Stretching it further

And following vacation, how about vacation? Harbor Springs. Possibly my favorite place away from home on earth. Although Jon had to go home and get back to work (I felt sorry for him, I really, really did), Calvin and I spent the rest of the week staying with my Godmother, Lonnie, and soaking up sun, love, good food, and fresh air. If camping hadn't been so relaxing, and it was, the rest of this week would have done the trick. We built a sort of routine, spending a little bit of every morning on school stuff, the afternoon at the little local beach in the water and sand, and the evenings at some activity together.

We read some books, we watched some TV, and Calvin's Aunt Lonnie kept him busy with a couple of crafts and playing with her pup, Blue. We played putt putt (who can ever get enough of putt putt?), walked the cemetery looking for Ghoul Gates (you'll know them if you've ever read The Graveyard Book), and drove over some rather forsaken road to middle-of-nowhere lake in search of loons (where we found a tern and a yellow-rumped warbler, but no loons). We had dinner once at Noggin Room and once at Keyhole, two of our favorite places, and twice at home, just the three of us lounging on the deck watching the bay and the birds and listening to the wind in the trees. And we were happy together and having fun.

The hardest part about being there, is the coming home (except that this time, of course, Jon was waiting there for us, and that made coming home pretty okay this time).

17—really 17, they didn't all fit in one picture—turkeys in the yard

Pirate's Cove Golf

arrrrr, he's a pirate

arrrr, he's giving Nonnie golfing lessons

Sand pants

walking to the cemetery

ghost turkeys!

possible ghoul gate

sand, sand, and more sand

Sturgeon Bay

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Camping take 2

Camping with our friends has become an annual event that both families have come to treasure. It started three years ago when the kids were five with a short, one night in fact, trip to Irish Hills. It was a trial run, the site selected because it was close to home in case of utter failure, but it went well and has spawned what we hope will be lifetime of outings. Last year and this year we set up camp in Wilderness State Park. Different from our July trip to Pictured Rocks, though, this is the kind of campsite you drive right up to, the kind that has electricity and water, and even camp communal flush toilets and showers. I love Wilderness. From just about every site you can see and hear Lake Michigan, there's swimming, there's hiking, and while it doesn't offer the challenge of the backpacking, it offers the kind of calm, relaxing, introspective vacation that I need at least once a year.

This year we spent three nights at camp. We built fires every night and roasted things like hotdogs, chicken, corn, marshmallows, and popcorn, and we make coffee. We ate granola for breakfast and peanut butter for lunch. We hiked the nearby trail around a pond and went in search of a geocache. We constructed in the sand and splashed in the water. We took day trips to Mackinaw City to try the putt putt course there and get a history lesson at Colonial Fort Michilimackinac. And for entertainment at the campsite, in addition to hangman and looking for the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, we watched the young (oh very young) couple who arrived at the neighboring campsite and unpacked everything from brand new, untested boxes, and proceded on their first camping attempt. It made us feel well-seasoned in our art, and gave us something to giggle about quietly.

hot dogs on our first night

waiting for water to boil for coffee

It's the Loch Michigan monster! Shall we call her Michi?

Colonial Michilimackinac

Colonial Michilimackinac

Mackinac Bridge from Colonial Michilimackinac

Love the red accents...those colonials sure knew how to decorate

A little muncher in the grains...

I shall call this: self portrait in an awesome window with red.

watching the ongoing archeaological dig in the center of the fort

talking to the "trader" in his trader's house

Red Coats (who wouldn't have been called red coats then) demonstrate the unreliability of their rifles.

Posing with the enemy

Fun and games!

Watching the blacksmith at work

Frolicking through the waves

Realizing that the little fish really do nibble your toes

Roasting corn

Geocaching

Putt putt

More frolicking

sand fort

new fangled hangman

marshmallows

more new fangled hangman

The jug

When you win a piano cutting contest, it comes with a jug. A pretty cool just with your name on it.

Project 365, week 32

August 6 - August 12

Notes...

...that appeared around the house at various times this week.