Lake Michigan Getaway 2017 – Part One
Happy Tuesday, friends! We just got back from our Lake Michigan Getaway on Sunday and boy-oh-boy, I have so much to share!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks over here. The day after Henrys’ last day of Kindergarten we headed up north to Traverse City for Jon’s cousin’s wedding, then we came back home two Sundays ago only to unpack and pack again and leave for our Lake Michigan Getaway in South Haven on Tuesday morning. We stayed from Tuesday to Sunday (two days ago) and we had a blast! This year we rented a house with my sister and her family. We even stayed a little closer to the beach this time around, too. In fact, the waves could be heard from our yard – it was awesome!
As usual some good R&R was exactly what I needed…what we all needed. In fact, I’m feeling soooo relaxed that when we came home on Sunday I immediately got to work checking things off my never-ending to-do list. I rolled up and got rid of our dining room rug (something I’ve been meaning to do for months), I used a shop vac to clean up the back porch, washed some siding, put away loads of laundry and I also wrote out TONS of blog post ideas!!! I’m feeling crazy motivated over here and I really believe it’s all because I was able to get away and clear my mind.
I’d say all that energy is a sign of a successful vacation, wouldn’t you?
Let’s rewind a bit, to the the beginning of the trip.
It all began like this…
Ooooooooooh, grocery shopping!
Because who doesn’t start their vacation with a massive grocery shopping trip?
Yup, Kimmy (my sister) and I went shopping sans children to stock up on lots of food and goodies for the week.
I suppose the salad over there in the bottom left corner and the humongous Goldfish box in the bottom right kind of give away our age and state of motherhood.
#notinourtwentiesanymore
Oh, but don’t worry – us moms still know how to hang!
Oh and look at this – the house had a hot tub! Say whhhhaaaaat?!
Throughout the week we took turns making dinner for each other. Jon and I cooked up dinner on the night of our arrival. We made pub burgers and pasta salad. Everything was delicious and clean up was super easy considering all the helping hands!
We woke up Wednesday morning to a calm and sunny morning.
My sister and I made sure to utilize the front porch’s rocking adirondack chairs whilst drinking delicious coffee.
Have I mentioned how relaxed I was feeling?
The kids ultimately found our secret location, but we didn’t mind, Kimmy and I were caffeinated (as I’m sure our husbands were as well) and ready for some lake time.
We put on our swimsuits, gathered up all of our beach gear and off to the beach we went!
The weather and water were absolute perfection. My sister and I wanted to rent some paddle boards, but we decided we’d do that later in the week. So, instead, we just sat, relaxed, watched the kids play and basically just took in the view…
Random husband photo! LOL!
I mean, I was liking this view. *wink wink*
Back to the children…
After the beach we went back to the house, put on some dry clothes and headed to the local Farmer’s Market!
Doesn’t this picture just scream, organized chaos? LOL! Our kids are amazing, but, man, they weren’t exactly loving the moment. Haha. These are the days, eh?! 😉
We strolled through town, the parents grabbed some coffee, the kiddos ate some ice cream, and we visited a bunch of cute shops.
These boys were always holding hands.
Be still my heart.
After some time in the downtown we headed back to the house and let the kids play in the hot tub.
My sister and her husband made a delicious beer can chicken for dinner and afterwards my sister and I got out for a bit. I rode my bike while she rode her longboard!
For real, how cool is she?!
#lookatthatcoolmom
The next morning, Thursday, it was a tad wet outside since it had rained the night before. We decided to stay indoors for a while and take our time in the morning before heading out into the downtown for more window shopping.
Don’t mind my outfit…I was all about the comfort!
Shopping was fun! I sooooo wanted this sign and I’m still kind of kicking myself for not getting it. Grrrrr…!
I should’ve taken this sign’s advice a tad more seriously. 😉
But instead, I ended up taking pictures of cool floors. I seriously had a four minute conversation with the owner of a shop consisting of lots of questions concerning her floors.
FYI – They’re grade B plywood and whitewashed with a polyurethane finish. You’re welcome.
😉
I did end up purchasing some rain boot inserts for Eliza from this particular shop…the floors made me do it. If I could’ve also purchased those floors though…………… Geez, I was in love. All the heart-eyed emojis!!!!!!!
We went and grabbed more coffee for the moms and dads and yummy drinks for the kiddos before heading back to the house. Eliza was sure to model off her new boot insets ASAP! Two things here. One – you can’t even see the inserts. Awesome. Two – we never even used the boots while on vacation. Had I not brought the rain boots I probably would’ve had more room in our car for that sign up there. No, you know what…let’s make it three things…and three – this girl’s pose? Lol! What’s with that? So funny!
We swapped out the unnecessary rain boots for bathing suits and left for a late afternoon trip to the beach.
Another random picture of Jon enjoying the water! Haha!
The oldest of the cousins was loooooving the waves!
I got out there too! Yes, yes – I promise I did in fact interact with my children at one point and not just drink coffee and hang out with my sister the entire time. Haha! Okay, okay so I did hang out with her like 95% of the time, but hey look at me working it out there with Eliza! That should count for three hours of playing with Shopkins and the construction of one Lego Batmobile. Right?
After a lot of waves, wind and sand we rinsed off and hopped into the hot tub. I do believe we all got in the hot tub after every single trip to the beach, it was glorious.
At one point my phone was highjacked by the littles and I later found a few hilarious pictures in my photos. This, of course, being one of them…
Once the kids were in bed, it was back to my sister and I enjoying some time together in the hot tub…. with drinks in hand, of course!
Our drink of choice for this particular evening was Sex on the Beach. Our hubbies rode their bikes to pick up the necessary ingredients and lo and behold, I became a master bartender in no time!
You guys, I seriously question myself as to why I haven’t been making these sooner in my life. I’ve had these at weddings, but I’ve never actually just made one to have at home. I’m now a changed woman. Seriously. Soooo yummy!
Okay, so, on that note, I’ll call it and say that that’s Part One of our Lake Michigan Getaway!
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have Part Two ready to go!
Thanks for stopping by guys!
Marie 🙂
I’m linking up over on Tuesday Talk and Weekending.
