Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy and fun Memorial Weekend that included lots of traveling, family, and fun!  It certainly put us into "summer mode", maybe a week too early!

J and I started off the weekend on Friday morning with my Dr. appointment and anatomy scan ultrasound.  It was fun having J there with me-- he got excited when he recognized a baby on the screen and did an excited gasp when the tech told him that he is going to have a SISTER! :)  Just what he wanted!

"No more pictures, please!"

There she is

The Dr. appointment involved quite a bit of waiting, of course.  J did pretty well!  He waited until about half-way through the ultrasound before he said, "*SIGH* I'm bored!"

Trying to not be bored.

After my Dr. appointment, we hit the road for Michigan!  The couple times I have traveled alone with J to MI or WI, I have been quite impressed-- he is a good traveler!  And I am so thankful for that.  Yes, he watches several movies on the DVD player, but hey, it won't kill him!  We had to get a new DVD player on our last trip to MI because our other one died or was frozen in the freezing cold car overnight, and the new one we got has a remote.  Being a big 4 year old, J can now do "menu," "play," "stop," and "pause" all by himself- score!

We always have to make a stop at the I-80 Truckstop ("the world's greatest truckstop" according to J!).

The reason J likes to stop here!

We arrived in Grand Haven about 7 pm (I think), in time for a delicious dinner at Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's house.  Then it was off to bed-- tired after our day of traveling!

Saturday my aunts held a bridal shower for my sister Abby, who is getting married on June 21 in Chicago!  So exciting!!!!  The shower was so nice-- I was able to see a lot of aunts and cousins I have not seen in awhile.  And we got to celebrate Abby and Neil and their upcoming wedding and marriage! :)

Sisters!  Twins!  No, just kidding, I'm 6 years older-- can't you tell?

Saturday evening, a bunch of the family headed to Fricano's for pizza.  YUM!  Since J is kind of a Pizza Ranch snob and Fricano's super thin crust pizza is a little different, I wasn't sure how he'd like it.  However, he quickly gobbled up 3 slices!

I love pizza!!!

And after pizza, we just had to head to Temptations down by the waterfront for ice cream!

Blue Moon was obviously this guy's choice!

Sunday morning, we woke up and hit Tim Hortons for breakfast (hey Michigan people-- not sure what all the fuss is about with that place?!?!?  Not that great, in my opinion) and then we drove down to Holland to get a look at our new temporary living place-- the Spring Brook Apartments.  They are nice enough and will make due for 3-4 months, but we will be eager to get into a house!!!

In the afternoon, the weather was just gorgeous.  We went back to the cottage and made sandwiches, then took them down to the beach and ate lunch.  It was the perfect afternoon!  I do believe that J would spend all day every day on the beach, if he was given the choice-- he had SO much fun!

The water was numbingly FRIGID, but he somehow didn't mind?!?!?

Building (and smashing) sand castles with Daddy.

My cousin Bethany came down and played with J for awhile and also took him down to the beach again later in the evening.  She is his new best friend!

We enjoyed a steak dinner at Uncle Tony and Aunt Jeane's house that evening and ended the day with this gorgeous sunset!

Beautiful.

Monday morning we pretty much woke up, packed up, and hit the road for Iowa.  We made it back safely about 6:00 pm.

And now here we are-- tomorrow is my last day of school, and J's last day at Shell's house.  I don't think I'm ready!!!  How did this day get here so quickly, yet also took forever to get here?!?!?!  Crazy.  We have a lot of packing to do, cleaning to do, and good-byes to say.  Cue the tears for this pregnant lady!! :(