Michigan Trip, Part 6

August 20^th dawned our first full day with our friends at their cottage in northern Michigan. We wanted to make the most of our time together!

In the morning, the adults ran into town to do a little more shopping and run a few errands. We kids buddied up and headed over to camp.

We were headed for the archery range! We spent some time there shooting, and then split up. The boys wanted to play Gaga ball (also known as Octoball) and the girls wanted to play on the piano in the assembly hall.

We walked back to the cottage to grab our music. While we were there, one of them suggested we walk back to camp via the beach. Then someone else suggested that we just change into our swim suits in case we felt like getting wet. So we changed, grabbed our music and cameras, and headed over to camp.

I played through the pieces from my Senior Piano recital, and then our friend K played a few of her piano pieces. We all share a love of music!

Photo Credit: Roma.

After awhile, we met the boys back up at the cottage. The parents still hadn’t gotten back yet, so we made ourselves some lunch. Lunch time with 6 teenagers and 1 kid who eats like a teenager can be a bit scary. J Especially when we’ve been outdoors most of the morning, and have an afternoon of swimming ahead of us!

Right about the time we were finished eating, the adults arrived back. We all headed down to the lake! We had fun playing on the tubes. We would drag them way out, pile everyone on, and then float back towards the beach.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

We swam most of the afternoon and thoroughly wore ourselves out. But we were not too tired to cook a good dinner! Everyone pitched in and we enjoyed a feast of burgers, brats (including cherry brats), corn on the cop, tossed salad, and limeade.

The sunset over the lake that night.

For dessert, we had cherry pie with ice cream! Mr. M had quite the balancing act going on while he served us. J

That evening we had a sunset swim right after dinner. We swam until it got dark, and then came in. Some folks hit the showers, while others just dried off and put their pj’s on.

Then we indulged in a “midnight snack.” Yes, another double-dessert night. J Mr. M made us s’mores!

Again, we went to bed around midnight that night. It takes awhile for 11 people to cycle through 1 shower and only 2 bathrooms!

The next morning, all the runners in our family got up early to go for a run. I was having troubles with my shins, so I mostly walked. But it was nice to have cool running weather again! I’ve missed that!

We got back home and everyone showered up and ate their breakfast when they were ready. After that, people went in a couple of different directions. Dad and Mr. M went out on an errand, the boys went down to camp, and the girls dragged out a few bicycles to explore the little town.

Pumping up the tires for their ride.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Mom and I stayed back at the cottage. I had actually gone upstairs after breakfast and fallen asleep on my bed again! I napped for about an hour before getting up and fixing myself some hot chocolate. Yes, in August. J

Everyone came back around lunch time. During our down time, Dad and K talked a lot about good places to fly in Michigan. K is working on getting her private pilot’s license, and Dad has been a pilot for the past decade or so. He’s flown to quite a few of the small airports in Michigan, and pointed K to some good ones.

Photo Credit: Roma.

After lunch, we packed up our things, hooked the jet-ski up to the SUV and headed out to an inland lake. Lake Michigan was really choppy because of the winds, and we had really hoped to jet-ski. Actually, we had hoped to bring the boat and do some water-skiing and tubing, but even the inland lake was too brisk for that. It was nice to have some calmer water, and a nice beach to relax on!

Photo Credit: Roma.

Everyone took a turn with Mr. M on the jet-ski. In all my years of living in Michigan, I had never done it before! It was exhilarating! Only two nameless members of the family managed to flip the jet-ski. J It was hilarious for the rest of us to watch, especially since they were out of earshot! J (Don’t worry, they hadn’t gotten far from shore!)

Photo Credit: Roma.

After several hours at the lake, we packed up and headed back, as everyone was getting hungry. Above you can see the picnic table on the screened-in porch where we ate every night. Between the 11 of us and all the food, the table was quite full!

We didn’t eat until close to 8 o’clock! But it was worth the wait! We enjoyed T-bone steaks hot off the grill, sweet corn, tossed salad, chips with our favorite salsa, and limeade. It was *so* good!

We kids couldn’t let the last night go by without one last trip to the trading post. J The adults stayed at the cottage and cleaned up dinner while we went out for ice cream. It was fun going on an all-kids date!

Daddy came part-way through our time to keep us company. We ended up over in the game room where the boys shot a few rounds of pool.

Dad had taken a few of the kids back to the cottage while the rest of us waited for the older boys to finish their pool game. A few minutes later, Dad and Mr. M. came marching in and told us we needed to leave NOW. A huge thunderstorm was rolling in over the lake, and we needed to get back to the cottage before the rain started.

As we stepped outside, you could feel the wind picking up. Thankfully, the cottage, is only about a block away, so the walk took a matter of minutes.

Since it wasn’t raining yet, we did go in the back yard and watch the storm for awhile. This picture definitely doesn’t do it justice. The lightning would literally light up the sky! It truly takes my breath away to stand in a storm and literally feel the power of our God!

Photo Credit: Roma.

All of a sudden, the wind REALLY picked up, and windows and doors in the cottage started to slam shut. As big fat drops started falling from the sky, we ran inside. Everyone decided to forgo the shower that night J (it’s located outside.) We admired the storm for awhile and then folks got ready for bed.

What I did begin to notice was how warm it was getting inside. The cottage was built in the 1920’s and is therefore not equipped with air conditioning (other than the breezes off the lake.) Thankfully, the rain stopped around bedtime so we could open up some of the windows again.

A few of us had a small slice of cherry pie and ice cream before bed. It’s hard to say no when you know that you can’t find that at home in Texas! J We could hardly believe that our time in Michigan was quickly drawing to a close.

To be continued . . .