Planning Ahead and Shattered

As I mentioned in my last post my son-in-law Brad was already looking for somewhere for us to go next year on our vacation. The good news is he found a place! We reserved it for a few weeks later than we normally go because it was already booked through July! It's on Houghton Lake, which is an inland lake in the middle of the state a little north of center. It's the largest inland lake in the state. We used to vacation there when the kids were very small.  The best part is there is 100 feet of beach for the boys to play on! 

It looks like a great place, and we are excited but now I'm going to forget about it because it's more than a year away! 

Last Monday I took my car in for an oil change and tire rotation. I've only had it since the end of February, but it already has 5700 miles on it! Well, we did take it on two trips, to South Carolina and up north. Even though there are Chevy dealers closer to my house I took it to the dealer where I purchased it because the first oil change is on them and it didn't cost me anything. Plus I got a free car wash! Gotta get those bargains when you can, right? 

This was the display at the side of one of the stores in Mackinaw City I saw last week. It was so pretty with the blue stones and the flower yard decorations. 

This was a house under construction in downtown Plymouth. 

It's not uncommon to see construction equipment hanging from cranes at construction sites to keep people from stealing it but I've never seen a bunch of ladders hanging like this before! 

Yesterday we were sitting at our kitchen table when we heard a crash outside on our deck. 

A wind gust had grabbed the umbrella, and the force shattered our glass table! The umbrella was laying on the ground next to the deck. 

Of course, it's safety glass so it shattered into a trillion little pieces! It took us over an hour to clean it all up! There was glass in the cracks on the deck and on the lawn in front! 

Thank goodness we were not sitting there at the time or we could have been seriously cut!

I never really liked that table and I can't say I'm sorry it's gone! It was such a pain to keep clean and it really was too big for that space. I was contemplating selling it anyway. Now I don't have to bother!

I bought two cheap little side tables to use for the rest of the summer. I like it much better!

That's it for me for now. 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends! 

Our Airbnb

The house we stayed in on Lake Michigan was gorgeous inside and out! It had 4 bedrooms and two full bathrooms on two floors. There was also a loft with a sleeping sofa. 

As with most Airbnb's we had pretty much everything we needed to live there for a week. 

Some of these pictures I took myself and some I got off their Vrbo page. I'll tell you what we liked and didn't like about it. 

This was the dining area and the kitchen on the main level.  

That is the front door in the left and the living room is to the right. 

The kitchen was not huge but pretty and had almost everything we needed.  My only complaint was that there was not a dish towel or dish cloth in sight! We had to use the hand towels from the bathroom! Or paper towel but we went through that very fast!

This was our bedroom for the week. The bed was small but pretty comfortable. We only had one window and it was not on the lake side so we had to run a couple fans to keep it from getting too stuffy! 

This was the living room on the main level. I took this picture off the VRBO site. Since that picture was taken the furniture was replaced by a big leather sectional sofa and two smaller chairs. It was a nice place to sit with my morning coffee and cuddle with Maxwell and Levi when they woke up. 

This is the lower level. It had two doors and big windows on the lake side of the house. See that spiral staircase? That was how you got to the upper level without walking outside and up the staircase out there! We worried about the boys but they quickly learned to hold on to the railing and were going up and down like champs! 

There were two bedrooms down here where Shauna and Brad and the boys slept. It also had a pool/ping pong table and a big cabinet with all sorts of toys, puzzles and games in it. There was also a badminton set and a croquet set. 

We did manage to get one game of just hit the ball all over the lawn croquet in! 

That spiral staircase also went up to the loft level. We all took a look at it and then never went up there again! It was too hot and we had plenty of room below to play! 

Shauna and I both loved this picture! It's just a mirror behind a cut out shape of Michigan. We looked and looked in all the shops but could not find one like it! 

These bears were cute and the boys kept going up and hugging them! They were also impressed that they were both taller than the small one! 

 

I failed to mention in my last post that we also celebrated Shauna's 41st birthday while we were there! 

So that's it for our annual family vacation! The house was beautiful but a little too expensive to continue going every year. Plus, there really wasn't a good swimming area for the boys. Brad is busy looking for places for next year with a beach being a priority and preferable on an in-land lake. Love Lake Michigan but it is cold and it's always windy! 

However, I'll take wherever they decide to go! 

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends! 

   

 

Vacation Recap

Our second family vacation is in the books. We had a lot of fun and relaxation, and it went by way too fast! The only downside was Chris and his friend were not able to join us this year. We certainly missed them!

We rented an Airbnb in on the upper west coast of Michigan, halfway between Charlevoix and Petoskey. 

Our house was located high up on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. 

This is the front of the house.  The lake is located on the right side. There was a balcony off the first floor and an upper, middle and lower deck on the way down to the water. 

This is the view from the balcony on the house. 

From the upper deck to the lower deck and the lake. 

And from the lower deck to the middle deck, upper deck and the house with the balcony! Did you get all that?  

We did a lot and also had a lot of down time to relax and enjoy just being on the lake. The shore by the lake was very rocky so we couldn't really swim. We took the boys to a couple state parks up there to swim and play in the sand. 

We went into Charlevoix one day and Petoskey another day. We also went to Mackinaw City. We just went into the little stores walked on the marinas. 

The boys got to see a drawbridge go up in Charlevoix, which we quickly realized was not a big deal because the drawbridge goes up every 45 minutes or so!  

Took a ton of sunset pictures. 

The last night we were there I went down to the rocky beach to take a sunset picture. 

I love the effect of the sun shining on the rocks! I think it's one of the best pictures I've ever taken with my iPhone. 

It was so nice to just be together and spend so much time with Maxwell and Levi!  We are already planning where we will go next year! 

On the next post I'll show you some of the inside of the house. 

Until then stay safe and well my friends! 

Quick Post Before..

Our 4th of July weekend was fun. 

Saturday, we went to a BBQ at my brother's house where we ate too much, drank not enough and swam and laughed the night away! I always love our get togethers with my brothers and sisters-in-law and we definitely don't do it often enough! Of course, I have no pictures to share because I was enjoying the moment!

Monday we went to the Independence Day Parade with Shauna and the boys. It was your typical parade; old cars, the school marching band, city officials, Miss Michigan, even a school bus! But the best part according to Maxwell and Levi

Police cars, ambulances, rescue and fire trucks! Always facinating! 

Oh, and this surprise guest! 

Isn't Santa always in Independence Parades?!

After the parade on our way to the car we caught this lady.

She was riding this old bicycle or tricycle or whatever they called it from 1865. She made her costume too! 

That's it for me for a while. We are heading out soon for our annual week at a Airbnb with the family! 

I'll try to take a lot of pictures and tell you all about it next week!

Until then stay safe and well my friends! 

 

Phone Photo Dump

 It's time to dump some phone photos here for you! 

This year there seems to be a lot of doves sitting in our pine trees out front. Usually, they stay on the ground and eat the bird seed that falls from the feeder. This year they seem to be spending more time just sitting quietly in the trees. I wonder why that is? I do know that we have a local hawk that has taken a couple of them this summer so far.  Maybe the doves are learning they are safer in the tree! 

This is the 4th of July wreath I made. It's kind of cute but I'm only semi happy with it. It's smaller than it looks in the picture and I'm not thrilled with the bow, but for now it stays! 

My poor little lilac bush only got one bloom this year! I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to the wonderful scent of the lilacs! I'm hoping it's just because it was planted only one year ago but I'm suspecting it's not getting enough sunlight during the day.

Levi graduated from a tricycle to a big boy bike this year. With their new sunglasses they are ready to go for the summer! 

We have a busy holiday weekend ahead of us. I'm working today and after I get off we are going to a BBQ at my brother's house. 

Sunday is a day of rest and on Monday will go to the Independence Day parade in town 

Until the next time stay safe and well, my friends!