West Coast Michigan Beaches

This summer, we did something a little different since Daddy wasn't working due to being laid off. We took a short overnight trip to the beach. We drove to Grand Haven, Michigan with our friends the Sampsons and spent 1 whole day at Grand Haven State Park just laying on the beach and playing in the sand. The first day was very sunny and warm. There was a breeze coming off the water that was a little cool, but as long as you were in the sun you didn't get cold. When it was getting time to eat supper, we drove to Holland, Michigan and stayed in a hotel for the night.

The next morning, we drove to Holland State Park and hung out at the beach there for most of the day. The weather wasn't quite as good the second day. It was cloudy, windy, and a little chilly, but a good day anyway. We had a picnic on the beach and played in the sand and water again. We headed back home in the later afternoon. We stopped by our usual restaurant with the Sampsons, Cracker Barrel, for supper on the way home. By the time that we made the 2 1/2 hour trip across the state, we were all very tired but glad that we got to hang out on the beach for a couple of days.

My 3rd Birthday

On July 17th, I turned 3 years old. Mommy made a cake for me and put 3 candles on it that I had to blow out. We had a fun little party with our friends and some family over. It was really cool. It was also another milestone for me because......it is the last time that I get a paci. Mommy and Daddy tried to take it away when I was 2 years old, but I just wasn't ready. Now that I turned 3 and I am a big girl I don't need it anymore.

For my birthday, I got my friend Anthony and my buddy Christian and we went to the Candy Store in Wyandotte. It is a store that has nothing but candy in it. We all got 5 dollars to spend, which bought us a bunch of candy at the Candy Store. Most of the candy was wrapped individually so they only cost a few cents a piece.

After we bought our candy, we went to the park along the river. I like this park, they have a lot of fun things to play on. Anthony and I like to peek thru these windows. There are several slides and different ladders and tunnels to climb on and thru. The best part is that I was with my friends.

My birthday was great! We ate cake and ice cream, went to the Candy Store and then went to the park to play. It was such a special day.

July 4th, 2009

This year for July 4th, we stayed at home and had a picnic with our friends the Bobbitt's. We went to a park in Riverview and had a picnic, then went fishing. This was my first experience going fishing. I had never gone before. It was really cool. Daddy put a worm on the hook for me and then casted the worm out into the water. Then we sat on the bank and waited for the bobber to go down, which means that a fish is taking the bait.

It wasn't very long and the bobber went down. Daddy gave the fishing pole a little jerk and then handed it to me. I had caught my first fish. It was huge. I reeled it all the way to the shore. This thing was a monster. I could barely hold it up. I wasn't going to touch it though. It was all wet and slimy. Daddy took the fish off the hook and let me pet it a little before we tossed it back into the water. It was the only fish that we caught.

In the same park, is a fire station. This is where firemen and fire trucks are stored. Uncle Jerry took me over the fire station and we got a tour of the fire trucks. The nice firemen opened up all the doors and let us climb inside the fire truck. Mommy took a picture of the Bobbitt's on the bumper of this truck. It was really fun.

The big, red fire engines were really cool. They had lots of doors on them and they were all shiny. They were so clean and shiny that I could see my reflection in them.

The firemen let us crawl inside the cab of one of the fire trucks. We felt like real fire men. We spent lots of time at the fire house. They even gave us cool firemen hats to wear. But, after a while, we seen all that we could see and then we went and played at the park for a while. We swung and went down the slides and then the Bobbitt's came to our house and we grilled ribs and relaxed the rest of the evening.

It wouldn't be July 4th if we didn't see fireworks. On Sunday, Grandma came over and we went to a local place and watched the fireworks. They were really neat and we were able to get really close to where they were shooting them off.

Here Mommy, Evan and I were enjoying the fireworks while Daddy took a picture of us.

Our Summer Vacation

This year for summer vacation, we went to Higgins Lake State Park. It was only my 2nd vacation since I am only 1 year old. Yes, Mommy and Daddy took me on my first vacation last year when I was only a few months old. We spent 4 wonderful days swimming and hiking and just hanging out.

This was our campsite, where we set up the tent. It was right on the edge of being in the sun, not to far from the bathroom, and not far from the lake. I thought that I did really good this year. The first morning, I woke up before it got light and wouldn't go back to bed. I was a little scared since it was so dark. Once it started getting a little light. Daddy took me for a walk, which I fell asleep on.

Every morning, we would get up and eat breakfast in our food tent. It was a canopy with screens on the sides to keep out the bugs. The weather was great every day. The sun was shinning and Maya was enjoying a bowl of cereal.

Here I am at the beach. The water was a little chilly since it was June, but it was still fun to play in. I liked sitting in the water and digging in the sand. Mommy and Daddy would take Maya and I out into the water in order to get cooled off. The water was really shallow for quite a ways out. It was over my head, but Maya would walk on her own feet and the water was up to her shoulders. We spent a lot of time at the beach. We walked down the shore and found a part of the beach where there wasn't anyone else so we had a large spot all to our selves.

When we are on vacation, we like to go hiking. Maya loved to run in front of us and lead the way. She was always looking for snakes and frogs. They had a nice hiking trail that we went on. It ran along a lake for a while and then when it circled back toward the beginning, we went deeper into the woods.

Since I was only 1, I didn't get to walk along the trail. I got to ride in backpack. It was a nice ride. It was so nice, that I fell asleep. Maybe because the hike was right during my morning nap and that had something to do with it. I did get to see most of the hike. It wasn't until the end that I fell asleep.

At night, we sat around a camp fire and enjoyed the fire and made smores. I had to go to bed early, so I didn't get to eat many smores. Maya really liked them as you can see from her face. She liked to lick the marshmallow and chocolate off the graham cracker and then eat the graham cracker.