Michigan City vacation

For Labor Day weekend (and week) we headed up to Michigan City, Indiana for a little vacation with the Stratton family!  Neither us or the Stratton's got to go anywhere this summer and by July, we were both itching to go SOMEWHERE!  So Clarissa came up with Lake Michigan and we were all on board!  It was fun picking a fun house to stay in and Moondance off of Lakeshore Drive was a great house for both of our families.

Since Lake Michigan is so close, we only had to stop once for lunch on the way up!  We often have to resort to iPhone play so we can eat.

Olivia caught this picture on our drive there.  Pretty wind mills.

As soon as we got to our rental home, Rod broke out the golf cart and toured the neighborhood!

Our kitchen was a dream kitchen.

I found these adorable pictures on Olivia's iPod after our vacation.  

I think these girls were excited to share a room.

And to spend the next four days together!

We got there on August 31st.  Since the neighborhood HOA was putting on a hot dog dinner in the park, we decided to join them for dinner.

Then we ran for the beach!  Beautiful boardwalk from our neighborhood to the beach.

Ahhh!  This is just what we had been dreaming about!

Lake Michigan did NOT disappoint!

Sand and Water make for a happy family!

I was in my happy place with one of my best friends, Clarissa.

The Stratton family is lots fun.  L to R: Grayson (5), Rod, Oliver (1), Clarissa and Caily (6).

We played until sunset our first day.

Then it was back up the boardwalk for bed.

Ryan got some practice on the steps.

Ryan and Oliver even have fun together.

They loved playing peek-a-boo together with the doors.

But we didn't get pictures of that.  

On Monday, it was a rainy morning and so we played at home and grocery shopped.

A few adults napped and we made play dough.

After lunch & nap time though we headed back out to the beach!  The water was cool, but not too bad.  Haylee loved it!

The beach is the one place I've found that every member of our family is happy and content.

Ryan exploring.

more exploring on the golf cart.  

Castle park was right in our neighborhood and got played on lots by the big kids while the adults would get ready for the day, get ready for bedtime or prepare meals.

Tuesday was a perfect day for the Warren sand dunes in Michigan.  Everyone in that area had just started school and so we had the park to our self.  It was cool that particular day too so we didn't sweat as we hiked the hills and the sand wasn't hot at all.

beautiful view from the top of the hill we hiked.  You can see the parking lot below...empty!

Clarissa's brilliant idea was to bring the discs used for snow sledding and sled down the dunes.  It was AWESOME!  

Ryan and Oliver even got to slide down a few times.

I didn't get hardly any pictures of the kids sliding down because I videoed them.  It was so fun!  Grayson made it the farthest down the hill first.  He made a new track that everyone used.

You can kind of see our trail from the top of that hill that we used for sledding.  The kids had a ball and we left while everyone was happy and content and before everyone got too hungry for lunch!

After lunch, we headed over to the pier at Washington Park.

It was a gorgeous day for a little walk.

Boys always have to add adventure to a little stroll.

On Wednesday morning, since Ryan woke me up early every day we were there, I took advantage of it and went for a run.  The beach is so calm in the morning.

We checked out the local zoo our last day there.

This little monkey played with the kids for awhile.

Pretty sure this is their mannequin faces.  

After the zoo, we put the little ones down to nap and took the big kids over to Lake Kai (neighborhood lake) for some paddle boarding and kayaking.  The kids loved that they could do both all by themselves.  This is Olivia paddle boarding.

Carter is in the Kayak on the left and Olivia paddled Caily around on the paddle board.

Then Carter tried out the paddle boards.

He and Grayson paddling around.  Grayson was so proud of himself!

I think Haylee knew this was our last time at the beach before heading home the following day.  She took it all in!

I took some Plaster of Paris to make our hand prints in the sand, but it didn't work out too good.  We learned though and next time we might be able to get it to work.

We love the beach at sun set!

Olivia is buried!

Caily the mermaid!

Rod dug a deep hole and had all the kids put their legs in it.

Then packed them in together.  They thought it was hilarious.

Haylee wandered around a bit.

We played and played until the sun was almost gone.  None of us wanted it to end.

I miss this place already.  

When I zoomed way in with my camera, you could see Chicago.  Can you spot it?

After all the kiddos were in bed, we would stay up and chat, play games and watch TV.  And laugh.  Love the Stratton family.

The kids loved this vacation.  We were sad to leave, but had to get back home.  Great memories made!