Glorious Holland

Every year our family goes to Holland, Michigan. It is about 3 hours from our house and we usually stay 2 1/2 days. We have good memories and tons of fun.

We got to Holland on a Sunday afternoon. With time to kill in the evening we took the kids minature golfing.
Ethan had so much fun putting the ball in the hole, clapping and saying "Yea", then removing the ball and running on the green.
Matthew and Daddy getting ready to race and defend the title for Super Awesome Go-cart racing team!
Ready for her racing debut, Amanda Griffith buckles up and takes to the road like a champion!

I know that some of our family has neglected to visit us because they say "What is there to do in Michigan?" This is a beautiful view of the lake from the bluff before you walk down to the beach. If you ask me it looks like the ocean and feels like it too! There is plenty to do in Michigan!
Daddy and Amanda taking a break from the water to have a snack and sit in the soft sand. I was so busy playing in the water and the sand that I forgot to take more pictures of everyone playing in the water.
Everyone is taking a snack break. The water was great though. Nice and shallow for a while so the kids could walk out pretty far.
I am sure that Ethan is scratching his sandy bum. I had to change his swim diaper for obvious reasons and I think there was more sand in there than there was poop.

We found a neat park with a playground right by Lake Manitawa (which empties into Lake Michigan). We had fun playing and going for a walk by the lake on the boardwalk.
Every year we go to Holland we pick peaches at an orchard nearby. They are the best and yummiest peaches ever. We came home with a whopping 50 lbs. of peaches. At .60 cents a lb we could have picked every peach in the whole orchard. I like to freeze them!
Amanda climbed a peachtree...not very high, and I thought that it would make for a cute picture. We are still working on the "natural" smile when you say smile. Looks a little forced.
Just a quick picture before we left the orchards. After this we went to have lunch at their Pie Pantry restaurant. Super yummy and fresh food. I also bought some homemade blueberry jam. Sooooo Good! It was our last day in Holland and I am always sad to leave. I would love to live there one day!

So I know that this doesn't exactly look like part of our trip to Holland, because it is not. I have been doing some work on the outside of our house this past month. I painted the sides of the bay window and replaced the decorative trim on the side too. I was in the process of painting the shutters on the house in this picture. Also notice the post by the front door. It is rotted at the bottom and needs to be replaced too. So much work to do on this house before winter comes and before we have to sell it. Sometimes owning a home is so much work, but at least it is mine and I can fix it up.




After swimming at the beach we walked up a long flight of stairs and Jared and the kids ran down the sand dunes on the other side.