Holland, MI

For the past 3 years we have visited a different part of Michigan. This summer we chose to vacation for a long weekend in Holland. Michigan is so beautiful! I wish we would have started this tradition sooner. The drive took us about 3 hours and the kids were happy eating snacks and watching movies. We drove straight to a little amusement park called Michigan's Adventure, which is actually in Muskegon and around 30 minutes away from where we were staying in Holland. Our kids aren't daredevils by any stretch of the imagination. We did the ferris wheel together then we split up. Nick took Maya on the "Wild Mouse Ride" and I took Josh and Cora over to the kids area. An hour later, Maya and Nick come find us and Maya looks completely terrified and states she doesn't want to go on anything else. The amusement park was kind of a bust, but I did get Josh to go on a rollercoaster with me. He was so brave! We stayed another hour or two after that.

Our fearless leader checking out the map

After the park we took off for the hotel. Cora was being an absolute stinker and was crabby/mean because she didn't get a good nap in. She fell asleep in the car but it was nearly long enough! The kids were excited to stay in a hotel. We got settled in for an hour then decided to go check out Lake Michigan because the next day was going to be rainy. The lake was gorgeous! I couldn't believe we were still in Michigan. It felt like we were near the ocean -- such soft and clean sand, and the water was clean and fun to play in. I wish we could have stayed a bit longer but it had already been a long day and we still needed to find something to eat for dinner.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel then we went swimming for a few hours in the pool. Poor Josh had a terrible reaction to the chlorine and ending up with itchy hives on the back of his legs. It looked so awful! We gave him some Benadryl and Nick bought some cream which seemed to help him right away. Cora needed a nap so Nick took the big kids to this little shaved ice hut and they went back to the beach while it was clear out. Later that night we walked around downtown Holland and let the kids pick out a toy at the local toy shop. What a cute area! After dinner at Red Robin we went to a frozen yogurt place that offered, not one, BUT two dairy free alternatives! Josh was thrilled he got to "go out for ice cream". It was his first time. We had some great family time on our trip. It's not easy traveling with little ones, but I'm grateful we decided to go and make special memories together.