Family Day Out

We had a very busy weekend. Saturday evening we went to two different Live Nativities.

The first one was at Bay Shore Camp. Last year Brandon, myself, Joah, and Isla were in their Live Nativity. I asked Joah if he remembered his part last year. I was Mary, Brandon was Joseph, Isla was Jesus, Joah was a shepherd. Joah goes, “I wasn’t a shepherd, mom. I was an angel. I stuck my sword in the air every time someone drove by and said Hail King Jesus.” Well turns out he remembered the whole ordeal much better than I did.

The second live nativity was at the Bad Axe Free Methodist Church. They moved theirs inside because of weather. We sat in the sanctuary and watched. My kids did amazingly well. They were very engaged and very quiet. Brandon and I were both really proud. We were looking at each other like “holy crap we are great parents with wonderful kids right now.” No sooner did we look, than Joah sat on Caed and cranked one. Then he whispered very very loudly “dad, did you hear me just fart on Caed?” I mean, I give up.

We got an ornament from both places. Joah couldn’t wait to put them on his tree in his bedroom.

Yesterday, we went to church. After church we headed to Frankenmuth. We ate at The Brewery, one of our favorite restaurants. When Brandon and I first moved to Michigan from Ohio, one of the first places we went out on a date to was The Brewery. We have been back several times since with several different friends and family members. We have great memories there.

Here is Isla wearing the same dress Brielle wore in Trent and Kiersten’s wedding. Isla is only two months younger than Brielle was at the wedding. Brielle was only 15.5 months old. Crazy to think I had a newborn also at the wedding. Talk about a crazy, chaotic season that was!

After lunch at The Brewery, we headed over to The Wilderness Trail Zoo in Birch Run. The last four years, we have gone and taken a family picture with reindeer. We wanted to get that done again before Christmas.

When we were done taking pictures, we headed to Saginaw. Joah wanted to go to Cabelas to pick out his reading prize. He read 100 books and earned a prize. He decided he wanted a camo duffel bag. I stayed in the car with the other kids. Brandon came out and got me after they picked out the bag. Inside, they had a Santa’s Wonderland set up that was really impressive. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there. We were the only ones there at the time, so the kids got lots of attention.

This Santa display was way more impressive for me than the one at the mall. It was decorated so cute. Plus they gave us the picture free. You could choose to buy a package, or just keep the free one.