Roadtrip to Dundee

This past weekend I was planning on taking a trip over to Cabelas in Dundee, MI which is about 2 hours from here. It's fun to go every once in awhile and I hadn't been there since last fall. However, we got 3 inches of rain on Friday afternoon and when I got up on Saturday it was very foggy and still raining some. I didn't want a 2 hour trip to turn into a 3 hour trip so I decided to wait and go on Monday. Plus, my buddy John wasn't able to go on Saturday but he could on Monday so it ended up working out really well.

We got to Cabelas and it was so empty. I guess I've never been there any other time but Saturdays. It was great for shopping though! They have part of the building under construction but it wasn't anything we wanted to see anyway so it was all good. We looked around for awhile and then decided to go have some lunch. We went and found a nice little pizza place that had a buffet and after eating we sat and talked for a long time before heading back to Cabelas again. We looked at some guns, bought a couple things and after a quick run through the McD's drive-thru for two cold $1 iced teas we started heading towards home.

When we go to Cabelas we go right by Michigan International Speedway. For those of you who don't know MIS is a NASCAR track. I've never been to a NASCAR race but would kind of like to go sometime. We pulled in and decided to take some pictures. We were able to walk right up to the track and take pictures. I'm not sure if we were supposed to but no one stopped us! It is so big! The pictures don't do it justice because there is no way to get a wide enough angle to show the whole thing. The picture of John against the fence only shows a little portion of the track.

It was kind of hard taking pictures through the fence too but I did the best I could. Because we were able to walk right up to the track we were able to see everything really well and it is unbelieveable how banked the it is! It's very steep and it's crazy to think that they're going around the track at such high speeds.

After leaving MIS we stopped for ice cream and then went to 3 more gun shops before finally heading home. It was a great day and we had lots of fun. Until the next time....


Rhiannon

Dad saved the day

I have been trying to decided what I should post next. I didn't really have anything other than this picture of Emma and I that I took today while she was supposed to be falling asleep!

I was sick this weeked so my activities consisted of pretty much nothing but sleep. Having done nothing but sleep, I had nothing of particular interest to blog about. That is until this evening!

Dad went Turkey hunting with a friend from church and they had much success! Dad shot a Tom with a 10" beard. He said he was approximately 35-40 yards away. Dad shot him with his 12 guage. Although he has turkey hunted quiet a bit this was the first time he's killed one.

Emma was excited when she was told Papa was coming with a turkey but I think she was a bit disappointed when it arrived here dead! She thought it was sleeping but that didn't stop her from getting her picture taken with it.

I was planning on blogging about Mom and I creating more garden stones but since I was sick I didn't do any of that. Dad saved the day with something interesting to post about until I can find a new topic!

This week Mom and I attempted a project. It kind of worked! A couple of years ago Mom made some garden stones at our local library so we decided that we would give it a try.



We have lots of broken dishes and miscellaneous pieces of things that are just lying around waiting to be thrown away. We used cement for our stones. Some of them worked well but the cement was too wet for others and they broke when we took them out of the molds.


You spray the pan with cooking spray and then glue the different pieces of dishes or whatever you choose to use face down. You then sprinkle some sand around the pieces, pour the cement in and let it dry. The stones should come out easily when the cement has completely dried.



We used cake pans in different shapes for the molds. The first one I made was a smiley face using marbles for the eyes, nose and mouth. It didn't look right at first but after the sand was brushed off of it it was better.

This past weekend we had a lovely day in Michigan for Mother’s Day. One thing that made the day extra special was that Emma and Sophie were dedicated at church! Mom made their dresses for the occasion and I think they were super cute. Apart from Emma being a little bit uncooperative everything went well. We took some family pictures at church after the service.

After church we came back to the house and grilled burgers for lunch. We took some pictures of Mom with the girls out by her English Garden. Then everyone took short naps. Except for Emma; she was not in the napping mood. Here is a picture of Mom with the girls outside in front of her English Garden. Earlier in the day Emma was told to smile. Alyce used her fingers to show Emma to smile and this is what we got the rest of the day while we tried to take pictures! I'm afraid it might stick!

Tulip Festival Part 2

More pictures from Holland when Mom and I went on Tuesday.

Holland Tulip Festival Part 1

This past weekend I did something that I've always wanted to do but never took the time to. On Saturday I went to Holland for the Tulip Festival! This trip combined several of my favorite things all in one. 1) Tulips 2) Roadtrips 3) Photography 4) Port towns. Ok so technically this was a mini-road trip but it was still a lot of fun! Because I did a lot of things and took many pictures I'll do this post in two parts.

Mom and Dad were in Iowa this weekend for a friend's wedding so this offered me the opportunity to have a day completely to myself and do exactly what I wanted to do. I was a little nervous about the weather because we had a storm the night before and it was supposed to continue to rain in the morning and then clear up before starting to rain again in the afternoon. I left the house at 6:30 a.m. and it was raining. I wanted to allow myself plenty of time since it's approximately an 1 hr and 45 min. drive. I also was GPS-less this weekend since Mom and Dad had taken it with them to Iowa.

I used to just take an atlas and drive and didn't care if I got lost because I could read a map and find a way home. I can't believe how dependent I've become on my GPS. However, I did have fun having to rely on the atlas and enjoyed the feeling of adventure I used to have before I had the GPS. I call it GPSYI by the way! :) GPS, travel... GPSYI.. get it?! Yes, I know it's spelled different!

Anyway, after a short stop at McDonald's for a large unsweetened iced tea in a styrofoam cup for only $1, I was back on the road. It continued to rain for most of my drive and as I was traveling I kept looking at the sky and thinking to myself, "This may have been a bad idea!"

After I arrived in Holland I followed the signs for downtown. I first stopped at the Amtrak station to take a quick picture of the "Welkom to Downtown Holland" sign which was surrounded by tulips. I then drove around the corner to Windmill Island but they weren't open yet so I headed downtown to take some pictures of the many tulips lining the streets. I then went back to Windmill Island just as they were opening and about this time the rain stopped. Perfect! I took a tour of 240 year old windmill which was imported from Holland. It is still used to make flour. Standing out on the observation deck was quite a view!

I then went and ordered myself some tulip bulbs! I kept telling myself that I didn't need any but I just couldn't resist. After Windmill Island I went back downtown to Centennial Park and watched some children doing some Dutch dancing in their wooden shoes. I couldn't get a very good view because there were too many people in front of me but it was neat just the same. I then walked around and saw some of the vendors in the park before walking across the street to Hope College. Their buildings reminded me of when Mom and I were in York, England. Very neat!

Holland also has a 6 mile drive through town where there are tulips lining the streets and street corners. Everything was so beautiful! I kept stopping, parking and getting out to take pictures. Most of the tulips were in their prime so I think I picked a good day to go. In the town of Holland there are over a half-million tulip bulbs planted!

After leaving town I went north of few miles to the Veldheer Tulip Farm. They have 700,000 tulip bulbs planted as well as other flowers. All of the beds are numbered by variety and you can walk through with an order form and decide which ones you want to purchase. They also have a large gift shop specializing in wooden shoes and delftware along with specialty dutch foods. They also raise bison and sell the meat.

After finally pulling myself away from the tulips and deciding that I had seen enough of them for the day I decided to drive over to Lake Michigan and look at the lighthouse before I left. I'm a sucker for water in big forms such as the Great Lakes and the oceans! I took a street out of Holland that turned into a really rich section of town and eventually ended up at Lake Michigan. You have to park and walk approximately a 1/4 mile to get to the lighthouse. It was a very windy day so the waves were really crashing into the shore. They call the Holland Lighthouse, Big Red. It is more of a square shape as opposed to a tower shape like most others.

After leaving the lighthouse I headed back home stopping one more time to get ice cream at the Plainwell Ice Cream Co. They make their own ice cream and it's a little bit pricey but very, very good. I was exhausted when I got home having walked so much during the day. It was a long but wonderful day. Now Mom and I are going back because she didn't get to go. I'll post those pictures in Part 2! Stay tuned!