Morgan tested for her next belt... moving from orange/green to green. She had to write an essay about why they bow in class and take an online test. They do the actual testing on Friday nights. All the levels test together, but they are broken up into groups with their same level and evaluated by the black belts. They get a score sheet at the end with their rankings on the different parts of the test.
This is her favorite teacher Ms. Loula giving her the green belt
We spent a long weekend in Michigan this past weekend visiting with Matt's family. They had rented a house in Ludington, MI near the beach.
We drove halfway there on Friday evening and stayed in St. Joseph, MI. We loved the town and the beach area there. We grabbed some pizza from Silver Beach Pizza (on the recommendation of a coworker). The place was packed! We ended up having to just get carry-out to eat at the hotel because the restaurant had over an hour wait (and it was already 8:30 PM).
View outside out hotel in St. Joe - beautiful sunset
On Saturday morning before heading out, we went to the beach to walk around. The weather was gorgeous! We walked over to the splash pad, which was SO fun! It's a huge splash pad with tons of sprinklers. And every 10 minutes or so, huge water cannons go off and soak everyone! The girls loved it!
On our way to Ludington, we stopped in Holland, MI and had lunch at the Crazy Horse Restaurant. Morgan tried popcorn shrimp, but wasn't a huge fan of it. They had steak fries and she was a fun of those!
We made it to Ludington and hit the hotel pool! The girls relaxed in the hot tub!
We had dinner at the Jamesport Brewery in Ludington. Great food and beer!
Drinks outside while waiting for our table
Morgan tried root beer and loved it!
Gigantic pretzel!
Finished off with a hot fudge sundae
On Sunday, we went to the beach. Again, the weather was beautiful! We forgot to bring beach toys, so we had stopped off on our way from St. Joe to Ludington and grabbed some shovels from Five Below and a bucket from Target. They were sold out of traditional beach toys. On our way out of Target, we saw these baking dishes shaped like dog bones, so we grabbed them! They made for some fun sand sculptures!
On Sunday night, we had dinner at the house with Matt's family. Matt got to cook all the hot dogs over the fire pit. The girls had fun playing with Matt's cousin's kids. We roasted marshmallows for s'mores. The kids played hide and seek until well after dark. We made it back to the hotel late and they crashed!
On Monday, we hung out at the house a bit while the kids played games and worked on puzzles. We then checked out the dunes nearby. The water was super choppy at the beach!
It was tough getting to the top!
Selfie!
The girls wanted some souvenirs, so we went on the main street to check out the shops. We found a place where you could pick out the decals for the sweatshirt of your choice. The girls were so excited!
Back at the house, we couldn't leave without finishing the puzzle!
Family picture before heading on the road home
It was a quick few days, but lots of fun! Wish we all lived closer, so we could get together more often!
The girls were at Adventure Camp this week. The field trip for Wednesday was a Kane County Cougars baseball game, which neither of them was really that interested in going to. So, I let them stay home and we hung out. We went to Honey Jam for lunch while Daddy was golfing. The girls both got milkshakes!
We were bored at home, so decided to check out a new park near us. It's based on Route 66, so there are different areas representing different cities. It was a pretty neat park and the kids had fun.
The Willis Tower
The slide was SO fast - Morgan barely made it on her feet at the bottom - ha!
They had a splash pad area
This merry go round was crazy - I love Morgan's face!
