Our annual summer vacation to Michigan the second week of August was awesome! Just the four of us hitting the open road, (around Indiana and up into MI). This year we ventured further than we have the past couple years to the Traverse City area which is about a 6 hour drive. Specifically we rented a beautiful lake home in Grawn, MI on Duck Lake. Just 20 min south of Traverse City, there was plenty to do, but it was very serene too!
Highlights:
- being able to hop on/hop off the speedboat whenever we wanted!
- hot tubbin'
- sunsets on the boat, tubing, swimming and sunning at the sandbar
- very calm and quiet lake, so peaceful!
- day trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes
- playing Sorry Sliders
- bike riding and playground playing
- watching the Olympics and drinking wine after the kids were in bed
- going to our first minor league baseball game
- Mommy & Luke mini golf, zip line and ropes course date
- going to our first drive in movie (and almost staying to watch the actual movie)
- driving up the coast of the Grand Traverse Bay peninsula (what I imagine Napa would look like with the water and the vineyards, gorgeous!)
- U pick flowers
- Lighthouse visit
- picnic lunch by the beach
- U pick blueberries
- fishing off the dock
- hiking and relaxing
Not as awesome parts:
- Spumoni's hardships: not taking the drive very well with his weak back legs, then after a few days of swimming in the lake and not drying off getting some nasty hot spots that required multiple vet visits, then we got scolded by our home owner that he was barking while we were away so we worried every time we left the house. Then we tried to give him something from the vet to make him calmer for the way home and it ended up having the opposite effect when we tested it so he was bouncing off the walls. Guess next time we'll have to leave the poor guy safe at home! He is 11, which is 86 in dog years for him our vet says.
- After the dog barking situation our homeowner (who lives hours away) gave us the impression his neighbors were checking in on us and told us that the neighbor immediately to our left doesn't like renters, period. We didn't feel as comfortable there the rest of the week and kind of felt like we were being spied on.
All in all though we had a fantabulous week! Not too much to complain about, the pros definitely outweighed the cons and we love us some family time. Makes one want a lakehouse, it is pretty awesome!
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| All packed up and ready to go! |
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| Used the extra space in the boat to bring more stuff |
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| playing with toys on the drive with his nice lap board (thanks G&G!) |
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| Made it! Checking out the digs for the week. |
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| Our A frame cabin |
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| Hammocking and bird watching |
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| Cute little beach area |
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| So far so good! Glad to be out of the car. |
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| Happy to have the whole family there:) |
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| She just went right in there with her clothes on 15 minutes after arriving. |
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| Croquet |
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| peaceful morning coffee by the lake |
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| Spumoni's first dip - he went after all those ducks on Duck Lake |
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| He was still so weak from the drive that I was worried he would go too far out and not be able to swim back! He made it, but came to shore at another person's lakefront property (we didn't know yet that this would be a major no-no) |
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| paddle ride |
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| Back in the water |
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| Matt went after him in the kayak to get him to come back |
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| Towing the kids around on the tube |
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| Sunning on the black mat |
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| hot tub was a bonus |
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| Princess night at the Traverse City Beach Bums minor league baseball park, what are the odds!? |
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| Prize wheel |
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| won herself some shades |
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| Going out to see the sunset on the boat with snacks |
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| Love it! And love my Fat Tire! |
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| Morning coffee lakeside with the pup became my new thing that week. Watching the ducks:) |
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| The house we rented was on a peninsula so we biked around it. Love that Luke is legit riding his bike now! |
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| Park was walking distance from the house |
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| Day 2 was a perfect boating day, so we took full advantage |
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| Sandbar was the best |
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| Water was in the 80's, so fun. Claire riding her "whale" |
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| Swim a little, snack a little, sun a little. |
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| Claire catching up on the mystery novels left in the house. |
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| Bonfire |
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| Did a repeat of our sunset boat ride, another beautiful one! |
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| Took the hour drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Just breathtaking views. |
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| quite steep! |
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| Claire walked around like she owned the place, not seeming to care about our worries for her safety. |
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| LOVE Cherry Republic!! Bought out the store. |
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| Cherry lemonade! I asked the guy at the bakery if the chocolate chunk cookies had cherries in them and he looked at me and said "everything here has cherries in it". Well, duh! |
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| Picnic by the water |
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| Maritime Museum |
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| Scenic overlook |
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| Back to our lovely lakehouse |
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| Kayaking with Clairebee |
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| Exploring at the sandbar |
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| Claire napped on me and I was content to sit in the sun and soak up my vacation. |
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| Meanwhile, by Tuesday poor Spumoni kept licking and licking these spots and seemed miserable, so Matt took him to a nearby vet who shaved him to air out the spots and gave him antibiotics. |
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| Matt stayed home with Spumoni and Claire (presumably so she could nap, but she never did) while Luke and I hit Pirate's Cove in Traverse City. |
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| First zip lining, so brave! |
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| He loved it! |
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| Mini golf was also a hit |
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| The kid got two hole in ones! Legitimate ones! |
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| Ropes course was another thing that showed me Luke's bravery, that was so high! |
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| Go karting |
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| Bumper boats, too |
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| These kids love the puzzle balls from Ben and Linda |
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| Luke took this picture |
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| Afternoon park/ shuffleboard/ tennis time |
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| Cutest drive in ever! |
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| Getting ready for the movie |
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| Claire taking pictures |
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| Matt taking a picture of Claire taking a picture. We ended up waiting and waiting and the movie NEVER seemed to start, and the kids were getting so tired and crabby, so we ended up leaving before it even started. Oh well, next time! |
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| We played Sorry Sliders (a game that was there) almost non-stop while we were in the cabin |
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| Driving up the peninsula. Pretties!! Love the water, love the vines. |
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| Lighthouse climbing all the way to the top, he was so psyched since he was too little last time we were at a lighthouse in Door County. |
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| U Pick flowers, such a fun and beautiful experience |
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| It was all honor system, and they had these little watering cans for the kids to use. |
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| Luke chose this flower as his "pick" |
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| So tall! |
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| This picture cracks me up. Her magnifying glass and watering with such care. |
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| Blueberry picking |
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| Homemade blueberry ice cream |
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| Last time on the boat, the rain was coming in fast. They were cracking up watching Matt try to stand up on the tube and then would pull the rope and watch him fall off comically. |
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| My sweeties! |
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| What a ham! Using my pop color filter. |
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| Marilyn Monroe style |
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| Tubing solo |
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| He was so light that a big wave would flip him over if we weren't careful. |
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| Swimming in the deep water. We didn't want to go back knowing it was our last vacation boat ride. |
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| We ate out here most every night. |
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| Now that's vacation. |
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| Hiking between rain bursts on our last day. |
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| Leaving our visit to the famous Moomer's Ice Cream shop until the last day. Dairy farm on site! |
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| My fearless captain pulling up the anchor on the paddleboat |
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| Fishing with Dad |
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| Claire and I painted our fingers and toes while the guys fished. Claire wasn't so into fishing. |
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| And that's it! Great vacation!! |
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