First - Northern Michigan itself. Beautiful. And cool-ish for July. Boyne, specifically, is a beautiful area: mountains, woods, lakes everywhere, ski trails turned jogging trails, ski lifts through the mountains. Deer Lake was small enough to not be daunting in a kayak and had a small, but quaint, perfect swimming beach. And we had a gorgeous house to stay in. So, net: the set up was awesome both inside and outside.
Second - The help. We had Bonnie and Dan along. This really freed our family. We had 4 adults and 3 kids. We could split up any time we wished or stay together. The boys could go with grandparents. Bill could take Andrew putting. I could take a jog with Zoe. Dan could take Luke fishing. We could go out on a date. Any and all of that could happen because having grandma and grandpa along really makes it work for everyone.
Third - Everyone fought for everyone else's vacation. Bill made sure I got to do the zip lines I wanted to do. Bonnie and Dan made sure we got out to dinner by ourselves. We shoved Dan out the door for a day of fishing. I made sure Bill felt free to go and play golf. The men let the women get pedicures at the lodge spa while they took the kids. I've never once had a vacation that I could honestly say by the end of it that there wasn't even ONE other thing that I'd wanted to do. I did EVERYthing! And so did everyone else. And it's because everyone fought for everyone else's desires. It takes a bunch of selflessness to make that all happen. And, in the end, everyone did everything they desired. (Ok - well maybe Grandpa would have liked to fish all day every day, but that was never going to happen!) And, this picture is PRE pedicure!
Andrew's swimming and golf were highlights for us also - we really watched him go for it with confidence knowing he could swim (well, ALMOST but don't tell him that!). And he fell in love with putting and golf. Bill is in heaven imagining all the amazing father/son times ahead.
The only bummer of the whole trip was Zoe's sleep. This girl just didn't like her room or bed or something. She was up about 3 times/night every single night! It was like having a 3 month old again. We were exhausted but just kind of got over it and had fun anyway. And last night? Slept from 730pm - 630am in her own house and crib. The silver lining is that the milk problem's I'd had are definitely gone -- more nursing really does the trick! Good thing she's so darn cute.
We enjoyed a beautiful week. I have an awesome family.
And Dear Michigan: we'll be back. :-)
4 comments:
This ALL makes me very happy!!
Welcome home Patterson Family,... welcome home!
Oh that is FANTASTIC!!! How wonderful! I loved the part about fighting for each other's vacations. That is terrific.
The pics are wonderful - what Fun, fun fun!
So glad Zoe is eating well! That's great!
And, we are glad you are home. I saw a facebook post about moving to MI and the answer is NO, NO, NO! We barely made it a week without your company :) We love you guys so much and we love hanging out with you. We're so happy it was awesome and we're glad you're back. Love you!
This post just made me feel so joyful! I'm grateful to hear about your trip and the awesome time you had. Welcome home!! :)
I got all teary seeing these pictures and reading your vacation posts - because I'm just so thankful for you, for your family, for this wonderful time you had together...
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