Vacation day 1 and 2

Because we had so much fun (and because I took so many pictures) I will separate vacation pictures into days, starting with the 1st and 2nd day.

We left Georgia at 2 am on Wednesday morning. Some of you may think we are crazy for traveling over night, but I can tell you this much, it works when you have 3 kids! We always rent cars when we travel farther than a weekends travel away. It is not only more comfortable for us and the kids, our cars love having a bit of a break! My mom came with us to go to the wedding as well as visit family and friends. We were happy to have her come along since she is the children's favorite person and favorite entertainment. Thanks mom!

Our first stop was Livonia, Michigan to see Brad's grandmother who is nearing 90. She always has delicious food ready in the oven for us when we get there.

After a couple hour lunch and visit, we took a short drive over to Ann Arbor, Michigan to visit my good childhood friend, Michelle, who the kids call Aunt Michelle. She is working on her master's degree in Architecture at U of M. We are so proud of all the things she is doing. We walked to this wonderful little Italian restaurant for dinner and had a great visit.

We then drove to Grand Rapids to our hotel. We found this awesome brand new Holiday Inn and the bonus was a indoor water park. Thank goodness for the "indoor" part, because for the exception of the first day, they had record breaking LOW temps. That one pair of jeans and one sweatshirt I had packed came in useful...even under those adorable summer dresses I had packed for the girls. We are talking 60-70 degrees everyday. Oh, I am not complaining! I loved a bit of relief from these crazy hot days we have been having in Georgia.

Thursday we took the kids over to Mac Dune rides on Lake Michigan just off of Silver Lake. Even though it was overcast and a bit chilly...we had a blast. These are some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen and I know we took for granted only living 1/2 hour away from these growing up. We miss these beaches so much!

Can you see the people running down them?

Lake Michigan out in the distance. Silver Lake is on one side and Lake Michigan is on the other. It has rained quite a bit here and left the sand wet...the kids didn't mind at all.