This past Saturday, all the stars aligned and we actually had a family fun day!!! Darryl didn't have to work on Saturday and we didn't need to go out of town so we decided to do some fun things (and accomplish some things too!) Darryl will be having back surgery sometime in May so we really were hoping for at least on more time to do something Fun with the kids.
As always, I made my list (and checked it twice HA!) so we knew what we wanted to do.
We started out with lunch at Grand Traverse Pie Company. I will admit, this was a selfish move on my part because I've been craving their Turkey Reuben but I really thought the boys would be ok with it because they serve Mac and Cheese (The blue box). Well, the Mac and Cheese didn't "taste" like I make it so they just nibbled on that and ended up eating the pickle and chips that came with the sandwiches Darryl and I got. Oh well, at least I got my piece of pie for dessert ;-)
From there we headed to a place called "Catch Air" that I had heard quite a bit about it. We were hoping that it would entertain for a couple of hours if we were lucky. Well, three and half hours later the boys agreed to leave but only because they were hungry HA!
The whole "Catch Air" place is padded and geared for kids 10 and younger. Even parents have to take their shoes off before entering the play area. One side has a huge castle that, really, doesn't look like much until you get inside then it is full of stuff from ball rooms to tunnels to trampolines and slides.
It was nice because a lot of it is adult height so as you run behind your kids you don't have to bend over the whole time!
Nate having a blast!!!
See this photo of Nate running? Well, this is I saw most of the time - the back of him as he ran away to something else.
The other side of the place was a huge blow up slide and maze.
Josh was all smiles from the moment we walked in! He loved it.
Periodically they have dance parties where they turn off the lights and turn on "disco" lighting and big bubble machines and the kids dance. It was awesome.
The boys had so much fun playing together on the slide. The both came home with "rug burns" on their elbows from rolling down that thing. The other thing that as nice about this place is the whole center is open with small kid tables and big foam blocks for the parents to sit on along the walls. We would play for bit with the kids then sit back and watch them run around and play. They have already asked to go back and trust me, we will.
From there, we went to dinner at Smash Burger. If you have never been, you should go! Their burgers are awesome (I always get an Olive Burger) and I just love their Smash Fries.
After dinner we had a few errands to run including picking the boys up some soccer shoes. Our last stop of the night is always a big a hit!
Yep, Krispy Kreme. The "HOT NOW" sign was even on so we got to get hot, fresh donuts to try for free too. Of course, we always buy some too. Josh LOVES Krispy Kreme donuts.
Josh and Darryl :-) (Yes, Josh is into taking funny photos again.)
Josh and Darryl having some fun with donuts!
This was my favorite thing - a Mango/Passion Fruit Frozen Drink. I love that ice cold slushy feeling and it even tasted really good!
Now, this is also a favorite place of Nate's but not because of the donuts (he is not a big sweet eater) but rather, his treat is to watch the donuts as they go through the process. He watches from beginning to end and tries to figure the whole thing out. He did tell me that he wants to be a donut guy when he grows up. (And then on Monday he told me he wanted to be an acrobat . . .. so I think his options are wide open!)
Darryl and his boys.
Then we headed home . .. . to something totally not expected.
No power :-( Apparently, while we were having fun in the city, a HUGE storm swept in from the Lakeshore and did tons of damage. Our only "damage" was that my swing was blown over but we really didn't see anything on the way home so we just figured it was minor.
Scardy Dog who was home during the storm .. .
The boys had a rare treat. They got to stay up until they basically fell asleep which was about 9:30. Some things I was thankful for:
1) Our IPads. Even without internet the boys were able to entertain themselves with some games we had on them. It helped keep their anxiety down and calm them down for betime.
2) The shortwave radio Darryl has had for ever. He was able to tune into the Tigers game :-)
3) My Kindle - it is so much easier to read with that in the dark then while trying to hold a book and a flashlight!!!
4) Flashlights that actually worked ;-)
Around 9:15, Nate put away the game and crawled up into my lap. He said he was tired, curled up, and fell asleep about 30 seconds later. As I put him to bed, Josh came in and said he was tired and crawled into bed. I really figured the power would come on during the night but it was still out when everyone started stirring at 6:30 so Darryl called into the power company only to find it that it was not expected to be back on until Monday night. We packed up and headed to my parents for at least the day. What they did not realize was how bad the storm was in their area. As we drove closer to their house, we saw horrible damage with trees uprooted, (huge, huge trees) pole barns blown down and more. Thankfully, they had power even though just a few houses down did not.
The photos above are from the cemetery that is behind my parents house.
We enjoyed a great day at my parents (Darryl and I even got to go out to lunch without kids to our favorite Coney Place!)
Power was restored by about 4:00 Sunday afternoon so we headed by home that evening. You don't realize how much you miss things like running water and lights until you don't have it HA!
So, our family fun day turned into a family fun weekend.
