Trip to Michigan

On the 28th, we took a last minute drive to Michigan.  We drove to Grand Rapids, looked around a little and walked through Meijer Gardens (Meijer's headquarters is there and they have a botanical/statue garden).  Inside the main building they had Christmas Trees of the World set up.  The one representing Germany.

Switzerland.

This on represents Ukraine.

Yes, it has spiderwebs on it (those fake ones you can get at Halloween).  There was a story with this tree, about a poor family that could not afford decorations.  So magical spiders spun webs on it in the night and the webs turned to sliver and gold.  I thought it was the most interesting story of all the trees.

There were a few gardens in the greenhouses.  One had a waterfall.

Some cacti almost bigger than James.

This statue in called Angry Mom.

Jon and James walking down the slippery path.

We really did not walk out side much.  It was below freezing, even though the weather had said it would be warmer.

They also had trains set up in some of the greenhouses.  James loved the trains, and this was really the first exposure he has had to them (beside in nursery and Grandma Felt's house).  We decided to save trains for later in his life and I guess that time is now.  How much do you know about trains?

After a short walk outside, we found a building with this train set up.  James loved it, and surprised us by picking up a car and saying, "coal car."  It was indeed a coal car.

We had a hard time getting James to leave the trains, but we finally did.

Our next stop was the largest Christmas store in the world.  We drove to Frankenmuth (not really that close to Grand Rapids).  We were looking for a specific Christmas ornament.  We did not find what we were looking for, but we enjoyed walking around.  Then, we headed home.