a trip to grand rapids

i have been meaning to take a little trip out to grand rapids with the boys all summer long and it just hadn't happened. we finally made plans to go out and visit when jessica was around so she could come too. then mom and dad decided they would come and we could celebrate dad, jenn and don's birthday's.
on tuesday morning we packed up and headed to the dr. for my 12 week appointment. dave came from work and we brought hayden in with us so he could hear the babies heartbeat and we could let him know that he was going to once again be a big brother. jessica stayed in the waiting room with talan who eventually calmed down after SCREAMING when we all left him to go back into the room.
after the appointment, dave headed back to work and the boys, myself and jessica all headed to jenn and don's house.
we got there sometime after 1 and ate some lunch. we discussed going to grand haven so we could go to the beach since the next day was looking like there could be rain and be a bit cooler. but since we got there so late and the beach was about 45 minutes away, we figured we'd just stick around the house that day. the boys LOVED playing outside on rainah's jungle gym and were out there the whole afternoon. actually, the entire rest of our stay they kept asking to go outside to play. day or nite. hayden also was having fun trying to catch the hundreds of frogs they have jumping around in their backyard. he even found a baby lizard of some sort. something jenn said she hadn't even seen before.
we eventually got the kids to come inside so we could eat dinner. jenn had made hot dogs and hamburgers and grilled corn on the cob. after dinner we let all of the birthday peeps open their presents and then we had cake.
it was a long day and talan went to bed pretty quickly. hayden came upstairs to ask us "questions" about 5 times before jessica finally tucked him in one last time and he fell asleep...probably around 10 or so.
we woke up on wednesday morning to rain. it was pretty cool out and it rained most of the morning. we were thinking we probably wouldn't be able to go to the beach, but while i was downstairs getting ready, mom apparently called a friend that lives in grand haven to ask what their weather was like. she said it was sunny and was supposed to get to about 80 that day. so everyone got into their bathing suits, packed up the cars and we all headed to grand haven.
hayden was riding in the car with jenn, rainah and jessica while i rode with mom, dad and talan. when we were just about to the beach, hayden apparently looked out the window at the inlet and asked "this is the beach?! you have got to be kidding." he wasn't impressed. i think once he saw the actual beach he was much happier!
talan had fallen asleep in the car and was still sleeping when we were all about to head to the lake. jessica said she would sit in the car with him and read. that didn't even last 5 minutes before they were walking towards us.
the water was COLD, but hayden, of course, got right in. rainah and talan mostly played in the sand but eventually would come out a little further in the water. i ended up going in for awhile, and as long as you stayed in the water, it felt ok. getting out you'd nearly freeze. it turned out to be a beautiful day for the beach and we all had a great time.
we headed back to jenn and don's house, gave the kids a bath and then had some pizza for dinner. mom and dad headed home shortly after dinner while we stayed another nite. talan fell asleep even faster than the nite before and hayden only came up once.
we woke up thursday morning and decided to go to the children's garden at meijer garden's. i have been to see the butterflies and have been inside, but never outside. it ended up being a really cool day which was a bit of a bummer since there were some water things the kids really wanted to play in. they did a bit of course, but we tried our best to keep them dry!
hayden LOVED playing in the treehouse. at one point rainah and talan ran down from the treehouse and never came back to us. we were running around yelling their names and finally found them. they had run WAY down the path. and of course once talan saw us running after him, he ran even faster.
we eventually caught up with them and then they started playing in the sand area while hayden continued playing in treehouse. talan went back and forth between the two areas and hayden did a GREAT job keeping an eye on talan and playing with him.
we walked around a little more, played with the boats some more, and then decided we would head out to get some lunch before heading home. not before stopping at meijer to pick up ruby red squirt of course! thank goodness someone still sells that stuff!!!
we had a wonderful time with the family. there is always so much fun stuff to do when we go to grand rapids! next summer we'll have to come out several times so we can enjoy the beach even more!
thanks so much for having us, jenn and don!

day one - hanging at jenn's house
the lizard thing hayden found:
playing in the sandbox with papa. i think rainah had him out there for about an hour:
cake and ice cream time!:


day two - the beach
hayden couldn't wait to dive right in to the shallow, freezing water:



rainah showing us how to put your head under water:
talan was not as thrilled with the water as hayden was:
making sand cakes continued from day 1 at jenn's house:



day 3 - meijer children's garden:

it was freezing out but they still loved playing in the water with the boats:

i cannot get enough of these kind of pictures. obviously.:


a tea party:

rainah could have played in the sand all day:


back to the boats:

hayden getting crushed by the giant horse:

of course talan had to try:
hayden and rainah loved running down this hill. talan only did it twice:

hayden tried teaching talan how to roll down the hill. he never did catch on.:

hayden helping rainah:

a yellow bird. just for mom and dad.:

the latest news with the wutang family

we took hayden on a little trip with us this morning to share some news with him. and now we will share it with you, too.



so on or around march 8th we'll be adding another blog site.

another day out with thomas

i believe this was about the 4th or 5th year that we have gone to spend a day with thomas the tank engine. in years past we went to greenfield village. last year we decided to try something new and we headed to flint to see him at crossroads village. we were glad that we did as they seemed to have much more to offer than greenfield village so we headed back there again this year.
the whole family, once again, was able to make it except for justin who is in the studio in nashville recording the new album.
the weather was PERFECT for a day walking around the village as it was in the low 70's. by the time we got there, mom, dad, jenn, don and rainah had already been there for a little bit. so we met up with them, got some tattoos, and rode on the rides before going to eat some lunch. dave and jessica went on the carousal with the kids first. talan was pretty excited to go on it until it started moving. that had to have been the fastest moving carousal i have ever seen. and still only about a month after our kings island trip in which talan got pretty freaked out on the witches wheel ride, this ride really freaked him out. dave was standing next to talan's horse but once the ride really got going talan grabbed on to dave and made him hold him the whole ride. it was going so fast dave couldn't let go of the horse to hold talan in a better position so as the ride went on talan kept falling farther and farther down dave. it was a pretty funny sight. of course, once the ride was done he came off saying "fun! fun!" yeah, right! then all of the kids went and rode on the little train and then went to the ferris wheel in which dave rode with them again. again, this was the fastest ferris wheel i have ever seen. and almost immediately talan was up in dave's lap shaking and wanting to get off. but after he got off he once again told us it was fun.
after the rides we headed out of the village and got our lunches from the car. we set up our little picnic area on a hill and ate before we headed back into the village to board our train at 1pm.
at 6 1/2 years old, hayden is still in love with thomas and all things trains. he could sit there looking out the window of a moving train all day if we'd let him! talan seemed to enjoy the ride much more than last year and actually sat for pretty much the whole 45 minute long ride.
we walked around a bit more before jenn, don and rainah left as they were headed to an indoor water park hotel for the nite. but the rest of us stayed for awhile longer while the boys colored, stamped, made bubble art (hayden made bubble art, talan decided to drink the bubbles instead of blowing...funniest face i've ever seen) and finally got their picture taken with thomas.
the whole morning talan kept talking about sir topham hatt. he didn't seem to care nearly as much that he'd be seeing thomas as he cared about seeing "topham hatt!" unfortunately, the line was always quite long to get your picture taken with him and he was only out for a bit before going in for about an hour long break. so we never did actually get up to see him, but he did see him from a distance. he wasn't too pleased about that fact but he did get over it pretty quickly.
after we got our picture taken with thomas we all headed out of the village and drove to fuddruckers for dinner. dave made sure not to order a milkshake there as there was a sonic right next door. we have so many sonic commercials on tv teasing us about the fact that there are no sonics around us (a couple of days later i saw a sign for one that is in commerce). so after we left fuddruckers we headed to sonic for dave's first time and my first time since going to one in miami back in 1993. the blue coconut slush wasn't the most flavorful, but dave's carmel, butterfinger shake was delish!!
we ended up getting stuck in construction and finally made an illegal turnaround so we could actually get somewhere. we finally made it home after a long day and the boys went right to bed.
yet another fun year visiting thomas. and i'm sure we'll be back again next year!

first stop: tattoos!:

rainah had already gotten some tattoos before we got there but didn't want to miss out on the fun while the boys got theirs. so she lifted her shirt and asked the lady to put harold the helicopter on his stomach. what is her mother teaching her?!:


talan and papa watching the carousel:
talan and rainah dragging dave onto the carousel:
he's excited here:

rainah made jessica ride on the small horses that didn't even go up and down:

but not so excited here:


the mini train ride:



the super fast ferris wheel:




they were both looking at the camera?! this may just end up being our christmas card:
thomas pulling in and all of the paparazzi:
ready to go:
shadowy but so cute:



we had to stop at the fire station to let someone off and "take care of a situation" and this dog came out to greet us:
toddler headlock:
the hay maze:



mom was so proud:

hayden is in the background blowing bubbles in a cup. talan had just finished sucking the bubbles from the cup:
how it is supposed to look:
trying to stick his hand down his throat to make the bubble taste go away:
hula hoop bubbles:


waiting to get their picture taken with thomas:



jessica wanted her picture taken with thomas too:
the sonic menu. i will study it so i know what to get next time around: