We had a Baranko staycation last week, and we packed in the fun! We had considered renting a house in Michigan for our summer vacation, but when considering our criteria and looking for places, we soon realized our own home checked all of the boxes!
- pool
- close to the beach
- close to hiking
- close to kid's activities
So staycation it was, and we loved our decision. Not only did we save the money on renting a house, but we saved all the time and effort of packing and driving. For people as busy as we seem to be, these time savings were much appreciated. So starting Friday evening, July 20th through Sunday evening, July 29th we just enjoyed ourselves! It helped that we had friends and family here the whole week to help us have fun.
The Richardson's were our guests for the first half of the week (our last visit with them before they move to Tucson in mid-August). On Sunday, though, Katie & Joe went to a family party in WI for the day while Luke and I met Mom and Dad and PJ at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Then on Wednesday, right after Katie & Joe left, Mom and Dad and the Carpenter's came, with the Carpenter's staying until Friday. Then Saturday we hosted our 4th annual Baranko pool party for our friends, and on Sunday the Carpenter's came back through from their trip to MI for their family reunion. In between all that we took Donna and Emil's speedboat onto the lake 3 times (it was AWESOME!), we went to the beach several times, we hung out in the pool literally everyday, had a bonfire and ate yummy vacation food. It was action packed, but we had nice downtime every day too, thanks to Isabelle, PJ and Luke's naps.
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| Bristol Renaissance Faire playground |
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| Luke's first "ride". PJ had to grab him around the waist and say "No, Lukers, no!" when halfway through the ride he started crying and tried to climb out! What a good cousin. |
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| Steering the pirate ship |
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| Bristol Renaissance sand box |
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| Afternoon in the pool after the Renaissance Faire |
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| The kids retired to their fort picnic table to eat their ice cream. |
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| Does this kid ever where clothes? |
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| "Why is this guy leaning towards me?" - Isabelle |
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| Just a day at the beach |
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| He LOVES his trucks. They seem to go everywhere with us. |
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| We brought our Egg Harbor lunch takeout to the Chicago Botanic Garden to eat, it was beautiful as usual. |
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| Cheers to vacation! |
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| Pretty swimmer girl! |
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| Luke kept climbing in here and then getting stuck! |
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| Avocado mash for Isabelle - look at her eating solid food! Big girl! |
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| Luke checking out Isabelle |
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| Luke pulled his chairs over to the coffee table to sit on them. So funny when he did that! |
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| Luke checking out the dogs on the chaise lounge, look at that little bottom! |
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| Night swim on a Tuesday night! Why not, it's vacation! |
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| Relaxing in the shade on Wednesday. |
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| Sisters on a boat. |
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| Family picture:) |
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| Enjoying the free Thursday night concert in the square in downtown Lake Forest |
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| It was also car show night. |
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| Luke brought all of his toys under his picnic table to play with, like a little fort, it was so cute! |
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| PJ and Luke are really starting to play together, it is awesome to watch them have fun together. |
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| Josie Yttre, of our guests for the party on Saturday. We had perfect pool party weather! |
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| Olivia Bullock, 6 months old! |
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| All the kids and a couple parents watch the kids. |
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| Jeff and Sarah came too, thanks, guys! |
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| That's all folks! |
