Michigan 2021

Friday, July 9, 2021

I'm in a rush so I'm just going to toss on daily pictures and caption them!  Maria packed the entire van and we left at 1pm.  Stayed at a Home 2 hotel in Green Bay.  Got pizza from Blue Collar Bar and Grill.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Here are my written scratch notes about Saturday so I could remember what we did each day:

Left GB, drove to cabin, stopped at Seguin's cheese, Violet drove some, unloaded quickly at cabin and took off to grocery shop quickly for an hour in Munising, unloaded groceries in cabin, then met Sean and fam at their cabin. 

So packed tight...this is the last stretch on Hw 13 before we see the cabin!

Calvin's stickman art made it on the dirty van.

Sean provided Novi's Beef for the whole crew...delicious! This was our first gathering and greeting people we hadn't seen in years.

Carrie needed help unloading her groceries...so all the gals went over to help.

campfire with s'mores and a few smoke bombs.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Written notes: Slept in til 10:20, oops. church in Sean's cabin, back to our cabin for breakfast, free day, swim in lake, fish, Carrie came over for chat, we watched guys fish, paddleboats.  Dave did leg workout with Corban and Bowen.

Austin has grown quite a bit! He's 6'4"

our fav cabin got a deck upgrade!

Vanessa "tamed" her froggy

classic king of the island game...those Sean LaMarche boys sure have grown

Monday, July 12, 2021

Written notes: Pontoon day.  Creamed eggs for breakfast, some kids really don't like it. (Van and Eli), Boat dock at 11am, rough start, Sean didn't have boat key, and our motor kept dying, so George replaced it. Finally got on our way. Vball game in middle of corner lake for an hour, very fun, went through lots of channels, tied up boats together in Deep lake and swam for a long time.  Stopped boating at 7pm, back at cabin made spag and meatballs, Martha joined us for dinner.  Fire by J&C's cabin. 

beautiful morning calm

Me and Renee

Violet and Adalynn

girl card party

Tues, July 13, 2021

written notes:  I was up first at 930.  Stretch and journal.  Biscuits and gravy. Sean rented paddleboards and kayaks for the day. Vanessa went fishing with dad. Carrie and Josh went to Munising to do laundry. April came over and we chatted on our outdoor table for a couple hours.  She left at 3:30. I prepped taco dinner with Carrie and we hosted the whole group.  Chatted with Baylee (Logan's fiancé) and Alyssa and Josh at fire. One of our chairs broke so we burned it.

This is a 9" bluegill which got eaten by a raccoon.

Carrie and I prepping taco dinner!

broken chairs get burned

Wed, July 14, 2021.  Martha left in the morning, Ted arrived late morning.

Written notes:  Breakfast leftover buffet, fruit, cantelope. Dave had kids share a devotion, Violet shared about being thankful for small things.  Family trip to Munising to hike to Miner's Beach.  The oldest cousins and some of the adults got crazy with moving logs around and digging channels in the sand to  create a new path for the stream to flow into Lake Superior.  Freezing water.  It was super fun though.  Hike and lake are beautiful as always, weather was perfect. Sean's crew left before Josh and Dave families did.  We planned to grab main street pizza but its dining room wasn't open so we went to Buckhorn instead with Josh's family.  Rain hit hard for awhile. Hang in Sean's cabin, worked on a "The Office" puzzle with Wes and Bowen.

Thurs, July 15, 2021

Breakfast sandwiches, some w/ eng muffin some w/ pancake. Coffeecake too. Eli shared about Jeremiah 42. Drove at 11am to Kitchitikipi with whole fam, our van led. Renee, Adalynn, Lynnea, Violet and Vanessa in our van.  Boys drove in Josh's vehicle.  Very long line to see the big spring, gift shop was nice (Van bought a sweatshirt too small, we are exchanging it), returned around 3 or 4.  Josh rented a small pontoon and Dave and I went out with Josh and Carrie for a little party around the lake.  Super fun, kids all swam in a pack near the docks, Ted and Cindy provided supper, pulled beef, mac and cheese, cake, guys went fishing again, caught nothing. Fire at Ted's. Dave sang funny songs.

largest natural spring in Michigan

such a fun time reconnecting with Josh and Carrie

 

Fri July 16, 2021

Maria up at 715. Foggy calm lake. Journal and coffee.  Most of the day was free time. Tried fishing w/ worms and hooks with no success.  Fish fry cooking was a process and everyone emptied their fridges to put out food for supper.  Random salads, pickles, chips, fruit, etc.

7:15am lake fog

calmest waters

breffast

worm fishing with no success

kids jumped on w/ us and experimented with goofy ways of floating themselves with life jackets

fish fry smorgasbord

they swam until 10:30pm

smoke bombs in fire...cool effect

fireworks!  sorry neighbors...

Sat, July 16, 2021

We invited Josh and Carrie over for breakfast to finish food...26 eggs, a pack of bacon, a pack of sausage, leftover coffee cake, green pepper sandwiches, etc.  Ate it all. Delicious!  Good times, and so thankful.

Packed up the cabin, packed the van. This is always a painful process because nothing went back in the van the way it came out.  Miraculously the van back door shut.

All the goodbyes!  met up with Josh and Carrie on the road to Seguins cheese!  Cousins loved that! ice cream, shirts, all the things...more jam, more cheese curds...more goodbyes!

Very long drive home....arrived home around 10:15 to find the backyard tree snapped in half!  

Sunday and Monday .... our good friend Alex with Lead the Way Tree Services made quick work of this tree on Monday!