What we did on summer vacation...

We went to the West side of Michigan to drop off Dori for her week long summer camp. Since we had to be over here anyway, we decided to make a vacation of it for everyone. Jay and her sister and both of their families met us. Skip and her family came too. Before we dropped Dori and Skip’s son, Davy off at summer camp… we had 20 people in our little group. On the day we were going to take the two kids to camp we decided to check out Mac Woods Sand Dune ride. It was 40 minutes of tooling around in a huge jeep looking at lots of sand and playing for a few minutes in the lake beside the dunes.

I am not a sand fan at all. I hate the way it feels on my skin. It creeps me out to think that it is little bits of fish bones and seagull poop…. And all sorts of disgusting ocean stuff, ewww!! But, I threw on a pair of jeans and my tennis shoes and made sure I had a spare pair of socks in the truck and joined the group. Other than the sand hitting my face a bit when we picked up a little speed and the little swirls of moving sand in the wind as we drove past, I did fairly well tolerating the ordeal. There were a lot of pretty ocean views and the kids had a great time. I am glad I went.

The next day the group went to Michigan’s Adventure. It was not very warm, but warm enough to go into both the roller coaster side and the waterpark side. It was very nice to have kids old enough to all head out on their own as long as they were ‘buddied’ up. Even Dill was over 48 inches tall so he could go on most of the big rides. Kiwi got quite a bad sunburn and all the kids were hot and tired by the time we headed for home…. But it was a very enjoyable day.

Yesterday, most of the group wanted to tackle Sugar Loaf. It is the largest dune in the area and is huge. It requires LOTS of climbing thru sand to get to the beach on the other side. (As you walk in it your feet sink into the sand to about your knee with every step) Not a place for a person like me that dislikes sand so much! Pepper took all the kids to the beach (my hero!!) and I went for a bike ride with Skip and Pal. There was a 22 mile bike trail that we went on. We went on 8 miles and then stopped for a special treat…. Taco’s off of a truck! We are hoping to tackle the other 14 miles of the trail tomorrow…. But only if the weather is good because Skip and Pal melt in rain!! LOL!

The kids (and there are lots of them!!) are getting along pretty well. There are some minor scuffles every once in awhile, but in general they all play together very well. The food is excellent (lots of it is leftovers from Skip and Pal’s End of the year party) and the wine is flowing….. plus there are plenty of s’mores and cattails for all!!! The only negative thing really is the darn mosquitoes…. They are very numerous and extra hungry in this part of Michigan!!