Vacation

We recently went on a mini vacation to Frankenmuth with my parents and my sister. We stayed at Zehnder's Splash Village and had a great time! We arrived on Thursday at about 1 and met up with my mom and dad and had lunch at The Bavarian Inn. We then went to check into our room which was very nice. The hotel was very clean and the staff was friendly and helpful. After we were all settled in our room we decided to walk over to Bronner's and check out all the christmas stuff. We got Mason's personalized stocking like we got Sydney last year and a little prayer plaque for Sydney's room. Syd was pretty good at the store for not having a nap and Mason slept through most of it! After that we decided to end the day at the water park in our hotel. It was small but plently big for Sydney. We ate dinner down there and had a great time watching Syd. She is so adventurous when it comes to water. The lazy river they had was low enough that she could walk in the water so she wanted to do that instead of riding on a tube or someone carrying her. She is pretty fearless. Keith said she kept trying to run into the deep end!

Friday we decided to spend most of the day shopping and seeing the sights downtown. We decided to take an hour long boat ride and it was so much fun. Sydney loved it and they had snacks you could buy on board so we got her some popcorn. They also told us we could feed the popcorn to the ducks which she loved. Everytime we got near a group of ducks they would make a bee line for the boat! Mason did well on the boat too. He woke up about half way through and got a little fussy but I had a bottle ready for him. I was able to pump enough so that we always had a bottle when we were out of the hotel room. I brough two frozen ones with me and the rest I pumped there! After the boat we shopped for a bit at River Place and then headed to Zehnder's for lunch. The food was very good but by this time poor Syd was exhausted and was acting out a little. After we ate we headed back to the hotel for naps while my parents and Julie shopped some more. After naps Keith took Syd back down to the water park and Mason and I (and my parents/Julie) headed back out for a little more shopping with the plan that I would go back and pick up Keith and Syd for dinner. Well, they decided to walk from the hotel! We all went to dinner and found out that the fireworks were that night. We went back to our hotel and sat in the back of our vehicles and watched the show. We had a great view and didn't have to deal with all the traffic and people. Sydney loved them and kept saying Oooooh and aaaaah and oh I like that one Mommy! After that it was up to bed. Another great day!

Saturday brought our check out and the end of our stay in Frankenmuth. We headed to Birch Run, which is about 5 miles away and went to the outlets. But first, we had to go to Tony's so Keith could get his massive BLT with one pound of bacon on it! All their portions are huge. My omelet and hashbrowns came on a seperate plate and it came with 3 pieces of toast! After we were all stuffed the shopping commenced. We didn't make it all the way around but we hit the stores we wanted to. I bought the kids quite a bit of clothes and new jammies. Keith and I got a few items of clothing and I stocked up on my Bath and Body Works. After that we headed home. It was a great vacation and we had an awesome time. My mom, dad and Julie were huge helps with Sydney!

Then on Sunday we decided to get Syd's pool out again and grill out some burgers for dinner. Everytime we do something on a holiday I always think about making our own traditions so I made the decision to go to Mason last night and watch their fireworks. We parked at Meijer (with about 300 other people) and sat out on their grassy area our front to watch them. They put on a great show and Sydney did pretty good until the end. She was just so excited that she wouldn't stay on our blanket and that was scaring me. We were near the parking lot and I was nervous she would get hurt so we had to leave early because she wasn't listening. But we basically saw the whole thing. I am glad we didn't even attempt to head to the fairgrounds where they were really shooting them off. I am sure it was packed. All in all, we had a great weekend! So much fun with my little family! Oh and the bonus was that Sydney did a great job peeing on the potty while we were on vacation! We will see how this goes from here on out!