Saturday, July 9, 2011

Busy summertime

It's been a month now since the boys have been off for summer vacation.  And boy have we been busy!  This is our first summer in our new house and we're loving it up here.

We're exploring all over Northern Michigan and for me, it's like re-discovering these hidden gems.

We took our first trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes.  It was a shortened visit having just done the Pierce Stocking drive, picnic and only stopping at a few of the lookouts.  We didn't have time to do the super fun dune stop as we were getting close to naptime.  Don't worry, we've made 2 more trips to Sleeping Bear and we've done the super fun dune stop both of those times.

We saw some trillium growing in the woods.


And enjoyed the covered bridge.


Then, stopped for our picnic.  Yes, someone looks grumpy, I just happened to catch everyone with their mouths full.


Some of the dunes...









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As a side note...we got some new barstools for our counter area.  And, the boys are frequent eaters at the counter now.  Breakfast and lunch is now served here.  We did have one casualty, as I expected.  But, there was no blood or scratches and he (the littlest one) hasn't fallen off since (knock on wood).  The downside to everyone enjoying eating here now, is that there are only 3 stools, so mama has to stand.  But the brightside is I can empty the dishwasher while eating, cause I can multitask like there's no tomorrow.




The weather soon warmed up and we got out our pool which we bought at the end of the season last year (on clearance...my dear hubby is good at finding great pools on clearance) and cooled off those hot boys.







If you are my friend on facebook, you may remember that my oldest went away to camp...for 3 days!  It was the longest 3 days in my life.  He had a great time, experiencing the fun aspects of camp.  But, mama's happy when everyone's home.




This is where my heart skipped a beat. 



And shortly after this, his teacher came to my car window and asked how I was doing.  I put on a brave face and mentally knew I would be okay.  But my heart wanted my boy to stay with me.   And, he came home...almost unscathed.  He learned the hard way about dune grass.  I felt better knowing he was having fun and I would have gotten a call if he needed anything.

So, that's all for today.  I'll be posting more pictures of our trips to the Dunes (we did the huge dune climb!) and some of our visitors that have come.  We're expecting friends from back in Wisconsin tomorrow.

Our busy summer continues!