Happy Easter!

The Lord has Risen!

He has Risen Indeed!

First Time Bowling

Derek had Good Friday off from work so we decided to take the family bowling. Hudsonville Lanes has a nice facility with lots of ramps and light-weight balls. 

 Abbi could pick her ball up all on her own and walk it over to the ramp. 

 This little guy just watched his big sister from his carseat (and took a good nap). 

 Friday mornings are Senior Bowling time so the place was FILLED with grandmas and grandpas but there were a few lanes open at the very end. 

A Car Wash

Abbi likes to help me in the kitchen, especially when it involves warm water and lots of bubbles. I don't remember what I was working on but I needed her to stay occupied for a bit and these new toys had to be washed before we used them. A win-win for us both!

St. Patricks Day

Grandma time!

dressed in green...

Vibe Adventures

Our Vibe Adventure. I'll try to keep it "short":

We've been searching for a good replacement for Derek's Contour once we noticed that she's starting to rust pretty good. Derek narrowed it down to the Pontiac Vibe (we sat in a lot of backseats at the auto show!!). He even narrowed it down to a specific year, something about the best engine that year or whatever. :) And, of course, it had to be a manual stick shift - the GT version. So, that narrowed it down to the color, the location, and the condition of the car that would be ours. 

The 2 Vibe GTs close to us (within 8 hours... ha ha) were sold instantly before we could even physically drive there. Grr.. they seemed to be a hot item. We ruled out another one based on the name of the dealership (just sounded shady) and after a look on the BBB we were glad we ruled that car out! Plus, it was 10 hours east of us. So the final 2 that were closest to us remained and they were within a few hours of each other and in the south (hurray for "rust free" cars!). 

I had actually packed our bags that day (Thursday) to go look at the Wisconsin one that weekend. (Derek was planning on taking the Friday off anyway). When Derek got home from work we found out it had sold. Ugh! We weighed all the pros and cons over supper and decided to just go for it and head south to look at the 2 cars since the midwest ones were gone. We put the kids in their PJs and grabbed a few warmer weather clothes to add to the suitcases since we were going to North Carolina now instead of Wisconsin and hit the road. Wow. Talk about a last minute decision! We waited until we were well out of West Michigan to tell our families...

 

We stopped at a hotel in Ohio to sleep a bit and continued driving all day Friday. We called a ton of McDonalds on the road at the location to find out which one had a playland for Abbi to burn off some energy while we ate lunch. Ugh, when we got there we found out it was an outside one and was closed for renovations! Ironic, eh?

But we are in the South so CHIC-FIL-A here we come! They never disappoint AND they had a play area for Abbi while we had our supper! 

Here we are in Washington DC at the largest Mini Cooper dealership. It was incredible! The Vibe was in the very last row in back along with a few other "non minis"... The place was closed already that Friday night so we just looked at it in the dark.

We enjoyed a great breakfast at the Embassy Suites in DC. Saturday morning.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

We went swimming at the hotel while Daddy went to the mini dealership to test drive the Vibe. 

She LOVED it!

This guy did great watching us swim and looking like a stud. 

After our swim we went to check out the car outside the hotel since Daddy had driven it to us on his test drive. 

Look, spring flowers!!!!

After that test drive (Saturday morning) we hopped in the car and were on our way to North Carolina. 

Another last minute decision: "Hey we're driving right past the exit to Williamsburg, let's stop and see Aunt Dorothy!" We were so glad she was home and we were able to have supper with her that evening. Then we went to church with her the next morning and had brunch before hitting the road. 

These two did great in the car!

So did these two:

A stop at a Cracker Barrel wouldn't be complete without a few rocks in a pink rocking chair now would they?

Another hotel with a pool, this time Daddy could join us! (She really did love it, it's just hard to catch it on her face since she's in the "cheese" phase of smiling at the camera).

We checked out the second car in Raleigh, NC just like the first one: look at it outside while the place is closed (Sunday night) and then Derek takes it for a drive the next morning and drives it to the hotel for us to see. We decided on this one! The crazy thing is that dealership sold three Vibes that Monday. 

It was a fun trip despite all the time on the road and not doing anything "touristy". We were able to see Aunt Dorothy, and Abigail LOVED all the different hotels. We were bummed that it didn't work out to see our friends from NC after all the hours, just "a few more" would have made it tough to get back to Michigan on time. We picked up some walkie talkies for the drive home (since talking on cell phones are illegal in some states) and rented some books on cd for our cars and headed north!

A Handful

 Sometimes there's a little jealousy between the two siblings when they other one is getting more attention. "I want some love too" Abigail will say. At least with two kids you can still hold them both for a few moments. 

The Lorax

I guess the Lorax was feeling a bit chilly because Abbi commandeered one of Elijah's fuzzy outfits and put it on him instead. With the hood on and his big beard he did look pretty arctic! Abigail is big into stealing Elijah's clothes right now and putting them on her baby dolls or even herself!