We decided to extend our camping trip this year to 10 days! We love camping! Being away from home, yet being in our own space, being unplugged from work, and just being together is great. Elsa was so excited to go camping this year. Gavin was excited just because Elsa was excited. From the time we brought the trailer home to get it cleaned and packed Elsa asked daily if it was time for camping. We left on Saturday and she was up at 6:15 and asked every 30 minutes if it was time to leave. Once we left she was so excited she could barely contain herself.
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| Gavin fell asleep almost immediately and napped for the ride and for a little while once we were setting up. |
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| Elsa was all smiles! |
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| Then she fell asleep 10 minutes before we got there! |
We went to Van Buren State Park in South Haven. It was a mix of weather during our 10 day stay. We had part of every day except two where we could go to the beach, which was great. Then part of most days we had rain and some days we even had storms. It rained and stormed a decent amount at night. The kids didn't sleep all that great, but they napped well and that gave us some quiet time to rest too.
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| Our home away from home. |
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| Elsa "firing" her first marshmallow...caught it on fire, "firing" her second marshmallow...caught it on fire, "firing" her third marshmallow and then she finally got to enjoy it! |
We spent a lot of time at the beach. Elsa LOVED the water! Some days it was freezing cold lake water and other days it wasn't so bad. We had some big wave days and some calm wave days. The shoreline and entry into the lake is very rocky. Crocs were super helpful! Elsa really felt comfortable in the water. She got her floaty on as soon as we got there and didn't take it off until we pulled her out of the water. Gavin on the other hand didn't care much for the cold water. We got him in a couple of times and he fell in a couple of times, but he was mostly content with throwing stones into the water.
We got to celebrate Father's Day while we were camping. Elsa and Gavin got Daddy a "massage shirt". They play cars on the track on the back of his shirt while he lays and gets a massage. :) We went downtown and got Kilwins for dessert.
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| We had lots of mornings like this. Most days Gavin was up by 5:00 so we spent a lot of morning time cuddling and watching shows. :) |
This happened...
She's been asking for a "big girl" bike for some time now. We decided camping was a great time to do it. So we went to the store and she picked out a Minnie Mouse bike. Then Daddy put it together and she learned quickly to ride with her training wheels. She saw all the big kids around the park doing tricks and quickly learned to speed up, hit the brakes, and stand up while riding (that one still makes me nervous!). She only fell once and that was as she was trying to get off the road for a car. She asked many times to be able to ride by herself. Since we were camping and could literally see the entire road, she was able to ride a small portion of the road alone and thought that was pretty cool.
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| Gavin inherited the tricycle. He would rather climb on it and stand on it instead of sit and be pushed. He can't reach the pedals yet, so he'll straddle the bike and awkwardly waddle it around. :) |
More lake pictures...
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| Elsa got this new floaty and thought it was just great. She could just lay back and float! |
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| Such a happy girl at the beach! |
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| This is how Gavin spent most of his time. Close to the water, but not going passed his ankles. |
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| Here he got a little more brave and decided he needed a drink! |
Splashing himself with the water was pretty hilarious!
Snuggly night times after showers and a hard day of playing!
We also got to celebrate Daddy's birthday! What a fun day to spoil Daddy! We went to a different ice cream store downtown and enjoyed some very large waffle cones. :)
A couple of random pictures from around the campsite.
Our last day at the beach! Elsa spent most of the time in the water again and then she and Gavin found a sand dune to climb and run down.
Running down the dune!
The last evening we were there we went downtown to HarborFest. Elsa loved the bands, of course! Here you can see her dancing to the music. :)
What a fun family vacation! Getting away from the hustle and bustle of normal day-to-day activities was just what we needed to start off our summer vacation!
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