Spring Break 2014

For spring break, J and I made the trip to Michigan to hang out with Adam for the week.  It was SO nice to be together for more than a week!!!  And I think it was nice for Adam, that for 2 weekends he didn't have to make the drive home to Iowa.  After doing that drive, I would never want to do that every single week!

Of course, doing a long drive with a 4-year-old and a dog is really not too much fun, no matter how long the distance!  But thankfully, J (and Molly) did awesome!  We left Ankeny about 9:30 on Friday morning, and arrived in Holland to meet Adam for dinner about 6:30 pm (MI time).  We had wonderful accommodations while in MI-- thank you Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane for letting us use your house!!!!!

We really did not do anything too exciting while we were there.  Had the weather been just a tad bit warmer (I'm not sure spring is ever going to arrive in MI....), maybe we would have ventured outside a bit, but it really was very cold! 

Saturday, we drove around the Grand Haven/Holland/Zeeland/Hudsonville areas tying to make sense of things and learn our way around (Hey Michigan-- your cities/towns/townships/charter townships= super confusing.  And your annoying "Michigan left turns" are just that.  Annoying.)  Anyway, we did stop at good old Russ' for lunch, just to complete our Pure Michigan day.  Oh, we also drove through Grand Haven and checked out the lighthouse.  I guess THAT completed our Pure Michigan day.

On Monday Jeremiah and I ventured over to the Rivertown Crossings mall to play.  He enjoyed playing in the play area, while I enjoyed a smoothie from my absolute favorite place ever!

Pineapple Peach.  Mmmmmm.

I have loved "Surf City Squeeze" since my California days-- so glad Michigan has it, too!  Not sure why Iowa, does not.  Boo.

Adam met us for lunch at the food court and then he and J took a spin on the carousel!

I love these 2.

Sunset over a frozen Lake Michigan.

I don't think we did anything exciting on Tuesday, except for a trip to Meijer.  I think we went there almost every day?!?!?  But this cowboy loves riding the horse for a penny! :)

He's saying, "Hee Haw!" (He doesn't know it is actually Yee Haw).

On Wednesday it was very rainy, and I wanted to find another (indoor!) place for J to play.  So, to Google I went, and a place called Deanna's Playhouse in Holland popped up.  So we decided to check that out!

He likes trucks.  A lot.

Good thing there was no one else on the road with this crazy!

On Friday night we were able to make some kind of last minute plans with my friend Erika who lives in  Muskegon!  We taught together in Chicago-- it was great to catch up with her!  And where did we meet her for dinner????

Pizza Ranch, of course! :)

Saturday night we headed into GR and had dinner at my cousin Paul and Melissa's house.  I seriously think this was the highlight of J's week!  He had so much fun!!!!

Putting together a super hard puzzle with Myah and Matea!

"Texting and sending voicemails" from his "business office." (J's words, not mine).

Wearing several headbands!  Silly boy!

For those of you who are interested, we did also go out looking at houses with our realtor on Monday evening, Thursday evening, and Saturday morning.  We have pretty much narrowed our search to the Holland/Zeeland/Hudsonville areas.  We definitely have 2 houses we really like (one in Zeeland, one in Hudsonville), but can't really do anything about them at this point.  We need our house in Iowa to sell first!!!  While we were gone, we did have 2 open houses and several showings.... but no luck.  So, that is our number one priority right now.  Once we have an offer, we can think more seriously about putting an offer on a new house.  We are hoping our top 2 stay on the market for a while, but that may not be realistic.  So in the meantime, we'll keep looking a bit and keep praying that something happens with our house here in Iowa. 

On Sunday, J and I made the long trek back to Iowa.  So thankful the Diekemas wore him out on Saturday night, because he actually slept for an hour and 15 minutes in the car!!!!  That is unheard of for J, so he MUST have been exhausted.  He really was a trooper on the way home, and did great.  We even stopped at the I-80 truck stop (J calls it "the greatest truck stop in the world") for a little treat!  It was a wonderful week of being together.... now to just make it the next 9 weeks of the school year, and try to sell the house!