Vacation 2008! We're back!

We are back, and we had a great time! Here is a picture story of our vacation (or at least part of it)...

This is Ben & Julie outside our house at 3:55 a.m., waiting for the Super Shuttle to pick us up. They have a lot of energy for that hour of the morning!



Here is the first airplane they would ride on...a Southwest airplane with pointy-uppy wings! Here it is about 5:00 a.m., and they are loading the plane. Why are they loading the plane? Because they are Southwest, and unlike other airlines, they actually offer free soft drinks, coffee & tea as well as a bunch of snacks that you can choose from. Once in the air, the flight attendants actually come around and hand out activity books for all the kids! Southwest rocks!



Here are Ben & Julie on the plane. I think this is the plane we transferred to in Chicago.




And here is our rented minivan! I reserved this van two or three weeks in advance, but when we got there, there was some major golf event in town (Detroit), so they didn't have enough cars to go around. This reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. I, however, was really quite tired by this point, so I didn't do the whole Seinfeld routine, even though I wanted to. Eventually, Thrifty Car Rental called Dollar car rental and got me a van. And because I decided to wait politely for 1/2 hour, the agent gave me a free tank of gas, and really good directions to my sister's house (well, not her house, but her exit). It was a silver Chrysler Town & Country. It held 7 people, but we had 8 people in it for most of the week. It held up rather well and got amazing mileage!



The first night, we took all the kids (my sister has 4, I have 2) for ice cream cones. We were tired, so after that we pretty much went to bed. I had my own room with its own digital cable and a really comfy bed. Pretty awesome!

When I stay with people, I always buy groceries, because I figure I'm there eating with them, and I should help out. With that in mind, my sister and I went to buy groceries on Sunday. This was our first stop...




This is a Meijer store, as you can see. Back when I was a kid, my mom used to shop here. This is quite similar to a Wal-Mart Supercenter now, but back then, there wasn't really a store near us that had clothes, groceries, auto parts, sporting goods, housewares, etc; except Meijer. They also have an ice cream shop inside, where you can get a hand-dipped ice cream cone. Obviously I like that about it, too.

Once inside the store, I knew I would find one of my favorite things...Faygo Pop! Yes, it is pop. It's on the label. Faygo Pop. There are amazing flavors, like peach, blue raspberry, rock-n-rye, orange, 60/40 (grapefruit/lemon-lime), black cherry, cream soda, and on and on. Good stuff. You should go to Michigan and buy some!




Here are Julie (my daughter) and Noah (my nephew) playing "basketball."




And Julie on the trampoline...


And the campfire we had Sunday night. To give you an idea of the scale, the fire pit is at least 8 feet across...this is a BIG fire!




And here are Heidi (my sister, on the right) and I (with the half-mast eyes...must've been tired!) enjoying the fire.



Here is Noah the pyromaniac, wet from some water game or something, and worshiping the flame of the citronella torch!



Here are pyromaniacs Noah and Ben, lighting twigs in the citronella torch, because it is Michigan and not Arizona, so even if they drop the twig, the entire state will not go up in flames. In fact, they did drop a few, and because there is actual moisture in the air, and at this time of night, on the ground in the form of dew, there was no problem.



And here is Julie the pyromaniac, also lighting twigs. Her cousin Megan was there, and I could've sworn she was in this picture, but I guess not.


And here is the reason the fire went out so quickly...my nephews Jason (the older one) and Noah thought they'd see how big they could get the fire if they put this wooden box on it. My sister is in the background saying "uhh...guys...I don't know...




I will post more pictures and info tomorrow.