with some of my favorite people….
my family
chicago jenny and dave and their kids
and even more old friends came for the first day with their kids!
i love lake michigan.
a lot.
the beach was full of smooth rocks at the shore line this year.
so beautiful.
we dug and built castles….
and buried each other…
Erica is a photographer too! it was fun to watch her shoot….
this was her shot…..
🙂
i love this picture.
it just screams simple summer fun.
very fun to have more girls to play with….
there was lots of football and tackling….
and screaming….
and hugging.
so jen and i thought we'd like a picture of us IN the water.
we got out there not too far and turned our back on the water.
we were POUNDED by a wave that we never saw coming.
it took us both out.
we were laughing so hard and the waves just kept coming.
i don't even like to get in the water…..let alone go under completely….i was soaked from head to toe.
it was hysterical.
kind of.
and then we were redeemed!
a lovely photo taken by erica of me and my jenny….who i am already missing like CAAAA-RAZY.
boo hoo.
10 kids and 6 adults for dinner….very fun and silly…that's the good stuff.
there was a wiffle ball game with the dads and kids while the moms cleaned up dinner and chatted.
then a camp fire with s'mores in the yard.
campfire songs in 2011….on the iPad.
the yard backs up to a bluff (which is a nice word for cliff)
and down 223 steps is the beach. (ouch my calves still ache)
it's a pretty amazing place….the house itself is nothing special but the LOCATION is fabulous!
the moms….also known as the S'more Makers.
i hope you can handle lots of posts with LOTS of pictures.
cause i took like….a thousand pictures.
and this was only day one.
we are home now.
we survived the 13.5 car ride back….barely.
at the end i thought about making a run for it at one of the gas station stops.
but then i remembered how slow i run.
ha.
NO ONE likes to be in the car for 13.5 hours….especially tired cranky kids…..and their mom who took dramamine so she floated in and out of consciousness all day long.
how was your week?
what have you been up to?
can you believe it's august??????
it's nuts.
happy monday people!
Darius Cartmell - I bet you spelled summer as F-U-N that time! All of you had smiles on your faces. You took great photos as well. But I especially like the photos of smooth stones. It’s great that you had good photographers with you that time to preserve every happy moment. How are you all doing now? I hope you’ll have more exciting summers to share. Take care!
Donna Parsley - 13.5 hours? Ha ha, well, that’s not too fun! But that trip to the beach seems worth the time spent on driving! There’s nothing like a beach trip with family and friends. It can be pretty hectic, but the time spent having fun is so fantastic!
Lisa Currie-Gurney - I SO LOVE YOUR BLOG MEG… AND ESPECIALLY THIS POST. HEY YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE YOUR RUNNING SHOES ON ANYWHO. 😉
HUGS FROM MY HEART
http://sophiemyfriend.blogspot.com/
Kasey - Geez, now that looks like some ultimate fun. Totally jealous right now 🙂
Brittany - So fun to see the fun you all had! We too just returned from a Michigan vacation and did many of the same things: beach, family, & s’mores! I found your blog this summer and have loved getting to know you and your family. Thanks for sharing!
kauai kasey - Love me some lake michigan….but i don’t miss that heat and humidity right about now;-)
Hope all is well with you…..i have been mia via blog reading as well…but i always check in with yours.
xo
Molly - oh meg it looks like an amazing trip! we want to go to michigan next summer….where were you? it looked wonderful!!!
michelle - LOVE your beach pics. so fun!!! you really captured all the elements. oh, and there is a slight chance i might actually get to meet you in person at Blog Sugar!!! 🙂 i’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that life isn’t too hectic around that time.
Staci - What fun!!!!!! Bring on those 1,000 pics!!! And yes, can’t believe it’s already August…kids go back to school in17 days..but who’s counting???? 🙂
JJ - Looks like the perfect summer day! Love that straw hat on you!
Kimberly Dial - I love posts with lots of pics. The hubs & I have been in Norfolk, VA at the Naval base visiting with our sailor son … didn’t spend much time on the beach but I did make it a point to put my feet in the Atlantic before heading back home. Looks like you & the fam had lots of fun … summer fun, isn’t it the best? YES! Thanks for sharing!
Kimberly Dial - I love posts with lots of pics. The hubs & I have been in Norfolk, VA at the Naval base visiting with our sailor son … didn’t spend much time on the beach but I did make it a point to put my feet in the Atlantic before heading back home. Looks like you & the fam had lots of fun … summer fun, isn’t it the best? YES! Thanks for sharing!
Kristy - looks like loads of fun! great pictures and what an amazing location. can’t believe it’s august, crazy! school starts for us the end of the month, so i am going to suck every minute of summer left.
Kat - Love it all!
Ah you make me wistful for summer, as we are still in winter here in Australia. (always cooler here in Tasmania too.)
I LOVE the pics of you and Jen. Beautiful, the one in the water and the glamour shot, lol.
I think we need to get together with other family friends and make summer memories,although we have a tradition of going camping/shack with family and all the cousins (9 of them) have a ball for a couple of weeks by the beach.
Ah you are making beautiful memories for your kids and capturing them so well with your pics.
Sharla - Looks like so much fun. Love the “simple summer” pic and the “redeemed” one of you and Jenny. Can’t wait to see more!
Tiffany - Great picture of you and your Jenny. Bring on the pics Momma!!!
Amy Slavik@ Little For A Little While - Looks like so much fun! What a great time of year to enjoy it too! Your hat is adorable and that pic of you and Jen is fabulous! We have a beach getaway planned for October on North Captiva Island, FL…we can’t wait! Happy August!
beth - Great pic of you and your friend Jen. Oh, and the one of all the kids sitting down and eating while surrounded by 5 standing adults cracked me up. Isn’t that the way it is? Glad you’re home, looks like it was a blast. Makes me want to plan a beach vacation too. 🙂
beth
nicki - So glad you had fun up here in the Mitten! I think I love that big lake more each year 🙂
ann - Great pictures! Love your hat. Sure looks like you have a great time! I’m back from 2 weeks in Lake Geneva, WI. It’s fun to be away but it’s nice to come home again!
julia - Fab pic of you and your bestie.
Nicole Q. - It all looks dreamy! The pic of you and your friend Jenny is perfect!! Glad you had a good time. See ya next weekend.
tara - love all of your pictures…so much fun!!!
Happy Monday~
We’re busy packing boxes cause we’re MOVING!
back to Georgia…near family.
yay for moving!
Julie - Oh my gosh…love the campfire songs on the iPad! That’s hilarious!! So very 2011! Great pictures, sounds like a great vacation minus the car ride. Love the picture of you with your sunhat on with Jenny.
Love your blog!
happygirl - Looks like a lot of fun. Warren Dune, MI was where I spent a lot of Saturdays. North Avenue beach was my FAVORITE beach when I ditched school or work. 🙂
Mindy Harris - chicago jen’s little guy is so buff! adorable. looks like a blast. glad you got to go!
Tracy - I’m jealous – please adopt me! LOL Great pictures and I can’t wait to see more! 🙂
Michele - Our family just got back from our annual trip to Lake Michigan and it was a blast. The area we stay in is near Montague, MI and it’s right on the water — not several flights of stairs away from the beach — just 8 steps down which we all really appreciate. Great friends and family, great weather, great memories of fun in the sun and sand.
Seriouslysassymama - I am so jealous. The weather looks great. It is 108 here in Texas. The lakes are even hot!
tiffany m gardner - I’m so happy your back to your blog! Today my kids started school. Okc school district passed year round school…so today they went. It is always bittersweet for me. I still have my 6 month old at home but I still miss my 7 and 5 year old.
sarahkc - so i am not trying to stalk (really, i’m not) but you showed the picture of your daughter the other day and i thought to myself, hmmm those stairs look a little familiar behind her. didn’t think much of it since michigan has so many “bluffs”. then you showed these pictures and the picture of you all eating and i thought that place looks really familiar… then you said 223 stairs and i knew it was the same place my family and friend stayed over memorial day this year! what a small world considering we are from arizona! just thought that was a random coincidence! love the blog and love all the photo tips too!
Doris - lovely post, great people!
wish I was there for at least 10 minutes 🙂
Barbara - love your pics!! we are headed up to Harbor Country in a couple weeks for our anniversary (Lakeside, Michigan)…. and we can’t WAIT!! my daughter has been talking about “baycation” all week 🙂
though… we only have 1hr 45min drive from Chicago…. 13.5 hours is nuts!! Good for you!!
can’t wait to see more pix 🙂
Cindy - Love the pics…especially the “redeemed” one of you and Jenny! Beautiful! I have a Jenni in Oklahoma whom I miss like CAAAA-RAZY too!!
the domestic fringe - I adore your pictures!
Glad you’re having a fabulous time.
-FringeGirl
Kim - So fun! Great pics – would love to know what area of Lake Michigan that is…looks gorgeous.
Tanya H - Looks so perfectly fun and summery!
I’ve been doing that all summer- taking more than 100 pics every day! 🙂 I started coming to your blog for your pictures so bring ’em on! 🙂
Valerie @ Chateau A la mode - Oh my those are the best vacations EvER!!! Looks like fun. Happy August to you too.
Margaret - How fun! I’m really itching for a family beach vacation!
Ruth H. - I can really relate on the time spent in the car. We drive 25+ hours EACH WAY to visit our families each summer. My husband and I can only take so much time in the car, so we break that up over 2-3 days. Still, that’s 6 vacation days just spent in the car!!! I’m cracking up about the dramamine. My husband and I both have to take the stuff to survive amusement parks. We couldn’t figure out why we were always so mad at each other on the drive home from fun-filled days at amusement parks…..until we learned that a common side effect of dramamine is actually extreme grouchiness. Seriously!
Erica Hang - It was REALLY fun!! Thanks for letting us spend the day with you guys!
Trish - looks like fun… you should have called me and i would have stopped out and said hi 🙂 oh well, i know how vacation goes… lots of relaxing i hope. we are on vacation now… we are in north carolina, so i totally understand the 13 hour car ride 🙁 no fun!
alicia @ la famille - what a fun vacation!! we’ve never done one with other families like that, but such a good idea! oh what fun…bring on the photos 🙂
Jenn Thomas - I am glad you had so much fun! Though of you often this week what you were up to in Michigan. Hmmm always love going to the beach.
Guess what I’ve been doing – taking care of that sweet precious baby of mine. Talk with you later about the trip and when we can do pictures of Kennedy.
Katie - Looks like so much fun! What I wouldn’t give to be at the beach today!!
Sarah @ Handbags*N*Pigtails - Looks like such a great time! I know what you mean about all the pics. I think I overposted them in my posts about our trip to New England a few weeks back. We saw 5 states in one week, did and saw alot but somehow it was still relaxing.
We’ve spent the last two weekends at local state parks & gorges, hiking them. My calves ache too. But I told hubby if he keeps this up(taking us every weekend) I’ll eventually get my hiney in shape:)
Leadia Jarvis - Where did you go? I live in IL and want to take the kids to a Lake Michigan beach before summer ends….but I don’t want to do it in Chicago. Ick.
Laura Phelps - LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT….
Nick and I have been planning NEXT summer already…how we need to go back to the beach with a GROUP…because lots of kids, and beach, and camp fires with friends is just so fabulous.
This is the good stuff.
This is the part of “the journey” that reminds me to be still and relish the moment…that the destination is NOTHING compared to these glorious hours we spend among family and friends in the warm sunshine.
And Erica has awesome legs.
nancy - What a blast! I have been pounded so many times by waves. You would think I have learned my lesson by now. But, no! Inspired me to take the kiddos to the beach this week. You know you are too busy when you live 10 minutes away and have only been 3 times this summer. What a crime!
Shann - I live in Michigan Meg. I am about 30 minutes from the Lake. Isn’t it an enchanting place? I just love it. The picture of you and Chicago Jen is darling! I moved here a couple years ago and I cherish my time with dear friends from back home. There is never enough time with them, is there? Thanks for sharing your pictures. They are all fantastic! 🙂 Have a good day!!
Terrie G - Love your beach pics!! I’m working on some myself! LovE the beach!!!
Also loved your wave hit & run story….takes me back to living in Cali as a teen & doing the same thing with my brother. Can still taste the salty water! 😉
Bring on the Pics!!
ps…snapshop begins today! Thanks again!
Toni :O) - I live in Michigan and my most favorite lake in the whole world is Lake Michigan. It’s an absolute TREASURE in this state and I feel blessed to live here and enjoy it whenever we can! Glad you had a fun vacation and thanks for your tourist dollars…hah, we need it! Beach vacations are the BEST!!! Woot Woot! :O)
Jen Brandt - How fun! You got some wonderful pictures – as usual. Love the hat pic with you and Chicago Jen. Here? Busy, busy, busy week last week = SO appreciated a weekend with NOTHING planned. I actually washed windows and reorganized and de-cluttered the playroom. Woo hoo!
amanda - great memories, great photos of those memories. where did you buy your sun hat?
Holly - Meg it looks like yall had a blast! I cant believe it is august! My kids are starting school today! Today! They are getting ready right this minute! Its crazy!
Misty - Wow you’re looking mighty fine Meg especially with that tan!
Southern Gal - Looks like so much fun. We celebrated birthdays last week. My hubby turned 50 and I turned…2 years younger than him! We’re ready for our beach vacation. You’ve got me itching to get there NOW!
Bethany @ 3SonsPlus1...and... - Oh, and the wave…hysterical! 🙂
Bethany @ 3SonsPlus1...and... - I just got the best, campfire-high feeling while looking at all your pics! So much fun! The photo of you and your Jenny is beautiful! =)
Sima J - I LOVE posts with lots of pictures. I heart the first one! 🙂
Gemma @ Musings of a gem - So much fun! Looking forward to seeing more pics!
Gemma x
Ali - That looks like a lot of fun (well, not the 13.5 hours in the car bit, maybe).