Postcards from the Beach

Sand and water. Two essential elements my mom says help to make a family gathering successful when the ages span generations. So when my little sister proposed that we have our first real family vacation with my parents and siblings this summer, sand and water were two requirements. To narrow it down further, my father suggested Michigan. Daddy was born and raised in Michigan, so he's familiar with the area and what they have to offer. They have sand and water and the weather is mild, and more importantly, their economy is in trouble. Daddy felt if he was going to spend a chunk of money on renting a house and other activities, he might as well put it into an economy that needed him, rather than an economy that didn't - the prices were all the same anyway. And so we settled on South Haven, MI ... found a cute little house four blocks from the beach, that could easily sleep 16 and we were off! We stayed Saturday to Saturday, and except for one day, spent everyday on the beach. The water was cold, but gradually got warmer as the week went on. Spending time on the beach was all the kids wanted to do, and the sand was beautiful!

Here are a few pictures from Saturday and Sunday:

We pulled up to the beach house on Saturday around 4:30 and the kids were itching to go to the beach- they'd waited so long! After the papa's unloaded all the cars, they took the kids to the beach while the mama's worked out who was sleeping in what beds, distributed the luggage, and inventoried the kitchen. While mama #1 and mama #3 headed to the store, I (mama #2) headed to the beach to photograph it all. The kids, still wearing their traveling clothes and minus all the beach toys, still managed to have so much fun, running and digging through the sand, drawing with drift wood and splashing in the chilly lake.






Sunday we lived by vacation rules. We went to sacrament meeting only, came home for lunch and then spent a couple of hours on the beach. The kids had a hard time understanding "vacation rules" for Sunday, which I guess is a good thing. "We're allowed to go to the beach?" "But why can't we play outside on Sunday at home?" "Why aren't we going to Primary?"

I think this week I'll spend a lot of time explaining the difference between vacation rules and everyday rules ... especially when all the 12oz Gatorade bottles are gone and I don't purchase more, when bedtime goes back to it's regularly scheduled time and when asked if they can have ice cream cones at 10am, I say, "I don't think so." Why, why, why?







More pictures to come.