Weekend Adventure!

Prepare for a whole lot of fun!!!  

We started our week with a final 4H meeting before the fair and worked on finishing exhibits at home as well as worked with Barb.  Wednesday, after the final Reader Feeder Bus of the summer, we headed off to Great Grandma's house for lunch and an afternoon spending time with her around the farm.  We all had a great time!

Thursday was more fun around home with the Power Wheels and the neighbor!  

Thursday evening was the final Small Livestock meeting before the fair.  It's all beginning to wind down and make summer's disappearance even more official.

The kids went to bed Friday night unaware that anything would be out of the ordinary when they woke.

Saturday morning, bright and early (6am for the girls), we were up and getting ready for an adventure!  After dropping Sadie off with Opa and Oma, we were on our way East.  Until we reached the Detroit Area, where Ezri spotted some tunnels she recognized, they were unaware of our destination.  Following that lightbulb, they spotted the water tower painted for the Detroit Zoo, and then it was all sorts of excitement in the back of the van.  We found our parking spot and met up with our friends, and then we were off for a day of fun at the zoo!

First stop: the penguins! 

 We saw all sorts of animal activity as we walked around!  Otters...

 Red Pandas...

 Peacocks...

 Rhinos...

 Lions...

 We had a picnic lunch and then walked more.  Elam fell asleep right before we made it to the Arctic area, which was unfortunate, because he missed all sorts of excitement!

Elam woke shortly after we left the underwater tunnel, just in time to watch kangaroos and wallabies...

 check out the groundhog tunnels...

 and the Bald Eagles...

We left the zoo shortly before it closed, all tired but full of excitement at all we had seen and done at the zoo together!  After grabbing some dinner on the way, we made it to our hotel in Grand Blanc where the kids were anxious to swim!  They got into the water for about 5 minutes before I observed an unsupervised child vomiting in the water and on the pool deck.  That was enough and we pulled everyone out.  Unfortunately, this meant there would be no swimming for our kids because the pool had to be cleaned and shocked, meaning it would be too late for our kids to get back into the water by the time it was safe.  This was very disappointing for everyone.  The hot tub helped a little by giving them a small place to play in the water, but not for long due to the temperatures.  We made it up to them with a move and ice cream in the hotel room.

Super tired, we were all done by 10pm and off to our rooms for some much needed sleep before another early wake up call.  This time, after breakfast, we were off to see a familiar and much loved friend of our home - Thomas the Tank Engine!!!  

Our third time visiting him at CrossRoads Village in Flint, the 8th time we have seen him total, this was still just as exciting for the girls and a new excitement for Elam!

 We arrived early enough to have time to walk around a bit and meet Sir Topham Hatt before the first ride departed.  Elam was not so much a fan of his...

 After a bit of apprehension at being up close to "Big Mas" for pictures earlier, he was hesitant to get on the train car, but with assurance from Mommy he allowed me to carry him on and once inside he was all smiles as we waited for Thomas to depart from the station.

 The girls were just as excited!

 We chatted and admired the beauty of the old train cars while we waited...

 and then we were off on our 40 minute ride with Thomas!

The gentle swaying had us all a bit sleepy!

Once our ride with Thomas was complete, we headed to the magic show that has become a favorite part of this trip the past few years.  Each year we laugh and are amused and amazed by magician Doug Scheer, this year was no disappointment.  The only audience members, the 12 of us got to be a big part of the show, had the magician and his assistants laughing.   

 Alora's job was to ring a bell to summon ghosts... a bell that only the magician could get to ring, but whenever Alora would touch it, she couldn't get a sound.  The third time of the magician ringing it and then handing it back for her to try had Alora inspecting it to figure out what the trick was, so he quickly ended that!

 Tierney was responsible for holding two chalkboards with a piece of chalk between, that were blank when she was handed them but later in the show had words on them!

Each of the 6 kids chose a lottery number and then Ezri was chosen to read a piece of paper inside an envelope that revealed those exact numbers!  The magician then hired her to come back an hour later and every hour after that to work with him!  

We got to spend time chatting with them after the show.  It was a high point in the day for all of us, and they begged us to come back for another show!

We found bounce houses and bubbles...

 We had a picnic lunch, looked at model trains and watched Thomas leave the station with other passengers.  We learned our ride had been the good to be on, because the next departure ended up stranded at the far end of the loop for nearly 1.5 hours while issue was reported and a second pusher train was fired up to take over for the failed diesel engine. 

 Elam loved to wave to Thomas and his passengers as they passed by

 The kids got temporary tattoos...

 and then we went on a river boat ride for about 45 minutes. We were able to see some fun things along the way!

 The paddle wheel was an attraction for Alora, who spent quite a lot of time watching and determining how it worked.

 Once again, Elam fell asleep, exhausted from all the activity.  He missed a good portion of the boat ride and the docking as well as the fun afterward.

 Once we had docked and gotten off the boat, we took the kids to the rides.  Because of the train break down, the village opened up all of the rides for free!  Our kids had never been on any of the rides at the village aside from the carousel, so this was new and exciting.

We wandered around for a while after, looking into some of the buildings in the village and soaking up every last minute of the day before it was time to go home.  We stayed nearly til closing time before we said farewell to Thomas and loaded all of the tired people back into vehicles and pointed them toward food and then home.  A quick stop for Sadie, and we made it back before 9pm.  Everyone was tired and ready for bed that night!