End of summer trip...

We decided (at the last minute) to take a little trip for the weekend. We left Friday afternoon and came home Sunday night. Blake invited a friend to go along with us. And although the weather was cold and rainy for most of the weekend, we had a great time!

We got all packed up and ready to go... we planned to leave home at noon on Friday and actually left around 10:30 am! We stopped at a little "mom n pop" restaurant on the way and had an enjoyable lunch! Mike ordered a double cheeseburger that was almost as tall as a 12 oz can of soda! He couldn't even eat the whole thing!

After lunch, we continued on to our hotel in Traverse City. There was a "Pirate's Cove Adventure Park" next to our hotel. We checked in and then went to the adventure park. Blake's friend was about 1/4 inch too short to drive the go karts :( He was upset and didn't want to ride at all. We finally talked him into riding with Mike... then he wanted to go again :)

The boys rode go karts a few times (I went twice... once alone and once w/ David). They did the zip line (which Blake said was boring compared to the one he does at summer camp), and bumper boats.

We went downtown to find someplace to eat, and after much hunting a bit of walking we found State Street Grille (which we later learned is Traverse City's newest restaurant). It was VERY good! Our waitress was amazing... we also found out it was only her third day on the job!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, and got Dairy Queen for dessert (DQ was right next to our hotel too). Then the boys swam for a little bit.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast at the hotel, then headed out in the rain and cold to climb the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We stopped at the welcome center and got directions. Then we spent a couple of hours exploring the scenic drive. They have spots along the drive where you pull off and check things out. We got sand blasted at one of the stops that had platforms to look out over the lake. It was SOOO windy!

Then we headed over to the dune climb. Blake and David went up and down a few times... Blake went to the very tippy top. Mike and I made it up to the top of the lowest part. LOL! It was still quite a climb.

It managed to not rain while we were out of the van :)

We then drove into Glen Arbor and had lunch at a place called Art's Tavern. It was a very expensive lunch that wasn't worth what we paid. :(

After lunch, we headed to the Maritime Museum. The boys enjoyed checking out the bunkhouse and boats. They do a rescue re-enactment, but we missed it :(

We saw three rainbows throughout the day :)

Then it was back to the hotel where the boys swam again. David's eyes reacted very badly to the chemicals in the pool so Mike went to get Visine for him. Then we went to the observatory at the college for their open house. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see anything exciting :( There was a man in the lobby area who had pieces of meteors that he showed the boys and let them check those out.

We stopped at McDonald's on the way back to the hotel because Mike wanted fries :)

We got DQ again :)

Sunday we got up, had breakfast (I had mine in bed because I was sore from all the climbing and walking Saturday). Then we played putt putt at Pirate's Cove and the boys rode the "water coaster" a few times (it's a water slide that you go down in inflatable rafts).

Then we drove around checking out the area, got some fudge. Then Mike, David and I went to the Music House Museum. Blake said he didn't want to go.. .then said he did... but he was being a butt, so I said we'd go without him so that we could actually enjoy it w/o him making us crazy because he didn't want to be there. So he waited in the van. David seemed to enjoy the museum.

After the museum we got lunch and then stopped at the beach and spent a few hours there... the boys actually swam! It was sunny, but still COLD!

Then we loaded up in the van and headed home. Stopped for gas and food and got home around 9:00 Sunday night.

It was a great weekend!!! Mike asked the boys what their favorite part was and they said they didn't have ONE favorite :)