Aunt Betty and Garytt
Aunt B reading to Garytt while Uncle Julius looks on
And Garytt is over it...
We picked up Justin and decided to go over to Holland, Michigan for lunch and to look around. Holland is only about 20 minutes from Grand Rapids and, as the name suggests, is famous for the Dutch influence. So, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, as Garytt was getting close to the meltdown phase of being hungry, and then headed out to Windmill Island to see the famous Dutch windmill.
The actual tourist season for Windmill Island had closed the weekend before, so none of the shops were open. However, it was really nice because there weren't many people around and we could just let Garytt run around for a bit.
The shops on the way out to the windmill
The wooden shoe shop...closed
The mini-windmill near the shops
Another view of the mini-windmill and the bridge out to the big windmill
Garytt and the mini-windmill
Garytt walking down the dirt road to the big windmill
It was such a beautiful day outside, that we took our time walking out to the windmill. I thought it was a great break for Garytt to be out of the car and able to wander before we had to make the 6 hour trip back home. We did finally make it out to the windmill.
You can see Garytt is a tiny spot by the blue doors
The bricks by the blue doors were at a slight incline and Garytt loved going up and down the ramp...and making faces at the camera.
Garytt wasn't too keen on leaving the windmill, so Justin ended up carrying him on his shoulders for a while.
Garytt was happy to walk on his own once we got back to the shops and the little garden area.
We decided to go check out a place called the Dutch Village while we were in town as well. It turns out that all of the outdoor kids stuff was closed for the season. However, the Wooden Shoe Shop was open. Unfortunately, they didn't have any demonstrators, but you could view the machinery. So, we briefly walked through that shop before moving on.
Information bell tower for the part of the village that was closed for the season
Garytt and Justin in front of the Shoe Shop sign
We decided to check out one more spot before leaving Holland. We drove over to Tunnel Park. I had read about Tunnel Park online and thought it seemed cool. We arrived at the park and saw a huge sand dune. They had steps so you could climb up to the top and look out over Lake Michigan. It was quite a few steps but the view was beautiful!
The view from the top of the sand dune
Garytt is checking it out.
Running around in the picnic area at the top of the sand dune
I took a few pictures of the guys coming down the dune. They started on the stairs and then transitioned over into the sand.
Going down the stairs on his bottom, just like we taught him...good job!
This shows just how tall the sand dune is!
At the bottom of the dune, there was a little playground. So, we let Garytt ride the merry-go-round for a minute. It was his first experience on a merry-go-round. He only slipped once.
By then, it was really time that we needed to start heading back to Wisconsin. I was a little confused and bummed because when I had looked information up regarding Tunnel Park, I thought there was an actual tunnel through the sand dune that we could just walk through but we hadn't noticed it. So, we headed back to the car and got Garytt all strapped in. Then Justin ran over to the restrooms that were in the park. When he got back to the car, he said that the tunnel was just on the other side of the restrooms...yeah, we felt like dorks. Since we had already been through the Garytt meltdown of having to get back in the car, we decided not to get him back out to go check it out...but Tunnel Park does actually have a tunnel in it...good to know!
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