While the Men are Away...

The girls play!

Hubby and David spent last week at our church summer camp.  Hubby went as the music director (he's the guy who plays the silly camp songs and acts goofy) and David went for his first year as a camper.  Of course I wasn't about to spend the week doing nothing, so I made plans.

Lizzy, Joy and I went to the lake house with my sister and her family.  We fit in a lot of fun in our week and the best part?  It was all free.  Monday we went to the Sleepy Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum because my nephew wanted to see boats.  While we discovered that it wasn't actually a boat museum after all, we did see two boats and were there just in time for a shipwreck rescue reenactment in which the kids all participated and loved.  All the kids opted to be part of the shipwrecked group versus the rescue crew.  Later Lizzy said that they picked the right group because the rescue crew had to do all the work.

Posing in front of the boat that can be moved on train tracks

The shipwrecked crew waiting to be rescued

The canon that will shoot out the rope that will rescue the shipwrecked crew

Raggedy Ann being rescued

Lizzy and Joy helping to rescue Andy

The rescue crew doing CPR on Andy

Tuesday we went blackberry picking.  They were giant and delicious and we all ended up with blue fingers and stained clothes.  I should say that Lizzy and I went berry picking while Joy spent her time eating as many berries as she could find.

Lizzy eating a blackberry and picking another one at the same time

The fruits of our labor

Later that evening my brother-in-law and I took the kids fishing.  We didn't even get a nibble, the kids spent the whole time whining, and my BIL and I just rolled our eyes at each other before rounding everyone up and going home for some ice cream.

Look mom, a swan!

Joy playing with her fishing pole instead of actually fishing

Wednesday we went to the beach.  The waves were around three feet high and we all had a ton of fun jumping over them.  The kids did not want to come back to the shore when my sister and I decided we'd had enough of the water.  But we bribed them with sand toys.

Throwing rocks into the lake

My inlaws came up Wednesday night so we had to have a campfire--Grandpa makes the best campfires.  We tried a new s'mores invention that Hubby told me about--we used the fudge striped shortbread cookies and coconut marshmallows.  While they weren't nearly as delicious as I thought they'd be, they were still tasty.

A little bird watching out the window at the lake house

Thursday we took the kids to a small nature center at a garden nursery.  I took the girls there a year ago and they have begged to go back ever since.  They got to feed and pet ducks, feed a chicken, watch goldfish swim in flower pot, pet bunnies, and catch monarch butterflies on their fingers.

Joy playing with the goldfish

Petting the duck--he was really friendly

Joy trying to eat the lizard

After that my sister's family and I split up.  While they went to a lego exhibit at a museum, I took the girls to the fish hatchery.  We lucked out and got there just in time to see the automatic feeders feed the fish.  The kids love to watch the fish get fed because they jump all over the place as soon as the food hits the water.  

Lizzy checking out the model fish

Watching the fish being fed

Friday we went home.  I called up my grandma to let her know that we were back and she was a saint and invited us out for pizza for dinner.  Of course I did not turn her down!

 

The girls playing on the drive home

Saturday we went to camp for the parent program and to pick up David and Hubby, thus ending our girls' week.  It's debatable who had the best time though I am inclined to think that it was David.  When asked if he was looking forward to going to camp next year, David replied: I don't know if I should go to camp next year because camp is so much fun that it makes the rest of my life seem boring.