First family vacation

We decided to go to Holland, MI for our first family vacation. We wanted to go to a beach, but was afraid that Gracie would not do well traveling to the east coast, so we decided to head to Lake Michigan instead. We drove through Indiana so we could stop by Notre Dame's campus and walk around. Gracie rode around in her new wagon and loved every minute of it!
Our first day in Michigan, we went to the Dutch Village. Again, Gracie rode in her wagon and was most fascinated with the ducks. (That's what she is pointing to in this picture.)

The next day, we went to the Holland State Park beach. It was awesome! The sand is so smooth and clean and the water is clear. I won't get in water if I can't see my feet and Nick said he went out about chest-deep and he could still see the bottom! Gracie seemed to think she couldn't crawl in the sand so for the first hour, she sat right by us and played! She liked tossing the beach ball back and forth with Daddy... and really liked it when the wind caught it and sent it into the lake. She then realized she could crawl in it so Nick and I took turns walking behind/beside her as she crawled. Nick took her out in the water and she loved that as well! Gracie would crawl/sit by the water and she loved playing in the wet sand, but wasn't too sure if she liked the waves coming in at her. As soon as the water would hit her, she'd crawl back towards us. We were there about 4 hours. The last picture is Gracie passed out in the hotel after all that excitement!

Coming home, we drove through Michigan and into Ohio. We stopped in Wapakoneta because Nick wanted to visit the Neil Armstrong Museum. We went to visit my Uncle Steve, Aunt Brenda and Cousin Steven who live nearby. Gracie loved sitting in a little chair that was just her size. She figured out how to stand up from a sitting position and started taking more steps in a row! I think the most we counted that night was 10.

The next morning we went to the museum and it didn't go so well! I think it was a combination of Gracie being tired (she didn't sleep well at night in her pack-n-play) and the long car rides. We'll have to go back some time and finish walking through the museum. It was very interesting!