LUDINGTON

Kellen had a few days off work and one of his co-workers let him take her reservation to a mini-cabin in Ludington State Park near Lake Michigan (apparently you have to reserve that about a year in advance in order to get one). So we went camping. Not only did we get to go relax for awhile, but we also got to have Kellen's sister Colby and her family (husband and 6 kids) join us. It was a blast, and awesome to get to know the cousins a bit better. Kellen and I actually stayed there for a night 5 years ago (in a different campground in a tent) when I was pregnant with Shade when we drove around the entire Lake Michigan (Circle Tour).

The weather was a bit on the warm side most the time we were there, but that made the cool water not so cold. And at least the bugs were not as heavy as they were when we were there 5 years ago - I remember them swarming around us like a blanket of starving mosquitoes. This time we only got a few bites.

Some fun things we got to do:
Eat a LOT of hamburgers and hotdogs
Float down the river to the lake
Swim and skimboard in the lake
Downtown Ludington - yummy ice cream (they make their own ice cream and waffle cones at House of Flavors)
Walk out to a lighthouse in the water
See a great big ship take off into the lake from a port (The Badger)

And of course we were probably crazy to take Olive camping at 3 months old, but she was an angel! She slept through the night every night (usually 8 hours), woke up around 6 am to eat, then went back to sleep. She LOVED being outside, so we didn't really have to entertain her. We even took her down the river with us (the water was very calm and we had a safe boat to sit in, and even had a life jacket for her just in case), and she actually fell asleep most of the way all 3 times. She also loved the warmer shallow water and soft sand. She would dig her toes into the sand and grab big handfuls to put in her mouth.

Shade had so much fun, I hardly got to spend any time with him because he was off doing things with his cousins. They found a ton of things to do around the camp - make a bug club, find rocks for the sling shot, find sticks for a fire, etc. He liked floating down the river and shooting things with the water shooters. He also liked going out into the "deep" water with Kellen - the water stays pretty shallow for a couple hundred feet out into the lake. But most of all he loved building things in the sand. I think we brought home half the beach just in our shoes!

LAKE MICHIGAN PICS


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PLAYING AT LAKE MICHIGAN
-The water is pretty shallow pretty far into the water (1,2)
-We got a cheap skimboard, the water was perfect for this, although no pictures of us doing it (3)
-Lots of wading, enjoying the sun, playing in sand, flying kites, etc.






LIGHTHOUSE ADVENTURE





CAMP
-Frog (1), Babies (3, 4), Deer (5), Tent (6,7,10), Hammock (8)


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RIVER
-Kellen rowing, Olive sleeping, Floating down, Cute girls


DOWNTOWN LUDINGTON



BAY AREA (Downtown Ludington)
-The Badger Ferry across Lake Michigan (2), Baby cousins... (5)



We got home Thursday night and I didn't have to work until Saturday night. So on Saturday we got to go to the Farmington Founder's Festival. We went to the parade in the morning, ate at the new Los Tres Amigos restaurant downtown (not very good by the way), and spent some time walking around the booths and carnival games/rides. Shade talked us into letting him do 3 rides, one of which was running in a giant inflatable ball. Then there was a guy there doing a demonstration with exotic animals - like a tarantula and a wild fox. So much fun!