The weather was very nice today (mostly sunny and about 75 degrees) but it started raining again about 6:00 so we still haven't had a chance to sit by the fire at this campground. That's OK though. They had a blast today. This campground has a million things to do and on Wednesdays they have this special deal where you buy a wristband and get to do all the activities unlimited from 11-3 so they played miniature golf, rode go carts, rode bumper boats, had a water balloon fight, jumped on a huge trampoline, swam in the pool, and slide down a water slide. They were all too short to ride the go carts by themselves, so Missy and I had to take them so that was a lot of fun. I cannot believe the amount of money they have invested in this campground. This is like the Disney of campgrounds! We had a lot of fun today. The weather started looking bad so we decided to head into town (downtown Port Huron) for dinner and found a really neat restaurant right by Lake Huron. There were lots of boats in marinas, but we didn't see any coming or going (probably b/c of the weather). But it was a very good meal and very affordable too for some reason. It was a pretty old restaurant called Quay Street Brewery and Restaurant and I think they just haven't been raising their prices to match other restaurants. Then we came back to the campground and watched Air Buddies in their theatre. We're all in the camper now getting ready for bed. We have to leave for our last destination tomorrow so our trip is winding down. We only stay one night at this last place and then we head home on Friday. I think everyone is about sick of living in this cramped RV (especially when it's raining) so I doubt anyone will be sad to get home. We've had a ton of fun though and the best part is all the time we've spent together. The kids really start hanging on me when we take trips like this and I really love that part. They all want to hold my hand when we walk, sit in my lap when we sit or just climb on me when there's nothing else to do. Normally that stuff kind'of annoys me b/c I usually have something else to do but I really love it on vacations like this. I've probably only spent 2 hours total on the computer this whole trip and 90% of that was writing these emails to you! So that alone is a testament to how much time we've spent together.
Well, I'll try to write more tomorrow night but we might be busy packing and cleaning so I might not have a chance. Thanks for "listening"!
Love you,
Jeff
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Letter to Grammie (Day 4 of our RV trip)
Yes, we are in Michigan. Right near the US/Canada border. I actually thought Port Huron was in Canada, but I was wrong, it's in the US in Michigan. We've seen 3 of the Great Lakes on this trip. First was Lake Erie, then we saw quite a bit of Lake Ontario on the road today and now we're right next to Lake Huron.
Niagara Falls was awesome and I think we did everything you can do. But we made the mistake of going to the US side of the falls first instead of going to the Canadian side. The US side was closer and it was amazing and we walked around for hours looking at all the sights and the kids ended up getting pretty tired so by the time we went over to Canada and saw the amazing, amazing horseshoe falls, they were kind'of sick of the place and ready to go home. I basically had to run over there and take a few snapshots of the horseshoe falls when that's where we should have been standing and admiring it all. But we did have a blast and did a lot of cool stuff. We walked over a small walking bridge that crosses the Niagara River just north of the falls. The water flowing over those rapids was incredible. They said it flows about 35 MPG and I could believe it. Then we walked for miles around the American Falls and looked it them from all angles. There are some lookouts that are literally about 5 feet from the edge of the falls. Then we went up that lookout tower and got some great shots from up there. Then we did the Maid of the Mist. I know we did that as kids, but I sure didn't remember how amazing that was to be at the base of those falls and hear that roaring water and get soaked from all the water mist. The kids absolutely loved that and I'm so glad we went. After that we drove through customs and into Canada. That was pretty cool too. By that time everyone was getting kind'of cranky and everything was very far from the parking lot so we did lots of walking in the hot sun until we stopped at a very cool restaurant for lunch/dinner. That revived everyone quite a bit and raised the spirits so we had enough energy to make it to the horseshoe falls. I took a ton of pictures from all angles and I can't wait to see how they turned out.
Well, we finally got some rain. We're sitting in the camper right now in the middle of a pretty bad thunderstorm. Missy is scared to death, luckily the kids are sleeping, and I'm loving it! There's nothing better than camping in a thunderstorm to give you that "close to nature" feeling. Technology is great in these situations. Missy's on the Weather Channel on her phone watching the live radar so we can tell that the worst is almost over, but back in the old days you had to listen to the pattern of the rain and make a judgment call on staying for the reward of a beautiful day the next day or potentially getting stuck in a 3 day monsoon. We're pretty far from home right now so we don't have much choice!
I'll send more later. I think the plan for tomorrow is to hang out at this campsite. This is by far the coolest campsite I've ever seen. We might venture into town and see the lake and beach. Kind'of depends on the weather too.
Love you,
Jeff
Niagara Falls was awesome and I think we did everything you can do. But we made the mistake of going to the US side of the falls first instead of going to the Canadian side. The US side was closer and it was amazing and we walked around for hours looking at all the sights and the kids ended up getting pretty tired so by the time we went over to Canada and saw the amazing, amazing horseshoe falls, they were kind'of sick of the place and ready to go home. I basically had to run over there and take a few snapshots of the horseshoe falls when that's where we should have been standing and admiring it all. But we did have a blast and did a lot of cool stuff. We walked over a small walking bridge that crosses the Niagara River just north of the falls. The water flowing over those rapids was incredible. They said it flows about 35 MPG and I could believe it. Then we walked for miles around the American Falls and looked it them from all angles. There are some lookouts that are literally about 5 feet from the edge of the falls. Then we went up that lookout tower and got some great shots from up there. Then we did the Maid of the Mist. I know we did that as kids, but I sure didn't remember how amazing that was to be at the base of those falls and hear that roaring water and get soaked from all the water mist. The kids absolutely loved that and I'm so glad we went. After that we drove through customs and into Canada. That was pretty cool too. By that time everyone was getting kind'of cranky and everything was very far from the parking lot so we did lots of walking in the hot sun until we stopped at a very cool restaurant for lunch/dinner. That revived everyone quite a bit and raised the spirits so we had enough energy to make it to the horseshoe falls. I took a ton of pictures from all angles and I can't wait to see how they turned out.
Well, we finally got some rain. We're sitting in the camper right now in the middle of a pretty bad thunderstorm. Missy is scared to death, luckily the kids are sleeping, and I'm loving it! There's nothing better than camping in a thunderstorm to give you that "close to nature" feeling. Technology is great in these situations. Missy's on the Weather Channel on her phone watching the live radar so we can tell that the worst is almost over, but back in the old days you had to listen to the pattern of the rain and make a judgment call on staying for the reward of a beautiful day the next day or potentially getting stuck in a 3 day monsoon. We're pretty far from home right now so we don't have much choice!
I'll send more later. I think the plan for tomorrow is to hang out at this campsite. This is by far the coolest campsite I've ever seen. We might venture into town and see the lake and beach. Kind'of depends on the weather too.
Love you,
Jeff
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Letter to Grammie (Day 2 of our RV trip)
Yes, they are known as the "roller coaster capital of the world". They have more roller coasters than any other park and some of the coolest ones in the world. I only rode 2 and they kicked my butt.
Yes, that's Lake Erie. We're driving around the whole thing! We're in Grand Island next to Niagara Falls right now. This campground is awesome too. The kids are playing in the pool that had 2 slides and Missy and I are sitting in the shade relaxing. It's pure sun and 70 degrees - absolutely perfect! I think we're going to hang out at the campground today and head to NF tomorrow morning. Camping like this on a road trip really is the perfect way to do it. There's always something to do and you never get bored. Jack already met a new friend named Cameron who just invited him to play "Ghosts and Graveyards" tonight at 9:30. Jack said, "I think I have to go to bed at 9:30". :) We drive right next to Niagara River on the way here and you could see the water flowing very quickly. There were tons of boats in the river, but it seems like it would be spooky to me. If your engine ever died, it seems like you'd only have a few minutes before you'd go over the falls! We saw a boat trying to go against the current and it was kicking up tons of waves, but barely moving! Crazy.
Well, I'll write more tonight or tomorrow. Love you!
Jeff
Yes, that's Lake Erie. We're driving around the whole thing! We're in Grand Island next to Niagara Falls right now. This campground is awesome too. The kids are playing in the pool that had 2 slides and Missy and I are sitting in the shade relaxing. It's pure sun and 70 degrees - absolutely perfect! I think we're going to hang out at the campground today and head to NF tomorrow morning. Camping like this on a road trip really is the perfect way to do it. There's always something to do and you never get bored. Jack already met a new friend named Cameron who just invited him to play "Ghosts and Graveyards" tonight at 9:30. Jack said, "I think I have to go to bed at 9:30". :) We drive right next to Niagara River on the way here and you could see the water flowing very quickly. There were tons of boats in the river, but it seems like it would be spooky to me. If your engine ever died, it seems like you'd only have a few minutes before you'd go over the falls! We saw a boat trying to go against the current and it was kicking up tons of waves, but barely moving! Crazy.
Well, I'll write more tonight or tomorrow. Love you!
Jeff
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Letter to Grammie (Day 1 of our RV trip)
Here's an email I just sent to my Mom about our first day on our RV trip:
Hi Mom. Well, our first full day is done and we're having a blast! We got here much later than we wanted last night, so we didn't get to do much other than setup and eat dinner, but we got up early this morning and headed to Cedar Point about 10:00am. That place was awesome! Jack rode his very first and second roller coasters today. It was a gorgeous day too. Party sunny and about 70 degrees all day. We only saw about half of the park so we really could spend another whole day here, but we're heading to Niagara Falls in the morning. This RV is much slower than we thought it would be so we're going to get an early start so we can get there in time to do some stuff tomorrow. We planned on a 4-5 hour drive, but I bet it take a couple more than that. The kids were wonderful today. They are the perfect age for this stuff. Poor Abby wants to ride everything but still isn't tall enough (48 inches) and even though Ally is over 48", she doesn't want to ride anything so it works out pretty good. Jack is still pretty timid. He finally agreed to ride what he thought was the smallest roller coaster in the park, but after it was done, we realized it wasn't the one he thought it was so he was pretty proud of himself. That gave him the courage to ride an even bigger one (the Iron Dragon). He liked that one so much we rode it twice! I must be getting too old b/c I'm a little dizzy and nauseous when I get off one of those, but I'm able to recover in 20 min. or so. This campsite we're at is awesome too. We've been riding bikes, playing pool, playing shuffleboard, and they have this big thing called a bouncy pillow. It looks like a big pillow, but it's filled with air and the kids can jump on it. I've never seen anything like it. I'd send some pictures, but things are very cramped in this RV and the kids have been using my laptop to watch movies so I haven't had a chance to get the pictures off of my camera yet. But I took a ton today and think I got some good ones. Well I better get to bed. I'll try to write more tomorrow and send some pictures too.
Love you!
Jeff
Hi Mom. Well, our first full day is done and we're having a blast! We got here much later than we wanted last night, so we didn't get to do much other than setup and eat dinner, but we got up early this morning and headed to Cedar Point about 10:00am. That place was awesome! Jack rode his very first and second roller coasters today. It was a gorgeous day too. Party sunny and about 70 degrees all day. We only saw about half of the park so we really could spend another whole day here, but we're heading to Niagara Falls in the morning. This RV is much slower than we thought it would be so we're going to get an early start so we can get there in time to do some stuff tomorrow. We planned on a 4-5 hour drive, but I bet it take a couple more than that. The kids were wonderful today. They are the perfect age for this stuff. Poor Abby wants to ride everything but still isn't tall enough (48 inches) and even though Ally is over 48", she doesn't want to ride anything so it works out pretty good. Jack is still pretty timid. He finally agreed to ride what he thought was the smallest roller coaster in the park, but after it was done, we realized it wasn't the one he thought it was so he was pretty proud of himself. That gave him the courage to ride an even bigger one (the Iron Dragon). He liked that one so much we rode it twice! I must be getting too old b/c I'm a little dizzy and nauseous when I get off one of those, but I'm able to recover in 20 min. or so. This campsite we're at is awesome too. We've been riding bikes, playing pool, playing shuffleboard, and they have this big thing called a bouncy pillow. It looks like a big pillow, but it's filled with air and the kids can jump on it. I've never seen anything like it. I'd send some pictures, but things are very cramped in this RV and the kids have been using my laptop to watch movies so I haven't had a chance to get the pictures off of my camera yet. But I took a ton today and think I got some good ones. Well I better get to bed. I'll try to write more tomorrow and send some pictures too.
Love you!
Jeff
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