Photographic Vacation Recap

We recently returned from a lovely family vacation to Northern Michigan.

I will skip the jibber jabber, and present to you a photgraphic recap our of wonderful time together.


The Journey

We began our 6-8 hr road-trip (first time with two children, eek!) with early morning bed-head and pre-vacation excitement

 The Drive, at sunrise

We wisely made the decision to caravan with my brother and his fam...both having children, we took our time, and made lots of stops.
Potty breaks? Check. Walk the dog? Check. Nurse the babes? Check. Coffee break? Check.

We had a lovely detour extended break in the good 'ole little city of Grand Rapids.

Soaking up sun rays and sipping our tasty beverages, we supervised the kids while they soaked their clothes stretched their legs running in around the fountain

And then, back in the car for a few hours more.

Thanks to the wonderful world-wide-web, I found some great ideas for surviving roadtrips with toddlers (I know what you're thinking older generation..."We survived just fine without the internet." I know it in my brain, I believe it in my heart, but no, my mind can't wrap itself around that idea :) I particularly loved this one. We got a cheap high-chair tray from Ikea and modified it to fit the car seat (made the ends shorter, drilled holes in the sides and attached straps). This came in handy so that he could play with games, read books, eat snacks, etc. without constantly dropping things. I will definitely save this for future travels.

Ok, whoa, sorry, getting a little wordy there!


The Relaxing Vacation (anyone who's been on a vacation with two children under the age of three knows that that may be is definitely a deceiving misnomer)

Laughing and being silly

 Exploring

Hanging around (thank goodness for containment!)

A trip to Mackinac Island

 (One of my favorite pictures I have ever taken of my son)

(Photo credit: My mother)

An evening spent in a quaint town by the bay

Reflecting on the sacrifice of our Savior during a stop to see the largest crucifix in the world

Celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary, with beautiful flowers, good beer, and

 a lovely dinner at a beautiful golf course in Gaylord, MI.

 I LOVE these birch trees

Beach-crawling, deck lounging, playing games, enjoying sunsets, and just generalized eating, drinking and being merry

Feeling sad to be back to the grind, but thankful to have experienced a great week and even more thankful for the great family with whom we shared it!

Saturday Morning Adventures

The day started off in a slightly mundane way...
with both of us getting our blood drawn while we corralled the boys in the waiting room.

However, it got much better when we had a 'break-fast' (in the literal sense of the word) at Mr. A's, the best mom-n-pop greasy spoon in the northwest burbs. I'm sad to say I did not bring my camera in to snap a shot of the mickey mouse pancake that was consumed by Levi (that's ok, y'all are tired of seeing pictures of food anyways). At any rate, I definitely made up for that 12 hour fast the night before.

So then we were off to an adventure! Pirate Party in the Park...except mom and dad got the date wrong :(

That's ok, luckily this little boy is only 2 (for a few months longer, sob) and he was just as happy scaling walls.

And this one was content biting on swords

Arggh...ahoy matey. Good thing he's got a toothy grin to match.

Pirates in training. I foresee many years of this.

And this.

And this.

Feeling thankful for warm summer mornings and little boys with healthy legs to run and jump.