When Lazy Sundays Turn Into Sunday Fun Days

Since Saturday was such a bustling day, I really thought Sunday would be a day to lay low and get caught up on stuff around the house. Lord knows my house could use some serious TLC. But as fate would have it, that's not how the day turned out after all.

Saturday night my mother-in-law called me and asked if we'd like to meet her and her husband for breakfast Sunday morning. I said sure, figuring that we'd be done early and could still get home and get a  lot done. But the kids wanted to visit the pet shop across the street. Lou's Pet Shop in Grosse Pointe is a nifty little place where you can wander as long as you want, cuddling bunnies and trailing the big old free-roaming tortoise around the store. We're talking super kid pleaser, and free fun...unless they are able to successfully convince you that your family is in need of a new pet. But anyway, we drove across to the pet shop and saw that it wasn't due to open for another 45 minutes. What now?

Recently the historical Belle Isle Aquarium re-opened with limited hours, and we haven't been there since it was shut down several years ago, so we decided to head into the city and check it out. Before we got to the Aquarium, we passed the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, also on Belle Isle, and since I've been wanting to go in there forever, we stopped there first.

Kids at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum

I can't believe I had never been to the Dossin Great Lakes Museum before. Let me tell you this: if you haven't been there, I very strongly recommend it. What a gem! It is only open on weekends, but it is FREE, which of course I love. I think my favorite part was the Gothic Room, which was taken out of an actual ship that used to be in service until the mid 1950s, and recreated within the museum. The kids liked that too, but they also loved climbing in and out of the old swan boat and playing in the real ship "command center" (not the right term for it - the room where the captain steers the boat!), which was also taken from an old ship. There are some cool exhibits, and a lot of it is pretty hands-on, so I would rate this place as very kid-friendly. I have to go back with a camera. It killed me to be doing fun stuff without my camera (since this wasn't planned, I didn't bring it), plus I forgot my phone at home, so I couldn't even take cell phone pictures*.

Girls at the Belle Isle Conservatory

Our next stop was the Aquarium, or so we attempted, but it is only open on Saturdays. Bummer! But again, I have to go back to Belle Isle, so we'll hit up the Aquarium soon. I do want to note here that the Aquarium has FREE admission too, just in case you didn't know that. It use to have an entrance fee back before it closed. However, the Conservatory next door was open, so we went in there instead (also FREE). I have expressed my undying love for Belle Isle more than once on this blog, so it should come as no surprise that the Conservatory is one of my favorite island attractions. The best part for the kids was undoubtedly the koi pond in the outdoor garden.

There is talk of turning Belle Isle into a state park, and I'm all for it. Apparently some people are in an uproar about it,but the fact is that Belle Isle is run down and could use some funding to spruce it up and restore it. A perfect way to achieve that would be to make it into a state park. I would be willing to shell out a few bucks to get in. Those entering on foot or bicycle would still get in for free. I guess I don't see what the big deal is. How would it not be best to keep the island in the best condition possible?

Lucy at Lou's Pet Shop

Moving on...by the time we were done at the Conservatory, the kids were hungry again. So we headed back to where we started and had ice cream. Even though we were practically next door to Lou's Pet Shop we ended up going to see Chris's cousin's son's football game. The kids were freezing and it started to rain, so we only lasted one quarter before finally going into the pet shop. Like I said, this pet shop is simply awesome. They have a lot of unique animals, many of which are not even for sale. Kids are often enthralled by the simplest things. But naturally they all now want several different pets ranging from beta fish to hedgehog to bunny, none of which they are getting.

It was totally unexpected, but Sunday ended up being yet another fall fun day! Dare I repeat myself? Fall is going remarkably well thus far. It's only the beginning of the month, but already it's been great. Now if it can just warm up a tiny bit so I don't have to turn my furnace on quite just yet...

* Since, like I mentioned, I didn't have my camera or my phone with me, the pictures in this post were taken with Bethany's iPod. Lucky thing that it rarely leaves her side ;-)