Summer Fun List: West Michigan Style!

You know me and my to-do lists! I even have to-do lists for having fun 🙂

After a few summers of never feeling like we did enough fun and exciting things to really enjoy the summer, I started making a summer fun list to remind us of awesome things we could be doing with our time off.

West Michigan is an awesome place in the summer with tons of lakes, beaches, rivers, attractions, and nature. So I wanted to share with you my West Michigan Summer Fun List.

And If you don’t happen to live in West Michigan, most of these activities can probably be found in your area too. It’s almost summer y’all!!!

Budgeting For Summer Fun Money $$$

There are tons of inexpensive ways to enjoy the summer around here, but there are always extra expenses here and there like parking fees, admission costs, and the price of going out for ice cream at least twice a week. It all adds up.

Last year, we took a chunk of our tax return and saved it to use for fun summer-time activities and it was awesome!

It was only a few hundred dollars, but we used it little by little all summer long to enjoy the summer.

If you haven’t yet, I would start thinking about all of the summer activities you plan to do this summer and save up for them now so that you are free to fully enjoy the summer without worrying about money.

Summer Fun List: West Michigan Style!

Water Park: Michigan’s Adventure

I love a good day at an amusement park! And since my fella tends to get sick on roller coasters, we try to stick with water parks.

Michigan’s Adventure is in West Michigan and has a pretty great water park.

We went last year on my birthday and had a super fun day.

It’s definitely in our plans do go again this year. And as far as amusement-type parks go, it’s really not too pricey.

Tour: Country Dairy

I have to admit, this has been on our summer fun list for about 3 years and we still haven’t done it.

Country Dairy is a big family farm that makes the BEST ice cream. Like, the best. There’s one called Nutty Java Moo that’s a coffee ice cream with chocolate covered nuts in it and I can’t get enough.

Anyways, their ice cream is sold locally at a few stores and you can visit the farm to get ice cream and other fresh products like cheese and meat. They also have a chocolate milk fountain that kids go crazy over.

We’ve never done the tour to see how and where they make the ice cream and it needs to happen this year.

Grand Haven’s Musical Fountain & Pronto Pups

Grand Haven has tons and tons to do all summer long including the well known Coast Guard Festival.

We love going to Grand Haven to see the Musical Fountain. It has performances all summer long after the sun goes down. They light up the fountain in all different colors and set it to different music.

You watch it from across the canal that leads out to Lake Michigan. I thinking we’ll go again this year when my mom comes to visit. My picture doesn’t really do it justice at all. It’s huge and beautiful. Best of all, it’s free!

Another very important reason to visit Grand Haven is for Pronto Pups.

Pronto Pups are a fresh-made corndog that you have to eat to understand. Amazing.

It’s a business that has been around since 1947. They have a tiny little stand on the boardwalk and you are lucky if there are less than 10 people in line in front of you.

You can watch them dip the hot dog in their special batter and then fry it for a minute before giving it to you piping hot.

Oh, and if you want mustard or ketchup on it, they swipe it on with a big paintbrush. I’ve been craving a pronto pup all winter and I can’t wait to go. Probably more than once.

And if you somehow get bored of all of the exciting activities in Grand Haven, you can always enjoy the beach, watch the sunset over Lake Michigan, and walk the pier. If you’ve never been to Lake Michigan: No, you can’t see across it at all (I get asked that all the time).

Swimming

Swimming is certainly not just a West Michigan thing, but we have a ton of lakes and beaches here!

We live less than a mile from the biggest lake in our city (there are a lot of lakes in our tiny town) and we walk to the beach as much as we can. It helps that there is an ice cream shop at the beach.

Plus, my in-laws have a pool, so we plan to go swimming as much as possible this summer! Mozzie prefers to stay dry.

Floating Down The River

The Muskegon River runs all through Newaygo County and we wait for a super hot day to float down the river in inner tubes (the water is always cold).

It’s a fun, relaxing way to spend a summer afternoon.

Ice Cream, S’mores, Campfires, & Summer Movies

We actually had a campfire with s’mores on Mother’s Day, but I’m sure we’ll do it many more times before the end of summer.

I’m ready for tons of ice cream, s’mores, and campfires!

Plus, there are always a lot of good movies that come out in the summer, so we’ll use some of our summer fun money to go see the ones we’re really excited about, which usually means the superhero movies. We already saw the new Captain America movie last week!

⇒ What fun activities do you have planned this summer for where you live?

This post is linked is linked up to Frugal Friday.