LegoLand Michigan mini vacation

Ever since they saw the ad for LegoLand resorts on the DVD for the Lego Movie, my boys have been begging to go there. They are located in Florida and California, so that's a no. We tried to appease them by going to the Lego store in the Mall of America when we went there three years ago, but it didn't work. Since then, a new LegoLand Discovery Center was built in Michigan! It's not a full resort, but we knew the kids would be thrilled to go, so we took a mini vacation to Michigan a couple week ago!

We got to spend two nights at Nana and Papa's house, which is conveniently on the way! Hazel was happy to be there.

We were there on Desy's birthday, so we got to have a party with cake, ice cream, and presents!

Hazel slept straight through the night in her fancy bed... ha!! I didn't want to bring her co-sleeper because we loaded up the van with a bunch of camping stuff, so we got creative ;)

Saturday morning we left bright and early for LegoLand! We drove through Hazel Park (a Detroit suburb) on the way! I had originally wanted to stop and take pictures of signs with all of our names (Desmond Road, Cecelia Street...), but it was such a quick, full trip that we didn't have time!

We met my roommate, becca at LegoLand! She is one of my very best friends, so it's always so good to see her. She lives so close to where we were going that it would have been a shame to not see her! She was a big help keeping an eye on Cecelia too.

Meeting Hazel for the first time! "A hazelnut she's not allergic to." :P

Of course the kids had a blast. I think we took them at exactly the right age. It was definitely geared toward young kids.

They spent the most time building and racing cars! There was a cool track that started all the cars together at the push of a button.

I've always thought "girl Legos" were dumb, but Cece was enamored with them. This is a girly girl if I've ever met one.

There were some really amazing Lego creations depicting Detroit landmarks in miniature. The buildings at the top of this post are Lego models. There were even some moving parts in some of them.

There were two rides and a 4-D movie (with rain and wind effects) as well as all the building stations and playgrounds. It was a fun morning for sure.

When we left LegoLand, we had lunch at the Detroit Burger Bar down the road. We all ate massive burgers... I don't think any of the adults ate dinner that night.

Just 15 minutes down the road was the lake and little town of Lake Orion!! I was soooo excited when I discovered it on the map. Orion was pretty excited to see his name plastered all over the place!

becca explored the cute little town with us and then we parted ways. I love my roommate!!

We stopped at the local Super K Mart so I could nurse Hazel and so we could look for Lake Orion t-shirts (found them!), then we were on the road again.

So. Part of the goal of this trip was to go camping. We have a big, awesome tent and the kids are always asking to go. I'd been watching the weather forecast like a hawk all week and it just looked worse and worse. The night before we were supposed to camp there was something like a 60% chance of evening thunderstorms. So we had to change our plans (because who wants to camp with four kids in a thunderstorm?!). Nathan booked us a room at Splash Universe in Dundee!

...of course, when the evening rolled around the night was calm and beautiful and perfect for camping. Sigh.

...but the kids had a GREAT time playing at the indoor water park for hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Even Hazel seemed to like it. All of the kids even went down the really big slides! So much fun.

From there we were only half an hour away from Nathan's grandparents, so of course we stopped in! Grandma was so excited to meet Hazel and got some nice snuggles.

It was a really quick visit, but it was nice to see them! :)

For our last stop, we headed back north a bit to see some of our closest friends, Geoff and Amy, and their family! They got to meet Hazel too, and we had such a nice visit. Again, way too short, but I love how we always pick up right where we left off. We are so blessed with great lifelong friendships.

It was a super fast but super nice little trip! We wished we would have had another day or two so we wouldn't have had to rush around so much, but we squeezed a lot into one weekend. I'm so glad we have such great little travelers! Even Hazel was perfect in the car. 

Here's to many more adventures!

Friendcation 2015: Treasure Lake, Pennsylvania

This summer we took a vacation with our college friends for the first time! We rented a big house for a week in Treasure Lake, PA, and had a great time together. We did a whole lot of just hanging out together, played games, took the kids to the beach (on the rare days/hours is wasn't raining), kayaking/canoeing (well, the guys did), and really just had a relaxing week. I can't wait til we can do it again. I did NOT take enough pictures, but here are the few that I did take!

We celebrated our 8th anniversary while on vacation, and our lovely friends were kind enough to watch the kids so we could go out to dinner.

Lambes family vacation 2015: Whidbey Island, Washington

This year, the whole Lambes clan had the pleasure of visiting Nathan's sister, Rachel, and her husband, Jake, on Whidbey Island, Washington. We got to stay for a week and a half in paradise, and we had SO much fun.

The state of Washington is definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The ocean and beaches, the mountains, the forests, the climate... it's really breathtaking. I have many more pictures on my facebook page, but I'll post a sampling here.

Visiting Fort Casey. It was super cool and I'm so bummed Nathan was sick that day and didn't get to see it with us. I've been to several forts, but this was by far the coolest.

Deception Pass, the water you have to cross to get to the island. We walked over the bridge on foot; the distance to the water was dizzying! We rented kayaks for a weekend and paddled into a cove one day, and to "Mermaid Island" (which is actually called Deception Island" and went exploring. We even saw a seal! 

We did a lot of hiking and saw so many beautiful things. These boys had their hands held tightly as we explored cliffs and mountains!

We went to many beaches, especially at sunset. The boys were brave enough to get in the Pacific water, but most of us just enjoyed relaxing on the driftwood.

At the top of Mount Erie. What an amazing view!! 

While some of the family went on a motorcycle ride, the rest of us took the kids strawberry picking and out for ice cream. These were the best strawberries ever! It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

We left for home on the 4th of July, but got to attend a great parade before we left. On the flight home I watched fireworks from the sky which was absolutely AMAZING.

We did so many more things on this trip and I would LOVE to return to Washington someday. What a fabulous experience.

Millersburg Surprise Birthday Vacation and Easter

On the Thursday morning before Easter, I woke up and walked out of my room and immediately noticed a suitcase with a note on top. Nathan had left instructions for me to pack a bag for three nights... we were going on a trip for my birthday! He didn't tell me where we were going, so that afternoon when we left (Robin and Larry kept all the kids!), I had no clue what the weekend had in store!

It turned out our destination was Millersburg, Ohio, which is the heart of Amish country. Nathan had booked a room at the beautiful Inn at Honey Run (Groupon!), and it was so relaxing and peaceful. We spent a fair bit of time just hanging out in bed watching Pushing Daisies. Ahhh.

We had so much fun exploring the little towns in the area. We found an adorable olde tyme soda fountain and shared a phosphate. We also really enjoyed browsing a big craft mall and several antique stores. It was a little tricky to find things that were open because of the holiday weekend, but we had a blast regardless.

An awesome woodworking and antique tool store my dad would love!

We visited a farm and Amish market which had the biggest horse I've ever seen, sheep and goats to pet, and lots of delicious baked goods. We brought home some treats for our family.

This was just a very low-key, relaxing vacation, which was exactly what we needed. I love spending alone time with my husband, so I'm really thankful that Robin kept our kids for us! Thank you, Nathan, for a truly wonderful birthday surprise!!

 

We got back in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, so we got to enjoy Easter dinner and an egg hunt with the family! What a great weekend.