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!
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| And we're off! Car loaded to the max! |
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| Dinner at the super random, but amazingly delicious Hambone Cafe |
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| Balance beaming the railroad ties in the parking lot |
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| Enjoying the sunset at Lake Michigan across the street from our rented house |
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| Brand new boardwalk ramps/stairs bring you down to water level |
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| Hit the park the next morning |
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| Climbing 100's of steps to the famous lookout in Saugatuck |
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| 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! |
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| views were lovely |
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| Then we hit famous Oval Beach |
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| Playing Uno in the yard while Claire napped |
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| The house had a nice front porch area |
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| The beach across the street from us was beautiful |
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| Plenty of rocks for Luke to throw in |
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| Handsome guy |
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| Eating yummy cherry pie a la mode |
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| 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. |
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| Going out to see the South Haven lighthouse |
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| Lukers loves him some lighthouses |
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| 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. |
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| Getting some fresh goat cheese from the goat farm |
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| It did rain a bit this day, so we went to the local Fennville Children's Museum |
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| Blueberry picking, yahoo!! |
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| Raspberry picking was a bit messier than the blueberries |
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| I cooked more this week than I have in months! We ate at home for almost every meal the whole week. |
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| Watching the big waves |
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| Luke brought a new rock back to the house every day - we had quite the rock collection going. |
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| Saugatuck Duck! On the road/on the water! It was no WI Dells Duck, but we still had fun. |
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| Lunch out in downtown Saugatuck |
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| Afternoon at our beach across the street from the house |
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| Vacation is hard work |
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| Luke contemplating life |
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| Taking Spumoni for a walk during Claire's nap |
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| 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. |
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| Star of Saugatuck ride - big historic paddleboat |
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| Saw this cool house, love it! |
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| Inside/outside/candy/coloring/snacking - these kids were all over the place during the 90 minute tour |
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| Lunch at the park in Saugatuck |
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| 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. |
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| Dinner at Crane's Pie Pantry and wandering around the orchard fields |
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| skipping stones |
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| Cartoons every morning was one of Luke's favorite things about vacation |
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| Claire wanted to sit on my lap the whole week as much as possible |
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| 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. |
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| Kid in a tree |
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| Trail opens up into dunes and water |
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| She couldn't quite keep up with our vacation lifestyle. Next year! |
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| Eating sandwiches back to back. |
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| We got the kids this swing chair and tried it out at the rental house. |
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| Last day - we just hung around the "pool" at the house |
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| 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!" |
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| Sun setting on our last night of vacation |
