After 4 days at the beach, we drove 90 minutes to another Michigan cottage the Kwas family was renting for the week. This home away from home was in the middle of corn fields on one of 5 connecting boating lakes. Tim's dream world. The cottage was equipped with 5 bedrooms (some a bit warmer than others), 2 bathrooms, a decent kitchen, big front and back yards, a blazin hot aluminum dock, kids playhouse, gazebo, paddle boat....it was a perfect fit for out extended fam.
Both of my brothers and their families came out, completing the Kwas family circle. Needless to say, my parents were beaming the entire week, minus a short snippit of time after my dad jumped into the lake with his iPhone in pocket. Bye bye iPhone. So sad.
We rented a pontoon boat for the week so we could explore the lakes and do some pontoon swimming. That was our very wisest vacation move as we ended up craving regular escapes from the 104 (with humidity, 111) degree temps. Even the lake water sat at a balmy 82 degrees. We strategically had chosen a cottage with A/C, which turned out to be a safe haven for meals and naps. The kids are amazingly immune to the fact that our bodies wilted almost immediately after venturing outside. They played legos in the gazebo all week without whining once. The adults took turns battling the liquid air to join them.
We'll do a photo gallery of highlights from the week, starting with Dude's faves....
*Jumping off the pontoon boat like he owned the joint. He was doing twists and flips and swimming underneath and dunking his uncles and acting like a sea monster....he was in his element and begged to go out multiple times per day. Squirt also got quite a kick out of this, but was a bit more dangerous in her ventures as she was jump right in unattended. Such is life with Squirt.
*Kayaking with Uncle Kyle...
*Fishing with Dad and D. He even held a slimy little fish for 1.2 seconds, ok, 1.2 milliseconds. But I caught it on camera baby!
*Legos in the "cazebo." My mom gets awarded with most time spent bonding with the boys over legos. She had some priceless conversations with them while constructing.
*Playing in the scorching hot playhouse. And by scorching, we literally had to force them to come out in fear that they might die.
*Smores by the campfire, which we chose to do on the final night out of obligation to a promise made to the dudes. Normally, making a campfire when it's still 95 degrees at 9:00pm wouldn't be appealing. But it was worth it for the glee that resulted.
*Catching "fire bugs" with Dad and Uncle Kyle. He was amazed by these creatures never seen before in Colorado. It brought back fond memories for me.
*Meal time at the kids table with his cousins (and tag along sister). How cute are they?
*Paddle boat trips. He and Nana ventured for about 2 minutes before Dad joined them and they actually moved in a forward direction. Dude wasn't much help.
*Quality time with his cousins. 5 days of bonding melted all of our hearts I must say.
*As simple as it sounds, running up and down the dock was a highlight. My brother Ross tried outlawing it as it was obnoxiously loud, but that law was not enforceable.
*Sparklers. It didn't matter that it wasn't dark.
*The Pinterest inspired car track we created in the living room.
Now for some things that this Mama looooved about our 5 days at the lake...
*Nana and Papa time with all the grand kids. They were on hand at the drop of a hat to pick up a crying little one, feed a hungry little one, play with a bored little one, put a tired little one to sleep, laugh with a happy little one...it was so awesome having them around and watching them interact with all 4 kids.
*Beverages. Check out the array friends.
*Time with my lovely fam. We all got along famously and didn't get sick of each other, which is a real blessing. On the 4th, my Aunt Jan, Uncle Dave, cousin Melissa and Gram came for the day. Loved seeing them.
*Watching my baby girl soak in the lake experience. While naked a majority of the time.
*The food...we all traded meals, which worked great. Steak, ham melts, home made pizza, tacos, grilled banana and peaches, lemony salmon, paninis, goat cheese salad, mashed potatoes, pancakes, pie, fritata...have mercy.
I could go on and on with highlights from this trip, but my bed is calling. We've already decided that this will become a yearly tradition. Already can't wait for next summer. Thanks Mom and Dad for a vacation to remember!
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