Detroit Zoo, Kensington, and more

In between trips up north to the cottage and our camping trip in Traverse City, we've been able to do a few fun things out and about during the month of July, in addition to really establishing our summer routine at home.  The kids are busy working on their summer learning with their Brain Quest workbook, reading for 30 minutes, writing in journals, and doing educational apps.  It's not always easy getting them to complete everything, but they're getting better about it.  It's been hard many days trying to come up with things to do with the kids at home, as we've done most of our favorite things many, many times since March. 

Sean got to attend a golf camp one morning with his friend, Corey, at Idyl Wyld Golf Course in Livonia. 

While Sean was at golf, Evan and I bought tickets ahead of time to go to the Detroit Zoo for the afternoon.  I thought the mask expectations were a little vague and I wish they would have been more strict and told people to wear them the entire time with the exception of eating or drinking.  I would have personally felt more safe if it wasn't an optional thing at outdoor exhibits.  Other than that, we had a great time and enjoyed some of the new updates to the zoo since we've been two years ago.

We took a family trip to the beach at Kensington this week to enjoy the sunshine and were pleasantly surprised at how few people were there.  They had opened the Farm Center up too so we made a stop before heading out.  And of course, we had to get ice cream from Dairy Queen on our way home.

I've rejoined Weight Watchers since I've put on 15 lbs give or take during this pandemic and am committed to getting the weight off...once again.  So, it's been fun making lots of different WW friendly recipes and some not so WW friendly desserts for the kids to enjoy.  

We've been polishing our Petoskey stones like crazy and finding different techniques to make them extra shiny.  We are also making 4 stepping stones with Quickrete to put in our backyard that include pretty colored stones we found in Traverse City and some Charlevoix stones too.  Projects like these are helping keep us busy and outside.  The kids even made calm down bottles this week with glitter and glue that we are all obsessed with right now!

But, mostly, we just have lots of days where we have a hard time keeping everyone entertained and happy so we celebrate the little moments that bring us joy...reading time, watching birds visit our feeder at lunch, and playing street hockey with the neighbors.

We're living those dog-days of summer trying to enjoy a slower-paced summer than we are used to while also holding our breath waiting to hear what this upcoming school year will be like for all of us.  With 3 different districts in the house, it's concerning not knowing what our jobs or the kids' school years will be like.  Will there be soccer?  Catechism?  Boy Scouts?  Who knows...

But, we have one more month to try and relax as much as we can before the chaos begins.  Hang in there, friends!

Traverse City State Park Camping

Our camping trip for the summer was finally here and it was quite a bit of work prepping for it this year.  First, we had to reschedule because the section of the park that our campsite was in was under construction and closed.  Luckily, we were able to move to a different site the week before.  Then, we decided to borrow Scott's dad's Suburban so we could use Jackie's bike rack and take some bikes up.  Whew!

We left on Wednesday morning, stopping in Claire at Cops and Doughnuts for a mid-morning treat and bathroom break.  It was such a cute place!  Then, it was on to our campsite to check in early before the storms came.  We got the tent and canopy up and went to grab dinner at The Filling Station where we sat under the covered patio and watched the storms roll over Lake Michigan. 

Unfortunately, our tent took in water while we were out to dinner and most of the bedding got wet.  It was still pouring so Ashley and Jeff were unable to set up their tent when they arrived (not to mention that they booked a concrete paved site).  We made a decision to book a hotel room across the street for the evening to let the kids swim in the pool and so we could use the coin-operated dryers to get our bedding dry.  All 8 of us jammed in a room with 2 queen beds.  We made the most out of a crazy day and tried to enjoy our first night.

Thursday morning we went back to the campsite to see if there was more water to deal with and to make a quick breakfast of cereal, yogurt, fruit, and doughnut holes before heading to Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes for the day.  Luckily, we didn't have any additional damage.  We packed lunches and hit the road.  We met up with my parents at the visitor center since they were also in Traverse City for the week and we had the boys work on their Junior Ranger booklets for a while.  Then it was time for the dune climb (which we had no idea would entail that difficult of a hike for 3 hours).

The kids did AMAZING!  I mean, that was a hard hike for the adults, but the kids barely complained.  And they skipped lunch since we underestimated how long it would take to do it.  We were all happy to get back to the parking lot and have our bagged lunch at the picnic table and then head back to the campsite.

We made a late dinner of taco salad, tacos, and quesadillas that hit the spot!  The kids wanted to go to the beach across the street so me and Ashley took the boys over to swim while the guys hung out and had a cigar at the campsite.  The beach was so nice!  There were even a group of young adults that made big bubbles with bubble wands that the kids were chasing on the beach.  We all enjoyed a shower and some s'mores by the fire to end the night.

Friday morning we made eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns on the camping stove and enjoyed a slow morning before we got ready to head to Elk Rapids Day Park for the day to use the beach and look for petoskey stones.  We packed lunches again and made the short drive over and it did not disappoint!  There were so many awesome stones and the boys found many petoskey stones.  We got ice cream on the way back to the campsite that had Moomers - yum!

The boys rode bikes around the campground, Scott and I relaxed, and Ashley and Jeff prepped dinner which was hot dogs, chicken sausages, chili, and corn on the grill.  Evan lost a tooth during dinner, which means the tooth fairy got to visit our tent!  I wanted to see the sunset so Ashley and I took the boys back to the beach across the road after I met up with my friend Adrienne for a drink at her campsite.  The sunset was gorgeous!

Saturday morning we made pancakes on the camping stove with another package of bacon.  We got ready to head into downtown Traverse City to browse in some of the shops like M22 and the toy store.  Just as we got there and parked, it started to absolutely pour.  Of course this storm came out of nowhere and we did not have things ready at the campsite for rain, so we sent the guys back to check things out.  Our bedding got wet again, but not as badly as Wednesday.  It was enough for us to decide to head home that evening instead of Sunday morning, especially since more storms were forecasted for that evening.  We still got some shopping in and then came back to pack up the stuff and take one last trip to the beach across the street.  We all grabbed an early dinner at Blue Tractor BBQ and started the long voyage home.