Porter was up bright and early. We used to be woken up by the engines of beefed up dune trucks, but with kids... I don’t think that’ll be the case anymore. He and I went for a run, leaving camp around 7:30am. I was excited to see if anything had changed in the past few years. Surprisingly, not much has changed. There are no new developments, although a few of the local businesses have made improvements. All the same places are still here.
After I showered and got ready, Ryan’s parents met us at camp and we decided to leave Hudson with them while we took Porter to walk the dunes and watch the trucks and 4-wheelers go over Test Hill.
Porter was so excited to see all the trucks and dune buggies and jeeps driving around. He kept saying “We’re going to Dune Daze!” We’ve been reading him the Dune Daze book that we bought from the author a few years back- she and her family visit Silver Lake and she wrote a children’s book and its sold now in the local t-shirt shops. The book is all about the author and her family’s day trip to Silver Lake and on the dunes.
We walked up the trail and got to the beginning of the sand trail. Porter was so funny- he kept falling and laughing and giggling. Once we reached the top and saw the huge expanse of sand hills I was so so excited! I kind of did a little run around jig, yelled and snapped a few pictures of Ryan staring at me oddly LOL!
Porter was like a kid in a candy store- he kept falling on his belly flat out and then he’d act like he was going to do a somersault and put his head in the sand as if he were an ostrich. We climbed the huge hill to get to the top where you view Test Hill. Porter kept asking to be carried but we made him walk. Once we got to the top he was in awe. We sat for awhile and watched 4-wheelers and jeeps and trucks come over the dunes. We saw a few spills (which scare the crap out of me- it’s a HUGE hill!). I took a zillion pictures.
His typical stance all weekend.... like an ostrich digging his head into the sand. Weirdo.
We headed back to have lunch and then go back to the dunes to drive on them over to Lake Michigan. Porter must have been exhausted as he konked out before we even let the air out of our tires at the dune entrance.
Trucks getting ready to go up the hill
((I found a video of trucks going up the dunes. I don't have speakers hooked up on my computer so I have no idea what they're saying in the video...)
The strip to get to the dunes was crazy bumpy. Porter and I were sitting in the 3rd row of the Durango, which is super bumpy as it is. I had to hold Porter’s head back so it didn’t about snap off. It felt like we were going over moguls or something. We were not even going 10mph. We made it to the dunes and things smoothed out and we went over a few tiny hills to get to the lake. We parked and set up a little area on the beach. Porter woke up and he had a blast playing in the sand. This kid love sand- his favorite thing to do at home is to play in his sandbox outside. So, you can imagine a beach and sand dunes are the perfect vacation for him. Ryan and I had bought him some sand castle mold buckets and I had fun helping him make a sand castle.
Ryan took his parents out on the Durango over some hills. He actually ended up towing a huge beefed up Ford truck out of a big mud puddle- practically a pond. He said the back of the Ford stood about 5’tall and the bed of the truck was nearly even with the top of the water. They tried to drive through the mud puddle and stalled out. Ryan was laughing that our dinky stock Durango was towing this big ol’ Ford truck out. (This is the water hole the truck was stuck in... I'm assuming lots of people are stupid and drive through it LOL!)
We were at the lake for a good couple hours and then loaded up the truck to drive back to camp and get dinner. Porter was thrilled experiencing his first drive on the dunes. We went over one hill and he had the biggest grin on his face. He threw his arms up in the air and said “WHEE!” So funny. 
We went out for dinner and then went back to the campground to have smores. Porter was sooo tired. At the campfire that night Porter was so cute- he was exhausted and was playing with his sand toys and trucks in the sand on our site. He looked up at me and said “This is our campsite, mommy. Its our campsite.” And then went back to playing.
Hudson in his cute little camping outfit. Porter wore this outfit the first time he camped at 4mos old. 
Porter doing what he did best all weekend... play in the dirt. 
He crawled up into my lap and laid there looking at the trees above us. I started “counting leaves” with him and he fell asleep in my lap. This has NEVER happened to him- since he was a tiny baby.
Love the pic where Porter's running away from you and his foot prints are in the sand. He looked like he was in heaven.
ReplyDeleteHow fun! It looks like Porter was in heaven!
ReplyDeleteCute pics of the boys too - I LOVE Hudson's little outfit & hat. Adorable!