After months of doing next to nothing, we decided to shove a whole bunch into 7 days!
Saturday - We gathered with family for the day. There was lots of food, fellowship, fun, laughing, and swimming! Not to mention a bonfire with hot dogs and smore's.
My brother Kel and I got a "sibling" photo . .. minus my other two brothers.
A few brave souls got in the water.
We love Lake Michigan.
The kids had lots of fun with sparklers too!
Sunday - Today we recovered from our day trip and also started packing for our camping trip.
Monday- Thursday - Camping!
We arrived on Monday to wonderful weather. We took advantage of it and cooked our favorite steak kabobs over the fire.
Our campsite was near this huge dune. Both boys took off and climb to the top to get a great view of Lake Michigan.
After dinner we walked down to the beach and enjoyed a wonderful sunset. Sunsets on Lake Michigan are the best.
Nate loved using his phone to do some time lapse video of the sunset.
Our family photo thanks to another photographer on the deck. After this we enjoyed a great campfire and roasted marshmallows. We headed in just about the time the rain started.
Tuesday dawned rainy and wet. It rained most of the day so we just took off for a drive. These ducks are a good representation of how wet it was!
We also enjoyed a treat from Panera Bread before heading back to our camper for the night.
Wednesday was a little dryer so we could get in a nice hike. We went to the channel and wanted to walk to the other campground where we normally stay. Here Josh is searching for internet HA!
Darryl, Josh and Nate - we really love the water and have dreams of living close enough some day to go to the beach every day.
So, this side of the campground has been closed this year due to flooding. I just couldn't figure it out in my mind so we walked through the campground - there are huge areas that are totally covered in swamp land now. This area in this photo is where we normally camp - two of our favorite sites. We asked if they thought it would be open next year and were told that it is doubtful at this point. The high water levels have really impacted quite a few campgrounds and beaches.
We also went and got ice cream at "Norm's" - it was our first time there and it was good. We will go back next year!
Darryl, Josh and Nate took off on a hike down the stairs. They found some great things. What did I do? I stayed in the truck and read :-) Yes, I prefer reading to hiking!
Thursday we loaded up and headed to the beach for a picnic.
These three fed the seagulls. The seagulls love them, that's for sure!
Josh said it was a little cold :-)
Nate is a Michigan boy through and through - he goes in the water no matter what and did not disappoint. Yes, he is in the lake - the air temp was only about 55 degrees. He said it was cold but that he was getting used to it HA! Shoot, it was even raining while he was going in the water!
Friday - Today was a recovery day. We had to open the camper up to dry it out, pull out rugs and chairs that needed to dry and, of course, do laundry. We ended the evening with dinner at my mom's with my brother and sister-in-law, Kel and Deb. We had to say good bye as they head back to Brazil in just a few weeks.
So, yes, this was an amazingly fun week and we are so thankful for the family time that we were able to have. Now, we gear up for school!
