Overnight trip to St. Joseph

We made plans to meet our GORGE friends in South Haven for dinner, so we spent the night in St. Joseph at the Holiday Inn on the lakefront to make a fun overnight trip out of it. Steve was invited to come along with us and we did all the things he asked for a couple months ago: stay in a hotel room, swim a bit, watch a movie, play some games, eat the breakfast buffet. One of the great things about being with children is how they remind you that so many things are special and exciting, b/c we adults just get used to things like a beach ball or breakfast buffet and forget what a unique privilege these experiences are for children.

Dinner time was fun with friends. THe adults got one table and the kids another. At first Steve was a bit shy with the other boys, but before long he was talking Star Wars trivia so excitedly with the other Star Wars fans at his table that he took almost an hour to eat his platter of butterfly shrimp. I have never seen a person enjoy the meal and the conversation as much as Steve did that night, it was a delight to watch him.