Last weekend we took a three-night, four-day break and headed to New Buffalo, Michigan. What? You didn't know that Michigan is like the Hamptons of the Midwest? Well, neither did we until last week. [side note: I've never actually been to the Hamptons so please grant me some literary leeway here]
For a year or so we'd been hearing folks say they go to Michigan for vacations, they had summer homes in Michigan, etc. And we'd think to ourselves what is the deal with Michigan?
Well, here's the deal. It's awesome. Seriously, awesome. Beautiful beach towns line the coast of Michigan, one after another filled with gorgeous sandy beaches, quaint towns with adorable shops and restaurants, and antique markets galore.
Lots of folks rent out houses and we were able to find a small two bedroom home within walking distance to the beach. Very reasonable, very small, very fun. The kids shared a bedroom, which worked very well this time (unlike the great water park fire catastrophe of 2010). We made a stop at the grocery store prior to arriving and were able to eat all breakfasts and a couple of lunches and dinners at the house.
Renting a home is such a nice alternative to a hotel. I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner. But Mike and I are now complete devotees to the home rental system.
Gorgeous New Buffalo awaited us. The first day we just got settled in the house and let Abe take a long nap at the house. When he woke up we decided to head down to the beach and just let the kids play in the sand for awhile. In retrospect we should have just put everyone in a swim suit, but for some weird reason we thought they could just play in the sand and be happy. They were happy, but we all trashed our clothes anyway so it would have been nice to just swim too.
The kids were pretty funny at the house. For some reason, Anna was quite fixated on the house being different than our house. She kept asking us WHY it was different. We'd tell her that it's because the owner had different decorating styles (I'd call hers knick-knack heaven) so that's why it is different. No. It shouldn't be different. It should be like ours. So we'd explain again that we don't live there so we can't decorate it. And then she started saying she should remove all the wooden things. (There were actually a lot of wooden items in this house) And so on and so forth.
And Abe just ran around like a little wind up toy, looking in every room and exploring every corner. Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. I don't honestly know how he has so much energy. We had to put a lot of the knick knacks and fake flowers up and out of the way. I don't know why I didn't think about it but the place wasn't baby proofed whatsoever (why would it be?) so we had to keep an eye on him.
The funniest feature of the house was this little fake fish aquarium that plugged into the wall. Once you turn it on, the fish repeatedly float across the screen and the backgrounds change and move. Anna and Abe were mesmerized by this. I want to look at the fish channel, Anna would say... okie dokie. You just stand and stare at that thing as long as you want.
Beach photos are up next. But you'll have to wait. I can't get them all done in one post and I know you're waiting with baited breath so Monday will be part 2 of the beach vacation story.
Have a great weekend!
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