THIS IS THE KIM TENNILL SHOW....

The BIG excitment of the day was riding the camel! Zachary bugged us about it continuously until we finally did it. I left my Grandma Judy with the camera however instead of taking pictures she took a video.... and here it is:

Since we have been here there have only been a few days that have been really beautiful. The other days have been filled with rain and often a chilly temperature! On one of the nicer days Zach, Wyatt, myself and my Grandma Judy ventured out to our local zoo. We had a great time seeing bears, tigers, lizards, snakes, camels and stopping in at the petting zoo and playground area. Both the boys had a great time and it was the PERFECT day for it!

Like most children my children love to go to the playground. We visited my Great-Grandmother, (which means she is my children's Great-Great Grandmother) last week. She turned 91 this year and she is still living on her own, driving her self to local locations and is in really great health for her age! After having a wonderful spaghetti lunch complete with homemade apple crisp and whipped cream for dessert (YUMMM!!!) We headed to the playground and then to the movie theatre to see Night At The Museum 2. We had a wonderful day with her and the weather was perfect for the park!

On Wednesday, May 27th Zachary left to visit some of his family and Wyatt and I went to my Grandma Judy's house for a visit. We decided to venture into downtown Rockford for lunch, walking on the dam, a playground stop and of course ice cream. It is a lot of fun to take my children to these places because this is exactly where we used to come when I was a child. My entire family has lived in the Rockford area for quite a large portion of my life. It is a really nice area and I like to go back every time we are home. (It helps that my Grandma still lives in Rockford!)

As you can tell I have clearly fallen behind in my weekly posts. I do try to post at least 3 times per week however, the last 2 weeks of posting has been nothing short of desolate, barren and anything else that means non-existent. With all of that being said I will be posting pictures daily for the next 7 days!

I have been saving up our photos from the start of our trip to Michigan until now! This week will be filled with tales of our trip from Alabama to Michigan, visiting the local dam, sticking our toes in the very chilly river, playing at the playground, going to the zoo and our fishing adventure which, provided a few MONSTER blue gill that now reside in my belly! YUMMMM!!! We have had a great 2 weeks of rest, relaxation and fun times since our arrival and we look forward to 4 more weeks of Michigan fun!

With all of that being said lets start with how we arrived in Michigan. We left our Alabama home at approximately 7:50am on Saturday, May 22nd and headed west to the residence of our horses. We arrived, loaded the horses and were ready to go by 9am. As we were loading the horses it began to DOWN POUR! Luckily only my shirt was really wet and I had a spare in the truck. I quickly jumped in the truck and changed my shirt. As I was putting on my new shirt my little Zachary said, "Wow mom, you look like a country girl!" Then followed my response, "What country girls do you know that are not wearing shirts?" He giggled and we started on with the trip which consisted of the true definition of a country girl.

Speaking of the children lets introduce you to the crew of this cruiser:

Here am I. The Captain of this fleet. In charge of all children, dogs, horses, driving and overall moral of the ship.

Here is my 1st mate Zachary. He has been very impatient on this trip and always asks, "Are we there yet??

My 2nd mate is Wyatt. He is quite sleepy after a diaper change and a full belly of lunch!

Last but not least is our ship's mascot, Ranger Buddy.

(You can also see our trailer in this picture which houses 3 horses and our entire life including clothes, tents, wagons and other worldly possessions.

Our trip to Kentucky was relatively uneventful and went very smoothly. We were able to drop our horses off around 4:30pm at an overnight boarding facility and head to our hotel for the night. The boys were quite excited about the indoor pool at the hotel. After unloading the necessities, eating dinner, feeding the dog, swimming, taking baths and getting our pj's on we were all wiped out!

We didn't take many pictures on our 2nd day of the trip. We were all very anxious to get there as well as tired of being stuck in the truck. We made it safely to Caledonia, Michigan around 5pm on Sunday, May 23rd.

Overall, the boys were great, the horses and dogs handled the trip well and we are all thrilled to have 6 weeks with family and friend while the other "Co-Captain" of our crew is away.....