A Week at the Cottage

Just over a week ago, we packed up the van and headed up to the family cottage on Lake Michigan where we would spend the next week. The first full day we were there was cold but sunny and we were able to spend some time outside. The girls loved taking walks so we did that a couple times that day.

The best part of the walks for the girls was the "speed awareness risers" that they used as a balance beam or just jumped off of.

The next day the rest of Matt's family joined us for a day at the cottage and although it was a little chilly, we made it to the beach and all the kids enjoyed playing in the sand for awhile. The days following set into a pattern of somesort for us. We would sleep in.....yes our girls slept until about 9 am every morning! (Most likely because we had trouble getting them to sleep at night and they were up late). Then we would take a walk, usually on the beach, then lunch, naps, and then we would go to the beach until dinner. It was a very relaxing routine. Matt's cousin and her family were staying at their cottage next door so we were able to spend a lot of time with them. Their youngest son is 3 and the girls just loved playing with him.

Walks on the beach

Playing in the sand

Making a sand castle and splashing in the water

One of the mornings we were there, we made a trip to a farm market and petting zoo. The petting zoo was free and better than we expected. Lily and Sadie loved seeing the animals and Lily was even brave enough to feed them.

Sadie looking at the miniature pony and Matt feeding the camel

Sadie and I checking out the Llama and Lily befriending the goats

We also took the girls mini golfing one evening. They both loved it although Sadie had no idea what we were doing :) Lily was a little dangerous with her club and kept swinging it way up in the air trying to hit the ball. I think she'll do better with time, but we just tried to stand back while she swung.

We tried to catch the sunset at the peir on White Lake but after watching some boats and taking some pictures, we decided it was too cold. And the clouds were moving in so there wasn't much of a sunset to watch anyway.

Sadie laughing

Watching a sailboat come in

Lily, posing for the camera

One common thread throughout the whole week was Lily's quest to see "deers." Everytime we were in the car she asked us to be quiet so we would scare the deers away because she wanted to see them. A couple nights we went out around dusk and parked the van next to some fields and saw some deer. And on the way back from the pier we actually saw a doe and a fawn very close to the road. Lily was very excited about that because she was able to see "Faline" (for those of you who don't remember Bambi, Faline is the girl fawn that is Bambi's friend). We were also able to see some wild turkey with their babies.

This deer was named "Lena" by Lily

Our last day there was colder and cloudy. We tried to go to the beach one last time but it was just too cold. Lily played a little while but Sadie stayed on my lap wrapped in a towel to stay warm. She kept saying, "cold, Sadie, cold." After warm showers we packed up and headed home. It was a great week and we are excited to go back again.