Eli and Daddy’s 5th birthday outing

(Note: I found this post half-finished on my work computer today.  Since the outing that Eli and I took on his 5th birthday last year is definitely work remembering and sharing, I took the time at lunch today to finish this up this post and publish it!)

Yesterday, Wednesday May 26, was Eli’s 5th birthday.  I took the day off work to spend the day with just Eli and I.  Aunt Lori was kind enough to watch Matea for the day; Missy was busy most of the day with her last day of BSF for the spring.

Eli and I got in a lot of fun in our day together!  We dropped off Matea at Aunt Lori’s house at 9:30, and then we were off.  Here’s what we did:

Byron Township Library – We stopped at the library just as it opened at 9:30.  My original thought was to borrow a movie for Eli to watch in the car since we’d be doing a fair amount of driving around.  The find of the day though was a book that Eli himself found on the shelf: The Guinness World Records “Gamers Edition” for 2008!  I wasn’t too sure about it at first, since I thought it might be kind of dry, and Eli might like better a book focused on Mario or another particular character or game for familiar to him.  The Guinness book turned out to be great, though: Full of lots of pictures of all different kinds of games to look at.  Eli loved it.

Exploring at the park – Our next stop was the park behind the library.   We spent a good half an hour just walking around, exploring the fitness trail, looking at the little lake behind the library, and running around the baseball fields.

Reading at Kent Trails – We still had some time left before lunch, and Eli wanted to read his new book on video games, so we ended up making a short drive to the Kent Trails trailhead at 84th St., and just sat on the bench there and read together for a while.  There was a big construction vehicle parked a short way down the trail itself as well doing some kind of work on some pipes running next to the steam by the trail, so we got to watch the workers at work for a little while as well.

Lunch Buffet at Pizza Hut – Next we drove to the Pizza Hut in Holland for lunch, and had a great lunch at the lunch buffet.  Plenty of pizza, breadsticks, desert pizza, and pop!  We even got a bargain, since they only charged Eli for the 3-year-old rate for the buffet, which was a lot cheaper than the adult rate; I think it was $8 for the adult lunch.

Putt-Putt Golf, Mini-Bowling, and Games at Lost City– After lunch, it was time for the main highlight of the day.  We drove to Lost City in Holland, which is an indoor “fun center”-type place with putt-putt golf, mini-bowling, laser tag, and games to play for tickets to turn in for prizes.  Since it was mid-day on a week day while school was still in session, there were no other kids around, and we had the place almost to ourselves.  (I had originally looked into the possibility of taking Eli to Craig’s Cruisers, but it didn’t open until mid-afternoon, probably for the same reason.)

We played putt-putt golf first.  The course turned out to be just a little 9-hole course, but that was actually probably about the right length for a 5-year-old. Eli did very well, getting lots of scores of “2” and “3,” and even a hole-in-one on one of the holes!  And on the final hole, I managed to hit the “win a free game if you make this shot” shot, and the attendant let both Eli and I play another round for free.  Fun!

We tried mini-bowling next.  I had never heard of this before, but it turned out to be just about what it sounds like; bowling with a real ball, a real lane, and real pins, but at about 50% scale of the standard game.  The game turned out to not be perfect – our ball got stuck a couple of times, and it turned out to be pretty tricky to roll the ball straight enough to get a lot of pins knocked down – but we played a couple of games and had a lot of fun anyway.

Finally, we played some of the games that they had; the standard kind of games that cost a quarter each to play, and spit out some number of tickets.   Eli and I had a good time trying out Skee-ball and the other games, and Eli had fun at the end figuring out which prizes he could get for the number of tickets that he had won.  Again, it was cool that we had the place to ourselves, and Eli could take plenty of time and space to take his time and look at all of the different prizes and figure out what he wanted.

Running on the Sand Dune at Tunnel Park -- When we left Lost City, it was only mid-afternoon, and since we were already in Holland, I decided to drive out to Tunnel Park.  I actually didn’t know exactly where the park was, and I didn’t have any kind of GPS or smartphone to get directions, but I figured I’d just drive west and figure it out from there – and fortunately, I was able to find it!  Meanwhile, Eli, tired from the good food and fun, fell asleep in the back seat of the car on the way there.

We got to the park, and since it was before Memorial Day, there was no attendant, and we were able to get in for free – another nice bonus!  Since school was still in session, the park was fairly empty, as Lost City had been.  We played on the playground, and ran up and down the huge sand dune.  We also spent some time at the park area at the top of the dune, walking around the wooden boardwalk structure and looking out at Lake Michigan.  I snapped a picture of us using my cell ph0ne camera – it’s hard to tell, but this is us at the top of the dune, with Lake Michigan below us in the background:

 Ice Cream at McDonald’s – Finally, we finished our day by driving back to Byron Center, going into the McDonald’s,  and enjoying $1 ice creams.

What a great day!  Probably the best single vacation day off work I’ve ever spent.  I’m looking forward to another outing with Eli on his 6th birthday this year – and on starting birthday outings with Matea once she is old enough!

Sailing again!

We wanted to get another sailing trip in this summer, especially since the sailboat is up for sale. But the last time Matea was a bit of a handful (and took some of the relaxing part of sailing away). We thought it would be fun to go just with Eli and give him some extra attention from Mommy, Daddy, and the grandparents. So, my Mom graciously watched Matea for two nights so we could take off sailing – THANKS MOM!! :)

Who’s that peeking out of the front hatch?

Not one, but two Schneider boys!

Peeking out of the hatch was one of Eli’s favorite things!

We were so excited to sail (well, Grandma Amanda and I were SO excited to sail), and we couldn’t wait to try some swimming in the lake, right off the back of the sailboat. It was hot, but overcast, and Eli wasn’t too sure about swimming off the boat. He was sure it was not going to be as fun as the pool. He was partially right – even calm the lake has currents and movement, and it’s not as easy to swim in the water there as in the pool. Eli wanted tobe right next to the boat, but when the boat would rise and fall it would send up a splash right in to his face. Not what he wanted. :) And he had to be tethered to the swim line as well, which took some of the fun out of it. I still loved it – it is a really cool feeling to jump off the back of a boat in to clear, cool, deep water. But, just as we were all getting situated Grandpa Terry noticed storm clouds and lightening coming up the lake. UH OH! Everyone got out of the water quick!

 

Then we got the chance to sail (well, motor) in a storm. Terry and I stayed above (hey, I’m not missing my first storm on the sailboat, and I was already wet from the lake anyway). It wasn’t that bad of a storm, but we did have to motor around a while in the rain until the storm made it’s way up the coast and we could head back to the marina.

After the storm we did end up swimming in the marina pool, which was much more acceptable to Eli. :) And, we found quite possibly the coolest pool toy ever – the “Toypedo.” The marina had toys and noodles, and we could have played with this heavy rubber/foam? torpedo looking toy for hours. We ran out and bought one the next week it was so much fun actually.

It was time to go home and back to Matea much too quickly, but we made such great memories on the boat with just Eli. Hopefully next year (if the boat is still around) we can make more memories with both our kids (and I can get to sail more and more and more). :)

Ohio

Following our Indiana visit, we spent the rest of the week at my brother’s house in Ohio. We did a ton of things and had fun . . . and I took hardly any pictures. Too busy!

It was such a nice time being together with all the cousins and most of the family. I hope we get to do it again next year! We went swimming a lot (the pool is right across from Scott and Jill’s house) and went to a movie, mini-golfing, the children’s museum, and a Dayton Dragons’ baseball game. A great trip that went by too fast!

Matea trying her hand at golfing. 

Naw, lining up the balls is more fun . . .

And even better is throwing them in the water!

Eli was proud as a peacock to golf with “The Boys”

Cincinnati Children’s Museum and the museum complex rocks! There was an awesome cave section in the natural history museum, which I don’t have pictures of, that we explored. It felt just like going in real caves. Nathan and Eli LOVED it! And the kids really liked the children’s museum. We could have spent even more time there, not just the 5 hours we had.

Eli had a lot of fun in the ball area –they had different machines and ways to get the balls up in to a central bucket. When the bell rang the bucket dumped all the balls back out. FUN!

An exhibit which BOTH the kids could enjoy (a 5 year old and a 2 year old with only one parent in the museum was hard).

A worker came by and said sand on the floor was okay . . . a suggestion Matea took to heart. :)

They had a great water works area. WATERFALL!

Our spot at the Dragon’s game. This is about the only time Matea sat the whole game.

Matea people watched the rest of the game.

Eli with the boys, wearing a Dragon’s hat that Andrew gave him.

The thing that most fascinated Matea the whole week was Dante the dog. On previous trips she wasn’t too sure about him, but following her love of Sophie the farm dog, she transferred her obsession to Dante. I’m not sure he thought it was that great, but he was really good with her following him, staring at him, telling him where to go, what to do, and saying hello to him over and over and over again. It was REALLY cute! :) One morning she and Tori talked to Dante for quite a while when he was still in his cage. I captured some of their exchange on video and I think it is hilarious. Matea LOVES Dante, that’s for sure!

Turkey Run for Noah’s b-day!

To celebrate Noah’s birthday we headed to Turkey Run State Park in Indiana for a day of family fun and enjoying nature. It was ridiculously hot but we still had an awesome time. We just sweated off more weight, which isn’t a bad thing. ;)

Three little kids we found at the picnic area . . .

A malfunctioning water fountain provided lots of fun. 

Can you imagine how wet she got playing in here?

After lunch we ventured on to trail 3 ( the most famous trail at the park). We brought 7 kids, including little Matea on the “rugged” trail. The trail was gorgeous! And rugged . . . and the first part seemed to be only uphill and not walk-able by Matea. Actually, 97 percent of the trail was not walk-able by her and she was carried by Jon and I (hiking in 93 degree heat with ridiculous humidity while carrying a sweaty 2 year old isn’t the most pleasant thing by the way).

Crossing a the bouncy bridge to get to the nature trails.

Yeah, that trail is a little rugged. :)

The trail had a really cool feature which we all loved – a spot called the Icebox. We descended into a little canyon which was cold as a refrigerator! It felt so good! Ice cold air was pouring in to the canyon from a crevice between two tall cliffs. We all took turns cooling ourselves in the frigid air. And it was, as Eli said, “AWESOME!”:)

We’ve got to get down there . . . how?!

WE MADE IT TO THE ICEBOX!

Jeff in the crack (I think I’ve been waiting to write that all my life).

The view looking up from in the Icebox. 

After the icebox, the trail continued on to the ladders section. We went up the ladders, which sounds harder but ended up being easier. And yes, Jon had to carry little Matea up the ladders. It actually wasn’t that hard (says the one who didn’t have to carry her). :)

The kids are up the first ladder (which means now I really have to haul my butt up them too).

Daddy the ladder-climbing pack mule.

Matea’s favorite part – snack! 

Halfway through the trail the kids were done as well as most of the adults, and we met the intersection with another trail which headed back to the parking lot. Jon and I continued on with Nathan, Lori’s Dad, Lori’s sister, and Lori’s niece and her boyfriend, while everyone else took the kiddies back to the picnic area.

Continuing on we hiked in a creek bed and it was just beautiful (my favorite part of the trail). The sun was shining and making the trees and moss on the rocks just glow! We had to do some tricky walking in the water, so the little kids wouldn’t have been able to do that section, and I can’t imagine carrying Matea.  The heat, humidity, colors, and trail reminded Jon and I of hiking in Thailand together pre-kids. Good memories. I was glad Jon and I got the chance to continue on and finish trail 3. :)

The greens of the leaves and the moss was simply breathtaking!

These rocks looked like they were “rippling” from the sun’s reflection in the water.

Nathan at “The Punch Bowl”

Jon re-did this for me so I could take a picture. :) 

Wedge rock – it seems to hang over the trail. Very cool.

Nathan climbed up behind wedge rock (and then had to figure out how to get down).

Matea got slap happy in the air-conditioned car on the way home. I can’t blame her! It felt great after our hot fun day on the trails!

There were even more trails in the park that I’d love to explore – I’m going to put them on our list for next year! :)

At the funny farm -- or a real fun farm. :)

To celebrate Noah’s 11th birthday, the whole family headed down to Lori’s parents’ farm in Indiana. I hadn’t been there since Jeff and Lori were married, so it had been a long time for me!  And Jon and our kids had never been, so they were looking forward to it!

Lori’s parents have a perfect house for bunking all of us, with the kids and one set of adults in the finished basement, and Jon and I and Matea upstairs, and my SIL Jill upstairs as well. We had such a great time! I think this was the first of many trips to the farm!

Friday night we played outside (under the shade of a tree). We had ladder ball, the cornhole bag toss thing, and a hammock!

Matea became obsessed with Sophie the farm dog. She followed that patient little canine everywhere. Sophie handled the stalking in stride.

Meeting of the minds . . .

We went on a hayride so we could really see the farm, which included seeing, as Eli put it, “REAL COWS!” :) And real cows make lots of cow pies, but Andrew told us he preferred to call it “cow pudding.”

We got to cross a creek several times which was fun!

We found were they keep the “real” cows.

Baby cows are adorable.

One serious bull.

Then on Sunday Lori’s parents’ church hosted a slip-n-slide at the local park. This was one huge slip-n-slide down one huge, and pretty steep, hill. I didn’t think Eli would want to go down it once he saw it, but he still did. The first few times down the slide the kids were pretty slow, but once they got completely saturated with the detergent solution on the slide they were slippery little seals and went flying!

Eli at the top – that’s a LONG way down!He’s flyin’ now!Happy boy!His face says it all!

After the slip-n-slide and a wash off, the kids got a chance to go in the hot tub at the farm. What fun!!

Floating heads. :)

This was as close as Matea got to the water. She’s telling Noah where to kiss her feet.

Nathan ate too much for dinner.

We found Santa Claus . . . in a hot tub in Indiana.

The next morning we left the farm and headed out to Scott and Jill’s house for the rest of the week. We had such a fun visit to the farm! Games, birthdays, real cows, slip-n-slides . . . a great time!