Michigan Day 1: Trains and Dogs.

A couple of weekends ago, in celebration of our 8th wedding anniversary, we took a little road trip to southwestern Michigan. It was a quick trip, and although we were very ambitious about what we thought we could accomplish in 36 hours, once we arrived, most of those plans flew out the window and we were content to meander along the less-traveled roads to see what we happened upon. 

Our first stop was the "I Love Toy Trains" store in New Buffalo. Elijah was in heaven.

 We then drove north on the Red Arrow Highway, stopping to play at a park, and exploring some of the antique stores along the way. This place was so cool, but absurdly expensive. One day I'd love to furnish a house in a similar eclectic style. A girl can dream....

 Next stop was St. Joseph, which seemed to have an obsession with dogs. There were several dog statues set up along the main street, and Izzie felt compelled to kiss each and every one of them.

 She was enthralled by the dogs, until she saw the horses. Here's she's blowing kisses and calling out "come here horsies"

 Meanwhile, Elijah found a pirate bear.

 After leaving St. Joseph, we headed to Saugatuck, a little artist's community set on the water. My express purpose for going to Saugatuck was to see this live, in person:

 I have been watching this piece of art for the past 2 years. I originally saw it on a website and foolishly inquired about the price. uhm... well, lets just hope a windfall is in my future. I remain convinced that this piece belongs in my home, and somehow, someway, I will own it some day.

After Jon pulled me away from the art, we headed into Holland for dinner, and checked into our hotel. At first I was excited to learn that the hotel had a complimentary library with children's books. I chose a couple of them to read to the twins before bedtime. I was particularly happy to find a book that claimed to be about a little girl's first day at a new school, thinking it might help with Izzie's school reluctance. Silly me. this was just one of the horrifying pages of the book:

Afterwards, we actually looked this book up on Amazon. Here are the reviews:

"This book is anything but reassuring, and it is not realistic in its portrayal of a typical first day."


"purchased this book to help my 4-year old adjust to a new school. I threw it away after the first reading. It was a horrible book. The teachers at Vera's new school are inept and contribute to a disasterous first day. The art teacher has Vera draw a picture of her dead pet duck. Yes, the drawing actually shows the dead duck, feet up. The children are all really mean to Vera and the teachers do nothing to help her adjust to school. She ends up getting bitten by red ants. Just what my son needs--fear of bugs on top of all his moving anxiety. Vera ends up running around the school with no clothes because the ants are biting her. "


Amazingly we managed to get the kids to sleep without having horrible nightmares!