Happy Michigan Week! That's what I'm calling this last week as I just realized we did this same exact trip at the same time last year. We spent a week in Michigan doing all the things most important when I venture home. It was both exhausting and amazing. I'm glad we were able to spend time in one of my favorite places with some of my favorite people.
It was a go-go-go kind of trip. We did something exciting every day. The kids were champs about it, but we were all so sick of the van by the end of the trip. We drove all over the state:
Thursday: 3 hours to the west side of Michigan in St. Joseph
Friday: 3 hours east to Davison
Saturday: 2 hours north to and from Frankenmuth
Sunday: 2 hours south to and from Ann Arbor
Monday: 3 hours east to and from Caseville
Wednesday: 3 hours west to St. Joseph and then 3 hours south to home
The week started with a 3 hour drive to St. Joseph, Michigan. My mom joined me as Michael stayed home this trip so he could get some work done on the house. We spent the day on the beach. The kids loved playing in the sand, especially Eleanor! And then we ate right off the marina and finished with icecream.
Unfortunately, my mom and I pulled mostly all-nighters. Sleeping in a hotel room with that many people is difficult, especially for Eleanor (who struggled the entire trip with sleeping); but, there was no time to complain... we drove the next 3 hours all the way to Davison in the morning. We spent the day visiting my Grandma June and eating at my favorite restaurant. And of course, we had to get more icecream :)
Eleanor fell asleep standing up every single night. I will never understand her persistence to fight sleep like she does.
The next day we headed to Frankenmuth, one of my favorite places! We visited Bronners, the largest Christmas store in the world (a 7+ acre building). The kids picked out their ornament from Mimi and Bupa and we marveled at all the beautiful things. Then we explored the quaint little town, complete with a visit to the Cheese Haus for chocolate cheese, Kilwins for our fudge, Riverplace Village for my cherry wine, and Bavarian Inn for taffy and old fashioned candy. It's such a magical place. I thought so as a kid and my kids think so now. Isla was even dancing throughout the entire store because she was so happy.
I didn't get any pictures on Sunday, but we spent the day at my cousin's grad party where I got to see a lot of my extended family. We also had a sweet visit with my great aunt Darlene.
On Monday, we headed to my childhood paradise- Caseville. It's where my mom grew up in the summers and where we travelled and vacationed every summer. It was the second Great Lake we visited this trip! The kids loved spending the day at the beach and of course, getting MORE icecream! But tradition is tradition. You can't go to Caseville without getting a cone and walking the pier.
Tuesday was our rest day and it was much needed. I spent the morning visiting with my best friend Crowder, who drove all the way to Davison to see me. And we ended the night with a cookout and a last visit with Grandma June.
On Wednesday, we met Michael halfway in St. Joseph. He traded my mom's car so she could take it home and he got his family back :) We spent the day at the beach (again) and splash pad before heading home. All 3 kids fell asleep on the drive. It was a tiring trip!
We had such a great trip. There were a couple hiccups, whining from everyone, and lack of sleep; but, overall it was a successful and fun time. These days with 3 little kids can be hard sometimes, but the importance of taking them back to my childhood home and seeing the people that love them is worth all the hard days. And now we are detoxing from the travel, sugar, and go-go-go of it all.
I arrived home to our laundry room in the process of being remodeled. Michael was unfortunately sick while we were gone, but he still managed to keep the laundry room project moving. New floors went in and I'm excited for the rest of it to come.
The down side of being gone was that my beloved garden crumbled without me. I came back to all my lettuce bolting, many over ripened cucumbers and snap peas, weeds galore, and japanese beetles destroying my grapes. I may or may not have cried a little. One week did so much damage. But Isla reminded me we have plenty of things still sprouting up. And she was right as her and I harvested 3 pounds of bush beans the next day :) And we had a zucchini that we quickly turned into bread!
Besides our trip, June was full of all things summer. We had backyard s'mores, garden salads every day, hours and hours of swimming, smoked meats and garden dishes, car shows with Pop Pop, Saturday morning farmer's markets, and everything else that is summery :)
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