Marvelous Michigan!!

Michigan...June 26-July 5

Grand Rapids and St. Joseph, MI

We have been so busy having fun with family and friends in Michigan that I haven't updated the blog since leaving Ohio.  But...here goes!!  We spent 5 days in Grand Rapids, MI with Curt's extended family, primarily his Grandma Wilma (AKA...Grandma Great) and his dad, who flew in to visit from Spokane. We stayed at a family fun campground called Woodchip, which was a great location to visit Wilma.  She is AMAZING...at 92 she lives on her own, cooked us a delicious dinner and has faithfully prayed for all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren by name for years!! (I think she has 92 + descendents)

The boys loved playing with her "old-fashioned" toys, swimming at her place and eating her cookies!!

We also got to see several of Curt's relatives.  Jack and Marie hosted us for the afternoon, which was great.  The boys swung from rope swings, kayaked, and paddle boarded on the little pond in their backyard.  They loved every moment of it!  We also got to celebrate one of Curt's cousin's daughter's graduation party...congrats Cassie!!  We snuck in a quick visit with his Aunt Faye and his cousin Lynn's family.  

Next we headed just about an hour south to St. Joseph, Michigan.  Our best friends and neighbors from graduate school live here.  We had such a FUN, RELAXING and AMAZING week here.  We only wish we could have stayed longer.  They had two boys that are almost the exact ages of our boys and they hit it off.  They played for 5 days straight and had so much fun.  We wish that they could move to Spokane!!

Tim and Amy were such gracious hosts to our family.  Curt and I were so blessed to be with them.  

The first night we arrived we had a fun pizza picnic overlooking Lake Michigan.  We knew that a storm was coming, but we had  lovely evening with hardly a drop of rain.  The boys were making each other into "burritos."

We went to a Mexican restaurant to cheer on the USA in their World Cup game.  

We spent a day at Warren Dunes hiking the dunes, playing soccer, and hiking up the river to a mud bed that was used for warrior decorations.  We were joined by another family, who became great friends during our time here.  They even invited us all over for breakfast during the week...WOW!!  Thanks Pamela and Tim!

Tim is an amazing BBQ guy...one day he smoked some ribs for us all...the best we have ever had. 

We made a day trip to see Notre Dame.  It was a stunningly beautiful campus.  This was our favorite part...TOUCHDOWN JESUS!!

 Happy 4th of July to you all.  We spent the day with our old and new friends at Lake Michigan.  We barely talked to the boys all day...they went from pirate raids in the water to soccer games on the beach...just stopping long enough to eat.  It was a beautiful day!

Yep...beach seats for the fireworks...DARLING!!

We also had a very scary night while in St. Joes.  A very strong storm ripped through this area on Monday night.  We parked our trailer at Tim and Amy's house and had to decide where it would be best to park.  Thankfully, the spot I thought might work, wasn't the one we chose...as during the 70-80 MPH winds, strong rain and tons of thunder and lightning a tree was struck in their yard and a huge tree limb fell down.  It was literally right on the spot I thought we should park.  I have never been so scared during a storm...the worst we have ever seen.  We are so thankful for God's provision of safety...as this area was hard hit with power outages, downed trees, branches and flooding.  God is good!!  

Today we are heading just a couple hours away to the Chicago area.  We are staying for a couple of nights with our good friend Megan.  We cannot wait to see our friends from the Chicago area during the week!!