Family Vacation!!!!

Okay, don't be too mad at me! It's been forever since I blogged but what can I say? I have a life now! ;) I really should try to update more because we do a lot and there are tons of pics I could post but haven't, so I'm sorry!This trip we just went on was definitely worth blogging though! :) Awhile ago Jess and Jamie had the idea for us to take a family trip to the sand dunes in Michigan and camp. I'll be honest the thought of going to MI to camp and hike did not sound fun to me, but I wasn't going to tell them that! ;) Plus with all the comments about not doing things with the family I had to just be a trooper with this one. :DAs soon as we got there though my opinion of the whole trip changed SOOO much! The sand dunes were AMAZING! :) We first got there and set up our tents and got some things organized then it was time to check out the BIIIIGGG hill! ;) It was like right next to our camp site so that was nice but boy was that a climb! The hill was huge and since we were all just getting over colds it wasn't the easist climb! But like Aunti Dar's cell phone thing...once we made the climb it was worth the view! How gorgeous! :) We were way way over the tree line and could see Lake Michigan from where we were at and just everything! I was pretty much in awe at first at all that God had created...truly amazing! :)

Due to no cell phone service down at the campsite I had to make some calls while at the top of the hill too! :) Txted some pictures to people and then called my sister to tell her about it! :) What can I say...I was excited, okay? :)Since it was later by the time we got up there we only hiked a little bit but it was sooo fun! It was like we were playing in a huge sandbox. We took off our flip flops and just ran barefoot! The only downfall was having sand EVERYWHERE...not the best feeling! :D 

(Okay, I look REALLY weird, but like I said...sand EVERYWHERE)

So we went back down that huge hill and had dinner, chili on fritos! Jamie had the idea to make them and they were soo yummy! It was a cool idea also, just pour the chili right in the bag of fritos. They also made these really neat "pudgie pies" (not sure if I am spelling that right) I didn't have one the first night but got braver the second night. They put lemon pie filling and marshmellows in them as a dessert...yuuummm! So good! :)

(This little critter was a a frequent visitor, but at the time of the picture he was getting into our neighbor's trash! ;)

The second day was the best! We got an early start, kind of, and hiked back up the HUGE hill and hiked over to the beach!!! We decided to leave our flip flops at the tent and go barefoot the whole way which was smart, except for the walk home. At first the water was soo cold but by the time we got so numb it felt pretty good! :) Gabrielle and I were determined to swim out to the water marker thingy and we thought for sure it'd be pretty deep out there, but as we started to swim it got deeper and deeper than shallow, so it fooled us! :D It was quite cold though! :)

The kids had fun burying eachother in the sand and making Sand Mermen. :) I think it was a fun day for everyone! :) The guys brought the frisbee too, so I saw that flying around a lot and lots of rock skipping. When it was time to go home the sand was VERY hot so we knew we wouldn't make it going home that way! We ended up taking some wooded kind of path and then the roads so although it wasn't hot on our feet it still didn't feel the best and it was one long walk! :) We must have got a lot more leg muscle after this trip. :D I can't say it enough though, it was SO SO SO much fun!

That night the sunset was SOO pretty so a few of us hiked back up and sat on top of one of the dunes and watched the sunset over the lake. I figured it's the perfect spot for a proposal one day! :D So the only bad thing from that day was the sunburns...we didn't REALIZE we were getting as much sun as we were and well...we are paying for it now. :( Poor Jess has the reddest legs I've ever seen and many of us had some red faces. My back was the main thing that hurt but thanks to God it is feeling better today!

(Isaac picked these flowers for me, RIGHT after we talked about proposals...isn't he SO sweet?)

On our way home we stopped in St. Joseph's Harbor. What a change in weather though because we were in like pants and sweatshirts, it was chilly! It was totally worth the 5 dollars though to see the light house down there! ;) We also got to do some shopping which is always fun! :) Thanks for the WONDERFUL trip, it was great!Also, it was just nice to spend time away from everything with family where there really aren't too many distractions. :)