Family Vacay - Day 3 - Kayaking, Beach Time and Family Pictures

On Monday, we took advantage of the cooler weather and went kayaking in the morning. Since the kids are still too young to kayak by themselves, we had to split up into two groups. Sandi was back in Chicago for a work event and Erin has three kids. :) So, the older kids went first with me, Ross, Matt and Brett.

I tried to take a few pictures but I didn't want my phone to go in the drink! I had forgotten my waterproof case thing. I was with Morgan this time and Matt was with Avery. I nicknamed Morgan "the human brake" on the way out, but she made up for it on the way back.

We saw lots of ducks and turtles on our ride.

The second group went after us. Erin shared this awesome photo with us! No one fell in the river this year - yay! Last year, Brett and Calvin flipped their kayak right by the dock and went completely under it.

While the second group was going, Matt and I took the older kids to the main street for some shopping and ice cream at Nancy's.

After all the kayaking/shopping/ice cream, we met up at Stray Dog for lunch. It was packed, as usual. I told the kids I would give them $5 if they tried the hot sauce on the table. Morgan and Calvin were right on it, but Nolan said "ah, I'm good". He did not want to try it!

It didn't take long once we were back at the house for the kids to beg to go back down to the lake. Erin had bought some boogie boards, so they wanted to try them out. And Avery was really determined to make a sand castle!

Not a lot of waves when we got there, but it picked up a little bit later so the kids could try out the new boogie boards.

On Monday night, we ordered pizza from Villa Nova. We were getting family pictures on the beach, so dinner time was kind of messed up. We've been getting pictures with this same person for years! We missed a few years during Covid when we had to go to other cities. But anytime we're in the New Buffalo area, we look her up. Once the pictures come back, I'll post them. But, we took a few of our own! We couldn't have asked for a better night... not too hot and the sunset was beautiful!

As is tradition, at the end of the picture session, the kids all want to go in the lake. Usually, Avery is the only one that skips this part. But, this year Avery jumped right in with all of them! Morgan wasn't feeling good this night, so after her dip in the lake, we went back to the house while the kids swam for a bit.

Family Vacay - Day 2 - Lots of beach time!

Our first full day in Michigan was supposed to be rainy, but ended up not being that bad.

We saw quite a few deer during the week. The house we stayed at was all windows, so we could see them eating from inside.

The kids were begging to go to the lake, so we walked down there in the morning. The lake was just down the street. The beach was mostly sand, different than the beach we normally stay at in Grand Beach which is all rock.

The waves were pretty crazy and fun!

We didn't have any boogie boards, so the kids just swam with the waves.

Morgan loved it! She kept trying to go out farther and farther!

Here she is taking a break... the waves wore the kids out!

And then there was the hill back up... it was a big one! Definitely didn't feel that bad on the way down.

The kids were filled with rocks from the beach, so they had to shower off before getting in the pool.

Chillaxin' in the hot tub!

The kids had lunch and relaxed a bit. But, they were ready to get back to the lake.

On Sunday night, we played games while Matt cooked dinner. The ladies played many games of Rummikub and Word Yahtzee during the week.

Photo bomb by Matt! :)

Matt had Greek night with chicken, roasted potatoes, feta salad and pita. It was delicious!

Family Vacay - Day 1 - Getting there

We were counting down the days until our big family vacation to Michigan. And then a few days before we were supposed to leave, my mom slipped on a freshly mopped kitchen floor and broke her knee cap... in half! After a visit to the ortho doctor, they determined she needed surgery. My mom's surgery was on Friday and we were all heading to Michigan on Saturday. So, my parents were not able to come with us this year. To say everyone was disappointed was an understatement!

No question... it's broken!

On Saturday morning, we met up with Erin to get mani/pedis for vacation!

Dad amazed us again with his tetris-like packing of the car. He fit everything in and we could all still sit comfortably! :)

The drive to Michigan was not fun. We were driving with the storm for most of it. It took us almost two hours when usually it should take at most an hour and a half.

So much traffic

So much rain

Passed one of those huge propellor things - not the best day to be transporting this

Hit a few flooded spots on the highway

We finally made it to the house. We stayed in Harbert, MI this year. The house was huge and had a basketball court. So, Morgan had to try it out immediately!

It was taco night, so Avery helped Dad make the guacamole. We took over taco night duties since my mom and dad weren't able to make it.

The rain let up and everyone else showed up, so we tried out the pool.