(the other) Apple Creek

We decided at the last minute to go camping with the Kilchers and Deers at Apple Creek (not our new neighborhood... but ironic, right?), which is a little campground about 10 minutes from our house. Worked out perfect so that we could go let the dogs out a couple times a day. 

Erika texted us that a site was available across from them, and we packed up and headed out a few hours later.  We had a great relaxing weekend.  The kids rode bikes, got disgustingly dirty, we watched fireworks, went on walks, played at the playground, decorated bikes for the 4th of July parade, roasted marshmallows, grilled out, walked dogs, found worms and frogs and bugs, and well... all sorts of fun things!  Our kids get along so well.   Hudson LOVES Jude... he was so excited to go camp with him and he took him on countless walks.   Jack just ADORES Eloise and was always snuggling up to her and wanting to hold her.  Amelia and Emryk had so much fun being silly little toddlers together too.  

We had a couple hilarious things happen over the weekend.  Sunday, the people next to us were leaving and the wife accidentally drove the truck into the water spigot, breaking it off.  Water was shooting EVERYWHERE and flooded our campsite.  We had to move our camper, but luckily a lot of people were clearing out so we just moved next to the Kilchers.  (Michelle and Kevin had left already).  Then, late Sunday night everyone was playing kick the can in the dark... I was sitting in the camper and had fallen asleep waiting for Amelia to fall asleep.  Hudson comes in and tells me there is a problem... there is water everywhere.  I went outside and there was ANOTHER water spigot broken.  Turns out a 12 year old girl from another campsite was playing kick the can with them and she ran into the spigot and broke it off, flooding ANOTHER site next to us.  The poor girl was in so much pain and her parents took her to the ER.  I wouldn't be surprised if she broke her foot.   I felt so bad for her!   Erika and I couldn't stop laughing at the craziness of not one but TWO broken spigots near us, and TWO geysers of water flooding the campground.  Quite the memories! 

our home away from home

We finally broke down and decided to get a camper.   We've contemplated it before by we were never in a good place financially to buy one, or take a loan out for one.  So, the timing felt right this spring.  We have been paying down debt and wanted to splurge on something fun for us as a family. We found a hybrid camper in great condition, owned by an older couple.  I was so nervous about spending the money on a camper because is heard horror stories about floor rot and water damage and delamination  Yadda yadda.  After meeting Betty and Bruce, I felt they were honest and trustworthy.  The kids are so excited about the camper.  I already have plans to decorate and recover the cushions and make new curtains!  I want to buy matching bedding so that it all is adorable and cozy and cute!  Haha!  I really want to paint the cabinets and go all out but I don't think Ry is loving that idea.  Psshhhhaawwww!   So we made last minute plans for memorial weekend and are going to mackinaw for a week in August.  I am trying to make plans for a weekend in June, July and September too.  Not sure Ry will be able to take a lot of time off since we are going to the beach in June too.  But anyhow, Bring it on, 2014 camping season.... We are ready for ya!  

Mackinaw 2011

This year instead of Whiskey Creek-atucky we did another extended family trip this time to Mackinaw City. It was Ryan and the boy's first time to Mackinaw, I hadn't been since I was a kid, Lori and Don hadn't been in 8 years and It had been 30+ years since Dave last visited. So in a way it was a refreshing, new trip for everyone.

We camped at Mill Creek. It is a large, family oriented campground about 4 miles east of Mackinaw City. We had waterfront sites (we had 3 together so we kind of make it a family campsite). The view was nice but not a necessity at all for me. I liked the sites for their central location to the beach area, bathrooms and showers, pool, playground and camp store. That was nice (although could have been appeased by any number of sites nearby). The campground also had an old fire truck they drove around each evening and picked up kids (or adults too) and rode them around the campground. That was nice.

Some things we enjoyed:

The Soo Locks:  Ok so this was kind of a once over visit... I don't know that we'll make the hour trip up to Sault St. Marie again anytime soon but it was neat to see the boats (huge 800ft boats!) come into the locks and rise or sink to attain the other lake's water level.  Very neat.

Del Sol:

Antler's Restaurant in Sault St. Marie:
Ok, we've eaten out a LOT but I have to say this place had THE best service!  Our waitress was Ashley and she was so great with everyone and the kids as well.  She was friendly and patient and really interacted well with the kids.  Loved her!  She was the icing on the cake for the whole meal :)  The food was yummy, too!

Shopping in Mackinaw City:  There was so much shopping to do in Mackinaw City.  I wished our campground was closer (it was 4 miles away) because it would have been nice to be able to ride bikes into the city.  I went into town numerous times, sometimes with the whole fam, and one day just Porter and I went and spent the whole afternoon shopping and met up with Lori and her fam for lunch at Mama Mia's pizza.  It is amazing how one on one time with one kid can be so different!

The ferry to Mackinaw Island:  The boys were scared to go on the ferry but ended up really enjoying it.  Our ferry was the only one during the day to go under the Mackinaw Bridge and then over to Mackinac Island.  That was so neat and the bridge is huge up close!

Crossing "The Mighty Mack", (Mackinaw Bridge) the largest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  I remember crossing this bridge as a child and being terrified.  I remember I used to try to fall asleep before crossing it because I was so scared.  However, this time I was in awe.  It wasn't scary at all!  It was really neat and so beautiful!

Mackinaw Island: If you're unfamiliar iwth Mackinaw Island, motorized vehicles have been prohibited since 1898.  So, you either walk, bike or ride.  You can rent a carriage (one horse... I'd love to do that!), ride a horse or do a tour.  Originally I had wanted to ride bikes around the island.  We even bought a bike trailer to do so.  However, we decided to go ahead and do a horse drawn carriage tour instead.  It was well worth it!  There was so much on the island I'd never have seen without the tour.  We stopped by Arch Rock, which was beautiful.  Also, on the main "strip" of stores..... not sure how a group of people biking would even make it.  There were so many bikes and so many horses!

Our tour was a couple hours long.  We stopped at the Butterfly House as well.  I think in a few years I would love to go back and take the boys and ride bikes.  Once they're 8/10ish.  The Island is 8 miles in circumference (about 3.5sq miles).  So, it'd be a decent ride, not including all the roads throughout the middle of the island to Arch Rock and The Fort etc.

The Butterfly House: There is a butterfly house on Mackinac Island and it was really neat. There were hundreds of butterflies flying all around. It was amazing! Lori had 4 butterflies land on her while we were in there and Ryan had 2. Porter desperately wanted one to land on his head but had no such luck. The kids were all fascinated! We also got to peek I to the "emergence" room with many different chrysalids. Some were ugly and brown and some were odd shaped and some lime green. It was interesting! Afterwards the kids got their faces painted (to the lovely tune of $5 each!)

Shopping alone with Lori at Mackinac Island:  After lunch on the Island, the boys were melting down terribly.  Ryan had about had it with them and I knew a chance of shopping or sight seeing was close to zilch with the boys.  Lori and I stayed back on the Island and the guys took all the kids back over on the ferry and back to the campground.  It was AWESOME to shop with Lori just the two of us.  She and I are so alike with shopping... we love going into every and any store and just browsing browsing browsing!  I picked up a sweatshirt for me, one for Porter (which he was thoroughly amazed it had a front pocket you could stick your whole arm through!), some fudge, an ornament and some goodies for the boys.  Oh and a t-shirt for Ryan.  That was my first purchase!  Lori and I ended up missing the 7pm ferry and had to wait until 8pm to catch the next one.  Bummer!  HAHA!  We got some ice cream and relaxed on the dock for a bit while waiting to head back to the mainland.  We were exhausted!

 Swimming:  We were very near Lake Huron (it was across the road from our campsite!) and across another road from the swimming pool.  So, pretty much everyday the kids either went to the beach or the pool.  It was a great location!


Campfires:  Of course campfires are a must while camping.  Each night it was so nice to cozy up by the fire.  We roasted marshmallows/smores a few times but mostly just sat and watched the fire and relaxed.  Oddly, I was in bed by 10-11 each night... pretty much shortly after we all got settled around the fire. I had a bad headache for a few of the days so by the end of the day I just wanted to sleep.

Reading: Ahhh this week I was able to finish up a book I started earlier this summer (Best Friends Forever) and also started and finished The Help.  I really got into The Help and can't wait to see the movie!  It was nice to have nothing on the agenda to do and just be able to sit and relax and read!

Silver Lake 2011

Our original plan was to camp from the 15th to the 20th but at the last minute we decided to head up a day early- leaving Tuesday after Ryan got home from work.  This put us into a wild spin at home.... all day Tuesday I was attempting to clean the house and pack and do laundry while entertaining the boys (or more or less keeping the boys out of trouble).  Let me say, doing these things is pretty close to trying to nail jello to the wall on a hot summer day.  It was not going so well. 

Regardless, we did make it out of the house only 20 minutes past our target take off time... we left at 6:20.  The drive up was great- a swift 3 hours even after stopping 3 times!  We arrived, set up camp and were ready to begin our almost-week of camping vacay!

This year of camping is going to be so great.... Porter made so many new friends in the campground and we rarely saw the big kids.  Immediately they all made friends with Drew (see picture below).  Drew had guns and they spent a good part of Wednesday hiding behind trees shooting eachother.  Drew was a sweetheart and if he wasn't hanging out at our site, Porter was over at his.  Porter also made another friend, Landon, who was camping next to us.  And on the last day he met Jack, whose family has a permanent site/camper up there... so I'm sure Porter will see more of Jack on our trips to Sandy Shores!  

The campground was surprisingly empty for most of the time we were there except Friday-Sunday when it got busy.  Even then, there were still empty sites.  During the really quiet times, the kids ran wild through the campground... it was like their own personal playground/forest/game field.  They played flag tag, hide and seek, guns, rode bikes, spent time at the playground and pretty much just had a blast!  

The first two days we were there- Wednesday and Thursday- it rained and was cold.  Those days pretty much went like this... wake up, sit by nonexistent campfire, shower (maybe), lunch, looooong nap, dinner, campfire, bed.  Those two days pretty much were a wash.  The rest of the weekend was gorgeous though!

We went into Pentwater one evening for dinner.  Ryan, the boys and I went to the pier for a few minutes and I got a few cute pictures of the kids.  Porter enjoyed watching a loader haul sand out to the beach.  Hudson was terrified of it.

Thursday we took a tour of the Little Sable Lighthouse.  130 steps on a spiral staircase.  It was kind of terrifying to look over the balcony!  The inside was neat, though... so old and vintage.  It was a quick tour... probably took longer to walk up and down than it did to check out the view HAH!  It was really foggy the day we went, so we really didn't have much of a view.  We'll have to go back on a clearer day sometime.

Friday Lori and I took the kids Geocaching.  Our trail was .4 miles and boy were we whooped!  We went through a short trail in the woods, up some dunes, through fields, up more dunes, caught a glimpse of Lake Michigan, up a treacherous dune hill and finally found our Geocache.  We underestimated the sun that day and it was warmer than we anticipated... so the walk home was hot, sweaty and whiny.  I thought it was fun, though!

We didn't make it to the dunes until Saturday... the busiest day.  We drove the trucks out to Lake MI and also took the quads.  As usual, the boys were thrilled to watch the quads and jeeps and trucks attempt Test Hill, and they loved driving all around the dunes.  The excitement in their voices was priceless.  We spent a few hours at the Lake while the guys drove the quads around and then we headed back to camp.

Sunday we went to Craigs Cruisers and spent way too much money on the go carts but oh gosh we all could have driven them all day! The kids absolutely love the go carts, although I'm not sure who enjoys it more- the kids or adults!  We did 3 different races and had lots of laughs.  The kids all said I was a cheater (all the kids except whoever was driving with me.... we won quite a bit!  haha!).  I get slightly competitive at go-karts!

Of course, camping wouldn't be complete with out ice cream!  We took a couple trips to the local ice cream places throughout the week :) YUM!