Pictures from the children's museum in Benton Harbor

                           This was a little pretend veterinary clinic that the kids really liked.

                                             Isaac is going down the big volcano slide.

                                                I'm bringing my sick animals to the vet.

This is a pretend grocery store and apple orchard.  I'm buying some pie and frozen pizza.

Lake Michigan on Sunday, September 21st

   Sunday, the day after our good beach day, there was a major gale blowing in from Lake Michigan. There were gale warnings and huge waves.  It was VERY windy and rainy Sunday afternoon and I'm sure you can tell which pictures are from then.  We tried to go to a playground next to the beach that day and we stayed outside about 2 minutes and then headed to a children's museum near there, which was a really great  place and the next pictures are from there.

Playing in the Waves at Lake Michigan during our camping trip to Warren Dunes (Sept 2014)

 The kids loved chasing the waves at Lake Michigan.  They were much bigger, louder, and stronger than they look in this  picture.    I think Mommy sees a big wave coming in!

         Isaac loved the water too.  He stood there for the longest time letting the waves run over his feet.          Sometimes they were strong enough to almost knock him over!

                                       

                       Saturday was the warmest day during our camping trip and was in the low 80's.  A very comfortable day at the beach.  I'm glad we all had a day of good beach weather.  Not too bad for later September. 

Fourth of July

The Fourth was apparently all about food and sparklers!

Isaac, bragging that he'd gotten a cracker all by himself.

Nathan, on the right, is Abbey's oldest boy cousin, and Brooke is his girlfriend.  Abbey attached herself to Brooke very early in the day, and they were both very patient with her.  

Isaac's first sparkler!

I went shopping for sparklers the morning of July 4 (probably not the best time to go fireworks shopping), and the only kind they had were these, sort of a more energetic sparkler.  

They were a big hit, though: even the big kids got in on the fun when they saw these!

T-Ball

                                       These are from Ethan's first T-ball game.  I think the top picture is the coach asking Ethan about his finger nail polish.  Yes, you can tell he has an older sister.

Children's Garden

We don't have majestic mountain ranges or long white beaches in mid-Michigan, but we do have some beautiful scenery, if you look for it.  Here are Abbey and Ethan at the Children's Garden, the same one Isaac and I visited a few days ago.

Ethan in front of the falls.

And Abbey at the pond.  Seems like she's a born model!

Daddy Day

Mommy, Abbey, and Ethan left early Saturday morning for a bake sale, so Isaac and I had the day to ourselves.  We visited the playground:

 Then the Children's Garden, where we amused ourselves throwing rocks in the water.

We then followed the 68 Steps down to the Arboretum, where I got Isaac to pose in front of the big waterfall:

We were looking for frogs or turtles, of which we found none, but we did find a big garter snake sunning itself.  Isaac has no fear of snakes!