Mommy's Blog: June so far

June so far is full of great lakes. Beach time and pool time and walking. Heat waves and basement renovation and new porch furniture. Travel and family and kids in camp and relaxing mornings at home....

We are at the tail end of a nice little week wherein we have settled into a lovely routine. Ivy's been participating in a morning camp at Disciples Church, and then we go to the pool as soon as she is home. Jack has gone to soccer camp two days this week, too-- and actually enjoyed it! Our boy, enjoying something new, right away! Who knew. With our kid free time, Nat and I have mostly been painting and coming with ideas for the house. Must be summer. So far, we've repainted the walls and floor in the front third of the basement, and cleaned it well and rearranged it for rec room and playroom purposes. It actually looks pretty good. As long as you don't turn around and look at the back of the basement. I would say we are *almost* ready for public viewing. We're getting closer to done with painting in the kitchen. We're growing grass in the backyard and some nice tomatoes in the front. We've obtained some new-to-us wicker furniture and the front porch is nigh cozy. Our baby chickens have been integrated into the coop and it looks like we just may have 8 chickens now...

A fairly productive start!

Quiz: how well do you know your Great Lakes. Two are featured in this post. Can you guess which one this is?

Back tracking a bit- We weren't huge fans of the MUREP summer camp that we signed the kids up for the first week of vacation (up at 7:00 during SUMMER?? What??) and so didn't make the kids go every day. But the time off together for Nat and I was pretty nice. We took advantage of a spectacularly foggy morning together to visit... you guessed it....the lake.

Baby chickens on the loose!

Maran pictured for size comparison

A quick trip to Viaduct Falls, the hidden gem of Bedford..

Thursday-- summer weather returns! We celebrated with a trip to North Coast Harbor.

Shot captured by Ivy!

Fun with perspective!

Friday- off to Michigan! Original plans for this trip morphed a bit over the weekend, after our sweet old Corydon had a seizure on Wednesday at the groomers. We decided we could not leave her with a stranger for the weekend, even if said stranger was our sweet boarder, Sissi. So, after much back-and-forth, it was decided she should stay home with Nat. And, as our kids are infinitely easier to handle one on one, the boy stayed back too. Ivy and I picked up Gram Gram and we had ourselves a girls' weekend. Despite inauspicious beginnings, we ended up having a lovely time in a lovely spot.

Hot-day road tripping means push pops at the rest stop!

Settling in to our nice little house in a quiet lakeside community.

Friday evening we briefly explored the neighboring town of St Joe, which we found to be delightful. Had a fancy dinner and then said hello to Lake Michigan...

Saturday-- a return to St. Joe for some shopping and exploring...

... and then up to South Haven to visit my wonderful cousin Laura, her wife, and their tiny little fur-babies.

We were joined by cousin James and his wife Megan, who is a child-whisperer. We explored Laura's beautiful property and had some great snacks...

Cousins!

Back home to Coloma...

... For family Scrabble...

...and beach time!

And, hugs from Aunt Mary, of course.

And our beloved Grandma Jan. Ivy adores her entire family, and is particularly impressed that Jan is her GREAT grandmother. Ivy has a deep appreciation for older people.

And for young, hip ones too!

Lake Michigan solo sunset. I could get used to being one mile from a quiet little beach on a great big lake...

Beach vacations are hard work.

Meanwhile in Cleveland...

the boys went to Parade the Circle. Ivy and I were sorry to miss it but after last year's boiling experience I was actually ok with taking a year off. Next time!

Final day in Michigan: A (very windy) trip to Hagar park beach down the road from our house, then, back to St. Joe again! It would be great fun to have a whole week to soak up the charm of this town and the blue of this lake.

Check out this amazing splash park. Ivy and I were afraid to go into the center when these jets were going!

Home again. It was good to be back with my snuggle girl. Love her so much. She is not doing much except sleeping and shuffling around this week. But she is calm and content and so we are just loving on her all we can.