the one-day vacay.

Last week we were trying to figure out something fun to do for Memorial Day. Or friends informed us that they got a hotel room on Lake Michigan for a cheapalicious price on Priceline. We debated for a few minutes. I mean, it was already Wednesday, and I'm just about the least spontaneous person around. And we were thinking about going to a Twins game the following day, but I was wavering because the Twins are currently the worst team in baseball, and half of their players are hurt, including lovely Joe, so I wasn't sure I wanted to make the effort and pay the money to go . . . I mean, no lovely Joe? Booo. So we decided to join our friends and have a superb one-day vacay on the "beach" at Lake Michigan. Yay, us (and them).

We stayed in a hotel with about 1 million of our closest friends. With the holiday weekend, it was busy. But we still managed to squeeze in the swimming pool on our first night, since it was raining outside.

[Carly tests out her new swimsuit and flip flops]

Turns out Carly has too much T family blood in her to think swimming is all that much fun. She didn't like the pool too much, and we only got her to go in for a few minutes. She did, however, like the hot tub quite a bit. Diva.

[Carly and daddy soaking in the hot tub]

[Cameron and baby Kennedy, me and Carly in our brief pool visit]

[baby K was REALLY relaxed in the hot tub]

She had lots of fun jumping into the hot tub too, though she is not particularly good at jumping forward. Rather she jumps straight up and throws her feet forward, like she is jumping on the couch and landing her bum. She also makes her jumps very close together; right when you put her up on the ground, she would jump again. It make life interesting for the catcher.

[watching her beloved 'Toys' after her bath. hotel life is the good life]

The next morning we headed to Grand Haven and the Lake Michigan shore, once again with 1 million of our closest friends. It was hot on the walk there, but right on the beach next to the water it was cold and windy. The great lakes do that. There were all sorts of girls in bikinis and I was shivering fully dressed. And Carly, well, she wasn't a fan of the sand. She refused to walk on it, and when she we put her down on it she would say "Uh-oh!" and sit on the towel and clean her feet off. She didn't like having dirty feet, I guess. And she was terrified of the water too. Hopefully she does better when we go to the Oregon Coast next week (I know, we just live the cushy life, don't we?). We had lots of fun just sitting on the sand, eating some snacks, trying to get Carly to play in the water, watching the boats, and visiting the nearby lighthouse.



[the boys and their baby girls.]

[beach bodies.]

[beach baby K.]

[Carly "go nigh-nigh" with Camilla and Cameron.]

[mama and Carly check out the boats.]

I was so freaked out walking to the lighthouse. Its just a huge cement pier with no fences or anything, and Carly has the habit of randomly sprinting away from us. The thought of her going off the side had me totally nervous. But she wanted to walk herself so we let her walk right in the middle of the pier. Or she rode on daddy's shoulders, which is a close second favorite to walking herself.

[Carly and daddy head out to the lighthouse.]

[headed back down the coast; Carly is totally suspicious of that freezing cold water.]

After the beach, we had lunch at a local Grille, where the food was average but the atmosphere was fun. I ordered Carly $5 mac and cheese, and was surprised to find that it was totally boxed Kraft mac and cheese. Classy. After that we walked around the main part of Grand Haven, where they have lots of cute little shops.

[Carly and "Cuh-ma" push their strollers in Grand Haven.]

[cute little candy shop where carly touched everything and I may have invested in some dark chocolate turtles.]


After our Grand Haven tour, we headed home.
Carly fell asleep in about 30 seconds on the way home.

We came home to find all three of us torched from the sun. I put sunscreen on, especially on Carly, but it was from last year, and we didn't reapply (the cardinal rule!) and now we are paying for it. Carly doesn't seem like it phases her, except in the bath, but me and Chris are big babies over it. I hate sunburns. Today we purchased SPF 80 for swimming, SPF 50 for every day, and one of those "rash guard" swim tops for Carly. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes, right?

[parents of the year award, right here]

We had lots of fun on our one-day vacay.