Family Vacation

While we've gone on many trips since Brooke has been born, we'd never been on one with just the three of us until this week.


We spent a few nights in South Haven, MI. It's a really cute town a few hours away. Our condo was in the perfect location for us - very close to both town and the beach, with views of the marina. We only had to get in our car once for groceries. For some reason, we equate not driving much with a good vacation.



This little stand was on our walk to the beach. I think it got lost on its way to a location that's a little more tropical than Michigan. On our first day there we got ice cream and Brooke would ask for "ite team" every time we passed after that. We usually obliged.


Every morning, we'd wake up and eat, then take a walk to one of the local playgrounds. The coolest by far was this playground called Kids Korner Park. I think a few years from now we could easily spend an entire day there. At this age, Brooke was content to do a little exploring and a lot of observing of all the big kids.







She LOVES swings and found them anywhere we went - including the beach, where we ventured each afternoon. The weather could have been a bit warmer, but it was sunny and rain-free so we weren't complaining.



Speaking of the beach - I thought she had gotten over her tactile issues with sand when we went to North Avenue Beach a few weeks ago, but that was not the case. She spent the first evening just drawing in the sand.




By the next day, she was happy to play with her sand toys ($7 very well spent at the local store) and was used to the dry sand.








The wet sand was a whole other issue, but by the end of our third day she was venturing into the lake without us. It's great that she's finally at an age where we can just watch her splashing and playing from the shore...Totally kidding. We were very nearby.





I've realized that summer = skinned knee season.


It was fun to just walk around town and watch Brooke charm the locals. She's at such a fun age and is really starting to put things together. She thought that the dog wearing glasses was pretty funny.



After her afternoon nap, we'd head out to dinner and another serving of ice cream. We also stopped by Channel Wine Bar one evening. They had Rombauer Chardonnay and welcomed kids (they had a t.v. playing cartoons!) - it would have almost been rude to pass it up. Brooke was very well behaved as she enjoyed her "dapes".



We made it to the sunset 1 1/2 nights (it had technically already set one night, but the sky was still pretty). Then we came home, put Brooke down for the night, and watched lots of episodes of the first season of our favorite show, "Friday Night Lights."


We had a great time and it ended too soon!