Michigan Family Trip [Day 4]

Monday, we headed to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, a little over an hour away. 

The biggest sand pile! God made a giant sand pile...that kept going!!

Christian raced Ben up the first BIG hill....and boy he took off..he won easily :)

It wasn't easy to climb!

They were very pleased with just digging! We had brought along a couple plastic shovels, and that was entertainment!!

Christian and I decided to climb a little further.

This was the first of the two mounds we climbed...

we are the teeny, tiny, little people to the left of the cluster of trees in the middle. If you could zoom in, we are waving!

Christian wanted to go to the top of yet one more mound....and I jokingly said, "I don't know!?!" He said, "Come on Mommy!! I know you can do it! We won't give up!" So of course we climbed the next one too. And then RAN down them!!!! The first mini hill was the one on this video clip. I took a slow motion video of the longer hill....and there was no falling involved!

Jonah walked the entire BIG hill down. It was again...not easy.

The boys played in the sand awhile longer, before we left to find a lunch spot.

Across the road, there was a picnic table area that we quick stopped to eat our picnic lunch. 

We then drove up to Glen Arbor. A historical town setting with a really nice beach. Ben, Christian and Noah went to the beach to play while I went for a walk with Jonah in the baby carrier. He fell asleep about 1/4 mi later, so I walked up to the historical Coast Guard home. I walked through an original house that held the crew and saw the original boats/life jackets made from cork. It was really pretty interesting. The train track rails they had that the boats would get set on, to push off into the water to go out on rescue search...it was all intriguing. I'm sure modern day technology and equipment has been a HUGE improvement on how they go about rescuing people.

 

He was still sleeping when I walked back, so I went into the little village they had set up. A real blacksmith shop was open, they had a volunteer demonstrating how to make things. Again, I found it interesting...I don't know as if the boys would have been that thrilled with all of this...but it worked out that I could see it.

After Jonah woke up, we went down to the beach and played for awhile.

Noah and Christian were both pretty tired by late afternoon. Noah requested Daddy "potato sack" him to get to the car so he didn't have to walk.

After the boys went to bed, I drove to the lake (just a couple blocks away).

So surreal.

We had a good day.

Michigan Family Trip [Day 3]

We got up and around, it was a dreary morning. The boys and Daddy stayed at the house, while I went to get groceries at the local grocery store (which was surprisingly really nice!!).

After I got back, we went down by the lake to check out the area.

There was a library near the lake, that had a path behind it, and this really pretty bridge that went over the rapids leading into the lake.

Along the beach, they have a playground. The sand is a little wet from the rain last night, but it was still fun to play.

We were the only ones down by the water.

Jonah played with rocks the whole time...Noah and Christian also played with rocks, but they were much bigger. Sand and rocks...that's all they need!

We had packed food for sandwiches, and found this Art Park to stop at nearby. There were sculptures throughout the path. They had picnic tables along the lake, not a very nice beach...but it was still a nice view to overlook the lake among the trees.

We went back to the house to let the boys (or at least Jonah) take a nap before taking on the afternoon.

Ignorantly, we thought it was a good idea to go out in search of a different beach to go swimming at. We went on a lengthy drive around the lake to get to the other side. I enjoyed seeing all the lake homes, my goodness...there were some VERY extravagant homes. We arrived at an area, that appeared to be a beach. It wasn't. There were no swimming areas whatsoever. 

It was a fun little area though. They had a train car that the boys climbed around on before we got back in the car, and headed back to "our beach" in Elk Rapids...where we were this morning. 

Lesson learned, no need to look for better when you have it already.

The water was downright chilly, but Christian and Noah didn't seem to mind. I loved that it was VERY shallow for a long ways out. Jonah stayed on shore, with his pile of rocks...he was good!

I loved just watching. 

LOVED. 

They each have their distinct personalities. 

 It was a full day. We made supper each night at our place. There was a kitchen table, but it was small and there was no air circulating in that area. Vacation = letting them eat on the floor in the living room where there was a fan and watch a movie on Netflix.

Michigan Family Trip [Day 2]

Our morning got off to a delayed start. Yesterday the back tire of our van seemed to be "off", it wasn't flat, but it wasn't right and it was causing a vibration. Ben had called a couple places along the way, but they couldn't work us in. So this morning, we took it to Midas...then walked to the closest breakfast place, Denny's. I couldn't have been more thrilled....not true, but Ben truly was..he loves any breakfast restaurant.

I had to take a picture of that guy with his "saw" cane...I had glanced over there and thought, what is that guy doing with a hand saw on his leg. Nice.

Everything checked out just fine. Apparently, there is a set about of caked on dirt or gunk your tire can allow for...2 oz. We had driven on a really, really wet gravel the night before we left...and they cleaned out 6 oz of gravel, that he said was like cement since it was wet. Anyway, they were super helpful and took care of it for free...so that was VERY nice.

Traffic through the Chicago area was stop and go...but other than that, our travels went fine.

We were all ready to get out by the time we got there.

We ate at the Cone Corral, a pizza and diner/ice cream place just around the corner from we were staying. 

We all were happy to have arrived. It was a small place, but will work just fine!

Christian says so happily, "Our house is TINY!! Where's the basement??" (because we all know basements = toys)

Michigan Family Trip [Day 1]

This past spring we decided to pick a spot to go this summer for a family vacation. We decided either Oregon or Michigan, mostly for the weather and scenery. We got on VRBO, found a small place available the end of June, and booked it! 

My super helpful assistant, Jonah, laying on all my things to pack for the trip.

Along the way, we stopped at a place in Hannibal, MO called Big River Train Town. It had a large train set, some of which had controls to adjust their speed, or others you could push a button and a small figurine would do a little something. The boys loved it. The lady that ran the place was a bit odd, but then again, a woman in her 60's running a train museum...I think that's kind of a given.

It was a nice stop to break up the day. We kept driving until Champaign, IL...stopped at a local pizza place, Papa Del's. Really good pizza, but super tired boys...they laid down in the booth the majority of supper. 

We got checked in to the hotel, and soon went to bed! Everyone was pretty tired.