Cedar Point

This past weekend our friends Bryce and Camille came up to our neck of the woods and we headed to Sandusky Ohio to Cedar Point! In case you don't know (like I didn't) Cedar Point is the #1 Roller Coaster Park in the World. It was about a two hour drive for us, and unfortunately we had stayed up way too late the night before we went so we were all a little tired throughout the day, but it was a lot of fun.

Bryce, Camille and baby Graham all ready to go. Poor Graham was sick, but he was so good throughout the day.

Me and Jord


This is what you see when you walk in. We were so good and got there before they had even opened the rides, so we had to chill for a bit before we got going. How's that for ambititous?



Meet Ride #1. This is the Millenium Force. We decided to do one of the biggest ones first to get a good thrill and hopefully not wait in a really long line. We definitely got our thrill with this one! The first drop is 300 ft high, you go about 92 mph and my legs were like jello after we got off. We decided this was our favorite.

Does that make your hair curl just looking at it? Try going up that sucker, while looking over at the water right next to you, all the while knowing there is not one thing you can do to turn back! Super intense.

The next ride was Thunder Canyon, but only the boys participated in this one, Camille and I didn't want to get wet (mostly me). The boys were sure they wouldn't even get wet...

...they were sorely mistaken.

Our next stop was this big wooden rollercoaster, Mean Streak. The boys went first and told us it was super jerky and killed their backs. So we opted for the very front when we got up there and it was really fun! We didn't get jerked around at all, just enjoyed the ride.

Here we come to the highlight of the day, the Top Thrill Dragster. The entire ride lasts only 17 seconds, you go from 0-120 mph in about 4 seconds. You also climb 420 feet to the top. The anticipation on this one was killer, but the ride was over so fast that you really couldn't even register how high you just were. Looking at it was much scarier.

A closer view of the top, the track twisted right near the top on the way up and on the way down, very fun.

Bryce and Camille waiting to take off

Me and Jord waiting to take off, I was so nervous it was going to take off while I was smiling at the camera, so I couldn't quite relax, if you can't tell.

This one was really fun, but made us a little dizzy. It's called the Raptor, and you are dangling the whole time so it's really fun. It had lots of loops and corkscrews throughout the entire ride, but since the track is above you, you never know what's coming.

Our last stop was The Mantis. On this one you are actually standing the whole time and we got seats near the front to have a better view. It was a lot of fun too, but you had to be careful with your head so it didn't get knocked around too much.

Me and Camille waiting to go.

Bryce snapped this pic of us while we were on it, but you can't really see us.


This right here was Graham's entertainment for the day. He loved the maps, he went through a couple of them during the day.

The day was definitely a success. There were quite a few rides we had to miss out on just because it was so crowded and the lines were so long. We for sure could have spent another day there, but time did not permit. We tried to shove as many rides in as possible, but by about 8:00 we were totally wiped and ready to head home. It was a lot of fun and if you ever have the chance to go, do it! Thanks again Bryce and Camille for heading out to do this, wouldn't have been the same without you!

The Henry Ford

Jordan and I spent Saturday at the Henry Ford Museum. It was very different from what I expected. I'm usually pretty interested in museums in general, but I wasn't sure if I would care much about this one, but I was wrong! It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. Along with the museum we went to the Rouge Factory where all of the cars are assembled, it was pretty cool too.

In front of one of the older Ford models at the Rouge.

If I remember right this was actually used by farmers, they had some intense equipment back then!

These cars were part of the "Rock n Roll Cars and Guitars" exhibit

This is a Buick Skylark, but I don't remember the year or who owned it, I just thought it was fun. And it was huge!

This was once owned by Elvis Presley, it is a Cadillac Eldorado

Rocky Nelson's car

These are some old dollhouses..I would have loved these when I was little

This is the chair that Abraham Lincoln was assasinated in.

The Wright Brothers first plane!


There was lots more to see, but as is standard with museums, we were moving faster the longer we were there so there weren't as many pictures getting taken toward the end. I really enjoyed it because it was very American and so I felt pretty proud to have lived in such an amazing place that has overcome so much. If you're ever in Michigan, this museum would for sure be worth your time.

Six Flags, the 4th, and friends...Chicago Style

Our good friends, Bryce and Camille, moved to Chicago earlier this year. We were sad to have them leave, but knowing we'd be in Michigan this summer we made sure to plan a visit! It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and our weekend was jam-packed with fun activities, we wore ourselves out and had a great time.

We started out with Six Flags, where I've actually never been. We kinda cheated the system using the baby card and sneaking to the front of the line, but it only worked about half of the time. When it did work it was awesome and some of us got to ride those rides twice. I hadn't been on a rollercoaster in forever so the initial ride was a little rough for me but after that I was good to go for the rest of the day!

I had to capture Jord's hair after the rides...the picture doesn't truly do it justice.

We sat with Graham for one of the rides and we were trying to make him smile, this was the result. Ha ha we had so much fun with him, and despite what this picture suggests, he did like us!

Jord and Bryce on the Superman ride.

Pumped and ready to go!

The next day we headed to downtown Chicago, the weather was not as nice and we got rained on quite a bit but it was still a lot of fun.

Us in front of Portillo's for Chicago hot dogs, they were an adventure. Really good, but I didn't exactly include all the ingredients I was supposed to...oops. Sorry guys, onions and peppers will just never be my style.

It's hard to see but Camille and I are in front of the bean with an umbrella.

Me and Jord with our reflection in the bean, the weather was working against us on this one, but we did our best.

Us with the "Batman" building in the background.

Since it was rainig we drove to see some of the other sites, we hurried and jumped out of the car for this one, but sadly we still look like we'd spent the day in the rain!

After the sites we headed to the Science and Industry Museum. We didn't get to spend very much time in the museum itself, but we really enjoyed what we saw.

Jord with and old Ford car, he loves Ford...

The reason we went to the museum is because they had the Harry Potter exhibit there. I really wanted to go and everyone else was kind enough to come along. They did all enjoy it in the end. You couldn't take any pics inside so this is the only one we got. They had a lot of really neat stuff from the movies inside and it made me really excited to see the upcoming movie. Thanks again for letting me do this guys!

Sadly I missed pictures from a few things. A lot of our time in downtown Chicago was spent at the Taste of Chicago, which was a lot of fun and we got to try some fun, interesting foods. We also got some amazing Chicago pizza that night, while the pizza was good, the experience was unforgettable. The waitress was a treat, and wore her emotions right on her sleeve. I'm glad we made a new friend in Chicago that night. Come to think of it, we had a lot of interesting service on the trip, including the girl who misinformed us on just about everything at the museum and the guy who took our order at Baskin Robbins. Why do accents always make everything better? Anyway, we went to an excellent fireworks show in little Sleepy Hollow, but I neglected to take any pics there either, I think I was too busy pointing out lightning bugs to people who didn't believe me, and getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

The trip was wonderful and we were sad to leave and return to our responsibilites in Michigan. Thanks again for being such great friends and hosts, Warnings. Until next time!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

While we were in Utah we got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, it was so incredible. We actually had to miss the Draper open house so the last one I'd been to was the Bountiful temple about 15 years ago. This temple is right down the street from my sister's house, so we were already really familiar with the area and knew right where to go. We really loved it and hope to do a session when we get home.

Jonny and Marissa--June 26, 2009

Congratulations!!

Here they are! They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and the sealing was beautiful. Given by our Great-Uncle Paul, he did everyone in my family's sealings.

Me and Jord and baby Crew, we soaked up every minute of him we could since they will already have moved by the time we move back to Utah.


Me and my little bro Jared

All the brothers, aren't they a cute bunch.


The day went really well, weather was a little touchy but it all turned out fine and we really enjoyed ourselves, we are so happy to add Marissa to our ever-growing Vellinga fam.

The reception...

The Cake

All of my nieces and nephews, a little hard to get thme all looking and smiling with so many of them!

We enjoyed lots of good food...

...and lots of good dancing.