July 3 Fun

The drive in and out of the campground reminded me of driving into the cabin at Lake Nebagamon!  We saw deer on three of the days.

We explored Manistee...walking the boardwalk...

waving at seagulls...or the beach chickens as the kiddos now call them.

looking at the clouds..."Mom, will you take a picture of the clouds?  They are so pretty!"

Viewed the sights...

"Cool!" said half of our group.  "Eww, gross, what are they doing?" said the other half.

Let's go to the beach!  The kiddos will enjoy it...and so will I!  It's free!

"You want to go sit and play in the giant ash tray?  Ok, we will after we do the trolley ride.  You guys wanna do that?"  SURE!

We learned a few things about Manistee...Morton Salt Co.!?  Yep, now we know why they are there...there is a vein of salt that runs through there.  It was an interesting little tour and our guide witty.

And Mom was right...the kiddos enjoyed it!  Too chilly for suits for us...

but some folks were brave enough to get in the water!

Teddy kept busy fiddling around with anything he could find.

Dad's interest was piqued by the House of Flavors and thought we should go check it out!  "You ever been?" Oh, yeah, last year!  There is one in Ludington and you will like it!

He did!  We did!

We had to drive through the Manistee National Forest each time we went into town.  So pretty.

It was nice to slow down for a few days.  It was so quiet and peaceful in the woods.

I had a chance to play and have festive nails.  "Oh, sorry, you will have to do that...my nails are wet!"

"Now let's sit and enjoy our thirty dollar campfire." What?  "Really, I paid $10 for 2 bundles of wood...wet wood.  Let's say $5 for our started logs we brought and $5 for my propane torch.  And we just bought $5 jug of lighter fluid.  It is not lean, I'm just saying. But who is counting...it's vacation."

We got a good fire going and then set the logs around to dry out...it worked...we even started some of those on fire.

All was good...roasting hot dogs and smores to perfection!  Thanks, honey!

He wasn't as disturbed by the process as it sounded...the smore made with a peanut butter cup softened him up!

A pleasant place along the Manistee River...

with a front row seat to watch all the weekend campers arrive.  Of course, we fought howling laughter when this rig pulled in, checked in, and stopped at the dump station FIRST.  Ewww, who lets stuff sit between set ups?

Teddy started quoting lines and acting out scenes from a recent movie we watched dealing with the pleasures of RV camping.

Oh...my...it was hard to be discreet...and darkness was not fast approaching!  Hopefully, they just thought we were a happy family.  We did have issues of our own...the toilet in our cabin was not functioning properly...threatening to overflow each use.  "This is reserved for middle of the night needs.  If you have to do business...walk to the bathhouse...it isn't far!  Your mother is not going to want to clean up..."  Well...you get the picture!  We chose to stay put rather than move to a not as nice set up.

Let's head north for a few days!

 A beautiful day to load up on July 2 and head north!

 Three great helpers enjoying some "oldies but goodies" that Dad had loaded to the ipads.

 We watched the temp drop 10 degrees as we drove up and over toward Lake Michigan...through Manistee National Forest.  So pretty.  We stopped for lunch in Cadillac.  Then found a grocery store...they had an Aldi!  Hooray!

 Found our cabin in the woods and settled in...and crashed!  My family allowed me the privilege of a long nap!

 The kiddos had a loft and enjoyed that feature.

 We took a walk and explored down by the Manistee River and the campground.

 The smell of the woods...there is nothing like it!

 Chevy finally settled into the new place.

 The kiddos amused us with their movie making abilities.

 Cuddled up on the couch enjoying time in the warm cabin.

 More turns making movies...

 More laughs...

More relaxing...we crashed kind of early for the first night of vacation...but we have plans to have some fun.  "It is almost 10pm and it isn't dark yet!  What's the deal?  I can't stay up any more."  YOU TOOK A NAP!  "I know...but I'm tired.  I keep telling you that.  And it is quiet and cool and smells good...reminds me of the cabin when I was younger...I'm gonna sleep good!"

"Are we getting messy again?"

 Oh...yes...and we are going to be patriotic about it!  Red...White...and Blue!  Our fun crafts on Tuesday to celebrate no summer daycare for three days...I mean...to celebrate the Fourth of July and allow these kiddos to spend time with their families! 

Paint...suckers...glitter...KABOOM!  Happy Independence Day, America!
But then...you have to have plans for the first day back...and then be prepared to scrap them at the last minute!  I usually don't have Plan B lesson plans in writing.  So...a Monday...with thunderstorms...hmmm...what can I pull out of the closet?  What tricks do I have up my short sleeves to make it fun?  Thank goodness...they are three...well, some of them are four...and they still liked it!

 We were going to get messy in the sand and dirt outside!  Oh well...we made dirt with paint and added bugs inside after reading A Big Bug Dug, a cute story about a bug digging down, down, down till he found a quiet place to sleep.  We sang "The Ants Go Marching One By One".

Hopefully...they all took good naps!  They were a little snarky with one another this  morning.  I wasn't snarky...but sleeping in a little longer would have been fun!  Instead...I enjoyed the reminders of our fun few days as a family up north...the Yukon still smelled of campfire and I still had sand in my tennis shoes!

VBS 2014 The International Spy Academy

 Opening always started with songs with the guitar as kiddos signed in...

 Shady characters were all over the grounds...

 Inspector Havok called in his agent from her beach vacation and she had to parachute in to her assignment in flip-flops.  She let him and the class know that she wasn't going to do it again!

 Night One...we had to crackdown on the counterfeits and find the One True God.

 The Red and Blue teams screamed, played, crafted, listened, snacked, and screamed some more!

 The agents tried to figure out who was behind the plots to change everything in International City.

 The evil chancellor and scheming ways went up against Officier No-Clue (pronounced Naw-Clue), poor guy!

 Agent Diva stepped in to fill some pretty big shoes as Inspector Havok had to meet with his German contacts (really, of all weeks, his boss from Germany was in the states Tues. through Thurs.).  He sent our orders via video contact and we studied unique fingerprints...Uncovering God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.

 More under cover work was going on throughout the building!

 Alisa was excited to be a helper this year.  Ashlynn was our helper...and did well to elude the camera!  She was one of my agents in training!

 Day three was a little rough...under-cover cleaning all day at the local Ra-ma-da can make an agent grumpy!  With Inspector Havok stuck out of the country, it was up to us to figure out the attributes of God.  He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immutable!  Thankfully, we found the envelope on his messy desk with the clues!

 The plot thickened as the statue went missing and the agents found No-Clue bound and gagged.  The poor sculptor was upset!

 Red and Blue went crazy each night!  Candy came flying through the air and adults held their ears.  I held a baby and stayed out in the lobby.  I was happy to help!

 Another disguise and more games...it was absolutely beautiful out!

 Agent Diva met up once again with Inspector Havok as he brought a special message from his contacts in Europe.  "Look up, look down, look all around!"

"There is only One True God...who sent His Only Son...to die on a cross to pay the penalty of your sin and mine...A free gift offered to you...A choice you will need to make for yourself..."

 Last night...lots of kiddos...more disguises...

 More games...

 

 Inspector Havok needed me one more night...so he called me off the baseball field to help him.  We were hot on the trail of The Truth and needed to review all the evidence that we had collected all week!

 The Truth about the chancellor came out and justice prevailed!  No-Clue took him into custody and the town was saved from his evil plans.

 "You mean...the clues were right in front of us this whole time?"  Many children came this year to VBS and brought friends.  They heard the truth about the One True God who loves them and gave His only Son to die on a cross for their sins.  It was a good week.  It was a fun week.  It was a tiring week.  Poor Teddy and his buddies...the Blue Team won.  "It's not a big deal, Mom, it was just fun!  The missionaries are going to get a big offering from all the pennies we brought!"  That made my heart happy.  It was Teddy's last year to be a participant!  That was a sobering fact for me!  That means...three in the teen group next year!

He has some crazy teen guys to help him be a good helped next year!  Their excitement and desire to help was refreshing!  Many hands make light work!