Shanty Creek and Shorts

 Josh and Jackie invited us up to their lake house on Torch Lake earlier in the winter, but we were unable to go since Luna was so young, not crate trained well during the day yet and was getting over being sick.  They invited us up again for this past weekend and the boys and I decided to go.  Scott stayed home with Luna (healing from being spayed) and he worked on the basement project.  The kids and I left around 2pm Friday to make the long drive up.  We stopped in Grayling for dinner at Dead Bear Brewing Co.  It was the first time we've eaten inside a restaurant in just about a year!

We got to their house around 6:30pm just as the sun was setting.  It was a beauty!  We unpacked the car, got our bedding set up, and the kids watched a bit of Zootopia on Disney+ while they waited for their cousins to arrive.  When they did around 8pm, we hung out over on their side of the house and played Mario Kart, had some drinks and snacks, and caught up.

Saturday morning we made some breakfast (I had prepped and brought french toast, waffles, and bacon).  The sunrise was gorgeous!  We got ready and left around 9:30am to head out to Shanty Creek to ski for the day.  The weather was perfect.  A bluebird day on the slopes!

We found some runs that the boys liked, challenged Sean to do a few others, and decided to take a quick snack break at the car around noon.  We went back out to the slopes after the break and skied the rest of the afternoon, taking another small break for hot chocolate (which Evan wore half of...).  

We left around 3:30pm to head to our late lunch/early dinner reservation at Shorts Brewing.  The kids all sat together at a table and split a pizza.  The adults got to sit at the bar and we each had an entrée.  Soft Parade on tap was fantastic!  And back we went to ski some more.  We skied until sunset and the kids (mine at least) were exhausted.  

We went back to the house and roasted s'mores over a campfire.  The kids did more Mario Kart.  It was an early bedtime for me.  I was beat!

Sunday morning we did breakfast at the house again.  The kids had cereal and I had the last waffle.  We left at 9:30am again to head out to do a hike at the Grass River Nature Center and to do some "extreme" sledding back at Shanty Creek.  The hike was nice, but definitely icy.  The kids enjoyed doing puzzles and looking at the animals inside the nature center.  The sledding hill was intense!  Icy as well, but they all enjoyed it.  I enjoyed watching...I'm too afraid to hurt my back.

We grabbed lunch at Shorts again, but didn't have a reservation.  Instead, we sat outside at this public space separated by kegs.  You could buy firewood from Shorts.  It was very cool!  I had a breakfast burrito and the kids shared a pizza again.  They also had fruity donuts (donuts topped with vanilla icing and fruity pebbles).  Then it was time to head back to the house, pack up, and head home.  We had a great time!