Make yourself comfortable, it's going to be a long one!!!
We had A LOT going on for our family this past week. It started Monday with the building crew returning to prepare the barn for the trusses to be installed.
Around 10am, a crane truck arrived and the excitement rose as we watched that activity of the following two hours. The action brought out a whole bunch of neighbors, so for quite a time, there wasn't much getting done aside from watching.
Shortly after noon, the crane was lowered back onto the truck and drove away. The remainder of the afternoon, the builders worked at putting plywood on the roof.
At the end of the day, we had to go check it all out!
Tuesday, the builders returned to finish putting the plywood on the roof.
While we were outside checking out the progress, a big truck pulled up carrying our shingles and attic floor boards, so we settled in to watch a smaller crane unload the bundles of of that truck.
Tuesday was also our 14th Wedding Anniversary! The girls spent all sorts of time planning and executing a pretty special party for us.
Not only did they decorate their bedroom, but they put on puppet shows for us, had a dance party, sang us a song and presented us with gifts. They were so sweet!
Wednesday morning, a smaller crew returned to begin shingling the roof. They spent the rest of the week adding row after row.
Friday was a short morning for them as rain quickly stopped the progress. The girls sure enjoyed it, though!
Saturday morning began bright and early for our family. Unknown to the girls, I had been packing and had the van all set and ready to go on an adventure. So, we loaded them up around 7am and headed off to Grandpa and Grandma's to leave Sadie for an overnight stay. Then we aimed the van East, met up with our friends and drove 3 hours to Detroit to visit Belle Isle. None of us had ever been there before, so it was new to everyone.
We started out at the Aquarium, where we were greeted with a beautiful interior of green glass tile all around.
The kids were able to get right up next to the glass to see the aquatic animals.
Elam was very interested when they fed some Gar while we were there as it created a lot of activity in the tank.
All of the kids enjoyed watching that!
Elam kept wanting to get up close like the other kids, but being too short, he tried his best!
He had to settle for being carried, though he really wanted to get down and walk around like everyone else.
Some of the favorites at the aquarium were the Seahorses
and the familiar fish from Finding Nemo (Nemo and Dory).
The kids also loved the Ray tank!
We finished up at the aquarium and took a drive around the island where we found a park for the kids to play and a place for us all to picnic for lunch. After the kids ran out some energy, we headed into the Nature Center. There, one of the favored spots was the Honey Bee display, where we could watch live bees moving about the case, hard at work, even coming in and out of the building through a pipe.
While we were standing there, one of the volunteers found the Queen and pointed her out us. She is right in the center, with all of the workers making a ring around her.
We also saw some turtles and participated in several bee activities being held at the Nature Center. The kids got to make bee's wax candles, sculpt with bee's wax and make bee headbands.
Once we finished up at the Nature Center, we drove back around the island to find the fountain. We were all pretty impressed!
While we were there, we saw a wedding taking place and watched photo sessions for a Quinceanera and two other brides. It was a very popular place!
Our last stop on the island was the marine museum where we were greeted with lots of hands on fun as well as a beautiful view upon entry.
The kids had a blast checking out and doing all of the things!
All of the kids...
Tired and hungry, we headed back to our cars where we found snacks and began our drive to the next destination, a hotel in Flint. There, once we finally got into our rooms (there was a bit of mis-communication between staff and we had to wait for rooms to be cleaned yet, so we all packed into Jay & Becci's room as we waited), we ordered some food. Then, much to the kids' delight, we headed to the pool! They played and had a great time for quite a while before we herded them back up to our rooms to start settling down for the night. It was late by the time we all headed to bed, and the kids were full of questions about what we would be doing the next day.
When they woke, early of course, the questions started in again. We got them dressed and the older two started in with suspicions given that they were wearing their Thomas shirts, but they still were unsure as we headed down for breakfast.
It wasn't until we were nearly to CrossRoads Village and pulling into the driveway that the kids were then sure of our plans. And then they got pretty excited!
Our ride with Thomas started right at 10am, as the park opened. So, though we had arrived early, we headed in to the village to get situated.
And take pictures!
Elam was just fine with Thomas until he was put down, then he got a little scared.
His nervousness didn't stop when we got on the train car. He had already been quite leery of the hotel elevator, refusing to get on unless held, so maybe the train car reminded him of that. Regardless, he spent a good part of the time crying or looking very nervous or trying to get out.
About half way through our 40 minute ride, he fell asleep.
The girls, however, were very excited and animated the entire ride. Even Barky was excitedly looking out the window! He spent the whole trip hanging out with Ezri.
It was especially exciting to catch glimpses of Thomas as we rounded curves.
We walked off of the train with three excited, happy girls and one sleeping baby.
Then, the girls got to wave to Thomas as he took his next trip with new passengers.
We ventured into the village and stopped to say hello to Sir Topham Hatt. Elam wasn't so impressed with standing by him either.
Eventually, we did find something Elam loved, though... Bubbles!!!! At one of the activity stations set up for the kids, there were bubbles and he was just thrilled, constantly saying "ba-bo" and chasing the bubbles all around the field.
There were bubbles for the older kids to get into as well!
Just before lunch, we got to go on a riverboat ride on the Genessee Belle.
It was a quiet, relaxing trip that gave us the opportunity to see some cool things. Elam really enjoyed looking over the edge of the rail.
We saw lots of Heron, blue and white...
and Thomas passed by once too!
After we docked, the kids got to feed some bread to some huge fish in the lake. Then we got some Thomas tattoos while the dads headed back to the cars to get our lunches.
After a picnic lunch, we explored the village some more. We also watched a magic show that Alora got to help out with a little.
We got to take a ride on the carousel too. Another thing for Elam to be unsure of, but the rest of us enjoyed it!
We also watched an apple cider making demonstration and then enjoyed some cold cider afterward.
As the day wound down, we grabbed a few more fun pictures before it was time to head back to our cars and point them toward home.
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