Day four in Michigan... Monday!

On the morning of day four, Anthony, the girls & I headed over to Linsey's house where she, Erica & I headed out for a day of shopping while Josh & Anthony had a playdate with the kids!  I wanted them to take me to all their favorite stores where they get so many of the cute things I have been eyeing since we arrived here.  We started out at House This and then went to a few floral gift shops, a few children's boutique stores, ID and Company where I got Ashley a cute monogrammed bag and my favorite store, Carol Roeda!  That is where I got the most adorable garden stake.  It is a little girls profile.  She is smelling a flower and has the cutest pony tail.  She looks just like Ashley with the lil pony tail and reminds me of Alli when she was younger too.  I just love it.  There were so many other things I wanted to take home too, but I couldn't decide and most importantly I couldn't spend another penny there!  We did take a break for a nice lunch at Panera together.  I really missed seeing my cousins and spending time with them, so I enjoyed every moment I had with them!  After a LLOONNGG day of shopping, we went to Erica's where Anthony met me with the girls.  We ordered pizza, played and swam in their new pool.  It was such a nice and relaxing way to spend our last evening together. 
                                        Max
                                    Josh & Rex
                       Travis with Morgan & Presley
                                 Linsey & Max
I also did some Birthday pictures of Presley for Erica and some tutu fairy pictures outside.  Erica loves the pictures of my girls with their fairy wings, so we had to try to get some of sweet lil Presley!

It was so hard leaving that night knowing it would be the last time we would get to see each other for awhile.  Alli got along so well with (other) Morgan and it was so sweet to hear her say I love you Morgan as we were leaving.  At least we will get to see the Cecil's in Dec/Jan 09 when they visit Florida. 
On Tuesday morning, after we were all packed up and ready to head home, we stopped by Linsey & Josh's one last time for a short visit and to drop off the pack-n-play they let us borrow for the trip.  Then it was off to the Airport for our trip home.  The girls were both great.  Ashley slept on the flight home so it was quiet and relaxing.  Alli also took a lil nap on the plane with Grammy.  She loves her Grammy and wanted to sit by her so badly.  We were sad to have to leave, but happy to be home.  We had such a wonderful trip and can't wait to see everyone again!!! 

Day three in Michigan... Family Reunion Picnic!

Since My Mom, Grandma, Uncle Danny & Sylvia and us were in Michigan, we thought it a good time to try to get together with our extended family that we rarely get to see.  My Uncle Tom had sent out invitations to everyone for a potluck picnic at Palmer Park.  There were definitely alot more people than we had expected.

We even had some uninvited guests... MOTHS!!!  I mean thousands of them.  I had never seen so many before in my life.  They kept their distance but they were everywhere.  The kids thought it was cool and thought it was fun to try and catch them.  It was the perfect place for a picnic.  There was lots of room to spread out and eat lots of yummy food.  The kids enjoyed the playground and playing games with each other.  The weather was perfect and it was such a nice day!
                                 Allison
                                 Ashley                                     Rex
                                      Max
                                   Morgan
                      Presley, Morgan & Micah
                           The Grable Family
                         The Freyling Family
                        The Freyling CousinsUncle Tom, Mary (Mom), Dolores (Grandma) & Uncle Danny
                    Our Family with Grammy
                        Uncle Danny & Sylvia
                        The Sietsema Family
                            The Cecil Family
                            Playing games
After the picnic, we went back to the hotel where we all took naps and then headed over to Linsey's house to visit and play.  We all drove to McDonald's since no one felt like cooking and we were still a lil full from the picnic anyways!  After more play time at Linsey & Josh's we headed back to the hotel for bed time after another full day of fun!

Day two of our trip to Michigan... Saturday!

After a good nights rest, it was time to head out for more family fun.  We headed to Linsey & Josh's house again where the kids played for a little bit.  Linsey took me to a cute lil store not too far away while our hubby's watched the kids.  Once we got back from the store, it was time to head over to Erica & Travis' house for Presley's 1st Birthday party.  Her actual Birthday was the month before, but they had put off the celebration so that we could be there to share in the festivities and we were so glad to be there for it.  Presley looked like a little princess and all the kids loved playing together again.  It was nice to have some of our family together.  My Mom and Grandma were there and Uncle Danny and his wife, Sylvia were there too.  It was such a nice party!
                    Other Morgan & Allison
   Linsey & Josh         Erica & Travis       Anthony & I
           
           The girls after the party!
After the party, Anthony and I headed back to the hotel, where my Mom and her friend Diane came over to watch the girls so we could have a nice night out with our cousins!  The 6 of us had dinner at a little chinese restaurant and then went to the bowling alley where we played 2 games.  It was so much fun to have a nice night out just for us.  I was so mad that I didn't have my camera for all of our bowling fun!  :(
After bowling we went back to the hotel to relieve my Mom and her friend.  Around 10:00 p.m., Erice and Linsey picked me up at the hotel to begin a night of not being able to decide what to do!  LOL!  We first started off at Meijer's to get photos printed so we could scrap, but the photo center was closed.  Then we headed to the movie theatre, thinking we would see Hancock.  We finally decided we would just head to Erica's for pedicures and chit chat.  It ended up being a nice evening of girl talk, channel surfing and playing uno.  We also helped clear some leftover cup cakes from the party!!  Erica was the 1st to fall asleep and Linsey and I stayed up til the early hours of the morning chatting until I finally fell asleep!  The next morning, Linsey woke me up around 8 am as she was going to head home, so she dropped me off at my hotel.  And day three begins!!!

Our trip to Michigan 7/11 - 7/15/2008

Beginning our adventure to Michigan... Friday morning!

Anthony and I were so excited to visit family in Michigan.  The only thing that made us nervous about the trip was that we were flying there.  Allison had been on a plane before when she was really little and didn't remember it at all, but we knew she would do just fine.  It was our lil 18 month old Ashley that we were worried about!  Alli and Ashley were fascinated with the park space shuttle we took to the air port and seeing all the planes as we waited to board ours.


I had packed a surprise goodie bag for each of the girls for the air plane ride to help pass the time.  Alli's favorite was her Tinkerbell Color Wonder pad and markers and Ashley's favorite were the lollipops!  Allison was perfect and Ashley did pretty well too.  She had her few moments climbing in and out of the seat, but overall, I have no major complaints! 


Once we arrived at the Grand Rapids Air port in Michigan, we got our rental car and headed to Linsey & Josh's house!  They, along with Erica & Travis and their kids were waiting for us with a yummy spaghetti dinner.  Alli & Ashley were a little shy at first being in a new place and seeing all these new people, but after a short while, all the kids were playing so well together and having so much fun.  Since they were playing outside in the sandbox and getting soaked playing in the kiddie pool, it was bath time for all the kiddos!!!


After a fun night of seeing everyone and catching up for awhile, everyone was tired and it was time for us to head to our hotel.  Once we got in and settled there, Ashley surprised us at how wonderfully she went right to bed!  She didn't make a peep.  She was definitely sleepy!  Alli slept with us and she went right to sleep too.