Day 3--So Happy Together

Day 3 of our Michigan trip started out leisurely with some morning reading and lying around. Betsy was exhausted, so I sent her back to bed (she'd been up a couple hours by the time I surfaced) for a nap.


Greg's mom brought by a bunch of library books, which proved entertaining to the kids.


Landon and Owen (of course) spent some time looking at the photo book from my last trip.

Breakfast was a time for togetherness too.

Not for me, I got to eat a bowl of Fiber One and read "O" Magazine in peace.


Luckily Emmit did fine with me when he woke up from his nap; I really wanted Betsy to be able to sleep.


After playing baseball (with a squishy ball) downstairs Owen and Emmit got in some quality time with Landon. Emmit backed himself right up onto Landon's lap...hilarious.

It was a good time for all the kids.

We were finally ready to head out to the beach around 3:00 pm! Don't judge--It takes a lot of effort to pack this many people (especially kid people) for a trip to the beach, plus it was vacation so there were no deadlines!


Since we couldn't fit in one car, my kids and I followed Betsy, Faye and the boys. We had to pull over on the highway not far into our journey because the cooler with the snacks was in the back of my car and the baby wasn't happy about it. Too funny.


We arrived at beautiful Grand Haven beach at Lake Michigan (scene of many, many happy days of my youth). It was only 62 degrees out that day, not really beach-frolicking weather, but it was fine for me. (Recognize this photo??)

Oh the sad hilarity of my leg next to Betsy's!

Our happy self-portrait.

The kids braved the very cold water and played in the sand happily, and I was content to take pictures of everyone and enjoy the breeze. Landon loved being buried.

He pretty much just loved being there.

We hadn't packed much food (What were we thinking? Probably that we wanted to get out the door before the sun went down) so the crackers and cheese we had with us tasted heavenly.


Betsy had a much more active day at the beach chasing down both boys, but she got a little bit of time to sit and snuggle.

The adoration of Landon continued at the beach.

I did a little historically significant sand sketching.

Whitney used the sand as a canvas of course and made some detailed drawings which got stepped on by rude foreigners. Seriously, she was still working on them and they walked right across them...what the?!

Our beachy self-portrait.

After we cleaned up and changed clothes we drove a little way to downtown Grand Haven to get some dinner.


Betsy pointed out that Owen was even walking like Landon...so cute.

We ended up at a yummy place called Dee-Lite.

One of my favorite things about Betsy and Faye is that they embrace good desserts, so I always know we'll be getting something tasty when we're together. We all shared this ginormous piece of cake and ice cream with much oohing and aahing.


This store window caught my eye on the way back to the car and I found it amusing even though I'm not stylish enough to share this sentiment.

**Do you enjoy the beach even if it's cold?
Do you write in the sand?
How many pairs of shoes to you own?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I did so much running around today I feel like screaming...maybe I will.