Weekend in Michigan

To celebrate the 4th of July we spent a long weekend in Michigan, and were able to spend time with both sides of our family.

We took off in the new minivan Friday morning (see Katie demonstrating the new wireless headphones for our new DVD player!) and first headed to my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Ellen's. We arrived around lunch time and the girls were excited to see everyone.
After lunch we went to the neighboring lake to Uncle Neil and Karen's. It wasn't terribly warm, but the girls were anxious to play and swim, so we made use of the floating rafts.



Caroline especially liked the sand, and the girls liked watching their cousin Emma eat it by the fistful!
Katie with Uncle Neil.
Caroline loved playing in the sand and convinced Poppy to build her some sand castles, so she could wreck them. She stayed in her swimsuit all day, while Katie quickly needed to change into "something warmer" (like her new sleeveless sun dress that she was dying to wear!)

After a delicious dinner, we took the tired girls who hadn't napped back to Glenn's cabin, got their sleepover area set up and then had them watch a movie while we waited for the fireworks to start.

This was Caroline's first 4th of July fireworks and she seemed to enjoy them. I enjoyed watching her face and her pointing at them and yelling "boom." Katie was thrilled to sit with my cousin Kelley to watch them.

After the fireworks we tried to get the girls settled down to sleep, but Caroline would not stop talking. Finally Jamie grabbed her and plunked her in our bed. For about 10 minutes she asked "Can I not handle it?" (referring to the sleepover) and then after a lot of wiggling she fell asleep around 11:30. She slept all night then, but I tried to stay very still for fear of waking her! Hannah woke in the night and woke Emma, so the grown-ups didn't get a lot of sleep. Here we are in the morning!
The dads ran out to get donuts and we all got sugared up! Once Mom and Dad, Glenn, Ellen and Kelley arrived from the other house, we hung out a bit and got packed up.

All the little girls with Kelley, Glenn and Ellen.


And with Grandma and Poppy.
Then we hit the road again for a couple of hours and drove to Lake Michigan to see Jamie's family.
As has become tradition, Jamma came down to stay with Johnny & Suzie as well. This year, David, Jenn, Bates and Dylan came down as well. Katie was thrilled to see Bates and we got to finally meet Baby Dylan who is almost a year old.

Jenn and Dave with Dylan.

The kids had a lot of fun cousin time and we got to enjoy another night of fireworks.





By the time they sat down to watch the fireworks, both Katie and Bates fell asleep!

After breakfast, we had a lot to fit in before David & Co. had to leave. We took the kids to the big park.

Went to the beach.

And took the kids fishing at the creek.



After long naps, we headed back to the beach.




Enjoyed a nice dinner.




Then after Caroline went to sleep, Katie, Jamma, Suzie and I went for a walk on the beach. We went 2 miles and didn't get home until almost 10! Katie had a lot of late nights, but slept really well!

The next morning we went back to the playground, then got some snacks, inclduing ice cream cones.

Caroline especially liked hers, and people were happy to help her clean off the sides so it didn't get too messy!

After naps, it was back to the beach.
Then, after dinner, Katie went fishing again and caught 6 fish!

We left J&S's around 9 on Tuesday morning. I had to dial in for a work conference call and Jamie had to be back for a meeting and work dinner. The girls were pretty good on the long drive back. It was a great long weekend. We enjoyed seeing everyone!

This last photo is of Caroline when we arrived back home. She is really a little comic!