It was another summer vacation to remember as we continued to build on recently established traditions and create new ones on Torch Lake!
Girls sat together and so did boys, and this one here couldn't have been more pumped about the planes...
...until the plane started.
Then, she didn't want to stay in her seat and wearing the seatbelt became a battle. Because she was one month over age 2, she could not sit in my lap. The back and forth battle escalated into a 10 min temper tantrum where she even got down on the floor. It was mortifying!! Ha! This picture of her with her seatbelt and looking so innocent almost makes me cringe. :) Gotta love her.
Side note: the boys' airplane experience was flawless. Of course.
We arrived in the middle of the afternoon with plenty of time to celebrate this guy's 61st!! Happy birthday, Dad! In typical selfness Dad fashion, he didn't really ask to do much to celebrate his special day. He was all for letting the kids run around and settle in after traveling. We ordered pizza and sang Happy Birthday, and he got his Angel food cake.
Birthday boy #2 usually goes wild from the moment he wakes up when he knows it's HIS birthday! Nico requested to go tubing and have a boat day after decorating his cake with grandpa!
Happy 7th birthday to my favorite little guy.
We decided that every summer trip, we will try to create a tentative list of activities to repeat and then some new ones to try. Cherry picking made the list from last year.
Natalie was mostly pumped about the donut to start but finished strong with some participation. Looking stylish in her cherry dress.
Nico was determined to get the most.
Tubing was a new excursions that we tried! We picked the so-called shorter route that was supposed to take us two hours or less. We were nervous about being stuck with a cranky two year old for too long if she wasn't a fan of this!
Little did we know, the darn ride took our group FOUR hours. It cracks me up to think about, in hind sight, as we would often wave at people passing us down the river, but we never really realized how much slower our pace was! Also, some of the initial part of the trip was delayed as we were yelling at Nico to get back in his tube that he would jump out of. Other times, we played magical
chairs tubes, as Nico would want to be closer to a certain person, so we would try to rearrange the tube order. We had our moments where we questioned our sanity (luckily we did bring a cooler full of beer...), but as a whole, it was a really fun experience once we all settled in!
Next up, Harbor Days!! Def one of the highlights that will always be on the list! Such a cute small town event that we all can enjoy! We rode plenty of rides and came back with souvenirs.
David and I snuck away for an Elk Rapids date night and made sure to stop by Cellar 152 for a glass of wine, followed by dinner reservations at Siren Hall. Their cioppino is a hit with us!
We channeled our inner kids and went on some rides by ourselves at the carnival afterwards.
Visiting the Old Mission Peninsula was a fun, new adventure this year as we made up our own little winery tour! Just the drive there and back could have been an outing with the beautiful views.
We stopped by one of the markets to pick up some food for dinner that night and came across this little setup next door with live music and a bar. Pit stop!
And no trip is complete without............... the Sandbar!!
Here's an overhead shot that I grabbed off of social media from one of the days we were there.
Natalie took her turn to steer us around and was all smiles!
We traveled down here 3-4 times during the trip, mostly on the week days to avoid the crazies, and enjoyed playing catch, snacking, listening to music, people watching, walking around...
We all know the reason that she is getting in the water right now...
When we wanted a lighter day with less planned activities, we headed to the next town over to let the kids run around a park and then had a drink at a 2nd Short's Brewery location!
Finishing up the trip with one of the classic dinner spots.
The kids were treated to some ice cream a time or two with grandma and grandpa, so David and I could get a few minutes of quiet time on the dock!
And that's a wrap! It may only be for a week and a half each year, but I'm so thankful for being able to be a part of all of this! Love to my family.
