On Sunday July 18th, we flew from Denver through Chicago to Sault Saint Marie, which is a tiny little spot in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, almost to Canada. Drew's dad picked us up and drove us the last 45 min to Drummond Island, where we'd be staying with Drew's extended family at a cabin on the water for the next week. The spot was lovely as we had our own protected little bay with calmer, warmer waters. The boys played on the paddle boards every day, regardless of the weather, which was arguably ok at best. We had two days of nice sunshine, but the rest of the week was overcast, sometimes windy, sometimes downright stormy. But we made the best of it.
Soccer in the front yard!
The best part of this trip was definitely the concentrated family time, especially with GG who is an astonishing 96-year old firecracker. I hope I have half of the mental sharpness she does if/when I'm that age.
On Thursday, we took a day trip over to DeTour Village to visit my uncle Ken, my cousin Rachael and her husband Jeff, and their four adorable girls, ages 3-9. I unfortunately don't have a photo of the kiddos, but Drew and Emerson did go out with Uncle Ken on his boat, and you can see the gorgeous day we had.
On the following day, Drew, Grandpa, and the boys took a boat ride on our rented pontoon boat to a little beach in a different island, and they had a fun time building sandcastles. Hopefully they never grow tired of doing that.
A tradition on Drummond is to have dinner one night at the Northwood Grill, which is one of the only restaurants on the island, for broasted chicken. It was delicious!
We followed our dinner out with a pontoon ride at sunset, low and slow. We convinced GG to come along, which apparently she does not do very often. The water was so calm it looked like glass in spots. Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.
One of the things I love about Drew's family is their affinity for games. This must be a mid-west thing, for when the weather is crappy and you're stuck inside, games are how you pass the time. Every evening we would play one round of bingo as that was apparently Great Grandpa Erwin's favorite. In addition to that, we played a euchre tournament, dominoes, and every other card game imaginable, and completed 4 puzzles. GG is the fearless leader of the games, as her competitive spirit has only sharpened with age.
After a week in Drummond, we drove back down to Brian and Karen's house in Waterford, which is about a 6 hour trip. We made a quick pit stop at Drew's cousin Kasey's house to visit her, Mike Mike Mike, and their adorable new baby Luelle, who was 6 weeks old. You forget how little they come!
The following day we got to visit Uncle Adam and his newly converted ambulance turned toy hauler, which includes an astro-turfed rooftop for race viewing. I've never seen a bigger smile on Avery's face.
No comments:
Post a Comment