Vacation 2012

Vacation!  Oh, how I love vacation.  :)

Last week we headed to the cottage we rented on Ford Lake.  Ford Lake is a small inland lake between Ludington and Manistee.  This was the first time we have rented a cottage on an inland lake so I was a little nervous.  Inland lakes freak me out!

We were pleasantly surprised by the cottage and the lake.  The cottage had a lot of room (the bedrooms were set up funny, but it worked out fine) and a great back deck, front porch, there weren't a lot of steps going down to the water, the fishing was great, a paddle boat, there was a porch swing...so many wonderful things.

My family joined us for the first few days of vacation.  We had fun fishing, watching the kids run around together, and just spending time together.  It's been years since we went on any sort of family vacation.  My parents and grandpa stayed at a hotel, Nate stayed with us and Joelee and Jason and kids were camping in Ludington.

 Gianna and Quin 

 Kirk and Nate did a lot of fishing at sunset.  

Ellery and Lincoln hanging out around the fire.  These two are together all the time!  I was looking at my pictures and I have so many of these two!  I didn't even realize it at the time.

Lincoln has a love of water.  He could spend every minute of every day at the beach.  He has inherited Kirk's love of the waves, which scares me half to death.  The days we did go to the beach we weren't able to spend more than a couple hours.  Isadora wasn't wanting to hang at the beach.  We did what we could to make the most of our time while we were there.

I love that we were able to spend time at the cottage, time at Lake Michigan, time together, time with my family.  It was a great vacation.  It only rained one day (awesome!).  We were able to take advantage of the day and drive to Frankfort.  It was so busy!  The rain was just ending when we got there.  I tried to get a couple good pics of the kids, but they weren't having it.  I think they were still mad about the car ride there.

When we got home, I put Isa in the living room to play with the toys she had missed while were gone for a week.  I was putting things away and next thing I knew, she surprised me by showing me how she could climb the one step up from the living room to the kitchen!  Time to break out the baby gates!

We're looking forward to next summer already!

Am I the only one who thinks we should stop telling kids to say "cheese" for pictures?!  Seriously makes for a horrible picture!

Can't believe summer is winding down...and that Lincoln will be starting preschool in the fall.  Crazy!