, Josie, and Evan made due with playing elsewhere!

Expert mess-makers.

 We couldn't find a more perfect cottage to rent-- it comes with trucks!!!

Here, Josie is trying to get J to go do something else.  J is trying to explain to Josie how important trucks are.

Well that is all for now, but never fear-- there is more to come!  Part 2 will be coming soon! :)