Sleeping Bear Dunes

We had a great time on our mini-vacation this past week! Because I'm feeling lazy today I'm just going to paste in the text from the email I sent my mom with all the details on our trip:

We are keeping ridiculously busy over here! We just got home from a 5 day weekend trip up to Sleeping Bear Dunes, it was pretty cool when the Good Morning America thing came out rating that as the most beautiful place in the country. I think that was announced just a day or two before we left. We took a motor home this time and Kaleb could not stop talking about the "big kwuh!" (aka, big truck), he was completely enamored with it and spent a ton of his time climbing up and down the steps that go into the motor home.

We had a great time touring the area, our campsite was adjacent to a small airport, more like landing strip, so we got to see some small planes land and take off, Kaleb thought that was really cool! We drove the Leelenau Peninsula and stopped at the state park on the very tip, then stopped in Leland on the way back down and did some shopping. Kaleb picked out this little plastic jug filled with pure maple syrup, it is the perfect size for him to be able to pour it all by himself...which fits nicely with the "I DO IT" theme we are rocking these days. I know, I totally had this coming from my own "SELF!" phase ;)

We also rented a pontoon boat on Glen Lake, which is a sandbar lake so there are really shallow spots all through it, perfect for Kaleb to be able to get off the boat and wade around in. Kaleb helped to drive the boat and kept wanting to go faster and faster. Yes. I know. he's my kid through and through! On the last day of our trip (tuesday) we went and toured Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was my first time there and GMA was right, it is gorgeous! It was somewhat challenging to really take in the scenery, what with trying to prevent a curious and active toddler from plummeting off a dune or down a ravine, but I still managed to see plenty of beauty. Kaleb loved playing in the sand. I sent everyone else up ahead on the hike and Kaleb and I just went at his pace, which means we stopped every 1.5 feet to explore something. I loved it, seeing him discover creation, so it doesn't bother me to go at a snails pace. actually, i think a family of snails flew by us at one point, but all the same, Kaleb's cognitive development fascinates me and I'm content to watch him explore whatever it is he finds interesting in any moment.

We got home Wednesday afternoon and it was back to work and day care Thursday. Kyle's grandma Mary is in town (Frank's mom) through this Sunday morning so they wanted to get some Kaleb time while she was here. They went and picked him up from day care at 3 today and brought him to their house, Kyle and I met them there when we got out of work. So we were able to have dinner together and now Kaleb is spending the night there so Mary can have some more time with him tomorrow morning. We'll go pick him up late morning and then we are headed down to Gun Lake. You may remember our friend, Davey, Nick's nephew. He is enlisting in the Marines and is home this week from Colorado so we are going down to a cookout his family is throwing in his honor tomorrow.

That's the end of the email text. I haven't yet told my parents about this pregnancy so I didn't include anything about how I spent the trip between two extreme thought patterns. One being: I can't WAIT to have another little one running around with us! The other being: How in the world am I going to handle having another little one to take care of?! This pregnancy is starting to sink in a little more, but I'm still kind of reeling from it happening so soon. I only have 34 more weeks to prepare for another baby! With my first pregnancy that would have seemed like an eternity, with this one it is already making me sweat a bit.