Summer Vacation...whew

Vacation is what life is all about! Ryan and I decided to extend our Labor Day weekend and take the whole week off this year! Our dear friends John and Ginni Moyer invited us up to their lake house in Ellsworth, MI for the week and we have enjoyed it to the fullest! We first enjoyed the long weekend in Louisville; the highlight being the UK win over UofL on Sunday. Ryan was lucky enough to get tickets and enjoyed tailgating with his friends and cheering the CATS on to victory. Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game in the AC at my mom's house.

On Monday morning, we packed up the van and ventured out for our first road trip as a family. Kate did GREAT despite only sleeping 45 minutes of the 10 hour drive. Unfortunately she is not into movies so the DVD player didn't even keep her occupied. Instead, Ryan and I split our time in the back seat with her and she never once fussed! We got to MI about 6:00, with the Moyer's anxiously awaiting our arrival! As usual it took Kate a while to warm up to Johnny but ever since, they have been great together! I think they are going to have a hard time leaving each other so I guess there will be more frequent visits to Dayton to visit the Moyer family!

During our trip, the weather has been great! On Mon and Tues it was hot, I think low 90's! We were able to enjoy the lake, including a long boat ride and several hours jet skiing. Kate seemed to really enjoy the jet skiing and kept saying, "faster Mommy" or "faster Daddy" the whole time she was out. Yesterday the weather was a lot cooler so Ginni, Johnny, Mick, Kate and myself went up to Friske's Orchard and had a blast! The kids played on the playground for over an hour and we enjoyed a great lunch at their quaint little restaurant. The guys enjoyed a little time alone, most of which was spent playing "Guitar Hero". After lunch and nap, we stayed around the house and played in the sand and fished off the dock until we decided to head to the nearby town, Charlevoix. In Charlevoix, we enjoyed a great dinner and more play time at the park! The scene at the park was breath taking...a huge beach with the harbor in the background. If it wasn't so cold, we would have stayed there forever. We took a bunch of pictures so as soon as we get home, I will post them to the blog!

Today we are catching the Gustav rain, as is everyone else I am sure. Once the kids get up from nap, we are heading to the Children's museum and then spending a little more time in Charlevoix! We decided to stay an extra day because we are having so much fun and just couldn't fathom leaving yet. Therefore, we plan to leave tomorrow afternoon around nap time to leave us a day or two to catch up at home. My and Ryan's busiest months of the year are coming upon us so I am thankful that we were able to take this week off and enjoy each other's company. I can't wait to post the pictures because I feel like we have truly captured the joy we have experienced here in MI! Spending 24 hours a day with the people you love most is what life is all about!

I hope everyone has a good week and I promise to post the pictures on Fri night or Sat morning. I thought I brought my camera cord to download the pics here but I forgot!

**Update: We actually didn't make it to the Children's Museum. We tried but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there...guess they hadn't updated their open times on the website. Instead, we headed to the mall to let the kids run around since it was pouring down rain and we couldn't enjoy any of the many parks on the beach!**