Road Trip '09

Vacation, vacation, vacation! It was wonderful. A break from our normal routines, time with family, wonderful weather, sunny beach and cool water, yummy food, and time to be together. Don't get me wrong, life with two little ones is not without stressful/not-so-perfect moments, but the majority of our trip was fantastic!

Here's the scoop - we drove to Illinois early on Saturday morning and got there just in time for lunch and naps. Monday we drove up 3 more hours to a small town near Benton Harbor, MI on Lake Michigan. We stayed in a wonderful house with Ben's entire family. We only had a 5 minute walk to the beach and the blessed cool clear water of the lake. On Thursday, we drove back to Illinois, arriving just in time for lunch and naps. We left for home on Friday afternoon.

This picture is of the family arriving at the beach for the first time. The sun washed the lake out of the photo, but that expanse of white in the background is all water. Ben and Levi are a little bit behind the rest of the family who are already starting down the steps to the beach!

Ok, but first, back to our time in Illinois pre-beach.

Fishing is one of Tim's favorite hobbies. Noah is always excited to go along, but so far the reality is that Noah doesn't care about fishing. He loves to go along and play with whatever else he can find at the pond. Everyone still has a good time and one of these times Noah WILL care about fishing, I'm just sure of it.

Levi and this bobber proved to be a challenge for us. I think he threw it in the water 3 times. Just after I snapped this photo he dropped it in the water for the second time. I was supposed to keep him from dropping it but I got distracted by the chance to capture the moment. Oops.

Tim grows worms, that eat carrots, and it's pretty amazing. He has 4 big containers of worms in his garage. Tim and Sue feed them to the birds that call their yard home and he uses them as fish bait.

The pond we go to is owned by a friend of Tim's. He has fish food out by the pond that keeps Noah busy and distracts the fish from Tim's bait.

Ben caught a catfish with a net in very shallow water. It was surprising and amusing.

Ok, pretend we just drove three hours and now we're magically in Michigan! I had never been to Michigan before and really enjoyed seeing another part of our country. It was fascinating to see the different crops they grow in Michigan - cucumber fields, blueberry patches, apple orchards, etc. It was beautiful.

Here are Uncle Andy and Hannah with Noah in the backyard of the house we stayed at. Noah really, really enjoyed spending time with Andy and Hannah. Like, he asked about Hannah first thing in the morning and bugged her the entire time she was awake. Poor Hannah. She handled it well.

The Beach! We have been waiting all summer to go to the beach. We weren't sure if Noah would like such a big body of water or not, but he loved it. Levi did too.

Playing with grandma. She could make awesome sand castle thingys.

Josh, the grill master.

The joy of chairs made for little people.

The family playing Farkle.

Back to the beach.

Ben and I were given the opportunity to watch the sunset at the beach (without our kids). It was tremendous. The photos don't come close to capturing the true beauty of the moment.

He's becoming such a big boy. He's learning all sorts of new things and he's proud of it. I just love it.

And this one is getting more and more ornery.

Learning to play Memory with Uncle Andy.

Ok, pretend we just drove 3 hours back to Illinois.

Noah's ready for a fire to roast hotdogs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The traditional stop at the Children's Museum did not disappoint. The boys were in heaven and did not want to leave. We had to bribe them with the promise of ice cream.

Good times.

Thanks for everything Tim and Sue - it was a wonderful trip!