Grand Haven, Day 3

Day 3 found us sleeping in again!  Well, sleeping in for us anyway.  I got up and made everyone my famous pancakes.  My family likes them with no fruit, so I made theirs plain and mind with bananas. Yum!

We threw on our suits and headed back to the beach!  First order of business, sand castles.

Next, fun in the water with Daddy while Mommy read a magazine!  Awww, so nice!

More sand castle building, kite flying, and water play followed.  It was very windy this day, so we could go far out in the water.  It was still fun though.

Around noon we decided to pack up and head home for lunch.  Only we could resist the urge to stop at Butch's Beach Burritos.  So, we pulled in and left with 2 burritos and 2 tacos.

Oh goodness! They are so good!  We will be going back.

Naps and relaxations followed for all of us.

Dinner was going to be hamburgers on the grill, but I forgot to put out the meat before naps, so we headed to the Kirby Grill on Washington.

We were able to sit outside and enjoy the wonderful breeze.

We had Bacon Cheddar Burger (her), French Dip (him), Pizza (kids). It was all very good.

After, the pier was calling our name so headed to the North Side this night.  On the recommendation of a friend we decided to stop at Temptations for some homemade ice cream.

Flavors chosen were:

Orange Sherbet:   Rob, Blake
Black Cherry: Andrea
Blue (something): Ava

 Halfway through the cones the kids decided that they liked the others flavor better, so they switched.

So, so, so, so good!  You have to stop here for ice cream. Have. to. stop.

Feeling very full we decided to walk along the pier.  A nice guy took a family photo for us.

At this point it had been a long day so we decided to head home.

Vacation Days One and Two.

Grand Haven, Day 2

Day 2 was also 4th of July.  Our plan for this day was to wake up at our usual time around 7, eat breakfast, and head to the beach around 8 o'clock.

We didn't set alarms because the kids always get up early.  This was not the case this day as they didn't get up until 8 o'clock!  So, we ate some bagels, threw on our suits, and headed out the door.  The beach parking is known to fill up fast on the 4th, so we were hoping that getting there around 8:45 would not be too late.

Lucky for us, there were plenty of spots and the beach was not crowded at all!

We played on the beach, built sand castles, and even buried a little girl.

Of course, we also played in the water.

Around Noon we started to get hungry and the beach was getting crowded, so we headed to our beach house for some lunch and naps.

After naps were finished, we made a wonderful steak dinner with sweet potatoes and corn.  Yum!

Since we have never been here in Grand Haven for fireworks we decided to get some ice cream, take a walk on the boardwalk, and check things out.

The kids really enjoyed their ice cream.

The kids enjoyed their ice cream so much that we had to come home and clean up a bit before heading to the boardwalk.

Cleaned up and ready to go we headed out again.  We had our eyes set on the lighthouse.

After a long walk we made it to the pier.

We walked all the way to the end of the pier, and then headed back to downtown to find a spot to watch the fireworks.  Once we found a spot on the curb we realized that there was still around 2 hours.  Blake was not having it.

So, we decided to take a chance and head back to the house to see if we could see them from there.

Luckily, we were able to see them from the sidewalk in front of the house, which made viewing them so much nicer!  I didn't take any pictures, I wanted to just enjoy the show. This article talks about the fireworks and has some pictures.

Once the show was over, it was around 11:30, so it was time for bed. Everyone fell asleep quickly.

If you want to read about Day 1, click here.

Grand Haven, Day 1

We decided that we wanted a relaxing vacation this year, so we chose the Michigan beach town of Grand Haven, booked a house, and hoped for good weather.

We got the kids in the car, the DVD player set up and away we went.

Luckily we only had to stop once and made it in a little over 3 hours.  A short stop at Meijer, and we were on our way to our rental home.

Our house (I'll give the address at the end of our stay) is wonderful! So clean, just enough room for us.  We love it.

Our first stop was a local pizza place, Fricano's Pizza.  I found this by googling "pizza Grand Haven, MI", so we didn't know what to expect.

But, when we got there at 4:45 and people were already lined up for the 5:00 opening, we knew we hit the jackpot.

 We walked in to find the menu on our place mat.  You can order one thing, thin crust pizza.  Your options are cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, anchovies, green peppers.  I guess the most popular is  the EBA, everything but anchovies.  We chose the cheese, pepperoni, and mushrooms and it was fantastic.  Pizzas are 8 dollars each with 25 cents added on per topping.  Not a bad deal!

Cash only!

 A hungry, tired boy that wants pizza!

 Your eyes do not deceive you!  No plastic cups are straws at this pizza joint. Order at your own risk.

We ordered the cheese, pepperoni, and mushroom.  Actually we ordered 2 and ate 1.5 of them.

We are already planning on going back on our last night. It was so good!

After dinner we headed back to the house, got changed into our swim suits and headed to the beach.  I forgot my camera, but Blake loved the water.  LOVED IT.  Ava kept busy looking for shells, her new obsession.

After an hour, we headed back to the house, had some popcorn, and put the kids to bed.

Little Brother

Around here a little brother is good for dressing up, serving tea, playing chase, hugging, and laughing until you fall to the floor.

He thinks he's the lucky one, but really she's the lucky one.  She was blessed with a brother who adores her and does most things on command for her.  But don't be fooled, he is pretty lucky himself.  She loves him and plays with him when he really is getting on her last nerve.

In reality, I guess I'm the lucky one...

4th of July BBQ Outfit

I think this would make a wonderful weekend outfit and especially for those 4th of July parties this weekend.

Dress- JCrew

Necklace- Kenton Beadworks via Etsy

Shoes - La Canadienne, Lizzy via Zappos

Earrings - lailee via Etsy

Easy Summer Supper

Looking for an easy summer supper that won't heat up your house? Check out my post on Real Moms Cooking here.

Organizing

Lately my life has felt out of control.  This winter was hard on me and I feel like I'm coming out of a fog.  A fog that has left my house a disaster area.  I mean, it's bad.  Clutter, junk, and things I don't like everywhere I look.

I've spent the last few weeks cleaning, organizing, putting things on ebay, giving things away on freecycle, and selling things on craigslist.

Overall, the main floor is done.  I still have the coat closet and the medicine cabinet to go.  The upstairs (our bedroom) is on it's way. I bought a new desk (here), put a curb find table in for our TV stand, repurposed a book shelf for my husband's things, and am working on a paint color.

This weekend: the basement.  It's LONG overdue. I would post of a picture, but I think I would die of embarrassment.  Maybe I'll do an "after".

If you need some ideas to just start your organizing, check out this article on Apartment Therapy.  You can read it here.