Michigan's Adventure

Life has been pretty crazy lately with Justin's summer class, work stuff, church stuff, sickness, etc.  So we decided to take a day to do something as a family, spend time together and just relax.  Yesterday we took Rebecca on her first trip to Michigan's Adventure!  Justin and I went to Michigan's Adventure every Labor Day from the time we got married until we had Rebecca.  And it was fun to get to go again.  We weren't sure what Rebecca would think of the rides and the water park.  Thankfully she loved it!!!  She had so much fun.  She was grinning ear-to-ear and even sticking her tongue out on some rides.  She went on the little cars (that go in a circle), the cars you drive (w/ Mommy and Daddy), the merry-go-round, the ferris wheel, the drummer boy (like the tea cup ride...which Daddy likes to really spin!), the whale (another one that goes in a circle, but goes up and down a bit), the boats (goes in a circle) and the train.  Her favorite was the merry-go-round.  She had to go on it 3 times so she could try different animals.  And she didn't want to get off.  She would have been content to have it keep going for a half hour straight :)  So far it looks like she'll follow in Mommy's footsteps and be a roller coaster lover :)  Can't wait until she's big enough for more rides.  Maybe someday we'll even get a chance to go to Cedar Point with Grandpa Holleboom.  3 generations of roller coaster fans :)  Justin and Mary only got to go on one roller coaster ride each, but it was still a ton of fun.  Just seeing the smile on Rebecca's face and the excitement in her eyes was enough to make the trip worthwhile.

At one point when we were at the front of the park there were some Peanuts characters walking around.  Rebecca was fascinated by them!  A "big boy" (Charlie Brown) and a "big dog" (Snoopy).  She wanted to shake their hands and talk to them.  Later she saw Lucy and Snoopy.  She kept giving Lucy a big hug.  I guess she did NOT inherit Mommy's fear of people in costumes :P

After the rides we went to the water park.  Last year Rebecca wasn't a huge fan of the water, so we weren't sure what to expect.  She was very hesitant and first...and clung to Mommy for dear life.  But after a while she warmed up and wouldn't even let us hold her hand :P  She went on 2 different water slides (for little kids).  And she went into the wave pool with Daddy.  We had to force her to be done in the water because she was shaking so much and her lips were getting blue.  She would have played longer if we let her :P

We ended the day with Rebecca's (and Mommy's:) favorite thing...an ice cream cone!  What a great way to end our fun-filled day.

This was our first experiment with skipping Rebecca's afternoon nap.  She did great.  She didn't get grumpy at all.  But she was VERY tired when we left.  She was out cold about 60 seconds after pulling out of the parking lot.  It's good to know she can handle it once in a while, but she is definitely not ready to drop her nap.  And I don't think we want to see what she's like if she had to do it 2 days in a row...or if she didn't get any sleep during the day at all (at least she got about a 45 min. nap in late).

We're looking forward to the holiday weekend.  We'll be heading to a Whitecaps baseball game on Sunday (Justin's Father's Day present).  Then on Monday we'll visit the anual arts/craft fair and parade and watch the Grandville fireworks from the front porch.  It's nice to have some good family time.