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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

MI Vacation

After our amazing inaugural summer family vacation to the South Haven/Saugatuck, MI area last summer, we decided to do it again this year with a bit more pre-planning this time.  We rented a house for a whole week and we had a really fun time!

And we're off!  Car loaded to the max!
A couple of kids & a 100+ lb dog - oh, Luke & Claire came too 
Our rental house in Fennville, MI - super cute 2 bedroom with a great yard, great location and nice layout (but with an unfortunate dog pee smell in the carpeted areas if we're being honest, but these are the prices you pay when you rent a pet-friendly house - worth it to bring Spumoni!!)
Claire got right down to business playing tea party in her new room
Dinner at the super random, but amazingly delicious Hambone Cafe

Balance beaming the railroad ties in the parking lot

Enjoying the sunset at Lake Michigan across the street from our rented house

Brand new boardwalk ramps/stairs bring you down to water level



Hit the park the next morning


Climbing 100's of steps to the famous lookout in Saugatuck
The kids did ok for a while, then we had to carry them.  Matt had Luke and I had Claire - and it was hot and they were heavy!


views were lovely
Then we hit famous Oval Beach 





Playing Uno in the yard while Claire napped

The house had a nice front porch area

The beach across the street from us was beautiful
Plenty of rocks for Luke to throw in





Handsome guy
Eating yummy cherry pie a la mode

It was supposed to rain so we went to South Haven to catch a movie, but then the sun came out so we diverted to the fun park we loved visiting last year.
Going out to see the South Haven lighthouse

Lukers loves him some lighthouses




Ahhhhh....vacation!  (that was a reference to the wine, not the Twister in the background)  Every night after the kids went to bed we'd drink wine, eat pie and watch an "Orange is the New Black" episode.  

Getting some fresh goat cheese from the goat farm



It did rain a bit this day, so we went to the local Fennville Children's Museum

Blueberry picking, yahoo!!






Raspberry picking was a bit messier than the blueberries







I cooked more this week than I have in months!  We ate at home for almost every meal the whole week.

Watching the big waves






Luke brought a new rock back to the house every day - we had quite the rock collection going.

Saugatuck Duck!  On the road/on the water!  It was no WI Dells Duck, but we still had fun.







Lunch out in downtown Saugatuck




Afternoon at our beach across the street from the house

Vacation is hard work

Luke contemplating life


Taking Spumoni for a walk during Claire's nap


He came along for a run the next morning and I found a spot to bring him down to the beach to have a bit of fun.



Star of Saugatuck ride - big historic paddleboat

Saw this cool house, love it!
Inside/outside/candy/coloring/snacking - these kids were all over the place during the 90 minute tour





Lunch at the park in Saugatuck

We went to visit the resort we stayed at last year, Dollybrook.  We had to see the cat house and we promised Luke he could play with the oversized toy trucks in the big sandbox.




Dinner at Crane's Pie Pantry and wandering around the orchard fields



skipping stones

Cartoons every morning was one of Luke's favorite things about vacation

Claire wanted to sit on my lap the whole week as much as possible

Hiking in Saugatuck Dunes State Park -we knew Claire wouldn't hike so we had her in the BOB, but we didn't count on Luke wanting to ride along too or for the trail to be uphill quite so much.  
Kid in a tree


Trail opens up into dunes and water







She couldn't quite keep up with our vacation lifestyle.  Next year!


Eating sandwiches back to back. 

We got the kids this swing chair and tried it out at the rental house.

Last day - we just hung around the "pool" at the house


After dinner Luke really wanted to get popsicles, but we decided to go to a little bakery I heard about to get a cupcake or something instead.  After we bought a bunch of things and the kids were happily eating in the backseat Luke stops and informs us, 'Hey!  None of these things are popsicles!"

Sun setting on our last night of vacation



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