We flew in on Saturday, and on Sunday we headed to Binder Park Zoo. I think the great thing about zoos is that they're a really nice place to walk around and enjoy being outside. Binder Park fits that bill: it's really pretty with tons of nice walking paths. It's also impressively large. I was my usual mamarrazzi self, and although I tried to exert some control and not post 18 of the same shot, I couldn't pick my favorite of these first three with Granpah and Hannah on the dodo bird. I think the third one is my favorite...You?
I seem to have a thing with taking pics of Hannah running off down paths ahead of me...I took a ton like this in Ohiopyle too.
We didn't bother taking our stroller with us to Michigan since we don't use it much anymore anyway, but we did end up renting one at the zoo, and it's a good thing we did because it was a lot of walking and it was all during nap time (which we skipped that day) after a day of traveling (also missed a nap on the travel day) AND both Hannah and I were fighting colds, so her energy waxed and waned (as did mine).
Eric and I look better in the other pics, but this is the only one where Hannah is showing her shining face instead of the top of her head.
Hannah and Grannah grabbed a branch of leaves off a nearby tree and fed this ginormous turtle with the super long neck. Mmmm....leaves.
Like any good zoo, Binder Park has a petting zoo. Unlike our zoo, you can feed the goats at this one. Wooohooo! I love how Hannah has her hand on this goat's bum but neither are paying attention to each other.
Hannah's first carousel ride!!! Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough with the trigger to get a decent shot.
I think Binder Park's claim to fame is probably their Africa exhibit which is huge and really pretty and set up like a pretend safari. Very cute. By this time in the day, we were all pretty exhausted and the crowds were getting thick, but Grannah managed to wiggle Hannah in to the giraffe feeding station where Hannah fed and befriended a giraffe with a very, very long, black tongue.
Uncle Justin was at Grannah and Granpah's when we got home from the zoo, and he took this super cute pic of Hannah coloring.
On Monday we hung out at the lake, Fine Lake, where Grannah and Granpah live. Granpah got a new sail boat and look at what he named it!!! Hannah liked learning the ropes and helping Granpah sail her namesake. They kept it on the lift this day, but she got to go sailing the next day.
After a nice nap, we headed over to Eric's bff's house to hang out. I think I was mamarazzied out from the zoo because I left my camera in my backpack until the very end when I snapped this shot of Hannah with Cooper and Carson. I don't know what I was thinking, but I wish I hadn't been so lazy.
On Tuesday we went to MOO-ville, a local dairy farm and creamery that has awesome ice cream and a farm animal petting zoo. It was really sweet spot and a very laid back activity which was much needed and appreciated.
I let Hannah have a very small peach ice cream cone, more of which melted than was ingested.
Eric took this next pic....He took a ton of these but unfortunately, this is the best one...I probably should have handled this since it would have been nice to have had a good pic of Hannah and Grannah, but in addition to still being on the warpath with the cold that was trying to bring me down, I was also at war with cramps, so I found a nice little chair to sit on and stayed there.
Later that day Granpah took Hannah sailing....No good pics here either, but I had to post at least one of Hannah on her first sail boat ride.
On Wednesday morning we went to visit Aunt Dawn and got to hang out with her granddaughter, Paris, for a little bit before she headed off to band practice. Aunt Dawn has a ton of really cool family heirlooms that she was showing us. I'm looking forward to getting ahold of the family tree and ransacking it for names for the future baby number 2 (which is no more than an idea right now).
On Thursday we packed up and moved to Grand Haven to hang out with Uncle Justin on the beach for the rest of our stay. Our original flight home was Saturday afternoon but the impending doom of Hurricane Irene forced us to change that. We thought about leaving early and getting home before the hurricane and then realized that that was a terrible idea and decided to stay on the beach and come home AFTER the hurricane. Duh. Much better choice. Where were we during Hurricane Irene? Making sand castles on Lake Michigan. Ahhhhh....
Hannah dug around Uncle Justin's backpack and found a lollipop and although I have never given her one and don't think she's ever seen another kid eating one, she seemed to know that it was something special and went right to work unwrapping it. Fortunately Uncle Justin is a mostly healthy eater and this lollipop is 100% pomegranate juice with no added sugar so I let it slide. I don't like candy though. I'm easing up a teeny bit on her sugar intake, but I don't think there's ever a reason for her to have candy or chocolate (chocolate because of the caffeine and candy because it's not real food).
Hannah soon grew tired of Uncle Justin's bare chest and decided to help him put his shirt on.
Once properly dressed, he was ready to play her game. First, run from the blanket to the water. "Unca Justin. C'mon."
Then run from the water back to the blanket and hide under the umbrella. "C'mon Unca Justin!"
Back and forth, back and forth from the beach to the blanket, all the while insisting that "Unca Justin" follow her. Super cute watching them play together.
So, on one side of Uncle Justin's apartment is the beach. If you walk to the top of that hill and then down the other side, there's a super awesome playground. These days, there is no place Hannah would rather be than a playground.
Of all the pics I took this one is MY FAVORITE. I'm adding it to the long list of pictures that I intend to print and frame...I still only have one framed pic of Hannah, and I think she's only like 6 months in it. Digital photography is nice, but as a result of it, I have absolutely NO current pics of her in the house. None. And that list I mentioned, the long one of pics I want to print, it doesn't exist. There is no list. So I know there are a ton of pics I want to print, but I don't know what they are. Sigh.
Our second annual August trip to Michigan was a good one! We're still struggling to get back to our routine though; the 4-day holiday weekend isn't helping, especially not after our extreme True Blood marathon which has consumed all our free time this week and kept me up way later than I like to be up. And now this blog post has me up way past bed time. I'm tired!!!
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