The week before Jellystone this year, William was finishing up week 2 of his summer camp, the twins were enjoying their week at Woldumar, and Emily had some scheduled color guard practices!
Grace and I found time to color some pictures to give to Yogi when we got there, because we were excited to go, and there isn't much time to color while there!
With the exception of meeting the Prescotts in Wisconsin, this is the furthest we've ever driven to a Jellystone park. It was a two and a half hour trip. We wound our way through Amish countryside (where we saw two Amish buggies!!! and the Amish buggy sign.)
Upon arrival, I ran in to collect our welcome kit. The line wasn't long, I guess Sunday isn't a busy day at this park.
To get from our cabin to the activities, you could cross over to an island in the lake, then over another bridge! You could also walk the road, which was a little further, and way less fun.
The only event that was happening after our check in was the 'silent disco' but we were hot and sticky and they did not have on the air conditioning, so it was short lived for our crew.
On night one, I had a note from last year to order pizza. Billy and I agreed that this was a good plan, but when we made it over to the cafe, they had closed for the night! Luckily, on our way in, we had passed a steakhouse, so Billy went to retrieve the car, while the rest of us took some pictures and found other ways to be entertained.
We loaded up quickly once Billy arrived with the vehicle, and made the short drive to the restaurant. The wait wasn't even long enough to get poses from everyone in the antique phone booth!
The closing door surprised Grace!
They had a legit salad bar!!! I was impressed, but since we were ordering pizzas, I just had to settle for snapping a picture.
Pusheen was Alice's photo project this trip, so will prominently feature in many of my pictures too.
We were still pretty sweaty, and the air conditioning was not particularly cool, so everyone had to order water! Seriously, the temperatures were in the mid-nineties, and the air conditioner up here was not built for those temperatures.
The place was either busier than expected or short-handed, but once we finally got our waters, our waitress informed us that an 8 pizza order had just come through, and it would be over an hour before we could get a pizza. So, new plan, we all found things to share again! Billy and Juliet split mozzarella sticks and a burger, Emily and Grace split a BLT, Alice ordered Bosco sticks, and shared them with anyone who wanted one, and William and I split a steak. He picked fries, and I got to have my salad bar!!!
The kids saw the magic once I sat down with my half plate of salad, and half a plate of potato salad, cottage cheese, and pudding! Plus a roll with butter! At least they'll know for next time.
We could see lake Huron through the trees, so we drove down to a park so that we could get closer.
Those stairs did not lead to the beach! Just a platform that was above the beach! Alice's face represents all of our disappointment! There were people on the beach, but you had to climb over railings to get there, and Billy vetoed it.
This boulder had a surprising crack in it!
I was reading a book featuring a lighthouse, Smile Beach Murder, so I was excited to have some extra visuals to supplement my reading. = ) I'm not picky about my pillow, but this cabin did not offer any sort of pillows, so we ended up at the Dollar General so that I could buy one, on our way back!
Our cabin "YBOB."
The bugs were noticeably absent at this park! So, it was really pleasant to hang out on the porch.
I didn't want our yogi's blowing away from the porch, so they had to be inside this trip.
On Day 2, our first full day, we set out to wake up the bears!
But spied a white moth en route!
The twins presented Yogi the colorful pages we brought!
One more with the whole crew!
The events were spaced out one per hour, and with a long, sunny, sweaty walk back to our cabin, we found some ways to entertain ourselves until the pool opened at 10!
Retook the Yogi picture with better light!
Lots of leftover silt and sand in their mining river.
The putt putt was free to play, but there were only two balls, so we all agreed that the twins could play and the rest of us would explore the course.
We found some extra balls, so William also took a turn on the greens.
We all thought this cement obstacle looked like Yogi Bear.
Emily did a quick mock-up, in case you can't quite picture it.
Alice, Emily, and I 'painted' our toes red, white, and blue before our trip!
William wanted a picture too, even though he did not have red, white, and blue toenails. = )
My theory is that they no longer wanted to pay money to maintain the course, so they took out hazards, and were just letting people use it, as it slowly reverts back to it's natural state. It was pretty though!
WE SAW A FROG!!!!! And all agreed that it was the highlight of the putt-putt course.
We found two balls 'Easter egg' style in the rocks around the greens. So, when we arrived there were two balls on the counter, when we left there were seven! ; ) This one even had Yogi on it!
After the course, Alice went to the next event, the Hey, Hey, Hey ride, and the rest of us went to the pool.
Coffee Filter tie-dye was up next for Alice and Pusheen!
Emily didn't get in at first, just sat with me.
WGJ spent hours in the pool! I had a lovely spot in full shade, and my audio book, so when Emily left to go change, I was still happy to sit and watch them swim.
When Emily came back, it was time for more sunscreen, then back in they went!
When William did finally get out, he was prune-y!
Alice and Pusheen went to the ceramics painting, as Alice does each year. She has a lot of cats at this point.
Billy joined us for lunch at the cafe. We were able to get our pizzas this time!
Everyone had a full belly, so we went back to the cabin to rest until the tube slides opened up after lunch (at 330.)
I took the opportunity to wash a load of laundry (Billy had the foresight to bring supplies after we were both sweat soaked from just loading the car!) $2 per wash/ $2 per dry.
Since nothing was happening at the cabin, I spent my time reading, and finishing, my Murder She Wrote book. Spoilers: it was the CIA! I should have brought a second physical book, but didn't know how much time I would have to read! This was my view, also pretty pleasant.
When we first got to the slides, the five of them had me go first! It was fun! But I only went a couple of times, because there was a small crowd that formed. The kids went over and over again!
There was an entire extended family of Geese that live in this pond. The babies are slowly getting in their adult feathers, but are still smallish and fuzzy.
For Day 3, we skipped the bear wake up, but the four of us did go on the Hey, Hey, Hey Ride. We were the last ones on, and barely made it! (They left early, because when I looked at my phone a few minutes into the trip, it was only 9:59!) This felt very unusual, because at the other parks we've been to, there are lines and lines of people queued up for several rounds of riders.
Alice and Emily didn't want to go on the ride, so we told them to meet us an hour or so later to do the Wibit (because we were expecting some storms and didn't know if there would be another water play day!) While we were waiting on that time to arrive, WGJ got back in the pool, and I got my favorite spot again!
Alice moved a little faster than Emily, so she joined the little ones in the pool.
Emily was ready to get straight to the Wibit, so we went to the rec center to pay and get their vests! They all started on the little one, before moving over to the bigger one.
Shade here was a little further away than I would have liked, but I did find some!
Once Billy joined me, I went back to the cabin to get the waterproof camera that Grace packed, but hadn't yet pulled out. When I handed it to Emily, with the lanyard on, I told her that the camera was waterproof, but not buoyant, so don't drop it!
After the Wibit, we headed back to the cabin, so that Billy could grill up all of our protein!
I got to use my mini-cornhole Bluetooth speaker that Emily got my for my birthday! It was marked $3 at the thrift store, but toys were half off, so she got it for $1.50! I love it. I even bought a couple of albums to add to my phone for our trip. Classic Country, Jimmy Buffet, Radio Company, and Reggae provided background music for our meal.
I got several three pointers!
There was no grill at our cabin, so we kept Billy company at the pavilion nearby, with hot and cold running water in the sinks!
After lunch it was time to go back to the slides. I went a couple of times this day as well, but the wind was blowing in the storm, and it was colder than I like to be.
Once everyone finished at the tubes, I think we went back to the regular pool for more swimming! Then, at the end of the scheduled activities for the day, a storm blew in!
This was the map of the storm:
And this is the other side of that WaterTower that I pictured during my laundry run. So, Forester was definitely slated to see the thunderstorm roll through.
It was noisy, and dark, and wet, but beautiful from our cabin porch. I pulled the outside table close against the cabin, and brought in the folding chairs on which to dry the beach towels.
The calm after the storm.
On day four, Alice's shoe broke! No fear though, I had my trusty back of back up sandals that live in the Jellystone supplies!
It was a chilly day compared to our first three days, almost 20 degrees cooler!
It was cold enough, that Emily gave up and went back to the cabin.
The workers had a hard time getting the foam started, but once they did, WGJ had more fun than I expected. Which, as much time as William spent in the bubble room and Impression 5, seems like a strange concern now. lol.
Grace was pointing to her "cloud," but it looks like she's pointing at the GIANT bubble, that was actually a small bubble close to my phone.
Juliet 'hugging' her bubbles.
They 'buried' Grace in the bubbles.
Billy dove over, so even my car got to 'play' in the bubbles.
William wearing a bubble 'hat.'
After the bubbles, we trekked over to the bouncing pillow, because it was chilly, and overcast, which made the pillow much more appealing. They didn't jump long before they decided to go down the slides again!
It was far too cold for me to go in the water (upper 70s) but they all did the tubes a few times before laying out to warm up a bit.
We saved indoor activities for later in the week, because of the rain, so we took the opportunity to go redeem their birthday post cards!
The cooler weather brought the gulls out!
In the activity room we saw that they had hung up Grace's artwork!
It was a cute picture, and she did a wonderful job!
Grace and Juliet were really the only two anywhere close to fitting in this cutout, and they had to get on their knees to fit!
Tie-dying was a little different this year, fewer colors, and not nearly as vibrant after washing, but Emily and Juliet got matching shirts, and Grace and I got matching shirts, since they didn't have four of the same. I now have five shirts in my collection now! And, at home I have started a pile of 'too small' shirts for one of those t-shirt quilts, one day.
Emily excitedly eating one of my waffles, after eating her strawberry ice cream!
Somehow, Grace talked Juliet into letting her use the chalk that she picked from the treasure bin. Grace made some pretty art, and even a hopscotch of which I missed taking a picture.
There was a small playground near us, but all of my dear ones were a little tall to enjoy it to the fullest. And they have no small ones to 'help'!
Eventually Grace gave up on the structure and decided to make rock art instead.
As it was our final night, Billy built us a lovely fire in our firepit!
However, the final event for us was a glow party, so I had to leave the firepit to go shiver at the pool. lol.
The kids said that the water was still warm though!
Pusheen waiting for Alice to get out of the pool.
Pusheen after the glow party.
But not out of the water. brrrr.
A trip to the restroom proved informative, in that the more centralized washer and dryer were almost twice the price of the machines near us, at $3.50 per wash and $3.50 per dry.
Billy still had the fire going at our cabin, so I did get to enjoy it for a little while.
Grace and I collected some pinecone to throw in, and they smelled amazing, if a little on the smoky side.
Our towels were able to dry outside on our final night!
Shots on our last day looked a little like a sad wordle puzzle.
We weren't even a mile from the campsite when a deer ran in front of Billy and went flying when my car hit it. Very sad for the deer, but I am super thankful that my car took minimal damage.
As we approached the main thoroughfare, after 45 minutes of backroad driving, a turtle was out in the road! Billy pulled over so that I could hop out and move it to safety!
Lapeer was just off the interstate, so we stopped to reminisce at Sonic, and how often I went there when the kids were little.
At home, once we unloaded car, the laundry room was overflowing with piles and piles of dirty laundry! I think it ended being 16 loads, once all was said and done. But the laundry is finished, and all of the camping supplies are neatly tucked away until next year!
Billy made some delicious BBQ chicken. None of the kids were eating it, so I chopped it up and skewered it with tiny swords. I threw away very little after that. = )
So, in summary, this campsite did a few things really well: our cabin was well proportioned; the wifi was awesome, because we had a router in the cabin!; the view from our porch was beautiful; the foam party was enjoyable; and the kids loved the wibit and slides.
However, the negatives were such that we will not be returning to this one anytime soon.: There was no fire alarm in our cabin when we arrived, just an empty frame, so I had to ask for one and when they brought it, they didn't install it, just set it on top of the cabinets; the walk was quite far, especially with the events so spaced out; everything seemed to be exceptionally pricy, including things that are 'free*' at other Jellystone camps; we were not given a dedicated parking spot, which would have been awful when unpacking or leaving, but was a hypothetical problem; none of the employees knew the answers to our queries; the ranger station had the worst selection of any park we'd been to, the tie-dying wasn't nearly as good; and they didn't have candy bar bingo during our stay = ( = ( = (.**
It was still a lovely time, and we look forward to returning to the closest, to home, Jellystone next year!
later days
*the slime making was the biggest complaint for me: $10 for a tiny bag of slime? no, thank you. Sadly, I wasn't the adult in the building when this happened. Then the ice cream 'making' was more of a let us scoop your ice cream and you can choose a 'mix in' that we will put in for you. What? I was the adult in the building, and we did leave that one, and went back later when there was no line.
**I know that planning is a big part of camping, but it was really annoying to have to leave the campsite and drive into town to buy necessities that other camps usually have, like milk, and lighter fluid. This one I would not hold against them, because it was my own fault, if the other issues weren't so numerous.
P.S. I drastically overpacked on snacks. At home, some of the kids ::William:: will eat four bags of hot Cheetos, which I try to curtail, but while camping, I try to loosen up some of those rules. So, I bought two 50 count boxes, just of Cheetos, I also bought boxes of potato chips, Doritos, and popcorn. Y'all, we brought home three full boxes and one combine box of chips! Same with the cookies and cereal. I packed almost as much going home as we brought. And had to fit the canopy inside the car, because we had nowhere to dry it at home.
The current plan is to bring the leftovers down to St. Louis, so that the cousins can help absorb it. On that note, we're also bringing Grace's Hello Kitty Bingo game, and two unopened boxes of candy bars, so that we can satisfy the bingo that we didn't get at camp! Hope the cousins are ready for candy bar bingo!!!
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