Labor Day Weekend

I took Friday off (school was closed) and since it was a billion degrees out (actually 98 F) I did laundry in the a.m. while I let Victoria watch Snow White in the morning. She really liked it, kept asking me what was going on, but seemed frightened by the man trying to kill Snow White and the Wicked Witch. P came home early and then took us out for Mexican for lunch. Then we left (traffic was really heavy) and stopped at the Outlets on the way west. I got to stop at the GAP outlet, my favorite place. It was pretty picked over with it being back to school, but I bought a pair of skinny jeans for myself, and a pair of tan work trousers pretty cheap. I got V a pair of their leggings and a long sleeve matching top and few other items. Then I ran into Gymboree outlet and they had their plain long sleeve T-shirts for $5.99 in basic colors. I bought cream and lt pink in a 4T plus a tiny onsie with a giraffe for P's niece as a baby gift The Children's Place didn't have too much, but I got V two pairs of super nice winter tights for $2.99 each and a Halloween shirt for $3.99. P bought a new belt at the Leather Outlet. My, we are exciting?

We made it to dinner w/P's brother in GR. It was his 40th Birthday and he was a bit down. We didn't make it to P's mom's until 9:30. Everyone slept in. The next afternoon we went to the playground next to Lake Michigan and V met another little girl and played and played with her. It was nice to go to the playground and enjoy without having to run home to make dinner, etc. We went to the ice cream parlor after that and then watched the Lake Michigan CarFerry come in from the lighthouse pier.

On Saturday we again got a late start. P wanted to take V on a Go-Kart ride and I was worried about the danger, but they were the only ones on the track and she loved it! and went to the Mac Woods Dune Rides at Silver Lake. Silver Lake is absolute stunning with the white dunes and blue sky. V loved the ride and would put her arms up down the hills like she was on a rollercoaster. We then went horseback riding. At 3, they preferred that V ride her own pony tethered to the leader. I was concerned about her falling off and having the thigh strength of a long ride. She did wonderfully!!!!! Her pony was named Ladybug and she sat for the entire hour ride without making a peep. Unfortunately, my horse "Fred" was kind of a jerk and kept stopping to eat. Towards the end of the ride he took off in a completely different direction and I finally got him to turn, but then he decided to run off and join a completely different group and follow them back to the stable. Afterwards the owner said I wasn't stern enough with him! It was the end of the day and I think he was just starving. We went to P's grandma for dinner and she insists on cooking and she is 90. We had local fish fried with no spices. Half the fish was burnt and half was raw. I started doing the dishes and she was mean to me because I "didn't use the correct side of the sink and I was using too much water". Then we walked down to the Lake.

Sunday we decided to come home so we could sleep in our own bed. V insisted on crawling into the bed with us and the bed was super soft and we all slept terribly the duration of the trip. We stopped at the Zoo in GR where we discovered that V's fear of dogs and cats has extended to all animals. Super great. No zoo's or farms for a while. We had dinner with P's brother and his girlfriend and finally arrived home at 9:10 pm. Didn't sleep well and ended up taking off today to catch up and rest. I'm tired. I wish the pics were better, but it's all I've got!