Our May Michigan Vacation

The last week of May we were privileged enough to take our first vacation home to Michigan since moving away six months previous. We decided to drive and make a road trip out of it. The ride there was not so friendly, but the ride home was amazingly smooth and the kids slept door-to-door!!!!! We have decided that if we do drive, it simply must be overnight. The adults have to take one for the team, as the kids just get too bored during daylight hours to be in the car for 12 hours. Bladders are better with sleeping children;) Less stops= faster trip!
We rented a house in Pinckney for the first four days. On Sunday we had Tessa's first birthday party. Everything went super smooth and we all had a great time. Olivia had some extra special visitors, her friends from kindergarten and first grade, her Howell school. They played on the beach and swam ALL day. I don't think we heard a peep out of any of them until it was cupcake time;)
On Monday we were able to spend the day with my parents. We took the kids to the Potter Park Zoo and then dinner at our place that evening. It was nice to have a whole day with them:)
Wednesday we checked out of our downstate house and made the drive four hours north to Jeff's parents house. We enjoyed a few days relaxing on the beach and just hanging out. That Friday, Adam and Brynn came into town to join us for the weekend and we were able to go out to dinner.
Saturday was Jeff's big race. The Bayshore Marathon- 26.2 miles. He's been marathon training for almost a year now and has become quite successful at it! His goal is to qualify to run in the Boston Marathon. Well, the stars aligned this day and not only did he achieve his goal- but he SMASHED it! He needed a time of 3 hours and 6 minutes, or less. And he came in at 2 hours and 57 minutes. Taking 32nd place overall out of 2,000 and 5th in his age group (the most competitive age group). It was one of the most amazing moments! Amazing!
(you'll need to click on "older posts" at the bottom of the page to load MORE photos, I filled up this page!)
That afternoon after the race, we went and celebrated with some wine tasting at Blackstar Farms with Adam and Brynn.
Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach with the kids! They did some boogie board riding, sand castle making and swimming. That evening Olivia had baked some cupcakes in honor of Tessa's birthday. We delighted in those as well as a pinata. And that is where I captured the best picture- YET - of our three kids together;)

Sunday afternoon we drove back downstate. We thought we'd be staying overnight with my parents and then starting our 12-16 hour trip home on Monday.... but we changed our plans. Learning from our mistakes, we decided we better not risk a Looooong day trip and just forge on overnight to get home. Well, that seemed to be the best decision we've made!
We met Tom, Joan and Kelly as well as my parents, Grandma Nelson and Uncle Andy for a picnic dinner at the Mill Pond. The kids were able to run all of their energy out and then get loaded right into the car in PJs for the night. They were asleep within 20 minutes and slept 12 hours straight until we pulled into our driveway on the other end! Strategy and execution.... ;)

Overall we had a great trip! Thank you to everyone for making it so!