Lake Hamlin, Michigan

Okay, time to catch up on the fun month we have had starting with our trip to Michigan.  Rick and Cole flew together and Lyla and I took a separate flight. It was the only way we could use our frequent flier miles to go.  Lyla was a nightmare on the first flight but an angel after that. I have to say that the Chicago Children's Museum inside the airport really, REALLY helped to make the trip pleasant and keep Lyla very entertained.  Overall, the kids were pretty good travelers and Lyla was even better on the way back.

I have to say that I was very poor at taking any pictures at all while we were there.  I took a few but I should have taken so many more. It was a beautiful week on the Lake with family.  I was just too busy relaxing and enjoying the grandparents around to realize that I would want these pictures!  Oh well.  Here are some highlights though...

Cole played on this tractor multiple times.  You can see it was definitely a thrill.

Cole and Lyla adored playing in the sand and in the water. Lyla is a little daredevil and kept trying to get you to let go of her. She would just step right in. That's fine on the beach area but by the cabins it is the dock. They would both lay in the sand, grab water in their buckets and pour it on the sand, dig it up and start all over again.

Grandpa Poling brought a fishing pole and a tractor for Cole to play with and boy did he love them both. At any given time you could see Cole outside driving the tractor through the dirt. He loved to roll it down the sidewalk until it hit the grass too.

We took a trip to the sand dunes on the side of the lake one day with the kids. Shockingly Cole wasn't afraid to climb it with Grandma Poling. (He usually is afraid of heights.) Even better was rolling down it again, and again, and again with daddy!

Cole can't even open his eyes when asked to smile for the camera. The combination of uncontrollable laughter, sand and sun didn't make it easy! Playing in the sand and in the dirt with his tractor might be some of the rare occasions that Cole didn't mind being dirty. I love this picture because the dirt is so out of character for him. However, the cupcake mouth is totally Cole. He loves cake!

Lyla on the other hand thinks dirt is her best friend. She bathes in the stuff. In fact, she thought she would try eating it too.

Hmmm...yeah, that didn't work out like she thought.

Although we were there for July 4th, we didn't play with them for days later. Cole really loves sparklers as we play with them at home, but the "Pop-its" were new and boy did he love throwing those at our feet! I totally lost track of time and he was up until almost 11:30pm! I had forgotten that dark doesn't even come until about 10pm there. That was hard for him the first night to get used to going to bed before the sun went down.

Ludington is a great place for young families to vacation. The beach off Lake Michigan is so clean - no rocks or dirt or anything. I think they comb through it every night. There is a beautiful lighthouse to walk to and a fun park right on the beach. We went there a couple of times and played on the swings, slides and in the sand.

Oh, and doesn't Rick look like a movie star or something here. Have to say I enjoy having the casual and scruffy Rick on our vacations! (Um, even though I think those were Yvonne's sunglasses. Hahah!)

We also went to a park on another end of Lake Michigan where most of the boat docks are and the steamboat to cross the Lake. This was an amazing playground - the largest and coolest I have ever seen. Rick and I loved playing on it. Lyla thought she was so cool running around on it with the big kids. Cole somehow forgot his fear of heights and tall slides in the chaos and enjoyed every second. The "bumpy" slide was definitely his favorite.

We also enjoyed the soft, green grass to play in. I miss soft grass. :-(

There was a little kiddie playground too. I took Lyla there and behold, she decided that steps were for sliding down (which I quickly put an end too) and slides were for climbing. Frankly, it shocked me. The girl is crazy.

It was a lovely trip and we can't wait to do it all again. We were home maybe four days when Rick up and found cheap tickets for us to go to Buffalo, New York to attend a friend's wedding, see his grandparents and spend time with his family that was visiting there too. We had not been there with the kids ever so we were very excited but details of that adventure to come in the next post.

Here's a video of Cole and Daddy on the dunes.