Lake MI

After a short time in Grand Rapids, we headed up to Ludington where we stayed at a beach house that had room for all of us and some guests.  We experienced some things we haven't seen in a while:  rain, lightening, and thunder.  The storms were beautiful in the power they contained.  The waves were stirred up allowing Bryce and Brett to do some pretty good body surfing.  We built sand castles, flew kites, climbed sand dunes, played whiffle ball and frisbee, and relaxed.

Some of the crashing waves...amazingly Lake Michigan is about 2 feet higher compared to 2 years ago.

Enjoying Lake Michigan--water temperature close to 75 degrees.

To the top of the sand dune.

Running, jumping, or rolling down the dune...or some combination of all three.

Splash in the ocean, er lake.

Our R2-D2 kite had some successful flying days.

Mac Dune Rides and the Lighthouse

Joy returned to a location she had been to long ago, the Mac Woods Dune Rides.  We had gone on a dune ride a few years ago, but this one was different.  We took Gramps along with Aaron, Kaarli, and Kaleb on the winding, crazy ride up and down the dunes near Silver Lake.  The boys found Petosky Stones, the state rock of Michigan, in the gift shop, and so in the name of education we purchased a few.  The stones are petrified fossils of coral which are only found in Lake Michigan.  Now if coral are salt water inhabitants and the Great Lakes are fresh water...well I will let you ponder how that might have happened...

We tried to think of how crazy these rides were going to be and put it in a picture...the funnier thing would be to watch the video of us as we are trying to strike our pose.

Doesn't sound like the safest name for a bridge to drive over...

A view from our seats on the dune rider.

Beautiful Lake Michigan

Running up and down the steep sand dunes can be quite a workout.

Uncle Aaron on his way to the bottom.

Our crew monopolized the first three rows of the "For Pete's Sake" vehicle.

Kaleb did a great job hanging on during the wild ride.

Bryce works off some energy by pulling the wagon with Aunt Kaarli and cousin Logan riding inside.  He was a big helper pulling the wagon with his cousins inside.

The Ludington Lighthouse, only about a 3/4 mile walk from the shore.

A view of Epworth, where we stayed right on the Lake, we climbed the sand dune on the left of the picture daily with the kids to run down.

Glorious sunset over Lake Michigan...if I didn't know any better this could easily have been the Pacific Ocean minus the salt water.

Water fun

The first full day we were in Michigan, we visited Charlie and Jamie's house (Kaarli's parents) where we enjoyed their swimming pool and river access.  We were joined there by Misty (Kaarli's cousin) and her twin boys.  Pretty much it was all boys, which meant lots of splashing, water gun fights, and launching of children into the water.

We are all go for launch...

...and Bryce is off...

...learning a few tricks from the cats, he rotates so he can land...

...as a big belly flop!

Uncle Aaron attacks the boys with the dragon eating noodle monster.

Don't try this at home...quoth Uncle Aaron

Bryce prepares his bark barge for its departure down river.

Kaleb and Griffin discuss the principles of flow, current, and aerodynamics.

Griffin prepared a small cruise ship as well.

The sun's rays are melting me...

The official launch...how far downstream will it travel?

This was our bombing bridge...send a floating piece of wood down river and bomb it with small pebbles.

Smore's on the Beach

Aaron and Brett were tasked with starting a fire on a windy evening so that everyone could enjoy smores and time around a campfire.  Fortunately, there was a family from Texas who noted that we weren't being as successful as we had hoped early on in this endeavor, so they offered to assist us in our aspirations.  The result was a marvelous fire which netted us many delicious smores to consume.

Aunt Kaarli and Uncle Aaron seek to freeze frame their kids Kaleb and Logan to achieve a good picture.

Bryce swings from a rope and prepares to drop off into the sand dune below.

Garrett found himself downwind of the smoke while Dad seeks the perfect spot to roast his marshmallow.

Garrett helped distribute the supplies needed for smore making.

Thumbs up on the smore!

The whole crew for smores included Aaron's friend John and his mother and nephews.

New Sports: Tennis and Mini-Golf

Prior to going to Michigan, we had begun to utilize the tennis court below our house more.  It all began with the desire to do some exercise, just Joy and Brett while the kids biked around on the other courts.  Then we had boys wanting to learn more about tennis and soon we were all playing.  Now Bryce has soccer practice right next to the tennis court three times a week which provides us an opportunity to play even more tennis.  While in Michigan we played too and even had a little bit of what looked like an actual tennis game with our boys involved.

Griffin would not see us leave Ludington without having gone mini-golfing.  On the day we were leaving, storm clouds were rolling in.  The golf course opened an hour early per our request and we got a game in before the rain turned from a light on and off to a full-on downpour.  Griffin was so relieved.

So we don't quite know how to do a golf pose yet...

A favorite hole...the USS Badger.

How could you not love Lighthouses, Ferris wheels, and oh yeah, Dad got to redeem his free game he won two years ago.

Tennis at Epworth...it rained on us a few times, but we played at least 3 times.

I knew Gramps would be surprised just how good I am at tennis.

So let me tell you the story of how our hands turned black after the first day playing with the old rackets...