July 16, 2013

Day trip to Ludington

Last week, we planned a day trip to Ludington, which is a town on the coast of Lake Michigan about an hour and a half northwest of Sparta, where we live. Our desire to explore Michigan has us reaching into new territory for us. It reminded me of a news segment that was on the local news when I grew up in Ohio - "One Tank Trips" where the TV personality highlighted fun things that you can do with only one tank of gas.

Anyway, we had our plan for the day and hit the ground running. Our first stop was SandCastles Children's Museum. It was a cute, small childrens museum with mostly pretend play exhibits (vs. science exhibits which are geared toward older kids). Finley LOVED sitting in the real airplane and buckling and un-buckling her seatbelt. "Safety First" she kept saying ;)


Fisher is still a little young for the Children's Museum...



Finley enjoyed pretending to pick vegetables. She only picked the carrots and told me that she didn't like onions or beets.



She was a pro at going through the grocery store. She put her food up on the belt and paid some random girl who was pretending to be the cashier.




Overall, I HIGHLY recommend this Children's Museum! It was affordable (I think it was $4.50 per person), just the right size and had plenty of fun for Finley.



Next we hit up the beach. We knew that the beach would not be an all day thing for us so we opted to use the free city beach park vs. the state park, which you have to pay to enter. First we had a picnic lunch which we had packed. Then we changed in to suits and got ready for the beach!



Fisher and I mostly hung out on our beach blanket. I am paranoid of him getting in the sun since he isn't old enough for sunscreen yet so he stayed shaded in the comfort of his carseat.


Meanwhile, Paul and Finley played in the cold water and sand for a couple of hours.




After the beach, we cleaned up and put both kids in strollers to walk around the antique shops in town. Not all of the shops were very stroller friendly but we managed to get in and out. At our last shop of the day, Paul may have found a diamond in the rough.... but that is TBD as we're waiting to see what he can get for it. I'll keep you posted!

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a nice family day....gotta love that we finally have some beach weather!

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  2. I was thinking about making a day trip up to Ludington this weekend. My parents are up there camping right now (not at the state park; a county park).
    I didn't know that museum was even there. Since my parents spend time every summer there I'm going to have to check it out. Do you think it's to old for a 8 year old?

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  3. @ Kelly - I think an 8 year old would have a great time! Finley was definitely on the younger end of kids there. THere was even a "Mad Scientist" science class there that Finley was DEFINITELY too young for.

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