July in Michigan

I took the girls for an 8 day visit to Michigan over the 4th of July.  Chad stayed back to tackle the enormous amount of maintenance that he had on some of our rental properties.  He worked hard the entire time we were gone, but unfortunately, only made a dent in what needed to be done.  The entire month of July and a good part of August was crazy busy for him!

Here we are at Junction Valley Railroad, near Frankenmuth, Michigan.  The girls loved riding the 1/4 scale train.  It had just rained quite a bit in the days before we visited, so a lot of their picnic area was pretty wet!  We still had fun riding the train and watching their cheesy entertainment and singing!

Lydia was rather camera shy for most of this trip.  You'll see her hiding behind me (like below) or looking away or not even pictured in several of the photos!

After visiting the railroad, we had to stop by Frankenmuth and Bronner's Chirstmas Wonderland.

Note the racks of breakable ornaments all around us!  I think I was rather disillusioned thinking that my children could walk around a store full of Christmas ornaments and not touch something!  I must have told them 100 times to "look with your eyes, not your hands!"

Note that Lydia refused to be in this photo!

The girls twisted my arm for a carriage ride!

Mmmmm...dinner at the Bavarian Inn!  Once again, I was a bit disillusioned thinking my children could sit still in a nicer restaurant!  We ducked out as soon as they were done eating...I think the girls missed their ice cream sundaes, but oh well!

On to something more along the lines of a 3 and 4 year old...dancing to the live Polka music outside the Bavarian Inn!

Time for a cute photo as we head back to the van!

I think this photo is funny...looks like the gnome is staring at Lydia!

We were able to visit my Grandma Sandoval twice during out stay in Michigan!  We visited at her house one day and also took her out to lunch one day!

An uncooperative Lydia in the photo of the ladies of the family!

We were also able to get together with my Aunt Aleatha, Uncle Jim, and cousins, Jennifer and Andy, and their families.  Here are my girls and my cousins' children!