We decided to camp part of the time, so that added an extra load to our car. And since Mackinac Island was one of our stops, we thought it would be beneficial to just bring all our bikes. So, our car was quite loaded down!
We headed out in the morning for Warren Dunes State Park for our first camp site. Emily was good in the car...but she NEVER stopped talking while she was awake. It was quite astonishing actually. "Mommy, what are you doing?" " Where did Daddy go?" "Mommy, will you help me?" Over and over and over.
The kids, on the other hand, were perfectly content in the backseat pretending with each other, coloring and working in workbooks.
With just one stop, we made it up to the Dunes late afternoon and set up our campsite. Getting into the state park took us awhile because there was a HUGE line of cars. It looked like most people were going straight to the beach.
After we set up camp, we decided to check out the dunes to see what we had in store for tomorrow. They were quite impressive! And immediately the kids wanted to climb the highest dune.
Once everyone was down we thought it would be wise to check out the beach situation to see where we should set up the next morning.
It started out innocent with us just dipping our feet in the water to see how cold it is....
Then they started walking a little deeper in the water....
And then it was full on just sitting in the water! Oh well we should have guessed that one!
And the kids made sand angels. SOOO....we were all nice and sandy!
The sun sets much later up there at 9:30 pm. That's pretty late for our kids to go to bed, but you don't have much choice when you are sleeping in a tent! It's pretty hard to convince the kids to go to bed while it's still light out. So we had lots of late nights and tired kiddos. The next morning Emily actually slept in the latest which NEVER happens at home!
After packing up for the day we headed to the beach! We got there around 9 am, so we were one of the first people there. It was nice to have the beach to ourselves for awhile. It was a clear, beautiful day, so we really lucked out.
The kids favorite part was going out to sand bars. They would start walking from the shore and get to where the water went up to their chests. They would swim a little and then come to a sand bar where the water was only to their knees again. They thought this was so cool!
The next morning we packed up camp and set out for Mackinac Island. We were staying on the mainland in Mackinaw City on a camp ground. On the way there, we stopped in Kalamazoo to visit our favorite brewery, Bell's. We had a nice little break there and mom and dad enjoyed their delicious beer!
They had a beautiful beer garden. We could have stayed A LOT longer....but onward we pressed!
We made it to our campsite in the late afternoon and set it up. We were right by the lake which was a really pretty setting. This campsite was a lot cleaner and open and we had no problems with critters which allowed mom to sleep A LOT better.
After camp was set up we took a bike ride around the campgrounds and found a spot to watch the sun set.
Mom and dad woke up before all the kids the next morning and got to watch the sunrise together over the lake. Pretty picturesque with the cloud and a sail boat!
We grabbed some donuts from the general store on the campgrounds and then went off to catch a ferry for the island!
After watching some of the ferries from the shore shoot across the lake, Ethan was super nervous about riding the boat. He thought we would be going really fast. He talked about it the entire time before we took off.
And then he ended up loving the ride....of course.
Abby's pretty smile and a photobomb from Ethan!
Since we brought our own bikes to the island we were able to get off the ferry and go! We started riding through main street and on the bike path around.
Before we got too far we decided to see some of the sights first. So, we rode our bikes up the hill to the Grand Hotel.....only to find out that we had to pay for each person to even get close to it. So, here is our token shot by the hotel because we weren't about to pay $50 for us to see it!
We rode around a bit on the side streets then headed back down to have a picnic lunch and get tickets to the fort. We walked up the huge hill and had an awesome view once inside the fort!
They had a room where the kids could dress up.
Take silly pictures,
And even see themselves on TV with a general!
Even though mom and dad were a little tired of walking into each and every building, Ethan and Abby LOVED it. They did not want to miss even one room. Seems like the kids should be the ones complaining about wanting to leave and not the other way around.
After that we needed to cool off and refuel, so what else do you do but get FUDGE! Ethan loved it saying, "It just melts in your mouth!"
After seeing the two main attractions, we thought we would take another bike ride. We asked Ethan if he was up for trying to get around the entire island and he accepted the challenge. The girls, however, didn't make it very far before taking a little snooze.
Ethan had NO problem making it the 8.5 miles around the island. We were really proud of him!
When we got back we had a beautiful FULL double rainbow over the lake. Awesome!!
We packed up as much of our campsite as we could that night to make the morning easier on us since we had a long car ride the next day. The next morning we were about an hour away from being able to get out of the campsite dry. Around 5am a storm blew through making everything nice and wet and muddy! After some fun days the kids fell asleep quick in the car!
We made it to our hotel in Indianapolis and immediately cleaned everyone up from all our camping adventures. We went out to dinner and then hit the hay! The next day we went to the Children's Museum. We had heard a lot about this place and it didn't disappoint! The kids had a great time!
We even got to see a stage performance of Rapunzel which the kids really enjoyed. Emily and dad stayed out and Emily actually fell asleep for a nice little nap!
Then, the highlight for Emily was riding the carousel! She just couldn't wait to get on a horse!
After the museum we drove around the downtown a bit then went to dinner at Weber Grill's restaurant. We headed back to the hotel to watch a movie and go to bed! The next day we made it home!
Another great adventure for the Beyrouty clan! They cried when we had to leave and said that it was the best vacation ever and that they wish we could always be on vacation. So, I call that a success in my book. Brian and I have very fond memories of the trips we took as children with our families and I love that we are able to do the same for our children. I hope they look back on the pictures of our trips some day and can talk about all the cool things we got to see and do together.
Ethan has already asked if we can go back to the Island, but I told him that I have a hard time thinking about going back to somewhere we have already been when we have SO MANY more places in the U.S. to show them. Time to start planning the next trip I guess!
No comments:
Post a Comment