Sunday, August 14, 2011

Basford Lake and other summer fun

Mike and I realize that our children are small and don't want to be running from one attraction to another, so, each year, we like to take a week on a lake and just relax.  This summer we took the family to Basford Lake, a non-motorized lake in Baldwin.  Across the road was Big Star Lake, which is a motorized lake, so we had the best of both worlds.
We spent the week going on bike rides, eating ice cream, fishing, sea dooing, rowing, paddle boating...
Not a dock that I would want to walk out onto!  
Lots of hooks flying.
The kids had a blast.  Carson wanted to stay there forever, until I reminded him that he would still need to go to school, we would still need to work, etc.  Then he was ok with leaving at the end of the trip.  The hardest part of the week for me was no cell service!  I managed  tho :)

Let's see.  What else have we done this summer.

Most recently I brought the boys to the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven.  It was my sister's birthday and she likes to do this each year.  This year we didn't last long.  After the picture above was taken and after we ate our corn dogs, it started POURING!  Mom, dad, and Rachelle decided to stay and check out the sale goods, while I booked it back to the car with the kids.
Later that week, we spent the day with Rachelle at a waterpark in Madison Heights. It was cloudy and sprinkle filled day, but the kids didn't notice (Rachelle and I were freezing at times).

We went to the Jackson Hot Air Jubilee, caught fireflies, and had sack races.  It has been a very eventful summer!!  While I'm sad that the dog days of summer have ended, I'm excited for the start of the school year and the kids meeting their teachers.  I'm excited for the new opportunities!

Chi town, here we come!

I have a few friends in Chicago, but this visit was dedicated to seeing Jessica!  Jessica was my favorite college roommate.  We roomed (with 4 other girls!) for 2 years together.  We did all sorts of fun stuff, including dancing to music in front of our apartment to celebrate the end of school, hysterically baking a cake for another roommate, and making tacos once a week.  About a year and a half ago, she moved to Chicago (used to live on East side of Michigan so it was a lot easier to get together), and I was over due for a visit.  Carson had never been on a train before, so I decided to take him with me on the Amtrak. Theoretically it sounded good.

Jessica and I at Navy Pier (great picture taken by Carson)


Carson doesn't need a car seat any more; doesn't throw fits (much) when he's tired or hungry; and is a great listener.  Exactly what I needed for a traveling companion.  We left Friday afternoon, thinking we were going to arrive in Chicago around 4pm.  For some reasons or another, we ended up in Chicago at 6:15 (Chicago time).  It was a LONG train ride.  We were stopped multiple times and there are apparently new speed restrictions on part of the track.  We then boarded the Metra train (Carson was adamant about sitting on top of this double decker train, so a lot of passengers got their legs hit by our luggage) and ended up in our finally destination at 7:30.


My traveling buddy Carson

We spent Saturday site seeing Chicago (Millennium Park, Lego store, Hershey store, Cheesecake factory, Navy Pier, McDonalds!) and getting plenty of exercise (so, of course, we had to counteract the exercise with ice cream and cheesecake).  Jessica and Brian were great tour guides.  James, their toddler, had plenty of play time with Carson.
I'm definitely not going to let another year and a half go by before I see Jessica again.  This weekend reminded me again about what a great friend she is and how fun she is to be around.