Grand Haven!

Alright, this is a long post, so get comfortable. Also, I'll be adding more pictures from the last half of the week, so check back for those!

Saturday

            Saturday was a fun-filled day! After staying up chatting way later than any of us are used to (except maybe Brigham), we slept in a little bit. We went out shooting before it got too hot out, though it was still getting pretty warm by the time we were done. Shooting was fun. We went with a couple in the ward here that Mom and Dad are friends with, so between the seven of us we had two shotguns. The box was voice activated to shoot the clay pigeons out when you said “pull”, and it oscillated. I’m no sharp shooter, that’s for sure. I did hit 2 of my 25 though. More than I expected, to be honest. Haha. Spencer hit 18 of his 25, so that’s awesome. Brigham did pretty well, too. He’s working on his shotgun merit badge, and to pass it off he has to hit 12 of 25. He got close, but didn’t quite get it this time. It was fun, but I think I look slightly ridiculous holding a shotgun. J

            When we got home from shooting, Mom made us some fresh blueberry pancakes! She had a whole gallon of fresh blueberries sitting on the table when we got home on Friday, and she said she has several pounds of them frozen, too. I like taking the big bucket of blueberries around with me when we play games and stuff. They make me happy. J Spencer seemed pretty pleased with his pancakes.

            After a yummy pancake brunch, we decided to hit the water! The weather was perfect for boating! We went out on Lake Michigan, tubed for a while, and the boys all got in the water to swim. I was already dried off from tubing by then, so I didn’t get back in, but the water was great! Probably about 70 degrees, and it was warm and sunny out, too. While Spencer was swimming around the lake, he was laying on the tube and noticed his wedding ring had fallen off. I was pretty sad that we lost it, but a few minutes later Brigham noticed it on the tube!! It’s a tubing tube, so there’s no hole in the middle of it, and it must have slipped off his finger when he was climbing onto it and been underneath him. We’re very lucky it’s not sitting 80+ feet down at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Phew. Anyway, boating was so perfect. Spencer and I got a little sunburnt (a lot on my knees), and we were VERY sore for the next few days. Like, we could barely move. We’re getting old.

            Saturday night we had some shredded chicken sandwiches for dinner, about 10 cups of blueberries for snacking, and we stayed up chatting and playing games. I love family time. It’s been so fun to just hang out and chat and get all caught up.

Sunday

            Sunday was nice and relaxing. We had church in the morning. It’s nice that I’m starting to recognize and remember more people from the ward here. After church we went home and had an awesome roast beef lunch/dinner with potatoes and carrots. It was delicious and it made me think about how I should use my crockpot more often. After dinner we played games all together for a while. Spencer, Brigham, and I had a comeback and beat Mom and Dad at Pictionary. J I called Marianne for her birthday and even got a chance to google hangout with Christy!! (Christy has been in Chile on her exchange for about a week and a half now). It was so great to chat with her and hear about her adventures there. She’s doing great, and gets a lot of attention (some of which is the kind Dad probably won’t like) because she’s a beautiful blonde American girl. I told her she is absolutely not allowed to walk anywhere by herself at night. She started school this week, so I’m excited to hear how that’s going for her. We love and miss Christy.

            Anyway, back to Grand Haven. Dad had to leave for work because he works out of town a few days a week. We played more games and ate more blueberries (and chocolate and chips and snacks). We stayed up until about 1 am talking with Mom. J

           

Monday

            We had decided that we’d get up and go blueberry picking on Monday morning! This place has you-pick for $1.50 per pound! We had just about eaten the gallon at home by then, so we picked a gallon and a half more or so. We ate quite a few along the way, too. I’ve probably eaten almost a gallon of them myself since I got here. I just can’t help it! We picked for a while, and it was really nice and cool in the morning, so it was a great, relaxing way to start the day.

Does he seem a little excited about this to you?

Hooray for blueberries!

It was easy picking.

They were huge.

And plentiful!

We finished picking our share just as the rain started.

When we got home, Mom made us some blueberry muffins while we showered and got ready for the day. Being home is so great. After some muffins, we decided to go explore downtown. Downtown Grand Haven is really fun. There are all sorts of (expensive) shops to window shop at, there’s the pier, and there are lots of ice cream shops. I even had my very first Pronto Pup. Pronto Pups is a popular little corn dog shack that is famous in the Grand Haven area. Plenty of famous people are rumored to have been there to try one of their freshly made corn dogs. It was a good corn dog, but Spencer’s right that it’s mostly an overpriced corn dog. J One of the shops we walked by had a nice men’s jacket on display, and I’ve been thinking about getting Spencer a new jacket lately. This was kind of along the lines of what I’ve had in mind, so I wanted him to try it on to see if he liked the style. It was $475, so when the guy asked if he wanted us to get a different size out of the back, we said we wouldn’t waste his time. Haha. It was a nice walk around, and the more time I spend here, the more I think about how fun it will be to visit here year after year when we have kids. I hope Mom and Dad stay in the area.

My first Pronto Pup!

            On Monday night we had leftovers for dinner and rented a movie together and Brigham went over to a friend’s house for a sleepover.  Mom, Spencer and I watched the movie together then played some Phase 10. We actually made it through all the Phases and Spencer won. I ate more blueberries. – I think we’re each going to put on 10 pounds by the time we get back to Provo.

Tuesday

Windy day at the beach.

Brigham. :)

            Tuesday morning we got up and going. We decided to hiking at Hoffmaster’s, which I think is a state park nearby. We hiked the trails, narrowly avoided getting lost, enjoyed the beach for a few minutes, and hiked back to the car. Those trails need new maps and less confusing signing. After Hoffmaster’s we came home to pack for Bay City, where Dad works! We’re going to go up to Mackinac Island tomorrow, and I am so excited! I’ve never been there before.  

When we got into Bay City we went for a swim in the hotel pool, went out to eat at a nice steakhouse, and played some games before heading off to bed.

Wednesday

            Let’s see if I can do this without looking at all my pictures. We got up and going fairly early and made it up to Mackinaw City in time to catch the 11:00 ferry to Mackinac Island. We were a little worried about the weather the day before, but it was absolutely perfect, if not a little too hot. Mackinac was different than I had anticipated, but I’m not sure what I was really expecting. We spent some time just wandering the main street until we found the visitor’s center. We bought a map of the island and decided to go for a walk! We walked up to the fort and decided not to pay the $11 a person to see it this time, so we continued up the hill until we found skull cave! It sounded ominous and fun, and there’s a fun story about a soldier hiding there overnight and waking up in the morning to see he was sleeping on a pile of human bones. We were very disappointed. I wanted a for real cave. I guess it was all blasted, but at one point it was a real cave.

            We debated about what to do next --more like a debate over who had to make the decision. Thornock’s are not good decision makers. Myself included-- and finally decided that since nobody knew what to do we should take the carriage tour and then maybe we’d hear about something we’d come back to see later. We did take a few minutes to walk through the cemetery on the island. There’s something so peaceful about cemeteries. I like walking through them and looking at old headstones.

            The carriage ride ended up being expensive, like everything else on the island, but it was really good. We got to sit down for a while and hear some stories and legends about different parts of Mackinac, and it took us around some of the sights that were further away than we wanted to walk.

            After the carriage ride, we spent some more time walking around downtown. We found a free (they do ask for donations) museum that we walked through and one of the chapels was open to look around in. By then it was like 4:00  and we were starting to feel pretty hungry to we went off to find some food. We decided on pizza and found a buffet for a really good price, which was great. We had some snacks, but not a real lunch, and I think we all ate our fill. When we finished eating we did our final shopping around the island, which, of course, included some awesome fudge! We caught the 6:00 ferry back to the mainland and drove to our hotel Bay City. We all went swimming again before heading to bed, except Dad who had to leave for work early the next morning. It was such a fun day.

Dad, Mom and Brigham on the ferry on our way to Mackinac Island!

Mackinac bridge and some people enjoying the lake.

Spencer and Abbey on the ferry.

The Bridge

Our first view of the Island. The Grand Hotel and some HUGE private homes. 

A lovely view at the top(ish) of the hill.  

Skull cave, you disappoint all of us. :(

Brigham and Dad

Mom, Brigham and Dad on our carriage tour!

A turtle stack!

Arch Rock

Mom and Spencer. 

Cute little heart down there. :) 

Two tired and hungry boys after we finished touring the free museum. 

The boys on Main Street, Mackinac Island!

I love how clear the Great Lakes are. 

Our ferry, ready to take us back to the mainland. 

It was quite a day!

Thursday

            Thursday morning we took our time getting up and going. We didn’t really have any plans for once we got back to Grand Haven. We got back into town early afternoon and I can’t really remember what we did. I think we just hung out at home and relaxed. Brigham went to swim and water polo practice and Mom took Spencer and I to Culver’s to get some cheese curds! I requested that we get some while we were there. It turns out that there’s a Culver’s between here and Salt Lake anyway, but I didn’t know about it before so it must be fairly new. We enjoyed our cheese curds while we looked around at the old cars that were on display in the parking lot. I think we watched a movie or something that night, too.

My and my cheese curds. Don't worry, I shared. 

Friday
            Friday was our last day and Dad was back from Bay City, so we all hit the beach! It was too windy for the boat, but that was fine with me. I like the beach. The waves were pretty big and the water was nice once you were in. We all swam out to the sand bar and had fun in the big waves, then came back to the beach to lay in the sun. I didn’t bring my camera to the beach and now I wish I had some pictures. After the beach we went home and had dinner. Dad made a delicious peach cobbler in the Dutch oven for desert, too. Then we all went to a football game at Grand Haven High School. Grand Haven was slaughtered, but it was fun anyway. There was a delay of game for thunder and I was sure it was going to downpour, but it never did. The air was so thick and humid that it felt like we were breathing water. When we got home we gathered our stuff together and spent a few more hours with Mom, Dad and Brigham. We were sad to leave Saturday morning, but we had to get back to Provo and get ready for the new semester. Thanks for hosting us Mom, Dad, and Brigham!