This summer during the move, we stopped in Michigan "on the way". It actually added eight hours to our trip but we were glad we could visit family and do lots of fun things. Some of the fun things we did in Michigan was the annual Judd reunion at Tom and Diane's and camping on South Manitou island.
Here is the group that was able to come this year. My cousin Erin made our shirts. This annual get together started three years ago but this is the first year we had shirts.
We had lots of yummy food to eat
There isn't a summer time dessert better than strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries straight from Aunt Diane's garden.
Yum!
They have a lot of space to play. Tom has a lot of cool 'toys'- motorcycle, motor home, fishing boat, Ranger, tractor, snowmobile, etc. The kids like to climb on them all.
Going for a Ranger ride.
Diane always has fun yard games to play. This was a giant memory game. Andrew is helping Mommy take her turn. There were even prizes for the games!
We went tubing again down the Platt River which empties into Lake Michigan. Andrew swam for a bit like he did last year.
But it was a little colder than last year! Andrew and Sylvia took turns curled up on different adults for the rest of the time.
We tried and did not succeed in getting a group shot.
At Lake Michigan we got out to swim for a bit. Mommy loved swimming because it took the weight off her pregnant belly.
The kids were so tired out, they fell asleep on the way home.
One big reason we had the reunion when the most people could come was to surprise Gigi for her 80th birthday! Her birthday isn't until September so it really was a surprise- she had no idea! Poor Tyler didn't wear sunscreen on the tubing trip because it was deceivingly overcast and got sun poisoning. He slept most of the day and when he ventured out, he wasn't feeling his best; case in point the picture below. (He can laugh about it now)
Rachel collaborated with family members to create a Shutterfly book about Gigi as one of her presents. She was very surprised and enjoyed her gifts! We all love Gigi very much and were happy to celebrate her birthday.
A couple days later most of the family packed up for a four day camping trip to South Manitou Island. It has been a Judd family tradition for decades, and our family was in town, and the kids were old enough (kind of) to participate this year.
Everyone kept a very watchful eye on the kids during the boat ride (Rachel was convinced one of them was going to fall off the boat and be lost at sea). They had a wonderful time on the boat, amplified by getting to snack on their lollipops also.
The Island has been mostly preserved the way it was back in the 1940s or so, with electricity and running water only available in a small group of buildings at the boat dock you see behind us. We had to haul all of our drinking/cooking water back to our camp site about 3/4 of a mile away, and take our phones to charge every other day. Here is the group of us that went.
We had a pretty good set up, our camp site was large enough for our entire group and had a good view of and access to the beach.
The family had been there so often that they had a very good setup and menu plan. We always had plenty of food to eat (and even shared our left overs with neighboring camp sites), a good system for storing food so animals wouldn't get into it, as well as a table for food prep.
Here is a picture from the kitchen/food storage area looking toward the fire pit and tents.
The food was raised up off the ground to prevent the local inhabitants from ransacking the goodies. We affectionately referred to them as "micro bears". It was a funny nick name for them, but it took some time to explain to Andrew and Sylvia that there weren't any real bears, just chipmunks.
We did all of our cooking on a fire. The kids loved it, and there were no accidents.
Here are the kids playing on the beach. The Great Lakes are huge and the beaches look exactly like an ocean beach would. The sand was a little rocky in some areas, but that is a nice trade off to not be covered in salt when you got out of the water, or have to worry about sharks like you would in the real ocean.
Here's a panorama view of the beach in front of the lighthouse.
The young adults took a trip to the far side of the island, to see the sand dunes and the ship wreck. Here's a better view of how similar the lake and beaches are to the ocean.
The boys decided to swim out to the wreck of a ship that sank in the 1970s. It didn't seem that far away from the shore, but it took quite a bit of energy to swim out there.
It was covered in birds, bird poop, algae, and rust. It looks pretty nasty, and rest assured that it smells every worse than it looks.
We then hiked back up the side of the sand dune to walk across the Island back to the camp site.
Along the way we got a first hand lesson about nature. We had seen snakes and frogs run away from the path the entire hike, but then we saw a snake eating a frog right in the middle of the road!
We then took the snake and frog back to the camp and cooked them up for dinner.
Just kidding, these are pictures of us preparing the fire for cooking and eating s'mores.
But Sylvia did hold a snake! She was so brave.
The kids did as well as you would imagine a 4 year old and 2 year old doing on their first camping trip/first time being away from mommy ever. No naps during the day, going to sleep at 10pm at night, and to top it all off, we found out that Andrew can hold his bladder for a full 24 hours before having to pee. The only down side is he will then wet himself, and repeat that same cycle four more times before returning to a real bathroom and toilet before becoming regular again.
They never took any naps, but they did have some down time every day where they just relaxed and watched some shows that we downloaded on the iPad. What's better than snuggling up in a sleeping bag outside while watching TV?
Doing all of that while eating chocolate pudding with daddy!
It was great having a nice beach right near our camp site. The kids could go out and play in the water without having to walk for a long time through the woods, and could quickly come back and warm up or eat food if they needed to. The adults are washing dishes in the lake too.
They loved loved loved playing in the water and using their new buckets and shovels.
Andrew even found a dead fish floating in the water!
There was no shortage of beautiful views from our camp site.
Here you can see us gathered around the fire preparing food, while some clothes hang up to dry from the trees.
We got a guided tour of the light house by the island's resident historian.
It was pretty high up!
Andrew looks so sweet and excited in this picture.
Andrew helped sort and pack up the left over packets of apple sauce and fruit cups.
View of the light house from the beach at our camp site.
A peaceful moment with Andrew and Aunt Camille waiting on the dock to ferry off the island. It was a memorable trip, but it was also nice to get back to civilization.
Sylvia zonked out on Uncle Hunter during the approximately hour long ferry ride back to the main land. I guess that means she technically did nap at least once during the camping trip?
Tom and Diane graciously let Rachel stay at their house while everyone was camping. It was so serene and restful for Rachel to just RELAX and not run after kids or do any work. Rachel was having some hip pain from the pregnancy but after a few days of rest, the hip joint pain was gone and never returned for the rest of the pregnancy. It was so wonderful to have time to read, do some journal writing, nap, watch the hummingbirds from the back porch swing, and even dry clothes on the line in the warm summer breeze.
Even though Rachel felt sad (and missed the kiddos a lot) not to join in the camping fun, this was SO MUCH more comfortable than sleeping on the ground in a tent or using an outhouse.
Rachel was very grateful to Tom and Diane for letting her hang out with them! One evening we drove to Cadillac to watch the sunset and see the lighthouse. We even got ice cream afterwards- Rachel's favorite treat!
We got to see the sunset from across the shore. The colors are stunning.
If you ask us, Michigan summers just can't be beat.
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