Mountain Ma'am

Summer.
Let's take a moment to reflect, shall we?

Two weeks into the school year, and I can look back oh so fondly.
Only memories of laughter and sand seem to stick :)

Well, we camped more this summer than this former city slicker ever imagined possible.

And I have to admit, I kind of liked it.

A few highlights from some of our camping trips...

We started out by going up to Pentwater for the weekend on the last day of school.  A christening of summer, and hopefully the birth of a new tradition.  I heart Pentwater so much.

Later in June, we camped in Ludington with friends for a week. I had my hesitations about this trip, as Ludington is big, Tim would need to go to work, I've never camped for 8 days ever, and all 5 kids have interests that take them in different directions...none of which is basking in the sun reading US Weekly leisurely on the sand.

I under-estimated my inner Mountain Ma'am.
And aside from my hobo pie "My dad doesn't make me eat black"  dinner fail,  and the lazy raccoon eating cheetos under our table, we mangaged quite well!

Ice cream and Beaver watching on the pier with Uncle Kevin....

yes.

Dylan spent hours in this position.

Oh, just trying to keep up with the big kids..

Made it to the lighthouse with this bunch, AND made it up.  Not a small task on my own :) It was so foggy!

The weather was fairly chilly, so we had a great time geocaching and running from mosquitoes.

The kids made kites...

Played many card games..

Their geocache prize...

More ice cream...

Once again enjoyed the reptile display....

Annual Lost Lake hike with Uncle Kevin...

All in all a great trip with friends, and one that I will definately do again with greater confidence.

The next weekend was the 4th of July, so we packed up and headed to Hoffmaster State park for the long weekend.  We did all of our usuals, and drove into town to watch the fireworks.

The log pic I always insist upon...

We hiked a bit...

Biked a bit...

And swam a bit..

All in all, a great weekend enjoyed together as a family.

A few weeks later we camped with dear friends at the CRCG.
The weather was gorgeous, we broke a few rules, and a made some great memories.

The craft barn..

Labor Day we once again went up to Ludington for the long weekend.

Naturally we got a flat tire on the way as we do every Labor day weekend :)

And for the record, Tim had it changed in 12 minutes. (A record to beat next year ).

We had a wonderful time.  The weather turned out to be better than expected, and we enjoyed slowing down and enjoying time with friends.